Sunday PM Conference Session

My parents called my on Saturday night to let us know that they had 2 tickets for the Sunday afternoon conference session and would we like to go...?? Uh, YES!!! I was SO excited to go, I have never been inside the Conference Center--not even for a tour. It far surpassed my expectations. Awe is the only appropriate word I can use to describe it. A total peace and calm came over me when I entered our seating area and Nick and I both had the feeling of reverence. It was one of the most amazing dates nick and I have ever been on. I feel so blessed to have been able to go.

THANK YOU SO MUCH MOM AND DAD!!!

Nick and I on the drive there...notice his intense concentration!
















I have not been to conference since I was in my teens and then we went to the tabernacle. I was amazed by how many people were there. Where did they all come from???











I had to get some pictures of the protesters. This part was a lot different than when I was a kid--back then there were a lot of pan-handlers and TONS of protesters, but this time there was a small handful.









This guy kept saying--"Do you read the bible? The bible does not support your ways! Was it really worth it today?"

I could be wrong, but I don't think any of the things on his sandwich board apply to Mormons...so I guess Hell will not be awaiting us!

Overall, the protesters were very peaceful.









Outside the conference center--waiting to go in. We got in a line that NEVER moved, but the one next to us was zooming along so after a couple of minutes we blended our way in to the other line and were inside and in our seats with in 5 min.







I took some pictures from our seats. We were up in the balcony. Not great seats for seeing the Prophet and apostles faces, but AMAZING seats to see EVERYTHING else. We had a great view!






























Our view from our seats! It was PERFECT!












I asked a guy behind us to take our picture. He was grumpy about "breaking the rules", but took our picture anyway. :) It turned out pretty good! :)











What an amazing thing to witness--the "audience" is having their own conversations, being relatively hushed...when all of the sudden it is completely quiet--if someone had dropped a pin I think we all would have heard it. We all stood up, and then President Monson and his counselors came in and took their seats. It swells my heart just thinking about it and how that small thing was so respectful and showed the first presidency just how much we really love and appreciate them!























After the session we enjoyed the view from the balcony level of the people and things below. I absolutely LOVE when I see an American Flag waving...especially when it's on church property. It makes me feel very patriotic and proud to be an American!











Here's my attempt at taking our picture myself with the temple behind us. We probably should have just asked someone.













And one of the beautiful Salt Lake Temple...it still boggles my mind that this was built by hand...with no machines like we have now. Imagine being the guy picked to go up on top...no thank you! Too scary!
















This was a cool view inside the conference center--it's us looking down It was just really pretty.













Us again...I am taking the picture here...can you tell? ;-)












On the way home I noticed that a couple of the mountains have snow on them. :-) That makes me SO happy!!! The mountains are SO beautiful all covered in white!
























It was a wonderful day...I couldn't have asked for better!

Some funny and cute stuff

My niece Amelia...she is SOOOO cute!!! :)


I think this is one of the cutest pictures of Preston I've ever taken. He actually looks like a little boy...not a baby. sad...


Nick and I on our way to get Ashleigh from Kevin n Jana's house (ash spent the night Friday night)
We are weird
We went out to breakfast and there was a lady doing balloon people. We got Ashleigh this princess ballerina

And Preston got a Spider-man. Pretty impressive I would say.

Allergies allergies and more allergies....

Oh, what do you do when your kid has allergies and they won't seem to go away??? We've tried Benedryl, we've tried Claritin, We've given allergy eye drops, we've given frequent baths, etc....but the allergies don't seem to be getting better...they don't get worse, but they do not get better. Preston is miserable, he is grumpy, he is whiny, he is annoying. And nick and I are pretty much at our wits end with it....



What do you do when you get a new dog...and he brought allergies with him, and he won't pee/poop outside everytime you want him to and instead he'll wait until we come back in to poop or pee all over the floor? What do you do when your daughter really really wants a dog, but it's causing physical pain to your son, and it's driving both the husband and the wife crazy with the NOT eating/drinking, but yet pooping and peeing all over inside???


YOU SELL THE DOG!!!!!

Yup, we have written to Tucker's old owners to see if they want him back or if we should try to sell him ourselves. This was a very bad idea. Things are just not working out the way we wanted them to...we thought we were ready for a dog---but we are not.... I think we'll try again when Preston is 10 or so....maybe not.

We are frustrated and sad, but hopeful that his old parents will just buy him back and we can move on. We'll see......

The Haunted Forest

A few weeks ago we decided to try to organize a trip with some of our family and friends to the very scary Haunted Forest in American Fork. I was able to get the night off of work so it was all set. Unfortunately, a few of the people we invited didn't come--and we missed them, but those who did come had SO much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is Nick and I before going in...waiting for everyone to arrive. Excited and not at all scared!

