Las Vegas

We went to Las Vegas for a day over Spring break and had a blast! We went to the MGM first and they have a Lion habitat inside. WOW! I was amazed. The lions were sleeping but there is a glass walk way you can go through and see the lions right above you. That's where they were sleeping so it was cool to be that close to them. It was quite fitting because the reason we went down to Vegas in the first place was to go see the play, Lion King. If you get tickets the day of the play you can get a really good deal so Josh set off to find tickets and I took the girls to the M&M factory. It was really cool to see all the neat, EXPENSIVE stuff. I had to laugh when we walked out, because there was an oxygen bar. I wish I would have taken a picture for my gramps! He is on oxygen all the time and hates it and here sits some young kids at an oxygen bar. I'm sorry, maybe i'm getting old but I don't get it! I breathe just fine without paying for it. (Well maybe not in Vegas, but i'm still not paying for it!) We went and ate at our favorite place The Cheesecake Factory, went to the mall, then went to the play. It was a quick trip but we had fun spending time together, even if it was in dirty ole Vegas!

The Lion

Miss Ashlyn

The M&M Factory

The m&m's in this dispenser are $12.99 lb.

(sorry girls we'll go to Maverik for our's!)

My girlies with the M&M guy or girl

Jayden we would NEVER reject you!

Kaylee wanted her picture with green and when she walked up to her she kept rubbing her leg over & over! It was embarrassing! After like 5 attempts of my saying stop she finally did and settled for holding her hand for the picture.

Ashlyn was all about giving the peace sign that day.

AHHH...scary snake!

We didn't eat at The Rainforest Cafe just took a picture because the atmosphere is so cool!

See ya in another 5 years Las Vegas!

You are too dirty and too stinky for our family!......... and as

Ashlyn would put it; she likes her lungs to much to ruin them for a good time!!!

Where have all the rugrats gone?

We have so many cute kiddo's in our neighborhood! One day a bunch of us mom's were sitting outside while the kids were playing and all of the sudden there weren't any kids around. I walked into my garage and this is what I saw! Oh my gosh! SERIOUSLY!!!! How cute is this that my little Kaylee bugs is reading to these cuties all lined up in a row? I love it!

Just take 2 minutes

I bet a lot of you are like me and feel like it feels completely out of reach to do all that we should to teach our family about the gospel. Our family has mastered nightly family prayer but family scripture seems to be an off and on event at my house. (It's always easier with a challenge) Then there is morning family prayers. I have always wanted to implement this in my home. I mean really what could be better then sending your kids to school with a prayer to do well at their tests, to remind them to be Christ-like and to look for ways to serve others. I just never seemed to be able to get it down. Then about the middle of February I was looking on my bookshelf and saw the book, "When ye shall receive these things." I got this last year and "tried" to read from it every morning by myself. It has one scripture and then a little thought at the bottom. I thought PERFECT!!! This is what we need. So every morning I have been gathering my family together and we read the scripture & thought then kneel and pray together. It seriously takes 2 minutes of our time, and is worth every second of it!

The Temple

I'm so glad the Temple is re-opened. It's been a long 2 weeks.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my mom! She would have been 52 today.

You little devil.....

Oh you little devils! Why must you come each & every year and taste SO dang good? Will I ever have self control when you are around?

Feeling grateful

I am so grateful for the wonderful people I have in my life! Yesterday marked the 5 year anniversary of my moms death. A day I dread all year, I just really don't like that day anymore. Well a few days before my sweet friend Becky A. called me and said she & my other sweet friend Becky T. had it on their calendars that the dreaded day was coming up. She said that her plan was to take a day off of work (she is a school teacher so this is no easy task) and spend the day with me by taking me to the Temple. REALLY? You would do that for me? WOW! That alone to me was huge! I felt so loved by my sweet friends. Well the Temple is closed until next week so we couldn't do that but we set a date to go when it re-opens. So of course we choose the next best thing.......FOOD!!! We had an early lunch @ Cafe Rio and then (if we weren't already stuffed) went to Krave, a new yogurt place here in town and set on the couch there and ate & talked. It was awesome! Thank you girls for being TRUE friends to me in every possible way!

The night before our sweet Relief Society President brought me over some delicious cupcakes and a sweet note to let me know that she was thinking of me. I also got a lot of sweet messages on facebook from wonderful friends and family members. I think this is the 1st time in five years that this day wasn't too hard. WHY? Because of the love of my friends and family. I am so blessed to have all these special people in my life. I just hope that I will be able to return the love & kindness that so many people have shown me!

The delicious cupcake

My friends Becky A. & Becky T. got me a beautiful card, a bag of Sixlets (love em), and a cute green (all of our favorite color) shirt.

Becky T. snuck over to my house and planted me these beautiful flowers. This is the pot that she gave me last year on this date filled with flowers. How can you not look at beautiful flowers and just feel happy!

And of course Cafe Rio, my favorite!

Thank you x 10!

A hard day

My sisters and I looking at our mommy one last time.

