Zoe has a secret she would like to share..

We are so excited to announce that Zoe will be a big sister in July 2012. Our due date is July 14, and we couldn’t be more happy. What a wonderful blessing it will be to have another child in our home. David and I think it will be a boy. What do you think we will have? We will update when we find out in February.

This morning, our little family went to the zoo. Seth, Alicia, Ben and Chelsea came too, but we didn’t spend very much time with them, because it was too cold and they arrived when we were ready to leave. The monkeys were crazy, I guess that is how they are in the morning, or seeing kids in costume made them nervous.

Later on in the day, we went to Hee Haw Farms. This little farm was so much fun,  Zoe had a blast and it was hard to get her to leave. David and Zoe went threw their first corn maze, we went on a fun hay ride out the the pumpkin patch, went on a train ride, played in the corn, and watched huge pumkins being thown down from high on a crane.  We even brought home a few pumpkins. But, we don’t get our countertops and kitchen sink installed until tomorrow, so there wasn’t really any place to carve them and keep the space clean.

It has been two months since we closed on our home. It was a HUD foreclosure, which meant a sweet deal for us, but lots of work on our home was necessary before we could even move in. That house stunk so bad, I had to hold my nose while we walked through it the first time. But, we were good enough to look through the smell and filthiness. We are still working hard, and once we get more done, I will post the “newly constructed pictures.” Thankfully, my wonderful mother in law is letting us live with her until our house is clean, nice and new. Thanks to Chelsea and David’s dad for helping us with our home. We are very excited to have all our hard work finally pay off.  As you can see it’s a very ugly house. Oh, but you should see it in the future. It is gorgeous.. realy it is. We got the best deals from on Shaw Carpet and Hardwoods. The kitchen is going to look beautiful (Of course, that is easy to do since that kitchen is the ugliest, I have ever seen).  We almost have our bathroom completed, with  little help from David’s dad, David and Bath Fitters. We also got a great deal on Danze fixtures for our bathroom and kitchen.

We are going for a modern contemporary look and I can’t wait until it is done. I’ll post the after pictures soon!

Since last summer, I have been wanting to take Zoe to the zoo. I told my mom in May, that I thought it might be fun to take Zoe on my birthday that July. But, she said Zoe wouldn’t really like it being just 8 months. So, I took one of my mom’s last piece of advice and waited until this year to take Zoe to the zoo.

Wowzers, who knew the zoo was going to cost each adult $9. My sweet husband decided it would be a better deal to get a year membership to the zoo. With just he and I alone, we would only need to go four times in that year, to make up for our membership. So, he bought us a membership that includes two guest free every time we visit.

For Zoe’s first trip to the Zoo, we took Corena ( David’s mom) and Chelsea. It was the perfect day for the zoo, there were not too many people and the weather was just perfect. Zoe loved the monkey’s the best. She kept saying “monkey’s! monkey’s!”, good thing there was not a shortage of monkey’s at the zoo. They had dinosaurs around the park. Zoe didn’t like them, she covered her ears and held on to mom and dad tightly as we walked past.

Zoe also got to ride on a merry-go-round for the first time. She was a bit nervous at first, but with daddy at her side she soon gained the confidence to ride that bison. ( I know, out of all the cute animals she could have sat on, her daddy put her on the bison. ha ha) Zoe had a lot of fun waving hi to grandma, Chelsea and I.

We also went on the train, which Zoe loves! She kept saying ” choo choo” and singing the ABC’s, she is really a smart little girl and loves to sing. Zoe really likes planes a lot also. Whenever David and I are in the car with Zoe she will say, ” Momma, Dadda, Momma Dadda.. a plane.” Oh I just love the excitement in her little voice with everything she enjoys.

Zoe lights up the entire room whenever she enters. She is so full of life and reminds us to not take the little things for granted. She loves her grandma Corena and we have had so much fun living with her these past few weeks. She loves her Grandpa David as well and has so much fun when he comes up to visit. But, hooray for this Thursday when we close on our home!

We went with my family to Seven Peaks in SLC, it was so much fun! My sister Chelsea worked at Trafalga in Lehi, and they own Seven Peaks. Anyway, her work would include a free admission to Seven Peaks with her pay check every once in a while. Chelsea was so sweet to save up enough tickets to take our large family. Zach was leaving for Haiti for the rest of the summer, so it was a good time to do a family outing with everyone. Although, Mica and Alex were working and couldn’t come, we missed them! After playing in the water we went to Chuck a Rama, it was a really fun time with the family. I am so blessed to have such wonderful siblings, a sister in law, daughter and best husband.

I will post pics of this fun event, as soon as I can.

