Jimmy * Esther * Zeke * Lilly

I got called to serve in Young Womens, and I get to teach the Beehives :) (12 and 13-year-old girls.) I love it!! Our lesson on Sunday talked about the wonderful creations Heavenly Father has blessed us with, like the beautiful Earth, animals, and above those, His children. Lately I have been trying to notice beauty in nature. I think I take advantage of all the beauty around me, and I want to appreciate it more, and remember to thank Heavenly Father for providing such lovely things for me to enjoy. Here are some pictures I took from my yard-

We were on a walk a few Sundays ago, and Jimmy noticed the sky looked like it was on fire. The sun was setting, and the clouds refracted the light in such a beautiful way.

Jimmy actually took these, you can see my brother and I on the left corner.

One morning last week, I noticed the clouds looked extra cool with the sun coming up. I stepped outside on my back porch while still in my jammies to capture these pictures :)

They almost looked fake to me, because they looked so neat.

Lilly wanted to enjoy nature after a rain shower

She splashed in the puddles, and then went for the mud. She thought it was so fun!

When she was done, she crawled into the garage, and up to the door to go in.

It took filling up the bath a few times before all the mud was gone :)

Classic Fun Center in Sandy is one of Zeke’s new favorites! We went there with my family a few weeks ago, it was so fun! The kiddie pool area was perfect for Zeke.

hanging on for dear life, slides always look scarier from the top :)

Zeke was so excited to go skating too!

Our nephew, Kendall won 1,000 tickets playing Big Bass

Look what Lilly can do! She can stand by herself! Sometimes she will stand, and then clap for herself :)

It’s the cutest thing for me to see her standing all by herself!

Look what else she does! She is her brother’s sister :) Lilly did this all by herself. Lilly is a thrill seeker, she loves to go down slides all by herself, even big ones, she likes to climb things, and she loves the thrill of things that are a little scary.

Last week, Lilly’s birth mom, Amy, and her boyfriend, Nate came to visit. We only had 3 1/2 days with them, so we were always on the go. At the end of the week, we were all a bit sleep deprived, and worn out, but we sure had fun with them :)

Here are some of the highlights-

Seeing Amy again after a whole year! It seemed like it had been longer in a lot of ways, but at the same time, the year flew by, and it felt like it had only been a few weeks since we were in North Dakota when Lilly was born.

Going to Thanksgiving Point Gardens

I loved having Jimmy with us all day, and coming to the fun places too. It was his first time at the Gardens.

We went to the Dinosaur Museum after the gardens. Lilly pointed at everything, and thought it was all so amazing :)

Lilly and Amy with the statue of Christ on Temple Square.

Grandma Charlotte met up with us at Temple Square, and we all ate at the Garden restaurant. Amy’s friend from home, Michelle, lives in Utah, and we were able to do some fun things with her too. (She’s sitting on Jimmy’s right side, and my little brother, Carlin, came too.)

Lilly liked my water :)

I told Amy and Nate to pose on the pedestal, don’t they look cute!

We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a picnic with some of my family.

Jimmy, Carlin, Nate, Amy, and Zeke played a game of “Pig” in Zeke’s room, and Amy won!

The last day we went to the Aquarium. Lilly liked the fish this time, unlike the last time I blogged about it :)

Amy and Michelle petting the sting rays

Nate was such a good sport to do this picture, even though he didn’t want to. I think it turned out great! It’s one of my favorites of the two of them :)

Yeee ha!

The penguins are so friendly at the aquarium, they swim right by you next to the glass.

After the aquarium, we drove up to hike at Donut Falls. On the way, we drove through La Calle Restaurant. I hadn’t ever been there, the atmosphere was beautiful!

Lilly did well staying in the baby back pack the whole hike.

Lilly and I stayed down at the bottom of the falls, but Jimmy took Zeke up on his back!

Jimmy and Zeke in the cave of the falls, Zeke was really scared, but still tried to smile for the picture

Thanks for offering to take one of Jimmy and me, Amy! I like it!

The little animals were very friendly!

We found the Hatch Family Chocolates shop in Salt Lake. There’s a reality show about it. I think it’s on TLC?

We went mini golfing that night. Lilly was SO good watching us from her stroller!

It was such a fun week! I loved playing games at night, and talking. We sure enjoyed having them come visit, and are already excited for them to come again some day!