Conference Weekend

I forget how much I enjoy conference and maybe that's because I'm so excited we don't have to go to church and worry about your calling and we can lounge around in our jammies all day long. Oh it's the best. For the past couple of years...since my dad passed actually, I haven't watched conference very well. That could very well be because it's a hard time of year. As my dad was passing, we had conference on the TV playing in his hospital room. It really is a tender time, however it was in the past 2 years that I really needed to hear the words from our Prophet and church leaders. Why was I putting it off? This year, I made a personal goal to listen to conference as much as I could. We did, and it was wonderful.

Saturday morning we watched conference in between running, chores and grocery shopping. During the break we hung out with some members of our neighborhood and finished watching the second session that day.

I thought it would be fun to get together with my sisters and go get a pedicure. We don't hang out too often so I am happy that they all said yes. My mom went with us too, but she said she was too old to get anything done to her feet. We'll get he to join us next time.

 

The massage and hot wet towels over your legs is my favorite. 

Following our pedicures we decided to go get dinner just as priesthood session was starting. 

I have just have to note that I love Luke so much. He was able to take Spencer to the Priesthood session with him because my brother had to work. What a great uncle and example he is. I love that Luke never misses the opportunity to go. Last year we were camping with my family and it was the first time that he didn't go since we have been married. He mentioned later on that he just didn't feel right missing Priesthood session that night. He says at times it can be very boring and that Spencer was board out of his mind this time, but he is always glad that he goes. After the session, he took Spencer out to dinner. Such great guys.

 

Sunday morning we woke up at 9! It was heavenly to sleep in on a Sunday morning. The three of us laid in bed and watched conference for about an hour before we decided to peel ourselves out of bed to eat. The night before we prepared sticky buns to have in the morning. They were so good. Oliver chose cereal instead.

 The rest of conference was perfect. We weren't too strict on having Oliver watch, except for when President Monson was speaking. It was perfect when He spoke about Obedience (found here) because we have been really trying to focus on obedience with Oliver.

 

Other talks that I really enjoyed were "The Words We Speak" by Rosemary Wixom. It was just what I needed to hear to help me become a better mom and to be a good influence on Oliver. I loved this quote: "How we speak to our children and the words we use can encourage and uplift them and strengthen their faith to stay on the path back to Heavenly Father. They come to this earth ready to listen."

simply love that.

My favorite talk was Elder L.Whitney Clayton's "Marriage:Watch and Learn" There is not a single part of that talk that I did not love. If you didn't get the chance to hear it, you totally need to...LDS or not. Conference really was wonderful, but really, when is it not?

 

 That night we decided to stay home and enjoyed a hot dog and marshmallow roast. It was a perfect evening to have a fire and just enjoy our little family of three.



Easter 2013

"Of all the tests we face, none hurts more than the death of a loved one. Through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ all are delivered from death, and all will rise in the resurrection. And by the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all may gain peace in this life washed clean from the sorrows of sin and have hope of a glorious resurrection with the just.

At this Easter season we give our sure witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Redeemer of all mankind. Because of His atoning sacrifice, He stands as our Advocate and Savior. Though He was crucified, He rose triumphant from the tomb to our everlasting blessing and benefit." 

-The First Presidency of The Church

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. After suffering the death of a loved one, the reassurance that I will see them again because of our Savior, Jesus Christ helps make understanding Easter even that much better and to appreciate Him on a more profound level.

 

Today at church I was deeply moved by the spirit felt in our meetings. And not just Sacrament, but in primary too. Loved it.

 With that being said, this is how we celebrated Easter with my side of the family...

 

We all gathered at my house for dinner. All the adults sat inside, while all the kids sat outside. It was heavenly.

We had awesome food

 

Got ready to hide some eggs...

 ...for these guys.

 

To make it fair they were all allowed to get six eggs and then had to wait before they could go all out and find as many more as they could. 

 

And then came the confetti eggs. As fun as these are, I don't love the mess they make, but I guess it's worth it. 

Kat Vs. Jonny

Getting Phia

 Wendy gives and is gotten. Along with Taleesha and Ash.

Mom gets in on it too. 

And so do the kids. 

Jonny came up to me and asked me if he could have a real egg to smash on someone. He said Spencer would handle it the best so he smashed it on his head. He didn't expect it at all.

The adults waited their turn for their "hunt". Like in past years (2011 and 2012), my mom will always hide Easter eggs with money inside. Since my family is full of cheaters, she has had to change it a bit so that no one can cheat the system. In past years, people have opened the eggs hidden around the house, seen the amount in the egg and if it's not the grand prize, put it back to find an egg with a bigger prize. Anyway, now she writes the amount on a piece of paper and then she passes the basket of eggs around and we each draw an egg and reveal the amounts at once. 