Well, the waitning game has been fun…but it is getting a little tiresome. Each week, David and I think that following week we will get to move into our home. But, it hasn’t happened yet. Our newest update is, they are sending our loan to title tomorrow, so that is good news.

In the meantime, we are enjoying a rent and utility free life living with David’s mom. Zoe loves her grandma and it has just been so much fun! We appreciate you Corena, thanks!

Our summer has been a lot of fun. We went to a family reunion at Big Elk Creek campground in Idaho. We had a great time playing on jet ski’s, tubing, enjoying the nature and all the other activities camping brings.

Wow, I am so happy with my life now. Seriously, I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband and daughter. They are my joy! Heavenly Father has blessed me so much and I am so grateful for him and for Christ.

Being a wife and a mother has brought me so much joy and happiness. Zoe is absolutely darling and is at such a cute age. She is so social and is very friendly to everyone. She is always saying hi to everyone she sees and she loves her nursery friends! David and I have been in the nursery since January, which has been great since Zoe got to attend nursery since she was 13 months old.

As I mentioned in my last post, David and I are currently waiting for the closing on our first home. We are buying a house in West Valley, to be close to David’s work. It’s not the cutest house.. yet. But we are so excited to fix it up and make it our home.  Our plan is to sort of flip houses. Though, we plan on living there for 5 years, then move into a nicer home once David gets the “Big Boy Job.” (aka once he graduates and becomes an Electrical Engineer).

In the meantime, David and I am having so much fun choosing out carpet, paint, tile and deciding what kind of hardwood floors we want in our living room. I really like the engineered bamboo look, but we also like solid wood, so still deciding what to do there.

We had a great weekend visiting with Seth, Alicia, and baby Benjamin. He is an absolute doll. Yesterday, we went to my aunt and uncles mission homecoming, it was so nice to see family that I haven’t seen in a while. My family is wonderful and I appreciate all of them!

The year is up since moving into our rental house in Lehi. This year hasbeen a crazy one and I am glad to see it go. There have been lots of fun time,but wow the stress that came from the passing of my mom, has been a littlehard. Being my brother Sam’s guardian for six months was a bit more challengingthan I imagined it would be. We were planning on keeping him until he turned18. But, as every hour that we had Sam put such a stress on our household, we decided to see if my mom’s family would be willing to take Sam. Sam is a great person and ultimately we decided if he was going to be successful and happy in
life, he needed to be with a family thatwas more stable. With David going to
work full time, and being salaried at that,meaning more than full time hours. He also goes to school year round. So, itwas like I was raising Sam as a single ‘mom’. We are so thankful for the Curtisand Korene Knight for taking Sam in. They have
seven children of their own and have been there done that through their kids’ teenage years. Curtis and Korene are wonderful people and we know they will be greatly blessed for helping Sam. I am grateful to my parentsalso for making it possible for Sam to live with the Knights. They have always been so nice and such great examples to our family.

There were some great times with having Sam live with us, and I am so glad that he got to spend so much time with Zoe. Zoe still lights up whenever she sees Sam, they are best buds. Chelsea has been great to live with, Zoe loves her to pieces and I am not sure what Zoe is going to do, when she doesn’t have Chelsea to run to when it’s time to get her dressed.

I have such a wonderful family and I am so proud of them. Mica is doing awesome with big dreams that she is quickly making reality. Zach is going to ‘conquer the world’, as
David puts it. He is an amazing person and is a wonderful example to our family, Zoe adores him. Seth and Alicia just welcomed baby Benjamin, he is a doll and we are so happy for his family. Alex is working on getting her CNA, and is so fun to be around when we have family gatherings. Chelsea is going to school at Utah State in the fall, has
been working hard all year at school and Trafalga. Sam is working on his eagle project, passed all his classes in 10th grade, and has already changed for the better. You can tell just by looking at him that is countenance is pure and the spirit is with him.

Davidand I are currently looking for a place to live. We have searched so many
apartments but just can’t seem to find one that fits in our price range and
feels right. We are currently working on changing our plans to not rent
anymore. We find out today if our offer was accepted or not.

I am so grateful for family and friends for giving their love and support, you are all amazing and we love you so much!

Little Strawberry Girl

Last April, David and I started a tradition in our family to make freezer  jam during each Spring Saturday session of General Conference. This year was our second year making it. My aunt Suzanne makes the best Strawberry Jam ever. So, we used her recipe. The recipe can be found on the  MCP Pectin in the yellow box. We wish we could make freezer jam without corn syrup, but for now it is the only way we can make and store our  jam. It is so tasty and the best and only way to eat jam!