Blessings in Disguise

I have to admit that May this year has not been my favorite month.  It might actually be one of the worst months I've had, but I think as I reflect back on it, I'll find that a lot of good came out of this month, too.

Brandon ruptured his Achilles tendon in April.  There was a partial tear at the beginning of the month and just as we thought he was getting better, it finished tearing a few weeks later. So after a week of checking with doctors and verifying that yes his foot does not move and bend the way it should, we scheduled the surgery for May 2.  Most of the hassle was finding the right medical facility that accepted our insurance. I'm just grateful we got the insurance when we did so that we don't have to stress as much on the financial side of surgery.  Don't get me wrong, there's still stress in that area, it's just lessened some. :)

Surgery day came and I'd like to think I didn't look as freaked out and worried as I was. But I had something happy to look out at while I waited. I think it helped some. All hospitals should have happy flowers for friends and family of patients to look at.

This was Brandon's first major surgery.  The only other thing he's had even remotely like this was getting his wisdom teeth out.  He has a very strange reaction to the drugs they give people about to have surgery (he did this with the wisdom teeth too): he talked incessantly. Now I know that doesn't sound much different from how he is normally but believe me, there was a difference.  There's a filter in your brain between the things you're thinking and the things you say.  His filter was gone.  Afterward, he remembers thinking about a story but didn't realize he told the nurses the story while they were trying to get him ready.  I remember him trying to talk with the nurse and anesthesiologist  while they were giving him the nerve block in his leg.  It was pretty funny listening to him.  The nurses thought he was very entertaining.  His mom told me the story of when he got his wisdom teeth out, the same thing happened there, too.  The only problem is that it's kinda hard to talk (and you really shouldn't) after doing surgery IN YOUR MOUTH.  Did that stop him? Nope. Not one bit.  I think it's cute...and just a little silly. 

So the surgery went well and he came home drugged up and in a cast. We had some really great friends watching Kayla for us while we were at the hospital and they dropped her off when we were done.  She was really sweet with Brandon.  I think she understood that he had a hurt foot and was really tired. So she came up on bed with him and just sat there with him and played on her Kindle.

  
Sometimes Kayla really surprises me with her intuitiveness and empathetic nature.  This wasn't the first time she's done something like this.  I've noticed that when we're out, she likes to tell us the emotional state of all the kids (and sometimes adults) that she notices. I love that about her.

So Brandon had to be in the cast, using crutches to get around, but mostly keeping it elevated for 2 weeks.  He couldn't watch Kayla during this time since it was so hard for him to get around, so I had to find friends who could watch her.  And did my friends rally! I saw such an outpouring of love and generosity from them, I'm still feeling touched weeks later.

There were so many moments of service and love, I can't possibly go into detail of all of them, but I'll relate a couple experiences that really stood out to me. The first was the Sunday right after the surgery.  That night, our friend (who happens to be the Bishop in our Ward) came over to visit with us and see how everything went with the surgery.  Before he left, he asked if we would like to take the Sacrament, a very special ordinance we weren't able to get that day because we stayed home from church. I was truly touched; I hadn't expected that offer from him. We were at church the week before and took the Sacrament, so he didn't offer because we hadn't had it in a while. But it was something we missed and I'm grateful he took the time to give us that ordinance at home.  Sometimes we take advantage of the things we do every week or everyday.  Sometimes the repetition makes us lose sight of the significance or importance of the action.   I'm grateful to get a reminder now and again that the daily or weekly rituals are important and essential for my well-being. 

The other amazing thing that happened during this time was a service project at our house. Specifically, our back yard.  At the beginning of the year, we decided to put a garden in our backyard.  We made a list of things we wanted to plant and what we needed to get the soil ready.  In the spring, it was tilled and plans were made for where specific plants would grow best.  But after the injury we knew we'd have to cut back on those plans, but we still wanted a garden.  Everything was set up, we just needed to decide which plants to get.  We kept it simple.  We've got green peas, carrots, onions, and lettuce.  What really helped was a neighbor who doesn't have a yard wanted a garden so we're sharing our large space with him, too.  The amazing thing was that after the surgery, a bunch of our friends and neighbors came over and weeded our garden and the jungle that has become the back fence area.  They also created what Brandon has lovingly called "Strawberry Hill." It's pretty awesome.  One of our friends bought strawberries for us and planted them on our hill.  She also gave us starts for cucumbers and a pumpkin.  We have the best friends ever! It's so much easier to work outside when there are friends to help and other kids to play with your kid so you aren't constantly needing to watch them.  We had so much fun that night! And Brandon was there supervising everything. I know it made him so happy and grateful to everyone that took time out of their busy lives to come help us.

