Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We wanted to see some good snow before we left. Today our wish came true! Now lets just hope it goes away before we have to drive out.

Three Years

Today marks three years since the death of my brother Stephen. As I sat thinking about it today I realized it feels as though it was just yesterday that he died but it also feels like its been an eternity. I often wish that I could see him, give him a big hug and talk to him about all of the things that have happened lately. I have missed his strong bear hugs, the ones which would almost knock the breath out of you. He endured such pain and hardship and yet he grew so strong in the spirit and his testimony was unwavering even till the day he passed away. As he was discharged for the last time from the hospital the nurses went in to say goodbye to him. With great emotion in his voice Stephen bore testimony to each of them and gave them a Book of Mormon telling them it was vital that they read it. He was a great example to all of us.
One of my last memories with him is when he was at home before he died. At this point he was very weak and it was extremely hard for him to speak. He wanted me to sing Christmas hymns to him, I sang "Oh Come All Ye Faithful". As I sang the chorus, "oh come let us adore him" he began with closed eyes to softly sing along. Together we finished out the verses. Afterward he reached out to hold my hand. We sat hand in hand as I curled up by his side, he struggled to lift his head and look at me as he whispered, "Laura, I love you. Never forget that. I love you so much. So much." His voice drifted off slowly as he feel asleep. With tears running down my face I held his head close and told him I would never forget, that I loved him too.
As much as I miss my brother I am grateful for the knowledge that he is free from cancer, that he is with those who love him and that he is still with us in spirit. I am so grateful for my parents who were sealed int the Temple so that as a family we can be together forever. I am grateful for a loving God who has given us a way to come home to Him and for the great blessings which he gives us daily. Even though I cant be with Stephen now, I cannot wait for the day when in heaven we will meet again.

I am getting nervous

Actually, that would be an understatement. Pretty much I'm Freaking Out about labor and delivery! pain + needles + the unknown = a very worried pregnant women

One Year Older and Wiser To!

Hmm, I am not so sure about the wiser part. I guess I do feel like a new women, what with my sweet (or as they say in Connecticut "wicked sick nasty") new kicks and that new haircut I am going to get. I am going to have celebrate and go get some ice cream!


Well known fact: I am crazy about shoes, especially fun ones like these rocket dogs!

From the Mouth of Charles

"Ya know those emo kids, they have natural Halloween costumes."

Election Day

We all know the importance of November 4th. Tomorrow we all have the chance to go to the polls and let our voices be heard. Who will win, who will loose? What will pass, what will not? These are all questions we have rolling around in our heads. As I have been reading web posts, blogs, and news articles about proposition 8 I have noticed something. Voting yes or no is something we a people take very personally. So much so that there are those who will steal signs from the opposing sides yard, swear and bash others beliefs, chase after and throw stones at those who knock doors for the cause, rip bumper stickers off cars and so on. They tell us that we should not include our religious beliefs in the matter because that is not what the issue is about. I disagree; to me this matter is tied directly to my religious beliefs.
Tomorrow many will go to the polls and vote yes or no. The number will be calculated and California will decide. But this is not a fight that started there, nor will it end in California. Who are we really fighting against? Are we really only fighting a group of people who oppose our beliefs? I don’t think so, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) We are fighting for eternal truths, for what is right. We fight for the divine sanctity of marriage. We fight because “children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.” (Proclamation to the world) And at those time when we may feel like there is no hope, when we feel like the world is full of so much opposition. When we think, how can we ever succeed? It is then that we can find strength in the Lord. In 2 Kings in the Old Testament Elisha makes a profound and comforting statement. At this point in time the King of Syria has surrounded the city where Elisha is with a large army. Elisha’s servant wakes in the morning and looks out at the great army, he worriedly goes to Elisha and asks, as many of us would “Alas my master, how shall we do?” Elisha answers him, “Fear not: for they that are with us are more than they that be with them.” Elisha then prays and the servants eyes are opened, he is able to see that the mountain is filled with horses and chariots of fire. (2 Kings 6:15-17) In the same way when I become filled with doubt I go to the Lord and ask, alas my master, how shall I do? I firmly believe that the answer is the same today. We are not alone in this battle, there are countless numbers who have gone before us who are there helping us.
So as I prepare for the results tomorrow I do it with hope and peace. Though man through the ages has tried to change truth to fit their own personal ideals, God’s truth has never changed. Whether or not Proposition 8 passes it will not change the truth. Truth, eternal truth, is unchangeable.

