Relief Society General Meeting 2013

My mom got tickets for the General Relief Society meeting for her, my sisters and I. Only Mom, Elizabeth, Sarah, and I were able to go, but it was so amazing!!!

I was so excited that Elizabeth came. She has been my partner in crime on more than one occasion. She's leaving in a couple weeks for her mission to Wisconsin! I can't believe she's old enough to be doing this. But she is and I couldn't be more proud! 

It was such a gorgeous day in Salt Lake! The days before had been so cold and it snowed at my mom's house! 

My wonderful mom and I. Seriously. This is one incredible lady. Her love and grace are incredible and unconditional. I'm so grateful for the example she has set for me all of my life and for the awesome grandma she is to my kids!!  

The three sisters! Sarah (on the left) is my only sibling that's married. She's pregnant with her first little boy!!! I'm so excited to have a nephew of my own!! (2 of Dustin's sisters have little boys, but it's so different for it to be MY sister!!) (Yes, I know it's blurry... Sorry. :/)

   

It really was such a great day! From trying to kill zombie flies in the car, waiting in line forever at Kneaders for lunch, eating the best salad of my life, laughing at the thousands of women that were everywhere we turned (not really laughing AT them. Just that there were SOOOO many!!!!), hashtagreliefsociety, bawling like a baby while trying to sing the songs, fantastic talks about giving service and sharing ourselves and our time, being uplifted and inspired to do good and share good and be good. It was all so much fun. I really hope that we can do this again and again!!!

Never Really Alone

I started this blog as a place to post my crafty projects. But I need it to be more than that sometimes, I've decided. It's mine, so I can do that, right? I wrote this post a bit ago and have been trying to decide if I wanted to post it or not. It's long, rambling, whiney, a bit embarrassing.

But here it is anyway. Be nice. ;)




I've been struggling a bit lately and it kind of makes me feel dumb.

My life isn't really harder than anyone else's. I'm incredibly blessed and grateful for all I have.

But some decisions I made about 6 and a half years ago are still impacting me today. I knew they would, though that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

I knew I was going to marry Dustin before we even went on our first date. I didn't know why and I thought I was going crazy. I prayed and prayed about it, and knew he was the one, but it still didn't make any sense to me.

I had always dated good Mormon boys in high school. In college, they were returned missionaries. More good boys.

Dustin smoked and drank. He swore up a storm. He hadn't been to church in at least 10 years, probably more. He wanted nothing to do with it.

This was the guy I was supposed to marry?

He wasn't all bad. Not even close. He was sweet as could be. Loving, loyal, supportive. He became my best friend and I couldn't imagine my life without him. But I didn't know how we would ever get married. I had stopped going to church regularly and wasn't doing everything I was supposed to, but I still really wanted to get married in the temple. I wouldn't accept anything less.

And then I got pregnant.

Not what I had planned, not how I had expected my prayers to be answered. But I can see now that that is exactly what had happened.

Dustin wasn't willing to change and I wasn't willing to give up. So we made a decision and were married. We had been taking about it for months and months, so it wasn't so crazy to us. Not the timing we wanted, but it was too late to pick.

Jayden was born about 6 months after we got married. We were so happy. He helped to heal broken hearts in my family and helped us to look beyond ourselves a little more.

When Jayden was about a year old, I decided to start going back to church. I had missed it. I still prayed, I still believed, I just didn't GO. I knew I needed it, my soul craved it. So, with a little divine intervention, I made an appointment with my bishop and started going again.

I took Jayden with me. He helped distract me from the stares and whispers that I knew were there. It took every bit of strength I had to keep going, keeping my chin up. I looked like I was there alone, except for my baby. But I wasn't. I knew I wasn't. Especially on the hardest Sundays, I knew there was someone else with me, giving me the courage and support to make it through those 3 hours and to go back again the next week.

I started taking a temple prep class, something I wanted so badly. As it ended, Dustin's dad moved in with us for about a month. And I got pregnant with Maycie (yay!!). And I got sick (not so yay). It was getting a little harder. Life was getting harder. I was hanging in though. Holding on tight.

I went through the temple on January 16, 2010. I was 7 months pregnant with Maycie. Emotional and massive. But I was there! I did it! Something I had always wanted. I did it. It was one of the best days in my life. I knew I was getting where I wanted to be.

It also ended up being one of the hardest days of my life. Dustin felt so shut out. Some family members said some things to him that made him feel like even more of an outsider. I spent a good part of the night crying, wondering if I had made a mistake. Done something that I wanted even though it was bad for us. I felt so selfish. But I still knew I had done the right thing.

The next day I went to church, afraid that when I got home, Dustin wouldn't be there. Afraid he had changed his mind and didn't want to be married to a church-going, temple-attending, garment-wearing girl (Yes, that was an issue. They're kind of awful if they mean something negative to you).

He was still there when I got home. He wasn't giving up on me.

We talked a lot that weekend. We cried. We prayed. We talked some more. We kissed a little bit. That does help fix things, in case you were wondering.

