Sisters

Steve and I have the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting in November. The bishop asked us to speak on gratitude, so that has been on my mind a lot lately. The next few posts will be about some of the things in life that I am most grateful for.

My sisters and I didn't like each other much growing up. Rather, I liked Erin and wanted to be just like her, but I was the annoying little sister. I imagine it was about the same for Becky. We've grown up and worked out most of the kinks, and thank goodness, because these amazing women are my sanity. I have the best sisters in the world. They are always there for me. Always. Both of them have, on several occasions, dropped what they were doing to help me in one way or another. They are both beautiful, loyal, and life savers. I am so glad that they have stuck by me through so much and forgiven me for things of the past. I always have so much fun whenever I'm with them. We are all so different, and have so much to learn from each other.

Erin is an amazing wife and mother. She is a very hard worker and gets so much done, it's astonishing. She is creative and is always working to improve herself. She is always helping me see things in a new way, and is so uplifting. I laugh so hard when I'm with her. The mundane, every day things cease to become a chore when I'm with her. Erin, thank you so much for being such a good friend and sister. You are such a beautiful daughter of God and such a good example for me. What would I do without you? You have forgiven much, and are one of the biggest blessings in my life. Thank you for all that you do and for the beautiful person you are. I love you, sis!

Becky and I have traveled a completely different road. We have been through some really hard times and spent years not knowing who the other person was. Through patience, forgiveness, and a strong desire to know each other better, we have become so close. Becky is the least judgmental person I know. She is so kind and understanding, and would do anything for those she loves. What a beautiful spirit she is. Spending time with Becky is refreshing and calming. She is such a sweet mother and has an amazing amount of patience. I am so grateful for Becky's forgiveness. The best word to describe Becky is sweet. Something that amazes and baffles me about her is that she has no idea how beautiful she is. She is so humble. Becky, I'm so glad we've become friends. Thank you for all you do, I love you!

I know my mom is in this picture too, but I'm going to write about my parents on a different post. (love you!)

Our Beautiful Day

We finally got our pictures of our sealing day! Here is a little taste, more to come later!

Silly Girl

Kate loves to put on make up and play dress up. On this day, she decided to put mascara in her eyebrows. She's so fun.

A couple random Katelynisms:

"Mom, Little Red Riding Hood is best friends with Little Miss Muffin."

You know how if you go forehead to forehead with someone, the eyes kind of smoosh into one eye and they look like a cyclops? Kate's Aunt Nana did this with her one day and Erin was saying "one eye! one eye!". Kate came up to Erin a couple minutes later to do it back to her and started saying "I won! I won!"

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

My beautiful girl on her 3rd birthday first thing in the morning. She carried her balloons around with her all day!

We took Kate to Fat Cats to play games and go bowling. She loves the tiny merry-go-round they have there! We had a blast.

Steve and Marcia made an awesome castle cake for Katelyn. It was so cool.


We gave Kate her very own rocking chair. She loves it, and even fell asleep in it, wearing her princess dress and all. I tried to take a picture of it, but she woke up.


Katelyn got several very cute dress-ups that she wears all day, every day now. Sometimes several of them at once.


Katelyn got so excited over every gift. Most kids toss the gift after barely looking at it to hurry and open the next one. She loved each one so much, I had to keep reminding her that there were more to open! She is such a sweet girl.


We had partied so hard for two days, by the time her second party was done she was pooped. She fell asleep in her princess dress. What a little angel.

Katelyn,
I have to write everything down cause I'll never remember all the sweet things if I don't. Happy Birthday, my big three year old! I can't believe how big you've gotten so fast. You have always been such a good girl and I've loved watching you grow. You are so imaginative and full of life. You are passionate about everything. You love to act out scenes from movies, especially ones about princesses, Wizard of Oz, and the Sound of Music. You love to have sleep overs with me and dad or grandma Marcia. You ask questions because you have such a thirst for knowledge, and you are so smart because you retain all of it! You are such a peacemaker, telling anyone who starts to get upset to "take a deep bwef". You are very sweet to your baby sister, and she is so in love with you. She thinks everything you do is so cool. You always tell me when she wakes up and you always want to hold her first thing. You are my bff and there is not a better little girl in the world. You have the sweetest spirit and you always try so so hard to do what is right and to make everyone happy. You love anything girly and it is a struggle to get you to wear anything besides a dress! You have such an amazing sense of humor...you're always making us laugh! I am so thankful that Heavenly Father has entrusted me and dad with your amazing spirit. I promise I will always try my hardest to be the best mother I can be and live up to everything you need. I love you, angel girl!

