Trouble!

My amazingly talented baby sister and photographer got ahold of my beautiful baby girl and made a model out of her! I am so proud of KaLee- she is so artistic and did an incredible job! You can see her work at http://imagesbykaleej.blogspot.com. Emily was a natural. She has always had an interest in fashion design and feels that modeling will help broaden her knowlegdge of the field. KaLee has agreed to help her build her book and we're hoping this is the first of a series of shoots.

GO UTES!!!

GO UTES!!!

What a fun time we had watching the Utes take on Alabama for the Sugar Bowl! It was a great addition to our already fabulous weekend! Shelley & Adam were in town from Idaho for New Years and it was a long fun weekend full of great memories. It was so dreamy spending time with my sisters Shelley & Sarah and their awesome families. We are also so grateful to our friend who also joined us! Rick & Tawny, Kenny & Marriah, Moose, and Brian! Tawny (who took her daughter to the Miley Cyrus concert) said it was almost as loud! Way too much fun. There is no funner game to watch than when the underdogs kick serious butt! We ended the night with some karaoke with the kids & just had the time of our lives. Thanks so much UTES!!!

GO UTES!!!

Merry Christmas!

(oo grr, I can't get the paragraphs to line up right- sorry if this is hard to read)

I have to start by thanking you all for the prayers, love, well wishes, and support you have given. It has been overwhelming and I am so grateful for each of you. God has blessed me with the most incredible family and friends and there are no words to thank Him enough. I sincerely hope each of you had the best Christmas ever!

We thought about Christmas early this year, and what it really means to our family. We cherish spending time quality time with the kids and really believe this is what the Christmas spirit is all about. With that in mind, we asked the kids in the summer what they would like more this year; presents or a family trip. They chose the trip and Gary and I were so grateful! We took them on a little Baja Mexico cruise. We left from San Diego and went to Cabo San Lucas, Ensenada, then back to San Diego. We had such an incredible time!! Started out kinda weird though.

December 12th was both the day we were leaving on the trip and the day I finally had my dr. appointment. I had another bubble echo cardiogram and a trans-cranial doppler- fancy for heart and brain ultrasound. It was determined that I had a PFO but it was too small for surgery. I would be lying if I said wasn't devastated. (Especially when I learned that it was because insurance won't pay for the repair unless I have a stroke first). I really thought this was the answer to the migraines. Oh well, back to the drawing board! The great thing about migraines is that although they are debilitating, they are temporary. You always know that they will go away.

I know God has a plan for this whole thing and I'm actually really excited to see where He leads me! Times like this always remind me of a favorite scripture. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

So Gary, Emily, and Justin left early to go to San Diego and I met them there later that night. After that, all our troubles melted away. The weather was perfect in Cabo! It rained in Ensenada, but it certainly didn't stop the fun! The kids looked amazing at the formal dinner and it was so much fun. I'm pretty sure Justin ate 552 ice cream cones on the ship- and Emily probably ate that many chicken nuggets! So funny!

If you have never taken a cruise with your kids- I would HIGHLY recommend it! You can find short 3-5 day cruises for very reasonable prices. We ended up spending less than we had in quite a few years on presents the kids probably don't even remember. It was so dreamy spending time with our busy teens. They are just the coolest, funniest people in the world. We didn't realize how much we missed them until we all got away from cell phones, computers, and sports!!

The kids swam with dolphins in Cabo. That was supposed to be the highlight of our trip. However, as we were about to head out snorkeling, our guide said we had to change our itinerary. Apparently some giant humpback whales were migrating, so darn it, we had to take a little detour! That was truly the most breathtaking experience we had ever had! Our guide took us right up to them (apparently it was dangerously close) and we saw 3 of the largest creatures we could imagine! We were overwhelmed to say the least.

We were awestruck at the sheer magnitude of their tail fins, and the the spray from their blowholes, but just when we couldn't dream it could get any better, one of them jumped up all the way out of the water! We saw the WHOLE thing- and it was unimaginable! We didn't get a picture in time, but it was weird, like it all happened in slow motion. There was a ship behind the whale and the whale seemed bigger!

Needless to say, our Christmas cruise was incredible and the kids said they would love for us to do this again next year. We'll have to see what the year brings!

In San Diego the morning of the cruise

We're on the Carnival Elation!


Emily, Gary, & Justin in Cabo

This doesn't show how enormous their tailfins were

If you click on the collage, you can see it better

Us at La Boufadora in Ensenada

This was just a picture we took from our cabin window of the ocean. Incredible!

Family Makes the Most Fabulous Friends!

