Let Me Introduce... My Big Sister!!

Thankgiving this year gave my family a whole new meaning to the word "thankful". 

This year, on Thanksgiving day, Kyrie and I made our first (ever) communication with our older half-sister, Bridgett.  We share the same wonderful Dad!!  Due to some unfortunate circumstances, my dad has not seen her since she was 2 years old... almost 31 years ago.  As you can imagine, we have never met her.

Kyrie and I were brought up knowing all about her.  Our parents have always kept a framed wallet size picture of her on display in their living room (it was all our dad had of her).  We talked about her with our Dad, who would usually get choked up at the mere mention of her name.  He loved and missed her everyday.  When we would say family prayers...  "Please bless grandma and grandpa, mommy and daddy..." our mom would always remind us to add "and please bless Bridgett".  Kyrie and I were raised to love her like we love each other... which (if you know us) is A LOT!!

It started on Wednesday morning, when Dad called me at work and said "Do you want to see a picture of your big sister?".  I burst into tears at even the thought of seeing a picture of her older than the 18 month child we'd grown up with.  I could hear Dad's tears through the phone.  Guess where we found her... Facebook!!  My dad's sister, Joyce, found her by accident late the night before and sent her a pretty generic message.  Joyce called him that night, which made him happy, and a little scared.  He stayed up all night thinking about it.

When I looked her up, the first thought I had was how much she looked like my aunts (Dad's sisters).  But, the more I kept looking, I noticed that she kind of looks like a brunette version of me (specifically my gigantic forehead and my eyes... which I got from my Dad).  I must have spent half of that morning crying...  thankfully, our friends at work were very loving and supportive.  I spoke to my dad and aunt about a million times that day.  Joyce was nice enough to let us look at her facebook messages (between her and my sister) and see Bridgett's pictures posted on her page.

This changed our world... for the better!!

The next morning (Thanksgiving), my aunt called me.  She told me that she had spoken to Bridgett on the phone and told her about her 2 little sisters and 2 nephews.  Bridgett burst into happy tears at the news.  She said that they talked a little about Dad and that Bridgett was pretty positive and happy about the whole thing.

I, immediately, sent her a message (and friend request) on Facebook.  Since then, Kyrie and I have been sending her messages left and right.  We plan on calling her (for the first time, ever) together and will hopefully be meeting her in the near future.  She seems like a wonderful, loving, and happy girl... I think we'll all get along great!!

Dad hasn't spoken to her yet.  He's over joyed, but at the same time, really nervous.  We're letting him take his time...

Words cannot express the range of emotions that our family is feeling.  We are so happy...  we truly believed that this day would never come.  We are so thankful for all our many, many blessings and for finally having our family complete!!

Below are some pictures of my new Big Sister - Bridgett:

On her wedding day!

Bridgett and Ricky (her sweet hubby)

Bridgett and her other half-sister (from her mother), Bonnie

My favorite one of her!

BLaCKouT

Halloween this year was a blast! 

We started out, by heading to my mom's house to make home made soup in pumpkin bread bowls.  This has become a family tradition in the last few years... my mom orders the breadbowls from Great Harvest, and for Halloween, they shape them like pumpkins and color them orange with green stems... they RoCK!

Mom made her traditional chili... mmmm... chili....  and I tried making a home made potato soup (Mike's mom's recipe).  Both soups turned out to be sooo yummy.  I would post pics of them, but they didn't last long enough to get a single pic.  :)

Declan came in his "hadoween costume".  He was Woody (from Toy Story) and Lochlan was a pumpkin.  Aren't they cute???

That night, Mike and I went to the U of U blackout game (against the Wyoming Cowboys), with a few of my friends from work.  The first half was a little sad... but luckily, we came back in the 2nd half and won!! 

Me and Mike

Ryan and Andrew

Star and JJ

Mark

Andrew, Mark, and Ryan

Basketball GiRLS!!

Last week at work was a blast!!  Our company held a 3 on 3 basketball tournament for anyone who wanted to participate.  They broke it up into 2 divisions - boys and girls.

Our fun-fearless Gianne was bound and determined to put a team together from the girls in our department.  Now, I am not the most coordinated girl around... and have never been much of an athlete, but I thought that this could be a pretty fun adventure. 

Together, with our good friend, Hilary... we made up Tres Leches... the best girls' b-ball team around!!

Me

Gianne

Hilary

Our Team Logo

As you can see, one of the many things that the 3 of us have in common, is our love of desserts; specifically cakes.  This, alone, should have told us that we were probably not going to win this amazing tournament... but we weren't going to give up just yet... besides, it was best out of 3.

The only other girl team to sign up was:  Powerpuff Slam Dunkers... 3 of the most athletic girls in the building. 

