Outside time

Daylight Savings, you stink. Okay fine. Except for those few extra minutes of outside
time before dinner. Those are pretty magical. But the rest of you is the worst.

 Someone is mastering his new Chinese yo-yo quite nicely.

 Oh spring, I adore you.

Matt's special day

Yesterday our darling Matt was ordained to the office of Teacher within the Aaronic Priesthood.
And these four men, who I love with all of my heart, were a part of it. I also felt so grateful for our
good bishop and our kind YM's president who also joined us. The blessing Jacob gave Matt made
me emotional. I'm so thankful for my amazing husband, my incredible son and the Priesthood
that brings so much protection, peace and power into our lives. What a sweet, sweet day.

Yesterday

Fourteen

Happy Birthday my incredible boy!
You are so, so loved.

The life of Jacob Allen

When you're working on the electrical of your unfinished basement one day
and hanging out with former US presidents and their wives the next.

Children's theater

This darling child of mine has had the chance to take children's theater in high school this semester.
She goes to nearby elementary schools and teaches groups of children how to put on a play. It has
been so fun for her and those kids absolutely love her. I don't blame them in the least. I do too.

Speedy fingers

Sweet waffles, I'm so proud of this boy. He was chosen as the one 4th grader from his
school to compete in a district keyboarding challenge. And out of around 50 or 60 kids
from other schools, he typed his way to the top ten. And was only 6 wpm off from the
girl who took third place. He's such a little stud in so many ways and I just love him.

This last picture is my favorite. Jacob's flight was delayed and so he drove
all the way home from work, to surprise Ben and help where he could
at home, before heading back to catch his flight to TX. He's the best.

Birthday guy

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate this birthday guy,
than with a couple of pictures with his birthday pup.

I'm already overly effusive and partially annoying with how often I praise Jacob,
but if you know him well, you also know it is well-deserved. That being said,
just for his birthday and because he would prefer it this way, I'll keep it brief.

With every part of my heart, I'm grateful Jacob Allen was born 41 years ago today.
The world became a better place with him in it and my life has been wildly
blessed, both now and into eternity, because I have the privilege of being his
wife. He has stood by me through my darkest hours and in my most joy-filled
moments and is the most caring husband, incredible dad, amazing employee
and devoted disciple of Christ I know. And I love him something fierce.

Happy Birthday Jacob Ethan! Thanks for being my happy place
and everything my Heavenly Father knew I needed.

What do you mean? That was totally brief.

Snow and sunsets

Church basketball

I really like all of these pictures, but this blurry picture makes me so happy! This morning,
this group of boys played in the quarter finals of regional church basketball. With three and
a half minutes left, they were down by 19. And with one second left, one of them made a
layup to win the game by a single point. It was pure awesomeness. And I absolutely loved it.

College bound...after his mission

I'm so proud of this boy of mine. Because just he found out he was accepted to BYU,
which means he was admitted to every school he applied to. I can't believe we are
here already. But I guess if we have to be here, it is nice to have such good news.
I'm so thankful for this oldest of ours that makes being a mom pretty tremendous.

Question

Last night he said to me, "Hey mom, if one synchronized
swimmer drowns, do the others have to drown too?"

And I might have laughed for five minutes.
This boy is hilarious.

The moon this morning

Denali girl

Sweet waffles, I adore this little lady. I just can't get over how good she is and how much
we love having her around. Today I gave her a bath, which she clearly did not love. But instead
of acting out or being crazy, she just stood stock-still and looked a bit embarrassed to be participating,
but let me get her good and clean. She is honestly the sweetest ever. And I am such a fan of her.

My time in St. George

This last weekend was pretty wonderful. It was so kind of Jacob to let me get away and
it was even more wonderful that I was able to see several of my favorite people. I wasn't able
to see an aunt and uncle of mine, plus several cousins I would have loved to visit with, so I'll
have to go again soon, but I was grateful to see this collection of darling people I adore.

This is my brother. He is hilarious and sweet and has an amazing heart and makes me
so happy to be around. And did I mention he is one of the funniest people I know?

This is my aunt, my dad's only sibling. She is one of the kindest people I have ever known,

is so loving and good to me and gave me a gift that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

This is my aunt and uncle, one of my mom's younger brothers. I absolutely adore them
and their goodness to me and could talk to them for hours and it still wouldn't be enough.
 

This is my sister-in-law and her husband. She is one of the most thoughtful people I know
and never forgets to acknowledge anything significant in the lives of our little family.