I Stand All Amazed...

Steve and I got to go to the Jordan River Temple and attend a session...in German! read on for more on that...

These adorable old people are the Meisers. We went with them to the Jordan River Temple.

Steve and I got to attend the last session of Conference at the Conference Center. Sitting just around us were people from the Netherlands, Mexico, New Zealand, Korea, Hong Kong, and Switzerland.

Steve's brother Jeff served his mission in Germany. His mission president was the cute little old man in the picture above, and his wife. They have remained very close. The Meisers are very good friends with the Uchtdorfs, and they had the Meisers come out for conference this year. Steve got to chauffer them around, and we got to go to the Jordan River Temple with them. I guess they do a German session every year around conference time. Steve and I wore the head sets and it was so cool cause there were tons of cute little old Germans there...and anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for old people. The Meisers were like celestial celebrities there...people they knew from Germany and hadn't seen in years were at the session. He used to be the Friedberg Temple president, and he has also been a bishop in Germany. It was like an adorable old people German reunion. I smiled so much, my face hurt. I felt like an idiot. I couldn't understand a word they were saying cause they were all speaking in German, but all I knew is that they were all so happy that it made me happy too. Sister Meiser leaned over to tell me, "You should not think that everyone in Germany is old! We are all old, but not all Germans are old! We have young people, too!" They were both so hilarious and so very, very dear. I enjoyed my time with them so much and I'm so sad they can't stay here always and be my adopted grandparents! President Meiser walks up to random strangers and says, "Now is the time, this is the place, and you are the one!". He walks around being guided by the spirit to talk to people and you can't help but love him. I also quickly loved Sister Meiser. She has such a strong spirit and is so beautiful. I am so grateful for the opportunity Steve and I had to be around such wonderful, spiritual people. Heavenly Father has been pouring blessings down on us and we are so humbled and amazed at all the love He gives us every day. What a blessing the gospel is in our lives. I am so thankful for my Savior and the sacrifice He made for me. I have been to hell and back and done so many horrible things. I know that He is the only way I can make it back to my Father in Heaven because I am so very, very far from being perfect.

What an amazing love that must be,
to give up everything to save only me
I know that He did it for every soul
but then again, I've also been told
that had I been the only one to save
He still would have gone to his earthly grave
gone through all the torture and pain
Just so I could be with Him again

I Stand All Amazed at the love Jesus offers me
Confused at the grace that so fully He proffers me
I tremble to know that for me, He was crucified
That for me, a sinner, He suffered, He bled and died

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine
To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine
That he should extend his great love unto such as I
Sufficient to own, to redeem and to justify

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me
Oh, it is wonderful
Wonderful to me

My cute girls...they are such good friends and they love each other so much! What amazing blessings they are.

Brooke is such a daddy's girl. They have so much fun together...Steve is such a fun daddy! (plus, this picture shows off how devastatingly handsome my husband is!)

I left Kate and Brooke playing in Kate's room to change out the laundry. When I went back in to check on them, Brooke had rolled her way under Kate's bed, playing with the toys that are stashed under there. She was so pleased with herself!

I pulled into the driveway one night and turned around to find this. My beautiful little angels. I love them with all my heart and I am so lucky they chose me to be their mommy!

Not so much any more

Steve and I got to take Kate to Lagoon a couple weeks ago and she had a blast. We found out, though, that the rides we loved as kids now make us incredibly sick.

Kate and I rode Puff together...she liked it til the last time around and then she started screaming. She's such an enigma.

Kate on the little tug boats

Steve and I rode the merry-go-round with Kate. I thought I was going to puke. Never again. Til next time.