That is one tall building...

It's been way too long since I posted, so here is a long post to summarize the last week...

The title of my post comes from my niece Jenni. Last Monday, May 4 (Steve's birthday), Steve, Chelle, and the kids came up to visit me at work. I met them in the underground parking lot, and we went and had lunch in the cafeteria, then they came to my office, and we went to the 26th floor and looked at the view. When we came back down and went ouside, Jenni finally got to see the building (since we had been inside the whole time). Jenni looked up and said, "Wow. That is one tall building!" I thought that was so cute. I'm so glad they came up. Jenni and Joey were so cute, and Chelle had never been to the Church Office Building, so it was fun to show her around. Here are some pictures from that day (and happy birthday, Steve!)

The next two pictures are ones I snapped when I was walking to work from the bus stop the other morning. The flowers and temple were so beautiful in the morning light! Temple Square is just so pretty in the spring!

On Friday night Jan and I went over to Adam and Stace's house. We haven't been over with just them for a long time, and it was really fun. The kids were so excited to have us there. Stace made us dinner, and then we played games at the table. Here are a few pictures. I love how it looks like I have a halo in the first one:

Brady really wasn't stabbing Camden with a fork, but it sure looks that way!

Janice got this picture right as our dominoes were falling down. Cool!

After dinner, we sat and talked in the living room for a little while trying to decide what movie to watch. Adam played with Brady and Camden on the floor, and they loved it! Then we watched part of Cars and part of Sleeping Beauty--but Josh wanted it to be dark like a movie theater, so we had to watch it all laying on Adam and Stacey's bed. Thank goodness they have a big bed! It was really fun.

These next three pictures are from Saturday. We went to breakfast with Lisa and JoAnna, our friends from our last ward. On the way back, as we were coming from the freeway, we saw a huge column of smoke. We saw that there was a big building on fire right near our church. We went to a field aways away, and watched it together for about 45 minutes. We were so sick to think that it might be a condo complex--there are tons of them around there. But we found out later that it was a firefighter drill, and they were burning an abandoned house. It was such an awesome sight to see the power of the fire as it just consumed the whole house in such a short time. I had to snap a few pictures:

Finally, tonight we went to visit Mom for Mother's Day. It was really nice. We had Jan and I, Dan and Ems, Adam and Stace, and Steve and Dave came a little later. It was really nice to talk and joke, and Dan was teasing about playing the Ungame. We gave Mom her gift--it was actually a combined Mother's Day/birthday gift, so she already knew about it. But I thought it turned out so nice. I got the idea from my friend Debbie (thanks Debbie!) to do a picture pedigree chart. It took us awhile to find all of the pictures--we almost didn't find one for Dad's father's parents. Thankfully, we were finally able to find the pictures we needed, and Emilee spent hours making it all look nice. I love how it turned out--it gives me such a family feeling to look at it, and think of the legacy I have. It makes me realize that these were real people, who were once young like me, and had hopes and dreams and worries.

I'm so grateful for the gift of family, and for the love I feel for them--even those I didn't really know. I'll end my post with the picture pedigree:

**I decided I'd better take this off, since it has full names and birthdays. :)

Ethan's baptism

Today was my nephew Ethan's baptism. What a special day! I just felt so blessed to be a part of it. I went to their house a little early, and got to hear Seth giving Ethan last minute instructions, and making sure they had everything they needed. We got this picture while his Dad was talking to him. What a sweet boy!



Then we went over to the church, and once he and Seth changed into their clothes, we got a bunch of pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

I love this last one with him and his brothers and sister. In his confirmation blessing today, he was told that he was chosen to be a leader by his Heavenly Father, and that his brothers and sister would look up to him and would need his guidance and love. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...

I snapped this picture right before we went into the Primary room. My Dad was giving Seth some last minute instructions about how to hold Ethan while he baptized him. What would we do without our parents to support us at special times?

I didn't, of course, take any pictures of the baptism. But here are some of the kids lined up waiting for it to start. It was so fun to have so many of them in front.

