May: Weekend #2 (Mother's Day + Family Pics)

Another weekend has flown by. This time Drew and I left St. George a little early to get to Cedar before his mom got home. We surprised her by cleaning her house for her! The gift of service is pretty great I'd say. It leaves you AND the receiver feeling happy!

Saturday was our annual Mother's Day service day at Grandma Carol's house. It was a fantastic day! And it was Drew's first time too. A bunch of our family from my Dad's side of the family showed up and we all worked around the home and in the yard. We planted flowers, washed windows, and pruned trees and much much more. We ate some yummy food topped off with Grandma Carol's famous fudge jumbles and sugar cookies-- so good!

The next day was Sunday, Mother's day. We made my mom a bouquet of all of our hands and got her some plants to put in her pots on her front porch. It made her happy :)

<This is me with my mom when she was about 22!>

We went to Grandma Micki's house for a sandwich before going to church. Drew and I gave her a big box of junior mints and a note that said, "you were 'MINT' to have a wonderful Mother's Day!" haha.. we're so clever.

Later that day we had family pictures. Grandma Micki's entire posterity was here for this great event and the weather just so happened to be crappy. However! It cleared up for us right as we got our pictures taken and the sun came out. You would never be able to tell that just hours earlier it was snowing/raining huh?!

<all the grandkids>

We were so blessed. Prayer really does work.

After pictures we stopped by Grandma Carol's to say goodbye to her and Grandpa June before heading back to St. George. Drew and I gave her some V8 juice with the saying "Happy Mother's Day! We love you 'berry' much!"

<Grandma Carol's bathroom wallpaper is wonderful.>

We stopped in Cedar on the way home to visit Drew's mom to wish her a happy Mother's day. We gave her a spearmint plant with a cute pot because she loves to put mint in her water and stuff!

So that was our second weekend in Richfield for the month of May and it was wonderful to celebrate all the moms and mom figures in our lives. 

Love,

Kate

April Snapshots

Only pics for the month of April.

 ^family came down for Kambry's track meet!

 ^my preschool had a fun cupcake walk.

 ^his face is priceless.

 ^the cute ladies I work with.

 ^my 2nd succulent.. hope it lasts!

 ^fun date that Drew took us on. 

 ^perfectly packed picnic!

^topped off with koolaid of course.

Love,

Kate

11 months ago// Reminiscing

What better way to reminisce than to read through <almost> every card you receive on your wedding day!? 

Here are some of my favorites:

 

 

 

 

I'm so happy I found my "other half." Marriage wonderful!

Love,

Kate

May: Weekend #1 (Mara's Sealing)

We traveled to Richfield friday night for the first of multiple trips this month. We grabbed some donuts from the Fractured Prune and made our way up to Richfield in our little car.

We surprised my family with the donuts (which are very lovely by the way//I suggest you try them if you're ever in St. George). 

The next morning we got up and got ready to go to the Manti Temple. My aunt Staci and uncle Corey adopted a cute little girl from Haiti and her name is Mara. She is 3 years old and they've been trying to adopt her pretty much since she's been born. Finally after three years of so many heart wrenching emotions, they got to bring her home around Valentines day. Well on Saturday, May 3rd, they were able to be sealed to her for time and all eternity in the Manti Temple! We were able to be there and it was the most beautiful and touching experience I have ever seen.

She truly is such a joy to be around. She is so bright and happy and her cheerfulness is spread to everyone who even lays eyes on her. She is amazing and such a blessing to our family! It was so neat to be a part of the Morrison's special day.

There is no doubt in my mind that she is meant to be in our family. And I know she knows it too. 

After the beautiful experience in the temple, the family celebrated by going to eat at a restaurant in Manti. 

The next day Mara was able to get blessed and her big brother Shay was able to be ordained an Elder. 

It was a weekend full of happy tears and bright spirits!

The weekend was just a confirmation to me that families truly can be together forever. The temple is where we are suppose to be! Being there with a bunch of my family reminded me of the day Drew and I got married and it just brings me so much happiness! The temple is and should always be our goal and our destination. It is such a beautiful, peaceful, happy place and to me it's like a piece of heaven right on this earth.

The church is true and I'm so so so happy I get to be with my family forever!

Love,

Kate

Bonfires & Snow

Some of Drew's friends threw a massive bonfire in Cedar City out at 2,000 flushes to celebrate the end of the semester and to kick off the beginning of summer.

We came from hot St. George and so waking up to snow the next morning definitely was surprising! The day  of the bonfire ended up being cold and wet and so we were worried about the fire, however the location of the bonfire was drier than we expected and it turned out very well!

Drew's friends definitely know how to throw a bonfire.

I'm glad we were able to have some fun with his friends before some of them leave to sell for the summer.

Love,

Kate

Easter Weekend 2014

For many years my grandma Micki's sisters and their families have been going to Sand Hollow for Easter. (We are about talking tons and tons of extended family.)

 For some reason none of our family has joined them until this year and it was all because of me! I suggested that everyone pack up their bags and spend their weekend down here in the warm weather. To my surprise most of my family came! It was awesome.

The weather wasn't the best because the wind decided to take over but that didn't stop us from having a good time.

Our relatives had trailers and tents out around on the sandy beach and we enjoyed some yummy dutch oven food the first night. It was a bit chilly, but we finished the night with songs around the campfire.

My immediate family stayed with Drew and I at our little apartment ha ha! It was fun. We had blow up mattresses out on the carpet and everyone slept good! So that was nice.

The next morning we went shopping a bit before heading out to the lake. We spent the afternoon and evening at the lake. The first thing we did when we got there was cliff jump and boy it was freezing!! The water was miserably cold and so that wasn't very nice but the experience was worth it!

We just hung around that afternoon and Drew and I got to kayak for a bit out on the lake. It was dreamy!

We ended the night with tinfoil dinners and sitting around the fire again, but this time we got to roast marshmallows. My fave!

The next morning was Easter Sunday! The Easter bunny found us and left easter eggs and candy all around our apartment so we could have a mini easter egg hung. We went to church and then later had Sunday dinner back at our place. We made hawaiian haystacks and they were yummy!

My family left later that afternoon and we were all super tired from the eventful weekend. However, being with all my extended family over the weekend was amazing. It's amazing that two beautiful people created such a huge, wonderful family!
 I'm so happy Drew gets to be a part of it and feel that love because it is awesome and we are so blessed.

Love,

Kate