We knew that we might be in trouble... the Powerpuff Slam Dunkers... made up of Kelly, Jenni, Brittany, and Jessi... won the last 3 on 3 tournament between the girls' teams.  They are practically pros, they all played in high school and college. 

It wasn't until we got to the first game, that we realized what we were in for.  As we were warming up, each only making 2 out of about 300 shots... we remembered that the last time any of us had played basketball was probably in 8th grade gym class... 

…Yes, it was a massacre! 15-0

…and, yes… we were the ones who ended the game score-less :(

Ha-Ha!! Oh well, we had soooo much fun… and the other girls are all (literally) 6 ft tall. Gianne and Hilary (my awesome team mates) are about my size, so we didn’t stand a chance.

It was hilarious, though. Gianne travelled almost every time she got the ball. Every time we went in for a rebound, they’d just grab the ball from right over our heads. I just kept running, and running, and running (in circles around the court)… they couldn’t keep up when I ran!! When I passed, I’d almost roll the ball to Hilary or Gianne, because they were just so tall. 

Finally, it was my big chance... I needed to shoot, to score at least one point.  I heard a few of our cheerleaders (the boys from our department) keep saying to just throw it as hard and as high as I could toward the basket.  So... I shoot... and I miss, I must've thrown that ball straight up into the sky.  The next thing I knew... the PowerPuffs had the ball and were shooting toward yet another basket.

After that first game, we realized one key factor in our loss.  They had brought in subs.  What were we thinking?  How could we have had any chance of winning without subs???

That next game, we had some plans.  Finding a sub had been a fruitless effort.  It looked like we were done for when Hilary informed us that she had a really important meeting during the time of our game, but Gianne and I stayed positive.  Luckily, when we got to the court, the Powerpuffs love of the game helped us stay in it.  Rather than letting us forfeit, they gave up one of their most valued players to assist us.  That's right, we got Jenni "the killer" Crump!!

We got through the first half of the game having scored 4 points... 1 by default, and the other 3 from (you guessed it) Jenni.  Through out that first half, all I remember hearing was poor Jenni yelling for us to "stay on your man", "get to the basket", and my personal favorite "try to get the ball from them...".  She must have felt like she was trying to coach kindergarteners... but she kept a smile on her face the whole time.

The best part came during our time-outs.

Gianne and I were like little kids, just be-bopping around while poor, poor Jenni was lying on the ground... let's face it, that game had turned into more of a 3 on 1 game.  Gianne and I were not helping at all.

Toward the end, Gianne came up with a great game plan... which consisted mainly of me making a complete fool out of myself.  But, I decided to commit to it... for the team's sake. 

So there we were...  Gianne was getting ready to throw the ball back into play. 

As she passed the ball in to Jenni, I jumped down onto my hands and knees and began barking like a dog!!

Yes, that was the plan... me on my hands and knees, barking as loud as I could. 

Guess what happened....  we still lost....  but, Gianne did score 1 point for us. 
It gave us a final score of 15-5. 

I like to think that although I didn't score any points... that I still contributed with my committment to the one and only play we had up our sleeves.

Now, I bet you think that this little situation would make us never want to play again.  On the contrary... we came in 2nd overall among the women!!  We even got a great prize - $20 giftcard to the Larry H Miller theaters!!

I say, it was all worth it!!!

The Grass is Always Greener!

I can't believe that Mike and I have been in our house for a whole year!  Time has flown by so quickly, this year... I can hardly keep up.

One of our biggest accomplishments this summer was getting our grass in!!  Well, it was mostly Mike, but I did help with the weeding and 1 or 2 rolls of sod. 

Since we were given about 2,000 square feet of sod free, from our builders, we were sort of in a hurry to get it in by the end of September.  So for the month of August and the beginning of September, Mike, his dad, and brother (Daniel) worked tirelessly... trying to get the yard prepared.

About 3 weeks ago, Ivory Homes put in the yard for a spec home that they built across the street from us.  It seemed to us that they ordered a little too much, so for about 4 days after they'd finished the yard, we watched the extra sod sit there... waiting for its owners to come back and take it home.  We didn't think too much of it; after all, we were still prepping out yard and hadn't called the sod farm to deliver our free grass, yet.

It was around the 5th day that Mike, Todd, and Dan finished prepping the dirt directly in front of our porch.  Knowing that in about 2 more days, the sod across the street would go bad...  Mike and his "assistants" decided that the sod's new home would be our front yard!!  Yes, that is correct friends... we borrowed sod from the house across the street to complete our front yard!!

Don't worry... it's all been taken care of.  We finished up the entire front, sides, and some of the back yard.  Now, we're excited for the spring to get here... when we can finish the back yard and have friends and family over for a summer BBQ!!!

Here are some pics of our new, green, GRASS!!

 

Starting Over...

