Visit Home to California

For Memorial Day weekend we went down to California to visit out families. We left at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday the 22nd and drove all night. We took my grandma with us as a surprise for my mother. She hasn't visited California since my wedding 2 years ago. Driving all night proved to be a good choice with two small children who slept most of the drive and required very few stops. Fewer stops is a plus on a drive that's already 12-hours. So we arrived at my parents house at 3:30 a.m. We crept inside as quiet as you can be when you're totally exhausted, but my mom heard us and came downstairs. When she realized we had Grandma with us she was very surprised and was everything I was hoping it would be for her.

This particular visit was a busy one. Not only was it Memorial Day, but the 26th was my dad's 54th birthday, we blessed Marceline on that day and had a family gathering for everyone in the area to come see Grandma, and the 27th was my youngest brother, Joe's 18th birthday. A lot to cram into 5 days. Let's get started ...

We were all understandably exhausted on Thursday. We visited with my family in the morning. Then in the afternoon we went down to see Ryan's family. My best friend Katrina came over to the Bartley's home and visited for a while. That evening I took Marcy and went with Katrina to meet up with a couple other friends, Raquel and Victoria, for some Sushi at Blue Nami in Folsom. Best sushi ever. Go there if you're in Folsom. It was so awesome to see my friends! I have missed having good friends to hang out with. While I was at dinner, Ryan took Russell over to his friend, Nick's house to visit.

Friday and Saturday we spent visiting with friends and family and going back and forth. It was good. It's always so nice to see everyone. I miss them. And I know Russell misses his grandparents. He loves visiting California. He's always so happy when we're there.

Sunday was the big day. We had almost all the family in the Sacramento area over to my parents house for Marcy's blessing and as a sort of mini reunion for everyone to see Grandma. We got a bit of a surprise when my Uncle Joe who lives in Idaho showed up. That was great to have him there. I'm glad he came. Uncle Joe was really special to us kids when we were little. Marceline received her name and blessing, which was beautiful and I loved watching my husband give. I'm so thankful to be married to such a good man who's worthy of the priesthood he holds and can perform these ordinances for our children. I'm thankful for all the good men in my life who were able to help Ryan give Marcy her blessing. I'm also thankful to have such open minded in-laws who are supportive of our religion even though it's not their beliefs. My life is filled with such wonderful and good people! Some of the things I remember from Marcy's blessing was Ryan blessed her with health, intelligence, and good friends in her life. There was more but I can't remember it right now. Side note: the blessing dress Marcy is wearing was my blessing dress that my grandma made for me 27 years ago. After the blessing was the party. Boy, did my mom prepare a feast. A tasty one at that. Thanks to my Aunt Connie for helping her with that and saving my mom's sanity. She's saved my mom's sanity on more than one occasion. My mom counted all the people that came. In total there was 44 people and all but 6 were my mom's family.

After the party was over and it was just our family we celebrated my dad's birthday. 54-years old. He's an old man. Almost senior citizen age.

Monday was our last day in California and it was my youngest brother, Joe's 18th birthday. His birthday was a little more low-key. We had dinner at In-N-Out (his favorite restaurant), played the "headbanz" game at my parents house, and had the msot delicious mint chocolate trifle. Mmmm. We said our goodbyes that night to everyone and left back for Utah early the next morning.

That was a bummer of a drive. It's already a terrible and long drive (usually about 12 hours), but since we needed to take my grandma home to Logan first that added an extra 2 hours to our drive. We left Sacramento at 7:30 a.m. and arrived back at our house in Santaquin at 10:30 p.m. It was worth it though.

Grandma's getting their new baby fix in:


Car Ride:


Dinner with friends. L-R: Raquel, Victoria, Katrina, me.


Marcy's blessing, reunion, and Grandpa's birthday:


Joe's birthday:


Random pictures from the weekend:

Mother's Day

I love being a mother. The day my son was born making me a mother was the day I figured out the meaning of life and he's been teaching me more about life everyday since that beautiful Monday morning. Coincidentally, it also happens to be the first day I really began to appreciate and understand my mother and everything she has done for me. Now with the additional of Marceline my life is that much more full and rich.

I feel truly blessed to have had an excellent example of a mother growing up. I'm thankful for all she taught me and all the wisdom and knowledge she continue to give me when I need it. She was my pattern to follow. I know through my teenage years I rejected the idea of being like her, but now I feel honored to be like her.

And I feel truly blessed to have two beautiful, smart, happy and healthy boy and girl of my own now. I try really hard to be a good mom and do what I think is best. Even when it's the opposite of what my child wants and I'm torn between giving them what they want and what I know they need.

I also feel blessed to have such a wonderful husband who helped make me a mother and now is the provider for our family so I can stay home with my babies fulfilling my role as mother. I know it's an important and eternal role that I hope I can perfect as much as possible while here on Earth.

On a lighter note, check out the gift my husband and babes got me for Mother's Day (the owls). And Russell brought home this note from preschool which is pretty solid evidence to me why being a mom is the best job ever! There's also a picture of Russell the first night I brought him home from the hospital, Marcy in the hospital, Ryan holding Marcy, and Russell meeting his little sister for the first time.

Family Hike

A few weeks back we went on a family hike. We enjoyed hiking before I got pregnant last Summer, but once I got pregnant that came to a screeching halt. I don't handle pregnancy well. Anyway, we hiked to Donut Falls up near Salt Lake City. It's a short easy hike that's good for people who aren't used to hiking or have small children. Check to both of those.

We started the day off right; with Mountain Dew (for me and Ryan) and donuts from Provo Bakery for breakfast. You can't hike Donut Falls without having donuts. It should be a sin. The delightful sugar high gave us the needed burst of energy to get going that morning. Mornings are pretty rough around here with a new baby. We drove up to Cottonwood Canyon where the trail begins. The full hike round trip is 3.5 miles. It's an easy gentle incline up to the falls. It's called Donut Falls because the water has eroded away at a rock until it's created a hole through the rock. You can hike all the way up to the base of the falls. It's very pretty and rewarding.

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys simple half-day trips in the Salt Lake area. And there's really no excuses. My 4-year old did it and rocked.