Happiness

Happy Birthday, Ethan and Jonah! We’re so proud of the fact that you are out serving the Lord! New York and Idaho have been so lucky to have you! Jonah, you have only a little over a month left! Ethan 2 1/2 months left. How crazy is that? Time has both flown by and gone by super slowly. It’s been wonderful to talk to both of you each week and see your growth.  Jonah, you’ve grown from someone who didn’t like to talk to people to an Elder who can easily enter in and out of a conversation and also invite anyone anytime to Church! Ethan, you’ve excelled at teaching and working with other Elders. You’ve been a great example of someone who knows how to work hard and have fun!  We love you boys! Get ready, Arizona, these boys are coming home! 

Rosie, at age 4, loves taking selfies with her Mom, going to the Temple and touching the walls (and playing in the water fountain). She loves going out to eat with Mom- especially Chick-fil-a, drawing pictures of people, reading, playing at the indoor gym, going to the Movies to see Kung Fun Panda 4, playing outside at the play place and playing with her new care bears. She is sweet, fun, happy and oh, so energetic! How we love her! She's sick today but hopefully will be back to her normal energetic self.   

I want to highlight one of the most amazing women in my life:      She became a convert to the Church as a young adult and was brave enough to join in the face of opposition from her Catholic, Polish family, moving across the country to attend a college (BYU) that she had never heard of before her baptism.    She gave birth to 7 children, all naturally- including twins where she hemorrhaged and almost didn't make it through and one breech birth. She supported her husband when he went back to school to get a Masters in School Counseling, when they moved from one state to another and to live with her in laws in a small cabin in Northern Idaho an hour away from the nearest city and homeschooled her five children, all while being pregnant.      She took care of her husband for ten years while he dealt with chronic lymphonic leukemia only to begin taking almost full time care of his 98 yr old Mother/her Mother in law after he passed away.    ...

  A year ago, I started having weird stomach issues. Whenever I ate something with dairy or fat in it, my stomach would hurt for 3 or four days and I would be tied near the bathroom. I went to several Drs- my Primary Care Dr who ordered tests and tests of samples (you don't want to know!) and a GI Dr who ordered a colonoscopy. That was not bad- just the prep was really, really gross tasting. Yuck! just thinking about it. The tests showed inflammation and the colonoscopy showed one small polyp which they quickly removed and told me that I would need a colonoscopy every 3 years instead of every ten. Oh, well. Glad they caught it! And so, nothing really new developed. I stopped eating dairy and anything fried or red meat. I met with a new GI Dr who ordered an ultrasound (which was weird with a lot of pushing and breathing in and tugging) and some blood work. I finally had some dairy with some lactaid the other day and it went okay. I have an appt with my GI Dr next week. It's been...

  Asher is a Senior! He's had a great year being a part of Highland's Symphony as well as Wind Ensemble and Jazz Black. He took Finley to the Prom and went with a good group of friends. He is an amazing son, student, friend who loves listening to music, spending time with his friends and is a great follower of Jesus Christ. We love you, Asher!

Around two years ago, Josh picked up a book on Complex Adaptive systems and he was immediately intrigued! Several ideas kept popping up in his head and he learned all he could on the subject. Complex adaptive systems is a science of studying patterns in life and applying them to our daily life. He realized that he needed to study it formally to really be able to learn more about it. He applied for the program last Fall and was the first applicant ever to apply to ASU’s Complex Adaptive system PhD program. We joke that he probably won't be the first to graduate! Because he works at ASU, he is given a tuition discount which helps out a lot! After graduation, Josh wants to become a law professor. If he does, he needs to be willing to take whatever opening that is available across the country since they are often few and far between. We've been living in AZ for six years now and I am ready for a change when it comes! And so, here is to four years or more of higher education. He...

  Lots of things were happening this April- and one of those events was Josh’s 45th birthday! We usually keep things pretty simple with a birthday dinner of choice and cake and presents. Often we got out to breakfast or dinner at our local Joe’s Real BBQ where Elizabeth and Asher work since they give you a free meal for your birthday! For Declan’s birthday, he got a kids meal and still had money left over so I got a large salad with a side of Mac n cheese for Rosie. How awesome is that? This year we decided to stay home and I made one of Josh’s favorite meals- Lasagna. I usually only make this if requested because it dirties so many dishes (even if I use my quick tip and soak the noodles instead of baking them). I used ground turkey since because of my latest stomach issues I can eat red meat. It turned out really good! For dessert we had hot lava fudge cake- yum! Last year when we had it, the candles melted into the cake but this year, they happily survived!  It was a good bi...