We had a pretty incredible Thanksgiving this year. It was just us and our siblings- no parents at all. We missed them dearly, but there is something very special about the bonds between brothers and sisters. First we spent time with Gary's brothers, wives, and their kids. Then we got to spend time with my sisters, husbands, and their kids. We are all such incredibly good friends. It was so casual and comfortable- it was awesome just chillin' together. I have to say it will go down as one of my favorites ever! Even if we weren't family, I believe we'd all still be great friends!

An Attitude of Gratitude

What am I most grateful for this Thanksgiving? That’s easy. I am deeply thankful for the gift of forgiveness. Where would any of us be without it? How would any of our relationships survive?

I am so grateful to friends and family who have chosen to forgive my mistakes and love me just the way I am. But even more, I am so grateful that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forgives me and loves me just the way I am.

He doesn’t care that I’m not a regular church-goer, that I’m not religious, or that I make lots of mistakes. He doesn’t care about my political preferences. He loves me even though I stumble in my daily walks with Him. He simply wants me to draw nearer to Him and to love everyone. He helps me to be a better person every day. He keeps me humble and helps me realize that I’m nothing without Him.

The forgiveness God gives me is completely undeserved. That is what grace is. Undeserved forgiveness and it is God’s grace that I am most thankful for.

Want to know Him? I’m not talking about a church, religion, or organization. I’m talking about a personal one on one relationship with our Creator. It is right here for you too- and it is real. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

Four Simple Steps to God

1. God Loves You! The Bible says, "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16)

The problem is that

2. All of us have done, said or thought things that are wrong. This is called sin, and our sins have separated us from God.The Bible says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) God is perfect and holy, and our sins separate us from God forever. The Bible says “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

The good news is that, about 2,000 years ago,

3. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. Jesus is the Son of God. He lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. “God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Jesus rose from the dead and now He lives in heaven with God His Father. He offers us the gift of eternal life -- of living forever with Him in heaven if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me." (John 14:6) God reaches out in love to you and wants you to be His child. "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name." (John 1:11-12) You can choose to ask Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and come in to your life as your Lord and Savior.

4. If you want to accept Christ, you can ask Him to be your Savior and Lord by praying a prayer like this: "Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you in to my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always." Did you pray a prayer like this? If so, please leave a comment or send me an email. I’d love to know about your decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Hole in my Heart That Gushes with Gratitude

In January it will be 10 years since my first migraine. Since then I have averaged about 3 per month. These aren't just headaches- they are completely debilitating and I cannot function with most of them. I've seen 11 different doctors of all different specialties including neurology, chiropractic, and now a cardiologist. I have tried just about every medication on the market and many known homeopathic remedies and have never been able to prevent them or ease the pain once I get them.

I'm so thankful for amazing my awesome general physician who never gave up on me. After much research she felt confident to send me to a heart specialist for a bubble echo test. It turns out I have a hole in my heart that is very likely the cause of the migraines. I could not be more grateful to have discovered this now since most people don't discover the problem until after they've suffered a stroke. I will know more after Dec. 12th regarding which direction we'll take to repair it. Sounds like the surgery isn't a big deal- but we'll know more then.

Just the thought of having a normal life back, to be able to exercise again, to no longer live with the fear that I will wake up in pain and all the benefits that go with that is just so exciting to me I'm about to burst! I am so grateful to all of you who have put up with me for so long! I can't wait to be a better wife, mother, supervisor, and friend! I am so grateful to finally have an answer and am truly blessed with so much more than I deserve!

Two Teens to Tend To

No one said it would be easy, but no one said how fun it would be either! Emily and Justin make everyday both fun and challenging. They both have such different styles from each other. Emily's friends call her a "scene" girl and Justin is what they call a "skater-jock". Even though they are on opposite sides of the spectrum they still completely relate to each other. It is amazing to watch them together. They are best friends and worst enemies. Yes, they both are smarter than we are, cooler than we are, and of course much more fashionable, but in reality they really do teach us so much. They know everything about ipods, pop culture, the latest songs, fashion, slang, and and they are the funniest people I've ever known! It has been dreamy watching them become such fantastic young adults. I'm so proud of my teenagers and appreciate them so much. They really do keep us young!

New to the Blogging World

So, thanks to my brother in-law Brandon and my cute friend Cammie, I have been lured into the captivating world of blogging. Now I just have to figure it out! Oh, I've been tempted for a long time to have my own, and it seems I've finally given in. I avoided MySpace and BlogSpot for ages and was kinda tricked into Facebook. A darling girl on my team at work had this great idea to create a "team page". Since you have to create your own page to be a part of a "group", well, that did it. I've been hooked ever since. Thanks Brandon, Cammie, and Lindsey. I think. ;)