Earlier this fall I had the opportunity to learn how to can peaches. I had so much fun. And what made it even more special was sitting there with my Mother and my Daughter. Three generations of canners!!! Abigail had so much fun canning her own jar. The peaches are cut really small....but it was still really cute to see how excited she was to hold her own jar. Aaron just had fun cutting up anything my mom had lying on her table. I swear he is our mini Bobby Flay. Thank you Mom for inviting us over and teaching us how to can. We did 31 jars of yummy peaches that are now in my food storage. Yummmmyyyy!!!!

Smile

The other day, when our family was out and about, we found ourselves shopping at Sam's Club. We picked up a few items and were leaving the store. Abigail asked if she could hold the receipt and ask the exit clerk if she could have a smiley face. The clerk quickly agreed and drew her a big smiley face on the back of the receipt. This really made her day!

This interaction, insignificant to some, really touched me and helped me to remember that even though our family has had some hard times with the loss of my job, that there are still many blessings to be thankful for. There is always room for a smile!

How many times have we passed someone in the store, the sidewalk or even in our own family and we have forgotten to smile? I have been reminded during these tough times that smiling is something that you can give to others without saying anything at all and it doesn't cost a thing! Our world is so busy finding ways to get ahead of others, be better than others, make ourselves look good, show no weakness, etc.. we forget that we are all needing some form of acceptance, love and friendship. After all, when work is done and the money has been spent, our family and friends- true friends- love us no matter what- they love us because we have given a little bit of ourselves to them- through laughter, kind words or even just a smile!

I loved going to the Bountiful Parade each year. Most of the years, my family had the opportunity to walk in the parade as pioneers. The past couple of years, however, I see less and less pioneers and more sponsored floats for advertising. Sad.....but I still enjoy it. It's Tradition!! To gather the family together and enjoy our front row seats on my Aunt Gina's lawn. I love it even more now that I can share it with my children. This year Preston had to work late so he missed the parade, but at least he made it to the fireworks later on that night. Don't you like our patriotic tattoos!!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!

We were also able to squeeze in a quick trip to Phoenix, Arizona to visit my brother Jonathon and his wife Wendy. The kids really had fun visiting with their cousins. There is something in the water down there because my Sister-in-law just had her 5th girl. Poor Aaron was the only boy in a sea of 6 girls. By the time we left he was running around the house with princess shoes and a pink purse. I was getting a little worried until I saw him running the barbie car into the barbies. That's my boy!!! We had tons of fun swimming, playing games, dancing to my brother's loud music, celebrating Preston's 30th, and having some really yummy Mexican food at the original Garcia's Restaurant.

We have had a fun summer camping. This trip to the Spruces campground, was our first time we had camped just ourselves. At first I was a little nervous, but knowing that my husband would be there to protect us brought me a lot of comfort. I love being married to a righteous husband who respects his priesthood and is also an eagle scout. My 4-h skills don't help much in the wild....food yes, survival....not so much.

I love taking a trip into Salt Lake to have lunch with my mom and sister. Not only do we get to eat at the cafeteria at the Church Office Building, but we also get to walk around Temple Square. The kids love playing in the water fountains and I love having the opportunity to talk to them about the Temple. We are so fortunate to live so close to so many Temples.

Okay everyone! I apologize for not posting anything for....... uh....ever. Yes, I admit it. I haven't posted anything since my California trip back in March. The past couple of months have been very crazy and blogging just hasn't been at the top of my list. I love you all, but it just wasn't going to happen. So, now that my life has calmed down for now, "knock on wood". Here are a couple of pictures that hopefully show you what our family has been up to. Enjoy!

Thankfully Aaron's birthday was in June becuase I really needed something to pick me back up from the emotional rollercoaster I was just on. I am so grateful for the children I do have and for a wonderful husband who was my rock and support through it all. Okay....back to Aaron's birthday. He turn the big "2" so now I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old. That makes my days even more fun...... I love decorating cakes for the kids birthday's. This year Aaron received Count Dracula. It turned out awesome especially from freehanding all of it from a picture off the internet. Aaron had a ton of fun and loved all of the gifts. Thanks everyone!

May and June weren't my favorite months. Yes, I did enjoy the tulips and Mother's Day.....but I didn't enjoy the curve ball thrown our way. You see, at the beginning of May we found out that we were expecting. We were really excited. Until I started bleeding. And of course....it started on Mother's Day. That was a lovely gift to receive. A couple days of bleeding went by and the pregnancy tests came up negative so I assumed I was having a miscarriage.

