The Nitty Gritty

Hi family, I was thinking this morning about how relieved I am that January will be over tomorrow. Then I wondered if February will be any better. Then I worried if any month will get better over the next four years. This year in Relief Society, we are studying the teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley. He was the former prophet of our church. He was such an optimist. My friend Trish framed a quote of his for me a few years ago. It says, " Keep trying. Be believing. Be happy. Don't get discouraged. Everything will work out." I've been doing my best to cling onto these words, but Donald Trump is sure testing me. For the past few years, I've been frustrated that our country hasn't been allowing swarms of refugees to come and live here.  Then I read in the news that over the weekend innocent Muslim people are being detained at airports and that Syrian refugees are no longer allowed in our country indefinitely per Donald Trump's executive order on immigration fr...

Hi family and friends! What a crazy month it's been so far. I personally have had some emotional days saying farewell to President and First Lady Obama. I know there are some of you in the family that were happy to see them go, but not me. I am truly going to miss their dignity, class, grace, style, values, and genuineness. The good news is they've set up a website obama.org to share projects that they want to do in the future in conjunction with their presidential library.  I couldn't bring myself to watch the Inauguration. I did see a clip of the Trumps meeting the Obamas at the White House. It's amazing that we live in a country that can have such a peaceful transition of power. For that, I am grateful. I'm just mind boggled that someone who loses the popular vote by 3 million and is such a jerk can become president. Alright, moving on to happier subjects. Isaac had his 36th birthday on the 11th. We ate cheesecake and said what we love about him. Van suggeste...

We had a wonderful Christmas! We love traveling to Utah to spend two weeks with our family each December. We get to have lots of sleepovers and quality family time. We saw 4 movies in the theater--our favorite family activity and the boys had a ton of fun playing with their cousins.  Here we are on Pajama Day at school. Van was my little elf, delivering the teachers' Christmas gifts.  Everyone was excited about my Star Wars pjs since it was the opening day of Rogue One. I finally got to meet my best friend Natalie's newborn son, Ian. He is the sweetest baby and has so much personality for a 2 month old. Natalie is such an awesome mom. I was able to have a girls' night with my friends the first night we arrived in Salt Lake City.  We spent the first part of our trip with the Schow's. Nellie loves to play doggies and dinosaurs with Van.  She says the funniest things. Clara, Nellie's sister, warmed up to me by the end of the trip and gave me a...