Fall Break

This past week was Mr. H's fall break.

Except, it wasn't really a break for Mr. H since he is applying for graduate schools and continually working extremely hard.  

But, it was still fall break, so we had to do some fun things.

Dinner with Mr. H's parents and sister

Lunch with my mom and dad for his birthday 

watching Monsters Inc.

Watching the Halloween Special version of Toy Story

Then, Mr. H watched baby C so I could go to a Jerusalem reunion.  

I was able to attend the Jerusalem Center back in 2010, and it has remained one of the greatest things I've ever been able to experience.  

We all got together and saw the Jerusalem movie.

It was fantastic!!!!!

It brought back so many memories.

Jumping through the temples in Luxor, Egypt

At the Garden Tomb 

Participating in the Palm Sunday celebration

(The beautiful center, at the Dome again, my awesome roommates looking out over the old city, and us with our friends we made there.  )
Anyway, sweet reminisces.

I got home, and we proceeded to stay up so late and sew Mr. H's Halloween costume. :)  

Saturday was full of homework, but we did manage to go to the pumpkin patch.  I was so excited and thought baby C would run around and love the pumpkins, corn maze and tractors, but man was that baby underwhelmed.  He was not overall impressed, and was more excited to jump back into the car afterwards and listen to the radio with us.  

Oh well I guess :)

This about summed up his attitude :)

Sunday was filled with family time at my parent's home for my dad's birthday.  Mr. H watched Lord of the Rings with the boys, and I chatted and hung out with my mom.  We had a really nice day together, and it was fun to celebrate my dad.  We got to see my aunt and cousins, as well as my grandparents which is always fun.  

Baby C is growing up so quickly.  Man does this baby have an attitude.  But he loves being silly, and he loves playing.  We love hearing him when he wakes up jumping on his bed, and the way he always puts his little things everywhere.  (The car keys in his bath cup, what??? :) )  

It was a busy week, but now we're half way!!!!  Mr. H is on the downhill stretch and that feels GOOD!

Shout out to DAD!

It's my dad's birthday today.

We spent the whole day hanging out with him, so this post is going to be a little late.  

Man I'm lucky to have such a great dad.  

My dad was one of those one in a million kind of dads.  

He painted a mural for my sister and I in our bedroom of a beautiful garden with hidden animals inside of it.

He (and my mom) built a beautiful cottage play house in my basement for us to play in.

When I told him I wanted to be a writer, he made a book for me to fill the pages in.  

He took me on countless daddy-daughter dates.

Whenever I was sad, he would always wait about five minutes and then come and let me talk about it.

He taught me to find the beauty in the world.

He always believed in me.

He helped make my dreams possible.

He showed me what a good man does.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Dad!  I love you!

A pizza party, football game and scenic drive

 We had what I would call a pretty stellar fall weekend.  

Friday night, Mr. H got home and we decided to get a pizza and eat it in the park.  We had so much fun playing with little C and letting him run wild.  His new things are jumping on command and dancing (which involves moving his arm from the front to the back).  

We then headed to JoAnn's to get some fabric for projects for Mr. H's Halloween costume.  

Who knew JoAnn's was so busy on a Friday night.  Seriously-the line was like 30 women long.  

Then we watched the movie "Tarzan".  Ok.  I had a serious melt down in the first fifteen minutes.  Does it break anyone else's heart hearing Phil Collins singing as baby Tarzan and his new gorilla mama find each other?  I could not handle it.  Ha.  As I was sobbing saying, "this is just SO SAD" Mr. H kept on laughing at me.  

Just tell me if that doesn't break your heart. 

Anyway.  

Saturday morning I was able to do a long run down Emigration canyon.  It was gorgeous, and can I just say I love running downhill????  SOOO much better than uphill.

We then got to go to the U of U's football game against Stanford.  

So funny story:

Mr. H and I bought our tickets online.  We get to the stadium, and we found that we had AWESOME seats.  They were the chair kind, not the bleacher, mid-field,  and we were surrounded by really nice people.  The couple next to us asked if our mom had given us the tickets, which we thought was a little weird, but we moved on.  Anyway, we got to watch the first half of the game in these seats.  We went to go get some food during half time and when we came back during the third quarter, these two dark haired ladies were sitting there.  Mr. H and I told them that they were in our seats, to which we found out they were season ticket holders and we had been sitting in the wrong seats the WHOLE time.  It was pretty embarrassing to have to pack up the stroller, diaper bag, coats and blankets and head over to the nosebleed section.  Ha.  

Happy boys :)

Pretty Stadium

Fuzzy picture after the game

But it was a really awesome game!  Baby C loved the cheering and would clap and dance to the band.  The U played a great game, and Mr. H helped me understand what was going on more. :)

Sunday was nice, filled with naps and then we went on a scenic drive.

It was GORGEOUS.  I wish I could have captured the leaves better, but it was raining which only brought out the color more and it was GREAT.  

Baby C being a trooper

Well---it's fall break this week, but Mr. H is dutifully working on applications for Graduate school the whole time.  We're so proud of him and how hard he works.  

Here's to hoping the leaves last for a few more weeks! :)

Elder Sam

So I have a little brother.  And his birthday is today.  His name is Elder Sam. :)

Elder Sam is serving a mission for the LDS church.  He voluntarily left his country for two years to go and preach the word of God.  

