Preparing: Better Stewards

One of our goals since getting married has been for me to be a stay-at-home mom.  We have always felt that it would be very important for our children to be raised by a parent instead of a babysitter.  We also strongly feel that this is what Heavenly Father wants us to do, and that because our desire is a righteous one, He will provide a way (we're going off of 3 Nephi 3:7 here).  Neal will be applying for and finding out about a job that would enable us to reach this goal.  If ya'll wouldn't mind keeping your fingers crossed, and keeping us in your prayers, we would GREATLY appreciate it!

On that topic: we realized a few months ago that me being a stay-at-home mom would also mean going down to one income.  This was kind of scary for us because we had always had the security of us both working.  A while back when I was doing the BYU free online classes to kill some time (which I swear I posted about, but now can't find), I saw a "Personal Finance" class.  I remembered that as we were discussing finances, and decided now would be a good time to take the class.

In the first lesson, it talks about changing attitudes, and realizing that everything that we've been given is a blessing from Heavenly Father.  It then goes on to teach that we need to be good stewards of what God has blessed us with, and use those blessings wisely.  Specifically, with finances, we need to use our money wisely.  

So, one thing we've decided to do to prepare for our little dude, and for (hopefully) going down to one income is practice being better stewards of our finances.  We've begun looking at our budget and figuring out what some things are that we -really- don't need to be spending as much money on.  So, we're doing things like spending less money on fast food and restaurants, and spending that money on groceries instead if we need to. We've done pretty well so far, and I'm pretty proud of us!

24 weeks :)

This is me this week - 24 weeks.  It's also one of my new shirts.  It's probably my favorite right now :) 

Our little dude is moving around a lot.  Neal was able to really feel him move on Sunday for the first time.  We were at the Colorado Mormon Chorale concert to support Neal's dad.  We aren't able to go to the concerts very often because of work schedules, so we jumped at the opportunity to go!  There was one song where our little guy started going CRAZY!  What usually happens is he moves a lot until I tell Neal to put his hand where little dude is moving.  As soon as I tell him where to put his hand. little guy stops moving.  He's a twerp like that...not that we couldn't have guessed that one was coming.  So after a few minutes I decided he was moving enough, and told Neal about it.  Neal discreetly turned his body and gently put his hand on top of my little bump.  As soon as he did, little dude kicked HARD!  It was so cool to see the look on Neal's face - his face lit up.  He finally was able to truly experience his son's little life :)

I've started experiencing sciatica over the past few weeks.  It's mostly in my left side, so I think a lot of it is from my hips moving while I'm sleeping (I sleep on my left side right now, but I'm used to sleeping on my back).  Thankfully, my chiropractor is awesome, and is willing to fit me in when I'm having pain.  He's adjusted my hips twice in the last two weeks, and it seems to be helping.  I'm also trying to make sure I to stretching and walking, because I've read that helps.

We've decided to put off working on his room until after Christmas.  We've got so many presents hidden, boxes for decorations strewn about, and just extra stuff in there.  After that all goes away, we'll start putting his room together.  We're pretty excited!  Crazy to think that there's only 16 or so more weeks until we get to meet him!

The Lee Greenwood story

Every few months the Candlelight has a pretty big name come in.  They've had Diamond Rio, Maureen McGovern, and the Gatlin Brothers, just to name a few.  Yesterday the loaded in Lee Greenwood's show, and he's here until Wednesday evening.

When they do these shows, I usually go in during load in to have lunch with Neal, and to just see him.  He's usually there for 12-14 hours on load in days, so if I don't head over there, I usually don't see him until he's passing out in bed that night.  

So, I headed to the Candlelight yesterday to eat lunch with Neal.  After we ate, Neal headed back to setting things up, and I started looking at the other people who were sitting there eating.  When I looked at one of the guys who was sitting there, he looked kind of familiar, but I thought to myself "Nah...that's not Lee Greenwood.  There's no way he's here already."  I kept looking at the picture on his bio, and back at the man sitting there, but I couldn't make up my mind.  See, the stars don't usually show up that early.  They usually hang out in their hotels or go see the sights while the techs set everything up, and the band gets their stuff the way they want it.  So, to finally convince myself that the guy I was looking at was not Lee Greenwood, I walked over to Colin (Neal's friend and fellow sound engineer) and said "Is that Lee Greenwood?"  He chuckled a little and said "Yup."  I got pretty excited, not going to lie.

