Olympus High School Class of 2000 Alumni Website

The day started out windy and partly cloudy. Which turned into windy and very cloudy. Followed by very windy and very rainy. I had decided in the morning to move the wedding inside so we wouldn’t have to deal with the wind.

My Mom and Dad

My Girls: Jennifer, Brenda, Jessica, (Me), Heather and Samantha.

Still the best sister and Maid of Honor ever!!! She was running around making sure that everything was just the way I wanted it. I did not have to worry about anything because she was on it.

The Guys: Jens, Adam, Bryan, Derek, Baby Jack, and Pete.

My aunt Annette, Lauryn and Erin did the music for the ceremony. They did an amazing job and it really meant so much to us.

Jack took his job very seriously. There was no way he was dropping the pillow with the rings. He was a great little ring bearer.

The Orangerie was beautiful and we got married under two Palm trees. Everything was perfect, even if it was a quick change of location. During our beautiful ceremony, the rain stopped and the clouds parted.

Our Family and close Friends.

All of my family.

All of Bryan’s family.

My Family

Bryan’s family

All the wedding Party.

Read more here:
Our Wedding – Part 2….

Sickness has come in waves at our house over the past week.

First, Lyvia had the stomach bug. There is nothing like a hurling sound through the monitor to wake you up quick! After lots of laundry, crying, ginger ale, pj changes and more laundry- she finally started to feel better. Much thanks to both grandma’s who came up to help us out. It’s the worst when your kids are sick. Every time Lyv would throw-up she’d say over and over, “I don’t want to, I don’t want to.” It’s heartbreaking! I just wanted to snuggle her until she felt better. Without getting myself soaked in vomit, of course.

Then Jason got it.
Then yesterday, I had it. Bad.
Apparently, the plague struck the Joneses!
My mom came up to save us yesterday, and bleached every hard surface in my house. I’m betting we’ve eradicated the bug.

My mom and I chatted about being sick when I was a kid. I have the honor of being declared “the worst vomiter” in our family. For some reason stomach bugs hit me hard! I remember my mom making us a little bed on the bathroom floor, so we’d be close to the toilet, when we had the flu. Jason laughs at me when I’m feeling sick and find it comforting to lie on the tiled bathroom floor! She would bring a few books and a cup of ginger ale with a straw in by our pillow. Then she would rub our back and speak softly to us while we “tossed our cookies”. Besides realizing that my mom must have a stomach of steel, I also realized how much she just wanted to snuggle me until I felt better.

And, I discovered, it doesn’t stop. When I had to come home from school, when I went through fertility treatments, when my wedding jewelry was stolen, when I have a bad day, when I threw-up every day while I was pregnant with Lyvia, when I was recovering from the world’s worst c-section- my mom was right there. Rubbing my back, speaking softly, bringing me books and helping me through the worst of it so I could get back to enjoying the best of it. She is an incredible example of motherhood to me. And I want to be like that for my girls- beds on the bathroom floor and all!

Thanks Mom. You are the best!
…And not just for doing my laundry yesterday.

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"blech" with a silver lining

Matt had a very exciting birthday filled with many surprises! His brother, Sam, and his wife found out that they are having their fourth baby girl in July. This was me tending their girls while they were at the Doctor’s.

He got a very nice set of Callaway golf clubs (thanks to my brother, no we are not made of money) that he has loved. We also went to dinner at Red Robin with Sam and his family. I went to the YW activity that night and so we had his favorite cake from a little dessert shop when I got home.

That same day Todd rode in the forward facing car seat for the first time and he also started walking! I am going to spare you having to watch the very long video I took, but believe me it was good!

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Matt's Birthday

Day 12.

I’ve had two children for twelve days. And it is just starting to hit me. I think I’ve been in a fog for the past week- but now I’m realizing that this is for real. I knew it was for real but…oh, you know what I mean.

After a bit of shock, I’m realizing that this motherhood thing is pretty amazing. I just need to slow down and soak it up.

Major surgery is soooo worth it to have our girls here and healthy. Although I am looking forward to driving the car, walking up and down stairs with ease and getting in and out of bed with no pain. Soon.