I love the smell of Fall rain

Don't you?

Yet Another Reason I Love my Husband

I am having morning sickness...again. Yuck. So after a morning of nausea and not wanting food, I blurted out that I was craving a ham and cheese sandwich. The only problem was we didn't have ham. What was I going to do! He put on his shoes and coat and despite many protests that it was fine, he didn't have to, went to go get me some ham. This was after he had done all of the dishes, wiped down and disinfected the counter tops and mopped the floor. I love this man!

Halloween Fun

So even though I am on bed rest I still had to complete my midterm for meal management and have the party. Charles saved the day. He did a lot of the food prep and cleaning. He even made the rolls! (which were delicious) I sat at the kitchen table with my feet up giving directions and mixing up pumpkin pie custard. Some highlights of the evening. The food was delicious, and even ready on time. I guess this class with all of its time management lectures are paying off. After dinner we carved pumpkins and talked. The star of the evening was my friends Kat's little boy Christian. He was so funny! He loves toes and kept grabbing at Charles while laughing hysterically. It was a fun evening!

Alzheimer’s at an early age?

Charles and I had this conversation at the doctors office,
Me: (talking mostly to myself as I am filling out the new patient questionaire)I'm 20, Charles 23...
Charles: Um, Laura, I am not 23.
Me: What? Yes you are. You turned 23 this year.
Charles: no, (smiling at me) I think I know how old I am. I turned 22.
Me: (thinking to myslef I must be going crazy) Are you sure, I could have sworn you turned 23.
Charles: I'm sure, I am 22.
Me: ok
SO I wrote in 22 and kept going. I couldnt stop thinking that Charles was worng. Wait a sec..
Me: You were 21 when you came home from your mission in April, you turned 22 the summer we were dating so this summer so you did turn 23. I was RIGHT!
Charles: oh whopps, your right. I am 23.

I guess I will be keeping track of all the birthdays and ages in our family. :)

Life from a Bed

To make a blanket announcement, I have been put on bed rest for two weeks. Don't worry the baby and I are, for the most part, fine. It is because there is not enough fluid in the placenta meaning that the baby is probably not getting enough nutrients from the blood. So everything she does get goes to her brain and heart not her kidneys. The purpose of my bedridden state is so that instead of using the energy for me to walk around and go to work and classes it can all be used for my baby girl. I am not exactly excited about the diagnosis but am willing to do anything which will help the baby.
A life of leisure has never really sat well with me, I don't know why but I usually go crazy after two or three days of doing nothing. So in an effort to squelch the boredom before it hits I have decided to use this time to my advantage. I have a few projects which need finishing up and I am going to get a head start on finals. I also am reading lots of books about labor, delivery and nursing. Hopefully this will keep things interesting. On the bright side, today I enjoyed having some peaceful quiet time to myself. With the busy life Charles and I lead that is a luxury. :)

My weakness

Whenever I find a recipe that looks good or different or fun to make I get this itch. It starts with me telling Charles "hey doesn't this look good". Then I keep reviewing the recipe looking at the ingredients. Before I know it I have the ingredients in my pantry and see no reason why I shouldn't just try it out. SO here is my new favorite! I found the recipe on a great blog, Everyday Food Storage. The blog is run by a full time Mom in Utah. She is always posting something new and I love to try her ideas. Anyway the recipe is for pumpkin butterscotch cookies. They are so delicious, you would never know that they are made with whole wheat flour and oatmeal. I suggest that you all go to your kitchens and make them now. :) You can find the recipe here on her blog. Enjoy!

Check this out

This could be the answer to all our problems!
(ok well maybe not all our problems but definitely some energy ones :)

Random Chatter

Tonight Charles told me that if I hadn't married him, then I should have married Colin Firth.
I have no idea where that came from.

sometimes I like to be creative

Here are the invites for the dinner party!

October is here

We had the first freeze last night and snow is in the forecast. I don't think that I can remember an October here when it hasn't snowed. this kind of wheather gets me excited about making (and eating:) warm homemade wheat bread drizzled with honey. Yum!

Speaking of food, for my meal management midterm I get to throw a party! (You all are invited of course, though sadly none of you will be able to make it) I have to come up with invitations, a theme, dinner, games etc for 6-12 people. I was thinking about doing a mystery dinner, but would welcome any ideas that you all have to offer :)

On a side note, I think that I am officially starting to "look" pregnant. People don't fight me when I tell them I am pregnant anymore :)I will have to post a good pregnancy picture soon.