I went back to where my bag of chips was still sitting (over by who I now knew was Lee Greenwood) and as I was finishing eating my chips, he looked at me and asked "When are you due?"  I was thrilled - one, because a stranger could actually tell I was pregnant, and two, Lee Greenwood was talking to me!  We had a really, really nice conversation for about a half an hour.  We talked about kids, he showed me a picture of his beautiful wife, we talked about his son's experiences as a freshman in college, and some other things.  It really made my day!  He was a very down to earth person, and just very kind and caring.

A little while later, I went back to eat dinner with Neal before the show, and ended up sitting next to him at the sound board for the show.  Before the show started, Charlie, the Candlelight's stage manager, walked down from upstairs where Lee and the band were, said "You really must have made an impact," and handed me this:

I was so thrilled!  It was so kind of him to think of us, and give us something so personal.

His show was absolutely incredible.  He sang some really amazing Christmas songs, some that I had never heard before.  He plays the piano and saxophone on top of singing.  Before one of the songs, he began talking about his son, and mentioned that his son was born in April.  Then he said "One of the technicians here actually has a bundle of joy due in April.  Congrats to him."  I was pretty excited when he said that!!  After intermission, he sang some of his country hits, and ended with three incredible patriotic songs.  He sang the last three songs with such enthusiasm and passion, that I literally sat there and bawled my eyes out.  You could tell he truly felt what he was singing.  He ended with his most famous song, "God Bless the USA," and as he was singing it the whole house stood up.  It was incredibly touching to look out over the audience and realize that the majority of the people in that group probably served in the armed forces, and had friends who died fighting for our country's freedom, and the freedom of others.  It was an extremely touching moment.

After the show, he went out in the lobby to sign autographs.  After he was done visiting with the patrons, I walked up and thanked him for the photo he gave us.  He smiled and gave me a little hug, and then asked if the three of us could get a picture together.  So we took this:

It really was an incredible experience, and was such a wonderful opportunity to meet him!  If you have tonight or tomorrow night free, I highly recommend going to see him in his show.  Hurry quick though.  There are only something like three tickets a night left.

Spring cleaning...in the winter...Nesting?

About a year and three months ago, we moved from our first little apartment into the apartment that we're in now.  Our first apartment was about 450 square feet, so when we moved into a 900 square foot apartment, we were THRILLED with how much room we had!  When we moved in, it felt like we were never going to have enough stuff to fill up the apartment.

Boy was I wrong.

A couple weeks ago I looked around and realized, "Holy crap...we have to fit another person in here in four months.  He may be little, but he's sure going to come with a lot of STUFF!  I have no idea what we're going to do!"

To chalk it up to that realization, or to blame "nesting," I'm not really sure, but what I do know is that this week I have been on a cleaning adventure.  And it hasn't been just the normal "vacuum the living room" or "dust the speakers."  No.  I'm talking like "completely cleaning off the half wall between our kitchen that's become so cluttered with random papers and stuff that doesn't belong to us" kind of cleaning.  The deep, decluttering kind of cleaning.  I finally looked at all of the papers we've been holding onto (for what reason, I'm not quite sure) and either put them in the "trash" pile or the "shred" pile.  I've got piles going of random stuff of other people's that we've collected throughout the last year that I'm finally going to give back.

I have to say though, getting through all the clutter makes me kind of happy.  It makes me kind of happy to look over at the table that our birds sit on, and realize that I not only organized it, but finally cleaned everything off, got rid of whatever had collected there that we don't need, and vacuumed up all the bird feathers and seed that had fallen all over the place. (You would not believe the amount of feathers that two little parakeets lose, and the amount of seed that they manage to get in the smallest of cracks).

Hopefully over the next four months we can keep it up so that when little man comes, he gets to come home to a nice, organized, clean home :)

What are some of your favorite cleaning and organizing tips?

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Sunday, our sacrament meeting was all about gratitude.  I learned some pretty cool things, and also was reminded of some pretty cool things.  One thing that was said that I feel is worth sharing is something the youth speaker, Adam, said.  "An attitude of gratitude is a disease we should share."  I thought that was pretty profound for a teenager.

On Monday, Neal and I did a Family Home Evening where we made a list of some of the things we are grateful for, and then said a special prayer just to thank Heavenly Father for the things he's given us.  It was pretty awe inspiring to sit down and write out a list, and then realize that we could never write down every single thing we are grateful for.  We have been so blessed and given so much.

Here is just a short list of some of the things I am so incredibly thankful for:

1. My faith in and testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ - I know that I am a daughter of God, and that Christ is my Savior.  I know they both love me tremendously.

