Merry Christmas to our Friends and Family!

Ecard generated with Smilebox

By Way of Announcement...

New Baby Gerber (BOY) due to come around March 30th! Here's the pics! We love you, thanks for your love!

To my Honey :)

Thanks for an AMAZING first 5 yrs Troy! I love you with all my heart and am so proud to have you as my husband and the father of our children. Here's to you!

We LOVE YOU and SUPPORT You PRESIDENT PACKER

Recently there has been much controversy regarding the talk that President Boyd K. Packer gave during the LDS Conference Oct 3, 2010. Here is where the talk can be found:

http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1298-23,00.html

I suggest you read it with an open mind to the struggles of this day and then read my comments (below):

The views of God will never change. He is sad for the choices that his people make, but He still loves them with all of His heart and hopes that they see why He wants them to follow the guidelines and laws he sets forward. President Packer is a messenger of God boldly proclaiming things that we should be less afraid to talk about. There is no gray line on this matter. It is not up to us to decide. We love the people with all of our hearts. We want to be their friends, to socialize with them and help them through any problems they may have just like we would any people on earth. But we choose to follow the laws that God has set forward because we have faith that He knows best. It is not for man to decide or to change their views to make something acceptable that wasn't before because "the times are changing now." If God still says that marriage between a husband and wife is the only way, then we respect the views that others take, want to be their friends, and love them, but we do not choose that path because we know that is not what God intends, and we hope they will see the truth eventually. He loves us and knows what's best for us.

We can know if it is true by praying about it. We are not blinded. We know with our hearts when we pray to find out for ourselves. I pray for everyone effected by this topic. I pray that those who choose to be offended will know that we mean no harm to them as a person, but love them and cherish them. I pray that there will be greater love and understanding throughout the world on this topic and that the youth, and those struggling with this hard battle will know that they can count on us for strength and love and friendship. I pray that we will all be understanding of each other, as well as tolerant and respectful of the beliefs of others.

God wants us to be friends, and to bear each others burdens that they may be light. The gay/lesbian struggle is not easy. I feel sorrow for all that those people, my friends, are going through. I love them, and appreciate their contributions to society and all they come in contact with. I am grateful that God made all of us different, however, I know that God's laws are just. I see this as a very great struggle those people are going through. They wear their struggles on the outward. Many of us struggle with temptations and sins which do easily beset us but are able to be hidden more easily.

This world is a hard and confusing place, but it is our responsibility to show love to those around us and try as hard as we can to be good people and make this world a better place once person at a time, with the laws that God set forward...man cannot, and should not want to change these laws. I love you all. Thank you for being my friend and understanding the faults that I have as a person. I hope that I can help others to feel loved through this veil of tears-where joy can be found by helping others-and struggling together. Respect for every person. Love for every person. THANK YOU PRESIDENT PACKER FOR BEING A GREAT EXAMPLE OF STRENGTH WHEN WE ARE STRUGGLING TO STAY STRONG. :)

The Sept Fire

This was WAYY Crazy. On Sunday recently, our home teachers came over and we opened the door and saw lots of smoke in the air and a weird orange light outside. Then they said something about a fire over the mountain. We thought, "oh, that's strange" let them in and continued our day afterwards. Later on, the fire came up and over the mountain making the hugest problem for the people below. Eventually 1500 homes had to be evacuated, and they expected by the morning that anywhere from 25-100 homes would be burned down, and the fire would continue to be out of the control of firefighters...That night I watched (somehow everyone else could sleep :)) while it came down the mountain and right up to the houses. The scariest time was 1am. By 3am, the winds finally subsided a little (they had been 50-60 miles per hour which caused most of the problem), and it looked like they'd finally be able to contain the fire. We heard that only 3 homes had been destroyed by the fire, and one severely damaged. That was such a MIRACLE compared to what we had feared. There were many homes where the fire came right up to the back door of the homes and the firefighters were able to get it to turn. In many cases the fire went past homes with green grass, and a majoy help was a gentleman who worked at the dump with NO firefighting training, who thought he could help by bringing his bulldozer to the scene where they were only able to get firefighters up to because it was beyond the roads, and he attached a hose to his truck and fought right along side the firefighters, making trenches along the way that the fire couldn't get through as well. WHAT A BRAVE CITIZEN! Here are some VERY amateur pics that don't even begin to describe what happened.