Lyvia is giving a lot of hugs to the new baby. We keep talking about being “soft”- but there are a few tight squeezes in there, too. She also wants to hold Amelia all the time. And change her diaper. Lyvia is quite the helper. I love to see how much she loves Amelia already. All tantrums aside, I think she’s doing well with this change of life.

Amelia is darling. I just want to snuggle with her all the time! And after Lyvia goes down at night- I’ll often just have a little cuddle time with Amelia.

I forgot how little they start out. Lyvia seems like such a big girl now! (and I’m thinking it’s time to potty train!)

Jason turned to me the other night while he was holding Amelia and said, “Can you believe she was inside you last week?!”

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Day 12- a new mom's stream of conciseness

this past week has been chaotic.  We started out the week with a baby blessing and then ended the week with another baby blessing.  In the middle of all that we picked up Riley's glasses.  They had to clip the back of the ears so they can put the loop backs on and after 2 trips to get them readjusted I think we finally have a good fit.  At first he kept trying to take them off but now they don't seem to bother him.  Maybe that's a good sign that they are actually helping him.    All I've gotta say is that he's pretty much the cutest boy in glasses EVER! 

Like I said earlier we had two baby blessings this past week.  Courtney was blessed on Feb. 7 and Makayla was blessed Feb. 14.  Both the girls looked so pretty in their white dresses.

                                                         Marc, Riley, Me and Courtney

 

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first things first

It’s inevitable in any LDS singles church setting there is going to be a guy that creeps all the girls out. Sad, but true. These guys are probably good guys, but there is just something about them that is creepy. It’s usually the staring. That creeps girls out more than anything. Just a few weeks ago there was a guy that came to my singles ward that I remember from when I was 18. When I was 18 he had to be in his mid to late 20s. So what, that makes him mid to late 30s now? He should NOT be attending a singles ward for girls ranging from age 18 – 30. It’s just wrong.

Anyway, this guy is definitely classified at a creeper. He came to my ward a few weeks ago and to make a really long story stort – he ended up stared at my friends the ENTIRE sacrament meeting. And it wasn’t like he was sitting behind them. He was on their same row. And had to LEAN FORWARD to see them. Classic creeper.

He appeared the next week. But this time I noticed he was standing in the back of the chapel. He wasn’t sitting down but just scoping the scene looking for a place to sit. He did this for 20 minutes. Sacrament had already started. Yet he stood there staring at people.

Definite creeper mentality. And sadly, it doesn’t end with him.

Last night I attended an institute class. Don’t know what institute is? Well, it’s pretty much more church but in the middle of the week. As I walk in class, there is a man standing in the back of the room. He’s wearing a long, black leather trench coat and a black hat. And not a baseball hat. A hat that men wore in the 60s. Like this:

Oh, and he wasn’t sexy like Don from Mad Men.

Such a shame.

Anyway, so leather trench coat creeper is just standing in the back of the class as the classroom starts to fill up. At one point a guy turns around and asks leather trench coat creeper, “are you waiting for someone?” and LTCC (leather trench coat creeper) says, “No. I am just seeing where I want to sit.”

Seriously, dude?! Seriously? This is why you get labeled a creeper. We all know you are waiting for the super hot girl to walk in and you are going to go sit by her. We all know your M.O. And you know what, it’s not appreciated. Plus, you’re wearing a trench coat. No good can come of wearing a trench coat.

Case in point, I may or may not be surrounded by creepers. I’ll do my best to be nice. I can’t promise anything. I mean, I do have a taser now. Don’t make me use it.

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My taser might ruin your black leather trench coat. I'm just saying.

Everyone’s doing a best-of-the-decade post today and I have to admit that it didn’t even occur to me. I don’t mind jumping on the bandwagon, so here we go…

• Crazy drama stuff with the drama kids.
• Graduation from high school.
• Started college life at the University of Utah as a theater major.

• Declared as a communications major with a focus on journalism.
• First major relationship begins.
• Summer trip to California with my girls.

• Dropped out of college to teach full time.
• Started working at Walt Disney World in the college program.
• Met my future husband.

