I love you!

I told my mom that Rachel could say "I love you" so she asked me to make a video of it. We think it is so cute especially because she will say it randomly throughout the day. We don't have to tell her to say it. I guess its because we tell her that we love her all the time and we say I love you to each other, she picked up on it. it makes me smile every time she says it no matter how I am feeling.
PS sorry the video is sideways, I forgot that you can only turn the camera long ways for pictures not videos.

Petting zoo

We had fun at the petting zoo today! Rachel loved to see all the animals. She was mostly interested in petting the goats. Other than that she would make the animal sound when I pointed out the particular animal but wasn't showing tons of enthusiasm. She just wanted to get out of the stroller and run around exploring. I had Cory with me too so I wasn't comfortable with letting two toddlers run around the barn area with all the people and horses around. I did let them out to pet some of the goats and to play in the kid size jail house. Rachel threw a fit when it was time to go.The best part about the zoo was that the kids were free because they are under 3 yrs. So I just had to pay $2 for me. what a cheap, fun activity. I think I will take them again next week.

Flashback Friday

This is Will during Christmas of 1984 at age 3 yrs. That is his mom in the background.

ITS ALIVE!

I found this pumpkin hiding along the fence. Its huge already!
my zucchini got really big in just a few days
Its kind of hard to see but I have a whole string of tomatoes now!
This a a frenzy of ants that were near my garden so I sent them back where they came from. I hope god accepts ants into heaven and he doesn't consider me a murderer.

My meager little garden

watermelon


fruit trees(plum, peach and pear)



peach


wild carrot behind bush



pears


compost heap in the wood box



Pumpkin box with no pumpkins yet


wild zucchini I think



zucchini?


this one is in the cantelope box



White pumpkins in the cantelope box?


peppers in the watermelon box?



strawberries


tomatoes



close up of tomatoes


watermelon/peppers



cantelope box

blueberries(they aren't growing)



This is the main garden area



blackberries



Rasberries and Roses





This post is for my Dad. He wanted to see my garden. Sorry its a long one. If you click on the photo it will open up larger. Its hard to see whats what when they are so small. Anyone out there who plans to buy seeds from walmart, this is a warning to you: you never know what you will get. I got peppers mixed in my watermelon packet and who knows what in my cantelope packet. Its still fun to watch it all grow and wonder what it is going to be. P.S. sorry about the funky layout, it never works how I want it to.

Flashback Friday: Skydiving!

For my 20th birthday my family pooled their money together and paid for my aunt Cindy, my cousin Brandon and I to go skydiving. Brandon and I had always wanted to do this since we were little kids. Cindy promised she would take us for our 18th birthday but it never happened. since I had decided to move to Utah, she decided that if she didn't do it then, then it probably would never happen. So it was a total surprise. Brandon and I were told that we were going horseback riding and we only found out it was skydiving when we got to the airport. It was so exciting and fun! I only got really nervous when it was time to jump. Once I got out of the plane and over the shock of being up so high, it was awesome. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do that and would love to do it again someday but I probably never will because I found out that the Prophet said not to do extreme sports like that where you are putting your life in danger. At least I got to go once!

weight loss goal

So its a little bit embarrassing to share my weight with everyone but I am hoping that by going public with my progress, it will help motivate me to continue losing weight. I had lost 21 pounds but we just went on vacation for a week and sadly I gained 5 back. It's quite discouraging and I have been dreading exercise this week even though it used to be a part of my morning routine so I didn't have and trouble getting up to do it in the past. A week off really sabotages everything. I have been very determined to lose the extra pounds because I promised myself that I would not be so heavy the next time I got pregnant. Well I feel ready for another baby so I really need to slim down so I can get pregnant and get fat again. I have added a weight loss tracker at the bottom of the page for anyone interested in keeping up with my progress. My strategy is exercising 5 days a week for at least 30 min and I am monitoring my eating habits with weight watchers. I must say that it is harder to control what I eat than to exercise. Any tips would be helpful and wish me luck!

Rachel and Daddy at the park

Going down the big slide!



Rachel absolutely loves the swing!



Feeding the ducks in the pond.

Family Reunion

Last week we went to Missouri to have a family reunion with Will's family. We all stayed at his parents house in Hannibal. It was pretty chaotic around the house because there were about 28 of us all sharing about 3000 sq ft. Rachel really enjoyed chasing her cousins around the house. It was a lot of fun though and I think my favorite activities were going to Nauvoo and Carthage. Some of you may know that I love history so getting to be in the same place as Mormon pioneers were was just fascinating to me. We got to go in the Nauvoo temple to do a session and it was so powerful. I know it is rebuilt but I still felt like I was standing in the same room as the prophet Brigham.I believe Joseph Smith died before it was finished so I don't know if he was ever able to participate in the ordinances there. It was so beautiful.
Getting to see Carthage was so sobering and spiritual. I was grateful for the experience to be able to be in the place where the Prophet gave his last breath. I could feel the spirit there but mostly I just felt sad. Unfortunately Will was not able to see much of the jail because Rachel was not cooperative. He had to take her outside. She loves walking now and refuses to let us hold her anymore. She wanted to run all around inside the historic building and made a big fuss when we wouldn't let her.
Second favorite was playing on the lake. Will got sun burnt pretty bad but had fun driving the boat. I tried the inner tube and it was scary at first but fun. my arms were really sore the next day though.
Fun vacation and can't wait to see the family again at the next reunion!

Finally walking!

Here it is! Rachel is finally walking. She has taken one step here and there but today she decided to try a bit harder. Out of nowhere she just started taking 3-5 steps at a time and was determined to keep trying. So far she had been too nervous to try. The cutest part was that every time she fell down she would get back up and say "almost" then try again. Needless to say we were grinning ear to ear today.