I was so privileged to be asked by Ethan to speak at his baptism. I spoke about baptism, and I think it went well. I just felt so grateful to be able to testify that Heavenly Father asks us to be baptized so that He can bless us and so that we can someday return to Him. I also told about when Jan and I were baptized, and lived in North Carolina, so had to drive for an hour, and then there was only one dress, so since I was older, I got to wear the dry dress, and Jan had to wear a wet dress. The kids got a kick out of that. At the end I got really choked up, talking about how ever since Ethan was a baby, we've been talking about the milestones in his life--when he is baptized, gets the priesthood, goes on a mission, gets married, etc. I felt so proud of him that he has reached one of those milestones, and has made the choice to be baptized. It was just really special to get to talk at his baptism.

The baptism was really sweet--to see all of my other 18 nieces and nephews (well, more like 15 or so, since the babies were being held by their parents) leaning up against the glass, so excited to see what was happening. I couldn't take a picture, but "my heart took a picture." Then Seth got really emotional as he said the baptismal words. It was just a really sweet experience. Next year we will have four kids baptized. That will be so neat!

The confirmation was really special as well. I always get a little glimpse when I hear confirmation blessings about the true nature of the person being blessed--who they really are. One of my favorite things about the blessing is that Ethan was told that he was blessed with great faith, and would be an example to others of pure faith. I can't wait to see the young man he grows up to be.


We went afterward to Seth and Karla's house and had a little luncheon. It was fun to get to talk and spend time as family, and Jan and I gave Ethan a little present--a journal and a "Future Missionary" tag. He loved them, and was so cute about it.

What a wonderful day! I love my Ethan, and I'm so grateful he has always wanted me to be such a part of his life!

Happy Birthday, Brady!

I know, I know. It seems like I'm always doing a birthday post. But when you have no children of your own, your nieces and nephews become your babies--and so I have 19 "children", and thus you will see 19 birthday posts this year. I love reliving the memories of my little ones as I do these posts! They are so precious to me!

Little Brayden is turning three tomorrow, May 1. So, here is my birthday post for my cute little Brady!!

Brady was born on May 1, 2006, and so is only about 2 weeks younger than Joey--our closest two babies. It's been so fun to watch the two of them grow up! Here is a picture of me holding Brayden on the day he was born.

And here he is getting a kiss from big sister Briana. All of Stace's kids looked so much alike when they were born, but Brady didn't keep the brown haired brown eyed mold, as you will see in a few pictures...

Here he is with his mom in July, 2006, a few months old.


Here he is in August with cousin Joey and Uncle Steve. It's been fun to watch these two grow up together.

Here he is on Christmas, 2005. You can start to see his blonde hair and blue eyes. Where did those come from??

I love this picture of he and Stace. So cute!

These are candy bars that Stace made for his first birthday.

And here he is eating his birthday cupcake. I love the look in his face!

Here he is sacked out on the couch with daddy.

This is Christmas 2007 with cousin Dannan, Uncle Seth, and daddy.

Okay, I had to put this one in. Notice that he is wearing girl's Sunday shoes. I think they were actually Emma's shoes, because she is standing close by in the uncropped picture. I think he looks great! :)

I think he's about to throw Puff the Magic Dragon at me in this picture. Look at all that blonde hair!

This was taken in January of this year, with cousin Joey again, at Matthew's 1st birthday party. I'm not quite sure what they are doing with the cones...but it sure is cute! (P.S. the quote on the wall says, "Water should be our drink at all times," in case you were wondering)

This was last month at one of the birthday parties. I love the combination of colors he's wearing.

And this one was taken last week. I think it is the cutest picture--he's such a good big brother. Camden is not sure what to think, but what a cute brotherly kiss!

I'm so grateful for my little Brayden. He has such a cute personality, and I love to get see him growing up into such a darling litte boy. Happy Birthday, Brady!

Happy 8th Birthday, Ethan!!

It is 1:30 in the morning—really late—I need to get to bed. But I wanted to get Ethan’s birthday post done early, so I thought I would stay up until it was done. Since it is now April 25th, today is my nephew Ethan’s 8th birthday. What a special day!