I found this video as I was trying to find a picture of the garden (couldn't find one so that'll be on another post).  Kayla loves her princess dress that Brandon's aunt gave her for Christmas.  At the time, it was too long for her to walk in.  So I decided to try it on her again to see how it fit.  As you can see, it fits and she's been calling herself a princess. I love it!

So those first two weeks were kind of stressful, and I'm very happy that they're over. But looking back, a lot of good things have happened during that time, too.  I'm glad I'm thinking back and writing this blog.  It helps me forget all the stressful things that happened and helps me remember the good things in life.

Things got a lot better at home once Brandon got his boot on.  He still has a hard time getting around but he doesn't have to go around on crutches anymore. It doesn't take him several trips just to get a plate of food and a drink. Yay!

And just because I can, I'm throwing in a video that I think is very pertinent to what I've been talking about in this post: the ability (or lack) of walking and getting around the house.  Kayla came up with this all on her own and the whole time she was doing this I imagined C.S.Lewis watching his kids play and maybe that's how he came up with some of his fantastical creatures.

This video also makes me realize how big my feet are...

Since we couldn't go up to Idaho to visit family, they decided to come down to visit us for Memorial weekend. We had a lot of fun together (per the norm) and we tried to cram as much fun in as we could in 3 days.  Saturday Lonnie and I got mani-pedies (a much needed relaxing activity) at a place really close to home for a reasonable price.  Always a nice discovery.  Though I don't think I'll ever get a manicure again unless it's for a very special event.  The paint started chipping within hours of getting it done.  At first I was upset with the nail place, but then I realized that it was going to happen regardless.  I have a very active kid.  I have a home that is in constant need of cleaning. I also have a family that needs feeding.  It's really impractical to go around NOT doing anything with your hands just because there's some paint on it.  The nice thing that came out of it was that Kayla saw my painted nails and wanted hers done, too.  She's such a girly girl and I love it! Now I need to go out and buy more nail polish...

  

In addition to the amazing paint job I did on Kayla's fingers, you can also see here the awesome goatee Brandon's been growing since he first got the injury in April. Very impressive, Brandon! I've also been surprised at how much it doesn't bother me.  I honestly thought it would, but once it got to the soft stage (after the prickly stage which was thankfully short), I haven't had much of a problem with it. Learning something new all the time.

Recently, Brandon has found a website about cooking and grilling that he has become fascinated with.  It goes into the detailed science of the particular thing the guy is cooking. Brandon's learned a lot of interesting things, and we've experimented on some of his findings. Like boiled eggs.  We now know exactly what to do if we want a hard boiled egg to come off the shell easy and without the giant hole at the base. We also know how to make steak pinwheels. A really yummy one with scallions, ginger, and teriyaki sauce. We tried it out for the first time during Memorial weekend, and I think it will become a new grilling favorite during the summer.

And there you have it! So yummy! That extra piece on the side wasn't big enough to roll up so they cooked it flat...and it wasn't as juicy and tender as the pinwheel...a very interesting discovery. 

As these two cuties are getting older, they're having more fun together.  It also requires a little less monitoring on the mommy's part each time they play together.  We don't have to worry as much about hair pulling and tackles.  They're having conversations with each other,  "cooking" together, and generally being the two most adorable playmates ever!

The most exciting part about Memorial weekend was Memorial Day.  We met up with Lonnie's sister and went to Hogle Zoo together. It was hot, and Brandon was having a harder time getting around (thank you Hogle Zoo for having so many places to sit down at almost every exhibit), but we sure had fun.  There were new things to see and Kayla wanted to see it all.

They had a new lion exhibit and I loved that they placed the observation glass in a place that all of us (including the lions) could be out of the sun.  She loved the elephants and the seals.  She had a lot of fun in the splash pad.  But I think her absolute favorite place was the carousel. 

