Playing with the boys

This past weekend, my brother Dan, his wife Tiff, and their two little boys came down to hang out in Provo. Their two boys Michael and Oliver are just 14 months apart, and so much fun! Jess and I love playing with the boys. It's always fun to get together with family, but let's be honest- the little ones are the best! Every time I would go to play the piano, Michael would come running from wherever he had been playing, climb on the bench with me, and insist that I play Primary songs, then play along with me. We did a lot of "Popcorn popping" and "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man". Oliver is almost walking, and is crawling all over the place. His specialty Sunday night was diving head-first off the couch. Oh, and during conference, whenever someone came up to the pulpit Michael would exclaim, "President Monson!" It was super cute the first couple times when it actually was President Monson, and then we just giggled when he continued to say it no matter who got up to speak. I love those little boys!!

My resurrecting plant no more

I can't keep anything alive. The only reason Jess is still around is that he can feed himself. I have had this plant for almost a year, and amazingly, it was thriving and healthy. That's because when I didn't water it for awhile, the plant would wilt over the sides of the pot, indicating that it was time for water, or else. Every time, I would just give it a little water and you could watch it perk back up and go back to normal. We called it our resurrecting plant, because it would die and come back to life all the time. Well, unfortunately, I found out that it could die for real. I forgot to have someone plant-sit while we went to Washington. When we came back, it looked like this. I tried watering it and watching for a couple days to see if anything would come back. My efforts were in vain; the plant finally died, and yet again I have failed to keep anything alive. Don't ask me to pet-sit!!

Trip to Washington

So it's been over a month since I posted anything, thus blogging about a trip that happened in August. Just before school started back up, Jess and I flew to Spokane to visit his family. It was a relaxed trip, mostly just hanging out with family. Here is Jess with his brother's bearded dragon (dray-gon if Jess is saying it. His mom grew up in Minnesota, and you can here it in Jess when he says words like dragon, flag- he uses a long A. It's cute, but sometimes Jess feels like I'm mocking him when I point it out too often, so I may be in trouble for this post :) ). 

One day we went out to Coeur d'Alene, ID, which is where he proposed to me two years ago. Jess packed an awesome picnic and we hiked up to the spot on Tubb's hill that he proposed to me. 

On top is this summer, and below is two years ago (August 25th, 2006, to be exact), on the day he proposed. Coeur d'Alene is beautiful, and it is fun to have it fairly close to Jess's hometown, so we can go back to visit occasionally. Man, I have an awesome husband!!

Boyd and Allison's Wedding

On Saturday we went up to to Salt Lake for Boyd Bills' and Allison Hong's wedding. Boyd and Jess were freshman roommates, and were roommates after the mission until Jess and I were married. So I can pretty much blame any of Jess's habits on Boyd. It was a beautiful ceremony and so much fun to see them so happy! We also got to run into a lot of friends that we haven't seen for some time. Jess and Tay-tay had many good games that they needed to exchange to make up for lost time.
Squared (Jon Johnson), Jess, Tay-tay (Taylor Mildenhall) and Shaun Broderick all lived together with Boyd in good old apartment 28 at Monticello. All of my brothers have lived or currently live in that very apartment, so of course the man I married also had to live there for a time. At least my little sisters know where to look for their special someone!
Nicolette Broderick, Heidi Kuhn and I had some fun with pictures as well. Notice my red shoes? I have wanted to buy red shoes for oh, at least 7-8 years now and never been able to justify them. Last week I was at a shoe sale where all the shoes were on sale and buy one get one free. I figure $10 for a pair of shoes I have been wanting for that long isn't too bad.

Time for a Hair Cut

So, it had been a long time since Jess cut his hair. We didn't realize how long it had gotten until our friends the Amelangs got back from Connecticut and the first thing they noticed was his hair. They didn't even recognize him at first. That was kind of a hint that it was past time. Since we were going to a wedding the next day, we figured it was time. Notice the facial hair as well.

Quick Update

Most will already know this, but Jess and I went through the heartwrenching experience of miscarrying a couple of weeks ago. I was 13 weeks pregnant, and the baby still had a heartbeat even a couple of hours before I actually miscarried. It's pretty crummy to make it through the entire 1st trimester, to have this little life within you for three months, to lose it in just a couple of hours time. We are so grateful for all of the support we have received. After all that I have gone through, my heart aches to watch the losses that I see at work every week. I have seen the entire spectrum, and know that although Jess and are both having to go through the grieving process, there are greater pains. I feel so lucky for wonderful friends and family. Even now it brings tears to my eyes to think of what was done in our behalf. Although my heart still hurts, we are both doing well now.

Water Fun

Last weekend, Jess and I spent all Saturday on Utah lake with a bunch of friends. You won't see any pictures of me on the water (unfortunately, I didn't exactly get the "green light" to go water skiing. Ah well, next summer). However, I got a couple of Jess having fun on the water.Okay, one more random picture. Whenever we do laundry, we have to somehow get the comforter back in the duvet cover. Since Jess is a bit taller than me (okay fine, a lot taller), he grabs the comforter, climbs right in the cover, and starts squirming around until he's almost got it. Then he throws himself onto the bed and has to wiggle his way back out of the cover. I'm pretty sure the only reason he does it this way is because I laugh so hard each and every time. Gotta love him for it.