Saturday, May 31, 2008

40 years together


Today my parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary!!



My parents met while they were going to BYU. My mom asked my dad to a girls choice dance - and things went from there! They were married on May 31st, 1968 in the Salt Lake Temple. They had four girls, Amy, Afton, Brenda and Jana and have been blessed with 11 grandchildren so far! Mom and dad, you are such wonderful parents and grandparents! Thank you for your wonderful example of love and devotion! We love you so much and hope that you have a great day!

The Graduate

Ellie graduated from Jumpstart Preschool on Thursday! We are so proud of her and she can't wait to start kindergarten this fall!



Ellie and Teacher Shawna



The Graduate!!!

Friday, May 30, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a really nice holiday weekend with my family. We were able to help my dad get his office cleaned out at BYU, Brenda and Chris worked hard all weekend laying sod at their house, Grandpa stayed busy putting things away in his shop/office, Grandma worked on her errands and was able to cross a lot off her list, and the grandkids did what they do best - PLAYED! On Memorial Day we had a yummy BBQ and celebrated Jana's 29th bday!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

After 38 years...

With the onset of my dad's cancer and subsequent treatment, we've been faced with the reality that he would not be returning to teach again at BYU this fall. Retirement is coming about 8 months sooner than he thought! My dad has been slowly trying to clean out his office this last week. Brenda and Amy were able to get all his books moved out and then we got the rest of his office files and furniture taken care of over the holiday weekend.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Girls Night Out

For our girls night out we all went to our friend Sherisse's house for a hair cutting session. (Sherisse own's The Kutting Edge here in Logan and also has her own salon in her house. We all go to her when we need to be beautified!) Leslie, Sarah and Cami were all on the uh, chopping block so to speak! Cami went for a basic thin and trim, but the other two went for something a little more dramatic! We had so much fun and they all looked gorgeous when they were done!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

This past weekend Matt, Shelby and I went out to Newton Dam for a quick getaway. Matt wanted to take the jet skiis out for a spin and also wanted to try out the muzzle loader that my dad gave him.


Getting everything ready to shoot.


He was so excited to try it out that I could hardly get him to pose for this picture. (Actually, it was because he couldn't hear me telling him to turn around because of his ear protection!)


Shelby didn't seem that impressed...


But Matt was! He had a great time!!

More Pictures

My mom sent me the photo's that she took the weekend they were up here for our sealing so I thought that I would post them! Thanks mom!!

Friday, May 16, 2008

I just got tagged again, but don't worry this one's easy and with no real questions to answer. It goes like this....

A) Pick up the nearest book
B) turn to page 123
C) find the 5th sentence
D) post the 5th sentence
E) tag 5 (or more) people

I didn't pick up the nearest book because the nearest ones were all kiddie books that Ellie has been reading - compliments of Grandpa Lovell! But the one I did choose was close by since I just borrowed it from the library yesterday.

"Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson. Turning to page 123 and scrolling down to the 5th sentence it says, "But still, they that lets the devil in cannot count themselves blameless." (Ohhhhh..... doesn't that just make you want to read this book?! I will hopefully get to read it today. It has won a Newbery Award and is supposed to be really good!)

I TAG - - - Brenda, Jana, Michelle F, Michelle C, Shelley, Kate, Katie U, and Kami (yes, I know that's eight but this is an EASY one!)

Thursday, May 15, 2008


Sunday when my mom was here we realized that my odometer was about to turn over, so I took a picture!

Whoohoo!! It's really been a great car! (Go Honda!) I'm hoping we can keep it running for another 100,000!

Shelby won't take a binki, but she loves to suck on her hands. We were laughing so hard last night as we watched her try to cram her whole fist into her mouth.

It's funny because she will gag when I put the little tiny binki in her mouth, but she's just fine with her big old fist!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Families are Forever


This past weekend was a very special time for our family. Matt and I were able to be sealed together and to our little Shelby for time and all eternity in the Logan Temple! We have been waiting for this day for a long time!! For the past several weeks we have been preparing the 3 older kids for this unique opportunity. We've been talking about the purpose of temples, being worthy to go to the temple and what they might expect when they go inside. Everyone was so excited on Saturday and anxiously awaited the hour when we would travel to the temple. Once there, at the appropriate time, Christopher, Shannon and Ellie were brought in to witness Shelby being sealed to Matt and I. It was such a wonderful and emotional experience for all of us. We are so grateful to all of those family members and dear friends that were able to come and share the day with us. We love all of you so much and are so thankful that you are a part of our lives! Our love also goes out to those that wanted to come but were unable to - you were there with us in spirit! It was such a wonderful day and we feel so blessed to know that our family will be together forever!

My parents, Brenda, Chris and their kids were able to stay until Sunday afternoon, so we were able to celebrate Mother's Day together as well. That was really fun!! Sunday morning, as we were walking into church Christopher suddenly remembered that he was supposed to speak in sacrament meeting. Uh, oh. This was the first I had heard of it, and thought "Well, he'll have to tell the bishop that he can't do it." But as the first hour ended I felt impressed that he should at least try to put a talk together. So, during Sunday School I went and got Christopher out of class. I asked him what he wanted to do and he told me that he really wanted to do it. Since our sacrament meeting is (fortunately) last, he was able to put some thoughts together before the meeting began. He spoke about why our Heavenly Father gave us our mothers (um, to help them prepare talks at the last minute?), some things that he had learned from his mom and then shared his feelings about our temple experience the day before. He concluded with his testimony and it was so sweet! He did such a good job and I was so proud of him!

After church we all came back to the house for a bbq. It was such a beautiful day the kids just played and played. We had a great time eating and visiting before everyone had to go. That afternoon I got one of the best Mother's Day presents ever... a NAP!! It was unusually quiet, and I was so wiped out I just zonked!! Matt took the kids on a bike ride a little later and I was able to enjoy the quiet even longer. We ended the day with a trip to Brigham City to visit Matt's mom and two sisters. It was a terrific weekend!



I will be adding more pictures later so be sure to check back again!!

Monday, May 5, 2008

A good weekend...




Thursday the kids and I headed down to Payson to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa. They are getting everything cleaned and ready so to speak, for when my dad starts his chemo treatments. (For those of you who do not know, my dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in March. In layman's terms he has bone cancer. He is being treated by the top doctors at The Huntsman Cancer Center in SLC. He will be undergoing chemo and stem-cell transplants over the next few months. We are very optimistic about his treatment options and are praying for his remission.) They ripped out the old carpet and we helped re-paint their living room. Because we (my dad, Chris and I) were so good and efficient it took no time at all. So we decided to paint the front hall as well. This is where things got a little tricky and we learned that 1) door jams are harder to paint, and 2) in confined spaces you WILL get paint on your clothes. Oh well! We had fun and it turned out great!! That night Shelby entertained Grandma and Grandpa as she showed off her newly discovered voice! It was so cute to watch her get all excited and gurgle, giggle and coo! She is such a sweetheart!!

Saturday Matt, Shelby and I headed down to Manti for Matt's nieces wedding. It was a beautiful day and so neat to share that with them!! We drove to Richfield for their luncheon afterwards and had such a nice visit with everyone. We drove back to my parents that evening and made it just in time for a chili dinner in the backyard with the entire family. It was a wonderful weekend and I was so sad to have to leave!! I can't wait to see everyone again next weekend as Matt and I look forward to our sealing in the Logan temple!