It was the best of times it was the worst of times....

Charles Dickens, what was on your mind when you wrote this? I like to imagine sometimes that you were a mother who was home by herself all day with children. Daily you would cry because it was too much for you to take and you were sleep deprived and behind of everything you needed to get done. As you feel the exhaustion about to consume you, your child does something to melt your heart and just like that, it was as if you had not a care in the world.
I like to imagine that you didn't have any money and it felt like you could never get on your feet...but you had a family who loved you more than anything.
I like to imagine that you were so alone...that you didn't have one friend. No one knew you and no one talked to you and it appeared as if no one care and it was so hard....but you knew how much the Lord loved you so it made everything else seem so small in comparison.
You knew what it was all about, didn't you Mr. Dickens? You knew that every time life feels like it is the "worst of times" that really it is the "best of times". You knew that later on you always look back on those times you thought were so hard and end up seeing such amazing things come from it. Mr. Dickens, thank you for constantly reminding me that my worst of times can ALWAYS be my best of times.

Products you NEED

Here is a product I LOVE that I would certainly recommend to anyone with even a little bit of wave or curl to your hair. It is called Round Trip by Paul Mitchell, the Express style line. It not only has amazing hold and memory, and isn't sticky and doesn't make your hair crunchy. It also makes your hair curlier and curlier the more you use it!! Put it in your damp hair (i actually don't like to brush my hair before "scrunching" it because it helps it look curlier) and scrunch it! Remember when using product it is rarely intend for use on your scalp or root area...it is intended for mid-shaft and ends. Tip your head upside down and either scrunch your hair with your hands or use a diffuser. Blow dry until your hair is pretty much dry and if you so choose you may set it with hair spray! Seriously, if you have wavy or curly hair you NEED this product!

Our first christmas...just the three of us

What a lovely Holiday season! Our little angel just made our Christmas so much fun. I was kind of sad because this was the first Christmas I ever spent away from home but I realized that when I am with Andrew and Joie I am home. Watching Joie get so excited about the silliest little present was the best Christmas present I have ever received! I just hate that Christmas always comes and goes so quickly...I just hope I can keep that spirit of Christmas and the love it brings in my home all the way until NEXT Christmas.

Joie opening her Christmas Jamies

The only toy Joie cared about all day!

Deck the Halls

Oh I love this time of year!! Any one who knows me knows that I HATE winter with a burning passion. If fact, around February every year I hit the tanning bed every day and take a trip to Arkansas for a few weeks just because I hate being cold and stuck in side all day. In spite of my deep hatred for winter, I love it from the last week of November until New years. I just love the Christmas season for so many many reasons. Of course I love to decorate my house and I love how pretty the snow looks against peoples Christmas lights. I love seeing how it brings out the charitable side of so many people. There is a man who lives on my road and he owns an ATV with a snow plow attached to the front and he goes around and plows the whole street and everyone's drive ways! I know so many people hate the commercialism of Christmas and all the advertising when it is a time we should be celebrating Jesus Christ but I love it. To me, it is just a huge way of celebrating Christ! I think all the gift giving, both of material things and of your time and love and such, is an amazing way of honoring Christ's teachings of charity. I just love this time of year!! Of course, here is my newest reason for loving it.......

mothers

"Any mother could perform the jobs of several air traffic controllers with ease." Oh, thanks Lisa Alther for taking exactly how I feel today and putting it into words!


This is Joie's huge smile face that normally only comes around when she is being super mischievous.

My little unicorn

Since Joie wasn't even two months old last Halloween we didn't make a very big deal out of it but this year we were so excited to dress her up...as a unicorn! She was such a good girl and she let us take her out trick or treating to all our friends houses for hours! We are pretty stinkin' lucky!

Unicorn on the Go!

Loving Fall!

Joie and Summer are only 2 months apart....Joie needed a matching soothie for her Halloween costume.

