Happy Birthday Dad!!!

(This picture is way old but it is one of my favorites- and yes I loved that outfit- hairbow and all!!)


So the best part about my birthday is that my dad's is the day after mine and so we always get to celebrate it together! My dad is really the most incredible man and I love him so much. He has such a love for his family and is really the most selfless person I know. He is always concerned about everyone around him no matter what is going on in his life. He has such an incredible strength and always has a positivie attitude- even during some not very easy times. I look up to him so much and I am just so grateful for all that he continues to do for us. Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Birthday Girl!

Let’s face it….you all check the blog to catch up with Darc. So, I thought you should know how much I love and appreciate my cute wife, it being her birthday and all. Darci is about as amazing as it gets! Every day I wonder how in the world I ended up with someone who is so fun, so smart, so cut, so silly, so patient, so….well, just so special. Anyone who knows her watches for her beautiful smile, because it has super-powers. When Darc smiles, everything negative seems to go away. Keep smiling Darc!

I love you babe! Happy Birthday!

Easter Weekend

Brad and I had a wonderful weekend. It was probably the most perfect weekend we have had in a long time. I had saturday off- which never happens. So we took advantage of this rare occurence by sleeping in and it felt wonderful! We were able to go to the temple in the morning and do sealings and it was the perfect way to start our day. Then we went out to breakfast at Jeremiah's (even though it was more like lunch time) and I just love that place! Then we ran a few errands together. It really was just so fun to be together during the day because it seriously never happens. Sunday was a beautiful day and we were able to spend most of it together. We had stake conference but it wasn't until 3:00 so we spent the morning hanging out and hunting for easter baskets :) Brad did have to go to the church for a few interviews but other than that we had a whole sunday together! (this also NEVER happens) Then we went to stake conference and I had to say the opening prayer! Holy cow I really thought that I was going to pee my pants up there or something. I was so scared and nervous and I was just glad when it was over with. We went to Brad's families for a yummy ham dinner and then to my sister Bethany's for some dessert and entertainment from her 3 kids who were all on a sugar high!

Really it was just such a good weekend and I am glad that it was so relaxed. I think it helped to have time to really think about what this weekend is all about and what an incredible blessing the atonement and ressurection are in our lives! We really are so blessed to have the gospel in our life.

So lucky!

Do you ever have those times when you are just trying to get through life and then something suddenly hits you? Okay I know that we all do but I definitely had one of those moments this week. I won't go into the details but the past couple of months have been pretty rough for my family to say the least. I have spent so much time worrying about my parents and my siblings that a lot of other things have been getting ignored. Throw school on top of that and there is pretty much no time left for cooking or cleaning or time to spend with Brad. Well monday was a particularly stressful day for me and as I arrived home at 9:00pm from campus after taking a test I suddenly realized one of the most amazing things: I am married to the most incredible man. I am completely and utterly amazed at his love for me and all of the things that he does for me and for my family. He never complains about helping my parents out with something and he is so understanding if I have to spend the whole night studying. He has some new found talents of cooking and doing laundry and I am so grateful that he is willing to step up for me! He really is just the best and I cannot believe that I have him and I hate that it is so easy for me to take for granted the relationship we have. I know that this was a much needed realization for me and hopefully I will do better at remembering just how lucky I am to have him!

I love to see the temple!

My mom got tickets for all of our family to go down to the Draper temple open house a couple months ago and yesterday was finally the day! It was such a neat experience and it was so fun to have the whole family with us. The temple was absolutely beautiful! Brad commented to me that it had a different feel - more of a homey(if thats a word) feel to it. I think that he is right. My little niece Ella was holding my hand most of the time and when we walked into the Celestial room I picked her up and pointed to the chandelier she just lit up and and stared at it and this was our following conversation:

Ella: it's so pretty in here
Me: it is- this is a very special room though, that is why it is so pretty

Ella: they did a very good job building this

Me: chuckle

I just love that little girl- it was so fun to see her and all of my nieces and nephews reactions. My niece, Mazzy was even able to come and it was just so cool to have so much of our family there together. There is such a neat feeling there already and it made me feel so blessed and so lucky to know that we have so many temples so close that we can go to them whenever we need that peace and comfort. We really are so blessed!

