Misty and Jake

Hello again, Hello.

2010-10-04T00:23:00.002-06:00

What does it take to be a man?

That is something us "men" have to ask ourselves from time to time. Many of us don't and often overlook our responsibilities and forget our purpose in life.

I love conference time, it always gives me a chance to reflect on the person who I should be. I really have a long way to go from where I know I should be. I currently have a picture of Christ that sits on my self where my personal computer is. I have it there as a reminder of things I should remember and the covenants I have made with him when I am using my computer. One thing I have noticed about the picture is that the continuance on the face of the savior seems to change depending on the way my life is going at the time. There are times when I look at his face and it looks as if he is disappointed in my actions, and other times like tonight that he looks like my advocate with the father and that together we can do anything. I want everyone to know that reads this blog and knows who I am to know that I have a love for our savior that is unique and has and a special bond I feel that will never end. I KNOW that he is real and that he died for our sins.

So the man's, Man... The man himself is Christ no doubt about it. But time and time again we are told to be like him and most of us don't always follow that council. In fact most of us men do not even try at all. I know I fall short quite a bit. But that's the thing we are given new chances time again to prove ourselves to become better. I want to rededicate myself once again to becoming more like Christ. And I have to start now.

I need to start by becoming a better husband and father, I have found that I am able to lose my patience so much faster that I normally would. Once I felt that I could handle kids, wife and a dog. I find myself loosing my temper with my dog more and more and getting extremely stressed around children. It kind of worries me that I no longer have the patience that I once had. I need to look to the ultimate example and overcome this shortcoming of mine.

So now move on to even more personal stuff... Where am I on the path of remarriage... My honest answer is I have no idea. I want nothing more than to be happy married, but I cannot produce a relationship that can have total happiness. I am so grateful to know friends that can understand that. I know I am very capable of being able to but just not at this time. So why date? I ask myself that a lot, I hope that by dating I am able to learn something I need to know for my future relationship if that happens. I have learned so much from the people I have met that there is no way I could of on my own. So I trudge along hoping that one day it will just click.

I say that I will write in this more often but I find that more and more I just forget or get too busy and it has been months since I have written. I try to make it inspiring to my readers so that they can leave knowing something that they did not know before or thought of something a new way. I hope that one day the right person will stumble upon my writings and it will change their life for the better. If it was not so late I would write more but it is 1:00AM and I need to get to bed. I love you all thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday Misty

2010-07-29T05:19:00.006-06:00

Well I have been a wake for a while, I have been thinking about my final project. I woke up around 4 and had to go to the bathroom, and went back to bed and all I could think about is, what my final project would look like and how I was going to put it together. I finally got up at 4:50AM and decided that I should put these thoughts onto paper and seeing that it is a requirement to journal the things I do along the way of this final project anyway, I figure it is a good Idea since I actually had something to write down.

So that is what I just did, I wrote down my thoughts about it and then decided it felt good to write and I have not blogged in awhile so I better update this too. I also know that I have thirsty fans out there that want to know how I am doing. Well the truth is, I am doing good. But still having a hard time accepting what really happened. I have made my self so busy with dating, school, work and house projects that I often do not think about my life at all. It is like the only time I do think about it is just before bed, in the car or right after I get back from a date or off of the phone with a girl.

Speaking of girls, I have dated more than I ever thought I would in my life. When I was younger and still in high school I never dated people, toward the end of my senior year I started to date my ex-girlfriend and after 3 years of... well I have no idea what it really was... But I finally met Misty and fell completely head over heels in love. Right now I have dated 15 girls and a few that were not really dates but more or less going out as friends. I have also talked to over a fifty online and through party's and such. So it has been pretty crazy to say the least. Only until recently have I started to really start to feel like I could even love someone again. It seemed before that all I could do is think about how alone I was and wish that I had a girlfriend to ease the pain of being alone, but I really could not attach myself emotionally to anyone.

I tell you I have met some of the sweetest more interesting girls that are SO fun to be around and are simply beautiful. I am starting to feel bad because I know that I have told them a lot about me, and they may even really like me and I would have no idea if they did or do. Yet I could not love them back. Which I know really hurts. I have been hurt a lot by girls recently too. Most of which are really stupid things, like; Not responding to an email, viewing my Facebook page and then refusing to talk to me, and then still remain to be my friend or just seeming like they are very interested in me and then fall of the face of the earth.

Ether way I am learning a lot about relationships and how they work. I also feel like I am starting to find myself again. But I also know that my true self is in the service of someone I love. It is just who I am. As I struggle to fight my emotions of wanting to kiss a girl or hold her hand, I know that I am going through this to prepare myself to enter a new life of something better. Now not something better than Misty, but an addition to my life.

The other thing is a friend of mine brought this up, well a couple of friends really but one more recently. The comparison between Misty and my future spouse. The fact is there is no comparison. Just because something is labeled the same like the term "wife" does not make them the same. They are two different people, and as much as we humans try to generalize or categorize things I just cannot group my spouse as second or first, its not fair to them and it is not fair to me. I will always love Misty and I will never love her less. As my love grows for another woman my love for Misty will continue to grow as well.

Misty May Andrews, such a beautiful person inside and out. She is so sacred to me. I cry now just thinking of how I was going to list all of her favorite things. It is so difficult to know that she is gone when I can feel her standing behind me as I type this. To be completely cut off from communication and know that she is just right there.

Misty loved making birthday cakes this is one she made a few years ago. She actually made two, both are for Gabe's birthday when he turned 2 years old. She has made a lot of cakes actually some of them are duplicates, but she always had a good time and took pride in what she did in everything she did.

Misty is a person who loved you from the very beginning. Even if she did not know you she still loved you. I remember sitting in a busy area, people watching as we often did and her leaning over to me and said "I love people" I said "why is that?" she replied " I don't know, I just do. See that man over there? I just love him. I don't know his name but I love him" and so on.

I had know Idea hoe much I love Misty until I try to write about her and can only make 5-6 words before I start to cry again. Silly me, no one understands how after more than a year you still feel like they just left. Or how you can still cry just saying their name. I hope and pray that my friends and family never have to experience what I have gone through. But If you do I will be there for you. I promise.

Jake

Happy Birthday Misty from you ever loving husband and family, we miss you SO MUCH!

Photography Class

2010-06-17T21:58:00.002-06:00

Life as we know it.

2010-05-23T13:05:00.001-06:00

Okay, it is that time again for another blog entry... Sometimes I treat this as a journal rather than a blog. In fact, I do not even know what a blog is really used for. So yesterday was 11 months, I know and it kills me to know that. It is so weird to me that every time I talked with someone, all I wanted him or her to say was “It’s been 11 months today, I was just thinking about how you are doing.” Just so I could tell them how bad the day felt like.

It is so difficult adjusting to the single life. Actually, that is an understatement. It is very difficult. I find that I can go out, date, and have a good time. Nevertheless, I just keep thinking am I really trying to find a spouse? Sorry getting ahead of myself let us say girlfriend. 11 months! I hate, well not hate, but dislike the idea. How do you put on a game face for everyone and then try to go out and have a good time? The answer is; you just do it. It is tough but suck it up Jake. “You’re being too hard on yourself,” they say. Am I really? God made me, a mighty fine human being I might add. If I know that I can do better is that being too hard on me? Let us think about the question... Am I being hard on myself? On the other hand, is life just being hard on me? Just because life is hard on me does not mean I just give up.

Now I can make mistakes I know this. I am making plenty of them right now. That is how we rebuild. That is how we gain strength! Not to beat ourselves down but to conquer the journey! Endure to the end... Such a powerful statement when you think about it. To the very end, some people think that they cannot make it that far. Some think that they already have. Some think they are putting in overtime. I know we all can be at certain levels of this in our lives. However, there are truly so many great things we have on earth. We are given the choice every day to move forward or back, the choice between right and wrong, the choice to submit to his will or our own.
His will is tough to swallow sometimes, but He knows better. I know when I submit to his will that I am made stronger, refined, and purified through the atonement of our savior. Sure, it is not easy but I know I can do it. I know that I am better than I am currently putting out there. There are not too many things in this life that are easy, except when we are choosing what is right in our life. Then no matter what the trial is, it can be overcome.

Now I said that this is a difficult thing, it is tough because I feel like I have already grown up; I know what married life is like. Some of the people I meet do not know that yet, even if they have already been married. It is as if they did not figure it out the first time, which may be why they are single again. I am not saying that every "single" person is acting this way. I have just noticed that there are some people that are at some of these events are acting as if they are still learning a lot. Which puts me in an odd place; I am a very social person in groups. Last night I was the guy that you wanted to meet. I was able to introduce many people to each other and get them talking. Deep down last night, all I wanted was to be with my wife and have her share in the experience. Deep down the pain was there but I had to grit my teeth and still have fun. I did have fun; I met a ton of great people. I know that this going to have to be the way I am going to meet someone that may be my wife one day. If you are not going and putting your name out there, no one will see it right? Remember though love comes when you are not looking for it, it just cannot find you if it has nowhere to look.

Thank you to everyone for being my friend. This is the toughest journey so far in my life. However, it is a good one!

So I wrote a paper for English Class I thought I would share it.

2010-04-15T00:43:00.005-06:00

Now try to bear with me. I found this very difficult and very frustrating to write. So you have a background on why I wrote this... I was told when writing this paper to choose a subject that I was passionate about and something that was arguable. Now I am not sure I made the best case for my argument but I tried I guess. So here it is... read and enjoy I hope.

PS I got extra credit if I included the word zombie somewhere in the paper...

Jacob Andrews

He is real

Some people think that there is no God because if there was a God he would not let them suffer through life. Some think that there is no God because there is no way to see him so he must not exist. Some do not want to believe because they do not want to be involved with organized religion or do not want to follow God's Commandments. Others on this earth have never even heard of God so they believe in other things. God cannot be physically proven until after death. However, the existence of God is real because there is not enough evidence to prove that he does not exist, and the natural order of the universe and life on earth point to a deliberate creator. In addition, all truth can be proven through the Holy Ghost.

Many Scientists have made a claim that God cannot exist because the earth is much older than what is stated in the bible. Also many say that through evolution all life came to be. Professor Richard Dawkins said in an interview with Time magazine "If God wanted to create life and create humans, it would be slightly odd that he should choose the extraordinarily roundabout way of waiting for 10 billion years before life got started and then waiting for another 4 billion years until you got human beings capable of worshipping and sinning and all the other things religious people are interested in." God cannot be physically proven until after death. There is no physical evidence that God exists anywhere. Atheist believers say that it is impossible to prove the existence of something that never existed. They also say if God is real, why will he not show Himself to the world now?

One of many reasons people do not believe in His existence is: One cannot believe which cannot be seen. This can be argued because there are many things on the earth which cannot be seen but yet are indeed real. For instance if a person were to look at an apple, one could not see that there are cells, molecules and atoms. Yet we all know that they are there. We know this because we have scientists that have researched and have discovered for themselves that they exist. Some could actually go and do the work for themselves and see and believe. Science states that there is no evidence that God exists or ever existed. So should we believe that if something cannot be proven with scientific evidence then it must not exist?

This was proven wrong with the discovery of black holes. Scientists once believed that there was no such thing as a black hole. Since that time scientist now believe in the existence of black holes because of modern advances in science. So just because there is no scientific evidence found yet, does not mean that God cannot exist. I think that science should continue its efforts to explore the world and space, I believe that one day the more scientific evidence they find, the greater the chance of them finding evidence of a divine creator.

There are people in this world who spend an enormous amount of time trying to prove that God does not exist by science. "The ultimate point is that science does not deal with belief; it deals with things that you can prove. And since we can't prove or disprove the existence of God, the question of whether or not a person believes in God doesn't (or at the very least shouldn't) have anything to do with scientific reasoning." (Rothstein) Thus we see that God may never be proven by science.

Another example that shows that God cannot be physically proven until after death is... Some people feel that if they see a sign from heaven they will believe. If anyone were to believe this is true, they would be sorely mistaken. The world we live in today is full of illusion and deception. In fact there are people who make a living at doing it. Imagine a world where “seeing is believing”. If that world truly existed, we would have men that could fly with the power of their mind. We would have alien creatures blowing up The White House. The streets would be littered with mindless zombies. Yet we know that the news and media often twist the truth and make illusions to have things appear to be something they are not. Even still if a sign was given to us to believe (which many have already) most would still not believe it anyhow. We can read an account of the followers of Moses in the Old Testament. As Moses lifted a serpent of brass upon a pole and told them to look and be healed although many did not. (Num. 21: 9) They did not look because they felt that it would not heal them. So if a sign or manifestation was given to all of us, there still would be non believers. Thus there must be something else that will prove God's existence.

God is real is because the natural order to the universe and life on earth point to a deliberate creator. There are many arguments about the natural order to the universe. Science explains this by the laws of gravity; everything that has mass is continually falling toward another object that has more mass. The speed of an object can allow for it to travel faster than the gravitational pull toward the object with more mass creating what is called an orbit. This pattern is common in space and everything in it appears to have one. When we observe space we can see that there is a seemingly infinite number and complexity of our universe. In our solar system we have planets that move in harmony around our sun. Earth is at the perfect distance from our sun. If it was too far away we would all freeze, if it were any closer we would burn. There are many other factor in the solar system that if they were not just right, we would perish.

Take into account just the human body, Dr. Francis Collins said to PBS “Where did that come from? I reject the idea that that is an evolutionary consequence, because that moral law sometimes tells us that the right thing to do is very self-destructive. If I'm walking down the riverbank, and a man is drowning, even if I don't know how to swim very well, I feel this urge that the right thing to do is to try to save that person. Evolution would tell me exactly the opposite: preserve your DNA. Who cares about the guy who's drowning? He's one of the weaker ones, let him go. It's your DNA that needs to survive. And yet that's not what's written within me.” The more we study the human body, the more we find out we know even less than we thought we did. Almost every new discover creates two more questions. The human brain is remarkable and DNA is so complex. Now just because something is complex and is hard to understand does not mean that it must be God. You would be fooling yourself. And is often an Atheist believer’s opinion on believers of God. They assume that someone who believes is God is naive and is not willing to open there eyes to scientific explanation. I am completely open for science to explain things which can be understood with our mortal minds. However, I believe in purpose of creation and not just random happenstance.

Imagine the possibility of random matter floating around forming into a solar system, then forming into earth, which then formed into life, which formed into human life and then became your best friend who just got done telling you a funny story. How would matter traveling at undetermined speeds away from the center of the universe just happen to come up with something like that? I think that it would have the same probability as a printing press exploding and somehow forming Webster's Dictionary. I have one question then. Who would turn the pages to allow the ink on each page?

Believers of God must rely on the testimonies of others who have seen him, talked with him and have been in his presence. These people wrote down what they saw, heard and felt. These people were also able to tell their stories which were also written. The one downfall to these accounts is that they can be proven inaccurate due to the multiple hands and many translations of the written stories that had to happen for us to read them today. This is why there is a third element to God. The spirit of God is unlike anything anyone could imagine. The Spirit of God is also known as: The Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost is the proof that God exists. By the power of the Holy Ghost one can feel the presence of God. How can this be better than seeing? It is better because it can give a personal witness to the truth. The Holy Ghost has the ability to speak to a person's mind, has he or she feel certain emotions and can help to discern truth from that which is false.