We realized that things were still okay, just a little different. We still loved each other. We loved Jayden (and the baby girl in my tummy). We weren't going anywhere or changing in any negative way. We were still us.

And here we are, married for 5 1/2 years. Two beautiful children, a nice little house, a goofy dog, and a happy family.

I still take my kids to church by myself. There are Sundays when I spend the entire Sacrament meeting fighting back tears of frustration. Some Sundays they leak out. As hard as it is, I never regret going. Ever.

I spoke in church on Easter. I dunno who had that crazy idea. But one of the things I kept going back to as I wrote my talk was that we could never give up and that we were never alone.

Out Heavenly Father knows when we feel discouraged, when we feel like giving up. But because of Christ's atoning sacrifice, we are never alone. Christ knows how we're feeling. His comfort and peace is always available to us. We just need to seek it, ask for it. The Lord sends us the companionship of the Holy Ghost to give us the comfort and peace that we seek.

On my hardest days, like today, it's so easy to forget that someone is looking out for me and wants to help me. I'm loved no matter how far from perfect I am. And believe me, I am pretty dang far from it. Prayer is one of the most powerful things we have. It gives us an opportunity to ask for help, blessings, comfort, guidance, give thanks, and just a chance to talk to our Father. There is no one better for us to talk to.

I'm so grateful for this life I have. For my good husband and all he does for our family and for me. I'm grateful for the daddy he is. I'm also grateful for my Father in Heaven and the peace he gives to me when I need it most.

Iris Wrap Dress

I recently ordered 5 new patterns from Sew Sweet Patterns. Their patterns are so cute, and I really had a hard time picking just 5. I’ll definitely be back for more.
The first one I’ve tried is the Iris Wrap Dress:

Isn’t it cute? I wish I could have gotten a better picture, but Maycie has been grumpy and sick with a cold and we were running around all day yesterday, so this was as good as it got. Oh! And it’s reversible! It has a super cute yellow floral on the other side. Hopefully I can get a decent picture of it. Sometime. Ha!
Thanks so much for reading!!!

Sarah's wedding

I thought I'd share a few more pictures from Sarah's wedding. It was kind of a rainy day, but completely beautiful!


Here are my sisters and I, my mom, and Maycie. Remember when I said my sisters are all taller than I am? I wasn't kidding. The shoes I was wearing were at least 3 inches tall. Maybe if I stood up a little straighter instead of leaning away from Maycie's grabby hands I would look taller. Doubtful.


My aunt Amy is a party-planner extraordinaire. She did most of the decorating and coordinating and someday I want to grow up to be just like her. She arranged the flowers on their gorgeous (and yummy!) cake.

She also was the wonder behind this lovely sight:



One of Sarah's requests was a kid's table. I made a little printout with their engagement picture and a word-search with some of their favorite things. There were cups of crayons, Goldfish Crackers, and Teddy Grahams. I'm pretty sure Jayden's dinner came out of those cups as well.


Another picture of my sisters and I (Back: Me, Kathryn, Sarah, Johanna. Front: Deborah & Elizabeth). Things I love in this picture: 4 awesome headbands that I either made or helped make, we all part our hair on the same side, no one knew which camera to look at, Jo is a goof.


Rob has 10 (11? Now I forget) nieces and 2 nephews, so I made little lacy flower clips for all the girls and satin ties for the boys. Here is Maycie modeling her flower with Aunt Obis.


And here is Jayden with Kathryn. You really can't see his tie, but I had to stick a picture of this little dude in here. He's such a ham. And he makes me crazy, but I love him to pieces.



My youngest brothers made paper airplanes to throw at Sarah and Rob as they left their reception. We blew bubbles too. I'm slightly embarrassed that I don't have more pictures of the bride and groom, but I wanted to concentrate on little details. Don't they look happy? It gets me a little choked up. Ha! I'm such a baby!



One of the highlights of the reception, at least for these two, was Rob's car. Not how it was decorated really, but those bricks. They blocked up the front tires with those bricks so the car couldn't go anywhere but you really had no idea why. The tires were just barely off the ground and just spun when Rob hit the gas. I laughed so hard I was crying. And Dustin didn't complain one bit about how late it was when we got home, because he HAD to stay and see them "leave". I didn't complain. :) He and my brother Robert definitely had fun. Don't they look like 2 little troublemakers?!?!

Merry Christmas

I hope your holidays are full of lots of good food, goofy friends and family and more fun than you can imagine!


(Life has been so crazy... I have my fingers crossed that things will settle down and I can blog more in another week or two. Thanks for reading!!!)

Maycie's car seat

After we found out our baby was a girl last October, I immediately started scoping out all the pink stuff I could find. I love pink. I don't wear a lot of pink, but after living with 2 boys for a few years, all pink and girly became much more appealing. Dustin and I talked about buying a new car seat for this baby, even though we had bought Jayden's thinking we could use it for a girl if we ever needed to. But it just wasn't girly. And I needed girly.