After the open house we all went to Five Guys burgers and fries for dinner, Rachel and Kaia met us there so we had quite the crew! I have heard a few people talk about this place so it was fun to go. (thanks ben) The burgers were good but the fries were awesome it is probably a good thing that there isn't one of those close by here because I would be eating way too many of those fries.

Thanks again Mom for planning such a fun night for everyone. And Jenny- can you pleeeeaassse move out here?!

Chicago!

I mentioned in my last post that I have been a little stir crazy and really ready for an adventure. Well I finally got Brad on board with me and we are going to Chicago! Woohoo! I am so excited. We are going out the first week in July which means we will be there for the 4th of July! So we have a little while before we go but it is something that we are both looking forward to for sure! Brad is a huge Cubs fan and it worked out perfect because they are playing at home the whole time we are there! Brad is going to be like a little kid there- I am so excited for that! So if any of you have been there before we are definitely looking for suggestions for things to do, places to eat!

Here are some things we are looking forward to most:

Did I mention the Cubs?!

Musuem of Science and Industry

Water Tower Place mall! Can we say Shopping!

Reminiscing...

So there hasn't been much exciting going on around here lately. I have mostly spent my days cooped up inside studying. This has left me itching for some sort of an adventure but that is not a possibility right now so instead I have been thinking a lot about a past adventure in my life.

Most everyone knows that I was able to live in NY for a while after high school. This was such an incredible experience for me and I am so glad that I took that oppurtunity in my life because I almost passed it up! I know that I grew so much out there. It really opened my eyes to the world because I was a pretty sheltered mormon girl before I left. My testimony was strengthened so much while I was out there- there were times that it was really hard to be away from family and friends so I had to rely on Heavenly Father a lot to get through it. It was also really neat to not be surrounded by mormons and to have some oppurtunities to share a little bit of the gospel with people out there.

Below I have posted a few pics of some of my favorite memories that I have from my time out there.

Me in Times Square- bet you can't guess why this is one of Brad's favorite pics of me:)

A couple of my freinds, Chritianna and Melissa and I randomly decided to drive up to boston for the weekend- this is us in front of the Boston Temple.

The view out of my bedroom window- the Hudson river and West Point Academy across the way. That was the most incredible view to wake up to every morning.

Me and my girls- Claire and Grace. This was on my last day out there so it was kind of a sad day. They are such cute girls and we had so much fun together.

By far the best part about being out there was being able to spend so much time with my sister Jenny and her family who live out there. She and I grew so close while I was out there and we were able to do so much together. It was so fun being able to spend so much time with her kids as well and I miss them so much. (notice how tan I am in this pic? thanks to having a pool I spent a lot of time in the sun and I think this is the tannest I have ever or will ever be)

These next four pics are of the last summer that I spent in NY. Brad and I had been dating for a few months when I went back out to ny for a couple of months. It was really hard to be away from him for so long but we got by thanks to phone calls and emails. Well one night I was sitting at home watching some tv and my doorbell rang. I almost didn't answer because it was late at night and I was the only one home. Finally I just decided to answer and it was my sister and her family and I couldn't figure out why she came to my house so late so I invite them in and as I am shutting the door Brad pops out from around the corner. He totally surprised me. I had no clue he was coming out. He had been planning it since I left and my parent, the family I lived with and my sister were all in on it. I don't know how he pulled it off but he did. Well we had such a fun weekend together and it was so fun to show him all around ny.

Outside the Manhattan Temple- we were able to go and do baptisms and it was really cool.

The Toys R Us in Times Square- it is huge and has all sorts of neat lego creations! Brad is posing in front of the Lego Statue of Liberty!

Brad and I in Central Park!

Us on the subway!