We have friends that have a zoo pass and we've already scheduled a time to go back.  We can't wait.  We have lots of fun plans for this summer.  Hopefully Brandon will keep getting better so he can keep up with Kayla!

Reflecting back on this last month or so, I've seen the Divine Hand in my life blessing my family. I have seen Him work through others to bless my family. I am humbled when I accept help from others.  And I am humbled when I have to ask for help.  I hate doing it all the time, and this period has really taxed me in that area.  I hope I can someday repay the kindness that was shown to me and my family.  Lately I keep coming back to a scripture I read when I was pregnant with Kayla and was worried about how to be a good mother and raising this child that God has entrusted me with. It's in the Book of Mormon, Alma 34:3 

And as ye have desired of my beloved brother that he should make known unto you what ye should do, because of your afflictions; and he hath spoken somewhat unto you to prepare your minds; yea, and he hath exhorted you unto faith and to patience—

Faith and Patience. Those have been the two things I've felt like I really need to learn.  And just when I think I've got it figured out, something happens and I have to start again the learning process.  This has been really good for me. I know I've become a better person since that day 3 years ago.  I've come to put my trust in the Lord, and I know He will take care of me.  If I keep doing the things He would want me to do, everything I've been worrying about will work themselves out. It scares me, but I can have the faith that's needed to get through the trials in my life.  And I don't have to go through it alone. I have my amazing husband who is the best spouse anyone could ask for. I have my sweet little girl who is sometimes the cause of my trials but is such a blessing to me. I have close friends and family. I have seen and felt their love. And I have my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and my Father in Heaven. I have felt Their love. I am never alone, and that brings me the greatest joy. I am truly blessed.

Spring is Here! I think...

Lots of exciting and not-so-exciting things have happened over the last couple months, and I am determined to write them down. There will be lots of random moments in this jumble that is our life in the Ho House.

The first one is about Brandon. Love of my life.  Back in March, Kayla and I decided to go to the park because it was a BEAUTIFUL day.  We were having a really good time until a crazy little idea popped into Kayla's head.  Our park is right next to an elementary school, and this school has their own small playground.  Kayla saw it and wanted to go over to play there.  The whole time I was trying to explain to her that we can't play there. Being a 2 year old, she doesn't listen to anything you have to say unless it's something she wants.  We get to the small playground and I finally pick her up and try to start walking back to the playground she CAN play on. Being a 2 year old, she's kicking and screaming, making it very difficult for her mommy to carry her anywhere without a lot of effort. When I put her down I noticed that in the thrashing and crying, she had broken my necklace.  It was a simple necklace: a silver chain with a tiny CTR ring looped on it; the CTR letters were actually a Chinese character.  The ring was one of the first gifts, maybe even the first gift, that Brandon gave me when we were dating.  It had fallen off when the necklace broke, and I didn't realize how much it meant to me until it was gone. We went home and Kayla told Daddy why Mommy was sad and said that he could fix it.  Brandon put the chain back together, and that made Kayla happy.  She said "Daddy fix it!" He comforted me and I was resigned to the ring being lost. 

The next day was Sunday. Brandon was busy with church meetings, so I didn't see him much until the evening.  When he got home and into more comfy clothes he got a text message and told me he needed to go back out again.  There was nothing surprising in that, so he changed, left, and I finished making dinner.  He came home soon after that with my tiny CTR ring.  Then he went on to tell me how earlier that afternoon he went out looking for it but couldn't find it either.  He asked a couple people he met at the park and asked them to keep their eye out for it and to contact him if they found it.  Someone did! I couldn't believe it! Brandon was so sweet to go and do something like that for me. It's those simple things that he does that means so much.  I'm really lucky to have him.

I felt like I needed a picture break before I moved on to the next fun event in my life. This is a picture of a few of my tulips that came up this year in my garden.  They all turned out so beautiful! I love my tulips!

