Summer Nights and Wedding Days

 Kasen LOVES animals! Just like me.  We took him to the zoo for the first time a couple weeks ago with our friends, Norm and Melissa and had a good time!  There was a little sand cat that Kasen could not stop laughing at.  Most of the other animals didn't even move enough for Kasen to see they were there though.  They need to put some sugar in their water or something...

 

We also went to dinner one Sunday at Jake and Kristi's new house in Roy.  Mom brought her new dog and Kasen got to play with her and Jake's new dog too! It was so funny to watch him try to run away just to get tackled by puppies!

 

Most mornings when we wake up there are deer just outside our window that we watch.  We wait to see how long it will take Melanie to see that they are eating her flowers and yell at them to go away! 

 Kasen helped us wash the cars one day.  By help, I mean that he put soap back on the car after we already rinsed them, he loved the bubbles.

He's started putting his hand over his mouth and sticking out his belly when he laughs and likes feeding himself with his spoon.  He pats his head when I ask where is head is now too.  I'm also impressed that whenever he plays with other kids I have yet to see him cry when they take anything out of his hands.  I'm sure that will change though.

This morning he came out with the soggy humidifier filter on his head.  I sort of wanted to be mad that he made a mess with the water in it, but he was just too happy and too cute!

 August 16, 2016 Josh and Marissa got married!

And I got to be the photographer!

Me and Kyle, Jake and Kristi and Dakota and Natasha all got married on the 16th.  Josh and Marissa even got the year though!  It's kind of a thing now.

 

I LOVE weddings.  They are so happy.

 Kyle got to give a speech at the luncheon, warned everyone to never take Josh golfing unless you want your driver thrown over a fence :)

 Last week Kyle had to go to court in Cedar City, so we scheduled our second Tuacahn play for that night! We stayed at Josh and Marissa's apartment and they came with us to the temple and dinner before the play.  We saw The Hunchback of Notre dame and it was one of our favorites yet!  I think I have seen 9 plays there? The music in this one was amazing though!

 This week we went on a little hike to Grotto Falls, up Payson Canyon!  Lyndsey was so great and carried Kasen the whole time.

We also went to the park again to see the ducks with Ashley and Hazel.  This time they were all over the grass instead of just in the pond and Kasen followed the ducks all around.

Like I said, he LOVES animals.

#loveyourspousechallenge: Some Reality

I read an article this week about how the love your spouse challenge needs to get some reality, that people only share the best 5% of their life, with overused cliches, leaving everyone else comparing their 100% to it.

First of all, if your marriage is good only 5% of the time then you are doing something wrong!

Is marriage laughter and making fun memories all the time? No. But I will say that getting married at the right time and in the right place is the best decision I have EVER made and will promote happy marriages all day long!  They are possible.

My marriage really is that good.  Even after we disagree, and he bugs me and we tease each other.  I can truly say that whenever I have free time I prefer spending it with my husband.

Maybe it's just me, but I believe that is what marriage should be like.  Literally being married to your best friend.

"The grass isn't greener on the other side.  It's green where you water it."

Second of all, if you are comparing your whole life to the best 5% of what other people post on social media then you are the person that needs a reality check.  Be realistic and stop comparing yourself.  Of course nobody has a perfect life.  Look for the good in your marriage instead of using everyone else's best 5% to point out everything not perfect in yours.  Maybe your marriage would be better if you focused on the good things you like about your spouse... AND told them! Everyone that is married or has kids is already aware that it tries our patience at times.  We don't need to be constantly reminded of all the ways that your husband bothers you, simply because that's "real life."  Be positive about your spouse, especially to the public.

Personally, I don't think marriage is that hard.  And I'll tell you why I think that is.  Kyle and I go to the temple together at least once a month.  This helps keep our perspective in check and reminds us what is really important.  Yes, I know couples that don't go to the temple and have good marriages too, but the temple is what strengthens our marriage.  All marriage takes is a little compromise, WHILE putting the other person's happiness first.  Loving your spouse is most important.

We almost never take selfies, but when we do they are in front of the temple because you better believe that I will show them to our children and teach them the importance of going to the temple often.

Marriage between a man and a woman is sacred.  It has been ordained by God and meant to be eternal.  Having families is the most important work we could ever do and that is why marriage should be protected, defended and taken seriously.  The covenant of marriage is the highest covenant we make and reaches into generations for all eternity.  Being sealed to my family forever is definitely something I want to be worthy of.