He is currently serving on a tiny island in the Micronesia Guam Mission.  He is doing wonderful!  You can read his letters on this blog: eldersamgerber.blogspot.com

Anyway.  Elder Sam is 20 today.  

It's kind of crazy.  Right now I am 23, my sister is 21 and Elder Sam is 20.  We were all kind of right in a row.  :)

Elder Sam is such a great brother.  

He was always willing to tag along with me and try and help me feel better about things.  

He is such a goof.  He is always wanting to make people laugh.  His letters CRACK me up.  

He was always there to look out for me.  The picture above was taken the day that I hung out with Mr. H for the first time.  I was freaking out, so Elder Sam took me up the canyon behind our house and helped me calm down.  

Elder Sam is one of the most musically talented people I know.  He is an awesome guitarist, harmonica player, vocalist, and pianist.  

Elder Sam will be home in another year.  I am so proud of what he is doing, and I'm excited and grateful that he is so happy. 

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Conference Weekend

Every six months, my church hosts a General Conference.  

It consists of 4 two hour sessions of our apostles, prophet, and other church leaders speaking to us and counseling us.  

It is amazing.  

I believe that our prophet is a spokesman for God.  I believe that the messages shared over the pulpit during the conference is what God needs me to hear.  

People gather in the Conference Center to listen, but it is broadcasted live all over the world.  

I got to watch it on TV.  

I love hearing from these inspired men and women.  They always speak straight to my heart.  

Their messages are always loud and clear.

God loves us and wants us to be happy.  

Some thoughts I walked away with from this conference:

God is ALWAYS there, reaching for us with open arms NO MATTER WHAT WE HAVE DONE.

By keeping temple covenants, I can have the power of God, (the priesthood) in my life.

Do I understand who I am?  

"Never look back.  Look at what we still have to do."

Faith is ALWAYS pointed to the future.

Keeping the law of tithing brings simple, but significant blessings. 

There is room in the gospel for everyone.  As President Uchtdorf said, "Come Join With Us"

A mother is on an errand to do God's Work

Our decisions determine our destiny.  

And much much more.  

I collected some graphics I really liked. 

We spent our weekend watching General Conference up in Centerville.  Saturday night, C and I went with my mom to dinner and hung out at the mall.  It was really nice, and baby C loved the fountains!  We spent Sunday morning session at the H's, and it was so nice to see everyone.  

Then we spent the afternoon session with my family.  We missed my dad (he was on a business trip) and L and J, but we still had a great time with my brothers and mom.  

It was  a great weekend.  Click on the link above "General Conference" to browse some of the messages shared.  

:)

Birthday party and a good Movie

We had a delightful birthday for Mr. H.  

We picked him up from school early (it was six ha :)) and drove up emigration canyon.  

The colors were gorgeous!!!!

We went to Ruth's Diner for dinner.  It was so fun!!!! It's an old train car that's just in the canyon and the food was AMAZING.  Baby C did better than expected and we had a ton of fun oooing and awwing over his french fry dipping abilities. 

Laughing at everything Mr. H does :)

We came home, and Mr. H opened presents and ate blackberry pie.  We played his new game for the rest of the night.  We had so much fun taking a break with him, and it was fun to see him so much more relaxed!!!

Last year :)

This year :)

The cute cute boys!  Mr. H even wore the same shirt! :)  

We had considered going out with baby C, but Mr. H wanted him to come along.  I'm so glad he did.  We had such a good day as a little family. :)

On a random note-Mr. H and I watched this great movie last night.  He had to watch it for his psychology class, but it was about a father and son, in which the son had experienced some severe brain damage, and they use his old records to help regain memories. Different songs contained different memories.  It was beautiful.  It reminded me of how much music can speak to our souls.  I have my own songs that I can tell you specific memories of when I heard it.  Like "Ticket to Ride" by Karen Carpenter: I remember being in my dad's old shirt as my nightgown running up and down the halls, singing this song to the old CD player.  Or the first time I heard "Wheels on a Dream" from the musical Ragtime and knew that I wanted to study American History.  Or driving down the canyon, with the top down and being so happy listening to Styx with Mr. H.  Music tells a story.  

I loved this quote from the movie:

                                                "They don't just play the notes on the page."

                                                "No, they play what's in the air, you know?"

24

Today is a special day.

It's Mr. H's 24th!!!!

(we know...we are still babies)

As you know, I have known Mr. H for a LONG time.  

He has ALWAYS been remarkable.  

He photoshopped this picture of us together to answer me to a high school dance. :)  But I still like to pretend we were best friends back then. 

He has always been KIND. He has always been so HONEST.  And he has always been really CUTE. :)

He's always been WISE, and he's always worked REALLY HARD.

at everything!

He is one of the sweetest men I know.  He truly tries his best at everything he does, and he is so driven.

So mature :)

He does everything in his power to make sure that C and I are happy.  He makes us laugh with his funny sayings "Winner, winner Chicken Dinner!" and he is always up for playing games with us.  

He has the cutest smile, and he's always been able to make me feel better. 

He's willing to do anything that he knows will make his family happy.  

We couldn't ask for a better father/husband.  

We love you!!!!!