Gage-A-Rooney

Jay's cousin, Gage, turned one last week!He's a doll. His mom (Katie) threw him just about the best birthday party ever. Mmmmm... it was so cute. Everything was orange and blue (Go Broncos!)... and green. There were cupcakes that matched Gage's cake and they were really good. Here's Gage previewing the fun to come: When he first got his cake, he didn't really know what to do. After a little bit of help, he started to get messy.
(Love this face!) Look how cool the inside of that cake is! And here's a birthday smile: A lot of people showed up to join the fun. And it wouldn't be a day in the park if Jay didn't drop his pants. Uncle Devin and Maya tried to teach Gage how to walk. And Uncle Brent gave Gage a few fashion tips.

Jay had so much fun playing with his cousins.

Especially because this park had a splash pad.

Joe didn't think Jay was wet enough so he put him right under the water.

Jay didn't think that was very funny, and neither did I a few minutes later when he did it to me!
Here's cute Gage in his swim gear: And here's poor Janelle getting wet:

Look at Brent's evil laugh.

After Janelle got wet she grabbed Jay and they had a great time.

He loves his Aunt Janelle... and I love his face in this picture.

What a fun day! Good job Katie.

Happiness is...

Bike trails.


Springtime in the desert.


Crisp new notebooks waiting to be filled.

I start school in TWO DAYS!!!

Love You, Dummy

Jay is so funny. He is always saying, "Thank you, Mommy" or "Love you, Daddy" or "More marshmellows, Mommy". He has to say Mommy or Daddy after everything. Well, sometimes he forgets who he is talking to and calls me "Daddy" or Joe "Mommy". Today, I think he came up with a solution. He has now said, "Love you, Dummy" three times to me this morning. Joe and I are like the Trinity of parenthood I guess... except there's two of us... and we're separate... and we don't believe in that. Okay, so not really.

My View of the World

I have a very patient husband. Everything we do takes twice as long because I have to stop and take a picture. Needless to say I have about a billion pictures of Joe's back. Sometimes, though, those pictures turn out to be my very favorite.

I get to catch moments like these... Or if I'm really lucky I get this:

The view's not always so terrible back here.
(Pictures from Pioneer Park in St. George)

Weekly Musings: Choose Your Life

I've decided that once a week I'm going to try and write the things that are on my mind and the things that inspire me. I'll try not to bore you.

Today's thoughts are called "Choose Your Life".

Now this may sound like I'm going to talk about making your life whatever you want it to be--be a Rock Star, go skydiving--but actually that's not really what I mean. A few weeks ago, I realized that I was making choices for the wrong reasons. I think that it's so easy as wives and mothers (and women) to feel like there is a singular path that we must follow. Any straying from that one path results in harsh judgments from others. So I was trying to fit myself onto that path. I found myself justifying every choice I made to everyone. Then it hit me: It's my life! It serves me no purpose to live it for anyone else. How can I feel good about myself if I'm making choices to please others? So what I really mean is to choose the life that you are already living. Choose to live it for you. Choose to love every choice you make because you know it's what is right for you. (Obviously this all involves the Spirit and following Jesus Christ but I'm writing this on the assumption that we are all worthy and capable of listening to the Spirit.)

So in closing... we all have agency. Agency REQUIRES action. You can't not act and being passive about your life is still a choice. Picture yourself on this journey. Are you following a crowd of people with your head down, kicking rocks along the way? Or are you being led by the Spirit, looking forward with confidence, regardless of what anyone else thinks?

"Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves--to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life."

-2nd Nephi 10:23

I hope you are all loving and choosing YOUR life.

Scenic Sunday

It is becoming quite the tradition for us now to take a drive every Sunday. I am loving it. There is so much to see.

Today, we decided to stick with the Mother's Day theme and go somewhere where there are a ton of Mothers.

No not Provo....

That's right: Colorado City!

Home of the FLDS church... better known by some as Polygamists.

I didn't take a ton of photos of the people because I didn't want to offend them. And we kind of stuck out.

(A family playing soccer at a school.)

I actually have a deep respect for these people... especially the women. They believe that they are doing God's will just like I do.

Overall, Colorado City was nothing like what I expected. There were big houses...

but most of them were unfinished on the outside.

There were a few smaller houses and some run down places,

but almost everyone had really nice cars. I've never seen so many 12 passenger vans in all my life. And Joe was drooling over all the nice trucks.

The most surprising thing to me was how many kids I saw on four wheelers. I was weirded out to see so much activity on a Sunday. I thought that there were strict rules about Sabbath Day observance but there were people in the parks playing. I also saw a coffee shop so I'm not sure about their beliefs on that.

Oh and there is no temple in Colorado City. That was a bit disappointing to me.

But my favorite discovery was when we accidentally left the boundaries of the "church". We found a place with much more expensive looking houses. I thought for sure that this must be a totally separate belief system but there was a strange feeling about it. We called one of our friends, who actually left the FLDS church and is from Colorado City. He said that we were in an area where people lived who had left the church. I laughed out loud. These people left the church, abandoning their beliefs, and moved across the street!

One thing was for sure... they picked a BEAUTIFUL place to build a city.

It was a pretty cool experience. I wished that we could have talked to some of the people but I was very conscious of the fact that we were the "outsiders" there. And their beliefs and way of life are sacred to them.

As usual, Jay was oblivious to everything going on. He kept himself entertained with a water bottle.

Look at the focus. I'm so proud.

Happy Mother's Day

(I'm posting this today because I don't want to forget tomorrow and I'm pretty sure our Moms won't see it before then.)

So... that video last week of Jay saying "Hi Grandma" was really just prep for this video. It is to both our Moms because we know that everything means more when it comes from a grandchild. WE LOVE YOU! And thank you for putting up with both of us and raising us right so that we could find each other and live happily ever after.