Tell me if this is fair....

Well, as I sit here and wonder what my next post will be, I ask myself a question. How is it fair that Ryan gets to go to Las Vegas (and gets paid for being there) for spring break and i am stuck in Logan where the weather is questionable and I do nothing but work? Any insight????

Exciting News!!!!

Ok, before everyone gets excited, I AM NOT pregnant! But this news is almost as great as that would be. Ryan and I found out on Monday that we are going to have another nephew added to the family. Dave and Ash found out they are having a boy. Carrie Underwood takes the words right out of my mouth when it relates to this matter, "I told you so!" Everyone but Ash and me thought it was going to be a girl. Man, someday people will listen to us! They sort of tricked us with this since they were not able to tell us in a cute way that they were pregnant, they got really creative to tell us it was a boy. They told us they were not finding out what the gender was until March 12 so I have been telling everyone that date. They typed up a letter from the little guy saying hi and at the end of the letter it was signed "Your Nephew" with a picture of the ultrasound. They sent it to us in the mail so we were totally not expecting it. It was a great surprise when we opened it on Monday. Really cute way of telling us you guys! We loved the surprise! So anywho, my next task is to convince them to name him Max (since Ryan hates the name and I love it, someone in the family has to have it right?) Congrats to Dave, Ash and our new little nephew Max! :)

Spiritual Moment

Hey all! Man, I am stinking at posting lately. We have been super busy but I just wanted to let you know we are doing good. Ryan is just finishing up his last final classes before graduation! That's right, I said graduation! It's on the horizon and we couldn't be any happier! He is enjoying his classes and talks about them all the time. I, on the other hand, am still working and working and working. I submitted my application for the MSW program up at USU so now it is just a waiting game to see if I get accepted. I really am excited for this opportunity to go back to school and further my education and do what I actually want to do. So everyone wish me luck! We are happily awaiting the arrival of our newest niece or nephew. Congrats Dave and Ash! Can't wait to meet him or her. They are due in July. We find our what they are having in March I believe. I think it is a boy and I am the only one that thinks that. Everyone else thinks it is a girl. I will prove them all wrong! For those of you wondering, Zander is doing AMAZING! He no longer has any tubes in and is progressing every day and getting better and better. They are saying if he keeps it up, he might be able to come home this weekend for a week or so before he has to go back for some more surgery! We are so grateful for all your prayers, fasting, faith and blessings that have gone to our family and little Zander. They have truly been felt and appreciated. Brock and Alisha are doing good. A little tired I think but we are grateful that Brock was able to come home to be with his family. We are hoping he does not have to go back!
So I just wanted to share a little spiritual experience for ya'll. After this scare with Zander, it has truly strengthened my trust and faith in the Lord. I don't know if we have ever said so many prayers in such little time before. My faith in this church and the belief that families are forever got me through this. I knew Zander was going to be ok because I knew he has more on this earth to do. I knew that he has lives to touch and he has Uncle Ryan and Aunt Meg to spoil him the rest of his life. I always get jumbled for words when I am trying to be serious so pardon my rambling. Ryan and I have grown closer as well as our whole family growing closer and relying on each other for support and love. Zander is a strong-willed, beautiful little boy with a will to survive and beat obstacles that come his way. It has been amazing to visit him in the hospital and watch him fight and grow stronger. When we went and visited him this weekend we walked in the room and he saw Uncle Ryan and he just started smiling and giggling. My heart softened to watch that relationship between those two. This experience has also made me realize that Ryan is going to be one amazing dad! I can't wait for him to be able to hold his own child and protect him or her like he has Zander. It has made me realize the imortance of family and support. It has been mind blowing to see all the support from family and friends during this time. People I have not talked to have sent their well-wishes and love. Zander has had many visitors in the hospital and I know it is because of their love and support that he is getting strong. We went to church this past Sunday at Primary Children's. Two things made this experience amazing. 1. It was only 30 minutes long. 2. I have not felt the spirit that strong in a really long time. As I sat there and sang songs, I looked around to see all the children around me. I watched them as they fidgeted with the I.V.'s they were hooked up to or moved around in their wheelchairs. I watched them as they were fighting for their lives trying to beat the cancer. I watched a three-year old in a wheelchair and neck brace shout "Amen" when the sacrament prayer was over and took his own bread. I watched their smiles brighten their faces when Jesus Christ was mentioned. I watched a little girl lean on her dad's lap because she was so tired from her Chemo or radiation treatments but still had the will to make it to church. As I sat watching this beautiful scene, I thought to myself, why do I complain when I did not get that shirt I wanted or why do I complain that we are not able to go to Hawaii for a vacation? These children are here fighting for their lives wanting to just go home and I am complaining that I can not go on vacation because we don't have enough money! I actually was a little mad at myself after the service for these thoughts that I had had but then after pondering this experience, I knew that I was supposed to go to church that day so I can realize all that I have in my life and all the blessings that have been given to me. I can go get in my car and drive around and go to the movies. I can go for a walk outside and enjoy the beautiful snow. I can go to plays and visit family and go get ice-cream. I have an amazing husband that will do absolutely anything for me. These kids could not because they had been stricken with an illness. I am not ill. I am a healthy person. So why am I complaining? Let me tell you, these kids taught me a lesson that day. I realized how grateful I am for everything and made a decision that day to always remind myself of that everyday of my life. I am sorry I have rambled and rambled but I felt like I needed to post my experience. So my conclusion to this story is...thank you kids at Primary Children's hospital for changing my life and helping me realize all that I have. And i encourage each and every one of you to be grateful for all you have and remind yourselves everyday. I am so grateful for this church and the temple. I am so grateful that i am worthy to go there and be as close as I can to our heavenly father as I can get right now. I love you all and thank you again for your warm wishes and prayers for our family at this time.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas full of family, fun and food! We sure did! We wanted to share what we have been up to this December.....

