Makenna found the razor

Makenna found my razor in the shower and thought she would take a try at seeing how to shave her face. She came to me and told me that her face hurt and that is when I found out she was trying to shave her face. I told her how dangerous that was and I must have really scared her because the thought of her cutting her face and bleeding freaked her out and she started crying. She sure is cute though!

Emily 2 Months

Emily is just too cute, I can't help but want to take pictures of her. As you can see, at first she was not too fond of it but then she got sleepy.

Crazy Spring Break 2012

This was one of the craziest spring breaks in regards to weather! We started out our spring break by going as a family to a little lake near Flagstaff to go fishing with the kids. After the lake Dustin decided he wanted to go drive around and look for elk in an area that we hadn't really been to before. It happened the way in always does -- Dustin said we would just drive for a little ways and then turn around and go home -- that didn't happen. We drove for a ways and then Dustin said, "lets just go a little further". Before we knew it, we were so far into our drive that we decided it would probably be silly to turn around and go back the way we came so we would just find another way out of the mountains. It didn't really dawn on us until after we had already made the decision to just keep going that we realized the way we were going to come out of the mountains may not work for us because it was still spring and the forest service roads were probably gated off to the highway. I will admit that panic set in with me a little bit as we had been in the car all day with 3 little children, it was dinner time and all we had in the car was cheese and crackers (thank goodness we had something), and it was getting dark. The ride became so long for Hollis that about every 30 seconds for a while he said he had to go potty just so he could get out of the car. After it was dark we could see the highway and the road out straight ahead of us and we were just praying the gate wouldn't be closed because it was several hours back home the other way in the dark on dirt roads. Well as luck would have it the gate was closed and we could see all the cars on the highway headed into Flagstaff but we were stuck on the other side of the fence. Dustin got out of the car thinking there has to be a way out of here. He just so happened to follow the fence line down a little bit off the road and found a opening in the fence line just big enough for our car to fit through -- thank goodness! We got out of the mountains and headed back into Flagstaff. Making memories!

The next day of our spring break Coe and his friend, Jake, came to visit us and we decided that we were going to go to the mountains to build a campfire and do dinner. Before dinner we took the kids on a little hike up the mountain to look for elk sheds but all we found were some bones. Hollis was really slowing everyone else down because he likes to pick up all the sticks and throw them in the air. I decided to head back down the mountain with the little kids to get the campfire started while the older boys finished their hike. That was the longest, slowest hike back down the mountain with two pokey children and carrying Emily in a pack. I think we only made it back down the mountain 5 or 10 minutes before the older boys got back. So much for getting back earlier to get the campfire going. At this point, Jamon and Kristen came to join us with their kids and we cooked dinner over the campfire together. It was a really fun time.

The next day of our spring break we woke up to piles and piles of snow -- it dumped! I just remember thinking how crazy that was to spend two whole days outside having fun in the sun and then have the complete opposite the next day. The snow was just as fun though! That is one thing I really liked about Flagstaff -- the snow was so pretty and it would just dump but then not stay around very long. It always would look so beautiful and it was great for the kids to play in. These pictures were all taken right outside our apartment door. We were lucky to live right in the mountains and could go sledding right outside our door.

Back to Sedona Where It All Began

Well after about 10 years, Dustin and I decided to go back to the place that he proposed to me, Sedona. It is so beautiful there! This time was a little different because the first time we went we were not yet married and didn't have any kids and going back almost 10 years later we had 3 of our own children tagging along with us. Crazy how much has happened in that 10 years! It was so fun to take the kids on the same hike Dustin took me on when he proposed. Emily was maybe only 3 months old so I got to back her on the trail and when we got to the bottom we had a little picnic and the kids got some sticks and pretended to fish. It was also fun to go with some other young couples in our ward that had yound kids as well. When the hike was all finished we took the kids to Olive Garden for dinner. It seemed like the perfect thing to do because after Dustin proposed to me he took me to Olive Garden. It was the perfect way to end the day with our kids that did so good on the hike.

Random Pictures of The Kids

I took a picture of Makenna, Hollis and what was suppose to be Emily's room so that Emily would have a picture for her baby book of her first bedroom. The crib was set up and the plan was to have her in the bedroom with the kids, but it ended up that Emily spent the whole time in mine and Dustin's bedroom until it was time to move from Flagstaff so she never really got to sleep in the bedroom with Makenna and Hollis. After Flagstaff, I moved into my in-laws house with the three kids and so Emily continued to sleep in the same room as me. This was a little different for me as I did not do this with Makenna and Hollis -- they were out of our room in 2-3 months.

Ryan came to visit was Grandma Savik and he brought Kaden and Tyson with him for Emily's baby blessing. Makenna and Hollis loved having their cousins come to visit. I put on a movie for them and they were all so into the movie that I had to take a picture.

SUU EDGE Project

The Snow is Beginning to BREAK!

Here at Southern Utah University I have had the great opportunity to be able to serve my community and nation by being involved in the EDGE Project here SUU.  I was able to volunteer time as part of the requirements here at SUU in order to graduate—I did this by helping the Dixie National Forest in the dismantling and rehabilitation of snow mobile trail heads and cross country ski trails.  We set out cleaning and rehabilitating snow mobile trail heads—this was accomplished by hiking trails and clearing brush, tree limbs, picking up trash, and debris.  I was able to learn a lot about the preservation of our beautiful mountains here in Cedar City, Utah.

 

     One experience that was quite memorable was coming down the mountain after rehabbing a trail and looking out over a meadow, completely covered with white and see movement and a subtle break from the tree line and have the chance to set my eyes on a coyote running across the back part of the meadow and then once again disappear back into the trees.  What an amazing experience.