Texas Roadhouse, Miscarriage #1:

So lucky we got 2 family activities this month. Our family activity was a celebratory dinner @ Texas Roadhouse. McCord and I got the specialty steaks with mushrooms. Talía got a lot of peanuts, Mac & cheese and mashed potatoes (which she loved and it lasted a whole week). She also got a special lemonade and we got virgin margaritas.

Personal journal entry:

Dinner was to celebrate the + test of Baby #2. This baby ended up being a "failed pregnancy" that was finalized on April 10, 2014 (9 weeks). What a great learning experience it was for our family both physically and spiritually. We have felt blessed to have the love and support of family (both sides) and most of all our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! Our faith and love has only grown stronger through the experience!

Amy - Broken Into, Illness struck our family

Our bad luck with cars continue...Amy was broken into last night. Thankfully no damage was done to the car, but the perpetrator left everything in a complete disaster. Everything from the trunk was stolen including our 60 piece Emergency Car Kit that we got this Christmas. Most important thing that was taken was McCord's blue bin full of his Ultimate equipment, discs, and gear. We're very sad about loosing that bin and it may cost us $300 to replace.

In other sad news: illness has struck our household. Talia was sick and throwing up in top of cutting her incisor teeth last week. Yesterday McCord caught the flu and has been in bed all day. He doesn't get sick much but when he does it's BAD and cometely incapacitates him. I have no time to get sick because I am too busy with work and taking care of the other sick family members. Prayers that I don't get sick because that's the last thing we need right now. Also prayers for McCord and Talia so they can be well soon. And curses upon the villain that stole our stuff from our car. 😉

MARCH 21ST: update on "musical cars":

Last 3 months we've been playing "musical cars". We've had 3 new cars, one crashed, one we sold then repossessed for nonpayment, one we bought and then sold again. = "Musical Cars"! 

Amy is now SOLD! We paid $1630 for her and sold her for $1250. We sold her to get our '02 Camry back, which has had $3500+ work done on her. Hopefully we can get trade in value for zippy (yes the buyers fell through for zippy) and then plus the money for Amy plus our tax return and get our good, nice, reliable, fixed up Camry back. Prayers being said and fingers crossed...

Hogle Zoo - Family Activity!

We went to Hogle Zoo (SLC) for our Family Activity in March. It was super awesome! We went in the morning so all the animals were active and most of them being fed. It was so much fun to see all the fun varieties of animals and see Talia's reaction to them all.

Talia's favorite animals: monkeys/baby monkey, elephants, peacocks. 

McCord's favorite animals: hawk that a trainer carried around we got to see up close, rhinos, baby elephant

Lisa's favorite animals: baby elephant, monkeys, and all the animals that were awake. :-)

Talia 21 months

Random pictures of Talia this month that I wanted to blog:

Talia enjoying Valentine's Day candy

Playing outside in the melting snow.

Talia. Feb 2014.

Playing while mommy did yard work.

Talia. Feb 2014.

Watching Superbowl with Grandpa Paul.

Jazz Game Family Night

FHE at the Jazz game. We were on row 17. Talia was a perfect angel even though we had a late night. Talia also made it on the jumbo tron. She's 3 for 3 on that one. Everyone thought she was so well behaved and cute. What an awesome FHE!

Pictures:

Jazz Game for FHE. Feb 2014.

Our little jazz fan.  She had so much fun.

Jazz Game FHE Night. Feb 2014.

(Sorry I don't look the best. My allergies were so bad so my face was puffy and I had no makeup on but it was worth it to go out and have a good time with the family)

Valentine's Day 2014

Romantic Getaway to Anniversary Inn:

The day of Valentines Day I worked all day until 5pm and came home with some imitation crab meat and blue mountain dew to have while resting tonight at home after Talia went to sleep. I was pleasantly surprised by a clean living room and family room and clean froggie tank. McCord was all dressed up in nice date night clothes saying he had a surprise for me. He had worked hard all day to clean up the house and put up the storage shelves for me (which is been meaning to do for 3 months now). He had Talia draw me a valentine and put stickers on it and she have it to me when I walked in the door with a big kiss.