In my personal life I was once someone who could be considered an atheist. I had many times in my life where my family would say that there is a God, yet I did not believe. I had spent many years of my life saying that Jesus Christ may have been a good person, but he was no God. I also found myself believing that there might be a God but he does not care about me. It was not until the death of my aunt did I even consider an afterlife.

While I was twenty years old my Father passed away from colon cancer. Then after a year and a half my Mother died from pneumonia. What seemed as the worst time in my life, I feel now that my belief was starting to blossom. Although I still did not really believe in a God I had hope that I would see them again. Unfortunately death was to become a regular pattern in my life. My cousin who was my best friend growing up lost his life to diabetes at the young age of twenty seven. At this time my Wife and I decide that we should plan for the unexpected and get funeral plans for ourselves. Still a nonbeliever I had hope for something more.

A few years later I had found religion and came to know that God is real and did care for me as much as I had thought. I found that the Holy Ghost was able to testify that in my heart through feeling and intense spiritual understanding. This is hard to explain to someone who has not felt this in their life. What I know is that I once did not believe, when I allowed myself the chance to believe understanding from the Holy Ghost explained in my mind that it was real.

The reason I know that this was the Holy Ghost is, I lived a life where I did not allow him to speak with me. Once I allowed him in my life I was allowed truth to enter my mind as I was taught the things concerning God.

Soon I was in a stage in my life where I felt I was on top of the world. I had a great job, a nice home and a wife who loved me. My wife was pregnant with our first child and we were going to have a baby boy. Suddenly my life would again change forever and on June 22, 2009. My wife and son passed away due to a large blood clot trapped in her lungs. Now one might say that God would not allow such tragedy to happen to someone so young, or someone who believes in him. Despite the pain that I have felt during this time in my life I feel that my life is more in tune the spirit than ever. I have been given reassurance in an afterlife and a divine message that God is in control.

Now, one does not have to go through what I have to feel or to know that he is real. We cannot prove that he exists until death. And we know that there is not enough evidence to prove that he does not exist. Yet there are many facets of life that show us that He created us. And finally through the Holy Ghost it can be proven to each of us individually. We know that; “seeing is not believing”, we know this because of the ability we all have to deceive. Deception is everywhere we turn and it causes us to doubt almost everything. We can rely on the Holy Ghost to help us see the truth in everything. How can one say that He is not real if they are not willing to ask?

Works Cited
Collins, Francis. Nation Public Radio. 29 March 2007. April 2010 .
Dawkins, Richard. Time Magazine. 5 November 2006. April 2010 .
Foundation, WGBH Educational. The Question of God. 2004. April 2010 .
"Numbers." The Old Testament. n.d. 21:9.
Rothstein, Dave. Ask an Astronomer at Cornell University. September 2001. 4 April 2001 .

I have to try to do this more often...

2010-03-27T21:37:00.002-06:00

It is so strange that we can turn to a piece of paper or in this case a text box and write all about ourselves but when we talk to someone in person we do not always do that? I have been trying to do that more and more. When I open up to people it helps me feel a little better about myself. So here I am blogspot and followers. Yeah I have been feeling down and some days just feeling great. my problem is I have no idea what I want. I feel directionless, never in my life have I felt this way.

I am doing what I am supposed to for the most part. I just feel like I should be heading somewhere in life but it just is not there. I feel I have ambition but no target. Not many people know this but I have been dating. There it is out in the open. Now I am not looking for a relationship, just friendship. That is hard for some people, but it is also easy for some people to understand as well. The women I have met are amazing! they are beautiful, fun, kind, understanding, spiritual and did I mention stunning? They really are! Everything anyone would want in a girl! I can't figure out though that I am I having a hard time being attracted to any of them. I feel a physical attraction just no emotional. But I feel they could be really good friends to me.

Here is the thing, I feel like there are times when ether girls will talk to me or I will talk to them, and they are very pretty and they have lots of things going for them great body, great face. And when i get to know their personality it gets even better. I just feel like a hollow shell who can bare my soul to them and tell them everything and anything. I just feel like I can't produce love. So I feel like I should turn to friends. I have such good friends some of them best. I don't know where to start. I mean I have been told time and time again, yeah just give me a call we can hang out. You know how hard it is to call someone when you are in a crappy mood? And then say "Hey whats up remember that time when you said 'lets hang out!' well I want to collect on that." It is not easy, no reason to call seems good enough. to call.

I have been having new friends enter my life as well as old ones. I just had a friend from my past reenter my life. It was my old missionary. She called me up about a month ago and we talked for a little bit. It was so great to see her again to bring back some of those great times Misty and I had with her. And since then we have become Facebook friends and I have been able to reconnect with a few more of my Missionaries.

I have also had a few new ones... This is where I don't know what to do. Like I said I have been dating from a website. But i think that I am going to stop. Because the people I think I want to talk to will not talk to me, or once they do I don't feel like talking to them after that. I want to be in love so badly but I just can't produce it. Not yet anyway. I will still try but my account expired the 4th and I will not be renewing. I will just talk to those that I am currently talking to and stick with that until I am ready. This last weekend I met a few new people from a widows/widowers conference and it took me a awhile to be my self but I really had a good time. I hope to talk with the people I met there and become friends. I just think that way there won't be the dating feel but we can go out and do things that couples do and not feel the pressure of dating.

I know there are people who read my blog and have girls that they want to set me up with. Well that has been one of the reasons I have not told people that I am dating. I don't want to be set up right now. And this is not a cry to have people invite me over ether. I just need to figure things out right now on my own and with heavenly fathers help. I have faith that I can overcome any challenge with Him and His Son. I just want to let people be aware of what I am doing in life and how I feel. In the meantime you can keep all of you Hot friends in the memory banks until I start asking. I just don't want to be a charity case ether and have you say to them you have to date this guy because no one will if you don't.

So I think I am going to hang out more with the widows and try to manage a single life. I have such a hard time being alone. but I have to overcome it someday so that I can be strong for me next wife. I love Misty she is always in my prayers! She is having the best time with our son right now! I miss her so much. Who knew...

I love you all thanks again for your prayers and support.

Dinner for 3

2010-02-23T20:55:00.004-07:00

Well I got home after picking up the Dog from the groomers today. Called my friends Todd, Amy and Oliver. Wished Oliver a happy birthday. He is so cute. I then got off the phone, and started to think. Well thinking turned into complete sobbing. I have not cried really good in a long time. Yesterday was 8 months since Misty passed and I miss her so much!

Well as I was crying I thought about some spagetti sauce that she made and froze for us to eat later. I thought why not make a special dinner for us as a family. Me Misty and Lucas. Try not to think of me insane because I am not. This was actually therapeutic to do. I was supposed to get so much done tonight but I just could not stop crying. I hate to say it but it felt good to let those feelings out. I prayed over dinner as if Misty and Lucas were right there, I asked for them to be blessed in their work on the other side of the veil and it felt so good to think of them with me.

And of course in true Misty fashion she had to take pictures of every cute thing. So that's what I did in remembrance of her. Even though it was frozen for 9 months the sauce was GREAT! Misty is a awesome cook. I did not get my english paper done but I will have to work on it now so I get an "A" like my last one!

Here are the pictures of the night. for some reason it put them in the wrong order and it won't change it when I drag them. I can edit the HTML but I am lazy and don't have the time. I took the first picture with my phone and then decided to try to get artsy... did not work too well.

You would not believe how ard it is to get this clear with out a tripod in low lighting.

Misty wrote this note to me about 2 weeks before she died.

Never thought that I would see the day...

2010-02-02T00:47:00.002-07:00

You hate to see it but I guess that it is one of those milestones so to speak. I have to say that just over 7 months ago I was a different person. I am doing my best to welcome the change and leave room in my life to become a better man. I miss Misty so much, it is hard to describe it. It is so tough to want to cry so bad and all you feel like doing is laughing. The mental struggles one goes through during tragedy is so interesting. I have come a long way, but I have a long way to go. all i can say to everyone is Stay strong and endure to the end.

Thanks again to all who pray and think about me. I love each and everyone of you.

So its been a while.

2010-01-08T23:36:00.003-07:00

I know I have not been the best at updating this lately... I want everyone to know I am Okay. I have had a real hard time through the holidays. Every time I would get on here to say something I would just get angry for no reason and not feel like it. I am sure a lot of people probably stopped looking here because it has been 2 months since I have written. So whats been going on you ask?

Well not really too much, Living I guess. I should say surviving. Some things that have happened;

Purchased Misty's Headstone.
Went on a trip to Denver.
Survived Thanksgiving.
Purchased a new TV.
Survived Christmas and New years.
Registered for school.

pretty much in that order, among with other things.

I have such good friends and family that help me through it all, and continue to help.

How do you explain how much you hurt inside and filled with complete sadness. With out making people start thinking your depressed or forcing psychiatric help.

Some have suggested counseling for me. I have thought about it, but sometimes I just fill like I don't need it. So I don't.

Instead I have joined a group of Widows and Widowers on Facebook.

I have set some new goals for myself this year as well, and I am going to try to start meeting new people. That might occupied some of my alone time. I do have great friends and even some single friends that I can hang out with. I just think meeting new people will help me take my mind off of things.

I have on my computer a little photo app that rotates through photos that are of Misty. This just happened to be one that was up during the time that I was writing this, so i thought I would share. Oh how I miss her... its so hard to explain the way I feel sometimes. Lost is a good word.

Waiting for the day to be found again...

When you love someone.

2009-11-02T21:44:00.002-07:00

I was thinking a lot about how much I miss Misty recently. I was thinking of the mushy song "when you love someone" from the Robinhood movie from the 90's. And I really do love her so much I can barely stand it. I tend to talk a lot... I talk a lot about me and a lot about things I really don't know much about. One thing I love to talk about though is Misty!

What words are there that can really express the feeling and love I have for that great woman! Misty took care of everyone around her. And did not really take time for her self. She is truly a selfless person. She made me happy in every way.

I was thinking about our first real date. It was at Sundance and we went to a play Fiddler on the roof. I think we got there about an hour before dark. I think Misty and I had known each other for about 9-10 days. when we got there we looked around the shops there and some of the resturants. We walked to the chair lift and took a ride around the top. They would not let us get off at the top but it was nice to sit next to her and talk. Later we went down and had dinner from this outdoor BBQ they where doing just before the show. I remember we had steak and mine was overcooked and I decided to make a BBQ sauce out of ketchup, pepper, salt and I think some of the Juice from her steak. SHe looked at me and thought your crazy... then I had her try it, then she knew I was crazy becuase I told her that it tasted good.

When took a tractor that pulled a tralier with hay bails on it to the top of the hill where the show and the seating was. When it started we cuddled up together becuase it started to get cold. Durning the show we met an older couple that we talked with durring intermission, I think they ask how long we were married for! I think they could sense the love we had for each other. When it was done we walked down with this couple and talked with them. They were very nice and I got to know Misty a lot better because they asked questions about us that I did not think of asking.

We took Misty's car becuase Misty's aunt did not like that my car was so small and would probably surivive a crash in her's I guess and it was probably more reliable then my Escort. When I was driving home we were heading through Provo when I turned right and Misty said I ran a red light! I was like no I did not you can turn right on a red. She said no it was a Red right turn arrow! (I never saw one before) I just remember her giggling so much and how much fun we had that night! her luagh was music to my ears.

Never in my life have I felt so appericatied then I have with being with Misty. It was like a light being turned on in my life. Life meant something, problems did not matter and things seams just so good. Misty and I have a kind of love that just won't quit. there were times in our lives that we could just be sitting next to eachother and not say anything and be totally content. We never felt like we had to impress each other we just seemed to have it all by just being together.

Misty just had these ways of just making me so happy her Smile just lit up the room. she had some of the nicest teeth and not too bad of a toung I should say ether... Oh and her eyes My favorite part about her. they made me melt, love, care, enjoy, smile, lust, and crave. They spoke stories of unimaginable paridise. She also had what was know as the "bedroom eyes" Well those I will miss for sure. If you never had a hug from Misty you better get one in the after life. Becuase they were awesome! Such a sweet embrace from a sweet person. No matter how bad the day there was nothing quite like holding my Misty. Misty is a great kisser too I must say, sometimes I would just gently kiss her bottom lip and it would take me to another world. I can't tell you how happy I am that I have Misty in my life. She is my world! she means so much to me and to be with out her just tears me up inside.

I feel I have been left with a lot of confusion in my life. And it has not been easy trying to sort things out with out her. I just miss her so much. thanks for taking the time to read about some of the ways I love her.

Jake

4 Months

2009-10-22T22:57:00.003-06:00

So how do you judge progress after something like this? Still alive? Check. Back to work? Check. House still standing? Well yes. But how do I really know if I have made progress. I mean I am still me. I am still hurting if not more now. Pretty sure I am crazy. Anyone who has gone through this knows this is hard. If you have not, well I think its the hardest thing you could deal with.

I get this a lot. "You seem to be doing so well considering" Or "I don't know how you do it." I have to, I don't get to choose. Guess what? neither do you. As much as you want to believe it. So are you not glad its left up to someone who loves and cares for us, Rather then pure random accidents that some how just randomly work out? It always works out. Just not in our time. No matter how bad it seems it just works out. Well things are working out for me. Not the way I want them to, but I am taken care of.

I just wish I would do more with my Life. Things like this change your perspective on life. In a way you start to envision an eternal aspect of life and a genuine care for what really matters and forget the things that don't. I now have more time to do the things that matter most and I am not taking advantage of it. I know that I need to write more and keep a journal of my experiences so I can teach them later in life to those that need it. This is something that I am failing in. Spending time with family... Not really doing that ether. We are all at different levels of out own unique lives. Sometimes I feel that I have lost a few levels.

Exercises is my drug. I have not been taking anything during this time to help me feel better. Some say I should but I am not sure I need anything. I know these feelings I am having have got to be normal. I feel my exercising is really helping me feel better. I am definitely not as tired. and I am finally starting to notice a difference in my appearance.(BTW I do have before pictures that I may show one day. Once I have the killer bod that I hope for.)For now I am just happy that I am finally sticking to it.

I don't if can even imagine to tell you how much I miss Misty right now. I don't know if I even know. I tell you that is so tough. but you just handle it. Keeping busy helps. So does talking face book believe it or not. I have often debated that I spend to much time on there or should just get rid of it. But it makes me happy. I love it when Misty's Niece's and Nephews Message me. Its also been my way of writing to friends how I am feeling. and Keeping everyone posted on whats going on in my life. Sorry it is just easier to post photos there rather then on this.

One thing I noticed after watching it a bunch of times is that the video I made for Misty I put down the wrong date of when we went through the temple and were sealed. It was the 13Th not the sixth. I don't know what I was thinking but I wanted to publicly announce it because Misty would of caught it before I ever posted it. I just love her So much! SO SO SO MUCH!

I miss sending her flowers on a bad day. Then she would tell me don't waste the money on me, or you don't have to buy me flowers every time I have a bad day. I miss her Smile and her funny jokes. She always loved to be tickled except when I would go for her side or her arm pits. Then after we would have our tickle fights we would call a truce. Sure enough she would start it right back up again. Most who knew her always loved her Smile I love it too but I have always been one for eyes! Hers were the best! They spoke right to my heart every time. They told me everything, even when she wanted to hide. She is a very happy person, but I always knew when she was upset. Talking to her, and trying to have her tell me about it was the hardest part.