Not Just in the Name of Love

We found out that the link was deleted, so just in case you did not get to read the article, here it is.

Randy Hicks, Issue Number 11, October 2006

Not many years ago it was unutterable, except perhaps as a schoolyard can-you-top-this, or as urban legend. Yet it is one of the most sensational issues of our time, and an almost-impossible topic to avoid. And, from what I'm hearing, it's not always easy for people like you and me to articulate the reasons we oppose it. It's called "same-sex marriage."

"I know why same-sex marriage is wrong," I often hear, "but I'm not sure how to articulate its dangers." Christian friends are looking for a way to relate to those who may not hold the same views, and that's wise.

To be clear, our religious beliefs do offer legitimate reasons to oppose same-sex marriage. But if we're to win this important debate and win hearts and minds, we must be able to articulate our convictions in culturally relevant ways.

I've had the opportunity to take this debate into the university setting many times, this is what I hear from aggressive proponents of gay marriage:

• They've argued that denying them marriage is denying them the ability to have a loving commitment with another person. Frankly, that's just not true. People love others and commit to others all the time—we just don't always call it "marriage."

• Advocates often argue that they are being denied a civil right. There are two problems with this. First, laws have already been established defining certain conditions under which people may marry. The would-be spouse must be an adult, cannot already be married to another, cannot be closely related to the person he or she is marrying, and they must marry another human. In other words, restrictions have always existed. No one has ever been able to marry anyone simply because they loved them. Second, many civil rights leaders, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, have rejected the comparison between the fight for same-sex marriage and the fight for civil rights. As Jackson said, "Gays were never declared 3/5 human by the Constitution, and they never needed a Voting Rights Act."

• Others argue that it's unfair that married couples have benefits others don't. Well, again, there are reasons for that, and it's tied to childrearing. But marriage is not a bundle of government benefits. It's about something much bigger than that. If the goal is government benefits, then that should be the issue, not redefining marriage to accommodate the desires of some adults.

• More profoundly, though, one of my debate opponents has argued that moral claims must have some genuine connection with human well-being: so not just any reason is a moral reason.

I don't disagree. In fact, the historic moral precepts of Western civilization generally—and Christianity specifically—are based on that very question: What is best for people? And I believe that the reasons for restricting marriage are, indeed, tied to human well-being and the common good.

In other words, it's precisely because same-sex marriage is not in the best interests of society that we oppose it.

First, though, let's be clear about what this issue is not about. This issue is not about whether homosexuals are equal citizens who deserve to be treated with dignity. They are, and they do.

The issue is about the public purpose of marriage. And, if that public purpose of marriage has served us well, can it—or should it—accommodate the desires of those espousing same-sex marriage and same-sex families as the social equivalent of natural marriage?

Private reasons for entering into marriage—or any other relationship for that matter—vary widely. But the public purpose has remained virtually unchanged throughout human history.

Humanity knows many different forms of relationships: close friendships, cousins, aunts and uncles, and nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters. Why is it that every society throughout human history has favored the relationship between a man and a woman who commit to one another? And why is it that this unique relationship is called "marriage," and nothing else is?

For those answers, we can turn to anthropologists. They tell us that natural marriage—a union between a man and a woman—is humanly and historically universal. Never, until the last few milliseconds of human history, has any society had homosexual marriage.

Anthropologist Edward Westermarck, in his work The History of Human Marriage, explains that marriage:

1. has always involved men and women.
2. has existed from primitive times in all human societies.
3. always exists to serve the family. It never exists solely for individuals or for couples. (Marriage does benefit adults—often richly—but that's not the primary reason cultures have favored marriage.)

Westermarck and other anthropologists tell us marriage has always been about the next generation.

So, on every land mass, throughout human history, marriage between a man and a woman has been the social norm. There are simply no exceptions! And in each of those societies, the public purpose has centered on the well-being of children.

Why is this universally true? Is it merely the result of broad-scale religious indoctrination? Is this a right-wing conspiracy?

Far from it. Simply put, marriage transcends religion, politics, culture, and law. Indeed, it appears that human nature requires marriage.

Reams of social science, as well as medical and psychological research, makes this case and scream "caution" in proceeding with any dramatic change regarding marriage.

An Untested Social Experiment:

Remember what's being proposed here: same-sex marriage advocates are asking all of us to commit our society and coming generations to an untested social experiment where gender—shown in the irreplaceable value of male and female—is not essential to the family.

