Commemorating Calvin

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Tuesday, the 23rd, marked a year since Calvin passed away. To commemorate, Spencer and Tiffany came up from Arizona to be here for the 1 Year Anniversary. To start the day off, Spencer & Tiffany, my mom & dad, Tiffany's parents, and I all went to the Jordan River Temple to do a session. I love the temple. The Spirit is always so strong and being there helps keep an eternal perspective on life. 

Tiff and I after the temple. We have matching diamond necklaces!!
(And diamond's just happen to be the birthstone of April...)
I love her so much, and am so blessed to have her as my sister-in-law.

I can't believe I'm one year closer to seeing & holding my perfect nephew again!
I love & miss you so much Calvin!! 

That evening our family and Tiffany's family met at the gravesite where we each wrote messages to Calvin on a balloon before releasing them up into the sky.

After the gravesite- we all went out to dinner at the classic Pace's Dairy Ann. And then back at my parent's house we just visited and looked at the scrapbooks Tiffany made of Calvin- from the pregnancy to the funeral. It was great day spent with family and in remembrance of Calvin. 

While it's still sad to not have him here with us, I am so grateful for my testimony in the reality that families can be eternal. There is life after death. We will see and be with him again in the next life. I can't wait. I'm so excited to hold and get to know him. So grateful for the Plan of Happiness.

Thanks Spence & Tiff for letting me share in this day with you guys!!

Home Alone

So my parents were out of town to Florida visiting my sister and nieces for the past 2 1/2 weeks leaving the house all to myself (besides the week my uncle and aunt and their 5 kids from California stayed at the house... but that's besides the point of this post.). I've had the house to myself for stretches of time many times in the past, and each time I rediscover why I love/hate it. Those reasons are as follows...

Hate:

• Coming home to a dark house at night- for some reason that can be really depressing to me
• Not having anyone waiting at home to hear how my day has gone and just to talk to about whatever random thoughts come to my head
• And when I say "anyone" I mainly mean my mom. She's my absolute best friend and I miss her greatly when she's not around- even though I call and talk to her every single day...
• Having to figure out what I'm doing for meals each day
• Interesting observation- the most common concern from people is- "What do you do for meals?" (Lots of Lean Cuisine's & Hot Pocket's!!)
• Getting the mail/newspapers everyday
• Actually this isn't too bad and I even enjoy it sometimes when it's nice weather outside. However when it's freezing cold & windy outside then I'm not too much of a fan. Crazy of me I know.
• There's no one else around to kill a spider should there be one. And unfortunately- this last time there was. (It was traumatic... but in the end I won!!)

Love:

• Full control of Volume- whether that be the TV, Stereo, Computer, etc.
• Full control of when the TV/Stereo is on or off
• Not being accountable to anyone but myself. 
• I can come and go as I please without having to keep someone else informed of my plans. And I can go to bed as late as I want without having to report the time the next morning.
• Sometimes I just need some time and space away from others
• The feeling of independence
• Seeing and feeling the love and concern from family, friends, & neighbors all around me when they know I'm home alone. While my parents may be gone- I know I have countless people surrounding me who would be there for me in an instant if I ever needed anything. I am truly blessed by the people I have in my life.

So all in all- it's a bittersweet experience having the house all to myself. And by the end- I'm just so glad to finally have a home-cooked meal and my mom home again! But I'm also glad that my parents had the opportunity to go visit my sister and nieces. It was good for both my parents and my sister. From what I hear- they had a really fun trip!

Oh and P.S. No- I'm not scared while being home alone. I don't know why- I guess I just have peace and faith that I'm being watched over and protected by my Heavenly Father. And I know that if anything were to happen- I have so many people I could call on to help me out (as mentioned above).

Articles for Safe Keeping

So I've come across these articles and I absolutely love them! So I wanted to post them here to share with others and have them for future references.

So without further ado...

So You're Feeling Too Fat to be Photographed 

and 

Confessions of a Mormon Bishop

National Sibling Day

So apparently it was recently "National Sibling Day". To celebrate I just wanted to do a quick shout out to my awesome siblings (including my in-laws)! I respect and admire each and every one of them for so many different reasons. I'm so blessed to have them in my life.  They're honestly my best friends and there's not a group of people I'd rather hang out with than them. I love each of them so much!!!