2. Neal - I can't even begin to explain to you how incredible this man is.  I thought I knew, but he has become even more amazing to me over the last few months.  He does so much service for me, works so hard to provide for us, and strives to be obedient to the commandments.
3. My family - Over the last few months I have come to realize how much I have taken my family for granted in the past.  I am so grateful for how much they love me and support me.
4. This little guy that we hoped for for what felt like so long, and that has already started changing our lives in the most incredible ways.
5. My job - I have one of the most rewarding, frustrating, enjoyable, crazy, awe-inspiring jobs in the world.  Its something I can't put into words.
6. That we always have enough for our wants and needs.  That we always have food, clean water, and shelter.
7. That we live in the US.  Things may not be going exactly how I'd like, but its still one of the best places in the world to live.
8. Scriptures - I love studying the scriptures so much, and I'm grateful for the guidance and direction I feel I get from them.
9. The trials I've been through - They've helped form me into the person I am today.  There are a lot of positive things that have come from trials I've been through.
10. That we get to work with and teach adorable 4 year olds every week on Sunday.  It truly is one of the best callings I've had!

I hope you all had an incredible Thanksgiving!  What are you grateful for this year?

20 week ultrasound :)

As you probably already know, we had our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday.

The biggest question: what is baby's gender?  Well, our little one is most definitely a boy.

I'm sure he will love me for that later.  Sorry if you think it's TMI :) I think it's cute!

He measured 14 ounces (almost a pound already!  Woo-hoo!) and a week further along than what he actually is.  The sonographer said they probably won't up his due date though.  Apparently, generally, if its within about two weeks of your previous ultrasound's estimated due date, they won't change it.  I'm guessing that's because it's easier to get accurate measurements when they're not moving around a ton. We should find out for sure on Monday though.

It was pretty cool during the ultrasound: Neal got to see him kick like crazy!  He hasn't been able to feel him move around yet (I swear baby moves around like crazy until I tell Neal to come over), so it was a cool thing for him to see.

He kept putting his arm and hand in front of his face, so we got to see his little finger and arm a whole lot.  It was pretty crazy to see each of those little fingers move around.  He didn't like being poked by the ultrasound thing either...he would get into a good position for the sonographer to get the picture she needed, and as soon as she'd go to take the picture, he'd move.  It was pretty cute - he's definitely our child!  Stubborn :)

Neal keeps giving me a hard time because I keep looking at the pictures on the cd that she gave us, but I just can't help it.  I can't believe how much he has changed in just 12 short weeks.

I'm also happy to be past the half way point.  I keep telling myself that the last 20 weeks went by really fast, and so the next 20 weeks will go by fast as well.  He's become much more active this week, so that makes me really happy as well!!

Baby J: 18 and 19 weeks

I got up to get ready for church today and told Neal, "Ok.  It's time to play musical skirts!"  He CRACKED up!  But really, it's true.  Over the past week I have "popped" as it were.   So many people have made comments over the last two days about the fact that I actually look pregnant now.  It makes me pretty happy.

18 weeks:

Last week was our annual deer hunting trip.  My doctor told me I hit it at the right time - I was far enough along that I would have energy to do what I needed, but I wasn't far enough along to make her nervous about me being 5 hours away and travelling.  I shot my deer opening morning at about 25 yards (I surprised my deer and he surprised me, so that's why I ended up so close).  I was pretty excited about it.  I looked at Neal and said "I'm gonna tell people 'I'm pregnant, not dead!'"  That's pretty much how I felt about the whole trip.  I did things a little slower and walked a little slower, but there was one day I walked about 4 miles (up and down hill) and I'm really proud because I didn't get super winded.

The day that I walked about four miles was the day my dad shot his deer.  I'm so proud of him - he hunted so hard and so long for a nice buck, and he found one.  We were all really excited about this deer :)

Neal did awesome at taking care of me while we were up there.  Anything I needed, he took care of.  I'm so grateful for everything he does for me, and for how much he takes care of me.  I know he is going to be such a good dad.  I felt baby really kick me for the first time while we were up hunting.  It was enough to make me jump.  Cole laughed at me when it was happening - baby kicked 3 times and each time made me jump a little bit.

19 weeks

Today is officially 19 weeks.  Crazy to think that next week will be the official half way point, but that if baby comes early, we're already halfway there.  We find out gender November 19th, providing baby cooperates (which we're really hoping baby does, because we are not patient enough to wait).  We're pretty dang excited about that!

