Are we friends....

...on facebook? I know that many of you have reasons to oppose facebook but if you are on facebook make sure we are friends. I haven't been very good at updating my blog but I have been putting lots of pictures on facebook! My iphone makes it so easy! Now that the weather is nice I can't make any promises of updating the blog but I already created a summer 2012 album on facebook and I am updating it often! For those of you who aren't on facebook, email me so we can keep in touch (hint, hint, Erin)!

Hawaii

At the beginning of January we went to HAWAII! I know this post is super late but it really is the most exciting thing to happen to us lately and these are the most recent pictures on my computer. I have been such a slacker lately!

The whole point of the trip was to see my brother get married. My camera died at the rehearsal dinner and I forgot my charger. Lame, I know. But here they are together with our crazy family!

I am not too big a fan of the ocean but I really enjoyed sitting on the beach and working on my tan. Rosalie usually hung out in the water but in this picture she was spending some quality time with mama! Do you think we look alike? I think she is Guy's twin! And those are my awesome sunglasses that I had to buy there! I forgot to pack mine.

Our hotel had penguins and flamingos! If you didn't already know, Vaughn's favorite animal is the penguin. It was pretty cool but really smelly. After the excitement of the birds wore off we realized that they stink. But of course, the little boys didn't mind. Here is Vaughn with his cousin, Max, checking out the exhibit!

There are so many cool things to do in Hawaii but they all cost an arm and a leg and your first born! Luckily we were willing to sacrifice Vaughn so we could take a submarine ride! Guy and Vaughn loved it. I thought it was just so-so. I wouldn't pay to do it again.

Vaughn absolutely fell in love with his Uncle Casey on the trip. He is my oldest brother and he loves kids. He is so much fun and always up for a good time!

Here is Rosalie showing off her model lips.

Vaughn and Max were best friends. Max was so sweet with Vaughn. Even though he was older he never got frustrated. He was never mean to Vaughn. I was really impressed. I think that they will be great friends as they grow up!!

I will hate myself for posting this but I think every family needs a picture of them at the ocean. So here we are! Please don't look at me!

On our first night in Hawaii Rosalie decided to taste the sand. It was good that she got it over with then because she didn't try to do it again the whole trip! Live and learn I guess...

We had the most beautiful view from our hotel room. The kids loved playing on the balcony (Vaughn even drove a car off of it once). It was a great trip. A wonderful time with family. I don't know if we will make it back to Hawaii any time soon but it was definitely the trip of a lifetime!

Start Spreading the Word...

For Thanksgiving we traveled to New York to visit my grandma. She had never met Rosalie and had been planning to visit for a while. When she realized that she probably wouldn't be able to make the journey here she was so generous and bought us tickets to come see her! She is the sweetest lady and it was wonderful to get to see her. My kids really warmed up to her and were so cute. I was worried about how they would do with this loud, old lady but she is so loving and kind that there were no problems!

One day we headed to the city and got to see so many amazing things. I am pretty sure we saw every toy store there, including FAO Schwarz. The big toys that they were advertising this season were Power Rangers. I am pretty sure that Vaughn thought he had died and gone to heaven. He also was able to meet the real live Spiderman and Iron Man. Does it get any better you ask? In fact it does, his Grandma and Grandpa caved and bought him an entire collection of overpriced Power Ranger action figures. (Rosalie got a Papa Smurf that is as big as she is!)

It poured and poured and poured rain in the city. Everyone toughed it out and made it all the way to Times Square (from the fashion district where we got to visit "Mood"). Finally I wussed out and begged everyone to eat at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. because I was tired and wanted to feed Rosalie. It turned out to be a fabulous decision (would you expect any less from me?). The food was wonderful. The waiters were so nice. And as you can see from the picture above, the view was the best. We got to look at Times Square the whole time we ate!!!

Rosalie turned ONE right before we left!!! We had a quick impromptu birthday party before we left and saved a bigger celebration for New York where we could get a cake from the best bakery in the world, Dortonis. Guy picked the cake which was AMAZING. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I suggested to my mom that we buy pants a size too big before we leave and see if we could fit into them by the time we left. Seriously, the food there is so good. Bagels, cookies, cakes, pizza, BBQ, Seafood...

While there we helped my Grandma get ready to move. She is going all the way across the country to California. My uncle, her youngest son, lives there and he found a great place for her to live that is semi-assisted living. When he was trying to get her to move she was undecided until he showed her the brochure and she saw that there was a pool! That sealed the deal. My grandma is just the best little lady ever! She is a young 88 years old. It was such a moving experience to take my kids to see her and see them enjoy all that I did when I was their age. I'm not sure when we will get back to New York but these memories will last forever. (Sorry that sounded so cheesy but it's true!)

A long time coming...

Last night I opened my blog and I saw that my last post was September 1st! I couldn't believe it! I have been a terrible blogger. I get so frustrated when I want to know what is going on with someone and they haven't updated their blog. I guess that makes me a big fat hypocrite!

