Congrats, Mo!

This weekend I was so happy that I was able to go see one of my dear friends get married. Melissa Vincent (aka: Mo), married a really cool guy named Scott in the St. George temple on Saturday and Nathan, Eli and I were able to make the trip to take part in the festivities.

Now you have to understand something about Melissa--she is one of the best, most loving and kind-hearted people I know. We were college roommates together, she taught me a bunch of fun card games, I helped her get adjusted to life post-mission, and she even watched as I met my husband and started dating him.

Those 4 months we lived together were packed with some of the most fun times I've ever had in my life. I sometimes miss those wild and care-free times, but I'm also glad to know that our lives are moving forward and we can stay in contact with each other. Luckily, they're also semi-close to us, up in northern California, so hopefully we can see each other more soon.

I just had to say that I love this girl and I'm so happy for her and her new hubby. I'm sure they're going to have a great life together, and make a wonderful family. Much love, Mo!! :)

Grateful

I have been extremely blessed in my life. I've been thinking about things lately and how there have been so many blessings given to me without me knowing the importance of them at the time they were given. For instance, when I met my future husband, I had no idea of the significance of our meeting. I thought he was a nice guy who was ingeniously smart and knew a lot of interesting (and rather odd) facts about all sorts of things. I didn't know he was going to be the father of my children or that I would experience the most excruciating pain and the most exquisite love with him. But the Lord knew it. He knew me and Nathan well enough to know that once we made that decision to be together forever, that it would be real and tangible and that we wouldn't let anything stand in the way of our happiness together. I'm glad He knew.




One day when I learned that my very good friend was pregnant and I decided I wanted a baby, I had no idea that going through the process of creating a life, growing a child and becoming a mother would be one of the hardest and best things I would ever do. I had no idea that making this decision would change me so completely that I would hardly remember my previous life. But the Lord knew it. He knew me well enough to know that I would love this little one with so much devotion and ferocity and loyalty that it would change me and make me strive to be a better person. I'm glad He knew.




I also had no idea in my life that learning to use this program called Photoshop would open up a whole new world of possibilities for me. I was mundanely introduced to it at my studio job. At that time, I had no idea that this would turn into an all-consuming way of life for me, creating and fixing and painting and retouching and making beautiful things. But the Lord knew it. He knew me well enough to know that I would love this type of work so much and would be able to do so many things with the talent that he had given me. I'm glad He knew.




Looking back on past experiences in my life, I know that the Lord has had me in His arms and He has known what would work out best for me. He still knows it now. I just need to trust in Him and do what He asks of me. He knows. And I'm glad.

Recent Layouts

Here are a couple of recent layouts that I've done. I haven't really felt all that creative for the last little bit, but I'm hoping to get out of that slump really soon! :)

This is Eli trying to reach up to the big kids who were playing at the park while we were there. He's such a sweet little thing, so enamored with the 'big kids' that we see. I know he wants to be just like them.

This is Eli on the same day at the park, watching the older kids play. He wasn't so sure what to think of them, so he did his 'nervous' thing where he puts his hands behind his back and just watches for a while. I just love it when he does that, it's so adorable. My sweet little guy. :)


I love this template by Angie Briggs over at ScrapGirls and so I dug up some wedding pictures to use with it. I made all the papers in it with different ScrapSimple paper templates, also available at ScrapGirls (of course!) and I think it turned out kind of fun! :) I just love doing stuff with my wedding photos. I only wish I knew then what I know now about digital and photography. Then it would be a whole 'nother story! :)

This is Eli and Reener at the beach a few weeks ago. We went out there when Renee was here for Spring Break. It was so fun to see her and hang out for a while. That girl's got a good head on her shoulders! :) She's the best.

I just love this one! It's from when Matt and Remi were down for some interviews for med school. Remi and Eli got to have their long-awaited reunion after many long months of missing each other. (Hey, it's hard to be away from your girlfriend for that long, he told me!) I can't believe how big she's getting and how cute they are together. What fun!

More new layouts to come as soon as I get a couple finished. (I'm always working on at least 10 different ones at any given point.) Stay tuned! :)

Happy Easter!

The two loves of my life.

What goofy, cute men I've got!

Me and the little one.