How do we know if this will be good for children, adults, and the community? No society has ever reared a generation of children in same-sex homes, so we can't really know how it will affect children.

Paul Nathanson, a professor at McGill University in Canada and a practicing homosexual, says that "advocates of gay marriage have made no serious attempt to consider the possible harms, and object to those who want more time to assess the evidence from other periods or other cultures."

Nathanson is right. In fact, though humanity has not considered homosexual marriage until very recently, there is a culture we can examine for understanding this issue. Scandinavian countries approved same-sex marriage about 10 years ago and the impact on marriage has been devastating.

Since legalization, the out-of-wedlock birthrates and the divorce rates have risen sharply. In Sweden, the divorce rate among gay men is 50 percent higher than the heterosexual divorce rate. For lesbian women, the divorce rate is 170 percent higher. The effect of these divorces is significant. These high rates of divorce lower cultural esteem for marriage. Worse, gay marriage separates marriage from parenting. It says that marriage is about adult desires, not the needs of children. Scandinavians are buying that message, and marriage is in a steep decline, as is child well-being.

Here in the United States we have had experience with two of the things same-sex marriage advocates are asking us to consider. Specifically, a generation ago, we were asked to redefine marriage and family, at least subtly; and to believe that gender does not matter to the family.

Redefining Marriage:

More than 30 years ago, Americans created "no-fault divorce" (NFD). This was a redefinition of marriage, an untested social experiment with the family, though much more subtle than what we're being asked to consider today. The no-fault divorce experiment said marriage should only last as long as one partner wanted it to last, and implicitly said that it was almost exclusively about adult happiness, not child well-being. That was a dramatic shift in thinking, and society has paid the price.

Glenn Stanton, a sociologist and marriage expert, puts it this way: "NFD advocates told us that it was simply love, and not family structure, that made a family. And even though we didn't have any experience with widespread divorce, NFD advocates assured us it would all work out fine."

Thirty years of experience with millions of divorced families indicate it wasn't such good idea.

Every major study since then—and there have been thousands—shows that the divorce experiment hurt children and adults. Badly. Worse than anyone ever imagined.

What we know, beyond any doubt, is that children from single-gender homes are much more likely to commit crimes, go to jail, have children out of wedlock, drop out of school, abuse drugs, experience emotional trouble, commit suicide, and live in poverty. Name the social problem, and it's tied to family dissolution.

Judith Wallerstein, a University of California–Berkeley professor, has studied children of divorce for 30 years. Looking back on her life's work and the no-fault divorce experiment, she laments:
"In our rush to improve the lives of adults … we made radical changes in the family without realizing how it would change the experience of growing up. We embarked on a gigantic social experiment without any idea of how the next generation would be affected. If the truth be told, and if we are able to face it, the history of divorce in our society is replete with unwarranted assumptions that adults have made about children simply because such assumptions are congenial to adult needs and wishes."

The same-sex marriage experiment follows this same path. It asks us to redefine marriage based on huge, unproven assumptions driven largely by the wishes of adults rather than the needs of children.

And, like the no-fault divorce advocates of the '60s and '70s, same-sex marriage advocates are telling us that parental gender does not matter for the family and for children.

Does Gender Matter?:

But we don't have to wonder how a one-gender family will impact children. We know from 40 years of experience with the explosive growth of "intentionally fatherless families."

Thousands of conclusive social science, medical, and psychological investigations published in hundreds of professional journals have shown that: children without fathers are half as likely to do well in and graduate from school; they are more likely to require professional attention for physical or emotional problems; they are at an elevated risk for physical abuse or death; they are less likely to develop empathy for others; they are less confident; and they are more likely to spend time in jail and have children out of wedlock.

All things being equal, children raised apart from their fathers—even if that father is replaced by another loving parent figure—suffer serious declines in every important measure of well-being.

Let us be clear: A good, compassionate and just society always comes to the aid of fatherless or motherless children. But a good, compassionate, and just society never intentionally creates fatherless and motherless children.

Fathers matter as male parents, not just as a second set of unisex hands to chip in with the housework and childrearing.

Child psychologists for 40 years have been telling us how mothers and fathers parent differently, and how healthy child development demands this difference.

• Fathering scholar Dr. Kyle Pruett of Yale Medical School says dads matter simply because "fathers do not mother."

• Psychology Today explains, "Fatherhood turns out to be a complex and unique phenomenon with huge consequences for the emotional and intellectual growth of children."

• A scientific review of more than 100 published studies on the benefits of child-parent relationships found that "overall, father love appears to be as heavily implicated as mother love in offspring's psychological well-being and health."