So much has been happening! My parents came to visit, our kitchen was renovated, Rosalie started crawling and Vaughn has been having a lot of fun!

I am having a heck of a time trying to get my photos to work today so I will just have to write and then you can look at all the pictures at the end. Sorry.

My parents had been planning a trip for a long time. It finally worked with everyone's schedule for them to come up so they could see our new house (and of course, their grandkids)! Vaughn absolutely adores them. It took Rosalie a while to warm up but once she did she only wanted them and I was pretty much useless!

Rosalie turned 11 months old and I am just praying that this next month goes by slowly because I can't imagine her being a whole year old! She is crawling and pulling herself up to stand! She tries to talk which is about the cutest this ever! She loves to sing whenever she hears music which makes the day fun and church very interesting! She and Vaughn are best friends and can play together for hours at a time. She loves Guy and refuses to be anywhere but in his arms when he is home. She loves to eat just about anything we put in front of her. She is very tall for her age and weighs a little over 20 pounds. She is very independent and curious during the day. She likes to do her own thing and explore the house which gets her into a few predicaments as the picture below shows!

We are all geared up for Halloween. Vaughn begged me to decorate so our house is full of ghosts, bats and spiders! I even put lights on the outside! Last weekend we went to buy pumpkins. Guy wanted to try to the fake carve-able pumpkins because he is always so proud of his pumpkin and he hates to throw it away. They actually turned out pretty well. The only downside is lighting them up because you can't use fire and we haven't found any lights that are bright enough!

I suppose the reason I have been so bad about blogging is because Guy's brother, Nate, died. It just feels weird to blog and not write about him but I don't really know what to say. He found out that he had leukemia and fought a good, hard fight for about five months! He was so young and had 2 young girls (one Rosalie's age) and a beautiful wife. I feel so blessed for our health and wonderful family but I also feel discouraged. The longer I live the sadder life seems. There is so much sickness and tragedy. I am fearful for what could happen to my family. I know that I shouldn't feel this way and I am sure it will pass but seriously, life is sad! He was only 33! I promise to be better about blogging because I want to record our stories and hopefully my next post will be a little more upbeat!

Close to crawling!

Rosalie is getting so close to crawling! Here is a picture of her getting up on all fours! I am not sure why she won't get on her knees but she prefers to stick her booty in the air! Vaughn is constantly by her and usually ends up blocking her rather than helping. I am not sure how I feel about her being mobile yet...

Holding On

Facebook has a new feature which tells you what your "status" was a year ago. A year ago today my status read, "Maggie is learning to let go"

I have to say that in some ways I think I have really come a long way in this. I have been able to move past things that bother me and accept many things I cannot change. I imagine when I wrote that I was doing the same thing I did tonight I put the kids to bed, without Guy. I waited for him for dinner but ended up eating Arby's by myself at 10:00 at night. I checked facebook, email and my new favorite blog Just for the Record. I used to loathe being alone at night but now I can usually embrace it. I am still not perfect at this but it's progress. Of course, I would prefer Guy to be home but this week he is on call.

Letting go isn't always necessary though. If you check that blog I linked to above, you will see the story of the sweetest little family. I didn't know them personally but have been touched by their story. Funny thing is, this week I have been trying to hold on to everything rather than let go. My days have been filled with extra hugs, kisses, stories, parks, rug time, kids shows and other things that seemed to have been looked over in the day to day shuffle. While "letting go" is a trait that has served me well for the past year, my status today will read "Maggie is holding on". I am holding on to the smell of my baby girl. I am holding on to the sound of my boy playing in his room way past his bed time. I am holding on to a husband who is working hard for our family and fills our home with love even when he is gone. I am holding on to my knowledge of eternal families. I am holding on to the peace, love and happiness I feel. And I am holding on to baby Ruby and her story so that I can be reminded every day that letting go isn't nearly as important as holding on.

God has a plan for me...

So much has changed in our lives the last 6 months. I have been amazed at how easy the transition has been. We have been in a little apartment. A new town that is busy, busy, busy with new people. A HUGE ward at church that is difficult to navigate. Few friends. No family nearby. Guy has been busy and stressed at work. Yet, it has been so peaceful for us. Life has been running rather smoothly. I keep waiting for a hiccup or set-back but nothing seems to come. Even on my hard days I am able to smile and laugh. I owe it to a lot of things, like my wonderful husband and Aspen Larsen. I couldn't have done it without my kids. I am so blessed to have them. I love being a mother. They keep me company and keep me busy and provide me with utter joy. But lately I have realized that I owe it to my Heavenly Father. He has a plan for us and I know that plan included taking us here. I know that he has comforted us whenever things got hard and lifted our burden so that we didn't feel it. Tonight I feel compelled to work harder on building a relationship with Him and work on strengthening my daily "gospel" habits. I know that life cannot always be this easy so I know that I need to have a strong support system ready for when this happens. I hope that this didn't ramble too long for any of you but I felt like I needed to share it tonight...