We had a great Easter Sunday yesterday and I just had to share. :) We decided not to do the basket thing with Eli yet, because he just doesn't get it and I know that he'd have sticky chocolate and gooey sugary stuff all over himself and the house! So, we decided to play it cool and calm. We went to church and then went to dinner with Nathan's parents. They had gotten him this cute little outfit that he looks so adorable in! (Yes, I'm biased, but I don't care!) In lieu of Easter bunnies and baskets, we did some Easter pictures. That's what is important, right? The memory of it all? :) Don't worry, next year he'll totally be finding hidden eggs. (Even if they do have to be in the house because we don't have a yard....)

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Easter Sunday spend with family and friends. Love you all! :)

We're Back!

Hello everyone! I'm glad to say that we're back home and excited to have had such a wonderful weekend. Nathan and I dropped Eli off at Grandma and Grandpa's house while we drove up the coast to Cambria to just take it easy for my birthday. It really was a needed trip, and I truly appreciate all of the effort that Nathan put into planning and executing it. Ya know, you just sometimes need some time to recharge your batteries. I can't believe it, but this was the first time that Nathan and I had been away together without Eli since he was born. I was a little nervous, but everything turned out peachy. We got to relax, Eli got to spend time with his grandparents, and I now feel refreshed, energized, and ready to get back to being mom. It's a win-win-win situation! :) The ocean was gorgeous, the weather to die for, and the company was great. :)

This is a picture of the fog and ocean that we saw while on the hill, driving up to Hearst Castle. It was almost like we were up in the heavens, it was so beautiful. The ocean (which you can't see) is straight out there and it was just gorgeous.


Next is a picture of one of the peaceful garden walkways that were all around the property. We took 2 tours and were able to see a lot of different parts of the house. Next time we go, we'll take the twilight tour, where the docents all dress up in period costume for the tours. Can't wait to get back and see that one!

Goofy boy of mine! :)

Eli being a big cheeseball! He's never done this before, but this day, when I took out the camera and started snapping, he loved the flash and was totally playing it up! Perhaps it was because he was making me laugh. He loves it when he can make me or Nathan laugh. What a goofball! :)



Doesn't he look like he's just been caught doing something wrong? Heehee. He has started doing this--holding his hands behind his back--when he's nervous or unsure about something. In this case, we were at the park and he was watching some older kids play and wasn't sure about them. It's the cutest thing. I'm glad I caught it on camera. :)

Since I last posted, I was offered a job at ScrapGirls. (Before I was an un-paid Layout Designer.) Well, Mandy (who is one of the partners of the company) came to me and said that she'd love it if I took on the challenge of becoming the Layout Design Team Coordinator. I was over the moon that she specifically wanted me for the job, and I accepted. I've got to prioritize my time more to fit everything in, but it's a lot of fun, and it's paid! :) That always helps, right? So anyway, I'm really excited about this new venture and it will be great for me.

Oh man, Nathan is in Los Angeles doing some training this week. I hate it when he's out of town, but at least he's close by and not in Alaska or something. Eli and I went and stayed with him last night at the Westin Bonaventure hotel. It's a nice hotel, and it was fun having a little mini-vacation for a day.

The wind is going crazy out here today! It's been chilly and we're definitely not used to that out here. Apparently we'll be getting some storms in, which we need for the rain, but it sure makes Eli and I stir-crazy. Ah well, I guess I can't complain since we were just at the beach last week. :)

I'm so psyched for this weekend. It's my birthday weekend, and Nathan and I are going to drop off Eli with the grandparents so that we can spend the weekend in Cambria, at this beautiful little hotel on the coast. We're going to tour the Hurst mansion and walk around downtown and do lots of fun antique shopping. I can't wait to take some cool pictures and spend some quality time with Nathan. This will be the first time we've left Eli with someone for more than a couple of hours. I hope I'm not too nervous to have fun! :) I'm sure he'll be great and I won't have any need to worry.

March Madness!

Hi all! Just thought I'd share a fun picture of Eli at the beach. The weather here has been amazing the last couple of days, so a few of the women in my ward, their kids, and Eli and I went out to Laguna Beach on Monday. We had a lot of fun! Of course, I was so preoccupied with getting sunscreen on Eli that I forgot to put any on myself! So I'm a tomato, but he's fine! lol. He absolutely loved the beach. If I hadn't have held on to him tightly, he literally would have run straight out into the ocean! Talk about scary! :) He loved the waves and getting his legs wet. (The water was too cold to fully swim in.)

This week has been interesting. I've had a lot going on, which is not normal for me! :) Nathan and I went to get our CA driver's licenses on Monday, but since we didn't bring our marriage license with my changed name, they wouldn't let me do it. (My Utah dl and my SS card both had my new name, but since my passport didn't, they wouldn't let me take the test.) So I have to try and go sometime next week or something when I can find a sitter for Eli.