Well...that's about all.  Nothing really new or crazy.  Just plugging along :)

Baby Advice

Hi all!

So a while back I posted this post asking people what they wished they knew before they were a mom.

Well, here I am asking again, but in a different way: what pregnancy/newborn advice do you have?

I want serious advice...not "be healthy and it'll make pregnancy easier."  While I know that's true, let's be honest...it's super general and not exactly helpful to me.

Here are a couple things I've been told already that I found helpful:

- Use name brand diapers until their "little poo poo" (thank you Bill Cosby) becomes more solid, and blow outs will be less likely to happen.  After it becomes more solid, use store brand diapers to save money.

- Buy sensitive wipes: then you're less likely to have to worry about crazy rashes and such.

- Make sure pacifiers have the little "lip" on them.  If they don't, baby has to suck harder to keep it in his or her mouth, and it makes breast feeding more difficult because they're used to sucking hard to keep the pacifier in.

- Walk or do yoga everyday.  It'll help keep extra weight off, and make labor a lot easier.

So...what advice do you have? 

Three months down!!

Can I start off by saying I LOVE the weather today????  I had to turn the heater and the fire place on, and it is awesome.

It's hard to believe that over two months ago now we found out we were going to have a baby.  We've had two doctor appointments, one where we actually got to hear the heartbeat, and then an ultrasound.  Though not much is changing on the outside, I know there's so much going on in there.  

This week our baby's the size of a lime.  Crazy to think Baby J gone from the size of a poppy seed to the size of a lime.

I'm finally starting to feel more energetic.  My nausea hasn't gone away, but I keep hoping it goes away soon.  I just continually thank Heavenly Father that I'm not as sick as a lot of women get.  

I've been reading a lot (and told by my doctor a lot) about how much exercising helps with labor and delivery.  I stopped working out when we were trying to get pregnant because I thought it was something that was contributing to things being thrown off.  So, this week, I've started getting back to it.  I walked for about 30 minutes yesterday, and today I walked for about 15 minutes and jogged for about 5 minutes.  My goal by the end of my second trimester is to be jogging for all 30 minutes.

I think the hardest part so far has been trying to eat everything I'm supposed to.  I've been trying really hard to make sure I'm getting my fruits and veggies, and my dairy.  I'm not stressing about it (so please don't tell me not to stress about it), I just know it's what's best for our baby, and I (obviously) want what's best for our little one.

PS.  No, I don't really have a bump yet.  So no pictures yet.  Sorry! 

Baby J

A lot of you saw our post two days go on Facebook, but in case you didn't, we are pregnant :)

Here's how we announced it:

About baby:

- Due April 6, 2014

- Baby is 11 weeks and 3 days

- At the ultrasound we had at 8 weeks and 1 day, baby's heart rate was 154 beats per minute

- Could be a boy or girl.  We won't find out for a few weeks still

About Neal:

- He's excited

- Seeing the heart rate made it real for him

- He's been an incredible support to me.  He does whatever I need him to do.

- Protective of baby

About me:

- Also excited

- Only looks pregnant at certain times of day

- Tired.  All the time.

- Not too sick.  Only have had one bad day.

- Craving carbs and starch (like french fries)

- Can't eat salad.  Not matter how hard I try.

Christmas Music

When I was younger, my mom used to listen to Christmas music anytime of the year.  As a child and teenager, I gave her a hard time about it.  "It's not December!" I would say as she turned it on during June.  "Why the heck are we listening to Christmas music??"

A few years later, it was August or September (I don't remember which) and Neal had met me at work, and we were driving from my work back to my parents house.  My car must have been dead (again) because I was driving my parents big red Expedition.  I was upset over something, and I turned on the CD that was in the CD player.  Not surprisingly, it was a Christmas CD.  I remember listening to the music, and feeling a peace came over me.  It helped me remember the joy I feel each year at Christmas time, and how much I am reminded of my Savior during that time of year.

I got home and told my mom my experience, and told her I was sorry for making fun of her for listening to Christmas music for so many years.  I finally understood why she did that for so many years.

To this day, I still remember that night.  No, I don't listen to the annoying "Santa Baby" or "Felice Navidad" or "Last Christmas (I Gave You My Heart)."  Most of what I listen to is instrumental, and I really love it.  I'm always reminded of my Savior as I listen, and it always brings me peace of mind.

So yes, I am one of those people who listens to Christmas music all year long, and I am proud of it!!!

