Monday, July 23, 2012

The Laborers in the Vineyard

{photo taken from here}

"...there are going to be times in our lives when someone else gets an unexpected blessing or receives some special recognition.  May I plead with us not to be hurt-and certainly not to feel envious-when good fortune comes to another person?  We are not diminished when someone else is added upon.  We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed.  The race we are really in is the race against sin, and surely envy is one of the most universal of those."
-Jeffrey R. Holland


I loved this talk from General Conference in April.  You can go here to read the full message (which I highly recommend doing if you haven't already!)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

It's a GIRL!!

We are so excited!  Bring on the pinks and purples and little dresses! :)  Everything went really well during the ultrasound and she is measuring right where she should be!  So it looks like as of right now we are on track for the due date of December 4th.  Here are a few pictures of our little one!

Her face (and a little bit of arms and legs):
 Feet:
 A leg and a side view of a foot:
Isn't she so cute already ;)

And here is my 20 week baby bump.  Half way!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Home Improvements: Trim and Casing

Here is the first of a few posts to show some of the work we've done on our house!

Before:
Dark wood trim, casing and doors (except for the awesome (sarcasm there) green front door).



After:
New trim and casing!  We sanded down the window frames and doors and painted them too.  No green door-yay!  This room also got new paint.

 You'll notice some new decor as well.  Some has been there awhile, but some (like the curtains in the first picture) are new.
We did the new trim/casing on the whole first floor, but the other rooms aren't complete yet, so I will post about them later :)  I LOVE how it looks!  It is so much better and it really brightens up the house.  Lots of hard work, but totally worth it!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Camille: Senior Pictures

I had such a blast doing Camille's Senior Pictures!  She is such a cute girl and was so easy-going and fun to work with!  She had some great ideas for locations!  I think they turned out really cute :)  Here are a few favorites:






LOVED this spot with the vines!







Isn't she gorgeous?!

Thanks Camille!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy Independence Day!



"Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

-The Star-Spangled Banner 
Francis Scott Key

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Adventures With Mom and Dad, Part III

We got back from our trip through Nauvoo and Missouri on Monday evening.
On Tuesday Clint had to go back to work (frown) and the rest of us headed to Sioux Falls for the day!  My parents wanted to help us get some baby stuff while they were here so we went to Babies R Us.  What a fun store!  I want to go back there when I find out what we're having :)  Anyway, we were able to find a car seat and stroller that I liked!  It's funny, because I know we're having a baby, but every time I see the car seat I'm like, "Whoa...we're actually having a baby!"  Haha :)
Anyway, while we were in Sioux Falls, we obviously had to go see the falls!  Can you tell it was really windy??
 We also hit up Panera and Red Mango while we were there.  Mmmm!

On Wednesday we hung around here, and while my dad did some work, my mom helped me paint our bedroom.  Unfortunately as we were painting we realized that they had given us the wrong color of paint!  Urgh!  Very frustrating.  (Fortunately Clint and I were able to go back and they gave us the right paint.  Clint got it painted on Saturday and it looks awesome!).  That night we went to Sioux City and did some more shopping.

On Thursday my dad had some more work to do, so my mom and I headed to Omaha.  We went to the Mormon Trail Center and then to the Henry Doorly Zoo!  The zoo is HUGE and we didn't have time to see all of it.  I wish we had, cause what we saw was awesome!  A lot of their exhibits are indoors so they are actually open year round.  Here are pictures from The Jungle:
 It was so cool!  You almost feel like you are actually in the jungle.  It's amazing how they did the whole thing. After that we headed over to see the lions and tigers.  The pictures of the lions sleeping crack me up!  Especially the top one :)
That was all we had time to see, but it was worth it!  I definitely want to go back and see everything else sometime though.  Next we headed to Old Market.  I've mentioned this place before, but it is basically a few blocks in downtown Omaha where the streets are lined with all kinds of restaurants and shops.  Very fun!

Then my parents had to leave on Friday morning :(  It was so fun having them here!  We were able to do a lot, but it still felt like we didn't have enough time.  Isn't that always how it goes?

Thanks for coming to visit Mom and Dad!  We had a blast!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Kansas City, MO Temple

Here are a few pictures from our stop at the Kansas City Temple, as promised!  Unfortunately we didn't get to go in because it was closed, but Clint and I hope to go back one day to see the inside!





A beautiful temple!  

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Adventures With Mom and Dad, Part II: Missouri

Continuing on our adventure...
After Nauvoo, we drove over to Missouri to visit some sites there.  Our first stop was Adam-Ondi-Ahman.   To find out more about the significance of this place, you can click here :)
It is definitely a beautiful valley.  And it's huge!  These pictures only show one small part of it.
 This is the hotel we stayed at in a town called Excelsior Springs.  It was so cool!  Back in the day, famous people like Harry S. Truman and Al Capone used to stay here (not at the same time, of course).
 After getting settled at the hotel we went and checked out the Richmond Cemetery.  The plaque on the top right tells a little bit about the cemetery.  The tall monument is the Monument of the Three Witnesses (David Whitmer, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery).  To learn more about them by reading their testimony, click here.  This also shows some of the graves of early saints that have been preserved.
 After visiting the cemetery, we went to a really yummy BBQ place.  Mmmm, it was good! Then we headed out to Far West.  Some of the early saints lived here for a short time.  While they were here they began construction on a temple.  They laid the cornerstones, but were never able to finish building it before they moved on.  It was a small site, but very beautiful!

Before heading back to Iowa, we also visited Liberty Jail  and the Independence Visitor's Center.  We also got to stop by the Kansas City temple, which I will do a post on later :)
It was a great trip!  So fun to see so many historic church sites!