Well those days turned into weeks and by the first of June I was still bleeding. I was told that it was somewhat normal so I wasn't too worried just emotionally down. Until I started cramping. And when I say cramping I mean really bad. I sat at home until I was dilated to an 8 cm when I was pregnant with Abigail, so I know what pain is. Yeah, this was just like that. I called my OB and she had me do some blood work to check my hcg levels. The next day the cramping was so bad that I spent the day curled up on the couch with a heating pad. So, I called my OB again and she had me come in the next morning to see what was going on. She did an ultrasound and found a large cyst on my right ovary, a blood sac in my uterus and pool of blood in my pelvis. I then was told I was having an Ectopic Pregnancy and that I had possible ruptured one of my fallopian tubes and was then scheduled for emergency Laproscopic Surgery that afternoon. I have to say....being told that I might have lost a tube and that my chances of having any future children would be cut in half has got to be the worst experience in my life so far. And hopefully the last.

I called Preston and he raced home from work and my mother-in-law came up to take the kids back to her house. I was not looking forward to the surgery nor was I physically prepared for it. I only had a small bowl of cereal that morning and was told I was on an immediate fast from food and water. So, hearing that my veins collapsed during surgery wasn't a surprise. The surgery went great and I woke up to my sweet husband and my wonderful parents. Oh, and IV's in my hands and bruises up and down my arms from the collapsed veins.

I am so thankful for the beautiful blessing my husband gave me, and for all of the prayers that were said on my behalf. I trully believe that that made the surgery such a success and I was able to keep both of my tubes and ovaries. I will be forever grateful to all of you. Thank you!

Abigail is growing up so fast. She loves to do everything that I do. Especially when it comes to putting makeup on. Except....she puts her mascara on her arms. Yeah, that was a fun surprise to find as we were racing off to church. Aren't toddlers just.........fun?

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we finally had the chance to go camping with almost all of Preston's family. We headed up to Currant Creek campground....wait, no we past currant creek campground and ended up camping where all of the hunters camp. I think Preston's brother-in-law Cory forgot that our Toyota Camry is a sedan and not an SUV. We went over some of the toughest pot holes and rocks that I seriously think we left have of our undercarriage up on the mountain. Anyhow, we all had tons of fun and can't wait to do it again.

Abigail loves her Davis cousins Zach, Makayla and Alex. Thanks to Aunt Kristy, we were able to teach the kids a little fishing while we were up there. Except the only thing they caught was some moss. But that's alright, they still had tons of fun.

Somehow our FHE ended with us taking funny pictures of ourselves. I'll just say, that there is never a dull moment at our home.

April was the month of playing games with family inside and yard work outside. The kids favorite game to play with Daddy is "Jenga". However, their version of playing the game is seeing how tall of a tower their Daddy can build before they kick it down. It's fun to watch theme squeal with joy when one can sidetrack him while the other one kicks it down. The remind me of the Raptors on Jurrasic Park movie.

We love taking the children over to Layton Park to feed the ducks. Aaron loved waiting for the ducks to come to him so they could eat practically right out of his hand. Abigail on the other hand, loved chasing them around. We wouldn't stay still for a picture.

Before we knew it, Easter came and went. But we still managed to sit back and enjoy dying our easter eggs and looking for them over....and over...and over... and over again. Luckily for us, the kids took a little break from hunting for Easter eggs to bite the ears off of their chocolate bunnies. My earlier comment about them reminding me of the Raptors on "Jurrasic Park" is really starting to worry me. Check out how cool our eggs turned out. Yeah, the egg salad sandwhiches we made would never make the final cut on Top Chef.

Dyeing Easter eggs out back on our deck. I love having a deck! Whenever it's nice weather outside, you can catch us outside on the deck either eating, reading, doing crafts or just listening to the birds. I swear we have more birds in the trees in our backyard then in the neighborhood combined. We love listening to them.....except at 5:00 in the morning. That's when Preston wishes he could use them for target practice.

I turned the big "30" in March. Preston did a great job at making it a special one. He sent me to a Salon for a wonderful and much needed massage. Then took me out to dinner and then on to the Jazz vs. Phoenix Suns Game. We sat in a suite and just partied. But out of all of it, my favorite part was enjoying a yummy birthday cake with my children.

If you really want something fun to do on St. Patrick's Day, check out the parade Salt Lake City puts on at the Gateway. It was a lot of fun to see how excited people in our in our state can get. It was a spur of the moment trip for us so we arrived minus any green. But, as you can see it didn't last long. Besides throwing the usual green taffy, the parade entries were throwing every kind of St. Patrick's "bling" you could think of. So, how do we look? I started feeling a little silly until I noticed the man standing right next to us. Thank heavens he didn't try and still the kids Lucky Charms. That would have gotten really messy. Hee hee hee.....