Cheyenne Frontier Days: The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts

It's been a busy, BUSY three weeks.  I had every intention of posting the day after I posted about the Rockies game and temple trip.  Then life happened.

The day after our trip to the temple and Rockies game, we went up to Cheyenne Frontier Days to see and hear The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts.  It was and INCREDIBLE concert!  When I first heard the line up for Cheyenne Frontier Days this year, I wanted to go to every single concert!  Luke Bryan, Rascal Flatts, and Jason Aldean were all coming!  Realistically though, we could only go to one.  So Neal and I talked about it, and we decided to go to Rascal Flatts.

Rascal Flatts has been our band since we started dating.  They sing our song, "Everyday", and a whole bunch of other songs that we love.

The Band Perry opened for Rascal Flatts.  I was actually really impressed with them.  They were obviously still a very young band, but they had a TON of energy, and they were fun to watch!  I think one of the coolest things was when they performed "When I Die Young" (one of their first big hits) the audience was singing a long with them and you could tell it was still absolutely incredible to them that so many people were singing THEIR song back to them.

Rascal Flatts was awesome, as we expected.  They had a HUGE screen behind them that played different things related to the song they were singing.  Our favorite part though, was when they began to sing "Everyday."  It was not one of their hits, so it was a very special moment for us to listen to live.

We had SO much fun!  After, we had to make a bathroom trip (doesn't everyone?).  While Neal was in the bathroom, he noticed one of the technicians was in there as well.  Somehow (don't ask me how...he just knows these things) he knew it was the sound engineer for the concert.  After we met back up again, I convinced him to walk down to front of house and say "hi."

We hung out for a little while longer to eat and let traffic die down a little bit.  We hope that next year we will be able to go up for more than just a concert, because everything looked so fun!!  Because we got up there so close to the start of the concert, we didn't have much time to look around, and by the time we got done, everything had closed.

We really enjoyed ourselves, and can't wait to go back next year!!

Temple and Rockies Game

Earlier this year, our church announced that the Denver Temple was going to open the baptistery on weekdays.  This would enable the youth to serve in the temple over the summer, and they've had an amazing response to it!

Wednesday we took my brother Cole down to the temple with us, and we all did baptisms.  It was a super cool experience to be able to participate in that with Cole.   They told us at the end that 97 youth were in the temple that day, and over 1000 ordinances were done.  That was incredible!

After the temple, we took Cole to lunch at Cafe Rio (he had never been before), and then took him to Deseret Book where he chose his birthday present: a new phone case with a picture of a missionary suit and tie on the back.  I bought the book "Heaven is Here."  It's one of the books for our family book club in a couple months.  I started reading it yesterday.  I'll let you know what I think in a little bit.

We still had some time to kill before we went to the Rockies game that night, so we went to Ikea.  I love that place, and Cole had never been there.  As per usual, we didn't leave without a souvenir.  I've been looking for nicer pillows to put on our couch, and I finally found some I liked at Ikea!

After we were done at Ikea we headed to Coors Field for the Rockies game.  We LOVE the Rockies, but haven't been able to go to as many games as we'd like this year.  I'd only ever been to one game (that I can remember) where the Rockies won.  But now I can say I've been to two because they won that night!! 

Despicable Me 2 with Issac

Neal and I have recently talked about wanting to spend more one on one time with each of our sunbeams (that's what we call the 3 turning 4 year olds in our class).  We want them to know we love them, even outside of class.

The first opportunity presented itself when one of our sunbeams, Issac, wanted to go see Despicable Me 2.  So we made plans with his mom, and picked him up, and took him to the movie theater in Fort Collins.  It was fun to watch his excitement.  We bought him popcorn (which he ate the WHOLE bag of!) and he loved that!

We LOVED the movie, and so did Issac!  Our favorite parts were pretty much anything the minions were in.

We're so glad we were able to go and spend time with him!  And we look forward to getting to spend time with all of the other kiddos in our class!

This was outside of the movie theater :)

4 Wheeling

Last Monday and Tuesday were really enjoyable for us.

Shauna and Sam got into an accident in Sam's car, and the rental car she was given was a 2013 Jeep Cherokee.  On Monday, Sam asked us if we wanted to come help them take the top off, and go drive in the mountains.  So we went down there and took the top off the Jeep.  It looked pretty stormy directly to the west of us, so we tried to drive around it.  We headed up to a spot that Neal had gone 4-wheeling with his friend Porter.  We got rained on on our drive up, so when we got to the 4-wheeling trails, they were quite muddy.  Neal, being the driver, decided it would be fun to go drive through the puddles.  And basically, IT WAS!  We had SO much fun speeding through puddles, and climbing over rocks.