Joie with her cousins, Amber, Summer, Jackson, Thomas, and Carter

First sucker of the night

Giving lots of snuggles to Uncle Craig

College Gameday

We had a total blast this morning going to college game day. Since we live so close we just put Joie in the stroller at 5:45 and walked down to the football stadium parking lot to wait in line. It rained until about 6:30 and was kind of freezing out but the masses of people made it much warmer. We got past the barricades at about 7:30 and unfortunately Joie was already not very happy at this point. We stayed until about 8:45. Once the show started, Joie just sat on Andrew's shoulders dancing the whole time...she also had a brief cameo on ESPN! We also made a sign for Renie that said #70 Mammoth that also made a few appearances on screen! It was really fun despite the rain and cold!

Us crazy women

I had an experience at the grocery store the other day that serious cracked me up!

So Im sure you have all been to those grocery stores where they have those machines that print out in store coupons that are applicable for the things you are purchasing. Example; if you buy diapers they may print out coupons for formula. If you buy spaghetti they might print out a coupon for marinara sauce or french bread or something. I think they have these machines at Albertsons and Smiths. So I was at Albertsons the other day buying ice cream with my dad who was in town for like a day in a half. We had eaten a huge dinner and weren't ready for desert right after but after a half an hour to digest we were ready. After much deliberation we decided on Loaded Chocolate Fudge Brownie. So I went to go check out and I used the self check out machine. The ice cream was the only thing we was buying and after I scanned it the crazy little machine printed out a coupon for me. I grabbed it with my receipt as I was leaving and I looked at it while I was walking out the door....I seriously laughed out loud in the middle of store. The coupon machine printed off a coupon for Always Infiniti Maxi Pads. After looking at it for a moment I realized that coupon machine, or whoever programed it, thought that whoever was buying Loaded Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream must be a menstruating woman. I have thought about this many times now and just thought it was so funny and had to share it with all of my lovely friends who did go buy crazy ice cream during that time of the month and inspired Albertsons to just go ahead and give us all a deal!

13 months

It has been far to long since my last blog post (besides the one I posted like ten minutes ago). Joie is asleep and Andy is at the library so I figured this would be a good way to wind down before I head off to bed.
My little Joie is 13 months now! I remember when I was younger and it really annoyed me when babies turned 1 and the parents wouldn't say they were 1 they would say, "oh he is 15 months" because before you have your own children that means nothing to you! But it seems that ever since Joie was about 8 or 9 months she literally growns and learns all kinds of new things every single day....so now I understand why people continued to count in months after the first birthday because there is a huge difference between 12 months and 13!
When Andrew and I first started dating I always would joke with my mom that since we both have so much energy that if we every had kids they would be OUT OF CONTROL....and I was right. Joie literally runs all day long. She gets into EVERYTHING! She also learns like 5 new words a day and has full on conversations with herself (but she uses her fake phone and she thinks she is actually talking to someone) She just cracks me up!
After I had Joie I seriously thought it would be years and years before I wanted another baby. Pregnancy is so hard, delivery is so hard, nursing is so hard, and i thought those first 3 or 4 months were so hard because that little baby can't do anything for its self. Now I keep thinking that if I could just pop out another kid thats about Joie's age, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute!

Im Sneaky Mommy!

Joie has found a new favorite activity....sneaking! She waits until Im not looking and gets into everything she knows is a "no-no". I know I should probably be a little more firm with her but it just makes me laugh so much!! I swear I dont give my child diet coke, but she just loves to drink anything from a straw