And this lovely lady is why I went to St. George in the first place. And I was so busy talking
and laughing and crying with her, I forgot to take a picture (so had to borrow one from her FB page).
She is one of my favorite people on the earth and every second with her feels like a huge blessing.
Her friendship truly feels like a incredible gift from my Heavenly Father and I'm so grateful.

A fast forty-eight hours

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

My sweet Gram

I just miss her so much.

A weekend away

The first part of my drive to St. George today was spent listening to a couple of health podcasts
on the thyroid and trying to navigate the intense winter weather safely and in one piece. The second
half included beautiful skies and much singing and dancing. Except for the one song where I allowed
my broken heart to just sob at the idea that a drive to St. George doesn't include seeing my Gram.

But did I mention there was singing and dancing? Very loud singing and very fancy dancing to be
exact. (Fun fact, Jacob's car stereo goes up to a maximum of 40. Good to know.) And if I read the
thoughts of the passing drivers correctly, which I know I did as that is one of my super powers, they
were jealous of my rad dance moves and of my slightly below mediocre yell-singing voice.

Well, except for the one guy who wondered why the old lady in the maroon car was screaming and
dancing like a lunatic when there were plenty of thyroid podcasts to be played. But I ignored him.

So much love for this boy of mine

No words for the sweetness of my Nathan boy. When I found this on the nightstand by my
bed after he went off to school this morning, I got a little teary. I'm so grateful to be a mom.

Half-mast

There is an enormous flag at the end of a road I take multiple times a week
to Grace's preschool. And I absolutely love that I get to see it often, as it
reminds me how much I love my country and how blessed I feel to live here.

But on days like today, when it flies at half-mast, it breaks my heart.
A lot. That has been the case too often lately. And because of those
reasons and others that weigh heavily on my heart, I worry.

And when I do, I have to pause and remind myself Who I worship and
why I worship Him. Because while He will never take our agency away,
I don't believe we truly realize how close He is and how constantly He is
wiping our tears, matching them with His own and extending peace
and love and comfort and hope, where there seems little.

I know God loves His children and that the power of the Savior's Atonement can
cover everything we experience in this life. Not because I want it to be true or
someone told me it was, but because I have experienced it personally and profoundly.
And that knowledge is enough. Even with so many unknowns in this life, it truly is enough.

Snow

Unexpected winter

Good grief Utah, way to pull an unexpected day of winter--during winter.
But there is a certain Husky that seems to be a fan of you. So there's that.

Our Nali girl

After weeks and weeks of searching (through hundreds of available dogs and texting
many a person to ask additional questions), I think I sufficiently surprised Jacob
with his birthday present. And not just because his birthday isn't for two more weeks.

Meet Denali (named after the highest mountain in Alaska), Jacob's new running
partner. She is trained exceptionally well, is capable of running for miles and miles,
yet is insanely calm and sweet both in the house and with every person and animal
she meets. We have all fallen hard. Especially yours truly--once I realized I'm not
a puppy person, but a slightly older dog that is already trained is just really fabulous.

Happy Birthday Jacob Ethan! I'm feeling quite confident I got the dog thing right this time.
Because Nali is the sweetest and the best. Which is why I knew you two belonged together.

Tower of Power

This little stud just came up to me and somewhat shyly asked if he could show me something.
When I told him sure, he flexed his muscles and let me know that he had been downstairs "using
the orange weights" I asked him if I could feel his amazing muscles and made sure he knew I was
impressed. Then this boy asked me if it was okay if he wrote on his shirt. I told him it was one of his
nicer shirts and asked what it was he wanted to write on it. To which he replied, "Tower of Power."

Honestly. My children and their lack of self-esteem.

Such incredible thoughtfulness

Do you want to hear the cutest Valentine's story ever? I thought so. While texting
Annie yesterday morning, she told me that a boy at school had found out how many
girls went to their school and collected money and bought a rose for every girl in the
high school. And passed them out this morning. Annie texted me a picture of her rose.
And I about died from the sweetness that is that boy and so many senior boys
(including my own) that contributed to make it happen. It made my whole day.

And just to make this story even more amazing, there are 1400 girls that go to this high school.
I just can't get over it.

Love and favorites

He's my favorite on Valentine's. And every other day of the year.

Oh I love Jacob Allen.

I'm a really great mom

I have several things I'm not a fan of in food and one of them is dyes.
I'm not claiming we never consume them for sure, but I do work hard to limit
them. And as you can clearly tell, I'm extra vigilant around Valentine's.