General Women's Meeting

 Last week I had the great opportunity to attend the first LDS General Women's Meeting at the Conference Center. It was AMAZING! If you haven't seen it yet or are wondering what it's about you can go here to learn more.

I really felt like I was supposed to attend this meeting. Our church got a hold of some tickets to the actual conference center. They got taken very quickly but I asked our bishop if he had anymore. He was able to get me two tickets but I spaced that I needed three or more. So after asking everyone I knew and praying about all week it the day before I got an extra ticket. While my mother in law got two extra tickets! I have never really had my prayers answered so quickly. It all just worked out great. I had planned to watch it with my cute in laws and we were able to have more fun by going to Salt Lake and being with everyone.

We went down early for some yummy lunch at Kneaders that was super crowded. The cool thing about this meeting is that it was for girl 8 and older, where as last year we had separate meetings for the young women (12-18) and the Relief Society( 18 and older). It was so cute to see all the cute little girls with their moms and their smiling faces. Definitely a change for the better.

Temple square was beautiful as always. The trees were all blossoming and they had spruced up some of the flower beds. It was so pretty to walk through. We saw three couples getting their pictures taken with some really pretty wedding dresses.

It was PACKED to the gills! ( If you have never been inside the Conference Center you should take a tour, it's pretty awesome.) But it felt so awesome to be with all these women young and old and these young girls. The spirit and feelings there were wonderful. After it was over I was saying how much more powerful it seems to be in the conference center. My mother in law said something like, "it helps her feel more unified that she's not in this alone." At times being a wife, mother, woman in this world it's hard and can feel very alone. But we have these amazing women all around us that we can go to for help. Women who may be struggling with the same thing or are on the other side of it and can say that it gets better. Either way I felt connected to something much more greater then myself. 

I was so glad to be able to share this experience with these lovely ladies. They are awesome too and I love them to pieces. After this meeting I felt so uplifted, so loved, and directed in how to best bless myself and my family. I came away from this meeting knowing that I am a child of God and that he loves me. I know that this church is true and I am grateful for it. 

It made me so excited for tomorrow to watch, listen and learn from General Conference! It's a group of meetings over the weekend in which the prophet of our church, his apostles and other leadership auxiliaries speak to us. It's awesome. If you'd like to watch, or read about it check it out. Conferencevideo 

For other gospel questions you can go to www.lds.org orwww.mormon.org. 

Gracie turned One!

So little Miss Grace turned one on February 27th! We had just a fun day at home playing and doing whatever she wanted. I wanted to do a photo shoot with her and came up with making a one out of cardboard and then wraping it in paper. It turned out really cute thanks to my awesome husband who did it all!

Me and my birthday buddy. 

With her Birthday money from Great Grandma Jones we got some wooden blocks and she has been having lots of fun with them. 

She's getting so big I can't hardly stand it. She is so smart and learning new things everyday. Justin does this thing where he squeezes his hands together and says "squeeze!" now whenever Justin comes in the room Grace does it back to him. She is great at playing peek a boo and just having a fun. 

I love this one! It shows her funny little personality and a little bit of her mischeivious side. She sure is getting into everything. The saying that goes kind of like this. " Trying to clean up after a toddler is like trying to plant flowers in a tornado " has been ringing true at our house lately. But it's all good as she is learning and exploring.

How we really feel about photo shoots. Mom happy and excited. Grace.....very upset. 

This girl LOVES books, especially the book of nursery rhymes that Great Grandma Jones got her. We could look at that book all day every day. She loves to turn the pages, look at the pictures and just sit and have fun with mom. 

I love this one and was so sad that she moved just enough to make it blurry but she's still cute.

Grace is a lot like me in the fact that she loves soft things. She loves her blanket and when she's tired she has started to snuggle her blankie and anything else soft. She has never been much of a snuggly baby even when she was tiny so it's kind of nice to have that now. 

My beautiful babe. I can't believe what a little girl she is starting to become. She is such a joy and a light in our lives. I reflected back on what was going on  year ago and I am so glad that everything went well and that she made it a year. We both survived with many more years to come. She is my best little buddy and we have so much fun with her. What a blessing and a challenge it is to be a mother but what a great reward when she snuggles me or comes to me when she's hurt or smiles and plays with me. No better love then the love of a child. I am so grateful that I get to share in her love and show her my love for her.  Nothing is better then family. 