She always put her heart and soul into everything she did. If she cooked she did it with love. She made you a card she would start over a hundred times just so she got it right. Even when she typed you a letter she would delete it all and start over until it was perfect. Really it would drive me crazy, but now I know how much she cared for everyone. I hope you know she loves you too. She always will, she made me a better person because of it. So the next time you see me and say he is doing so good. Its because of My beautiful wife that made me this way. Misty I love you I always will. Never forgotten... always remembered in my heart forever.

Jake

Why I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints

2009-09-27T14:52:00.006-06:00

I have been thinking a lot and I have got the impression from some of my friend's and some of my family think that the reason I joined the church is just because of Misty. I am not saying that she did not help my efforts but I want everyone to know that I made the choice on my own and with what knowledge I acquired I still would of joined whether it was with Misty or not.

How it all started.

Misty had received a few phone calls from here Visiting Teacher (these are members of the church that are assigned family's to check up on them, find out any needs they may have) Well one day she decided to have them come over and visit with us. They would visit every month and Misty would sit and talk. After a while they invited us to church and we would attend some of the time.

Then we started to attend regularly and go to all of the meetings (there are 3 in a day) then this started into a series of events and things that made me make a few decisions that helped me progress. Now this is very condensed so far but I will expound on it in a little bit.

Why I feel it is important for people to know this.

I have felt for a while that people don't think I make my own decisions. I want you to know that this is because I am a very easy going person and if there is something that bothers me enough I will let you know. I am also very patient with most things and usually let things play out before making such decisions.

I also want you to know that this is very personal to me and it is not open for debate but rather a way for me to express how I feel and why I do the things I do. I appreciate all who read this and please know I care very deeply for those who take the time to help me in this hard time I am in.

Back to the Story...

One day while attending one of the meetings I was in a class that was discussing home and visiting teaching (home teaching is for men of the church to visit families, Visiting teaching is where the women visit with other women) In this lesson I was caught up with so much anxiety about the importance of this lesson. During the entire class I felt I needed to express my opinion on the matter. There were lots of thoughts going through my head... "Why should I say something they won’t care." and "I am not a member of their church they won’t listen" and many similar thoughts. Yet I still felt like I should tell them how much it means to me that they take time out of their lives to visit with my wife and me every month.

Just before the lesson ended I nearly leaped out of my seat and asked "May I say something?" I began to tell them my testimony of home teaching and the difference it made in our lives to have them visit with us. That same day we met some really great friends there and because a wonderful friendship.

This led us to asking a lot of questions about the church and cleared up a lot of misunderstood things that people say about our church.

Soon after Gordon B Hinkley challenged the members of the church to read the book of Mormon at the same time we had started to have the missionaries visit with us. Along with our friends they challenged Misty and I to start reading. It was hard at first because the only book about God I even sort of believed to be true was the bible.

As I read I thought of any way I could to prove it wrong in my mind and discount everything that was said. People would I how the reading was going and we would tell them "just fine". But we did not really read that much.

This is why my wife is so much better than me. She would pick up on things and tell me them and explain them in ways I had never thought of. She was progressing so much faster than I. And I think this is where people got confused about me joining the church just because of Misty. Yes she did believe it before me, but I still needed to make my own choice to believe myself. And the person that helped me the most is my wife. She expressed so much patience for me and so much love and understanding in my own personal doubts. Without her I would not have made it through the onslaught of satan’s influence you feel with doing what the lord wants.

As we continued to read I began to pray to know the truth of the book and the church. All I ever wanted was a voice to tell me whether or not it was true. As I would pray nightly with my wife. I would ask if it was true. Every single time I asked I would receive this answer "Why are you even asking you already know it’s true." Oh I heard a voice yet it was so small and so familiar to me that I thought it was actually my own. I literally thought I had been brain-washed.

The thing is they never used any equipment and I was asking all the questions they would just give me pure and simple answers. After a while I thought to myself. Could this really be true? Could these people of actually lived here on this Continent and wrote these things down? Would God actually care about someone other than Jerusalem? I said "I guess it is possible." it was like a switch gone off in my brain and everything began to make sense. And I actually believed it was true. All I needed to do was allow the possibility and God made it fact.

There was one other time I heard this voice during my conversion. I did not feel I was ready for baptism at the time but I pondered it a lot. Finally while I was showering one day I began to think and said to myself "if I were to be baptized when it would be?" Instantly I heard "January 4th" I knew at that point that it was not my own voice or thought. It was the Holy Ghost and he had been telling me the entire time that I already know it.

Now I already told you that I don't want a debate or trying to prove me wrong I am just telling you my story and why I joined these are some of my beliefs and you do not have to read them if you don't want to. Just know that I am not trying to preach but only express what I believe in.

I believe that when Christ was on the earth that he established one church with a specific teaching that did not accept the belief of man. But only the true teaching of the word of God. This made me think that there is only one true church of God or they are all wrong. I don't think that they are all right just as long as they believe in Jesus everything is OK. Now I am NOT saying that the church's today do not teach truth. I know that all church's that teach that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world are in fact teaching truth. I think there is just one that teaches the most truth.

When Joseph Smith was younger he went into the woods to pray thinking that with all of the different teachings there must be one that was right. He thought that God could not be the author of so much confusion and figured that one must be his church. He received an answer that was very much different than he thought. He was told that none were true and that it must be restored at a later date. Click here

This brought a lot of questions to my mind. "Why would Heavenly father and Jesus Christ appear to a 14 year old?" I thought about that a lot and figured he can do whatever he wants I guess. Stranger things have happened. child born of a virgin, Flooding of the world, 900 year old men, loins that do not attack a man that have been trained to kill. Then I thought more and found that he probably appeared to him because he asked. And he really wanted to know. He also needed to be prepared to do what God asked of him.

Do you really think that a 14 year old boy would make up a lie and defend until he was murdered from it in the mid 30's? And not only did it affect him but his entire family and everyone he would associate with. People were murdered because of this. I can’t think of anyone who would go through so much and not say hey I made it all up if it were not in fact true and really did happen.

I also believe that baptism must be done in order to enter heaven. And so do many other faiths otherwise why do it at all? Could you not just take a bath? I cannot believe that my nephew’s cousins and other family will not go to heaven because they did not get baptized. If we all must be baptized then there must be something for those that passed without it. See Paul's teachings in the New Testament to the Corinthians.

This is why I have a belief in temples that do this for those who have passed. It is always our choice to accept this if it be our will. If you think of it this way. If you don't need to be baptized then we just got wet for no reason. If you do well, you’re welcome.

I also believe that the God head are 3 separate beings. There are too many references in the scriptures that mention them as separate. Those that say that they are one I believe are not a literal One but One in purpose, one in likeness. Or in other words on the same side.

I also think that faith is an action and you must do good things and repent in order to go to heaven. James chapter 2 verse 20 says: But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? It is through our faith that we are saved but we must do our part to inherit the kingdom of God.

Here is a Scripture out of the book of Mormon that helped me to know this to be true.

"And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

"27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.
29 Now behold, would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.
30 But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow.
31 And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own likeness. "

This is what happened to me. I let a little faith get planted into my heart and the Lord did the rest.

I pray that no one who read this is offended it is not my idea to offend but to show why I believe the things I do. I love my family I love my friends I thanks them both everyday for helping me get to this point in my life.

Thanks for reading
Jake

My wife is beautiful.

2009-09-06T21:07:00.002-06:00

Just watched the video again got through with out crying, I have seen it over 30 times. This time it just made me so happy that I got the pleasure to know her so well. I can say I knew Misty better than anyone else. That to me is a huge blessing! That is why I feel so alone. To know someone so well that you think the same things, know all of their secrets. To make every moment with that person mean something. To hold someone so close to feel their breath on the back of your neck. To wipe away their tears when they have had a bad day. To lay beside them from hours and ponder life's meaning. I could go on for days... To have it all removed is absolutely gut wrenching. The Saturday that this happened to Misty, I just felt so sick it is really unexplainable unless you have gone through it yourself.

I have noticed that I am become jealous of other relationships and to those having children, I am sure this behavior is normal for my situation, but it makes me miserable. I haven't felt jealous for a very long time.Just before meeting Misty was the last. Misty and I have a awesome relationship, I never felt jealous with Misty. It was if I always had complete trust in her that she loved me first and always. I know these feelings I am having are different but I hate it. Its like I want to shout out and say "don't you know what you have!" Or "I hope he tells her she is beautiful every day" or "when will I have children?". it's just such an evil feeling. I know these people are great and they are doing their best. I just want what they have! I want what I used to have. Now I know that I will get it later but the selfish side of me is coming out.

This is complete and utter agonizing pain that I am going through. I have no other choice but to go through it. I wish that I didn't but I do. You just feel like life is over. I know its not and I have lots to live for. but that is the best way for me to describe it. It just plain hurts.

I am grateful I am here. I know I inspire others and I thank you for those who have wrote me and told me in person. But I know that anyone can do what I am doing. I am no better than anyone else. We all can make choices to better our life given our circumstances problems don't just go away we just learn how to deal with them better.

I was thinking yesterday morning as I was getting in the shower "I am still alive, now what are you going to do about it?" I just kept saying that over and over. Well what am I going to do about it? My friend at work told me I need to learn how to be my own best friend. That's what I need to do, learn who Jake is. I have been trying to find meaning in everything recently and it is driving me crazy! Why do I have to think that something that happens must mean something to my future? I just need to get some new hobbies and do things I like to do. I have been meaning to take some photos of the new temples it was something Misty and I loved to do and now we have 2 new temples to go to.

The other thing I have noticed is that I have been so busy! I love it, it is great. I know it wont last its just so crazy how many people care about me. Its like they are lining up for some "Jake time". I am so grateful for my family and friends. Just be patient until I can make some "Jake time" for you.

The good message... let's see... I always try to end on a good note. That is just the way I am. I do know my father in heaven loves me so much even to let me go through this. I know it is killing him to see me this way. But I will learn from this and will continue to do his will and try not to do my own. With so much bad in this world shouldn't we all be doing our part to make it a little better. We all know of that one person we can help or that one great deed we can doing let us all make it a goal to one day achieve those things. These words from a song came to mind.

"I'm sorry I have to say it but you look like you're sad
Your smile is gone, I noticed it bad
The cure is if you let in just a little more love
I promise you this, a little's enough"

If we just let in a little more love into our lives we can change world. It sounds corny but it is true. I promise you the reader and myself and God that I will strive to be the best that I can be. I will have my ups and my downs but I can always improve and so can you, Start Today! I know that there is something that you can do within 5-10 minutes that can make someone a little happier.

Life is not worth living if we don't live the life we are given. Live your life to the best you can. I love you all, Please know that I am doing well and will continue to improve each day.

For Misty...

2009-08-22T22:36:00.008-06:00

Hit the HD button to make the text more clear

Graditude?

2009-08-16T20:01:00.002-06:00

seems like a year, but not even 2 months have past. You think you know but you don't. Trust me you don't. Life is so short until the one you love is gone. Once you think you have things figured out, it gets ripped away. Make a plan, it will change. Why? Why? it does not seem to matter if you live a good life. Sure you have a past but that's OK. I have changed allot, but it doesn't matter. I still loose.

My emotions are a wreck, I feel completely out of control of my life. How do you just get up and start over? I told her that I wanted kids sure I was not ready at first but I still wanted them. But all I get is a glimpse. I am so lonely and friends nor family can fix it. I will always have to come back to reality.

I had everything I wanted.

Now I must wait to get them back. How much time do I have? What does Misty want me to do? I just play out all of the different scenarios in my mind and none make sense with out Misty. Why is it that I have to start over now. Why not 50 or 40 I can raise my children alone then. But now to even have them... And how do I find someone who can love Misty too.

I really feel like I need guidance from Heavenly Father, I pray every day for it. I feel like I have been left to make decisions on my own. That sucks because I am such an indecisive person. I usually let others decide on something and then decide if that will work for me. I hardly ever choose for myself.

The other day I was going to the temple with some friends and when we got in we were informed that not all of us could go in with out family names. I had the choice to stay (because the person I was with did not need a family name because they were not endowed) or I could go. I could not really make up my mind I really wanted to go, but I did not want my friends to have to wait ether. Well I walked out with my friends and the other stayed. When I left the walls of the temple I felt sick to my stomach, then when I was driving away I felt over and over that I had made the wrong choice. I have never felt the spirit this way before. I have felt the spirit leave when I entered a bad place. But this was worse it was like I had just lied to my parents.

I was reminded to never miss out on an opportunity to serve before I went, and that is exactly what happened, I missed out.

The question I have is why cant it always be like this? The answers giving to us. I will answer myself, Its not his plan.

We can't be happy if we did not choose for our self. It is my goal now to learn to know what I want and what Heavenly Father wants for me. I need to get over my fear of deciding and just decide. I know he will let me know when I make a mistake and when I make a good choice but it is up to me to get there I guess.

One thing I know is it helps to write out your thoughts, it is hard but once you do its like letting go of the fear you had and replacing it with a plan.

I love my Misty so much, she has made my life worth living every minute. I can only hope that things will get better.

Church Shoes

2009-08-03T18:52:00.003-06:00

Church Shoes

Such wonderful news, we’re having a boy!
Can’t wait for the day when he puts his church shoes on.

Times moving so fast, this time is a blast!
Can’t wait for the day when he puts his church shoes on.

Your parents are proud, Come down from the clouds.
Just counting the days when you put your church shoes on.

Wishing and Praying, times not delaying.
The time will soon come when you put your church shoes on.

You’re gone in a flash, no time to rehash.
Will that time come when you put your church shoes on?

You will be back I just know it, the Lord will bestow it.
Can’t wait for the day when he puts his church shoes on.

Love you Dad.

Home made Mac & Cheese

2009-07-26T16:19:00.003-06:00

When I was at church today I was so hungry all I could think about is what I should make for lunch. When I got home I found my new neighbors moving in. I asked them if they needed help and they said "sure!" So I went to change helped them move in and when I got home I was going to attempt the impossible and cook something.

Well here I am heating up some milk until it boiled then while is was boiling I decided to throw in all of the shredded cheese I just cut. Well it started to get really lumpy but it smelled good! As I was cooking I remembered My mother always putting flour in her cheese sauces. So I went ahead and added a couple spoon fulls of flour to the boiling cheese and milk. After looking at the consistency of the sauce... I briefly thought that there is no way I am going to be able to eat this. I mean it was full of lumps the oil from the cheese was separated. It looked as if I had just threw Pac-man into a pan and threw in his white ghosty friends too.

So after dumping it out and thinking it would be cereal on the menu. I thought I would google a recipe for cheese sauce. I found this video. http://video.about.com/cheese/Cheddar-Cheese-Sauce.htm

So I decided to try again here is the result

Misty's funeral

2009-07-25T14:56:00.001-06:00

http://www.funeralrecording.com/index.cfm?pageid=225&Name=Misty Andrews

If you wish to listen to the service.

Winning the Battle!

2009-07-25T00:25:00.002-06:00

Have you ever lost everything you ever hoped and dreamed for in one day? It’s ok if you haven't but it happens every day. Well I had one of those days where I kind of lost everything. But it is ok right? Exactly! Everyone should know this one thing and believe this: All things will be restored that were lost. Well I have a story to tell you. It is a story told by an ant (insect no misspelling) now how is that possible you ask? It’s not like it was talking to me or anything, it was purely taught through example. Some of you know I have been battling ants in my basement as of late and they have been some quite humorous stories in my eyes. But this story is to be taken seriously.