One of the biggest events in March, for me, was Brandon's birthday. I've been planning it since the beginning of the year, so I was very excited for it to finally come.  Brandon turned 29 this year, so I wanted to make it a memorable one.  It's his last year in his 20's; we needed to celebrate! So I surprised him by taking him to Nickle City in Orem. He knew we were having a party, but didn't know where exactly.  We got a group of friends together (and their families) and had a really fun time.  Brandon was surprised and very very happy.  We had pizza, cake, and  ice cream.  Unfortunately, I was an idiot and didn't take pictures of my beautiful cake that I made!  It was a two-tier cake with yummy cream cheese icing (dyed blue) and surrounded by twix bars. I had balloons for the kids (including Brandon), and I still have some left over on the ceiling of my house weeks later!  The best part about having a party at Nickle City was that I didn't have to worry about the entertainment.  They could just go and play games! I loved it! Brandon loved it; and Kayla really loved it! We'll have to go there with her again.

The next day, we went to the Filmed in Utah Awards.  Brandon's feature film, Missed Connections, was nominated for 9 different awards.  Unfortunately, we didn't win anything, but it was fun to get all dressed up and go to the awards ceremony.

Now we enter into the month of April.  It's been a pretty interesting month.  Some good. Some not so good.  So here we go!

The first weekend of April is always one of my favorites.  It's General Conference weekend: two days of spiritual enlightenment from the leaders of our Church.  One of the traditions we now have in connection with that weekend is visiting my brother, Clark, and his family.  Either they come down to us or we go up to Idaho to visit them.  This time around, we went up to them.  They have a little girl about 9 months younger than Kayla, and they have so much fun together!!!  Sometimes it's so much fun, the mommies don't get much out of a talk or two...but these cousins sure do love each other.

One of the things I like about April, beside my beautiful tulips, is the warm weather after a long winter.  Having a very active child cooped up inside for that long just makes us all go a little crazy.  So on any warmish day, you can find us at the park.  Hopefully with some of our friends, too. Parks make everyone so happy!

This is Kayla with her friend/cousin Amy. They love playing together!

And this is Kayla with Cami playing "Ring Around the Rosie" 

The other fun things that come with warm weather (though I guess it's not really necessary, just nice) are BBQs and S'more nights at our fire-pit.  I had given Brandon a s'more box for his birthday, so we could keep all his yummy s'more making goodness all together.  Best present ever! A friend of ours had a birthday the same day Brandon planned a S'more party so Brandon asked me to make a s'more cake.  This time I took a picture!

I found the recipe on Pinterest, and it's super yummy! It's a graham cracker cookie with a brownie mix and marshmallow cream in the middle.  I think I'm going to tweak it a little more to get the sizing right.  Right now, it's a little on the thick side (I think at least 6" tall). Needless to say, Brandon will appreciate any "testing" I do on this yummy thing.  Now all I need is a kitchen torch...

The next best thing about April (most years anyway) is Easter.  It's a time to celebrate and remember the sacrifice of our beloved Savior and His resurrection.  Our Father in Heaven loved us so much that He sent His Son to suffer for our sins and die for us.  Our Savior loved us so much that He experienced the atonement so that we might one day live with Him and our Heavenly Father again.  What ultimate examples of love.  And if we love them even a little bit, then we must do our best so that the Atonement wasn't made for us in vain.  I've been thinking a lot about this and families in particular.  Christ atoned for us so that we can be forever families.  He was resurrected so that we can one day be resurrected with our families, too.  It all boils down to families.  Everything.  The gospel, the purpose of the Church, our purpose here on earth, and the ordinances we do for ourselves and those that are dead.

I love my family, all of them.  They enrich and bring joy to my life.  Raising my daughter has really challenged me and helped me become a better person.  I have such hopes for her, but ultimately I hope that she continues to be the happy, sweet girl I know she is.  

Easter morning, when I dressed Kayla up in her pretty dress (thanks Mom!), she wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a decent picture, so I had to get a video instead.

That afternoon, we did a small Easter egg hunt for Kayla (loved it), and then had the Bobo's over for Easter dinner.  I really liked the idea of making dinner extra special for that day.  We had ham, slow cooked scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad, and deviled eggs.  Everything was so delicious!  I feel a tradition coming on...

