Valentine's of the past & Valentine's of the present

One Valentine's Day years ago... When I was 9 years old, I became a member of 

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". 

I love that every Feb. 14th--- the day of love is linked to one of the happiest moments in my life. I'll never forget the feelings I felt that day, and the confirmation I received from the spirit that in fact this was His true church. This was years before my dad converted and we became an eternal family, in fact only my mom and I were members at the time and it was the beginning of many wonderful things to come.

Now, 19 years later..... I not only have been sealed for eternity to my parents and siblings, but have a beautiful family of my own! 

I'm so grateful for those missionaries that taught me the gospel and prompted me to ask Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and if this was His true Church.... I knew it then and I still know now the answer given to me by the spirit... What a blessing this knowledge has been in my life and how this little act of courage has molded my character and changed the course of my life forever!

This year Valentine's Day was also special and this is why:

I got 12 beautiful red roses from my best friend along with a hand-written love letter.

Tommy has the hardest time holding secrets, so he couldn't wait till the 14th to give me my present, and on Sunday while we were having dinner at my mom's he surprised me with a brand new HP Desktop Computer.... I was in shock! Totally unexpected and maybe not the most romantic gift..., but it was the perfect addition to my new work area and I love it!

I made these Valentine's Day cards for Andy's friends at school. 

Andy made us the sweetest Valentine's Day card. 

It read:

"To Mom and Dad

My love for you is cooler than Iron Man hot toys, warmer than the sun.

Every time you smile it makes me feel like I am a star.

Love Andy"

Isn't that the cutest ever!

He also made these Cards for Sean, Ally, mom and dad.

We celebrated by going to the Olive Garden's and spending time as a family, telling each other how much we love one another and how happy we are to have a FAMILY that is forever!

Real Salt Lake

We went to the Real Salt Lake 'futbol' game last night with our good friends Pao & Sean. We had so much fun and had killer seats- front row right behind the Goal. It was our fist time, but definitely not our last!

Sean & Paola Pacheco.... snuggling up at the game!

Robbie Findley... look familiar??? He played for the US team at the World Cup.

The best part is that we won 2-0! Go RSL!!!!

Sean Hannity in Salt Lake City

Sean Hannity came to Salt Lake City today to kick-off his book tour- "Conservative Victory". Many of you may not know that Tom is a big fan and loves politics... so Tom and I went to Borders in Murray hoping to buy a copy of his book and have Sean Hannity sign it. Little did we know that we were also going to have the opportunity to be part of the live audience for the taping of "The Sean Hannity Show" that airs every night on Fox News. We never thought we'd get in since there was only room for about 100 people, but we were lucky enough to get some passes from a very generous man who picked us out of a room full of people...

Sean came across as a very down to earth, nice guy, and a great American with some very good objectives and solutions for all the craziness that's going on in Washington! We got to speak with him briefly. He asked us if we were dating- we said "no, we've been married for almost 8 years and we have 3 kids"- his response was, "wow 3 kids, you guys look like you're 18". He went on to give us some marital advise and told us to stay close to our faith- cool huh! it's not everyday you hear people in showbiz (or politics for that matter)- talk about values and the importance of staying close to God and Christian principles. It was really fun to be a part of a live taping- 'we had our 5 seconds of fame' and an experience we will never forget.

State Fair- part 2

We had so much fun taking the kiddos to the State Fair, we decided to have a date night with Patty & Mike, & Kate & Bob. It was so much fun- we all felt like little kids again! Here's a few pics.:


Here we are posing by the Monster Truck Rally--- Tom & Mike loved it, go figure.




Woo-hoo, posing by a tractor!







Laura the piggy & Tom the cow...



Patty the cow & Mike the pig....




We love our corn----yummy :)



Kate & Bob



.....yummy food, fun rides, & hangin' with great amigos = a perfect date night!