Trisha's Wedding

We had so much fun during the "festival" of Trisha's Wedding week. Sophy loved seeing Trisha get married to her "prince" and even danced with and tried to kiss her dad JUST like Trisha and Jared were. My sister was an AMAZING help and drove down from ID just to watch Sophy and cuz Malakai while we were all in the temple, then she stayed around a little bit and drove back to school because she had a class the next morning. She managed to talk to many cute old ladies while she was here and they all asked where she was when she didn't show up for the luncheon or reception. They had a Luau theme for the reception, complete with Tongan dances and Fire-breathers! Sophy will NOT forget this for long! We love you Trisha and are happy for you and Jared!

Deck Pics

Well, one thing I asked for my bday that was just finished was a deck. Mostly only so we could go out our back door to the park with kids instead of having to walk all the way around..but it doesn't hurt that it turned out GREAT! Troy designed it himself, got all the pieces from Lowes and Home Depot, worked on it with a few nieghbors, his dad, and brother...THANKS TO ALL! There's a piece we put in where we want to have a slide, but don't have money for it/haven't figured out which one to get yet, so instead of leaving it open for kids to be drawn to (as I'm sure they would), he came up with this slot-railing idea where it looks exactly like the rest of the deck's railing, but it can be pulled up and out at anytime, and then we can even have it in when we do have a slide incase there's a baby crawling around. For now, Sophy loves to use it like a dog. In the morning she says she needs to go out on the deck (we put a baby gate up by the stairs so she can't get out), wants her food out there, and I shut the door, she eats, runs around and "barks" or knocks on the door when she wants to come in. It's great and her cousin Malakai loves it too.

My Bday 29 :)

Here are some pics (now that Sept is almost over) of my bday. Troy made this one a year to remember, after my mom called to wish me "Happy 30th!" and was sure I was turning 30. :) LOVE YOU MOM! First on my bday, he made me a BOSTON CREAM PIE FROM SCRATCH! The same exact recipe the Omni Parker House hotel used in creating the first ever (and they still make it-we had some when in Boston last year) Boston Cream Pie. Only my sweet techy-good at everything hubby! Then he suprised me and told me to not make any plans for a Thurs and Friday, got a babysitter for Sophy overnight and took me (without knowing ) on a road trip to St. George to see a George Gershwin musical called "Crazy For You!" Everything I loved was there, old people music, singing and dancing and acting all by the same people, and especially Troy. We stayed overnight at a Marriott and ate LOTS of food while we were gone. Then did some sight seeing and hiking before coming back to civilization. :) THANKS SO MUCH TROY! I LOVE YOU!

VACATION FINALLY!!

It was SOO much fun. We took an 11 day trip over to Oregon to see Troy's mission and then drive up the Oregon Coast to a family reunion for my family in WA and then to visit my family, my grandparents, my mission friends, Forks WA for some Twilighting, and back to visit my family, took a Ferry to Seattle for lunch, then kayaking and canoeing in the Puget Sound and then over to Idaho Falls to visit my brother, sister in law and sister. WHEW!! What a fun trip! Sophy did SOO well too! Thanks to all who made our dream trip possible. We did EVERYTHING we've wanted to do for a long time. Enjoy the pics! I had to break them into 2 groups so you wouldn't get too bored. Again, this is mostly for grandparents and relatives because the rest of you have lives and will be far too busy to see this much fun!

Here's some more:

New Pics and Post Finally!

Here are some pics from July...then I'll post our pics from our beautiful OR & WA coast vacation!!

New Running Stuff...

Training has been hard and I've been doing okay at following the schedule, but only 3 weeks away now! PUSH IT!! The "Blue Level" means I've run 631.9 miles with my Nike+ since Troy bought it for me Valentines Day 2006. Thanks Troy! You know how to impress and motivate a girl on Valentines Day! I love you!