One day I was while I was a child I was watching an ant crawl along the sidewalk weaving back and forth going to whatever destination it desired. When I decided to put something in its way, Of course it paused for a minute and then went around it and soon was heading toward where it was going again. So I decided to make it harder for the ant and put a few more things in its way and around it too. It took a little longer but still managed to get free and on to where it was going. I thought I would put a leaf on it. It lifted it up and off of it as well of many other things I put on top of it and continued on its way.

When I got home tonight I was reminded of this, and I thought I have to be like this little ant! Something so tiny and seems to be so insignificant can teach me so much! I know that whatever comes my way I just have to go around, pick it up and move it and move forward. There is no way I am going to forget Misty because she is not gone! For all I know she’s the one helping me type this. I just know there is so much good out there in this world to just give up. Yes I am lonely; yes I hurt and still have to cry sometimes. But I am only being made stronger. I hope people see my point that I am making. I have not been getting the rest I need because I have not been going to bed until late and waking very early.

I have been a person who learns from others experiences and I hope that I might be able to teach someone else through mine. But most of all, allow you that chance to learn from the spirit. He is the ultimate teacher. I am just a servant.

To my Friends and Family

2009-07-20T19:14:00.002-06:00

Today I was riding my bike home from work, checked the mail then headed home. When I arrived home I started to clean up zoey's landmines in the back. During this peaceful time oddly enough I couldn't help but think of all those who have been helping me get through this. Shortly after I went inside my doorbell rang and a friend decided to stop by and see how I was doing and if there was anything she could do to help out. After she left, another friend called to invite me over to dinner.

This has been a constant theme since Misty was in the hospital. I have never been one to accept help and I am sorry for that. I am so grateful for such great people in my life. The very thought of the love that I feel from each of you pierces my core deep into my heart. (If you can’t tell I am beginning to cry but I can’t help it.) I never knew how much people love us. I mean from everything to cleaning my house to doing my laundry taking me out to eat bringing me food stopping by to say "hi" having me over for dinner. Sending cards and writing letters. It has never stopped and I am so grateful. With all of this bad in my life I have never felt so loved in my life! I hope you all know that! It is because of each and every one of you that I am still here and able to stand on my own 2 feet.

I never knew how much death can affect someone until this. I hope that no one would ever have to experience this. But we all must go through it. I just want you to know that when you do I WILL be there for you just like you have been for me. Thank you all so much. My sincerest thank you will never been enough to repay what you have done for me.

Still Hanging in there

2009-07-14T21:58:00.004-06:00

25 days ago my life changed forever. How can it be real? No matter how busy I stay, I must still face the reality that my Wife and Son are away.

I started to write on this then later decided It was getting too personal and needed to copy it in my journal instead. So you know I wrote a conversation with Misty and thanked her for somethings that she had me do with the baby. like kiss her belly and hold her until I would feel him. But I noticed I was typing to Misty and not to the blog.

I want everyone to know that I thank each and everyone of you that has helped me through this time in our lives. I could not do it with out the prayers and the love that has been shown to me and my family. Words can not tell the great loss we all feel right now. I love you all thank you again.

I really do mean the things I say on here. I hope you all know that. I do feel it a priviledge to share our life with you. but you all must know I need to hold things sacred to me and my wife and disclose them when the spirit prompts me to do so.

I do love to read the responses that are on this, Facebook, and the obiturary thanks to everyone who contributed and will in the future.

I will post again soon.

Misty's Flowers

2009-07-09T21:29:00.005-06:00

After Misty passed. I went to my Sister's house for a nap I later went over to my house to take a shower. When we got there I thought that someone left two planters on our front flower bed. When Lonni and I went to see them. They were our own flowers which misty and I planted this year and they bloomed for the first time. When I saw them I tried to have everyone see them. Not everyone could but I took pictures so here you go! We hope you like them! We worked really hard on our yard this year.

(Before: when we first bought the house)

we just had a bunch of rocks and broken concrete in the front so ugly!

(before we planted this year)

(After we planted)

The veil is thin.

2009-07-06T22:12:00.002-06:00

I wanted to share some experiences I had during the time of Misty's passing, and testify of what I know to be true. I should tell anyone reading this first that if you lack in faith, please try to exercise an ounce of it at this time and try to believe what I am about to tell you. I do this now because often we feel closer to God when we are at loss. This is a true principle, God lets us experience pain and sorrow so that we cry out for him. Not all of us talk to him as much as we should.

Many of you know that I am a faith filled man, and I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter saints. I am not preaching to anyone, I am letting you know of my experience with Misty. What I want from those who do not believe there is an afterlife or those who are not sure. To please, open up their hearts to my experience and try to exercise some belief.

I KNOW that our Father in heaven is REAL! And his son Jesus Christ atoned for our transgression while he ministered on this earth. I knew these things before this happened to Misty. I want you to know that I did not gain this knowledge because of the suffering I am going through. I found out by asking our Father in heaven.

You can too; Jesus is knocking only you can let him in.

When Misty first died Saturday morning, I was hysterical and my heart felt as if it was pulled out and trampled upon. After I left pioneer hospital and was heading to IHC hospital I began to feel the love of our Heavenly father poor out for me. I felt a love between my wife and I grow 100 fold. Never in my life had I felt that way about her. It is a perfect love, a love without boundaries. I was able to feel her around me. I knew when she got to the hospital and did not see. Someone walked in and told me and I already knew. We had a meeting with the doctors about the baby and as we left I asked if Misty was in a room behind me and I was able to point exactly where she was. This does not just happen because of coincidence, One day molecules don’t decide to make you feel things. These feelings are real and you have them almost every day whether you choose to acknowledge them or not is your own choice.

My wife's funeral program was not of my design ether. Through the power of the Holy Ghost Misty was able to show me exactly what she wanted me to do. My wife is a very good planner, I am not. If you ever heard the term if you want things done then you have to do it yourself. That is what Misty did, I committed myself to doing the program but I did not have to make them. The night after she died I was showering thinking of the plans for the next day when this vision of the program came to my mind, instantly I knew just what she wanted and I said out loud to her as if she were right there and told her "that will be cute babe" the next morning I felt as if she we dragging me out of bed to get started because I really had no Idea how little time I would have to work it. She really did design the best program I had ever seen. It literally is a work of art in my eyes. She let me pick the pictures and the words but she knew where everything should be. This made it easier on me to do the rest of it. I told Jer her brother that she always got the towel for me when I would shower I am going to miss that. Bless her heart she has reminded me each time to grab one.

I know that these things are small and simple. But it is by small and simple things that faith is built.

You, the one who is reading this, the person I felt prompted to talk to you about this, I know with all my heart that this did happen to me. It is real I cannot deny this for fear I would be struck down by the lord himself. I say this because I love you. Start your path to faith, I know it hurts now but there is comfort is knowing. Pray now ask him if he is real; ask him if what I say is true. He will answer you. He does not speak how we do but he speaks with love. Not everyone hears a voice or has a extreme story they just feel the love that he has for them and you will find comfort in these words because he loves you.

All the good we fight for here is worth it in the end.

A few more

2009-07-02T21:47:00.005-06:00

Just a few pictures

2009-07-01T11:18:00.004-06:00

Remembering Misty

2009-06-30T10:40:00.005-06:00

How can you forget such a great person? The answer is you can't. Times may be difficult or sad but, that’s when we always remember the good times we shared with those we lost. Misty was a master of making memories. To me, I have never met anyone better at it then Misty. Sometimes just touching the side of her face and she would return a smile that would just pierce deep into my soul. Misty is my soul mate, Webster’s dictionary defines soul mate as: "a person who is perfectly suited to another in temperament" I would define it as: Pure Love.

Misty has taught me that our love extends beyond death. Our Heavenly Father taught me that I can remain with Misty and Lucas as a family forever. "It just wouldn't be heaven without them." My wife and I have been through a ton of heart ache together. Every time we needed each other, we were there. I was able to stand when I had no strength. At times when I feel I have lost everything, I feel her there to remind me that all that was lost will be restored through our kind and loving Savior Jesus Christ. I hope that the day that I meet him, the first words out of my mouth are not "I am sorry" but "Thank you."

I know that I have been giving much, and I to must give. My wife will always be an inspiration to me she had made a difference in my life as well as yours. Let the love of Christ fill our hearts with joy for Misty and our son Lucas in remembering them. "Sunday will come"

My wonderful wife and son

2009-06-22T19:01:00.003-06:00

Oh how I loved and always will. She is my best friend and enternal companion. words can not express the love I have for her I think the whole world needs to know it. Our love runs deep, even beyond this time, my experience with these last few days has been amazing our love is stronger becuase of it. Misty is amazing and reading some of the things that people have said about her just testify's that. I will do my best to fill the void that some may have when you visit this page. but not even I could take the place of Misty she is just too special.

I love to tell others about how great my wife is. it is by far my favorite thing to do on this earth. I will try to keep this updated. as much as I can. just know as I pray for Misty and my son that my prayers are with you too.

We know what we are going to have :)

2009-05-08T22:20:00.002-06:00

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound! Our due date has been changed to 9/21. I am really impressed with our doctors guess. The first week that we went in he had said that we were somewhere between 6 and 7 weeks along,.. He was right on :) I am impressed..

Now for a few pictures....

Our baby is making the first appearance on our blog :)

Meet our baby!

and now you want to know what we are having right? Ok :) I shall tell!

We are so excited to welcome our little boy into our lives! :) We know that he is going to teach us so much!!!!

I love my little guy!

Our vist with Gabe the other night ended like..................

2009-05-06T22:02:00.003-06:00

OK so I just have to tell you this story because it is so cute! It has been about a month or so since Gabe no longer signs my name :) He says it :) YAY! Do you ever think that I would get tired of hearing my name from that little boy? Oh my goodness. When we are over there it is Misty this Misty that hold my hand Misty, Watch the dogs Misty on and on and on. I play play play and get soo tried. I even try to get him to play with Jake. No luck LOL :) It is so sweet that he says my name and I love it :) He was even calling me Misty Rocks for a few weeks LOL :)

Ok so onto the other night. I kind of went off track with my post. So I asked him if he was going to walk me to the door because I was going to leave and this sweet little boy so sweetly says 5 more minutes Misty :) AHh he wanted me to be there for 5 more minutes. So I just sat there for a few min and played basketball with him and then I said that it had been 5 minutes so I was going to go. AGAIN he said 5 more minutes. LOL :) What a cute boy huh?

I love him! :)

Oh yeah.. All of those cute pictures of him.. They are a thing of the past.. At least for right now. Here he is taking a picture. He hates it now! UGH!

Some people take picutres of Cows.. We take pictures of... Snails....

2009-05-02T11:32:00.006-06:00

One day we were coming home and saw some snails... I said ahh the snail is cute.. It reminds me of Zoey (don't ask me why it just does. Maybe the eyes? I don't know LOL) and Jake said I think so too! So when ever we see a snail we say AHH..

Ok we are weird!!!!!!!!!!

Come to our house for dinner and this is what you get to eat....

2009-05-02T11:29:00.004-06:00

Do you want to come over? We had some of our friends over for dinner, ok lunch, one day and while our pizzas were baking Jake brought out cookies and M&Ms I thought that it was funny that Phil put them on his plate and was eating them with a fork and a knife :) LOL :)

FYI this is not what we usually serve hehe :)

I just received a threat at work....

2009-04-06T16:34:00.002-06:00

For those that don't know I take supervisor calls in a call center. On this call that I just took I was told by a customer that to get her issue resolved she will use a machete and a machine gun. WOW.. Then when I said something about her "Threat" she said oh honey don't worry those who do those things don't make actual threats.. This was after she had told me that these are reasons why people go into buildings and blow them up..

Yup.. That is what I was just told.. Smart woman.. Very very smart...

Sooo.. We have news!!!!!!!!

2009-03-06T19:23:00.004-07:00

On January 23rd we found out that we are expecting our first child! So I shall share our story :)

The day before we went to Wal Mart and I decided that I wanted to get a pregnancy test. I had told Jake that I just wanted to get it (sorry TMI for those guys who may read this but you know what comes before pregnancies so it is nothing new :)) so I could just start my period. Jake said then why waste the money if you are going to buy it just so you can start your period. I am sure many others out there have ran into the same problem as I have.. Take the test, start your period the next day. So I got a little frustrated with him and put the test back on the counter. The next day while Jake was at work I had decided that just for my sanity I was going to go and get a test and take it. So I run into Harmon's pick up the two test pack and think to myself that I don't want anyone to know that I am buying this so I put it under my purse. Then I almost ram my cart into some of our friends not paying attention to what I was doing. So lucky for me I had it hidden :) So I come home take the test and I see this plus. I was in disbelief. I call my best friend Amy and I think scared her half to death. I told her that I needed to talk to her and asked if I could come and pick her up to talk to her. I told her that I really needed to talk to her. Of course she being the bestest friend ever agreed. I pull up to her house. Walk in and she is getting ready to come with me. We get to the car and she starts asking if everything is ok. I said so... Then I pulled my pregnancy test out of the bag! She looks at it and yells SHUT UP!!!! She then said that we needed to go and take another test. So off we go to Albertons. Again buying a two pack :) We head back to her house and I head upstairs take the test.. Same result. So I come down and show her.. Her husband Todd was in the kitchen with us and she asked if it is ok if she told Todd ( I know that he would have know as soon as I left :)) so I told her go ahead. So she says Todd you need to tell Misty Congratulations! Todd says Congratulations. Then a few seconds later he said for what.. I just LOL at his comment :) He then came over and found out :) So we started talking about ways to tell Jake since he didn't know yet! This was at around 4pm and he was getting off at 6 so I had to think fast :) Well.. My mind wasn't very creative so I decided that I was going to go and get our baby an outfit that said something about Daddy on it and wrap it in our Christmas paper (since I was still picking up after Christmas :)) and tell him that as I was cleaning up the soon to nursery I found a gift that I had failed to give to him. So He comes home sees this gift sitting out and picks it up and states that it must be Mr. Potato Head parts.. I said no. Then he said a Tie. Again.. No... If you don't know me you must now know that I have an obsession with both things. So he opens it up and looks at it all weird thinking that I had put the wrong name on the gift and that it was actually for our little favorite friend Oliver... Then he realizes the size and reads what he says and asks if we are we really pregnant? :)

Here is a picture of Jake with the outfit that I bought!

Here is a picture of us on the day that we found out that we were going to be parents!

Sorry for the bad pic! My self taking photo skills have sucked lately. They come back blurry all the time now. Maybe I dropped my camera one to many times!

We had our first appt on February 2nd and were given a expected due date of September 25th. We saw our babies little heartbeat!

Today we went in for our second appointment. The doctor wanted to do another ultrasound to gain a better "guess" to our EDD since I failed to know when my last period was. It was amazing to see our little baby! While we were peaking in the baby got hiccups! I cannot believe how much the body jolts when they are that little! It made me laugh seeing our baby have the hiccups! :)

SO there you have it our friends. Our secret that we have been keeping for over a month!

I will keep him. A reason why I love him!

2009-02-11T19:58:00.001-07:00

So the other day before I left for work I left a little note to Jake :)
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

You are the best husband. Thanks for being there for me and always showing me unconditional love.
I love you with all my heart!

Love,
Misty

Then I come home to find this!

