Surprise Luau!

A friend (Chelsey), inspired me to be a little better in my date planning. I used to be a lot better, but I've sort of slacked... So a few weeds ago, I borrowed some of her ideas and put together a date night with my friend Autumn and her husband Bruce. Autumn and I planned this all week, and the guys had no idea what we were doing. It was so funny to see how bugged they (especially Bruce) got when we wouldn't give them any clues to what we had up our sleeves.
Autumn and Bruce came over that night- the guys still totally oblivious to what we were doing. And we just stood there and handed them this...

They started to read and Jeff said "Oh No... A scavenger hunt"... :) and we just laughed. There's a restaurant 5 minutes away called "Golden Hills" and they have a little glass case full of pie. When they got there, two Leis with tags that said "Wear Me" on them, and this clue, were hanging there:

Autumn's parents own a little rock shop around the corner. So there, they had to find some big glass diamonds (with a tag that said "Bring Me") with the next clue:

Our grocery store here in Orderville is called Terry's. So after they got the diamonds, which had a few dollars taped to them, they had to drive over there and find the "drink as red as a cherry" (that happened to be Hawaiian Punch). I put the next clue on one of the bottles, and a little tag that said "Buy Me" (hence the dollar bills from the last clue).
This was their next clue:

So this clue might be a little confusing to anyone that doesn't live here. haha. We have our rodeo grounds over here where they have horse shows frequently, and the Kane County Fair Rodeo and things. They also have a Demolition Derby (which is this weekend! :) in the same arena. When they got there, they had to go to the concession stand, and some Hawaiian shirts and straw hats were waiting for them with little tags that said "Wear Me" on them. The last clue was also waiting:

While the guys were running around town, trying to figure everything out, Autumn and I went to the baseball diamond that overlooks the town and set up a little mini luau. We set up some Tiki-torches, and parked our car close by so we could hear the Hawaiian music coming out of the CD player. We made Hawaiian style pizza's, had our Hawaiian punch, and I made a Pineapple Upside-Down cake for dessert. We got all dressed up too and were waiting for them when they got there. (Well- I was- We didn't think they would be as fast as they were, and Autumn had to run back to get something. :)
We really had such a fun time out there. It was totally different, and really fun!
(Doesn't my husband look studly in a straw hat and flowers? :)

Somber moments...

Today has been an interesting day. Definitely a somber one. I'm having a hard time today wanting to go out and do anything positive.

This afternoon, I went to a funeral of a little 10 1/2 month old baby girl who lived in Glendale (about 5 minutes away). Her mom has already lost a baby before this one, and is also pregnant with another. This little girl, Hailey, was so precious. Just a beautiful little girl. She always had some health problems following her, but this week, she died of SIDS during the night. The father carried the casket. So tiny. And everyone was asked to wear pink in honor of her. The funeral was really good. I could definitely feel the spirit and Hailey there... But I just kept thinking the whole time that I never want this to be me. I never want to have that awful day of burying a child. But, only the Lord knows what's ahead of us in our lives. I hope and pray that it's not ahead for us. My prayers are with that sweet couple and their family.

I got home, and listened to my messages, and could only hear part of a message about a crash in Moab. I got on the internet and found the story, only to find out that my brother-in-law's best friend had passed away in the plane crash. Along with him, his father, and 8 others from Cedar passed away as well. I've met this friend a few times... But didn't know him very well. But it still hit me so hard. Judy and Jared- you, and his wife and family are all in our prayers. I'm so so sorry...

Live is so fragile. It scares me sometimes. I told Jeff that sometimes you don't really realize that death is real until a day like today.

But... even with days like today... my testimony of the Gospel is as strong as ever. I know that there's a Father in Heaven. Sometimes I don't always know exactly why his plan is the way it is... But I still trust it. I know that someday, we'll be able to see all of our loved ones that have passed away before us again someday. I'm so grateful for that! What would be our purpose here if there wasn't something after? Again- I'm grateful for the knowledge I have, and my prayers are with all of these families this week...

Dallin's two year pics...

Ok... So I know I haven't posted in a while. I really have wanted to though! I just can't find my camera cord anywhere, so I can't upload any of my pictures from the last few weeks. My neighbor has the same camera so maybe I can borrow her cord tomorrow.

For now- I thought I'd post some pictures that I've been meaning to post. These pictures were taken pack in June by my good friend Ann. I think we dubbed her Dallin's official photographer just because she took Dallin's first pictures when he was 11 days old, and has been taking them quite often ever since. I love her! These are some of the pictures she's taken over the course of Dallin's life... Of course there's MANY more- :) but these are some of my favorites.

11 days old (at our house)...

6 Month Pictures (at our house):

18 month Pics (at Ann's house):

Anyway- this day of pictures, Dallin was a little crazier than usual. We couldn't get him to sit still for the life of us. But we got a lot of cute pics anyway. These are just a FEW. She filled up her camera's entire memory card in an hour- something she's never done before! haha... Oh well... We needed all the pics to keep up with my little man.

Two years old:

Add on...