Very simply, the same-sex family is problematic because same-sex families intentionally deprive a child of either a mother or a father just because adults want it that way.

But this is not about the value of homosexuals as human beings. Indeed, their value is beyond dispute. They are loved by God as we all are.

But if we go the route of same-sex marriage, it means we will be subjecting our children to another state-sanctioned social experiment on the family, fueled largely by adult wishes.

The public purpose of marriage is primarily to take children from childhood to healthy adulthood. Its purpose is legitimate. It is tied to human well-being and the common good … and it thrives when men and women join together to parent children.

Any time we intentionally remove an essential part of humanity from the family—be it male or female—we have a family that will fail to function as society and children need it to. If we allow this shift to occur, we will fail our children and coming generations.




Randy Hicks is president of the Georgia Family Council, a non-profit organization that works to strengthen and defend the family in Georgia by impacting communities, shaping laws, and influencing culture. For more information, go to www.georgiafamily.org, call (770) 242-0001, or email gregg@gafam.org.

It's Not All Just in the Name of Love

Read this article about same-sex marriage. It is an excellent piece concerning the cultural argument.

-Charles

A Must See

Yes--check this out, baby.

-Charles

Brazil

Jacob has officially arrived at the Brazil MTC! I am so proud of him in making the decision to serve a mission. He has such a strong testimony and knows what is right. I know that he will be awesome!

FYI did you know that Brazil used to be Brasil... I wonder why they changed it?

Happy First Day of Fall!

Oh, and we are having a GIRL!

Dont you just love a rainy day?

Snuggled up in blankets, sleeping in, hot chocolate, mmmm

The Divine Institution of Marriage

If you have time I would read this article. Especially as Proposition 8 will soon be voted on I think that it is important to remember what a sacred and divine institution marriage really is. One thing that I always have trouble with is when my friends and acquaintances who support gay marriage say that I am not being tolerant. I think that they give a good definition of tolerance in the article.

"Those who favor homosexual marriage contend that “tolerance” demands that they be given the same right to marry as heterosexual couples. But this appeal for “tolerance” advocates a very different meaning and outcome than that word has meant throughout most of American history and a different meaning than is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Savior taught a much higher concept, that of love. “Love thy neighbor,” He admonished. Jesus loved the sinner even while decrying the sin, as evidenced in the case of the woman taken in adultery: treating her kindly, but exhorting her to “sin no more.” Tolerance as a gospel principle means love and forgiveness of one another, not “tolerating” transgression."

Yes, We are still alive

It may seem like we have dropped off the face of the earth but really we have just been traveling around so much there hasn't been time to get on a computer and record it. Here is a look at what we have been doing, for more pics you can go to Facebook.

We visited Family in California! Can you guess who is under the bell?



Then we went to another family reunion in Salt Lake.



A little bit after that we took a road trip to the green rainy wonders of Washington. We were there for a week visiting Jessica and her family, going to Jessica's wedding and seeing the sights of Seattle!



Jess and her now husband Aaron. We had a lot of fun goofing off with them.



My favorite place in Seattle was Pike's Market. Packed with people it is a hot spot not only for tourists but locals as well. You can find cheap prices on fresh food, flowers and fish. The fishermen would yell out songs and toss 30lb fish around every so often they would almost miss catching the fish letting the mouth of it fly open into an onlookers face. I loved the flowers, table after table of them. They were so cheap! 5 bucks would get you a beautiful bouquet.



Since Aaron is a previous resident of Seattle he knew all of the in's and outs. One rarity was the gum wall.. The wall is huge and plastered with various passerby's chew.



Charles thought that he would try it out...



We also visited the Troll under the bridge (I cant remember the name of the bridge but apparently this is a famous spot.)



Charles of course managed to win the hearts of all the ladies young and older with his smashing good looks, humorous dialog, and helping hands.



And of course here is a picture of the Newly Weds!



And the last trip taken was unexpected, on the trip home from WA I received a call from my sister telling me that my Grandpa had passed away in the night. I was sad to hear that he had died but also was happy for him because now he is out of his pain. These last few years have been very rough on him. My Grandma has been an inspiration to me with the service and unwavering love she has shown my grandpa through that time. My grandpa is one of the most honorable men I know. He always lived his life in accordance with the Gospel and the Lord. He loved his wife, and family. He served others. Often as a doctor he would treat patients who did not have the means to pay him sending them off without a bill. He has always been an example of Christlike charity. I loved to listen to his stories. When Charles and I lived there after we were married We would eagerly look forward to dinnertime. There Grandpa would tell exciting and flavorful stories form his life. I flew to San Diego for the funeral. Unfortunately I couldn't find my camera till the last day before I left so I don't have pictures of all the family together but here is a picture of my Grandpa and I from when I lived with them.