• Went back to college as an art major with an emphasis on photography.
• Started working at Sam Weller’s as a bookseller.
• First major breakup.

• Visited Kyle in Ohio for the first time.
• Moved to the children’s department at Sam Weller’s.
• Got accepted to Ohio State law school.

• Graduated with an English degree from the University of Utah.
• Spent a month and a half in London with Michelle.
• Moved to Columbus, Ohio, to start law school.

• Finished my first year of law school.
• Did summer school at Oxford and went to Disneyland Paris with Kyle.
• Started working at the Commission.

• Got my own apartment for the first time.
• Wrote my first book.
• Got engaged.

• Moved in with Kyle.
• Graduated from law school.
• Started working full-time for the state of Ohio.

• Got married!
• Adopted Charlie and Scout.
• Moved back to Utah with Kyle to start our next chapter…

Hmmm, it’s been a pretty good decade!!! Can’t wait to see what I’ll be posting on 12/31/19.

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Everyone's doing a best-of-the-decade post today and I have to

Margi and I hosted a holiday party tonight for the Senior Babes and it was So. Much. Fun.

Becah started the Senior Babes during our last year of high school. The group consists of eleven girls (I feel like there should have been twelve…maybe someone dropped out?) and the idea is that we would all agree to make an effort to come together at Christmas so we wouldn’t lose touch.

Our first Senior Babes party was our senior year of high school and although it was a ton of fun, I remember thinking that it was just never going to be one of those things that lasted for more than a couple of years, because we were all going to different schools and in different directions and I for one was getting out of Utah as fast as I possibly could…

Well, we did all go our separate ways and a bunch of us left Utah, but for the last ten years we’ve all made an effort to come back together at Christmas. Naturally, almost every year has seen a couple of absences and there have been a few times when only a handful of people are able to make it.

Somehow, though, everything just came together right this year and every single Senior Babe was able to make it to the party tonight. We had so much fun visiting and catching up! The good thing about the group is that with eleven of us, there’s always a new baby or pregnancy or someone’s getting married…so we’ve watched each other start families and this year three of the girls were able to bring their cute little babies. Seven of the eleven of us are moms, which just blows my mind. It also makes me feel really, really old!!!

I love these girls even more now than I did when we were in school together. Friendship is definitely one of those things that only gets better with time.

2009

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Margi and I hosted a holiday party tonight for the Senior Babes

Wow it has really been months since I have updated this blog, to tell you the truth I “quit” blogging. Well I guess I am back! There has been so much going on I haven’t really had the time to write it all down.

Where do we start?

How about with her….

Olivia the love of my life! She is so beautiful and so amazing! She brings us so much joy! She is now 8 1/2 months old! I can’t even believe it has been that long since she was born! She is so big and strong, Matt is convinced she will be walking in 2 months haha we will see. She is so close to crawling and just wants to pull herself up to stand on everything! She is a little wild child, she has such a good personality. When she is happy boy is she happy but when she is mad stand back cause she will take the roof off with her cry! She makes me laugh so much, tonight we were sitting in the bathroom while Khami was brushing her teeth. Livi was giggling, I thought she was laughing at me singing Christmas songs but no she was laughing at Khami brushing her teeth and spitting in the sink. So then Khami brushes and spits more to get her to laugh more, Olivia is now bent over giggling so hard! She loves Khami so much, whenever she gets home from Chris’s house on Sundays she is SOOO excited to see her Kam!!

So as for Khami–Yes she lives with us! How long? Well we don’t know right now, we are just trying to do what is best for Khami at this point. We will see what the new year holds for us!

Matt is still working out in Ogden with MWH, long drive he enjoys his job out there.

Me-I have been really busy with the girls, the house, the Matt and the Geekyness. I am creating a lot of things right now and really enjoying it! I love that my Mom has her own vinyl business now, makes it really nice for the Geek. My family is also submitting a tree for Festival of the trees in honor of Kobe. Everyone should go to Festival of the trees, all the proceeds go to Primary Children’s Medical center.

Well I think that is it for now!

Here she is

our other little stinker

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How did this happen?

