Julie graduated from college
Mom and Jim got married
Our 2nd wedding anniversary. Some shelves we built in our living room
Austin and Ryder Our Bishopric Christmas party
We went to see David Archuleta at the Conference Center
That’s about it for now.
We’re pregnant! Its true, its true and we are thrilled. Julie is 5.5 weeks along (just found out a week ago) and the baby (or babies?? Julie’s mom is a twin too…) is due November 24th, 2011 – Thanksgiving Day. We will keep you posted as we learn more information about the pregnancy. First check up is in a few weeks.
Hope you are all doing well. We love you and hope everyone is happy and healthy.
A middle of the night and can’t sleep post:
Lately I have been taking a new bottle of a sleep aid, melatonin. I have enjoyed it in the past because I am a very light sleeper and sometimes have a hard time initially falling asleep, and this is a natural substance that your body produces to make you fall asleep. For some reason this bottle has had an interesting side effect. Every time I take 2 pills, which equals the milligrams of 1 pill from the bottle I previously had, I wake up in the middle of the night having just had a nightmare. The dreams have varied in subject, like someone close to me (like Julie or my mom) dying, or my Dad hating me. Just tonight I woke up after having watched my dog be shot in the neck from point blank and seeing her limp away struggling to breathe, and then dying. As I lay awake in bed just contemplating my feelings and wondering why I was having such bad dreams, especially when I have grown up very rarely having any dreams at all that I can even remember at all, I came to a realization. I think I know what hell feels like. I know hell is not fire and little devils stabbing you with their spears. I believe that hell will be like the feeling you have after a nightmare. It is that heavy, awful, sinking feeling in the most sensitive region of your heart. It is experiencing such awful guilt or sadness, forever. The beautiful thing about this experience for me has been that I think I know what it will feel like after the judgment also. All of your misdeeds on earth will be brought to light, and you will have to stand accountable for those deeds. I believe that most of us will experience fear, just like a nightmare, realizing all the things we have done wrong and what the consequence is for those things. But then we will experience pure ecstasy when our savior stands up and says, “Father, yes they have done these things, but they have repented and tried to live good lives. I have forgiven them and I have already paid the price for those sins”, and our Father in heaven will say “Then as my only begotten has forgiven you, so do I forgive you”. Just like waking up from a nightmare and to my purest joy realizing that it was just a dream and everything is ok, and the heavy awfulness being lifted away, so too will the judgment be, for those who repent, and follow Christ.
There have been quite a few events that Dave and I have had the opportunity to participate in the past month or so – September and October have proven to be super busy months with school and work for the both of us, but we survived. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like you are going to make it through the week, or even through the day, but somehow you just manage to do so every time.
Included are some pictures to document the course of events over the past couple of weeks so that you can have a look at what we have been up to.
Here is a cute picture of Kaylee and Bella at a Sunday Family Picnic up the canyon at South Fork. We went up to enjoy the colors which were strong and vibrant at the time – I love Fall.
Next is Conference weekend. We watched Saturday morning at Marvin and Barbie’s as the young married’s had a sleepover Friday night, had ‘Conference Waffles’ the next morning, and watched the sessions together. Austin brought his bike, and Ryder’s soon to be dirt bike which Dave enjoyed riding around the block a few times. Boys and their toys!
Josee and Jorgan invited us to go to the Nitrous Circuit dirt bike event with them that Josee’s work was putting on. It was a pretty sweet event as the cyclists were flying through the air that you only see in video games. Event to remember for sure.
Dave, Bella and I hiked the Y one Saturday with my little sister Melanie – her choice. We had to do it quickly since I had to work that afternoon, but I’m sure that even if we didn't have to do it quickly, it would still have been hard. I forget how steep that trail is! But we all released a sigh of relief that we made it even to the bottom of the Y.
The next few photos are from the pumpkin carving party that we put on for the young marrieds. Tori, Austin, Ryder, and Trigger joined us on this event and we had a blast. The pumpkins turned out great! We watched Hocus-pocus for the Halloween thriller, ate Halloween cupcakes, and had lots of fun. Trigger and Bella just love playing together, but like most kinds, there is that one toy that they both just want…
Last, but not least, Bella had her FIRST BIRHDAY! Since she is all that we’ve got, we threw her a birthday party and invited doggie cousins, family and friends. We had a pretty decent turn out and was thank for for all those who did come out to celebrate and have fun. I made cup cakes for the deserts, including doggie cupcakes so that all could play a part and enjoy. For party favors, achilles tendons from a cow/elk (picked them up at a jerky shop… they sell them specifically for dogs. They LOVE these things!)
Full of fun and festive activities – now we are looking forward to our California trip to visit the newly born Jensen twins! More pictures to come. Love you all.
My niece, Aubrie, did the Mutton Busting event in the rodeo
This is a waterfall that we found on the last day of our trip. Pretty!
Dave doing his modeling poses for the camera - Good old David. Gotta love him!
We went to a luau that had all you can eat Hawaiian buffet and all sorts of Hawaiian dances - hula, fire dances, etc. It was REALLY cool! Since I took hula lessons in high school, it was really neat to see it done professionally.
Dave had his 25th birthday in Hawaii and we celebrated with a guava cake - yummy! Happy Birthday David.
We went on a snorkeling trip where the ship took us to places just off the coast that had great snorkeling opportunities. We saw all sorts of fish and plant-life. VERY cool! As you can see, we are having fun with the snorkeling gear. In this picture it is (my sisters) Jenny, Melanie, Me, and Dave.
Sea Turtles! We were able to swim with sea turtles at one of the snorkeling locations. What an amazing experience it was to swim within 5 feel of these creatures. I don't have the words to explain. The captain then took us to a location where you couldn't swim, but there were dozens of turtles surfacing for air. So, I was able to get a picture!
This is me and my niece (2 1/2 years old) making sand castles on the beach just a short walk away from our condo. Aubrie is so cute.
Dave and I on the beach - good memories.
This is taken from the balcony of the condo that we stayed at. We were able to see a rainbow over the ocean each morning. Can anyone say 'paradise'?
Dad, Kimball and I at Dad's wedding