So when someone celebrates their marriage and celebrates loving their spouse I will celebrate right along with them because unfortunately that is something too rare a find these days!

 

 Day 1. 

I was nominated to post pictures of me and my husband for 7 days to celebrate love and promote marriage! #loveyourspousechallenge

I'll start with the first pictures of me and Kyle together. It was New Years Eve 2007 at Raintree Apartments. He had braces and wore Nascar shirts, we were just friends then. It was a fun night though! Ashley and I slept at his house in Elk Ridge that night and the next morning was the first time I met his mom when she invited us to go sledding!

  

 Day 2.

I love Kyle for his decision to serve a mission after he thought that he didn't want to. We got our mission calls on the same day and never missed a single week of writing a letter to each other for the whole 2 years. It definitely brought us closer together. When he got home he proposed that same day that I first saw him!

 

 Day 3.

Even though it's getting harder and harder to get Kyle to do things like this anymore, I love Kyle for all the spontaneous fun he indulges me in! Like dressing up for Halloween :) Also, he will watch chick flicks and musicals with me which is also a plus!

 Day 4.

I love Kyle for the kind of husband and father he is. He has a hard job, but is still one of the happiest people I know. He always kisses me goodbye and tells me daily that he loves his Kasen. Nobody can get Kasen to squeal and laugh like he does! He's my hero.

Day 5.

I love when Kyle takes us camping. Hiking to Silver Lake was probably one of my favorite camping trips of ours, except when Kyle hit the pot gut with a rock and made it cry, but the tin foil dinners were amazing! 

Day 6.

Kyle HATES the feeling of his stomach dropping, but he will still come with me to do the things I think are so much fun! Mostly.  And I love him for it.  That's why I go fishing with him and sit in snow storms at Utah games when he wants to.

Day 7.

I love Kyle for taking me to the temple to be sealed for eternity and for going back together every month since.

I love my husband.  He makes me happy and that is as real as it gets.

Bucket List #95 and the Wash Tub

 My hair has been crazy since I had Kasen.  It all fell out, then little baby hairs grew back everywhere and it was curly about 1/2 way down my head, then straight!

 So, I decided to check off #95 from my bucket list and donate my hair!  Feels great since I can't donate blood, like I usually do, while I'm pregnant.

It's still been a good summer.

Playing in the backyard with cousins, eating ice cream cones.  Every time we tried to take him out of that truck he'd crawl back in.

 Last week we went to the splash pad in Springville with Ashely and Hazel.  It was the best idea ever!

Kasen loved it! He even tried putting his face down in the water like the bigger kids there were doing.

A couple times he got big squirts of water in the face and would come running to me, trying to catch his breath, but he just smiled after.

As part of my New Year's resolutions this year, I am reading a book!  It's called "Odds Are, You're Going to be Exalted" and I read something that made me feel better about a disagreement that Kyle and I have.

I believe that when a person dies that it is part of God's plan and their time to go.

Kyle believes that not all people die when they are meant to die.

As a police officers wife, I find much more hope in the thought that if Kyle were to die in the line of duty that it would be because he had finished his work on the earth.

This book I'm reading quotes Neal A. Maxwell saying that, 

"no righteous individual dies an untimely death."

and President Joseph Fielding Smith stated, 

"No righteous man or woman is taken before his or her time."

President Spencer W. Kimball wrote,

"I am confident that there is a time to die, but I believe also that many people die before their time because they are careless, abuse their bodies, take unnecessary chance, or expose themselves to hazards... I believe we may die prematurely through unrighteous living, but seldom exceed our time very much... God controls our lives... but gives us our agency.  We may... foolishly shorten or terminate them."

So, it turns out that we are both right and this gives us motivation to be extra righteous ;)

That section of the book was actually talking about infant mortality rates, which is another comforting thought.  All children that die before the age of accountability did so because such was the plan of God.  They are perfect, innocent and righteous.  Thus their death was not premature.  All of them have been exalted.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is so wonderful!

We've made a pretty strict budget while we save for our house.  Besides paying our car off (which means we have ZERO debt! Woo woo!) I also made a goal to start paying attention to sale prices at the grocery store and plan our meals according to those.  I'm happy to say that I ad matched 3 things when I went grocery shopping this week! haha It's a start...

I decided I can't take Kasen shopping anymore though.  He won't stay sitting down in the cart and dumps out all my bags of produce! Before I'm half way done shopping I don't care what the best deals are anymore!

Taking pictures of his cute face makes me forget his tornado ways for a while though.

We LOVE him!