I need a haircut...

because, as much as i love frodo, i don't look good with his do

Some pics of the wedding

Olivia & Spencer's Wedding

...what was a wonderful night...

with some sweet hair dos

some masterful impromptu bouquet making

jonny and paigey

and a beautiful bride, groom, and someone who can stare into your soul

God bless this love.

letter to lucy

i wrote lu this morning and thought i would share it with you. la vida es bella.

Why, hello little Lucy!!

I am really sorry I didn't get an email off to you last week. I had an incredible week of inspiration, hope, and love and wanted to share it with you. After I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how hard it is to have faith, trust, and believe when it seems hard to believe ~ I wanted you to know that I wasn't still wallowin' in self pity:) Heavenly Father heard my plea, and is it seems that He just opened the windows of revelation and poured out the Spirit!

For my 30th birthday, Bro. Halverson gave me two cd's with like 100 talks from Elder Maxwell. They have been so amazing. Whenever I start to feel doubt creep into my heart, I just listen to one of his talks, and I am immediately filled with faith and courage. He always talks about enduring well, the reason for and importance of trials, and the life of a disciple. I tell you, it's unbelievable how relevant the talk is that I chose that day.

This morning, I was reading in Mosiah and read something that describes the last couple of weeks for me:

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will i do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. (kindof like the pioneers whose testimonies were immovable after they 'came to know God in their extremities.')
And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

and....I'm hoping for this part to happen:)

And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage." Mosiah 24:14-16

and Joshua 3:5 "Sanctify yourselves; for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you."

I've realized over the last week, that this time of trial for Jon and I is a merciful blessing from heaven. We are given the opportunity to come to know God in a way we have never even imagined. We are learning how to trust each other and Him with all of our hearts and to exercise more faith and more patience. Elder Maxwell said this classic line, "even though we know how much we learn through trials, none of us stand in line to go through the next fiery furnace!" It's so true, we try to resist that which will save us!!!! Curse you natural man, haha.

Lu, I know this month is going to be a tough one. I know how much you would love to be involved in all the weddin' stuff, but I feel like this month might be like Joseph's time in Liberty Jail which he described as a 'prison-temple.' You will most likely have moments of sadness (wondering who the heck's idea it was for you to go on a mission anyway!!) and moments of complete joy (knowing you are out on the Lord's errand taking the message of redemption to a dying world.)

Please know that you are on everyone's thoughts and in everyone's prayers, always. We so love you.

I couldn't be prouder of a little sister. I love you. I pray for you every single day.

God speed sister, God speed.
Mimi Rat

so very excited

mas fotos

ze temple

darling shot on the way out to
fort sumpter

wouldn't this be a sweet ad for TOMS?

maddie's first exposure to southern cuisine
fried hush puppies

love this picture.
love this little sister.

north carolina dreamin'

here in 'the triangle' you're expected to declare
your allegiance to either duke or chapel hill...
looks like maddie is a tar hill!

three beautiful babes at the duke cathedral
maddie has other ideas with this stroller

she's outta here
absolutely love this kid & her sweet outfits

another shot of the temple in raleigh

haha just kidding
outside shot of the duke cathedral

paigey's twin?

our friends, the halversons, in nashville have a little girl

who I think looks just like paigey..

I sure love this mate drinkin blondie

Happiness is...

a smoothie mustache

a beautiful view of Charleston Harbor

a little one-year-old reaching up for a finger

counting little piggies

a sweet visit from mom, alli, and mad madigan.

we love you and already miss you like crazy.

first, the bellistons . . .

now the hardys.

jealous.

i love that little lulu.

Debbie Russell

A couple of days ago I woke up in the middle of the night
thinking about Debbie. I got out of bed and said a prayer
for her and her family.

This morning Darice called to tell me that she
had passed away.
Life is so precious.

This is a picture of her husband, Sherman.
I always tell him he looks like my grandpa
and ask him if I can squeeze his earlobes.
Please keep him in your prayers.

Jon and I taught a Sunday School lesson last week
on forgiveness. Today as I think about
mortality and the short, precious time we
have together here on earth, I am reminded
how important it is to forgive freely and often,
in order for love to fill our hearts instead of
hurt, anger, and sadness.
(Bishop McMullin has an incredible story of forgiveness on
page 13 of the Conference Ensign)
I love you all.

The Epic Ragnar

Thursday afternoon
Team of 12
Ready to run 201 miles
From Cumberland, Maryland to Washington DC

97 degrees
humid
really humid

ready to start our 'second leg'
about 1 am
who signs up for this?

