Congrats to the Grad!

I can't believe my little brother graduated high school. It seems like just the other day he started high school and now he is all graduated. I am proud of him for making it through. It hasn't been an easy road for him. We love him and we are happy we could be there with him on his big day. 

The graduation night.

We ate smores one night. So yummy. 

All of grandma and grandpa's great grandchildren were there. This isn't a great picture but it's the best we could do with so many little ones.

She loved this car. Of course she couldn't just sit in it. She is our little dare devil.

Dean is the best cousin to Lorelai. He is so sweet to her and pushed her around in the car.

While there we celebrated my birthday. I got an awesome gift....a Silhouette. Can't wait to start craftin'.

Daddy couldn't come so we Face Timed him a lot. Here she is talking to him. I love this.

Playing some twister. This was so much fun to watch:)

Wish these times with family would last longer. Seems like they always go by so quickly. Someone else graduate so we can get together again:)

One Year Old Already!!!

Our little girl is one. I can't believe it. We had lots of fun celebrating her first birthday. 

The Cakes: 

The Crown: Every birthday girl needs a crown.

The Party:

This was her party invitation. Her Uncle Tyler, Aunt Jenae, Hicken family, Snow family, and Gourlie family were there.

Aunt Jenae was so sweet and followed Lorelai everywhere all night. 

Playing in the splash pad with Lila.

Having fun at her party.

Selfie of the party crew.

She wasn't into eating her smash cake with everyone watching her. 

Later on though she sat on the table and dug into the cake.

Having more fun.

Fell asleep on the way home. She was so worn out.

The Gifts:

Lorelai was so cute opening up her gifts. She loved everything that she got.

Especially this baby doll. She hugged it immediately and was so excited. She carried it around all night (and the next day too).

Still holding onto the dolly.

We love our sweet little girl. This has been the best year our lives getting to be her parents. She has brought so much joy into our lives. We love you Lorelai.

Happy Birthday.

Day At The Beach

Lorelai went to the beach for the first time this weekend and she loved it. We went and visited my brother in California and spent a afternoon at the beach. It was super crowed but so much fun. I had a feeling Lorelai would like it. She loves water, and what kid doesn't love to play in the sand? She had a blast. She even loved standing in the waves and would try and take off on her own. As the waves would come she would scream and get so excited. It was so much fun to watch. 

Can't wait to go back again! 

Activity Days - Temple Blocks

I am the Activity Days leader in our ward at church. This means that I work with the 10 and 11 year old girls. We meet two nights a month and we work on passing off certain goals or do fun activities. A few weeks ago we made these temple blocks. We learned about the importance of staying worthy to go to the temple, not only to get married but also when they turn 12 and can go do baptisms. They made these cute blocks using pictures that I printed from this site. They have all kinds of different temples to choose from.

Materials:

-Temple picture

-Wood 

-Tulle

-Modge Podge

So easy and will be a cute little reminder to always stay worthy to enter the temple. 

Mother's Day

I love being a mom.

I have always wanted to be a mom and growing up my friends, cousins, and I would play house all the time pretending to be mothers to loads of babies. In college, I had the hardest time deciding what I wanted to study because what I really wanted was to be a mom. I love learning and I understand the importance of an education but in the back of my mind I always knew that if possible I wanted to be a stay at home mom.

 This past year I was blessed with a beautiful baby girl and my dreams of being a mother finally came true. I understand that sounds a bit clique but I really am living my dream right now. Lorelai has changed me in so many ways. She has shown me my weaknesses, taught me to laugh, smile and find joy in the simple everyday things. I am so thankful that I have been given the chance to be her mom. 

 I also have an amazing mom. She has gone through more heartache and sorrow than anyone I know and yet she never complains and remains strong and firm in her testimony. She is such a great example to me. Now that I am a mom, my appreciation for what she has done for me has increased and I now realize even more how difficult times in her life must have been. She was always a great mother though. I am so grateful for all the great examples of mothers that I have had in my life. I have watched you and I have learned from you. From my grandmas to aunts to cousins and friends, I have been blessed with so many examples of what being a good mother is. 

I am starting to really understand what a sacred calling motherhood is and I am grateful for that knowledge because it makes the sometimes mundane and repetitive tasks seem so much more meaningful. It also gives me more direction and purpose in my life. 

 This Mother's Day has given me the chance to reflect on motherhood and has made me want to be a better mom. I want to try a little harder each day to make sure that I am teaching Lorelai those things that are most important and that I am taking the time to really enjoy being a mom. To not just go from one thing to the next trying to accomplish a list of goals in the day but to take the time to enjoy sweet moments with my little girl. 

I love being a mom.

St. George Anniversary

That sounds pretty awesome right. A trip to St. George for our Anniversary. We have never taken a trip on our actual Anniversary. So this year we thought we would doing something special, go somewhere cool, and do lots of fun stuff we have never done before....ACTUALLY he had to take Dental Boards in St. George and it just happened to fall on our Anniversary.

After the test was over we were able to have some fun. 

We went to the St. George temple grounds and walked around the temple and visitor center.

Travis and Lorelai climbed a tree.

 Don't let this picture fool you. She hates grass and refused to walk on it. But she loves to be outside. 

We went to lunch at a Thai restaurant. Lorelai was good in her high chair for about 5.2 seconds. We tried drinking a whole coconut and it was distinguishing. Travis was adamant we finish it so that it wouldn't be a waste of money. Hence the weird face as he tried to choke it all down. We also tried a place called Swig. They have delicious sugar cookies there. I'd go back to St. George just for that :) not kidding.

Happy Anniversary to the man who makes life great! To the best daddy and most caring husband. You make me laugh and always make sure we are happy even when you are so busy. I love you! Here is to another 6 years...one suggestion though...maybe next time DON'T schedule a huge test on our Anniversary, BUT if you have to make sure that test is in Hawaii :)

Easter Aunties

We were able to spend this Easter with Travis' family. We were on our way home from a trip to Winnemucca after ditching Travis for finals (again). Her Aunt Jenae and Aunt Cammy had the cutest Easter basket waiting for her. She loved all the things they put inside. I especially loved the little Under Armour outfit. Her aunts are too nice and always spoil her :) While there we had a nice breakfast, Easter egg hunt, played outside, and enjoyed spending the day together. Thanks for making Lorelai's first Easter special for her.