McCord had dinner, cafe rio salads, all ready set up as a picnic down stairs with champagne flutes and everything. What a sweetheart! 

After putting Talia to sleep, we relaxed with a favorite show and drank Blue Dew from our flutes. He's the best ever! I'm so lucky and feel so privileged to have such a wonderful man taking care of me! Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Goodbye Zippy, Hello Amy:

We sold Zippy, our "Jelly Bean" car, for $750. It's been so good to us the last year and a half:

Hello Amy! She's gonna be our new commuter car. We call her Amy because of the letters on the back of her trunk. The C and the R from Camry came off to reveal Amy, so the name will stay. Meet Amy:

Groundhog's Day 2014

Groundhog's Day, my dad's favorite holiday! This year was no less. It was by far the biggest Groundhog's Day ever! My dad put up his 6 ft groundhog and put the presents underneath it, white twinkle lights outside the house next to a waving groundhog. Pictures, quotes, and Funnies all over the house that had to do with Groundhog's Day. Of course we watched the movie and had a big buffet, as per usual. It was splendid. I took pictures below of all the details to as to not forget any of the memories:

Dad next to his iconic Groundhog.

Groundhog converted from a Santa christmas decoration.

Dad's wall quotes from Groundhog's Day movie.

6,500+ Freshman students admitted:

Been hard at work running the first big freshman deadline files. From Dec 1-Jan 15 I've been working hard with my team at work to process all the freshman in the 1st batch by Jan 15th. Well, mission accomplished. Below is the picture of me with all the decision letters for the U of U. Mind you, there are only about 2,000 or so in this picture. We did over 6,500!

Talia playing, Jan 2014, 20 months old:

It's been warmer this January with little to no snow storms and averaging 37-47 degrees outside so we've taken Talia out to play every day. She loves the new yard and the space to run around in. I thought I'd post some pictures that I've taken this month:

Unpacking Living Room done:

With the new year we want to unpack each room in the house and deep clean. This weekend we did the living room. Chairs donated to us from my grandma Nola and grandpa Ronald:

Car Accident - Big Red smooshed

Poor Big Red. Our new car that we just got last month- smooshed. McCord accidentally t-boned a '94 blue car yesterday when trying to pass a bus. Don't worry, thankfully, we are all ok!! Everyone is ok. McCord was the only one in the car and neither he or the other lady were injured. Cars looked pretty bad though. We do have excellent insurance so we are hoping they will pay for the damages and we will only need to pay the $250 deductible. I've attached pictures of our poor Big Red just in case we need them in the future. Big Red is totaled. Sad to see him go.

Good news is we got a replacement car which is basically the same car only newer, less miles, and runs better. Jan 26th we purchased our 2001 Isuzu Rodeo (silver).

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

2014 has arrived! 2013 was a huge success with the goals that we accomplished. I like to write down our goals mostly for personal reasons, so here are ours and some of mine for 2014:

Personal Goals:

- listen to 1 conference talk every month at least

- read 1 book this year (probably shadow of the Hegemon)

- scripture study every day

- family prayers every day

- personal prayers daily

- play clix with McCord once a semester.

- monthly service to another person

- raise at work

Family Goals:

- 1 family activity each month

- reading books 5 times a week

- FHE every week

- Family Chore Chart

- family vacation

Couple Goals:

- romantic weekend

- FHE every week

- couples prayer daily if we can

- save $300 for baby #2

- 1 weekend night each month at home together or more if we can.

New Years Eve 2013 into 2014

New Years Eve was quiet here at home this year. Talia played a lot outside since it's been warm and she likes to run around in her jacket and explore. After 8 when Talia was asleep, McCord and I watched some romantic comedies reminiscing about the past year, how blessed we are, and what we wanted to do the next year.

Come midnight, we had our own little firework time. ;-)

Here is a picture of our very simple New Year's Eve dinner: (instant potatoes, Mac and cheese, lime orange jello)

Christmas 2013