June is a busy month

Birthdays and father's day make june a busy month for us. My birthday was on the 15th (father's day) and Nate's is today! (29th). For my birthday I made manicotti and carrot cake for father's day. My brother's wife was out of town so he ate with us. Brad doesn't like carrot cake, but he loved mine! My carrot cake is yummy, I have to give Marie credit, it's her recipe. My birthday was kind of lame, didn't feel like a birthday, I found out my great grandma, age 99 1/2 passed away the night before. All the cards and presents came after my birthday, so I celebrated all week, which kind of made up for it. Nate gave me stainless steel measuring cups and spoons. My mom gave me a cuisinart grill and I love it!!!! Nate's birthday is like mine ... he doesn't feel like it's his birthday. He got a new outfit from me for Father's day/birthday combined so ... he got that already. But Im making him steak and chocolate covered strawberries! Yum yum. My other brother Julian was in town this weekend which was awesome. Nate's spent that last two days in 12 hours of life insurance classes ... he's becoming a financial planner. Today was the deadline to apply for the business school at BYU so we are hoping to hear soon if Nate got in. I don't have any good pictures to go with this so I just put a cute picture of Joey!

Joey's Latest Developments

Joey is growing up. He isn't walking yet, but he loves to climb. He climbs from our small trampoline on to the piano bench to play the piano. He also likes to climb into laundry baskets and into his toy drawers. He's keeping me on my feet for sure. He love love LOVES to play the piano, you can watch his video ...

We take him swimming a lot and he is slowly liking it more and more. He likes to lounge while he floats. Last week my Aunt DeAnn gave Joey a high chair and he loves it! He likes to eat puffed rice and peas. He also learned how to fly recently!

A wonderful week in Texas

Nate and I spent the 13-20 of May in Texas and it was so much fun! We stayed with Nate's grandma in Elgin, just outside of Austin. Nate's grandma and brother Ken both got to meet Joey. Joey and I also got to meet Nate's Uncle Mike and Aunt Elise and his cousins, and his Uncle Steve and Aunt Karilee and cousin Nicki. They all loved Joey, of course and Joey loved all the attention. We visited Georgtown and Round Rock where Nate lived as a kid and meet some of Nate's friends: Tommy Garcia and Sal Bertucci. We also spent an evening with my Cousin Alisha and her family. They had never met Nate and it's really been a long time since I've seen them. She has three Girls: Brinkley, Adyson, and Briley and Joey loved playing with them.

We Spent a day and Sea World. Nates brother came with us and we took turns going on rides and watching Joey. Joey was so good the whole time. We had to get use to the humidity and I got a little sunburned. We had a lot of fun. Our favorite was this turtle eating watermelon. It was really funny to watch him hack at it like he was attacking something.

We also spent sometime in San Antonio and loved it. We only had time to go to the Alamo and the River walk and would love to go back.


On Sunday, Nate and I were headed to Georgetown for church, but Nate's grandma's car tire was flat! So Nate changed it for the spare and then after church Nate's friend, Tommy, helped Nate patch the tire so we could drive to Alisha's house (near San Antonio).

A new car!!!

So these last few weeks have been crazy for Nate and I. Joey's crawling really well now, which puts a new twist into life. But even more exciting was that we have had our kitchen ceiling cave in twice and have had both of our cars break down within two weeks. First the Corolla broke down on I-15 at about Pleasant Grove, we had to wait on the hi-way for the tow truck to come and then for my brother to pick us up. Then, the Escort broke down two weeks later on our way to Roosevelt for easter. We were in the middle of Strawberry Reservoir. My grandparents had to retrieve us. We were freezing for about 3 hours before we were saved. Both times Joey was very good and patient and didn't fuss until after we were saved. So, yesterday Nate and I felt we had no choice but to buy a new car. We ended up getting a 2005 Hundai Santa Fe for under the blue book price and are very grateful for the deal we got. We both LOVE it. We feel blessed that we are in a situation where we can afford a car, since we aren't paying rent or utilities. We are hoping to have it mostly paid off by the time Nate finishes school. Nate is still in the process of fixing both cars, so we currently own three. The corolla is still a great car and is for sale, that is unless the escort, as we fear but pray against, has engine troubles and will be too expensive to be worth fixing.

My tribute to Dwight

I have never really had anyone die that I knew well enough to cry about. But last night a great man, Dwight Laws, passed away after years of battling cancer. Dwight was my dad's cousin. He was the head of independent study at BYU, so since I came to Provo I would periodically visit him and get to know him. He tried to help me get an editing job in his department and he and his wife, Linda, gave me a ride to Blanding, in the back of their Jeep Wrangler, for a Laws family reunion. Dwight was a man who inspired me. He wrote a variety of books realting the stories of our ancestors. He and I would often discuss family history and he encouraged me to write my own books. When I went to England and found the home of our ancestors I don't think anybody appreciated it more than Dwight. He was a very good man, and I admired him. He did cool things like travel the world on his motorcycle. I send this out into the void to tell Dwight all that I've said. I don't think he ever knew that I thought he was such a great guy.