And Last but not least... we had our 22 week ultrasound yesterday and we are having a.........








Well, we don't know... Yet. The baby was so curled up and comfy that he/she didn't want to move to let us know the gender. But we did get some great pictures, I cant believe how big the baby is, I mean I still don't even look that pregnant!





Stay tuned for more though because we are supposed to go back tomorrow for a follow up. Apparently it is not very often that they cant find out what the baby is.

What a Guy

Since I am in between jobs and school I decided to give my self a project. Cleaning, re-organizing and moving the entire apartment around. Charles was great, he jumped right on in and helped me move everything.(Only teasing me a few times when I didnt like the set up and we moved it again) We started with moving the furniture in our room and living room around. That took a whole day because one we moved something I had to vacuum where it was and go through anything that was in it and de-junk. Then we super cleaned the kitchen and bathroom. We moved the fridge and stove out and to scrub behind (I dont think that the people who lived here before ever did that, there was some foriegn food objects that were pretty old. gross!) Charles was awesome! Cleaning is definitely not his favorite thing to do but each time he finished something he moved right along to the next task. I loved working with him! I am so lucky to have married such an amazing guy!
(Sorry the picture is blurry)

For Fun

Who are you?

Take the Quiz here!

Fascinating

I just found out that Charles like to eat bbq chips with cottage cheese. How strange.


So, I've decided to branch out on my cooking skills. They had whole chickens on sale the other day and I bought one. The problem is that I haven't the foggiest idea on what to do with it. There are some interesting recipes in the cookbook but seeing as I had a fabulous response with the calzone recipe hunt I thought I would throw this out there. Anyone with a really good recipe, shoot it my way! :)

Almost, but not quite

This has been the first time since being married that Charles and I haven't been together. It feels like forever. I don't know how you all do it when your husband leaves for a month or longer. Especially with kids. Luckily my sister Sarah has been pretty nice to me about it, calling me and making sure that I am ok. Her husband is in the Navy which means he is gone a lot longer than 5 days. So the time is almost up but before I get to leave and fly to California to be with family I still have lots to do. Can I get it all done before then? I hope so. Work has been crazy. Really crazy, I probably wont even get to enjoy vacation because I will be on the phone trying to fix housing problems. Oh well, only a few weeks left and then I am done! Besides, the job does have perks. I had the wonderful opportunity to eat lunch with these gentleman last week.




Elder Anderson's wife was present as well. It was awesome to meet them. We had a delicious lunch and great conversation. It is an experience I will never forget.

A little Bit of Life

With the craziness of summer there hasn't been much time for blogging. Here is a snapshot of what we have been up to...

The last day of the semester turned out to be a celebration for all of us. AFY was over so I was finally done working 60 hour weeks! Charles and Jacob had finished school and gotten some impressive grades! I decided that I wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse (pretty much my favorite restaurant, have you ever had their rolls and cinnamon honey butter?? YUM) Sarah and Jason picked him up the next day. It was sad to say goodbye, I am going to miss having family so close. (I am holding out hope that Cleo will decide to come here when she graduates!)






I applied to be the Head Resident of an on campus dorm. This basically means that I would be in charge of making sure the dorm functioned properly for 100+ girls. We would be live on campus in a two bedroom apartment, rent and utilities are paid with a $550 stipend every month. It would be a great blessing if we get the job. We had an interview a little while ago. Charles had decided when school got out that he was going to grow his hair as long as he could. I had decided to let him have fun with it but much to his dismay I drew the line and cut it for the interview.




The final Product, you would think cutting hair was torture.



We celebrated Charles birthday early since he was in California for the real deal. For dinner we had my uncle and cousins over. Later that evening we played a rousing game of Settlers. Since it was his birthday I let Charles win. :)



This is the absolutely amazing cake I made for Charles, very tasty!



Before Charles left I had a day off, we decided to go see some of the wonders of Idaho.







It was the perfect day, not to hot and sunny! We went to Mesa Falls and Hariman State Park. Idaho is definitely beautiful in its own way.

Summer has been wonderful despite all of the interesting changes that come with pregnancy and our busy schedules. We are just enjoying life!