Mother's Day

Maybe I'll like Mother's Day more when Matt and I have kids of our own and I'm the mom. It's probably 1 of 2 days out of the year I'm guaranteed to bawl my eyes out for a few hours of the day and not be able to kick myself out of a somber mood.

Today was interesting. It was the first Mother's Day I've spent without my dad or my brothers ... there's usually a silent bond of understanding between us and we enjoy being with each other and kinda distracting each other from the sad day or reflecting on the good times with home videos and what not. Instead, we spent the day with Matt's family to be with his mom ... we had a great time but I couldn't be myself no matter how hard I tried and I couldn't burst into tears at any given moment and have everyone understand. I love Matt's family ... I got so lucky to have such great in-laws and my mother-in-law definitely deserved a day of celebration in her honor.

I've had some amazing mother figures throughout my life. My mom is my hero. I may have only known her for 9 1/2 years of my life but I know enough to know how great of a person she is ... and I continue to learn more about her all the time from people's stories and her journals. I would give anything to spend another day with her or to talk to her about what is going on in my life, or for her to meet Matt, and the list goes on. I miss her more than words can express.

My stepmom, Christy, has been with me since the beginning of my teen years. She was there for me through all the high school drama and knows what it's like to lose someone. My mother-in-law, Becky, has been a great example to me since the moment I met her. She's taught me a lot. There's been a lot of other women that I've considered to be mother figures throughout my life - my best friend's mom, my 5th grade teacher, my mom's best friend, etc.

There's a lot of amazing women out there that deserve lots of recognition on Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there. And daughters - don't take them for granted.

Easter Minute

And here's what we did Easter day ...

Minute to Win It at my parent's house ...

Junk in the Trunk - get 6 ping pong balls out of empty tissue box strapped to your junk

let me just do a little jig ...

Brittney refused to show her face

Penny Hose - Get 2 pennies out of a pair of pantyhose

to be .... or not to be ....

And the elephant march .... knock down 8 bottles of water with baseball in the end of a pair of pantyhose on your head

A Little Egging

So .... here's the pics from coloring Easter eggs a month ago ...

We had lots of fun ...

Still recovering from having his wisdom teeth taken out

Glimpses

Here's a quick snapshot on what's been going on:

We moved! Everything went smoothly and a HUGE THANK YOU to my dad and brother, Mike. They helped us the whole time and we wouldn't have been able to do it without them.

We are officially residents of Orem ... no more ghetto Provo ha.

We absolutely love our new place! It's amazing how much a difference it's made being at our new place - there's so much more light and room ... it's just happier.

Matt got a concussion last Tuesday and hasn't practiced since. He got a knee to the back of the head and then the front of his head in the ground. He's been such a good sport about it though and prob overdid himself moving and everything.

I got an MRI a couple weeks ago cause my back decided to be unbearable. Results: 2 bulging discs between my L4 and L5 and between my L5 and SI and a probably Ciatica (ciatic nerve being pinched by its surrounding muscles) that was causing my super sharp unbearable pains in my back. Quite the opposite from what I was expecting (I was thinking solutions and answers were coming my way). I will continue to live with my pain for years to come more than likely. But I'm so grateful to my coworker who happens to be a chiropractor as well who has given me stretches and adjusted my back and to my boss that gave me 'wedges' to sleep with and it has made a world of difference - it's at least back to being bearable.

Easter and Conference were fabulous. Most of it was spent unpacking but we had a blast while listening to General Conference. We decorated easter eggs Sat night with my brother, Mike, and some friends, Jarren and Stephanie ... pics to come. We spent Easter day at my dad's playing games and enjoying each other's company .... also with pics to come.

This was really fast but it gives the jist of what's happened and what's going on in our lives.

i. am. blessed.

I had one of those wake up calls as I was driving home from work today. I am so blessed and I have been so ungrateful these last few days. I have so much more than I could have asked for in my life right now ... I would have never guessed this would be my life if I saw it 5 years ago.

I'm married.

And to the most amazing man.

I have a great job with great bosses and fun coworkers.

My family is wonderful and that includes my in-laws too.

We're surrounded by incredible people.

We're pretty financially stable ... I think.

At least enough that we can afford an upgrade to a bigger/nicer place to live.

Both our families live close by ... for the most part.

I'm surrounded by things of greatness - cars, scooter, internet, electricity, dishwasher, fridge/freezer, showers, movies, and the list goes on and on.

The Lord has blessed me with so much and I have everything to be grateful for. Life is good.

I've taken a lot for granted these last few days and my sweet husband has been so patient with me. So even if I'm doomed to live the rest of my life with a bad back that drives me to my limits and pinches nerves whenever it feels like - I have so much more to be thankful for and more support than I could have ever asked for.

I'm committing to trying to be more positive and recognize my blessings more often than not. Thank you to my sweetheart for standing by me and everything you do for me. Thank you family and friends for all your support and love.

UNLV

I'm attempting to catch up while Matt is taking a nap.

Flashback to the game against UNLV last season. I drove down with my little bro Bobby and stayed with Heather, my older sis. It was such a fun short weekend to spend with fam and have a little getaway ... I'll create another post with pics of our adventures. And all these pics are courtesy of her ... I think I forgot my camera or at least hers was much better than mine so I let her take all the pics.

I love this pic cause it looks like he's staring at the camera ready to pounce or something

My niece and nephew were so cute at the game and got so excited when anything happened ... I think this was the first time we scored

Punt Team ... I wouldn't want to run towards them ... that's for sure

and they made signs ... so cute and funny

Me, Pammie, Billy, Will, Bobby

This is all of us waiting for Matt to come out of the locker room

Good times