A Goal has been set...can I make it to the top??

Well, I think I'm crazy, but in a wierd way it's good for me. I got a call from a friend right during the miscarriage craziness asking if I wanted to (she didn't know yet) run a race in June with her. I LOVE MY FRIEND!! It's a crazy race, but I've never needed a goal more in my life, and I felt like now was the PERFECT time for something as crazy as the Wasatch Back race! I'll be Runner #6 which is the 2nd longest amount of miles, with a 7 mile leg, an 8 mi leg and then a 3 mi leg at the end, but I'm very excited and it should be tons of fun. My first run after the miscarriage I think I was too excited because I ran to the Oquihrr temple and back (7miles). Now I have started babysitting again, 3 days per week and am struggling to get my routine down, but I know that this is a once in a lifetime chance! Thanks Wendy for helping me to have fun and be goofy like the good old Foxboro days! Here's a link to the course maps (scroll down to the middle of the page and then look under Runner #6): http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/coursemaps

Sad times, Peace Encompasses...

Well we were pregnant, but at the 13 week ultrasound, the baby had no heartbeat. We were devestaded but immediately felt the love and compassion that God has for the sorrow that His children go through. It has been a hard time, but eventually the miscarriage happened and we are beginning to heal and move forward. Many have said prayers and sent cards and thought of us at this difficult time. Thank you very much. We know that while we don't understand all things, GOD does, and that gives us the comfort and assurance that we need. Since then I have found out the sad truth that miscarriages happen in 15-20% of pregnancies! My comfort is that, having gone through it, maybe I can understand and feel what someone else feels at their difficult time of need. Through it all, Sophy has been our Sunshine. She has come up to us and says, "Don't worry, be happy!" and we find it difficult to not be grateful for all that we have been given.

February is almost over!

Here are some pics and videos (for the grandparents, they might not be as short as the rest of us have time for) of Sophy's bday (she was sick so we had a small family gathering), how long her hair finally is, tricks she likes to do on the couch, and spots she drew on her face (dry erase comes off with baby wipes luckily!) because of a book we'd been reading about an animal with spots all over. We love you all and hope you are doing well!

Her Favorite Song: She saw someone playing the Organ with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on TV and said, "Daddy, he plays the piano just like Sophy does!" She likes to sing "I am a Child of God", "Jesus wants me for a SunBEEP," "I'm a little Teapot," The Wheels on the Bus," "Ring around the Rosies,"-Ill have to explain that to her someday, "No one likes a Frownie Face," and "Row row row your boat Gently down the stream Mary had a little lamb" (those are the same song to her because of the word "merrily" and then she just goes off...and many more. I am amazed at how much she remembers. I don't work hard with her on them at all, she just picks them up 1ce (like her dad) and knows it for good.

A Few of Sophy's Bday Presents: Sophy is 2yrs old now and seems very happy and very dramatic, but she's a girl so what can we expect. She was sick on her bday, so we just had a few family members come and watch her open presents and sing with her.

Singing and Eating Bday Cake:

A Parenting Moment: It was quiet for 2 seconds too long...It's SOO HARD to not laugh somedays!!

January Escaped Me...

Here are some pictures that will tell you about January for us...

We got a pass to the Aquarium and though it's small, so was the price and Sophy LOVES seeing where the "fishies live." Wait until we go back to Washington for the summer someday (SOON I WISH!!) and she realizes they actually live in the water. We also visited the Gale Center History Museum, and some of the beginning pics are my kids I babysit and shows their true silly and fun personalities! I love them!! I have more pics and videos coming as soon as I get organized again.

My New Favorite Song--NO JOKE! :)

A New Blog I Started...

Okay, so I have been going crazy trying to come up with activities to excite, educate and en-vigorate Sophy and the kids I babysit this winter, and I decided to put a blog of ideas together. Please feel free to check it out and let me know others that you love! It is very much in a beginning state right now, but I think I've come up with a few fun activities, and when you are desperate, you never know what level you'll stoop to if atleast you have an idea! Feel free to let me know ideas as you have them and I'll add them!
http://kidzlove2play.blogspot.com/