February Birthday- working- serving extravaganza

I got to get better at this blogging stuff. February come and went before I knew it. It was a short but busy busy month. I had to work quite a bit and that was stressful but now I am back to my normal two days a week and I am loving it! February is always fun for me becuase it has some of my favorite days. Valentine's day and birthdays. I feel so special to share my birthday month with so many of my family members. I share a birthday month with my niece, my dad, my sister in law and my beautiful baby. Needless to say we eat a lot of cake this month. =) 

Some of the other things that have been going on this month was that I recently got called to be the Relief Society Secretary in my ward. The Relief Society is an organization in the LDS chuch for all women 18 and older. The Presidency has a president, two counslers, and a secretary. We are in charge  of essentianally all the women in our church within our boundaries. We help to serve them in any need and uplift them. We help to plan activities to involve the women and provide friendships. As the secretary I am in charge of the roles making sure they are current and providing information to the women concerning activites or important info for the week. It has been a blessing in my life this past month. I have gotten to know some great sisters in which I am serving with. I had been praying everyday for opportunites to serve those around and boy did I get that chance. =) It's been great though and I am excited to see where the next couple of months take us. 

In other baby news, Grace is doing great! She turned one and is learning so much each and every day. I love her to pieces. 

Getting some teeth! She had the one around Jan 25 and now the second bottom one is coming through. She is awful at teeth taking pictures. As you can see it's kind of torture. She is eating more and more solids and we are getting closer and closer to weaning. 

Playing with Daddy one of her favorite things. 

For my birthday I got a bike! I have been wanting one for years so Justin finally broke down and got me one. It's a normal 7 speed, handle brakes, normal tires bike. He got an awesome seat for Grace so we can go on rides together. We've gone on a few family rides and it has been fun. It's a change for my legs and my behind but I Love it! 

Grace loves cats! or Tigers or Dogs! She has been loving animals lately. Here she is trying to pet Aunt Jinni's cat. Whenever we go over when she sees one of the cats she goes crazy. It's pretty funny. 

My best little Valentine.

Happy Birthday celebrations with the Messengers. Grace was a little tired so the cake smash was a bit uneventful. But it was fun to get together with the Messenger and my Birthday buddy Jyana. 

We were having some delightful weather lately and I laid out and got some vitamin D on my birthday. =) 

It's been a great month but I am glad that it's done. On to Spring! and Sun! and Flowers! 

2013 in review

I know I know I have been majoring slacking on the blogging. Life just gets a little crazy sometimes. I also got a bit consumed with my Christmas project. Anyways...it's a New Year! A new chance to make it great. I always love the new year and the great possibility it brings and the fact that there are a lot of other people out there with some of the same goals. So in review of 2013 to bring a bright and happy 2014 here it is: The good, the bad and the in between.

The Good

Sister Stoddard out on her Mission                                                                 Lots and lots of family visitor

Birthdays!                                                                                         Grace coming into our Family

Sister Stoddard got a baptism                                                                        A new nephew and niece!
Chatting with Sister Stoddard on P-Days                                                Jourdan and Tony getting Engaged!  
 Graduations for everyone! College, Highschool and more!                      Spring time! We had a lot of snow
Temple trips                                                                      Increasing my confidence in placing IV's at work
snuggling Grace                                                                                   Watching my baby grow and learn
Spending time with my mom and dad each week                 Increasing my testimony in the Book of Mormon
Making friends in the neighborhood                                                                  Getting Grace to laugh
Girls trip to California!                                                                                Blessing Grace in our church
Christmas time                                                                                         3 year anniversary with Justin
Been in our house for a year                                                         Justin acing his class for fall semester
serving in the church                                                                                        going for lots of walks

The Bad

Getting into a car accident pregnant                                           totalling the car and having to buy a new one

My dad getting sicker                                                                                          aging grandparents

sick baby after Christmas                                                                                   missing Sister Stoddard

Family Changes                                                                                                   My dad passing away

Justin having lots of stress at work                                                          Always trying to find a babysitter

Missing my dad and grieving

The in Between

Watching lots of netflix while nursing/rocking my baby                                    breastfeeding struggles

Justin going back to school                                                                      me going back to work after baby 

what to do with the flowerbeds in our yard?                                             trying to keep the house clean

  learning to deal with sleepless nights                                                     

As you can see we had so much more good happen this year then bad . We had many life changes which has helped me to be a little bit better with change. Although I'd prefer not so many life changes this year. =) I have great hopes for this year and many things to look forward to. I have a great sister in law who is getting me excited and motivated to run the Salt Lake Half Marathon in April ....so it's time to start now! May this year be a great one for you and your family.                    

September went by too fast

Septemeber got filled up with lots of stuff. The next weekend was our ward's Relief Society retreat and since I am on the committee Grace and I packed up and went. It was a beautiful place in Heber Valley Canyon. It just rained all the first day we were there. The next day it was beautiful. So we had to pack warm. It was a great experience and fun to get away with the sisters in the ward. I look forward to next year when I won't have to bring my baby.