I'm also meeting with a woman from my ward who wants me to help her get to know her digital camera because she's going to Italy next week. Needless to say, she wants to be able to take a lot of great pictures! I don't blame her. :) Now I just hope that I'll be of some help.

Nathan is going out of town this weekend for a recruiting event in Provo. He'll just be gone for the weekend, so it's not long. I'm glad for that! We've been lucky that he hasn't had to do a ton of traveling since working for EY.

I'm having some computer issues that I have to deal with. Both of my Photoshop programs (CS2 and the CS3 Beta) have shut down on me. Nathan thinks it's serious, so we went out and got an external hard drive last night that I'm copying all of my files onto before we try to re-install all my programs. I'm just hoping that all of my pictures and ScrapGirls products and layouts will copy over safely and be protected while we re-install. Thank goodness I have the chance to copy everything! It could have been a lot worse, for sure. Wish me luck! :)

February update

Well, it has been a little while since I updated you all! Sorry 'bout that. Things around here have finally gotten back to our 'normal' or so. Nathan and Eli are *finally* over their colds and I was blessed to not catch what they had. (The Lord knew that there would be no one around to take care of the mom!) :)

I have some exciting news since my last post! I was recently accepted onto the ScrapGirls design team! I'm so thrilled and I have been having a great time. I am a layout designer, which means that I create layouts to showcase the FABULOUS products that we have at ScrapGirls.com. If you haven't checked it out yet, I suggest you head on over there! Or, if you'd like to see my newest creations, you can check out my design gallery there. I feel like a kid in the candy store because I now have access to all these great products to use for my layouts and we seriously have the most amazing stuff!

The update on our family is that Eli is growing like a weed. He has now learned how to put things into containers instead of always taking them out. I think he likes it because we praise him so much when he puts something away. (Even if he does dump it back out 2 seconds later.) I'm amazed at how he really seems to understand so much of what we say to him, and when he doesn't, you can tell that he's trying to work it out in that little brain. It's adorable.

Yesterday I decided to take him into Nursery during church to see how he would handle it. He's not old enough to officially be in there, but the ladies that supervised were nice about it and I stayed with him the whole time. I figured I might as well let him play with some toys instead of just roaming the halls like we usually do. He is just enamored by other kids his size. He found one girl that he liked and just followed her around. She wasn't too thrilled because she did NOT like to share her toys, so it was interesting to say the least! :) He's never had another kid push him before! :) But he didn't even cry--just looked at her like, 'What are you doing?', and then continued to try and play with her toy. Finally the teacher stopped her from pushing him again (I was across the room and wanted to see what he'd do anyway...is that bad? :) ), and gave him the toy. He liked that. The little girl didn't. But eventually they all got along great and he had a good time. I can't wait for the day when he can go there by himself (only 5 more months!).

I'll include a couple of recent pictures here. Nathan and I went searching for Ron's (Nathan's dad) favorite gelato place down in Newport Beach. I must say, it was divine! It's called Gelato Pardiso and it was pretty close to the real stuff! It's hard to find real gelato in the states, but this was excellent. Eli had his first little ice cream cone and he loved it. Well, he's my kid, so that probably goes without saying, ha! :)


I hope everyone is doing well! I'd love to hear from you! :)

Peace

I have the need to express these feelings so that I have some sort of record of them, since I don't journal as often as I know that I should. I have to say how much I love and respect my husband. Never in my single life did I imagine that I'd be lucky enough to find someone who loves me as much as he does. We've been through more trials than most in the two and a half years since we married, but I know that they have brought us closer together than anything else could have. The more trials we face, the closer we become to each other and to the Lord. While the pain is sometimes almost too much to bear, the sweet joy and bond that we forge makes it worth the effort. This bond that we share is more than I had ever expected to experience. I love him more than anyone I've ever known in my life and I'm more and more grateful for him everyday.

I want anyone reading this to know what a wonderful husband and father he is and how hard he tries to make me happy. Someday I hope to be in a place that I can return the same amount of love that he has shown me. I am eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for the blessing of this man in my life. I know he is the perfect companion for me, although he himself is imperfect. Good thing I am, too. We're on this road of life together and I wouldn't have it any other way.

New Layouts

At the airport on our way to San Antonio

Emily gave Dad a "BBQ King" T-shirt for Christmas this year.

Christmas at my parent's house

Christmas at the Lakey's.