Lights at Temple Square are always a must in December! They were beautiful!

Just another shot of some lights and scenery

Another pretty shot....

I thought this would be a cool shot but I could not hold the camera still so it is a little blurry but I thought it was cool

Such a beautiful place!

Ahhhhhh, how cute....

This is at Ryan's family Christmas party. It was so much fun and so many people showed up. This pictures is the boys trying to have some musical talent. They were hitting those chimes to the song Jingle Bells I think it was. Let's just say, we girls were laughing really hard watching these great guys attempt this.

Ryan is really focussed and didn't want to mess up. He did great!

Here is Grandma G and Zander. He just got his present from Great Grandpa Waite. Five dollars in coins. He was really excited. In fact, so excited that he started eating the bag they were in.

Here is our pretty Christmas tree we had this year. We were really excited for our new ornaments that we bought last year. It turned out really pretty.

Our table centerpiece for our coffee table.

Our fun stocking! And some other Christmas decorations. These Christmas decoration shots are for Melissa who stated she liked to see pictures of decorations.

This was in our windowsill. I thought it turned out really cute.

Here is my Christmas village that I have started collecting. Every year Ryan buys me one more to add to my collection as a tradition. It is getting big!

Ryan opening his stocking Christmas morning. He got some cologne in there. He ended up getting three different types of cologne. He should be smelling good for a while.

Here is a classic face of Ryan's. Isn't he cute?

Dave and Ashely got him an X-Box game. It is Cabella's Big Game Hunter. I will not watch him play it. Thanks Dave and Ash, I appreciate you buying him a game where he enjoys shooting animals! How will I ever repay you.......

Here is my gift from Dave and Ash. It was very special. It is a Willowtree figurine titled "Hero". It is a story that might take a bit, but just know that it was very special to me. Thanks guys! Ok, do you see the step stool in the background? This is an inside joke! To make a long story short, my dad noticed when he was here that I am very short and a lot of my bowls to cook are in a tall cupboard and I kept having to get my stools and climb on them all the time. So he called me up last week and said my gift was waiting at Home Depot. What could it possibly be I asked myself? Well, when I got there it was a stepstool. What a thoughtful gift! Ryan and I laughed really hard. Thanks dad, I love it and I have used it a lot already!

