5 yr Anniversary Weekend!

This weekend we took Gracie to see the Animals at the Thanksgiving Point Farm. It was so fun to see her react to the animals. She got to ride a pony!
She especially loved the sheep!
She stared at this chicken for a long time, I think they made friends!
It was such a beautiful weekend, finally some sunshine! So we went up the canyon for the afternoon. We took a walk by the river.
We had a picnic, and soaked up the sunshine!
Flowers James got me for our 5 year anniversary! Gerber Daisies! Love em!
Later, James and I went out to dinner. It was such a wonderful Anniversary weekend. It's always so nice to do things as a little family. Being with James all weekend, and taking time to reflect upon the last five years, and really just living in the moment. The best anniversary gift for me is knowing we still have plenty of years ahead of us to experience life together!

Babyshower!

Here are some pics from a baby shower we gave Ashley last weekend. She looked adorable, and got some great gifts! It was good fun, with good food, and good friends!

World Peace!

So Last weekend I was a judge for the Miss Pleasant Grove Pageant! I was so excited! Not only did I get to judge the talent, swim suit, and evening gown competition, but before hand I got to do all the interviews with the rest of the judges. I have never been a "pageant girl" and I have made my fair share of comments joking about the pageant walk, the air head answers to on stage questions, and yes, even every pageant girls true desire for "world Peace!"

However, I did grow up watching Miss America with my sisters, and afterward we would float around the house, imitating the "pageant wave!" There are alot of jokes out there about pageants, but after this experience I have to say I do have alot more respect for the process these girls go through. They really do learn alot about public speaking, and community service, and lets admit, it takes alot of confidence to walk around a stage with only a bathing suit on!

They each choose a platform where they dedicated their time to community service. They are beautiful, tough, and humbly open them selves up to being critiqued, which is a hard thing to do... but a great way to grow.

They were a talented bunch of girls. Piano players, singers, and dancers! You could tell how shy some were, and how out of their comfort zone this was for them. Watching how their confidence grew throughout the process was truly inspiring. After watching the pageant I wanted to go up and give them all a big hug!

Some of you may have done pageants when you were young, and to you I say Congratulations! Congratulations, for putting your self out there, and being so courageous, sharing your talents, and desiring to work with the community! So after a fun filled day of working with those girls, I can honestly say I am happy to have participated in such a great scholarship program,(not a beauty pageant!)

Gracie's 1st Birthday

Yesterday, as I was making cupcakes, getting ready for Gracies little birthday party, thoughts flooded my mind of how much joy this first year has been, and just how grateful I am for the blessing of Gracie. I thought about those 3 long years of waiting for her to come to us. And how our hearts rejoiced when we first found out we were going to have her! While I was baking, I turned on the Oprah show which I like to do every once in a while, so I can watch from the kitchen. She had an actress on who I dont even know, and the actress was 40 something years old and had just had her first baby.
Oprah said, "I hear you have a message you would like to share with the women in our audience." She said "YES!" "I want to tell you to go and live your dreams, accomplish your goals, do what you want to do in life, and do it before you have children." She said something about how glad she is that she waited to have a baby because she feels that she got to do something important in life, and to live her dreams, she said she got it all out of her system before she had a baby, so that she doesnt have to be someone who regrets having children."
She then encouraged women to wait to have children. She said, "women are having children way too young, your 20's and 30's, those are years where you should be accomplishing your goals and dreams" With that,the audience stood and applauded her.

After watching this segment I turned the tv off and took a moment to think. Did she really just say that? Did the audience full of women, most of them probably mothers, just clap? Did they know why they just clapped? Does that woman really think that all the years of her acting in movies is more important and created more value in the world, than being a mother?

True, this is the voice of the world today. Live your dreams now, put yourself first. Dont let children rob you of your goals and ambitions. Sadly, I realize that you cannot force anyone to desire or to truly understand the sacred, joyful, and ever so important role of motherhood, or the importance of raising children.

I am just grateful that I chose to live my dream. To start my family when I could. To reach my goal of striving to raise up a precious little girl, and to help her become the best person she can be. I am grateful for mothers all accross the world who have a strong conviction that what they are doing matters, and the role they have is divinely sacred. I am grateful for the tender and eternal blessings that come through motherhood that completely outway the short term glory of fame. Truly, I am grateful for "mothers who know."

Off with the bow!

This is how it happens, those of you who try to put cute little bows on your little one, can probably relate. Even when her hair is just laying flat, Gracie likes pulling off her bows so much, she is constantly reaching her little hand up on top of her head and slowly just feels around hoping she will find somthing! Oh, well!

Sinfully Good Peanut Butter Eggs Recipe!

Here's the recipe that several of you have asked for!
Warning! these are highly addictive! Just plan on giving some away to a friend! Then stash a few in the freezer for an emergency chocolate/peanutbutter craving!

Ingredients:1 (16 ounce) package confectioners' sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon milk
8 (1 ounce) squares semi-sweet chocolate
1 tablespoon shortening
In a mixing bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter and milk (if needed for moisture) until blended. Shape mixture into two 1/2 pound eggs or make a bunch of smaller eggs. Freeze eggs for 1 hour.
While the eggs are freezing, cut semi-sweet chocolate into small pieces and place in top of double boiler with shortening. Melt over medium heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Stick a tooth pick at the top of each peanut butter egg, dip it in melted chocolate to cover then drain on waxed paper. When the eggs are cooled and set, decorate the eggs to suit your fancy.