Dear Misty

You mean the world to me; I know that I have had the best years in life being with you. You have exceeded every expectation I could have ever dreamed of. You truly fill my heart with everlasting joy! Time spent with out you is agony, I crave every second I am with you. No one else could match the love we share. I am so grateful to be called your husband. I am so happy I made the right choice to be with you.

I love you
Jake

Could I be any luckier? I think not!

Elders Quorum Valentines Dance Pictures :)

2009-02-09T21:30:00.006-07:00

Here are my pictures from the Valentines Dance this last Saturday! It was SOO Much fun. I hope that others had an equally fun time!

My Christmas Present from Jake :)

2009-01-12T22:32:00.002-07:00

For Christmas this year (ok LAST year can you believe that we are almost in the middle of January already?) Jake got me a date :) On Saturday we went to the Silverhorse on Main and ate dinner. It was ok... I woudn't say what I would expect for $95.00! But it was sure fun! I had macadiam nut crusted halibut and Jake had some beef tenderloin. I think that his was better than mine! Since we paid so much for the food I just HAD to take a picture of it! With the tenderloin that ins't blood it is some sauce thing... Sure looks like a lot of blood. If it was blood Jake wouldn't have ate it! :)

After dinner went went to the Inn on Capitol Hill. It was really nice and REALLY clean. I was so impressed with how clean it was. It was nice to be able to cuddle with Jake next to the fire. I really didn't take many pictures because I forgot! I have just a few! This is a picture of the room from a weird angle!

This is the view from our window! You can't get any better than that! Ok so maybe you had to actaully stand on the couch to look out the window but I LOVED it!

I went back..

2009-01-09T18:28:00.003-07:00

Back to weight watchers that is. After many months of doing nothing except not eathing healthy I decided that I needed to go back. I am still down 4.6 pounds since I originally started. I went in today and gained 1 pound. It is a lot better than I thought that it would be.

Now just to stick with it and take one day at a time. While at the meeting today there were a couple of comments that really struck me. One was in order to be successful you have to track. Track everything. When I was doing WW before I wasn't tracking everything that I ate. I was doing the core plan so I wasn't tracking. Which leads to under estimating your food intake. They said that if you don't track everything you eat on average 10-15 more points than you should. Also the other comment was thin is in think. In order to be thin you have to think about what you're doing...

That's it for now!

So many memories that start off January for us...

2009-01-06T08:03:00.005-07:00

January is such a special month for us! On January 4th it marked three years since Jake was baptized. On the 6th (today :)) marks 2 years since we took out our endowments and the 13th marks 2 years since we were sealed. It is amazing at the chang that has taken place in our lives since we started going to church, taking out our endowments and being sealed together for eternity. I am so thankful that we were brought to the church. We have made so many great friends which whom I will cherish forever.

Our life through the Holidays!

2009-01-04T22:14:00.008-07:00

This is going to be a huge post... HUGE I tell you! :) We have Christmas to cover and new years :) We hope that everyone had a safe and happy Holiday season!
This year my Aunt found this Santa hat and beard for the animals. She ended up putting it on all of our animals. They didn't like it.. I wonder why LOL but they did look oh so cute. It was a little small for Zoey but we at least got one picture before it came off! This is my Aunts cat Shiloh. She has had him since my Junior year so 98! He is cute!
Here is Santa Keisha. She doesn't look happy at all LOL :)

And last here is Santa Zoey! I love my dog! To think that I almost picked the cute dog out of the sad dog... So glad that Jake talked me into getting the sad dog :) On Christmas Eve we did our Christmas with both sides of Jake's family. When we got to Jake's sisters house, Lonni, we waited and waited and waited for people to show up.. One of two things.. We were either early, told the wrong time or people didn't show up on time. It was people didn't show up on time. Some of his family didn't show up for nearly 2 hours.. Yes 2 hours after the party was to start. Then when his Aunt showed up his cousins sugar went low so they had to call the ambulance on her. Her sugar went down to 34.... They were able to bring her out of it and she came and enjoyed the party.... :) We however had to leave before Jake's Grandmother got there because we had to go to my other Mother in Laws house because I was having Santa come. Can you believe it I got not one picture from both of these events? After both parties we had to go back to Lonni's house because I had one of her Christmas Gifts for her children at my house and forgot to bring it. When we were there earlier we exchanged our Christmas gifts. They got Jake and I matching PJs with their family. They do matching PJs every year! This year we were lucky enough to get some too! Here is a picture of all of us! Here is a cute picture of Gabe! He is getting so big! Oh yeah! I have a funny story about Santa at my MIL house. So after Santa had left my niece Bella had said that was Santa huh? Her mom had said yes it was. Then Bella said I didn't know what Santa really looked like. Then her mom said You have seen Santa at the mall before. Bella then said No I haven't those are Santa's helpers! Ahh SO cute! For a picture of this cute girl look at my posts from a few months ago.. I feel bad that I don't talk about all my other cute nieces and nephews but we don't see them nearly often enough which we need to work on....

This next picture I am going to title a magical moment. If you have read my posts before I have posted one other picture just like this! This is Gabe signing my name :) Or how he does it :) One of these days he is going to be too big for signing and will vocally say my name. He hasn't said it properly yet. When you ask him to say my name he does the sign then when you tell him to use his words he tries it and does something that consists of two syllables :) But it isn't the same as hearing the word MISTY :) This picture was taken on Christmas Eve. Lonni wasn't able to get him matching HO HO PJS (HO HO is what Gabe calls Santa :)) instead got him Elmo or as Gabe calls him LALA :) So I was trying to take his picture of him with this huge Elmo that I got him and he had thrown it down and did my sign and the camera just caught it at the right time :)

As I am looking through the tons of pictures that I have to post I found ONE picture I took while we were at Lonni's house for Jake's family Christmas! This is a picture of Gabe opening his present. Another funny story. I had wrapped both his present and his brothers present in the same size of box and I had told Gabe that the present that I had in my hands was his. We were walking over to the couch to open up his presents when he say his brother opening up the present that appeared to be Gabe. Gabe looked at him and said no and gave him angry eyes. So funny. I told Gabe that it wasn't his present that it was his brothers and then had him open up his present. It was fun seeing Gabe get excited to open presents this year! The next morning we had my Mom, Jer and my Aunt Lorna over for breakfast and to open presents. I started this tradition last year and hope that it continues! It is fun to have my family at my house.. Sometimes it feels like I have to beg them to come over.... We started off with breakfast and then went to opening gifts!
Here is a cute picture of Jake and one not so cute of me... I stayed in my Jammies almost the whole day! It is nice to have a day where you can just lounge around! Me with my Brother Jeremiah! My mom and Aunt Lorna with their stockings! Here is a picture of Jer, Jake and I with our stockings. Sorry you're either going to have to look at this picture upside down or turn your monitor to see it right side up! I didn't realize that it was upside down until now and don't want to go back and change it! Here is a picture of all of the presents out all over the place! Zoey wanted to be in the mess! She is so funny! My Aunt wanted me to take a picture of her with her presents :) I think that this picture turned out so cute! Here is a picture of me with Santa! My Aunt bought us this Santa the first Christmas we lived together! This Santa has been with us for 7 years! I hope that he is something that we can keep for many many years since it is something special for us being with us through our whole living together lives! Jer must have been exhausted from all of the excitement and fell asleep! Note that cute blanket :) It is mine! All mine. I have this obsession.. Well I have two obsessions.. One is weddings and one is blankets.. Oh so I Have three.. The third is ties.. Jake has put me on a no buying blankets and ties for a long time thing LOL :)
On New Years Eve and went and babysat Gabe for a few hours while his family went to a movie! I got him all dressed and we went out to Wal Mart so I could spend the rest of our money left on our FSA before we lost it and then we went to Jake's work to visit him! Isn't Gabe so cute? I on the other hand look horrible LOL. I know I should do my hair everyday.. I know.. Just why am I lazy and don't lOL. Guess it is time that I get a haircut so I can't pull my hair back hehe :)Later on that night we went back to Gabe's place and had our new years celebration over there. We brought Guitar Hero and Gabe so wanted to play :) So he helped me with one song. Half way through he was either bored and mad because we were losing on the song so I hurried and took over LOL :)Here is a picture of another one of Jake's sisters. This is Danni. Lonni's twin sister. My first picture of 2009!~
Now just some random pictures of us!

Finally after an hour and a half I am done posting this blog. I have had such bad luck posting it. First I did something that hid the URL address stuff. I don't know how to explain it. Then I got this all posted and posted it and went to view it and it posted it to another blog that I post on... Then I went to copy and paste it and that didn't work.... I had to go in and add all the pictures again... THEN I am freezing. My fingers are about to fall off. When is this cold weather going to be over LOL :)

THanks for reading my post.. SOrry that it is sooooooooooooooooooo long!

LIke my new blog layout?

2009-01-03T20:42:00.003-07:00

I went to Katie's blog and it was SOO Cute so I had to redo mine! I figured out how to delete the pyzam per my request below :) There are just so many cute templates to choose from!

I don't know how do to this so I am asking for your help!

2009-01-03T20:26:00.003-07:00

How do I delete the template from Pyzam?

WOW! I just picked my jaw back up from the floor.

2008-12-21T21:25:00.003-07:00

We have this credit card that we pay off in full each month. We use it for rewards. I just found out this nifty little thing called the spend Analyzer and was I shocked at how much money I have spent in the last year or two years.
It is so sad to see how much money we spend on things that we DON'T need. I for one will hopefully be better at watching what we spend our money on. Check out your credit card to see if they have this same feature. We use the discovercard.

I will be without a calling again!

2008-12-21T21:13:00.003-07:00

Tonight they announced ward boundary changes and guess what? The primary president is going to be moved to a new ward so that means that they will need to call a new presidency.. Hmmm.. Maybe I can go back to relief society! Since being in the primary I have noticed that I am not as social as I once was. I am so sad though that one of my favorite families is being moved tooo :( Boo hooo :(

What a busy week!

2008-12-19T21:20:00.007-07:00

My last post mentioned what we did on Saturday night but I forgot to post about what we did on Saturday day! We went bowling with my work for our Christmas party and guess what? Jake bowled his highest score ever! I was so proud of him. I on the other hand sucked!
Here is a cute picture of us from bowling. How did I get so lucky? Jake is so cute :) This week has been so busy for us! I forgot what we did on Monday but I am sure that it was super busy. Then Tuesday we had, well I had our relief society dinner to attend and Jake had the fun job of helping with the Nursery. Then Wednesday I was supposed to get together with the others in the primary presidency to put together binders for next year but I couldn't make it because my decorations for the following day (Our teacher appreciation dinner) were not working out. My friend was going to cut out some letters that I was going to put around each table and she called me Tuesday night telling me that her machine wasn't working and there was something wrong with her blade so she wasn't able to do it. So on Wednesday instead of helping out I was trying to get these letters cut out since my theme for decorations was based on these letters :) So I decided that I was going to go to Heartland Paper and use their dye cuts.. I get there only to find out that they are all of 1.25 inches and I NEEDED about 7 inches. SO that wasn't going to work. Then I called my life saving cousin Sue who just happened to have the same machine that my other Friend did and said that they were heading out to Ogden to look at some lights and she would call me when they got back. If my memory is right she called at around 9:30 so off to her house I headed. Then guess what? Her machine was having some problems cutting my paper. I think that the paper that I bought just wasn't right. It wasn't cutting through the paper all of the way. So we just went with it and cut the rest of them out and I could just cut them out myself at work the following day. So I get home around 11:30. The next morning at work we were having a decorating contest and my team wanted to win! We were doing a theme of snowman farm and I had made one big snowman but with a farm I figured that we needed more so I had my friends at work help me out and make 20 more little snowmen. Tell me what you think! I think that they turned out so cute. Our team ended up not winning 1st but we took second :) Here are a few pictures that I hurried and took before I left on Thursday so I could decorate for our Primary dinner :) I LOVE them :)

I am soooo excited with our my decorations for Primary turned out. Our theme next year is My Eternal Family. At first I wanted to decorate with snowflakes :) and I had actually had about 100 snowflakes cut out when I felt that what I was deciding on my decorations wasn't what I was supposed to do so I switched my theme to My Eternal Family :) Tell me what you think about the decorations too! :)

After decorating I was soo tired. I did about 99% of this on my own. Jake wasn't feeling well and April was busy doing other things. It is amazing at how much work goes into decorating. But guess what? Even though I was tired it was WORTH it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating :)

Today Jake called into work sick again. He ate something the other day that made him not feel so well. So I went out to lunch with my Aunt today and then hung out with him. We went and looked at a few Christmas lights tonight and came home. Here is a picture of us before we left.. Have I told you guys just how much I love him? :) He just makes me happy. I am so lucky!

If I don't post again until after Christmas we hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

PS Be safe out in the snow!!!!!!!

Jakes care is all ours... 8 years later...

2008-12-16T17:40:00.002-07:00

So we sent the last payment to pay off Jakes car! It is nice to know that we don't owe the credit union any money. This car should have been paid off 3 years ago but we were teaching our selves a lesson :)

Now to do the snowball effect and pay down our other debt!!!!!

PS.. I HATE DEBT with a passion. What a fool was I when we used it...

Our Christmas Caroling was a BLAST :)

2008-12-15T21:34:00.005-07:00

I love caroling! This year we didn't really sing at that many houses. We had a late start due to not very many people coming and everyone knows that I cannot sing so I needed the help! After a few more voices showed up we went caroling. We caroled at 3 or 4 houses. Our friends Emily and Josh happened to snap this fantastic picture :) I love it. I hope next year that more people show up... SO make your calendar for our Christmas Caroling 2009 for Saturday December 12 tentatively :)

BTW I am pretty sure that there will be a next year for us in the townhouses. At least that is how I feel now. :)

Twilight Before Christmas

2008-12-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Check this out! LOL :)
http://www.take180.com/s/ep5l7

I <3 Twilight!!!!!!!!!!

My brother Chris is off the streets...

2008-12-07T19:24:00.002-07:00

You and I are paying his room and board.. I bet that you can guess where I am going with this? He was arrested on Friday for stealing a car.. Yup.. Stealing a car. This is his what 2nd? 3rd? Time stealing a car? I have lost count...

Fun Times!

2008-12-06T23:31:00.004-07:00

I cannot believe how busy that we are getting now that Christmas is just around the corner. We wanted to do our Christmas caroling this year and I had plans to make cute invites for our Christmas Caroling and guess what? I didn't get to it. So.. Christmas Caroling next Saturday (the 13th) at our house at 6:30. After we are done caroling we will come back to our place for hot chocolate. Please bring a treat to share with everyone!

Tonight we went to my sister in laws house for dinner and to hang out :) Why does it seem like th only people that I get pictures of with my camera is Gabe and I? Here is one :) Jake was having him crawl on my back. I sure do love that kid. BTW he might have to have surgery on his hip in the coming months so if you could keep him in your prayers that would be great. His hip is dislocated and could cause potential problems for his one functioning lung.

I came downstairs today to see Zoeys addition to our Christmas decorations. I guess that her squeaky toy snowman needed to be by our Santa and snowman LOL :) Seeing this made me smile so I Had to take a picture of it. Jake states that he did not put it there :)

Last night I went with Amy to a party at OC Tanner. Shannon (far left in this picture) works there and they were having some party to have people come and buy some stuff. We went for the food and to look at the pretty jewelry. There was this beautiful ring that I would have loved to have. I didn't see how much it cost and I would hate to see how much it costs due to this watch that we saw that rang in at $27,000.00.