Since I was videoing and taking pictures, I got the last egg....the winning egg!

Tayten won $10.00

Spencer won $20.00

Luke won $20.00

and I won $50.00



It was so fun to have everyone over to hang out, play and eat. I love this tradition with my family and look forward to it every year.

 

Easter Morning

Any holiday with a child enhances the holiday for me. I think it's better than when I was a kid. I love seeing Oliver get excited about it and to experience that joy that comes with holidays again and again.

 

This morning after Oliver snuggled with us in bed for a little bit, we asked him if he was ready to go see if the Easter bunny had come (we think he forgot about it). He jumped up and ran into the living room to see what he got. The Easter Bunny knew that Oliver was going to be playing soccer soon and so he hooked him up with shin guards and a soccer ball. He also knew his favorite chips were funyuns and also got him a few toys and candies.

Oliver got to wear his new letter church shirt and we loved primary where we learned about Jesus and the resurrection.

 

Lately, Oliver has been asking questions about dying so this was a great opportunity to teach him about the resurrection. These were his questions while on a family drive one afternoon...

 

"When are we going to die?"

"How are we going to die?"

"What are those?" (referring to tomb stones)

"What is a grave?"

"Where are our graves?"

"Where is Grandpa Bills grave?"

 

It was very interesting to try to explain death and the resurrection to him. I think children sometimes know more about the spirit world than we think they do and perhaps it's because they are pure and sinless that they don't have anything to fear about dying. I found it so comforting that he was so calm and understanding about all of this. Dying didn't seem scary to him because we explained to him that families could be together again if we are obedient and that we would see each other again.

 

Such a blessing to teach the simple truths of the gospel.  

 



Nice Shootin...

I went {official} shooting for the first time with Luke, Wendy and Kat the other day. Luke really wanted me to learn how to use our gun so it was great to learn how to handle it and get a good feel for shooting it. I enjoyed it, but I had to get use to the kick of the gun. At one point, I even pinched my finger from the kick which I did not love. Luke, Kat and Wendy did great and I think they enjoyed it more than I did. I'm glad I know how to use our gun, but I think my kind of recreation shooting is when it involves BB guns and vermin...

Dancing in the Rain

 

My Nephew Tayten is one talented kid. Not only is he smart, but he can dance. Balet West has a great dance program for elementary schools and in addition to the program, really good dancers can be chosen to be on the Dream Team which Tate was. They preformed at West High (which when I walked into the field house after not being there for 10+ years, I was flooded with memories of that place. It was so crazy).

 

I love the picture below of Tate. 

 

In addition to dancing with their school, the Dream team also did a special performance and danced to Singing in The Rain. I think it was one of the best performances of the night.  

 He is even on the dance team with one of his good friends. How cute are these little guys.

 My favorite thing of the night had to be Oliver with Jonny. He was "helping" him film and he looked like such a little film director wearing Johnny's hat and being so serious about recording Tate.

 Great Job, Tayten. Thanks for inviting us to see you dance.

MOAB

This weekend  (March 15th-17th) was just so awesome. I got to spend it with some of the people that I care about most and do some of the things that we like to do best. Last year we missed out on this trip and I was so sad about it. I asked Luke if he wanted to run this year and much to my surprise, he said yes. So here we are, off to Moab.

 

On the way down, we stopped at training table for dinner. It seemed like it took a while to get down there with the 2 other stops we had to make, but it was okay, we were on vacation.

We arrived a little after 8 that night and with enough time to pick up our packets and set up camp. Each of us got our outfits ready for race day tomorrow. Some of us quicker than others... 

That morning we were bussed up to the start of the race where we waited for about 1.5 hours to start. I loved being there with Amy and Luke. The last time I did this race, I was all alone so it was nice to have company, and good company at that.

When we started, the conditions were prefect. It was cast over and best part was there hardly any wind. Perfect I tell you. 

 

Amy was the first to finish. She did such a great job. Her chip time was 40:34 and placed second in her age group. She was only 4 second behind the 1st place and got an additional medal for placing.  Talk about fast!

 

My goal was to run at about a 9:30 pace which would be so awesome.

I finished in 47:23 with a 9:28 pace which was actually wrong. They didn't calculate the gun time and chip time right so I actually ran a 9:18 which is my personal record. I had to make sure to record it correctly because I worked hard for it.

 

Luke was amazing. This was his first official race and a race that he actually trained for. We didn't know he was going to run this fast and so we didn't get to see him cross the finish line. He finished in 48:48 but again, they didn't calculate the chip time correctly, so I'm thinking he did about a 9:30ish minute mile. He ended up placing 12th in his age group. When I asked him what he thought about it, he said it was so fun and that he will certainly do it again. I am so happy for him.

