Baptism

Oh. My. Stars. I woke up this morning to find this amazing picture in my inbox sent from my number one trainer as a missionary. Jenson and I had a blast together. We were companions for five months and went through the toughest and best times together. And the best was this baptism of Lily and Aren, I sure did name my kids after them! From right to left - Mane (pronounced Ma-nay), who introduced them to the gospel, precious Lily, Jenson, baby me, and my dear Aren.  

I remember everything about this day...picking up Lily and Aren to take them to the swimming pool for the baptism and bringing them flowers, Aren walking out of his tiny one bedroom apartment with flowers for us because he was so excited to be baptized, the bus ride, the baptism and confirmation, walking home and listening to these sweet friends sing "God Be With You Til We Meet Again".  I remember taking Lily to work afterwords and she brought chocolates to give to everyone so they could celebrate this day with her.  Love!

Fourteen years ago seems like yesterday. What I wouldn't do to go back there.

Kitchen - Phase 1

So,we moved into this house about 18 months ago.  We bought this house because there really wasn't alot that HAD to be done, just some things we wanted done and slowly but surely things are happening.  This weekend Rick and I decided that kitchen cabinets over the sink must go.  It blocked the view into the dining room, which we hated, but we weren't quite sure what to do about the missing cupboard space.  I think we came up with a good idea so, without further ado, here's our kitchen remodel - phase 1...

Here's the before

And the after...

We're still not quite done.  We need to repaint the walls, paint the shelves and phases 2-? includes plans for granite tile counter tops, new lighting, new appliances, and finally cupboard painting, but for right now, I'm pretty happy!

MollyBeth

My friend Sharilyn renamed me "MollyBeth" the other day after she found out I was thinking of doing a really cute craft for Thanksgiving along with canning my own apple pie filling.  I wonder what she'll call me after she sees these cute little hair things I made all by myself...

We Weren't Last!!

Today I ran my first 5K...I use the term "ran" loosely.  But whatever.  I did it and even though I don't have an official time, I know it was around forty minutes.  Thanks to Sunny who ran it with me and told me how cool I was the whole time.  And a special thanks to the eighty year old woman who got rocks in her shoes and had to stop so I didn't have to come in last place.

Happy Halloween!

I loved dressing up for Halloween when I was a kid...trying to figure out how to make a costume out of what I had hanging around.  I remember the store bought costumes and the only kids that wore them were the "uncool" kids.  Now it's totally the opposite.  One year Aren dressed up as a ninja - a costume he put together himself - and I heard a friend of his at school say, "Oh, could you not afford a costume from the store this year?"  What the heck?!

It is now my goal to make cool costumes out of stuff I have around the house.  If something needs to be purchased, fine, but I want them to be able to wear it later and not have it look like a costume.  So, without further ado, I present to you my two little rock stars...

Time Out for...Eating?

This past weekend I, along with two of my very best friends in the world, got to spend the weekend in Phoenix at Time Out for Women and while it was really was amazing, as I looked through my pictures I realized that the whole three days could be documented by what we ate...and ate!  Oh my goodness we went everywhere! 

First we have...

(I was an In-n-Out virgin until that day!)

followed by...

(Cafe Rio deserves before and after shots)

and last but not least...

This doesn't even include the places I didn't pull out my camera, the movies, the snack runs to the CVS across the hotel parking lot.  Goodness gracious!  It was a fantastic weekend that I can't wait to do all over again next year.  Mark your calendars SV ladies!  We're hitting the Phoenix Time Out for Women on November 4-5, 2011!

Lori and Brenda at Hard Rock

Me and Brenda at TOFW (Hey Brenda, I need that one picture of all of us!)

Five Years

Our family has celebrated a few five year anniversaries.  The first one was our fifth wedding anniversary on December 29, 2003 and it was a good one.  Rick was home from a nine month deployment to Bosnia, Aren had just turned four and Lily was not quite two and both were as healthy as either of them could be.  The next one happened on January 3rd of this year when we remembered the death of our beautiful daughter Lily.  Today we celebrate again as we remember how five years ago today Aren got a bone marrow transplant.  Aren loves today because he says it's like having another birthday every year, lol!  Well, he's right.  Each year we celebrate his birthday AND his transplant day. 

This year Aren was excited to finally receive Halo Reach, after all, it's been out for a whole month!  We also went out to dinner at one of Aren's favorite places - The Golden Corral.  Why is it his favorite?  Because "I don't have to wait to order my food.  I just get to eat right from the start."  That's my boy! So, Happy Transplant Day Aren!  I love you and I love that you are here with me still.  Every day I thank my Heavenly Father that you were able to stay with me just a little bit longer.  Your happy spirit fills me with joy.