The more I looked at car seats, the less I liked the girly ones. They were so...PINK! Like mushy pink. I like pink. I love pink. But these car seats were too pink. So, I decided I would make a new cover for the car seat we already had.

It took me a while, but I finally found the perfect fabric. It's called Plain Jane by Michael Miller. I picked the aqua and red, and also got some polka dots in the same colors. I've made a canopy for it too, but I don't have any pictures of it.




What do you think? I love it. Much more than I loved any of the pink. I love the colors and that it's girly, but not so girly it would make you puke. That cute baby just makes it even cuter I think.

I just linked up!!!

4th of July ( and 3rd, and 5th...)

The 4th of July is definitely one of my favorite holidays. It's right up there with Christmas. I love the parades and picnics and sunshine. I love celebrating this awesome country that we live in. And I love red, white, and blue. As far back as I can remember, I always tried to make sure I had on red, white, and blue for the 4th of July. And since we live in Utah, I get a little extra dose of it for the 24th of July too. It only makes sense that I was thrilled to dress my kids up for the 4th, right?

Here is Jayden on his first 4th of July. Nothing special, just an outfit from WalMart and a hat that didn't fit.


This is Jayden last year. Again, nothing too fancy, but it was red, white, and blue.


This year, I decided to go all out. 2 kids + a new sewing machine=2 fun 4th of July outfits! You'd think that would be enough for me. No. Never. I also made skirts and appliqued shirts for my friend's girls (Pictures later. When I can steal them from someone else!). Yeah, pretty sure I'm crazy. And I now know why I never made any clothes for Jayden before.

Here is Maycie's dress. I love it! It was far from perfect, but now that I figured it out, I'm going to maker her another.

And here are Jayden's shorts. Cute, right? I made them from a mens 3X shirt because it was the best plaid I could find. And heck, 3x is the same price as a small, but with lots more fabric! I saw a man wearing that shirt. I may have laughed a little. (And possibly pointed.)


At some point when I was making them, I must have forgotten that the kid had a butt... See how straight they are? I didn't make the waist high enough so they were always hanging down funny. And there wasn't much room for a diaper. Maybe I should start using patterns...

And just because I love these faces:
I suppose I'd better explain the title of my post. Since the 4th was a Sunday this year, we pretty much had 3 straight days of celebrations. Saturday we went up to watch the parade with my family and see all of my Dad's side of the family, since they were having a reunion. Saturday night were some UFC fights that my hubby and our friend couldn't miss, so we came home early.

Sunday afternoon we had a barbecue at Dustin's parents' house. We did lots of fireworks there. Those Mellos love their fireworks. A lot. It might not be healthy. Does anyone else in the world have firecracker fights? Didn't think so.

Monday was the parade and fun here, so we braved the crowds for a while and then came home and we all had naptime. Monday night brought us these:

Jayden trying to catch the "far-works"

This past week has been so much fun. Dustin was able to take work off all week, so we slept in til 9 or 10 almost every day. It was no fun sending him back to work tonight, but we sure had a great time having him home. I love that guy. :)

It's about dang time

That I started blogging again, don't you think? Anything to relieve the stress of this morning I guess. It's sad that my last post was a year ago. Lots has changed.

We have a new baby!Miss Maycie was born on April 14th. Daddy is pretty taken with her.

I think she's quite a doll myself. :) Look at that face!!!!!!!!!


Jayden isn't a baby any more. The kid is all boy. He loves all things that drive, fly, float or can be thrown. That covers everything doesn't it? Lol. He also loves animals. And monsters. And roaring or yelling at you when he's mad... We have fun.


This might be my favorite part of some days... Is that bad?


So, that's pretty much what we've been up to this last year. Enough business to keep me too busy to blog, I guess. I'd better change that!

So...

I haven't "blogged" in a while now... Mostly cuz no one is actually reading it. :)

We haven't been up to much lately, but when Dustin finished his wall move, we were able to go to Logan to see everyone and it was so much fun. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures:

We got to have lunch with Sarah at Inovation Pond and Dustin picked me this water lily. It was probably the coolest flower I've ever seen. Sadly, it wilted after about 10 minutes in a hot car. :(

We also went to feed the ducks at First Dam. Jayden was thrilled and tried to follow them as they swam away. Thank goodness Dustin has quick reflexes and caught him before he made it too far.
Jayden's new favorite food is watermelon, I think. He insisted on having his own piece and and even though he dropped it a few times, he ate almost all of it.

I wish I had some exciting news to post on here, but alas, I don't. I've been chasing Jayden around and trying to keep my cupboard contents out of the garbage can. I've also recently decided that I'm going to make little flower hair clips and hopefully I can find somewhere to sell them. I really enjoy scrapbooking and cardmaking, but since I really don't have a space to do it in right now, this has become kind of a fun passtime, although it's sure making me wish I had a little girl to put them on. :) Someday.