Trying on Hats. 

I made some jam one weekend. I made a batch of Strawberry, a batch of rasperry , then threw all my leftovers in and made a raspberry/strawberry mix. So far it's been tasty. 

WE cheered on the Utes as they played against BYU and won! I am slowly become more of Ute fan. =) 

We also celebrated our 3 year anniversary. It was a little low key but there was just lots of love shared that week and it was great. I am so blessed with a loving and caring husband who takes good care of me and Grace.

We've been going on lots of walks and playing outside. We cleared out our flowerbeds and planted tulips, daffodils and some others . I am excited for spring to see how they turn out!

and she's just cute. 

Summer nights under the Stars

So for a fun last minute kind of date idea Justin and I went to the Summer Concert that the Layton City puts together. They had Peter Brienholt and Mindly Gledhill singing. You are probably thinking I haven't heard of either of them. They are local artists kind of folksy and just good music. I checked out some of Mindy's music from the library and loved it so we went more for her. The thing about the concerts is that it's an outdoor ampitheather and the day of the concert it was pouring rain. I was acting like a 12 year old mad that it wasn't going my way. But my sweet husband just said it's ok we'll go and see. It was supposed to start at 8:00. So we went and got some food and an umbrella and we were all ready to go. By the time the show started it had stopped raining and was all cleared out. The announcer guy said something to the effect of some of you must be living right and the pioneer spirit. Only in Utah. =) 

It was fun and a cool little date night. Even if it was a little wet. 

Peter Beinholt did a big line of "cups" you know the tap tap slap the cup routine. It was pretty cool to see all of them doing it together.

Mindy sounded great and shared some songs from her new cd which I would like someday. I think that they are both members of the church but I am not sure. She had a super cute super poofy dress on. Loved it. If you are looking for good, fun, and uplifting music check them out. 

Comic Con 2013

 So for those who live in Utah you probably heard all about the giant Comic Con that went on a few weeks ago. Well I am here to tell you my version. =) It was actually pretty fun if not a crazy, people packed, long day. We got tickets for Friday which was probably the best thing we could have done had we got tickets on Saturday I would have taken one look and then went home.

It was pretty packed when we got there right when the doors opened at 12 but by the time we left it was even crazier. By Saturday they could not let anymore people in due to it being a fire hazard. Anyways...to add to the fun Justin came in his Creeper costume in which it needs a truck to be taken anywhere. So he left  me for a while to go and get that and then he walked around for a while in it. He couldn't go far because every where he turned somone wanted to take his picture . That was nice for him. However, it kind of made for a grumpy wife. So while I was out and about on my own I discovered that I am not nearly nerdy enough to fully enjoy a comic con. While there was stuff I liked like a few Harry Potter booths and some game and book booths. Most of it I didn't care for. Sorry but I am just not that into the games and books to buy the figures and pictures and lets be real a lot of times the way girls are drawn in the games is very naughty at times.

But for people watching it was prime! There were tons of people in costume which made it fun. I saw tons of Dr. Who people and Iron/.Super/Spider/Batmans and a bunch I had no clue. Hence the not being nerdy enough. One of my favorite things was the HUGE lego display it's pretty awesome everything you can think of made out of legos. I thought of my Brother in law Ben Salisbury so I took a few shots for him. See if you can make this Ben.

 It's the evil tower in Lord of the Rings.

 Some Lord of the Rings fight scenes

I am guessing Emerald city. I just thought it looked Cool. 

Dino costume was pretty cool.

 This is for my Brother Ben- You could play pokeman there,

Justin and Castle or The dude from Firefly. If you look close on Grace's onesie it has Jayne from firefly saying" Time for some thrilling heroics. Grace went as a boy. =) 

They had a really cool Hobbit display with the costumes, weapons and figures. The gollum one kind of freaked me out. But it was cool .

And we went to panal on Superman and guess who came in Dean Cain from the T.V. Series Lois and Clark. It was celebrating it's 20 year release date. That made me feel old cause I remember watching it on T.V.. But man Dean Cain was looking good. He definitely pulls off the facial hair. =) 

Oh and lots of this....booty hanging out. This one is actually more mild compared to ones I saw. If you thought Halloween was bad for girls to have an excuse to not wear much this I think was worse. I saw a pretty awesome mystique costume from X-men..meaning...she really looked like she wasn't wearing anything. 

But it was fun and a bucket list thing to do. They are already planning for next year!. They had some big names come this year like William Shatner, Henry Winkler and of course Stan lee. I didn't see any of them because they came on Saturday and you have to pay to get a picture or autograph. Lame. Just a fun Adventure.