Amy and I with Santa! I was going to do the famous Misty pictures (ones where I take the pictures which is how most of my pictures posted on the blog were taken LOL) and Santa said no and he had some stranger lady take our picture. After we took our picture he handed me my camera and said nope not done and had me take a picture of Santa with the stranger lady. LOL. Here are the pictures of Santa! :)

Here is a picture of Shannon because it was so cute and she is so cute :) I am glad that I have gotten to know Shannon. I met her through Amy.

When I went shopping on Friday I parked in this spot. I know that I parked close to the line but geesh if you park next to someone at least leave them enough room so they can get into their own car and if you car is to big that you have to do this just so YOU can get out of your car then park at the very end of the parking lot were no one parks. Maybe that is where I should park so I don't have to complain about stupid parkers. Anyways.... I had to climb through my passenger seat to get into the driver seat. Not even a small child would have been able to open the door up to get into the car. Here is my picture to share!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend!

Our Christmas Tree

2008-12-03T18:28:00.003-07:00

I am posting this post so Makaila can see my tree.

Just in.. We found where we are moving to!!!!

2008-12-02T17:42:00.004-07:00

Ok.. So maybe we are not. I am sure that I had you fooled for a second :)

If we were moving we would purchase the lot on the corner, which is still available for $136,000.00 so if you would like you can contribute to our lets have Misty and Jake live on this street fund :)

Please see why we would live there :)

Funny story about this street. Many of you know that we have the desire to move but haven't found the "perfect" house yet. While looking on KSL I found this really cute house in Lehi and I wanted to see how far out that the house was from where we currently live. I for sure don't have a sense of distance so I wanted to see if it was worth it before falling in love with the house :) So The listing didn't have an address so with my poor eyesight I read 541 as the house number. So I decided to put into zillow 541 Lehi and see what came up! Well the house that came up had these two streets to the side of the house and the back of the house. SO I had to go and drive down there at 9 PM (AM I crazy or what) just so I could see these two streets :) Plus to get a photo. Now tell me.. Have you found a street that had intersecting streets with your first and last name? :) It was just a weird fluke that I found this street.

PS.. Lehi is way to far to drive so I don't think that we will live in Lehi :) That I did learn from our trip to see a street sign :)

Here is a picture of Jake. It is the best that I could get considering he didn't want us to be parked in the middle of the street any longer and with it being pitch black!

Family Picture Time :)

2008-11-30T22:14:00.004-07:00

A week ago today we got together with Jake's Dad's side of the family to get family pictures taken! While we were at our annual Snowbird trip I had asked my in laws if they thought that getting family pictures would be a good idea to get for my Mother in law for Christmas. We hadn't had pictures taken as a family since my brother in laws wedding! They thought that it was a good idea! I just got the pictures back today and wanted to share with you guys! These kids in this family are soo cute :) They make me smile. I know that most of you haven't met Jake's family so here is a glimpse of who he is related to! :)

Here is a picture of Jake and I :) It has been awhile since we last had pictures taken together.

Here is a picture of all of us!

I will start with the back row:

Jason, Derek, Misty, Jake and Steve

Front Row:

Ethan, Nicole, Candy (my Mother in Law) Jayme and Bella

On Laps:

Abigail and Hannah

Here is a picture of all of us girls! See names above for who is who :)

Cute kids!

Here is Abigail and Ethan. They are Jason and Nicole's kids.

Here is Hannah and Bella. Steve and Jayme's cute kids!

I am excited to have these pictures! I have wanted to have pictures of Jake's family to put on our walls and now I Have them!

Happy Holidays!

2008-11-28T17:43:00.003-07:00

I hope that everyone had a happy Thanksgiving yesterday. Often times we don't express our gratitude for all of the things that we are thankful for. We overlook them. Below is handful of things that I am grateful for.

1-Having a worthy priesthood holder for my husband. I am so grateful for him and the spirit that he brings to our family.

2-The Temple

3-Eternal Marriage

4-My Family. I am so blessed to be part of the family that I am and so blessed to have Jake's family as my family.

5-My home and car. I have been thinking a lot about those who are currently without . My brother Chris being one of them. I am so grateful to not have to live on the streets. To have the desire to not get in trouble. Chris has been on the streets most of his life. Either on the streets or in Jail. As much as I LOVE him and I do (that I don't express either to him often enough) I have tried to help him. I have tried to let him live with me on three different occasions. I just don't have what he needs. What that is I don't know and I pray that he will find that soon and get his life back together.

6-My job. I know.. I know. I complain about it almost daily. We are just in our busy time and it is just shall I say.. Hectic... at work. Give it two more months and it will be good again. Ok it is GOOD :) but not stressful :)

7-FANTASTIC Friends. I don't know what I would do without all of my (our) friends. I am so grateful for Bobi and Brian for being there to bring the Gospel into our home and for that wonderful July 3rd three years ago when we met Amy and Todd. I am so grateful for each of our other friend that we have also met. Sorry if I don't remember the day that I met you if you're not Amy and Todd :) Our friendshipversary is easy to remember because it is Todd's Birthday too :) Also the day before the 4th of July :) if you remember and want me to remember tell me and I will promise I will try to never forget :). Each one of our friends has an everlasting impact on our lives.

8-Callings at church. I am the 2nd counselor in the Primary and Jake is the Elders Quorum President. I have been in Primary about the last 6 months and Jake has been in the EQ for about the last year and the EQ President for about the last week. I have grown a love for the children in our Ward that I didn't think could possibly happen. With Jake's new calling. We shall see :) Since it is new we(him) don't really have any idea what it entails.

Thanks for everything that each one of you do for us :) If you're a stranger thanks for being you :)

Oh yeah! I got the best mail today! Check out my mess! I wasn't feeling very well today so I was up taking a nap and then Zoey started barking and I got upset LOL I was trying to sleep. Then my doorbell rang and I ran to see who it was and it was boxes and boxes for me! 5 boxes to be exact. Now I have some boxes that I can put some Christmas Presents in that needed bigger boxes!

Here is what my boxes were full of :)

I have wanted the willow tree Nativity for so long and I was able to get it for 25% off so I took the plunge since we have a little extra money and got it! I LOVE IT! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful, memorable Holiday season :)

xoxo
Misty

Guess what happened 6 years ago today..

2008-11-06T21:14:00.002-07:00

Almost to the hour?

Jake proposed :) 6 years ago today! It seems like it was just yesterday!

Happy Proposeaversary!

While I am at it..

2008-10-20T22:40:00.001-06:00

I miss you too..
Since I am missing people just thought I would tell you :)

17 hours

2008-10-20T22:38:00.003-06:00

Yes.. That is how many hours Jake worked today. So far between last week and this week Jake now has 86 hours on his paycheck.. 4 working days left in the paycheck.. We will see what he gets from there....

I miss him...

Exercise? Easy? Nah!

2008-10-20T22:13:00.002-06:00

So I bought the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I tried it tonight and I made it half way. MY gosh. I don't know how those people on the biggest loser do it. I am going to do this for 30 days straight and see how much better I get!

It is crazy at how out of shape I am. I have been doing horrible with WW and my weight loss so I decided I needed to add exercise and man it killed me. Ok not really kill me but I am sweating like a pig after only 10 min! Ok so maybe not 10 min maybe 6 but tomorrow I am going to do all 20 min and prepare for it! Meaning I have my water!

Makaila...

2008-10-16T17:13:00.000-06:00

I miss her.

Surgery,Cut and Comb! What a day!

2008-10-10T22:08:00.006-06:00

My day started off waking up at 5:30 to go and see my mom before she was to have her surgery. She had her gallbladder removed and I have decided that I would rather die than be admitted to Jordan Valley Hospital. Ok... Maybe that is a little exaggeration but the hospital is horrible.

Here is a picture of me all bright eyed in my PJ and hair done! At least I was able to brush my teeth! I was so tired!

Here is a picture of my mom! Don't mind her funny face LOL This is the best picture that I was able to get. She wasn't feeling well and had dealt with this stupid hospital since early Tuesday Morning.

Now FINALLY being wheeled off for her operation!

Today I also took my good friend Amy for a little pampering for her Birthday Present which is still a month away LOL :) We went and got her hair cut and my hair combed. :) I was originally going to cut my hair but decided against it because I wanted to grow it out and at the last minute decided that I still want it trimmed so it will look nice while it is growing out. I don't think that I am going to grow it to long but just not have it this short! :) My appt that we canceled had already been filled so I wasn't able to get a cut but I was lucky enough to get a comb LOL :) Here are a few pictures to share! Isn't Amy just sooo cute! I am so glad to have her as my friend! I will get my hair cut on October 31st. Hopefully I don't forget!

and just because two cute pictures of the two favorite young boys in my life!

The start of my work Halloween Decorations!

2008-10-08T20:11:00.003-06:00

We started putting up our work decorations this week! I am the one heading this decoration fun! On Saturday two of my friends came over from work and helped put together our "Haunted House" wall! Here is what our area would have looked like before!

And here is what we have done so far! I LOVE it!

I am going to have sign name with our oh so cool Haunted house name :) I will tell you that after it is up! Each employee on our team is going to decorate their cubicle like an area of the haunted house! We will see what we come up with! I volunteered to be in charge and I didn't want people think that that the decorations were all about me so I decided to find a way to include those who wouldn't volunteer in the first place! I am soo excited to see how it turns out. When we are done I will share more pictures!

Ok another post about my hair LOL :)

2008-10-04T09:18:00.004-06:00

Here is a picture of when I cut it short for the very first time :) Well for the first time since I was an adult! This picture is from May 2002! I think. At least that is the folder that it is saved on our computer!

Long hair!

2008-10-04T09:12:00.004-06:00

Since most of you that read my blog met me after I cut off my hair I found a picture with my long hair, even as awful as it is, I am going to share with you so you can see how long my hair was!
Jake is sure hot it this picture! This picture is from September 2000! Just about a month after we had met! :) Pardon my nasty shoes!

Ok! So I found an ALMOST better picture which was taken on 12/25/2001! You can see my hair a little better. My Aunt, the photographer whom I got my photo skills from, took this picture and gave me a little hair cut! hehe!

One more post for the night!

2008-10-04T00:16:00.003-06:00

I have decided that...

I am going to grow my hair out. I don't know how long I will grow it but my hair looked super cute tonight. At least I think so. I bought some bobby pins (cute ones :)) and am on the look out for some more! I never knew that I would like them as much as I do!

Friday fun!

2008-10-03T23:50:00.004-06:00

Tonight we met up with Lonni and Gabe to go to a reception and Gabe is SOO cute! I continue to call him Baby Gabe all the time then have to remind myself that he is almost 3! Well maybe not almost but March will be here before we know it. Gabe LOVES to take pictures and it had been a while since we took a Gabe and Misty picture so I asked him if he wanted to and he said yes! So out comes the camera. I asked him if he wanted to do funny things for the camera and of course he said yes. So I was testing him to see if he would do what I told him to do! Here are the pictures that we took.

Here is the first picture before we decided to be funny! He is just the cutest!

With this picture we was going for putting your hand by your ears. I don't think that he fully understood what I meant. Instead he started doing my sign :) So now you guys can all see what he does when he wants me :)
This picture we were putting our hand on our head!
We were trying to do thumbs up. He has special fingers which cause him to not fully be able to do thumbs up. Jake tried to help him :)

Can you guess what we were doing here? In case you can't.. We were sticking our tongue out! I don't know if you can see his tiny tongue that well.

This picture we were plugging our noses!

Then we went out to dinner and he had to have two suckers!

Break from WW

2008-10-03T23:41:00.002-06:00

So this last week was horrible. I got some news that me being an emotial eater led me to eat.. So I wouldn't be surprised to see if all 5.6 pounds lost have been gained back. I am still going to go to my meeting tomorrow and post about my results. I am back to eating healthy starting tomorrow.

PS... Eating the bad food did NOTHING for me. Didn't make me feel better... Instead it made me feel bad.. GO figure.

Week 3 :)

2008-09-27T21:07:00.002-06:00

I went and did my WW weigh on today and I am down another 1.6 pounds for a total of 5.6 pounds lost! Today I got my first 5 pound star! YAY YAY YAY!

The lady that weighed me in was so cute and I decided to ask her how much weight she had lost. She has lost 135 pounds! Crazy! :) It can be done :)

Just in... Jake likes.......

2008-09-24T11:45:00.001-06:00

Hot dogs and Chicago Pizza Dogs. Yup. That is what I woke up to this morning. Jake telling me that he likes Hot dogs and Chicago Pizza dogs. I have never heard of a Chicago pizza dog LOL Wonder what the heck he was dreaming about LOL :0)

Week 2 Weigh in 1!

2008-09-19T13:58:00.003-06:00

So yesterday ended my first full week on WW. I feel as though I did pretty darn good. I was able to drink all of my water and milk abd eat all of my veggies almost every day. There were a few days that I didn't do to well but you take those days as lessons. Lessons that teach you that if you do what you're supposed to do that you will only do better. I am happy to say that I lost 4 pounds this week! YAY! I look forward to next week!

Had to share my happy moment!

Kid+Camera=TONS OF PICTURES!

2008-09-16T21:57:00.004-06:00

Makaila has been gone for a few weeks now and I don't even think that my camera has been out of my case. I didn't realize how I don't really take pictures that often. I guess that if you were to look through my pictures (and my posts) I am sure that at least 90% of my posts are either about 1-Makaila or 2-Gabe!

I promise that I will try to post more and take more pictures :) They may be of the sky or something however I am GOING to take them :)

So what has been going on in our life since Makaila left? Nothing really I guess :) Getting our house back to normal I suppose. Spending my time together and possibly being lazy. It is kind of nice to kick back and not be on the go go go all of the time. You know me.. I am always on the go. It seems as though I always have something planned. So lets see what has happened since Makaila left on the 1st... We went on a bike ride on the 13th up some rode in Orem. Before we got to our destination we drove past this fruit stand which we kept on driving past! On the way home I told Jake that I wanted to get some fruit. I was sure glad that I did. They were the best peaches I have ever ate and if Orem wasn't so far away I would go and get me some more. Plums.. Yes Plums.. They are delicious too. I had told Jake that you forget how much you like the sweet taste of fruit until you eat it! At that moment I would have rathered had a peach instead of a candy bar! Then.... I went out with my Aunt on Monday. Missed my primary meeting on Thursday (Wasn't feeling good. Came home and went to sleep until almost 9). Oh yeah! We bought a new washer and dryer. I LOVE my new washer and dryer. Our old ones were leaking. Or shall I say the washer was leaking and it wasn't swishing the clothes like I thought that it would. We had already made one repair to the washer and two to the dryer. These stupid machines were only 4 years old. So off we went to Maytag to see about fixing the machine. It was going to cost like $80.00 just to have someone LOOK at it PLUS parts and labor. I had thought that I could just deal with clothes which I am sure were ok cleaned just not as good smelling as our clothes in Cali (our clothes smelt SOO good in cali. I bet that it had to do with their detergent LOL) However I still wanted to go and look at the outlet area at RC Willey. We get there this guy trys to talk us into this Frigidaire washer and dryer. We told him that we are just looking and off we go to the scratch and dent area and guess what we found? Our washer and dryer! We got such a good deal on it! YAY! Oh yeah.. I forgot. I want to mention this.. I joined weight watchers on Friday. Yup I said it. I am fat... and need the help of weight watchers. Since Friday I have done so so.. I know that I can do better. Next week is going to be better. This week so far my achievements are... I have not had Soda since Thursday AND are you ready for this? I am drinking Milk. I hate milk. Granted I had to blend it with Fruit but I drink it :) So those are my two accomplishments! I am going to try to accomplish two things at a time with this weight loss thing. That way I don't overwhelm myself and give up. When I go to the weigh in and if I haven't lost anything I have gained two other accomplishments out of the week and will look forward to next weeks! :) SO wish me luck! I know that I need this more than ANYTHING. My heart needs it.. Most importantly JAKE needs it. I want to be here to live with him and at my weight it is not healthy. So check out my blog regularly for my weight loss posts!