Mother Teresa

I have spend a bit of time thinking about charity and service. I think of what it is to truly serve someone with no selfish motive what so ever. Mother Teresa said "The world today is hungry not only for bread but hungry for love". This reminded me of a story that my mother told me, that she had heard from someone else. I can't recall the name of the woman in the story but for now we will refer to her as "Debbie". Debbie ran a humanitarian mission in India for many years and she was inspired to do so by the amazing work done in that area by Mother Teresa. In the beginning, Debbie's mission dealt mostly with lepers. They had a few doctors who came and volunteered to help and basically remove all the infected areas on the lepers body. This is an extremely time consuming task and so they had most of their volunteers cleaning out the wounds and prepping them for surgery. The first time I heard this story, Debbie seemed as much of a saint to me as Mother Teresa. I didn't think I could imagine a more Christ like way to serve somebody...but I was so mistaken.
After Debbie had been running this mission for a few years she decided it was time for her to meet the woman who inspired her to do all of this, Mother Teresa. She had heard she was going to be in the town for something on one specific day and so Debbie set out to meet her. There was a hoard of people around her and she left before Debbie got to see her. She asked a woman there if she knew where Mother Teresa was going. The woman said their was an orphanage close by where Mother Teresa spent much of her time and there would be a good chance of catching her there. The woman headed off to the orphanage and when she walked in she saw tons of extremely sick children laying all over the floor. All the workers were standing around and Mother Teresa was in the middle. As Mother Teresa walked through the masses of sick children she would occasionally stop and point to one and one of the orphanage workers would go over and pick up that child and sit and a rocking chair and rock them. All the sudden, before Debbie could even process what was happening, she herself was sitting in a rocking chair rocking a sick child and watching Mother Teresa leave out the door before she ever got the chance to meet her. She leaned over to the woman next to her rocking a child as well and asked, "If you don't mind my asking, why are we rocking these children." The woman responded, "Mother Teresa will come in as often as she can and walk though all the children. She will find the ones who she can tell are about to pass away. She points to those children and we go pick them up and rock them until they die because Mother Teresa feels that every child deserves to leave this world feeling loved."
Although Debbie never got to meet Mother Teresa she gained more from this experience then she ever would have by shaking her hand and saying hello. This story has truly been the best example to me of pure charity and service.

Happy Birthday Joie Low!

Well it is official...my baby is 1! Her birthday was on thursday the 10th but we celebrated it on saturday the 12th with a party for her at our house with some friends and family. It was so much fun! I also would like to take a moment to boast and tell everyone that I didnt shed a single tear! I definately ADORE my little girl but I love her so much as she is right now that I dont miss the baby stage!

Well I know that every parent on this earth feels this way but I just feel so incredibly blessed. I am humbled and honored that the Lord intrusted us with such a sweet and amazing little spirit. She teaches me so much daily. She teaches me how to be patient when she cant move quickly because she is barely learning to walk, or when she wants something but doesnt know how to ask for it. She teaches me how to enjoy simple things like a cute puppy walking by in the park, or just sitting in the grass eating a chicken nugget. Most importaintly she has taught me how to love unconditionally.

I remember when I was little I would always ask my mom which one of us she loved the most and she always said she loved us all the same, of course. But I would ask her about that all the time because it didnt make sense to me. One day she told me that when she married my dad she thought her love capacity was full. Then when she had my brother Jared she realized she felt double the way she had felt before. When she was pregnant with me she found herself wondering, "can I possibly love this baby as much as I love my first". Of course I came out and she realized it was possible to love all of us the same. She expressed this to me in a way that I have always loved and it is exactly how I feel right now. She told me that since her heart was full of love for my dad that every time she had a baby she grew a new heart that was filled to the top with love for that child. That is how I feel right now with my joie, and interesting enough my love for Andrew grows as my love for Joie grows because I see so much of him in her every day and I see how much he adores us both! I just want the Lord to know how grateful I am for the AMAZING family that he has intrusted me with.

swiss days...take two

So I found this picture today and thought it was fun to see how different our lives are now than they were last year! I was literally ready to give birth last year at swiss days when we went and now our little girl is about to turn 1!.....you may also notice Andrews gradual clothing improvement....ive been working on it for years now and finally we have polos instead of just t-shirts!!

swiss days

Yesterday Andy's dad's band was playing at swiss days so we went up for a few hours to hang out. We look forward to swiss days all year long and we had a blast (mostly because of the navajo tacos). We also had a fun morning today and discovered that Joie takes after her mommy is her love for....pickles!!

Beauty Tips

Beauty Tips

"For attractive lips,
Speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes,
Seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure,
Share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair,
let a child run his fingers through it once a day.

For poise,
Walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody.