Corey and Conner came, but they did not go through the haunted forest. I was really disappointed to see how many people brought their little kids with them. I think this is way too scary for anyone under 16.

Randy chit-chatting before we go in. We were especially excited that Randy and Juli came too!

There were fun things to look at while we stood in the LONG line...Capt'n Jack Sparrow was there on his boat, there was a hears (sp?), a big trampoline that people could jump on for only $3, and they had a big movie screen with different music scenes shown on it-from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, a huge Castle front where we go in to the rest of the forest, and this...
Stick your head through the hole and someone can take your picture. I didn't take my camera in for fear of breaking it, but nick took these with his phone. Pretty creapy/scary if you ask me. That's me above and Rachel below.

Here we are after! It was scary and sometimes unpredictable, and dangerous, and gross, but overall it was SO MUCH FUN!!! Thanks so much to all who came and enjoyed the with us!

L to R: Corey, Conner, Christopher, Nick, Meg, Rachel, Juli, & Randy



After, we went to eat at JC W's (Is that what its called?) Amazing burgers, fries, and shakes/malts!

Rachel & Nick...long time friends!

Conner and Corey

My huge banana Malt--a tribute to my dad. It was SOOO good!!!

Christopher

Rachel and Me

Me, Rachel, and Nick

Corey and Conner again...

The parentals...Randy and Juli.

This is a bad attempt at trying to put the camera on timer and have it take our picture..I cut off Christopher and Rachel, and Nick is eating...oh-well.

This was awesome and SO fun and I'm so glad we were all able to go! Next up...the Cornbelly maze at Thanksgiving point....who's up for it??? :)

Grandpa and Preston

My dad came over Thursday night to watch the Utes play Oregon State. The Utes are not a team my dad would normally root for (He's a BYU fan), but he doesn't like Oregon State at all so I think he picked the lesser of two evils to cheer for. Nick is a HUGE Utes fan.... We had pizza and watched the game together. We had a very nice time--and the WON so that's good! Preston just loves my dad and wanted to sit on his lap the whole time...we gave him his bottle to go to sleep and after a few minutes he as sound asleep with my dad. It was so cute!!!

Dad looks sleepy here, but I think I just caught him blinking...

We've adopted!

Please welcome Tucker to our family! We've adopted a mini dachshund. He is 1 1/2 years old. He has a very sweet disposition and temperament. He is a cuddler, he loves to play, he LOVES to lick and likes to be pet. He is GREAT with the kids--Preston especially. *pfew*


We adopted him from a family who is moving to Washington and couldn't take him with them...we got a really good deal on him. I was a little worried at first cause Preston has shown signs of allergies to dogs in the past so I brought Preston in to let Tucker lick him and see if he broke out in hives. He did...with in a few minutes Preston's eyes swelled shut and his face broke out in hives....ugh. Then I looked up and saw a CAT leaving the house....

*lightbulb*

Maybe Preston is allergic to Cats!?! I had started getting hives on my cheek/neck too--I am VERY allergic to cats! It wasn't until later that Nick told me that the people who lived at our house before us had a dog AND a cat! I didn't know they had a cat, so this whole time I thought Preston was allergic to dogs... Now I'm thinking I was wrong this whole time--he's allergic to cats!!!

So, I took a chance (after giving Preston some Benedryl) and we decided to take Tucker home with us.
His parents were nice and gave us his collar, leash, food, treats, bones, car carrier, and his bed--which is a crate type thing. I put Tucker in the car carrier to come home and immediately he started barking/crying/whining...

*sigh*
"I think I just made a BIG mistake..."

HOWEVER....with in a couple of minutes he calmed down and was quiet the whole ride home. The Benedryl kicked in and Preston fell asleep...ahhh...peace and quiet! :)

As soon as we got home I took Tucker up to take a bath--get all the cat off him, I threw away his toys and his blanket. then we washed his crate/bed and pretty much everything else that came home with him. Then Ash, Preston, and I changed our clothes and washed with LOTS of soap.

Nick came home shortly thereafter and we started strategizing about all the details of having a dog--where he is going to sleep, how do we keep Preston away from his food/water, Who is going to take him out in the morning/evening, etc.


After trying to put him to sleep in his crate in the kitchen--BIG MISTAKE--we moved him to our bedroom in his crate and he fell asleep quickly and slept the whole night with out making a peep (except when he heard the wolves outside howling) ha ha. He was a perfect new member of our household.
It's been almost 3 years since we had to put our old dachshund Howie to sleep. We were finally ready to get another dog...and Nick and I are so happy with our choice. Tucker is VERY much like Howie was--not just in looks but in personality! he's a great little dog and once we can get Preston's CAT allergies under control, I think we'll be one big happy family! :)