Shauna and Sam and I stood up in the back seat, and got splashed and bounced around.  The inside of the car got a little dirty, and the outside looked awesome. Then we headed to Estes and got pizza at Bob and Tony's.  It really was an amazingly enjoyable day :)

Johnson Family Reunion: Idaho 2013

A while back Neal’s family decided to have a celebration for what would have been his Grandpa Johnson’s 100^th birthday.  It was decided that it would be over the 4^th of July because that was the weekend that would work best for most people.  I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get the 4^th of July off (they had sent out an email a while before that saying they couldn’t allow anyone else to take that day off), but Neal was still going to be able to go

Wednesday morning, Neal and Shauna left for the 9 hour drive to Idaho.  I wanted SO badly to go, but knew I needed to be at work.  Wednesday night I was talking to Neal about all of the fun he was having, and all the different things they were doing.  Pretty much his entire dad’s side of the family was there, including a lot of people I hadn’t met.  I wanted SO badly to be up there.  I LOVE Idaho.  I would classify 2J Ranch as one of my two paradises (the other is our hunting spot).  After I got off the phone with Neal, I prayed and explained to Heavenly Father how much I wanted to be up there.  I told Him I understood if for some reason I wasn’t supposed to go, or it just wasn’t going to work out, and truly I did, but that didn’t stop me from really wanting to be up there.

Well, I won’t go into details (I don’t like posting much about work), but Heavenly Father opened the way, and by the end of my shift Wednesday night I had Friday and Saturday off

I got up early Thursday morning (the 4^th) to go participate in the parade to celebrate Fort Collins Police Department’s 100 years of service to the community.  It was really fun!  Neal participated in the parade in Rupert, on a float that celebrated his grandpa and grandma’s legacy.  They also had a couple buggies that his grandpa built.

I worked Thursday night, and then Friday morning got up and headed for Idaho.  Me coming up was a surprise; only a few people knew (including a certain husband that pretty much blew the surprise for his wife….thanks Scott..haha just kidding).  I pulled in about 8 pm after a 9 hour drive, and was greeted by Jennie and Misty running to my car, followed by Jennie's three girls.  After I got out of my car, I walked towards the area where dinner was sitting, and Neal's Uncle Alton came walking up with a plate of food and said, "An offering for the sweet one."  Every one busted up laughing in disbelief!  That is not exactly in Alton's character, but I loved it :)

While I was eating, I got to see the big brother/little sister relationship that Neal and Jayde have developed.  It was pretty cool to see.  They played a lot of pranks on each other.  That night, Jayde had a mouth full of whipped cream, and Neal was holding the bottle like he was going to attack her with it.  To defend herself, she spit an ENTIRE mouth full of whipped cream on him!  He chased her down and sprayed whipped cream all over her face.

  That night we had the "Johnson Family Talent Show."  It was so fun to see the different talents that we have in that side of the family!  Jennie and her girls sang "The Cup Song."  The kids sang "Firework" by Katy Perry (stinking cutest thing).  The "Colorado Johnsons" sang "Beautiful Savior."  The Harrisons sang "Gethsemane."  Misty did a really cute remake of Tim McGraw's "Down on the Farm."  Jennie and Misty sang a very beautiful duet.  The kids did some other fun things - more songs, gymnastics, jokes, danced, and other things.  It was so fun!

Saturday we did a lot of things.  We rode two of Alton's horses, Denny and Angel for a lot of the day.  We went and swam in the canal, where we threw a football and a frisbee and jumped into the canal trying to catch it.  We shot guns and archery.  And we said goodbye to cousins that we really wanted to spend more time with.

Sunday we went to church at Alton and Terri's ward.  We helped pick things up in the area we stayed in, and Neal helped Alton move the water for the fields.  We then headed to Utah to stay the night with Neal's Aunt Peg.  We had a really good conversation with Peg and Henry that night and the morning after.

On Monday morning we made the 7 hour drive from Salt Lake to home.  We stopped at Little America and got ice cream, and had an enjoyable time driving home together.

We loved being up there.  It was so nice to get to know our family better, and to strengthen those relationships.  I love knowing that these family relationships are eternal.  I love getting to know and love Neal's family better, and am so grateful for their love for us!  We look forward to the next time we get to see each of them!!

Here are a couple other fun pictures from the trip:

This photo of Alton is thanks to Jenn Johnson :)