And that brings us up to date to this week.  And though it's only been three days this week, they have been pretty full, kinda stressful, and pretty much  overshadow all the good things that happened this month.  At the beginning of April, Brandon went to play basketball with the Elder's quorum.  He stretched, warmed up, and then started to play a game of 21.  He shot the ball, then seeing that it wasn't going to go in the basket, went to go after it.  He took one step, heard a pop, and went down.  It wasn't a loud pop in his ankle, and he didn't feel a whole lot of pain, so he came home where we elevated it and put ice on it even though he didn't get much swelling.  We later got a brace, and he went on crutches for a while until he felt good enough to limp along without one.  He continued to get better, but was still having trouble putting pressure on the front part of his left foot.  On Sunday (the 27th) as we were coming home from church, Brandon decided to try his foot out a little bit.  He didn't put a lot of pressure on it, but it didn't take much for the rest of his Achilles heel to tear.  That same day, we went to a friend who's a physical therapist and he did a reflex test and told us that it had completely torn. We then speculated that it had partially torn at the beginning of the month and then finally finished tearing the rest of the way that day.  Monday, we make a lot of phone calls to various doctor's offices, and finally found one that accepted our health insurance (I didn't realize that would be the hardest part of the process, but that's another rant for another day).  We went in today and they verified via a sonogram that it had indeed torn all the way.  Brandon will have surgery.  He's going in tomorrow to consult with the surgeon and will then schedule a time to go get that done sometime within the next week or two.  It should be a one day hospital visit.  No overnight.  Just the surgery and then a boot for however long it takes to recover.  Hopefully everything will go that easy, so I will be praying that happens.  Through this whole thing, Kayla's been really sweet and understanding that her Daddy can't always pick her up and run with her like he used to.  She's confident that the doctors will fix Daddy's foot. I love her for that.

So with all of April's ups and downs, I'm really glad it's over.  May, here we come, whether I want it to or not...I'll just be happy if it's warmer that what we've gotten so far this week (rain, snow, and lots of chilly wind). May it be filled with warm park days for Kayla and safe recovery days for Brandon.  

Loving Gifts

February is the time of love.  And for some reason, that translates to be a lot of Chik Flicks watched during this time for me.  It's the time to show those you love how much you care.  Some go extravagant, others more simple, depending on taste and budgetary constraints.  This year we decided to keep it on the simple side.  Starting Feb 1, I put a cut-out heart on the entertainment center in the family room, where Brandon could see it clearly, and added another heart each day until Valentine's Day.  On each heart, I wrote down one thing I loved about him.  I also attached his favorite candy bar so he could have a yummy treat, too. I thought it turned out really great.  It was fun sneaking the hearts on there so he wouldn't see me doing it.  

The next thing I did was make a cake.  This was my first try making a layered cake and decorating it (mostly figuring out if I have enough icing).  The recipe was one of our wedding cake flavors and supper yummy. The real reason I made one was to practice making a cake for Brandon's birthday. So when I was telling my mom about making a cake for Valentine's Day she told me how to make a heart-shaped cake really easily:  use a square pan for the main body and a round pan where the diameter is roughly the same length as one of the sides of the square.  After the cake cools, set the square diagonally (to make the point of the heart).  Cut the round cake in half and set each half on two adjacent corners.  Ice it up and you get something like this:

I used a Twix bar for the "I" and M&Ms for the other letters and decorating.  It was actually Kayla that decided it needed more M&Ms, so she helped me put them on. It was a lot of fun and she got to eat her favorite food: chocolate.  I was planning on doing regular white icing, but she also convinced me that it needed to be pink. Very pink.  My girl loves pink...

Since Valentine's Day this year was on a Friday, I decided that I did NOT want to go out for dinner.  It would be too crowded and too long of a wait.  So we went out for lunch (the Pretzel-maker) and I made dinner. Brandon went out with Kayla to get some things I needed to make dinner, and came back with this:

Who picked out the pink mini-roses, do you ask? Why Kayla of course! And I love them. They smell wonderful. Brandon was really sweet to get them.  He doesn't like getting cut flowers because they don't last as long as potted ones.  If you ask me, I think it's a risk on those potted ones, too. I'm no green thumb. We'll see how long these last...

And since there haven't been any pictures of Kayla this entire post (crazy I know!) I figured I can show a recent video of a Kayla and Daddy Play Time session. Warning: there is squealing.

December Celebrations and the New Year

I need to come to terms with the fact that my life will always be busy, and if I want to keep up this blog that I will have to take time out of the month and write.  Writing isn't that hard.  Remembering stories about my family really isn't that hard either. And I've always got photos or videos to share. So I just need to get my butt in gear. 