Last weekend I flew to Salt Lake so I could attend a baby shower for Andrea, my all time favorite friend. The whole party was organized by my other favorite friend, Hailey, who is the best party planner ever. Seriously, she is amazing. You should visit her blog (click here) for a glimpse of her awesomeness. It was so fun to have all the girls together again since I don’t get to see my friends often. I miss them like crazy!

I’ve known Andrea since high school which means I’ve been lucky to attend all of her fun showers. First there was her bridal shower at Katie’s house FOREVER ago. I think it has been 7 years but I’m not really sure.

Then we had another shower at Mikado a few years later

Then we had the baby shower last weekend at La Caille (thanks Hailey…you rock!)

And I’m really sorry about this last part but I was DYING to know what Alex and Andrea’s baby will look like. It appears the online baby generator needs some work because Andrea’s baby is going to be hella cuter. First, here are a couple pictures of the gorgeous couple.

And here is the result from the baby generator

It kind of looks like a little-old-man-monster but we all know Alexandrea’s baby is going to be way cute. I can’t wait to meet him!!

Read more here:
Andrea's lavish baby shower

wyatt and chelsea are leaving on friday for med school on the wonderful island of Dominica. what adventures await them. far less fashionable clothes that are necessary because of the climate, no car to drive around and a lot of walking (which i love!), beautiful beaches on a beautiful island, a cute little rental home, furniture that is not anywhere near their taste, unfamiliar food in the grocery stores, looking forward to subway and kentucky fried chicken as the only american restuarants on the island, and much much more! i sort of made that all sound bad which was not my intention at all. like i said “an adventure awaits”! we had one final dinner with the entire horsley bunch. pretty soon we loose maddie and matt as well. our family’s “too good to be true years” are ending with everyone living within an hour of each other. sad days ahead. oh how i’m going to miss them all! i had to post pictures from last night. not because i have some many great ones, but because matt crane somehow managed to make his way into 80% of them. so here is a tribute going out to matt…….your goofy faces have finally got you noticed!

the tush picture

A couple that he didn’t make it in, but are still keepers.

all the girls – what a great bunch. apparently my older sisters are quite a bit shorter than me. something i always knew but is very apparent when i’m standing in the middle of them.

and one final mosaic. my friend jeanette soffe took amazing pictures of my little dance group. here are a few of them. embarrassing that the only one that would fit in the larger slot is a single picture of me. she’s amazing and so fun to work with! so if anyone needs a photographer, come talk to me!

Read more here:
Market Street Goodbye

I’m home from camp and all is well. Not only did Miranda take care of my kids physical needs, she even kept them on schedule, monitored their TV time, and cleaned my house, so transitioning back into our normal routine this week has been easy! Such was not the case last year, so I’m very appreciative. I meant to take a darling picture of her with my boys, but I forgot to before she left (of course). Lucky for all of us, Nick has been practicing his photography skills and captured this beauty.

Everything at camp went great, except for the fact that it poured rain EVERYDAY. We just went on with our acitivities as planned and came home with a lot of wet and muddy clothes. I love girls camp. I think it’s probably one of those things that you either hate completely or love absolutley, and I love it. The songs. The cheesiness. The testimonies that are grown (hopefully).The girls in my stake are incredible. And the women that I planned camp with were fantastic. Here we are:

Things, camp-wise, are a lot different here than they were for me in UT. Everything is done in year levels, not wards, and so the stake camp directorship plans everything. There have been moments of stress and tears in the past few months, but the moment I got up there and saw the girls it was all worth it. Now we’ll take a few months off and then start planning for next year! My only complaint of the week was that I missed my boys like crazy (including Brad…if you’re wondering why, read the post below). I’ve never been away from them for that long (last year I took Chase with me and came home to visit Nick twice), and it nearly did me in and made me all the more grateful that I’m able to stay home with them. Love these two:

{photo from Del Grosso’s amusment park, 2 weeks ago. That post is coming}

On a side-note, Nick has been working really hard at learning, recognizing, and writing his letters and I’m so proud of him. He knows them all by name, knows the sound they make, and is slowly starting to sound things out. I think he has his Daddy’s brain (phew!). Can’t believe this silly boy will be 4 in a few months!

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Survived…