Real quick. To those of you who emailed me, or were thinking of doing the swap, I think I'm going to wait a few weeks- Until school starts. Just so everybody can get back in their groove. Hope that's alright with everyone. It will also give all of you who weren't sure some more time to think about it. Everyone have a great few last weeks/days of summer. :)

Favorite things...

Kate (for those of you who know Burke- Burke's sister)... has such a fun blog. She hosted a "Favorite things" swap a few weeks ago. Everyone has a partner and sends them a little package of some of their favorite things. It could be anything. Then you post a picture of what you received in the mail. My "swap partner" was Hayley Lambert.
She sent me some fun goodies:

1. A gift certificate to The Golden Spoon to get Island coconut flavor.
2. Sharp New Crayons (Which I also love!)
3. A gift certificate to 25 Main (I've really wanted to try this place) for Coconut cupcakes.
4. Big Sunglasses
5. Square Diamond Earings

Thank you so much Hayley for the fun treats! It was so much fun to look for something fun in the mail besides the usual! It was fun to get to know you a little better through your favorite things too. Hope you enjoyed my package! :)

I had so much fun doing this that I thought I would host another round for all of my fellow bloggers. So- for those of you that thinks this looks like fun (Come on- You know you all want to!!) or- for those of you that did it with Kate that want to do it again- Let me know!! It's a fun way to get to know somebody better too. Here's the details:

"It's really quite simple: as a participant, you will be asked to choose at least three to five objects (Extras would be fun too!)that are some of YOUR favorite things to send to your partner... maybe it's an apron you made, your new favorite book, or that favorite flavor of lip gloss. Be creative & most importantly have fun with it! Objects can be new or vintage, bought or handmade...just remember, it is probably best to send something the you'd be pleased to receive yourself. Ready to join the fun?
Please e-mail the following to jumpjive_n_jenna@hotmail.com before Friday August 15th:
-your name
-mailing address
-email address
-website / blog
-a little something about yourself
Swap partners will be emailed to you shortly after the sign-up deadline."

Thanks guys! It's so much fun!
P.S. Anybody that tried to send your info to jumpjive_n_jenna@GMAIL.com... It's hotmail.com. :) Sorry about that. I copy and pasted and didn't look at the gmail part. It's changed now.

Rest of July Catch-up...

So.....
I think it's about time I update again. :) In our lives, especially in the summer, a lot happens in two weeks. I'll just do the highlights though. :)

First: I missed a birthday shout out to Laura, my sister-in-law. Happy 18th Laura! :)

The 24th:
We had a really good day. For the first time, I got to come to an Orderville celebration without having to perform or be in charge of anything. It was very nice. The whole day I felt lost because I couldn't remember what I was doing for last years 24th. Then later that night I remembered I had my tonsils out. :) Guess I blocked that out pretty well. Jeff was on the Elders Quorum "float". (a truck they all just jumped on with a wood splitter attached to the back. :) He looked cute though. It was fun to watch the parade with Dallin. There was a program at the church, lunch and a water slide at the park, and a free dinner at the park again that night with an old fashioned band. It just turned out to be a nice relaxing day...

Jeff's dad, Jeff, and My dad, Alan also both had their birthdays on the same day-July 30th. Jeff turned 59, and my dad turned 53. Hope they both had a wonderful day. I wasn't able to be with my dad since he's in Vegas, but here's a picture of him, and a picture of Jeff getting up the gusto to blow out ALL of those candles!

Another Highlight: Jeff's brother's wedding!

Jeff's Brother Nate got married this weekend. We were all so happy for him. He married a really cool girl named Monica who is from Canada, and is the only member in her family. It was fun to meet her family, and hear their fun accents. :) The day went really well for them (not so well for us- Dallin had the Flu. Luckily he felt better for the evening though). They were married in the St. George Temple, and had a luncheon and reception in Cedar. Jeff and his brothers and his friend Brandon sang the same song to Monica and he sang to me at our reception. I ran out of memory, but here's part of the song. I love my husband's voice. :)

Here's a few picture of the reception. Don't our little guys look so cute Judy? :)

I just so happened to stumble on this awesome lighting from the window. With the light coming in, it made everything else in the background go black. It was really cool.

And Monica forgot her Garter and couldn't find it anywhere, so Nate pulled a Jeff and threw his tie. Dallin was the stud who caught it. :) I seriously hope he's not the next one from that bunch to get married! :)

And- I wanted to shock everyone- I made my first wedding cake ever. Ok- my first REAL cake ever! I had never used fondant before, and I was pretty scared to have my "tryout" on somebody's wedding cake. Jeff's mom was planning on making the cake, and after being completely stressed out with everything (She did everything for the wedding!), she asked me and Laura to help, and we ended up doing all of it. :) I think it turned out pretty well for my first time though! Of course there are a few mess-ups, but come on- it's my first time!! :) I'll just know better next time!

Anyway- Kind of a long, boring, for posterity update. But I had to let everyone know I hadn't fallen off the planet. And to end on a really good note- I'm feeling a lot better! Just really super tired lately. I'm glad we had such a great month. This is why July is one of my favorites...

I July! :)