Love ya guys!

Done posting about our trip for a bit!

2008-08-30T11:50:00.000-06:00

I will post more later! I didn't realize how long it would take to post about our trip :)

Disneyland!

2008-08-30T11:12:00.007-06:00

We went to Disneyland and stayed at Howard Johnsons. If anyone is going to Disneyland I recommend that you check out HOJO :) We paid $74.00 a night for two queen beds with a Disney view :) It was clean and nice. They have what is called the entertainment rate which isn't always available but it is available for most of the time. What you do to get the entertainment rate is purchace one of those entertainment books and bring the blue card that comes with it to HOJO :) You can check out if the rate is available by going to http://www.hojoanaheim.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14.
We also did this thing called ridemax which is this program that you can buy and it lets you chose the rides that you want to ride that day and it makes a schedule for you to use so you have the least amount of wait time to ride a ride! The whole time that we were there the longest wait time we had was a half hour! That was for splash mountain which we rode with it not being on the list in our free time! The only downfall is that you walk and walk and walk and walk. While we were walking I starting singning that primary sing Pioneer children sang and they walked and walked and walked and walked LOL :) You can check out ridemax by going to
http://www.ridemax.com/
We had a lot of fun while in Disneyland. Makaila seemed to enjoy the thrill type rides. She said that her favorite ride was the Tower of Terror! Crazy her! I can tell you that I HATE HATE HATE I could continue typing the word hate but I will not bore you by having to read it that many times the teacups. What a waste of a ride LOL :) I got so sick of from the ride. I had a major headache and refuse to even look at the ride again!

Here are a few pictures of our Disneyland trip :)

Have you ever wished that you would have bought something and didn't? Well that is this hat! I don't know why but I wanted this hat! I didn't get it and now wished that I would have. It fit my head perfectly! I loved it! Oh well at least I have a picture to remember it by!

While we were in California I got a new addiction. Mr. Potato Head. Yup.. I LOVE Mr. Potato head and bought tons of disney parts for my Mr. Potato Head. Now I wished that I had a few more parts LOL :) I guess those will have to wait until our next trip
We got to take our picture with Mickey! Not the best picture but it will do!
I had to get those cute Mickey Ears for Makaila! Look at all of the cute pictures that I was able to get! I am SOO going to miss this little girl come Monday morning when she returns back home.

San Diego Temple

2008-08-30T10:35:00.003-06:00

We went to the San Diego Temple while on our vacation and it was BEAUTIFUL! The inside I think is a lot more beautiful than the outside! We did a session while we were there and man.. I could live without the experience of getting to the temple for the session. It started out with us running late. We told my cousins who were going to watch Makaila that we would be there by 8:30 and we didn't even get to the car to leave until 8:30. I want to add what Makaila said on the way to church on Sunday. We again were running late (well not late 10 min until church started and church was 5 min away) and we get to the car and Jake wanted his sunglasses. Makaila had said that EVERYTHING we try to go to church something comes up that tries to make us not want to go to church or are late for church. That we get upset or something. I had told her that it was Satan who was trying to keep us from doing good. Now back to our story about going to the Temple. So as we are driving all of the sudden the vehicle will not go into first of second gear. In Cali there are a lot of hills and this made it challenging to get to our destination. We were hoping that there was no problem but sure enough.... It would hardly work. Jake could get it in first once in a while. Like one out of every 10 tries. But never in second. So I am getting frustrates because we are borrowing this vehicle from my cousins and now we break it. So we finally make it to the Temple. Guess what I couldn't find? My recommend. Here I am already stressed out about the vehicle and now I cannot find my recommend. Luckily I found it but it was hidden in my wallet. As you walk into the temple it is BEAUTIFUL! The stair case leading up to the chapel was beautiful and the celestial room was breathtaking! If you have not gone make time to go! This is the most beautiful Temple I have been to!

Here are some pictures!

New Hair Style :)

2008-08-18T23:43:00.002-06:00

So while I am out here in California I decided to try a new hair style :) Hope you like it.. Esp Todd :) Hopefully it doesn't look to manly snicker:snicker :)

Putting my diapers to work!

2008-08-18T23:40:00.002-06:00

So you all know my addition to cloth diapers :) I had gabe for a day and decided to see how cute my adorable diapers would look on cute Gabe :) Here is a picture for all to see!

Cute Picture!

2008-08-18T23:38:00.001-06:00

Here is a cute pic that we took on before we left! We are so cute!

Seaworld Make shift hats!

2008-08-18T23:36:00.003-06:00

While we were at Seaworld I had to laugh at all of the hats made out of the park maps! Of course I had to take pictures to share! I hope that you find these as funny as I did :)

Gabes new addiction.

2008-08-18T23:29:00.002-06:00

On our flight to California Gabe picked up a new addiction. Here is a picture of him as he fell asleep while reading :)
So I finally caved in and read Twilight. I read it in three days. It was a fast read but not my favorite book. Or maybe I don't even have a favorite book. The last book that I read was the first book in the sisterhood of the traveling pants series. So I don't read that often! However I an on the second book New Moon. I bought it while at the airport with hopes to get some 100 pages read on the flight. I did not read 100 instead 18 LOL :) Due to the flight I had a headache and didn't read much :) So on the flight Gabe had fallen asleep and we thought that it would be funny to take a picture of him with the sun glasses on and the book before he woke up and I knew that the fanes of these books would LOVE this picture :)

Anyways.. Hopefully before the trip ends I will finish the book. I picked the book up on Thursday and I am on pay 90 I think so I have a lot to read before the 27th. I just haven't made time to read.

Flight!

2008-08-18T23:26:00.003-06:00

We left for our trip on Thursday and arrived in San Diego :) I am so glad that it only took an hour and a half to get here instead of the 11 hours it would have taken if we would have drove! Here are a few pictures of our flight! The first one is of us on the plane and then the other is looking out the window as we were flying. The location is unknow. Odds are that it is somewhere in the USA Between Utah and San Diego :)

We are alive :)

2008-08-18T23:17:00.004-06:00

Since it has been almost a half of a month since I have last posted I thought that I would let you guys know that we are still alive :)
Since my last post much has happened. We are currently in California relaxing on our vacation! On the 23rd it will be our 5 year anniversary! It is amazing at how fast the time has passed. It seemed like just yesterday that I was marrying the man of my dreams. I am going to be posting individual posts because I hate having to mess with the position of the pictures when I do numerous pictures in one post :)
Many of you knew that we planned on taking Makaila with us to California but we did not want to tell her until we were closer to the time that we were going to go so that she had not as much time to think about the vacation. We had a birthday party for her the Saturday before we left and that is when we told her that we were going to go to Disneyland. I thought that she was going to be a little more excited when she found out. But she wasn't I was a tad disappointed. I thought that she would jump up and down and yell but all she did was say.... Disneyland tickets. .. Then a few seconds later she said I am going to Disneyland.. Then another second later she picked up Gabe and said Gabe I am going to Disneyland with you. Love you. Oh well :) Here are a few pictures of her birthday. I made icecream cone cakes :) I tried to take pictures of them but they were blurry. Or I tried to resize the wrong one and I am to lazy to upload the picture. Here are a few pics of her from her birthday.

Day 1- Bike 1 Misty 0

2008-07-29T21:52:00.003-06:00

For my birthday (Today 7/29 Happy Birthday Misty:)) we got us some new cool bikes. On Sunday we rode our bikes for about 6 miles with the kids and we decided that today we were going to start riding our bikes to work :) So after day one the bike won I lost.... LOL I am so tired and so exhausted that I just want to shower and go to sleep! I don't think that I have ever prodused so much sweat in my whole life. Our ride to work was easy! We made it there in 40 minutes! It would usually take me 15-20 minutes to drive to work so I think that we made good time considering all of the extra pounds that I am carrying around! Now... Our ride home I wish to not talk about it. Ok I will :) We ended up taking a detour to my Aunts house because there were no side walks the way that we were going and we have decided that we are going to be side walk riding folks :) That was tough. I have a hard time going over the hill on 2700 W and I 215. I know some day that I will be able to ride over with no problems:) but right now it is going to take some time. So we ended up leaving my Aunts house at 8:23 and arrived at our house around 9:05. So 42 minutes! The problem was the wind was blowing AGAINST us and the little down hills that I enjoyed the other day and used as time to relax was not relaxing at all. We hardly moved. LOL :) We will see if we go tomorrow as right now my knees are killing me. We rode at least 12 miles today. Here are a few pictures of our day!

Here is a picture of us before we started our journey this morning!

Here is a picture of us as we arrived at our work.. Notice how red my face is LOL :)

Here we are at dinner :) and then a picture of Aunt Lorna. I am so grateful for everything that she has done for me. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be where I am at today. We went to Red Robin for the second year in a row and received awful service LOL :)

Not one but two this week!

2008-07-26T23:21:00.000-06:00

Meet Sheldon

This week our Nephew Sheldon came to stay with us. This proved to be challenging at times. Makaila and Sheldon shall I say just seem to get on each others nerves once in a while. Well maybe not once in a while but the whole day Saturday. It makes me wonder how parents do it. Then I have to remind myself that they don't start out like this and you learn and grow as the children learn and grow. I will say that despite the children drama this week has been pretty fun! It has been a year and a half since I last saw Sheldon and when I first saw a picture of him I almost did not even recognize him. He has grown up so much. Here is a picture as to what I think of him as:

Then I have to remind myself that it was two years ago that I last saw him and he isn't a baby anymore! My sister moved to Oregon shortly after he was born. Well maybe he was one or two years old at the time of the move and since the move I have seen him like 4 times. Here is a picture of what he looked like the last time I saw him: He is so cute!

We started this week out by having the missionaries come over. The Elders that are coming over are Elder Cruz and Elder Bieber. They are great missionaries and Makaila looked forward to their visit. They came last week for dinner and every time I talked to her on the phone before this week she had to ask if the missionaries were still coming over :) She seems to really like church! In the last three weeks she has wanted to go to the Temple and talks a lot about the Temple. Here is a picture of Makaila and Sheldon with the missionaries and then a picture of Makaila, Jake and I at Temple Square last week while seeing the Joseph Smith Movie:

Every time that we go to Temple Square Makaila has to write down every scripture she sees :) I hope that she is reviewing these scriptures in her spare time.
On Friday Makaila and I went to get our hair cut. Makaila looks so cute with her hair cut! I don't have a picture of just me so you will have to see my hair cut in pictures with other people. :) Makaila surprised me in how much hair she wanted taken off but it looks super cute. Hopefully I am still alive after her mother finds out! Her mother knew that she was getting a hair cut but didn't know how much was being cut off. We tried to call her mother but she did not answer... I tried.. I did :)

After we came home from getting our hair cut we again went to Temple Square. Makaila wanted to show Sheldon the Temple since he had never seen it before. Sheldon liked it! I LOVE going to the Temple. One of my favorite things about going to Temple Square is I know that I will at least see one bride :) If you're my friend you know how I love weddings :) They make me happy and if I had the money I would open up my own reception center :) Here is a picture of the three of us from Friday!

Friday night we went for a little drive to find this dog park to see if we wanted to take Zoey it. It is called Tanners something or another. It isn't fenced off and Zoey has this problem of listening so we wanted to see how far away from busy roads she would be. While we were there Jake and I took some new pictures of us :) You can never have to many pictures of us right? I love how he always looks at me. It makes me feel super special!
The biggest thing that we did this weekend was...... Getting us new bikes for our birthday/anniversary gift! We are going to start riding bikes to work for two reasons.

1-Exercise since we both lack that in our lives.

2-Save on Gas.. However the savings will be later on down the road based on the cost of the bikes. But I LOVE my new bike!

We went on a little ride today and it is just amazing at how out of shape I am. Hopefully with time I will get better at riding and increase my health! Sorry I didn't get any good pictures of the bikes but here is a picture of Jake trying to strap them onto our car and me trying out my new helmet!

We hope that everyone is doing well!

An update on Todd since my last post was about him :) He is doing good and his family has started a blog for him so people can check in on his progress. You can go to www.toddstroke.blogspot.com to check it out!

Please say a prayer for my friend Todd and his family

2008-07-16T19:37:00.000-06:00

My friend Todd is in the hospital right now and could use and and all prayers.

Yipee for love!

2008-07-06T19:15:00.000-06:00

All that I can say is that I AM IN LOVE with Jake. He makes me so happy. I am so happy to have him as my husband. I look so forward to our 5 year anniversary trip next month. It is crazy as how fast the time has flown. On July 23rd it will make the 8 years since we met. :) I am one lucky gal! Here is a cute pic that I took of us. Well cute of him.. Not so much of me :)

Makaila came early on Thursday so I had to bring her into my work :) So we took this cute pic of us while at my work. I think she was totally bored and doesn't want to work when she grows up LOL!
Thursday was Todd's Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Thursday Todd. We went over to their house for dinner. It was yummy. I love being with our friends and my wish for Todd is a future filled of fantastic Birthday memories.
Shannon, Amy and I while at Todd's Birthday party! Those two are just so cute. On Friday we went to another birthday party for Jake's brother Jason. They have this cute little girl named Abby (I posted about her when she was first born) and this picture of her was ohh so cute so I thought that I would share this pic! I am happy to announce that this year I left firework burn free! Yipee! Those who do not know three years ago while at Jason's party I was burnt by fireworks on my legs in four spots. They were totally nasty and painful. The second pic is of Jason! Happy Birthday Jason!

On Saturday we ventured out to Temple Square. I always love going to Temple Square. This was Makailas first time going. We went through Brigham Young's house and then went over to the North Visitor Center to see the Christus. After we went and saw the Christus there is this little movie thing where you go from room to room. They show a film that basically talks about eternal families and how much Christ loves us. After we left Makaila grabbed my hand and said didn't that show just make you almost cry? I said yes because it was the spirit testifying that families are eternal. She LOVES church and looks forward to every week that we go. The missionaries asked if they could contact her mom. She excitedly said YES! We will see what comes of it. I don't know what I am going to do when this little girl leaves to go back home.. Possibly cry and be sad for a while... Anyways here are a few pictures of his from our Temple Square Visit. We were not able to do all that we wanted to do because we got a call from Jake's Aunt telling us that his Grandmother was in the hospital due to a fall where she broke 6 ribs in her back and punctured her lung. His Grandmother is doing as well as could be expected since they can't really do anything for this except pain management. Please keep her in your prayers... She is a sweet lady who would do anything for anyone and it makes me feel sad to see her in this pain.

Another week.. GONE...