Ethan was born on April 25th, 2001. That also happened to be Jan and my 30th birthday (is that correct grammar? I can't tell--it's way too late!), which was so special. It has been so fun to share a birthday with Ethan the last eight years.

Ethan was only the second grandchild, and was the first boy. He came at a time when I was really struggling with being single, and so was such a gift to me. I still remember when Seth called and told me they were having a boy, I started crying, because I wanted to have the first boy in the family. But one day when Ethan was only a few months old, Karla was over with him. I was having such a hard night—feeling like I would never get married and have my own kids. He turned and looked at me with such a sweet and wise look. I felt like that look was telling me to keep trusting that God had good things in store for me. And who would have guessed that he would become so precious to me, and that eight years later I would have 19 sweet nieces and nephews to love?

From the very beginning, Ethan and I have had a special bond. I don’t know if it is because he was born on our birthday, or if it’s because he was the first grandchild that was “mine” (since Holly was “Janice’s” baby). As I said above, he really did come at a time in my life when I needed him, and I’ve been so grateful for him every day since.

Since he is one of the older grandchildren, I had SO many pictures of him. I really did try to cut them down, but there are more than usual, so warning, this will be a LONG POST. But I just had to put in pictures of my cute Ethan!

This was the earliest picture I could find of him. He was crawling up the stairs toward me. I love the look on his face--so sweet and trusting! I think he was about this age when he came up with a sign for me. I was always trying to get him to say my name, and so would point to myself and say, "Say Jen!" His Mom's parents are deaf, so he made up a sign for me--he would take his hands, and point to himself. So precious!!

Here he is in the car with Grandma in June 2002--the day Mom and Dad moved from the family house in Orem. I love how he is helping to drive the car.

This is Halloween night, 2002. Logan had just been born a few days before. I'm wearing a dress because I had worked at the temple that night. But I had to see my little Ethan in his costume!

I LOVE this picture. He looks so darling!

This is he and I outside of our house in Pleasant Grove. He used to come visit all the time, and we had so much fun together. I love the sunglasses.

I had to put this one in. This is Ethan and I dancing to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" by Barry Manilow. He loved dancing to it with me!

This is one day when Ethan fell asleep cuddling with me. What a sweetie!

One thing I loved about working at BYU was that I was able to go to lunch so often with so many of my neices and nephews. This is me reading to Ethan and Logan on my lunch break in 2004.

Here is Ethan and I at our birthday party in 2004.

Here I am with Joshy and Ethan, Christmas 2004.

Here we are at our birthday party in 2005. It's so fun to sit with all the kids.

This was in June, 2005. Jan and I took the Three Musketeers to my summer work party. It was so fun! I love Ethan's look in this picture.

I had to put this one in. I think it's so cute how he is leaning in to me. This is at the Orem Summerfest, one of our favorite summer traditions.

And here we are in July, 2006 doing sparklers.

This was in January 2007 at Joshy's birthday party, playing with Logan and Brendan.

This is December 2007--showing Janice his missing teeth!

We really are getting close to being done. This is with his brothers on the 4th of July last year.

I had to put this picture in, even though it is the one I use for my blog. I just love it--this was last September when we were getting our family pictures taken. I asked if I could get one with Ethan, and I love how it turned out. One cute thing about Ethan--he always lists my name first if he is talking about Jan and I. A few times someone's been helping him with prayers, and will say, for example, "and thank thee that Janice and Jenny could come over," and he will say, "and thank thee the Jenny and Janice could come over." I just think it's so cute!

And finally, a picture from a few weeks ago, when we went to conference together.

I'm just so grateful for Ethan, and for the wonderful blessing he has been in my life. I can't believe he is already eight years old! I know that before I know it, I will be watching him get the Priesthood, then go on a mission...I know I will be crying. And watch for a blog post next Saturday about his baptism. But for now, I have to get to bed!!!

I love you, Ethan!

P.S. I realized that I really should also recognize Jan on our birthday. I came across this picture of her when I was looking for pictures of Ethan. It has been such a great blessing to have a twin! I don't know what I would do without her. We are best friends, and she has done so much for me! I'm so grateful for her. Happy Birthday, Jan!