Ryan go this shirt from me. I really like it.

Here is another X-Box game from me.

I got some clothes from Ryan

I am finally talking Ryan into wearing those good looking sweater vests to church so I got him one. He will look great in it! If only he liked the tie I picked out with it, oh well, he liked the vest so that was good. We went and exchanged the tie for one he liked so we all won in the end.

Here is cute Tikku! We are babysitting her for Nekku who is in Finland. Tikku had fun helping me open presents.

Ryan got me some attachments to my Kitchen Aide. They are awesome! Making Sour Cream Potatoes takes half as long now! I love this gift!

This is what happens when you always shop together for Christmas presents. No Surprises!!!!

This is one of my favorite presents I got from Ryan. Some UGG Boots. Don't worry though, we definitely had gift certificates from my work to help buy these!

This is our gift from Santa this year! Ryan couldn't wait to put it all together. It is pretty cool.

This was Ryan's favorite gift. A watch. Surprise Surprise huh? This thing is huge!

Ryan and me on Christmas day before going to dinner with my family. Do you see how he is trying inconspicuously to show off his watch? What a dork!

And of course, our traditional matching sweats we get every year! Ryan is sure a trooper to do this but I think he liked them this year. He has worn them a lot! I thought I did good. Next year is his turn, what will it be?????

Well, we sure had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had dinner at my Aunt Alison's house which was great! It was fun to be with family and laugh a lot! Then one of the best parts of the day was talking to our missionary Jason! It was great. We talked to him for like two and a half hours! He sounds great and says he is doing awesome and is loving it out there. We ate lots of food and treats and just hung out all day! We hope your day was magical as ours was! We love you all and wish you a Happy New Year!

Giving Thanks for family and miracles...

Hey All! We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and we wanted to share with you a little of what we were up to during the holidays...

Our Thanksgiving miracle was that my dad came and visited us! My brother and I were so elated to have him and be with him during the holidays. Thanks so much dad for coming out! It was great to see you and we are glad that you were able to meet Ash and Ryan. We loved having you and hope you come out again soon!

Here is a picture of my brother, dad and me. Don't you think my brother and dad are twins? I am not kidding you. They act, talk and think exactly the same. Like father like son I guess. Now it finally makes sense where Dave comes from. This will be Dave in thirty years.....

We were able to celebrate Dave's 27th birthday with all our close family and friends. It was great to have them all over. (Even though we had to cram into my little apartment, it was still a blast!) That is our cute nephew Ty next to Dave just waiting to have that cake and ice cream

Here are some of the guests to Dave's birthday party.

Some more of our guests.

Here is Zander and me after eating Thanksgiving food. It was delicious! Thanks Mama G for the awesomeness of it all. Zander loves Aunt Meg!

This is me and Ty, Zander and Oaks sitting watching Elf. As you can see, Ty and Zander were much more interested in the movie than getting their picture taken....

Oaks smiling big for the camera. I have the cutest niece ever!

Ty, Oaks and I just chillin. If you are wondering, Ryan is the one taking all of the pictures. He never actually got in any of them.

We were very lucky to spend our Thanskgiving dinner at the Alumni House this year. We had such a big family eating together, we needed space. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and was the perfect place for Thanksgiving. We were able to project movies and play video games. It was a blast!

Well, again we hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was definitely one for the memory book! Thanksgiving miracles happen! Never stop believing!

My AMAZING domestic ability.......

Ok, so here is a picture of my very first real domestic project! I pieced together all my old Aggie shirts and made a quilt out of them. This was a very long process and took a lot of patience but I finally finished it (with the help of Alisha and Mama G!, thanks guys, couldn't have done it without you). This quilt is HUGE! I just love it. It is not perfect but it is a quilt that I made. I hope you all like it too! Sorry it is turned, I couldn't get it to turn to download it but you still see how cute it is.....Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

Well, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Late Halloween! I don't have really any pictures from our festivities. I was Tonks from Harry Potter. It was pretty fun. Anywho, I hope you all had a great, safe one and got lots of candy!