Happy New Year!

We had a very fun and relaxing holiday's. We spent time with both families, saw dear old friends, and hung out as our own little family here in Provo. I have been loving this time with Andy as we have had his full attention for two weeks! But alas, it is coming to an end and school starts again in two days.

Its a New Year and I am ready to start another chapter of my life. 

I love my husband.

I love being a mother of two kids.

I love cooking and feeding people.

I love seeing friends.

I also notice that I have a lot of weaknesses I want to work on this year. 

To make my long list simple and focused,

I decided this year I want to look outside myself. 

I want to be kind and generous, not only when it's easy but especially when its hard and i feel shy and want to hide. I don't like feeling shy, it feels selfish, so I want to overcome it. 

I am going to record one item a day. Inside of the journal I wrote the words to the song, 

Have I done any good in the world today.

That will be my reminder.

It's going to be a good year.

I am going to make myself stretch.

Here are a few pictures of my favorite moments.

Seeing Casey Fitzgerald! We were high school friends. We were on the tennis team and dance team together. She also did drama. I often told her she would be famous one day. Now she is an actress, living in LA, been in a few movies, and loving it! She plans to go big and i expect she will too. I am so grateful we were able to get together while she was in town.

Family Yoga. 

Andy and I are trying to be more active. So we are incorporating yoga into our daily routine. If the kids are awake this is what we look like. Also, you can see a clip of our Christmas tree. A REAL one! I was so happy to get one just days before Christmas. 

Charlie loves Olive. He truly does! He runs over to her saying "Olif Olif" and joins her for some tummy time, gives her kisses and then goes on his way. 

Charlie got an Aggie sweatshirt for Christmas from my parents. I love it!

My sister Brooks family built this snowman. 

Its 13 ft tall! It took 3 days. It got tons of attention. It was quite a site to see!

Together with the Whitakers

We had such a great week as a family! 

My sister Keli lives in Las Vegas so summer is the one time they get away for a good period of time to visit.

They stayed the weekend with us. 

We took a hike to Donut Falls. 

The next week we all went to Logan. 

We had our traditional bike ride on USU campus, which i love! 

Its so fun to just be together as a family on campus and hang out. 

For the rest of that day the kids played out in the water at my parents house. 

They had a great time in the slip and slide, pool, and blow up slide and pool. 

It was a nice warm day for such play.

The following day we drove to Bear Lake and stayed at the cabin.

We spent a good long day at the beach.

Charlie LOVED playing in the sand, jumping in the water, and being with cousins.

 We took turns making meals and ate well. 

The kids got along (for the most part :).

The mornings were breathtaking! 

Isn't summer the best! 

I love spending time with family and enjoying the outdoors.

BYU

Eeek, BYU is my title. Let me tell you about my relationship with BYU. I was raised in a home where BYU was the rival. BYU was always spoken about with a hint or more of negativity. We are Aggies. My dad the biggest of them all. He is true blue through and through. My dad always considered a mixed marriage to be a marriage to anyone not graduated from Utah State. Two of my siblings have "mixed marriages". Andy and I are lucky not to have the mixed marriage jokes thrown at us, our marriage is pure (so this partially sarcastic but with a hint of truth). But everything is about to change. 

Andy was accepted to BYU with a Dean's Scholarship. They have great opportunities, its a family environment, VERY reasonable cost, close to family, and it really is a great program. The more Andy talks to the guys in the program the more we see how he could really excel there. We haven't heard back from the other schools yet. But everything is pointing to BYU and that this is right for our family. And being raised as a BYU non-supporter, this has been hard. 

When we were on campus for his interview a few weeks ago, as i walked around on campus, i felt happy. I felt like i could have been in Logan. I love college life. I love the campus feeling. And although its not Utah State it had a similar feeling. I was very surprised how normal it felt. So there it is. We are going to BYU. I will live in Provo. And it will be a shocking day the day my dad comes to visit. I hope he can survive the next two years knowing that his daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren are living in Utah County.

i hope he knows i will forever and always be an AGGIE!

Holiday Review

I can finally take a breath and relax. 

I love the holidays! I love spending oodles and oodles of time with my family, both Andy's and mine. But once its over, I love getting back to my quiet simple life. Here's a peek of our crazy Christmas family gatherings.

1- I had a small Christmas gathering with my family who was around. My parents and the Cooks. This picture is our attempt at acting out the nativity. The younger 2 lost interest and Audrie, the oldest, ended up dressing up as each character while i read their specific part.
2- Grandma Watanabe looks so good! We cherish every moment with her.
3- That's Andy's mom, Sundy. She put a lot of work into our Christmas Eve party. She put mason jars with ribbons on the tables for all the guests. She asked each family to take one and to fill it with the things you are grateful for throughout the year. Then next year we will read them all together. What a fun idea!
4- We made Christmas trees with sugar cones frosting and sprinkles. The kids waited no more than 10 seconds before eating them. These are my sister Brook's kids: Andrue, Audrie, and Carlee.
5- All three of us, Andy, Charlie, and I, got sick over the break. Soar throats, runny noses, and feeling yucky. Charlie took an hour nap laying across my stomach. We haven't slept like that together since he was a new baby. It made all the yucky-ness much better :)
6- This is Robby my sister Keli's husband with there little girl Julia. I think it represents children very well during the holidays. Too much sugar, too many family parties, not enough sleep, too much "stimulation" from various relatives, and this is what happens.
7- It was a miracle that Audrie dressed up as Mary! She only likes to dress up as boys. She did a very sweet job acting this part out nonetheless.
8- All the grandkids (minus Charlie) with my parents. They had just opened their new gifts: pj pants and of coarse Aggie shirts, which they all love!
9- My brother Reggie and his wife Linda and two kids Cache and Collin. Andy captured this great family photo. A representation of how much fun we all had this Christmas.

Nerf Guns and Aggies

 We had a great weekend, although Andy got called into work Saturday. Friday night was also busy and he came home late so, thanks to pintrest, i planned a fun little date night activity. This is how it started...
Andy walked in the door to a dark house and this note, with me hiding in the dark downstairs ready to pounce! We had so much fun. I already know that these cheap nerf guns were worth the money. We ate yummy Thai take out for dinner, had oreo's dipped in milk for dessert and watched pride and prejudice. A perfect mix of manly and girly activities. We both were happy about the events.

Our Saturday was filled with Aggie sporting events, thanks to my dedicated Aggie Fan Father. Charlie and I enjoyed the football game with cousins and friends. Aggies beat Texas State by a landslide! Then Andy made it to Logan that evening for the Basketball Game, which was won again with the same ease as the football game. Aggies are sure rockin' it this year! I love to see them win :)

i am a USU lover

I love Utah State University! I think i could say it is one of my most favorite places in the world! I am so excited about any chance we have to go visit. This last weekend my parents planned a fun day for the family. We had lunch on the quad. Everyone brought bikes and rode around campus. Audrie and James loved exploring and racing on their bikes. The younger kids enjoyed sitting in the shade playing in the grass. Andy brought his long board and everyone enjoyed a turn on that. Then as a group we rode, and some walked with babies in strollers, to Aggie Ice Cream. I got my usual  double scoop of Aggie Blue Mint and Lemon Custard. It was a warm day but plenty of shade to hang out in. On the ride home i told Andy how i hope are kids want to go there for school. It would be so fun to show them around campus, share memories, and take them to all of our favorite spots. I'll cross my fingers that i'll get to do that someday. Thanks Mom and Dad for such a fun day! And thank you for raising us to be Aggies :)