 

Trent was the only one of us that ran the half marathon. His final chip time was 1:20:50 which was his best at this race but not his PR. I can't even imagine what it would be like to run a 6 minute mile. He is a machine. 

 Best part about this race is the finish. They always hook you up with the best post race snacks.

Finishers and Luke with his first race medal.

 



Following showers and a huge lunch at La Hacienda, Trent took us jeeping at the Klondike Bluffs. It's crazy how scary Jeeping is. It doesn't seem like it until you're in the car staring straight up at the sky, straight down at a huge boulder and riding along edges. 

 We walked up to the bluffs to hang out for a little bit.

 

 Amy and I got a little camera crazy, but don't you think she makes a great Cheetah?

 

We took jumping pictures and when I took mine, My flip flop flew right off the cliff. There was no getting that bad boy back so I had to hike back down with only one shoe. 

Looking back at the picture, I thought it was funny that you could actually see my blurry flip flop in the air.

Love him.

Love them.

Love us.

later that night we had dinner at Pizza Hut, did some shopping, got some ice cream and finally settled in after a very busy and perfect day.

 

 

The following morning after relaxing kid less for one last time, we had a delicious McDonald's breakfast, did some more shopping and walking around and then headed home.

Last time we went to Moab together and I blogged about it, we made a list of all the funny things that were said through the trip. It was so fun and funny to look back and reminisce, so I have to include our list this time.

 

 

Moab's Memorable Moments 2013

 

-Woobie

-Trent trying to find a Moab shirt

-Turtleneck

-Luke is Wychel
-"Morgan calls it a chicken." -Trent

-Pubies
-"That's what happens when you eat..." -Luke
-Kim's chin
-"At least I look good" -Amy
-"Kim, turn around, It's Amy..." -Trent
-"I thought it was a dinosaur taking his own picture!" -Amy
-"My shoe!" -Kim
-"Does this come with a spoon" -Amy at Waitress
-"It's not even worth your dollar fifty?!!" -Luke at Kim
-Luke going through the snack tent 4 times past the "security guards"
-"Is that the same Chinese guy?" -Amy
-"I am not eating a sand which." -Luke
-"I have to pee again" -Amy
-"Trent, what do you call that again?" -Kim
-finding perfect sunglasses at the gas station
-Amy being annoyed with the know it all T-shirt shop guy
-"Well that's sad!" -Amy and T-shirt shop guy
-"That water was the worst water I've ever had!" -Luke
-"You break it, you don't fix it" -Amy at Trent
-"What was that?!" -Amy at Trent
-"That made my butt pucker" -Luke
-Head lamps
-"Someday I'll lose my weight, throw up all the food I ate..." -Amy
-"Someday day I'll gain some weight..." -Trent


And the best quote of the trip...

"Amy, I'm sorry I compared you to a fat lard and Kim, I'm sorry I called you a slut" -Trent









My Dental Nightmare

Remember how I told you that we had an awesome St. P dinner? Yeah well I didn't mention that earlier that day I started to get a slight tooth ache...slight. Later that night as I was eating my delicious dinner, I bit down on a soft potato and ZING, I felt pain in that same tooth. I decided not to do or say anything about it thinking that I was just being a wuss about {probably} nothing. I went to bed just fine that night, but in the morning, it felt worse. I sat at work feeling like crap and decided to call the dentist. Lucky for me they could see me right away.

{side note-I called the dentist yesterday morning before any of this nonsense happened to schedule my check up. How coincidental that I get a toothache later that day}

The dentist said that everything looked fine and that he wasn't sure what was going on. The pain that I was feeling was in a tooth that had already had a root canal so he had to refer me to an Endodontic Dentist to have a closer look. Lucky for me {again} they could see me right away. After some closer x-rays, The Dentist was able to find an infection just below my root. He told me that surgery through the side of my gums and into my root was the best way to drill it out. So, {to make a long story short} I did the surgery and it was horrible. I wasn't numbed enough and they had to keep numbing the area and the drilling into my jaw was just awful. After 30 minutes while they were stitching me up I started to get super dizzy. The whole room was spinning and my eyes felt as though they were shaking like mad. They had to put me on oxygen and wait for about 15 minutes before they finally let me go.

I was out for 2 days. It was worse than when I got my wisdom teeth out even with the dry socket. For 2 days I laid in bed taking drugs, getting sick off the drugs and icing.

 

 

Pic 1 Dentist Pic 2 Endotontic Dentist Pic 3 Home

 

I now feel as though I am on the mend and only have to take 1 pain pill a day. My stitches are about to come out any day now and the swelling is gone. When I laugh real hard or even sneeze, I still feel like I have to hold my face together, but like I said, things are on the mend. Here is to hoping I don't have any more mouth surgeries...ever.