One of my greatest Heroes

This weekend I got to spend some time with one of my greatest heroes-- My aunt Denise.

(Denise & her daughter, my cousin, Hillary)

Let me tell you a little about her. As a young child she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes and was always in and out of the hospital. After she was married, she got pregnant and the baby was still born. Then soon after she found out she couldn't have kids at all. She later adopted a beautiful girl, my cute cousin Hillary. Some years ago she found out she had multiple sclerosis. MS and diabetes are hard to have by themselves, and when you put them together, it's unbelievably rough. She is now in a wheelchair almost all the time and is still frequently in the hospital for falls and what not.

You would think someone who had all these health problems and gone through so much in a lifetime would be upset all the time. Not this woman! Now I am around people with disabilities ALL the time... But you would never even know Denise has a disability. Denise is the MOST optimistic, funny, loving person in the world. She NEVER complains about her life. NEVER. She loves her family and would literally do anything for them, even her neices and nephews.

She came up this weekend because her husband Marv was riding in the MS bike race and we all went to support him as he rode 100 miles! Denise took Geoff, Brett and I out to lunch and then we had girl time and got pedicures together. Not once did she complain about her life-- she was SO concerned for me and my happiness. She knows about how Geoff and I are going through fertility problems and she can TOTALLY relate to my feelings and it was just so refreshing to be around her. It made me forget about how "hard" my life can be and just enjoy what I DO have! I have always looked up to Denise- Ever since I was a little girl. But it has really hit me as an adult how amazing Denise really is. She has taught me so much. She is my warrior aunt and I will be forever grateful for example.

Dad's day

Oh how I love my pops. I have always had a special place in my heart for my Father. I never went through one of those awkward times in my life where I didn't wanna hang out with my Dad. Maybe because he is so cool? I don't know. He has been the greatest example to me of what a man should be like. Always going above and beyond in his church service but ALWAYS having time for daddy-daughter talks/walks and making me feel like I am the most important person in his life. I will forever hold a very special place in my heart for my Dad. And today I honor him and his love for me and my siblings.

A reason to vent.

I got an email today from a girl I knew back in high school and she said I really needed to start having kids soon and that the prophet discourages people waiting on having kids, even if it is for school purposes. What the?!?

.... Lets just say I wanted to scream!

This whole experience of trying to have a baby has been one of the biggest eye openers for me ever. Before I was married, I remember thinking "I wonder why they haven't had kids yet"... and sometimes I would even pass judgment on them thinking, oh it's because they want materialistic things or want fancy careers. Little did I know that I would be dealing with infertility.

Lesson learned.

I have a best friend who is pregnant with her third child. Her husband just looks at her and she gets pregnant, ha ha. And I love her kids-- she named her first one after me, so obviously I have no hard feelings against her for being SO stinkin' fertile.

But I do have a problem with people who like to pick other people apart.

After going through this whole experience, I have personally learned that you NEVER know what is going on in that person's life. You never know what has lead them to what they may or may not be doing.

This experience has taught me to show compassion and to just do all I can to support those I love. I was on the phone with my Mom last night and she said something that hit me hard about this trial Geoff and I are going through and I think it applies to any trial for anyone. She said "Life is unfair, God is NEVER unfair. He just allows unfair things happen to refine his children". I liked that and it gave me peace that someday I will be blessed for enduring these unfair moments in my life.

Gone fishing!

We went out to Newton, Utah today to catch some fish for dinner. Only thing we caught were the ONLY fish that we legally couldn't take out of the lake. Bummer. But it was so much fun to just be with the husband, relax and chat for a couple of hours. Newton is a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, but it's absolutely breath-taking!

My husband is a pyro

Lately, all Geoff wants to do for entertainment is go up the canyon and have a fire. We have done it the past 3 weekends in a row. It actually makes for some really cheap, fun entertainment and we have tons of firewood we have collected in from clearing out garden and yard so it's an easy way to get rid of it. This past weekend, Geoff's best friend Zak and his awesome wife Kellee came up to hang with us and it was way fun. We got to see the new movie "UP" in 3-D. I haven't seen a movie in 3-D in ages and forgot how fun that can be. We also did dinner and of course, had a fire up at 2nd Dam. Here are a couple of candid photos from our fun night with Zak & Kellee. I can't wait to go to San Fran with these 2 people. We also taught them how to play Settlers and they did amazingly well for first-timers. After they left, Geoff got all sad saying how he wished they lived closer, ha ha. He misses his BFF.