Blessing Day

Hallie's blessing day was absolutely beautiful! The weather was nice and the company was even better despite missing a few close people. Ashton gave a beautiful blessing through the priesthood. How blessed we are to have the voice of God on the earth today.

Hallie looked absolutely stunning in her beautiful dress made by Grandma Smith. It is hard to capture the beauty of the dress in pictures.

Hallie is such a lovely girl. We are so lucky to have her. She has been an influence for good already. She has a sweet spirit and is truly a gift from God. We are blessed to be sealed to her forever.

The Family Tree

When Ashton and I were dating he took me to this little ma and pa shop down in Sataquin, UT called The Family Tree. It is a log cabin type place and upon the walls hang pictures of the owners family...all sides of the family (as you can see in the background of this picture). After our first time of going there, we discovered there was one wall that was covered in pictures of friends. So Ashton asked one of the ladies if we brought our picture in, could we hang it on the friends wall. We went back a few days later and that lady wasn't there to help us out so our picture never made it on the wall. While we were sitting there eating the other day, we noticed the perfect spot: an empty nail just waiting for our portrait to grace those blank boards with our smiles. Maybe someday we will just bring a picture and sneak it up on the wall and then come back a month or so later and see if anyone has removed it. We go to The Family Tree at least once a year to fill up on old memories, homestyle, greasy food, and to enjoy the larges scone I have ever seen smothered in warm honey butter. No doubt, The Family Tree holds a special place in our heart even if it doesn't hold a picture of us on its walls. If you ever get a chance, visit The Family Tree and look for our upcoming picture...if we're bold enough.

New Zealand we miss you....

...potato top meat pies, driving on the left side, the beeping when cars back up, the beautiful accents, oki doki sushi, the bush, all of our NZ whanau, the chocoloate, the licorice...when can we see you again?

Juli's Visit

We had the GREAT privilege of having Aunt Juli come for a visit for her spring break (thanks to Grandma Smith!). We had a great time visiting and going up to temple square. It was great to have a full time babysitter too! You are a great sister and a great aunt! We love you Juli and are glad you could come visit!

Pounding the Pavement

So Ashton finally let me go running for the first time last week since having Hallie. He wouldn't let me go until 4 weeks and was nice enough to let me go one day early because the weather was so beautiful. It was so nice to get back to running. My first day back outside, and all this week, I have ran 3 miles every day. I'm not going to lie, it was hard those first two days back out. I never thought it would be so hard to run 3 miles. I used to be able to run 18 with ease. Oh the good ol' days. I told Ashton that 3 miles used to be a warm-up and now it's a workout. His reply, "So you are human." Hopefully my superhuman powers will kick back in soon.

One Month Old

We can't believe how fast our little one is getting older. I would say growing, but this first month has been a slow start on the growth chart...still under the 5th percentile at 6lb 11oz. At 3 weeks she hadn't even weighed 6lbs yet.

She is a pleasure to have around...most of the time. We love the way she gets crazy hair after she eats, the silly face she makes after her morning vitamins, the way she holds onto her binki, the scrunched eyebrows when she poops. We don't like it when she poops during bathtime, all in her towel, but we still love her anyway. We love how she has uncontrollable limbs, and her little spit bubbles. She makes us smile and laugh multiple times each day. We can't wait for the day when we can make her smile and laugh multiple times each day.