So here we go with the recap of the last couple months:

December was full of fun and holiday spirit. We weren't home for Christmas, so we didn't get a Christmas tree. But I have a small plastic one that we used to decorate with some of our ornaments.  I was really happy I did this because Kayla loved the tree and kept taking off and putting the ornaments back on.

I decided to make this year's ornaments. I wanted sea-themed ones, and I knew I wouldn't find any I liked at the store. So I found patterns and made one for each of us.

Kayla's

Mommy's

Daddy's

If you look back at our Halloween costumes, you'll understand why I chose a fish, jellyfish, and turtle for each of us. I thought they turned out really well!

We also stayed busy going to Christmas parties for work and our neighborhood.  Brandon and I were able to go on a DATE and see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. That was really fun. A week or so before we saw it, we watched some behind the scenes of creating the dwarves, highlighting their different personalities and trying to show that through their costuming and appearance.  It was really interesting and I paid a lot more attention to the different dwarves while watching the movie than I did in the first movie.  

We also had Clark and Lonnie come visit before Christmas.  Clark helped Brandon put together the play kitchen we got Kayla (because we weren't about to haul it to Colorado) while Lonnie and I went shopping for last minute gifts. And speaking of gifts, it was Clark's birthday while he was visiting, so I made him a little something.

I thought it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. :) Oh, and he liked it too.

The Sunday before Christmas we left for Colorado. It was one of the worst driving experiences of my life.  Luckily I wasn't driving or it would have been worse.  We got there safely, but I think I may have had a number of heart attacks along the way.  It snowed the whole time, some places worse than others, and after 9 hours of driving we made it to Brandon's parents' house.  Thinking back on it, I believe the worst part wasn't the snow that was so thick on the roads, we couldn't see the lines, but the crazy drivers around us.  We didn't have many, but those few were too many.  None knew how to drive safely and they gave me the most panic attacks.

Vacation in Colorado is always full of fun and, most importantly, relaxation.   Kayla had fun Christmas morning with her presents (thanks everyone!!!), but I think she had the most fun helping her Grandma pass out the presents to everyone.  I hope that sort of attitude stays with her as she grows. I think it will, and it's a joy to see how much she loves everyone without reservation. She also likes to wear out Brandon without reservation.  Here's proof:

and after that dancing session she wanted to do this until 

Brandon almost collapsed from exhaustion :

She also enjoyed dancing with her Grandpa, but I don't have a video of that to post up, unfortunately. She had so much energy that week, it took all 4 adults to keep her entertained. Now imagine that same energy and only 1, sometimes 2, adults keeping her entertained when we're home. No wonder we're so exhausted.  And as life goes, we had to leave Colorado (the drive was MUCH safer) and come back home to work and more work.

January
On New Year's Eve, we had some friends come over and play games while we ate yummy snack foods.  I'm thinking that will become tradition in our home.  That was lots of fun.

Near the end of January, Brandon filmed his teaser trailer he's doing for Brandon Sanderson's Alloy of Law.  This was a picture he sent me that night (and there's other pictures on Facebook):

Just looking at that picture gives me the tingles. So excited! So a lot of good things are happening in that area, and when we get something more definite, then I'll make a post.  

So overall, I'd say that 2014 is looking very promising. I think as long as we're going good things, good things will continue to come our way. One can hope anyway. 

November Travels

Looking back on November, we did A LOT of driving. That meant a lot of stuff was going on!

My nephew decided to be baptized, so we were able to attend that which was really special. 

Mom and Mike were still visiting and going between my house and Jessica's, so we tried to spend as much time with them as we could.

They had so much fun with this bundle of joy.

They were here on Veteran's Day, so we went to Olive Garden to celebrate.  This is what they ended up doing at the end of dinner.

So that's what you can do with a little piece of bread and a grandma to entertain a 2 year old.

That next weekend, my sister and I with our two kids (her youngest) went down to St. George for our Grandpa Ab's birthday party.  It was good to see all the family there.  A couple of my uncles surprised Grandpa by coming to the party.  It was also very interesting trying to get the two kids to bed in the hotel room.  Kayla wouldn't stop talking to her cousin even though it was way past both of their bed times.  Silly girl.  Jessica and I ended up playing games in the hallway outside our door, listening to them and waiting for them to fall asleep. Overall the trip was a lot of fun.