2008-06-29T22:45:00.001-06:00

Yes you read that right. Another week is gone. I cannot believe how fast life is flying. On Saturday we went to a baptism for a friend and I talked to these two twins in our ward who will be turning 8 soon and I had asked them how they felt about baptism and if they were excited for their baptism day and that it would be here really soon. Their response was it is not soon it is in November. I responded saying that they are right when I was their age it seemed like forever for future months to come but now that I am older November will be here in about two hours. All in all the baptism was great. I LOVE the spirit that comes with going to baptisms. It is such a special feeling. While watching the baptism it made me think of the day that Jake will baptize our children. Then I was thinking that since we do not have children that it will be a long ways away. Then I had to remember what I told the twins.. That November will be here in about two hours. So I am guessing that the baptism for our children will be here in about 458 hours :)

Our week was fun. On Friday Makaila and I went to the Zoo. I was so excited to see the white alligator only to see that it is completely in cased and it hard to see past the finger prints :) Here is a picture of the alligator!

We also saw some fun animals :) I LOVED the picture I got of the Rhino. It was taken behind the plexi glass so don't mind any reflections :) Then the bear was super cute!

Now here is a picture of Makaila and I from the Zoo! She is so cute!

On Saturday we went over to Todd and Amy's new house and I was taking pictures of cute little Oliver! When I first started taking pictures of us he would intentionally close his eyes. So I took a few pictures of me closing my eyes to be funny too. Little did I know that the little squirt has his own agenda. See the picture below!

In case anyone does not know.. I LOVE OLIVER. This little boy brings so much joy to my life every time I see him. He is so funny and a sweet little boy. I love it when he gives me little hugs.

One last picture... This is one of my favorite pictures... It is not great by any means but is shows how sweet and kind my husband is. I love watching him interact with Makaila. One day he is going to be a fantastic day.

Well I better go to bed. Jake is tired and went to bed without me and we never do that. We always to bed at the same time. I asked him to wait 5 minutes but I guess he couldn't!

Edited-So Jake didn't go to bed without me! He just came down to ask me if I was done hehehehehe I love him!

Another fun weekend has passed....

2008-06-22T20:42:00.000-06:00

This weekend we had a lot of fun. We had Makaila again (be prepared for future posts about her because she will be with us for the summer:)) and we went to Manti with some friends!

On Thursday my Mom brought Makaila over to our house and that night started off fun. So fun that I cannot remember what we did! We woke up on Friday morning and went with my Aunt to plan her funeral. It is AMAZING at how much a funeral costs. For the funeral services (The services and the stuff they do with the body), casket, vault, some money set aside for opening and closing, obituary and death certificates the grand total is $9200.00 YES $9200.00 EXCLUDING the plot and headstone. Many of you know that Jake and I already have our funeral plan bought and paid for. Before we started going to Church we opted for cremation. After we started going to church I had talked to our bishop about our funeral plan and the cremation. One of the reasons that we went with cremation is because as a young child I had bad dreams about my Dad's body in the casket which made me not want to be burring and also the cost of our funeral plan is MUCH cheaper than traditional burial. Shortly after we went through the Temple we met up with the mortuary people to discuss changing our plan to tradition burial and at that time it was going to cost us like $16000.00 Excluding the plots and the headstone and not putting any money aside for opening and closing... So going through this with my Aunt has made me grateful for what we have. At least right now if one of us was to die it wouldn't be a burden on the other financially. We have enough like insurance to pay the house and our debt off if that was to happen so that way the other person can pay off those other expenses. If the living person does decide to do traditional burial then we will do it. But for now cremation it is. If you haven't thought about it I highly recommend that you look into preened funeral plans. I am SOO GLAD that we already have this taken care of.

Now onto the fun stuff :) So Friday night we went up to Memory Grove and let our dog run lose. For those who know Zoey know that she is super crazy and runs fast and is hard to get back once she is lose! We managed to get her back and went up a little walk on one of their trails. While we were on the trail we cam across this cute foot that someone made out of rocks! It so made my night!

We even tried to take a picture of all of us and this is the best that we did. My battery was running low so I was afraid to take numerous pictures in case I came across the perfect picture opportunity.. Which we didn't LOL :)

Saturday morning we headed up to Manti with our friends Brittany and Josh the watch the pagent. I love the Mormon Miracle Pagent. This was our second year going and I plan on going again in the future. I wish that we would have brought Makaila because I knew that she would have fun however we did not have the accomdations for her. So it was just us and our friends! We went and did a session in the Manti Temple before the pagent. That was a joy as always. It was amazing at how many people were getting sealed that day. It made me think about our sealing day. I know that it was special and I enjoyed it but I wish that I would have listended more and maybe acted more happy about it than I did. I know that we did the right thing at the right time but I don't think that I prepared myself as mush as I now would have liked. Anyways here are some pics of our weekend!

I hope that everyone else had a great weekend!!!!!

Picture Update time!

2008-06-17T22:38:00.001-06:00

As many of you know my niece Makaila is visiting us from Oregon for the summer. She is super cute and last week was a blast!

Here is a pic of her and I :)

This next week I will only get be with her on Friday, Saturday morning and a few hours on Sunday since we are going to Manti. I am excited to go to Manti! We are going with some of our Friends Brittany and Josh! I will share pics when we get back!

Ok :) So I am going to just share some more random pics! Enjoy!

Makaila enjoying her ribs! Well not HER ribs but ribs :)

Gabriel is now into taking self portraits!
Me at work :) now all of you who are curious as to what I look like when I work here I am :)

The End :)

Bad customer service..

2008-06-07T03:46:00.001-06:00

Guess what time it is? 3:46 FREAKING AM. I just received a call from Jetblue.. Thanks for not flying but jetting with us! It was about some freaking reservation change. I was beyond pissed. For one I almost had a heart attack because a call coming through in the middle of the night and two here it is almost an hour after the call came through and I am still up. SO I thought..... People want me to update my blog so here you go!

I called Jetblue to complain. This is my first time what do they call it? JETTING with Jetblue and the experience has been anything except desirable. So I call and complain and the sup said that they will take my name off from the automated list. Maybe I don't want me name taking off from the automated list if this is a way of notifying people of flight changes duh. But I didn't think about that when I was talking to the oh so professional supervisor. I had explained to her my frustrations stating that I booked in advance and then the rates change by oh $80.00 and that sits on my account as a credit for future flights. Then she has the nerve to tell me that I shouldn't be talking to her the way that I did. What way? Expressing my concerns? Then when I tell her that I myself take supervisor calls and I have not been belligerent to her once she then tells me that I am threatening her. I said I have not once threatened her. Then she said that I threatened JetBlue by stating that I will not fly with them again due to this call. They hire some company that made the call. She explained this to me. Almost like trying to pass the blame onto someone else. I told her that JetBlue is responsible as they are the one that hires this third party company to make those calls. My goodness... I asked for someone above her and THEN.. THEN... She tells me that there is no record of them calling me. I said do you really think that I want to wake up and 3 in the morning and call you and tell you that I am upset that you guys called me just to make it up? Then she told me that I am upset about the $80.00 and I am using this to get the $80.00 back. My gosh.. This lady deserves the supervisor of the year award in my book for providing such outstanding customer service. Apparently there is no one above her to complain to.. NO ONE.

I am off to bed now. Anyone know any contact info with Jetblue to complain to someone higher than their customer service reps? Obviously they don't care and take your concerns as a threat.

Maybe they are grumpy that it was 3AM and they had to work.. Who knows....

Great post following my prior post :)

See ya!

Psst.. I am not making up the time. It shows that I posted my post at 2:46 AM Blogger is so against me too LOL making me look like a liar hehe.

Great customer service!

2008-04-17T15:59:00.000-06:00

I don't know about you but I am rarely receive exceptional customer service. So I will share my experience with you.

On 1/1/2008 I went and bought some new dress shoes. They are not that cute but they sure feel better than any other pair of shoes I have owned. About a month after I bought these shoes the rubber part of the heel fell off. Jake had super glued it. I was a little upset thinking that I paid $130.00 for this pair of shoes to have them only last a month. So about two months later if falls off again. I had complained to my friend at work who is so into shoes and has more pair of shoes than I will ever have and has worked as a shoe sales lady and she told me to take them back to the store. I felt as though I couldn't do that because here I have worn them for nearly 3 or so months. I finally decided to just email the maker of the shoes. I received a response back on Monday and they said that they would mail me out my new pair of shoes (This was on Tuesday) well late Tuesday I realized that I told them the wrong name of the shoes. So I emailed them and told them of my mistake. So I come into work today to find an email from them. They stated to KEEP BOTH pairs of shoes. These shoes are $130.00 EACH! How freaking excited am I? This experience will make it worth my time to go and buy more shoes and to share how great their service is.

If you are wondering the shoes are made by Aravon :)
Here is their web address :)
http://www.aravonshoes.com/index.php
The shoes that I have are called Ann. The mistake pair is called Eden!

They are not super cute but they are super comfy!

I am excited for me new shoes to arrive!

So this is a positive to my negative post earlier today!

YAY!

Hope every one is doing good :)

Vent.. Having a hard time...

2008-04-17T11:38:00.000-06:00

So today I come to work and this lady who I work with is talking about her sister who is 24 and just had her 6th child.. YES.. I said 6th. Let me also say that this girl from what I hear is not the best girl. She had her other children taken away from her (She has them back now) and she is on drugs (hopefully was on drugs and not on drugs throughout the pregnancy) and is on states assistance. SO today my friend is talking about how her sister just had baby #6 at 24 weeks weighing 1 pound 8 ounces. Then I sit here... Trying to have a kid. I have the house and the desire to be able to provide for children yet I cannot get pregnant. What the heck is up with this? This morning I was almost in tears and didn't want to be at work...

WHEN.. When will it be my time.. WHEN... :( Hopefully some day soon.

Sorry.. I just had to get this out as it has been bugging me all morning. I know that I keep saying after August we will continue to go and see the doctor.. But do you want to know something? If I happened to get PG before August I would be thrilled...

One day. One day...

What have I done today?

2008-04-06T20:56:00.000-06:00

Other then watching conference and preparing dinner tonight I made some stuff!

If you are my friend you know that I have this addiction.. Yes an addiction. And one that I cannot use at the current moment :) I LOVE cloth diapers :) I have recently been on a prefold love and one day wanting to embellish them! Today I did it. The first picture is of the diapers in the dye. Then the next picture is of them all done! I also made some cloth wipes so the last picture is of the cloth wipes.

I just thought that I would share! I am just excited and happy with the way that these turned out. These diapers are actually for one of my cousins who has decided that she wants to cloth diaper and see how she likes it! You should have seen my dorky excitement when she said that they were thinking about cloth diapering. I told her all that I knew at the time and probably overwhelmed her but told her that I would get her a stash for her baby shower. Since some cloth diapers exceed my budget I told her that I would get her the old fashioned prefolds :)

So let me know what you think :)

Guess who?

2008-04-05T11:05:00.000-06:00

So we didn't get to clean the bedroom all the way we cleaned like the entry way into the bedroom. But I did find some pictures and scanned them!

GUESS WHO? ME! The first pciture is of my family then the next two pictures are me at two days old one with my parents and then the other with my brother and sister. Then the next one is 6 months then the other one.. I don't know :) It didn't have an age on it!

Have you ever...

2008-04-05T08:03:00.001-06:00

Ran into a General Authority of the church? We did last night!

As we were going to the Temple last night we ran into Elder L. Tom Perry in the conference building elevator! :) I will admit that I didn't know his name but from the spirit I felt as he entered the elevator I KNEW that he was someone special. :) Obviously we were not the only people in the elevator, being conference weekend and all, and this other girl that was in there about pee’d her pants. You know the when you see your celebrity crush type of pee your pants. So since she was going all crazy I decided to ask what his name was. When we came home I looked for his picture and sure enough it was him.. This has taught me two things.. One I need to pay more attention to conference and two I need to study up on the general authority of the church!

Anyways you guys! I hope that you enjoy conference and will be willing to share your favorite conference talks with others! I hope that you have a good and safe weekend and a spiritual one at that. This week has been a great week for us because Jake received his patriarchal blessing this week and then we went to the Temple last night for one of Jakes friends from work taking out her own endowment.. But.. We were to late. We arrived 5 minutes to late. So we did some sealings and went to the celestial room for about and hour and a half. As we were in there there was one girl who will forever hold a special place in m heart.. Even though I don't know her and she doesn’t even know she had am impact on me. I was just watching her excitement and joy and LOVE for the temple as she entered the celestial room for the first time. She made me happy and reminded me of the day that I went to the Temple for the first time. I hope that I acted half of excited as she did.

Well I am off to go and help clean out my old bedroom at my Aunts house. It has become completely stuffed with junk and I need to find some pictures for something I am doing for my Aunt!

Funny picture!

2008-03-24T21:50:00.000-06:00

The so you think that you're cool taking a self portrait only to find out that you had the bunny ears backwards Photo! :)

Easter yesterday was great. You know the whole go to three families parties ordeal. I didn't take many pics so this one will have to do!

Nothing really exciting has recently happened. Well except we finished our taxes and will have them mailed off soon! Usually we end up having to pay but the last two years we received a refund. This year we are going to use our refund for our vacation in August. :) Yay for Disneyland!

Well I better get to bed! 5:45 will be here soon! We have been going to the gym as I need to lose 30 pounds by August! That's my goal and I WILL DO IT!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

2008-03-17T22:42:00.001-06:00

Gabriel is two years old today! YAY! His birthday party was yesterday and boy did he have fun!
Here are a few pictures I wanted to share from his birthday party! Of course we have to have the obligatory Misty and Gabe pic! Jake decided he wanted in the pic :)

Oh yeah here also a few pics of the cakes I made for him :) Nothing fantastic but made with love..

Happy Birthday Abby!

2008-03-17T22:35:00.000-06:00

On March 14th our little neice Abigail Jase was born! Weighing 6 lb 1 oz and 17 inches long! She is super cute :) She has the cutest little toes of anyone I have ever seen!

2008-03-14T17:43:00.001-06:00

Ok one more post! Promise!

I just wanted to let you guys know how much I love the Temple. I love going to the Temple. I love the feelings I get when I go to the Temple. I know that sometimes it is hard to get to the Temple but it is SOO worth it once you get there! The blessings that come from the Temple are truly amazing!

Gabe

2008-03-14T17:20:00.001-06:00

I thought that I would do one more post for the day.

If you know me you have heard about Gabe.

Gabe is the second love of my life. I love him so very much. Everything about this little boy melts my heart! On Monday it will be his SECOND birthday. The second birthday that Doctors said would never happen. Just seeing Gabe and watching Gabe testifys to me of the miracles that our Heavenly Father perfom on a daily basis. For his birthday I am going to make his birthday cake :) I have no idea what I am going to make but I am going to make one. When I am done I will post some pictures. Don't get your hopes up.. It will not be anything fantastic.

Also! Great news! My sister in law Nicole is going to have her baby soon! I am looking forward to meeting this little girl! They are going to name her Abigail Jace (I am not positive of the spelling I am only guessing ).

Well bye for now! I do know that I have more important things to do considering the time of day I am posting this!

have fun everyone!

Complete

2008-03-14T17:01:00.000-06:00

It’s us! Jake and Misty!

Some may say that it’s about time.

I have had numerous friends state that we need to start a blog. I always tell them that is just us, our dog and a cat. What do we do that can keep people entertained? So after months of procrastinating here we are!