5 years ago today my passed away. It was a blessing because she was SO sick and it was so awful to watch her suffer everyday but I sure do miss her! When we found out that the doctors could do no more for her I would lay next to her on her bed and say, "I love you mom, do you know that?" She would reply by saying, "Yes, and I love you, do you know that?" I felt like I couldn't say it enough because I wanted her to know how much I REALLY do love her. How do you even begin to put that into words when it will be the last time you can say it? I think she knew that I loved her and appreciated all that she did for me throughout my life but if she didn't realize that here on earth i'm sure she knows it now! I have felt reassured by the Spirit that all is well with her and that she knows that I love her with all of my heart & soul. The other morning I was watching a women's conference on BYU TV and someone made the comment that your heart needs to be broken before you can really let Him (Jesus) in. This is so true! I had a testimony before my mom passed away but nothing compared to what I had after she did. When you are with someone that is dying the veil is so thin and amazing things take place. I can never forget them, they have made an imprint on my soul.

D&C 42:45-46

45: Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection.

46: And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them

I know with all of my heart and soul that I will be with my mommy again, and it will be the sweetest reunion. My hope & prayer for me and all of my friends and family that read this is that we will hug our loved one's a little tighter after reading this. Express your love to those you love. Don't wait, and do it often. We never know when it is our turn to be called home.

On Memorial Day of the year my mom passed away all of her siblings and some of her kids met at her grave with balloons. We had written notes to her and tied them to the balloons and then let them float up to her.

The back of her grave

I'm grateful for the challenge...

Jayden & I are reading the Book of Mormon together for her Virtue project. We were challenged by her YW president to do it before girls camp which means we need to be done by the 1st of July. We have been reading in the morning @ 6 on the weekdays. It has been very special for me to have this special Spiritual experience with Jayden. It's sad that it takes a challenge to get us to do this because you would think that I should just come up with these ideas to be a better mommy and to help my kids grow Spiritually. Life just gets busy and before you know it your kids are grown and then you're left thinking why didn't I do this or that? I am SO grateful for the young women's program and that it helps me to raise my girls in the gospel and to have these special moments with her that will last a life time!

This video is of Jayden & Lucky (our dog) We brought him in to cuddle this morning and read scriptures with us.

President's day

On President's Day I took the girls up to the Red hill for a picnic and hike. Josh was able to take a break from work and join us for a half an hour.

I love this cute picture

St. George is so beautiful! I feel so blessed to live here.

My girls always call this the CD/DVD player and they have to climb inside for a picture every time we hike on the Red Hill.

Kaylee bugs chillin for a bit

Jayden looks like she is in deep thought about something. Hopefully not about boys!

Cute little Ashlyn did her own hair for the hike and was quite proud of it.

My 3 beautiful girls!

Just because I love you

I sure love this little girl. She wants to be SO big like her big sister but she still feels so little to me! I love her big brown eyes and her darling mole above her lip. I love her cute glasses, her fingernails, her smile and her laugh. I love how thoughtful Ashlyn is. She always tells me how grateful she is for all I do for her. I wonder if she will ever know how much she has done for me by just being my little girl!

Kaylee lost another tooth

Kaylee lost her 2nd tooth on Thursday the 18th. It was so loose and was pretty much hanging there. I was helping in her class that morning and she pulled it out. (She's pulled both of her teeth out herself) It was so funny! All the kids got so excited. They all wanted to see her tooth and inside her mouth.

She is so stinkin cute!

Checkin out her tooth

The Toothfairy brought her $2.00 for her 2nd lost tooth!

Kaylee's alphabet

I thought this was so cute! I love the way she draws. I just love my Kaylee Bugs so much!

Playing & Exploring

I took Kaylee bugs to the Tonaquint park for a nature walk and some fun in the leaves. She found all sorts of treasures! She loves BIG leaves!
Stopping for a photo.....with a fake smile.

I love it when they are exploring things...you can almost see there little wheels turning in their heads.

We made a leaf pile on a hill for Kaylee. It wasn't an easy thing. I gathered up a bunch of twigs and used them to sweep this pile for Kaylee. She would jump in and say I think I want it bigger mom. So we'd do more & more.

Having fun jumping in the leaves

Rolling down the hill

That was SO fun mom, you should try it!

A leaf shower

Cuteness

Pure Joy!

Leaf hair

Cute little face!

We had a very fun time @ the park! Just playing & exploring!

I love your little hands

I got out of the shower and looked out at Kaylee in my room and she had pulled up the blinds and was putting her little hand prints all over my window. My first instinct was to say no don't do that Kaylee because I really hate washing windows but I stopped myself and watched for a minute, and then of course had to grab my camera because it was just one of those moments! I thought to myself, when I am older and my kids are grown I am going to miss these "sweet little" hand prints that I get the privellege of seeing all over all of my windows and mirrors everyday! I know I will long for these precious short times. So I just watched her

and felt the love rising up in my chest

this is "my" little girl!