Mother's Day at Home :)

We took a short trip home again this weekend to spend Mother's Day with our mommys :) It was a wonderful trip and I got 2 GREAT pictures of the kids. Aren't they cute!

Unfortunately when I loaded them they look kind of weird, but you can still see how beautiful they are.

7 years today!

Todd and I have been married for 7 years. I can't believe it! Woohoo!

Grateful

I am so grateful for SO much. I am so blessed. I wanted to list some of the things I was thinking about tonight. (And fair warning, some are really silly!!) In no particular order (although my family IS what I am most grateful for)

1. My Family
2. My family's health
3. My health
4. Our new house that is so insulated that it only varies about 5 degrees inside when it varies 50 outside. LOVE that!!
5. Our church, and the peace it brings to my life
6. Food (yeah I like to eat, but more importantly, I'm grateful we can feed our children)
7. 2 cars that run. And mine gets 26 mpg. Love it.
8. Todd's job that provides for our family
9. Gluten free foods for Maddie. I'm grateful we live in a time when they are available
10. Ok this is super dumb, but I'm grateful for my new fridge that doesn't smell like butt. The fridge we used at the rental was clean (after I took BLEACH to it, but still stunk). Oh, and I'm grateful my fridge has a water dispenser. Cold water mmmmm...
11. Bathtubs with slanted backs so I can lay down and read. You know, when I have 5 minutes to myself. The kids think this feature is a slide. "I slide down mama" Maddie says. Oy!
12. An incredibly talented little sister who cut and dyed my hair at cosmo school for $37. Last time I went to a salon it cost me $100 more that that!!
13. Reading with my kids. They are SO smart. It amazes me.
14. The 2 hours between the time when the kids go to sleep and I go to sleep. Ah...quiet.
15. Good friends
16. Outside and sunshine
17. Temps in the 70's.
18. Cute shoes that don't hurt my feet.
19. Garage door openers that work. Let me tell you how not fun they are when they DON'T work.
20. Ok I could keep going but it's late. SO this is the last one...I'm grateful for baby/toddler kisses. Nothing is quite as sweet as your child giving you a hug and a kiss and telling you "I wuf you mama". Awwww.

Please pray for Samuel and his family

I have been following his story for 4 years and my heart is breaking for this family. They have been through SO much. Please pray that his passing will be swift and he will be free from the pain he has endured for so long.

*Warning: VERY sad*
http://www.samuelbackus.com/SamuelsUpdates.html

Silverton and Durango again :)

What can I say? We LOVE it there. We found an awesome NEW place to stay too. It's clean and NEW and comfortable. Did I mention it's NEW?? Not 100 years old. Not that I don't LOVE sleeping in old brothels, but hey...something new and comfortable. I'll take it. It's called Lola's Place and I HIGHLY recommend them. Tell them we sent you. Tommy is very nice and will talk to you forever and his wife is super sweet as well.
Anyway, before we headed up, we stopped at the Durango Fish Hatchery. I was trying to take pictures while keeping Maddie from swimming with the fish. The ugly fish. Ew.

Here are some pictures. They are straight out of the camera, and I wasn't really going for "great photography". Sometimes, on vacation you can't stop to mess with settings or you'll completely miss the vacation. So I just tried to get some decent shots.

Trying my hand at photography...

As much as I love my little point and shoot camera, I wanted to try it the hard way. With a digital SLR and in manual mode. I'm still new (only at this for a week) but so far I'm pretty pleased. Of course in a year I'll come back and laugh that I ever thought these were worth putting up, but hey...for now I like them :)

Moved in...almost!

95% of our stuff is now at the house and put away. The other 5% is still over at the apartment. I have another week to get it out and clean up. I've been picking up a load or two when I drop off/pick up Dallin from school since it's right around the corner and I have to pick up the mail there anyway.
It's amazing how wonderful having extra space is. Dallin is SO happy to have his own room and lots of floor space to set up his train tracks.
Here are a few pictures for anyone wondering. I'm not showing the front because I don't want any weirdos coming to my house ;)