Remember: if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, and one for helping others."

-Audrey Hepburn

my baby girl

So oh my goodness, my baby girl is about to turn 1! Where has the time gone? I swear I felt like I was pregnant just yesterday...

Worlds best daddy/hubby

As I sit here at midnight, fighting sleep as best I can, I can't help but feel so bad for Andrew. He is literally going to school from 8 AM until 12 or 12:30 and he comes home and changes for work and than works from 1 until about 4:45 when he comes home right as I am running out the door to go to school. He puts Joie to bed at 8:30 or 9 and stays up until 11 or later doing calculus homework. He must really love us or something to put up with so much crap. I stay up almost every night with him for moral support but I just wish there was more I could do to help. I just don't think there are enough words to tell him how much I love him and how grateful I am for all that he does.

Old cell phone pics

These are some old pictures that I have had on my phone for so long. I keep meaning to put them up but I always forget! The first one makes me laugh every time I look at it. I one day asked Andrew to give Joie a bath (she was probably about 5 months at the time) and I walked in and found her like this and Andrew's explanation was that he was trying to wash her back. It was so funny! I know these pictures are really random but they just make me smile so much. I love when she falls asleep sitting up in the stroller. I think it is absolutely adorable! The last picture we just took a couple of days ago. My uncle just moved to Spanish Fork with his family and Andrew and I went over to help them with some stuff. We had been there for a few hours and Joie was getting really fussy so I gave her a bottle and rocked her for like half and hour until she finally fell asleep. This was such a treat because it has probably been 4 months at least since she has fallen asleep in my arms. I enjoyed it so much that I fell asleep with her. Andy came in and snapped a quick little picture of us.

Saturday finally came!

I must say today was very needed. Andrew and I both started school this week and things have been crazy. We woke up this morning and decided it would be fun to go hike the Y. We went to the store and bought one of those baby carries than you wear like a backpack for Joie, packed up some water bottles, and away we went. Joie absolutely hated her carrier so we didn't bring it and Andy just carried her on his shoulders the entire time. She had so much fun! She would get so excited when she would spot a lizard or a big grasshopper. By the time we got to the top and came back down she was exhausted and immediately fell asleep. It makes me wonder what kinds of things she will like when she gets older. We were talking about it today and we really want to expose our kids to a little bit of everything in a positive way so that they can form their own opinions and their own likes and dislikes.

FINALLY

I know this may seem silly to many, but I must express my feeling of mass excitement! Today my little girl said MAMA for the first time! She has been saying DADA since she was like 5 months old and I have been feeling a little left out! I was so excited I spent about 45 minutes trying to get her to say it again, but she wasn't having that! I know this sounds silly but I'm going back to school on Monday and I just felt sick to my stomach about leaving her, even though I knew she would be in the very capable hands of Daddy and hearing her say MAMA today seemed to magically soothe my nerves! Thanks Joie!

Long live the Brotherhood

Today we had a fun Brotherhood gathering. The Carters were in town for a week or so, so we got together for an afternoon hamburger BBQ. Don't let the downpours fool you, no amount of rain could dampen this groups spirits. We did all the usual Brotherhood activities, as you can see, including spooning...it just wouldn't be a b-hood get together without it. We also did something new. All of the boys have been asking who Joie's Godfather is (because we have Godparents in our religion and all). We decided it would be cute to give Joie a brotherhood Godfather since they really are as close as family. We wrote up a really funny Godfather contract (including donations to Joie's college fund and approval of Joie's future spouse) and put everyones name in a hat and chose by process of elimination. We drew one name at a time and the last name in the hat would be the Godfather and the second to last name would be the runner-up in case the Godfather could not be there for some reason or another. Matt Reynolds was chosen as the Godfather, which makes Brianna Reynolds her Godmother. Craig Swindlehurst is the runner-up Godfather which will make his future wife Godmother runner-up whenever they get married. I know its silly but thats just how we roll....we really are closer than family. I want to move so badly whenever Andrew graduates but it will be so hard to leave such amazing friends. Love you guys!