I realize that you're supposed to save resolutions for the beginning of a new year. I also realize that the new year is really only moments away.  But I was watching the rain yesterday morning, thinking how the rain cleanses the Earth and how everything seems to be re-awakened after a storm.

Watching the rain streak down the window, it suddenly dawned on me, I'm ready to make some changes in my life... and I'm starting now!!

Things I'm going to change:
I've been thinking a lot lately that I want to be more than I currently am. It seems to me that I'm a lot more inhibited than I ever let myself believe. I'm as insecure and self-conscious now as I was when I was 10 years old. I have a tendency to worry about things that I have no control over and I find myself staying up all night trying to fix things that really aren't broken. I seem to let anxiety run my life rather than ME, and I'm just not okay with this pattern I've created for myself.

Unfortunately, Mike has seen these negative things over and over again. Trying to help, he has constantly reminded me that I worry about things that don't matter... and I have to say that I completely agree with him!!

Also, I've gotten lazy. I don't know how this started, but it's stopping immediately. I am going to get back to the gym in full force. I am going to work on running (especially since it's something I used to actually like).

Who I am going to be:
I went through this phase, from about ages 22-25, where I felt really proud of myself. I was confident and worry-free. I was eating healthy, going to the gym regularly, and just enjoying life and all it had to offer! I was positive and had energy bursting out of my entire being at all times!!

I am going to find this person again, and become even more... I am going to break these negative patterns of anxiety induced debilitation. I am going to just let go, relax, and try to remember the things that are really important in life. I am going to be energetic and HAPPY!!!

How I'm going to do it:
Listening to conference yesterday really inspired me. President Monson spoke of service and how much joy it brings to the people being served, but also to the people doing the serving. At work, this year, we've been given a 1/2 day to do acts of service for the community. My team chose to do a snow cone-luau for the children and families at the Road Home shelter in SLC.

President Monson's talk made me think of how much I enjoyed that service project and how good I felt afterward.  So, I'm going to try and serve others in any way I can.

I'm going to let go of things that I cannot control. I'm going to stop over-analyzing every facet of my life. ...I'm going to relax.

I'm going to commit myself to getting healthy. This means the way I eat, exercise, and how I choose to handle situations.

Now, I know that this post sounds pretty negative, but there are some things that I think I do well and I'm going to try and become better at them:
-I'm a very trusting person. People don't really have to earn it, I just give it to them. This can be a good or bad thing (depending on how you look at it), but I choose to think of this as a great thing!
-I try to see the good in others. I refuse to believe that the world is anything but inherently good. I believe that most people want to do good things.
-I want others to be happy. I can't stand the thought of anyone in the world feeling lost or alone. I want people to know that they are special and that they have an important place in the world.

So there you have it... a pre-new year, new year's resolution!

Food, Friends... and FUN!!

We are so lucky to have such great friends...

Mike, Nate, and Tyler have been friends forever. We went to high school with them... and I love getting together with the boys and their wives. Hanging out with Tyler & Brittany and Nate & Jill (and, of course, all of the little kiddos) is always something that we look forward to. We reminisce on the good old days, laugh at crazy mission stories... and get to create new memories of our own!!

On Saturday (September 5th) we all got together to watch the BYU vs Oklahoma State game. We met up at Tyler and Britt's for a BBQ. Since Mike and I aren't parents yet, we love getting the chance to play with all the kids: Isaac, Oakley, Addie, Ellie, Eli, and Sam!! Every one of them make us laugh... and sometimes cry. They are all so smart and soooo adorable!! During the game... Britt, Jill, and I snuck out to see a movie ('The Proposal'). It didn't end until about 12:30 a.m. and when we got home... the boys were still bouncing off the walls. It was a great night!!

This is Mike with Addie, Oakley, and Eli... the girls adore him!!

Tyler, busy working on dinner

Jill and Sam with Britt and Ellie

Here's good ol' Nate... Look at that winning sMiLe!! :)

I had to include this... This is the sandwich that Oakley made for herself. It's a combination of:

lettuce, a tortilla chip, a chocolate chip cookie, cheese, and salsa!! YUM!!

And the Chef, herself... eating her masterpiece!

On Monday (September 14th) Nate & Jill invited us to go celebrate Nate's birthday at Corbin's. Dinner was great, but the company was definitely the best part!! After dinner, the girls ran to get some ice cream... while the boys headed over to start watching movies of their younger (not necessarily WISER) selves!!

For his birthday, Jill's present to Nate was a re-decorated bedroom. I wish I had a picture... it was beautiful!! She has an amazing eye and the room turned out looking like an elegant and relaxing retreat!!

After hanging out at Nate & Jill's for a bit, it was off to Tyler & Britt's for a wild game of 'Blurt'... too bad the boys had to cheat to win!!

Me and my Honey

Tyler and Britt


Nate (the birthday boy) and Jill




Ahhh... the game of excitement!

Flaming Gorge