Seth and Mariah

Second month in a row? I am on a roll! ;) Well Seth just left for an interview with the Stake President....haha I have to laugh. We think we've guessed what it will be. Our guess is Elders Quorum President or counselor. Our Elders Quorum president is moving. We'll see if we are right. Well this month has been a good one. I think the highlight was probably 'I Love You Day' which we had on Sunday the 15th. Typically my family has done it the Sunday before Valentines day, but we didn't really get our act together and Valentines was on Saturday, so it was close. At least we had it. It turned out wonderful, except I usually end up eating most of the treats myself. I made cake and cupcakes and neither Ariana or Seth put much of a dent in eating them. We went and watched the Superbowl in Midway, we've gone there for quite a few years for the Superbowl. There were a lot of people there and the big game, so we didn't really get to chat, but it is always good to see family. Seth also had a birthday this month, he turned the big 3-0! It was on a Wednesday, so he just had the typical day. We went out for DP Cheesesteak (of course) and then his parents called. After the girls went down we watched a movie I rented from Redbox. I can't even remember which one I rented.

Ariana went to a birthday party of her little friend Betty Otterstrom in the ward. It was quite the party! They had two princess visitors that read to them and played games with them. They also had a pinata and of course ice cream and cake. It was the first birthday party that Ariana had ever been to, I think she is going to have high expectations for parties now.
My friend Becky has been going through a very hard time. She has had two miscarriages in the past year and a half and was pregnant again for the third time, she had made it past 12 weeks and so we thought she was in the clear, but when she went to Fetal Fotos at about 15 weeks, they put the ultrasound on and it was obvious the baby wasn't moving. So she went to the ER and sure enough the baby was dead. :( Talk about heartbreak.... She was pretty far along so they couldn't do a D&C so she had to deliver the baby. She said it was such a horrible but amazing experience. I just can't fathom what she is going through. I have had lunch with her a couple times since then and she is somehow surviving. I mean, you have to, but life can be so heartbreaking sometimes. She has felt peace and love through the experience though. I don't know if she will be able to have any more children because she apparently gets blood clots inside of her uterus when she gets pregnant which is not good obviously and basically can harm the baby. This time actually besides the blood clot, the reason Graden died was because the cord got twisted and he stopped getting nutrients. The doctor said it was very apparent that is what happened. Just one of those tragic, rare occurrences. Becky said it may have been a tender mercy of the Lord because with the blood clots, he couldn't have lived longer, but then been taken at like 20 or 25 weeks which would have been even worse. She has gestational diabetes with her pregnancies and gets really sick, so the pinched cord may have been a tender mercy of the Lord, which is even hard to imagine, but who knows. We don't know what would have happened. She seems to be doing better with each day. It is just devastating but just takes time. This is one of the pictures she captured and put on her Instagram. I think it is the most precious picture ever. Cutest little hand and fingers.

We also had one last fun excursion with Amelia and Kylee before the moved. It was free day at Discovery Gateway so Kylee and I took our girls (and Harvey). We had never been there and it was quite fun. The girls had a fun time playing and exploring the little pretend house and kitchen, the grocery store, the water area and the little tree-house area. They made little valentine necklaces and a valentine for Dad and also visited the life-flight helicopter outside. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be considering it was free day.

Also this month, one of my former YW, Meriah Otterstrom, from our Provo days got married, so we thought it would be good to go down to her reception. She looked beautiful, I loved her dress. They seemed really happy together. It is crazy my little miamaid got married. haha But it was fun to see some of the people from the ward and be able to talk with Stephanie Chapple for a bit. Miss that girl!

My parents came up to stay with us to help Jon and Kylee with their move. They bought a home in North Ogden to live closer to Jon's work, so Ryan/Amy, Mom and Dad came up to help with the move. Seth helped them on Saturday morning with their SL home and then we all drove up to the new home and hung out for a bit. It is always fun to see my parents and talk with my mom. Kylee's new home is adorable. I think they will really love their new place and neighborhood.

One very memorable night last week was a special fireside on Tuesday night with Sister Wendy Nelson, wife of Elder Russell M. Nelson. The title of her talk was "Could You Use More Angels In Your Life?" It was all about family history and genealogy. Not going to lie, at first I wasn't very excited about the topic, but it was amazing. She just shared her experience of her getting involved in family history, which really was only two years ago after she heard Elder Richard G. Scott's conference talk from October 2012. In December 2012 she took the plunge to work on family history and she has been so blessed. One quote from Elder Scott's address was 'The Lord will not force you to learn. We must use our agency to authorize the Holy Ghost to teach you." It is so true, we are never forced to do/learn anything." We have to be inviting and welcoming. She talked about praying and asking for angels to help us. We can ask by name and by attribute. I love that concept, we can be specific in who we ask for. I think it is good to remember that we are not here all alone and even though family may not live next door, I have family on the other side that can help. I am going to try to keep this perspective and really try prayer for that help.

We also refinanced our home this month. The interest rates have gone down from the time we purchased the home and so we went ahead and did that. As part of that, we had to have the home appraised. It came in about $8K more than what we paid for it, so that was good news. At least it didn't go down. I didn't think it would have gone down, but you never know. The market has done crazy things. I was talking with Amanda Wimmer yesterday about their home and work they've done to make it nicer and it makes me want to do things with our home that I think would really increase the value. It is hard to know what to do or not do. And it is hard to know how long we will stay in the neighborhood.

Ariana and Eden continue to grow up and amaze and entertain us. Ariana is on a new schedule now where she wakes up around 7-7:30. This is sad because she has always slept in, but without fail this past week, she is walking into our room and waking me up. Blast, I believe those days of sleeping in until 8 are over. haha. 7:30 is probably sleeping in for most people, so I really shouldn't complain. I am dreading the day when Ariana starts school at 7:40 am or whatever crazy time school starts. Eden is doing much better with the spit-up. I think the probiotic is really helping. She is happy most of the time now which is great. Ariana has a new phrase which I believe to be a combination of two phrases I use (oops!). She says 'what in the heck in the world'. LOL apparently I say what in the heck and what in the world a lot or something. I just have to laugh. Seth said that on Friday he was upstairs with both of the girls and Ariana said something to Seth like 'I have to slap your hand and you be in timeout'. That one would definitely be Seth. Eden is finding her voice and loves to just coo or squawk or just make noises. It is pretty cute. When you make her laugh, she just smiles big and puts her little fists up by her face and pushes back, it is pretty fun. She is ticklish and that is fun. It is the best thing ever to hear her little laugh.