While I was down in St. George, Brandon was in Bakersfield, CA going to a film festival there.  His romantic comedy movie that he directed got in to that film festival and won an award! Yay! Hopefully this will mean we get more recognition and maybe even distribution!  

Then as November winds down, we're off to Colorado for Thanksgiving!  Brandon considered that vacation a success because he was able to spend an entire day in his pajamas.  So I guess I shouldn't wonder why Kayla likes to wear pajamas all day too... Anyway, we had yummy food and great company.  I'm so thankful for such a great and loving family for Kayla to grow up in.  Kayla had fun playing with her grandparents, and we had fun relaxing.  We didn't get to stay as long as we wanted (we kept trying to find excuses to stay), but it was a comfort to know we'd be there in three weeks.

I just want to list a few things I'm thankful for: 

• my husband for being the most amazing spouse ever! 
• Kayla for being the sweetest daughter, she just makes my heart melt
• all my family and friends for being so loving and fun
• my warm and comfy home
• my testimony and the knowledge that I will see my Daddy again
• my Savior for all He did and still continues to do for me
• my Heavenly Father, who knows me and loves me despite that knowledge

Happy Thanksgiving.  It's good to remember what you're thankful for, especially during this time of year.

October Projects

Wow. I didn't realize that I haven't posted since September.  So much has been going on, but I should have been updating here. My apologies. Let's see if I can give an update for the last 3 months, starting with October.

I turned 27. Just saying that makes me feel old, but not that old. :)

We went to Idaho to visit Clark, Lonnie, and MaKenna for General Conference weekend.  We heard a lot of good things from the leaders of the Church, and, like any family gathering, had lots of fun, ate good food, and the girls loved playing together.  Now that they're getting older, they're having a lot more fun together. This also means not as much supervision (keeping them from accidentally killing each other), but still keeping an eye on them so they don't destroy the house together. 

So this is what they did instead.  If you can't see what they're holding, it's our Kindle Fire HD.  It has become Kayla's Toy.  We recently put a case on it so it can handle a toddler and survive.  I love it (both the case and the Kindle).  There's a special app for kids where the parents can select which apps they can access.  She can't make purchases or surf the web without the parental password.  She knows that's her app, and she goes right to it when she wants to play. They're also coming out with a lot of good apps for kids.  She's learning and it's easy to clean up afterwards! 

The girl's other favorite past-time together was to play with the Daddys. Here's one example.

We love getting together so we can have moments like this.  Can't wait until we see them again!

The last time Mom and Mike came to our house to visit, they offered to buy us a new toilet in the upstairs bathroom as their Christmas present to us.  So we decided to redo the entire thing since we have to take out the toilet anyway.  This took up a couple weekends, but it was so worth it! So here are some before pictures:

As you can see, the people who painted the poo-brown color couldn't take the time to remove their towel hook thing and paint the whole wall...they painted around it.  It took Brandon 10 seconds to remove it and a good half hour of sanding to try to get the pain levels even before we started painting.

And the after pictures:

I think this is the only room in the house that really feels like us.  One room at a time...

We also took family pictures. We love taking pictures in the fall with all the variety of colors.  We went to the park behind Walmart in Orem.  It was a great location! We were only there an hour and we got so many good shots! One of our friends in our neighborhood took them.  She was great!  Here are just a few of my favorites (it was REALLY hard to narrow it down):

And the month doesn't end here!  There's still Halloween!  I decided to make our costumes this year, and with the help of my mom, they looked amazing!  Since Kayla has been into fish this year and we did a fish-themes birthday party, we decided to extend the fish theme to our costumes.  I became a jellyfish, Brandon a sea turtle, and Kayla a little rainbow fish.  I crocheted Brandon's and Kayla's hat, and it took me 3 tries to get her hat size right!  We also decided to have a Halloween party this year.  So here are some pictures of our party and costumes.

I had a lot of fun making all these yummy treats!

Mom was a bunch of grapes,

I think this was the best picture of the fish hat.

Thinking back on this month, October was REALLY busy, but we got a lot done.  I love spending time with family and we were able to do that a lot.  And the next two months are just as crazy but fun! Stay tuned for more HoStories.