¡las chicas!
the girl holding the babe is pres cleverly's daughter-in-law
small world

we did it!
33 hours
and lots of sore muscles
wish josh were here to rub my legs!

What dreams may come~

At 5:00 this morning, I woke up to this . . . . . .

GRANDSLAM

YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

(Pah, pah, pah, pah, pah)

Totally out of it, I said, "Jon are you awake?"
The little slugger answered, "Uh, yeah." (kindof like 'hello, do you think I could hit a grandslam in my sleep??)

I couldn't fall back to sleep, so at 5:20, I said, "Hey, your grandslam woke me up, and now I can't go back to sleep." Jon said, "Em, what the heck are you talking about??"

I love this kid, because of all the things he could be dreaming about...he's still dreaming about hitting the grandslam to close out the epic baseball game.

Sisters are...

a girl's best friend.

Thank you sissys,

for being my dearest friends
and some of the greatest source of strength.

I look up to you all and thank Heavenly Father

daily for the greatest sisters a girl could ask for.
I love you.

From Dead Horse Point to Nash-villa Theater

Cute pics of me and mom in so ut

after seeing our profile picture on lds.org, my friend
suggested we take a better picture.
this is one she took . . . not bad, but i can't part with the sunset!

and, the two things I am in love with . . .

the bathroom & the kitchen in our nashville condo.

lucky little devils who get to rent it first!

An ode . .

to this beautiful life we are living.

I wish I were a poet, to give the feelings in my heart words, to help portray how I feel. We recently sent out an email 'announcing' that we hope to adopt. Becki Porter, one of my dearest friends, responded with a simple,
"Praise God!"

That's how I feel today.

These last few months have been miraculous (extremely hard, but miraculous). Without being able to identify a moment went things changed, something has changed. I've realized recently that I don't just believe that everything will work out . . . I know that everything will work out.
I am confident that God loves me, that He is aware of what we're going through, and that He's actually demonstrating His mercy by allowing us to pass through these trials.

In preparation for a Pioneer Day primary activity at the church, I read, and reread some of my favorite pioneer stories. The overwhelming feeling came to me that through their adversity, through their trial they really did come to know their Savior. Their testimony was the greatest 'treasure' they owned and they were willing to make tremendous sacrifices for it.

I want to be a pioneer woman.

I don't want to complain about life not going exactly how I imagined it to go. I want to be able to recognize the difficulty, then keep working and exercising faith. I want to be like Eliza and Emma and do hard thing after hard thing with complete confidence that I have made covenants with my Father in Heaven and that He will keep His promises.

On my birthday, I finished the entire Standard Works. It was an amazing experience. I want to be like Sarah, Rachel, Hannah and Elisabeth and truly trust God. Their stories are so beautiful because they are so very real. It was not easy for them, but they believed.

Oh, how they believed.

When we were in Utah, some of my family went to the Bountiful Temple.
When it was Jon's and my turn, the sealer asked us if we had any children. We
told him not yet, and he told us to start concentrating:)
Near the end of the session, when it was our turn again, he looked at
us and said, "Even if you don't have children in this life, you are promised
them in the next. And if you choose to adopt, you will love those children as
if they were your own."

Wow.

Just last weekend we went to the Raleigh Temple with some friends. We missed the session
(what, I was running late:) so we did sealings.
When it was our turn, the sealer asked us how long we had been married.
We told him 7.5 years.
Without asking any further questions he continued.
Before we finished he looked at us and shared a sweet insight to the sealing ordinance
then bore his testimony of the blessing of children, and 'hoped'
it for us.

Heavenly Father is so very aware of us, and where we are.

Jon's mission president responded to our email about adoption with this sweet message:
"We pray for you that a child will come into your family, whom you can
nuture, teach, and present before our Father in Heaven."

What a sacred responsibility. One I hope for with all my heart.

Bluff, UT
(a little pioneer representation)

Much to be grateful for...

wonderful friends

jonny boy's graduation

jon's 32nd birthday

kindred spirits

being eli's "brother and sister"

A few pictures of our community

Our street, Coley Davis, begins at the lake on the previous post.
Our condo is near the end of the road, about 20 feet past
this car is the 'entrance' to our community.

Unfortunately, these pictures don't completely show our condo
(they were taken by one of our neighbors and
the focus was their home). Our condo is behind
the group of trees to the right,
but are the same level as the condos in the center.
Yikes.

Our place is to the right.

The water finally started to recede,
check out the white van, before and after.

We're heading to Nashville on Thursday.