Oh, how blessed I am!

My Thanksgiving post is a bit delayed I know. As this week approaches, it seems I have done everything this weekend but what was on my "to do" list :) just delaying the inevitable--3 presentations, 2 papers, an advertising brochure, a final, and packing up and moving my whole house in the next 5 days!! Its gonna be a crazy one, but the reward at the end is great because I get to see my babe on friday--Its been 2 weeks without him already and I miss him like crazy! so I have designed like 10 christmas card options for my older sisters to choose from for their cute families and now I will post--before i do laundry and homework :)

I awarded myself with almost a whole week off for Thanksgiving as opposed to the 4 day weekend that school gave me:) and took off to Vegas with Brooke on Monday instead of school Mon-Weds. (shh...getting a little lazy as I near the end:)) Beck and her family got in Monday night too and Mom, Dad, and Cait arrived on Wednesday night. We had a week full of fun and I love to all be together. I was sad that because Lance had just transferred to the Fife store he could not get Thanksgiving weekend off to meet us--but at least he was close enough to drive over to Royal and spend Thanksgiving with his Family.

While in Vegas we saw Madagascar 2, went to the Tournament of the Kings at Excalibur, the cactus gardens, Ethel M's Chocolate Factory, a little bit of the strip, had some professional photo shoots of the kiddos courtesy of Rach's expertise, swimming at the resort pool, ate yummy food at Lucille's, PF Change, & In and Out and just had fun bonding around the house and condo. For my birthday my sisters (minus Caitlin) and I even got to go see Twilight--it was so fun (thanks for humoring us beck!) and while it was not the best made movie, with stellar acting or cute actors for that matter--i loved it nonetheless! It was so much fun and I cant wait till we are all together again in Hawaii in April! 

I am so grateful for the Gospel and my testimony. For my wonderful husband and for our families! I am lucky enough to call my family my friends and they are the best friends anyone could ask for. I am grateful for good friends. I am grateful for our house and for our education. I am grateful to live in this country and for the freedoms that we enjoy (yes, even the freedom to vote for socialist presidents whether I like him or not :)). i am grateful for health, a car that runs--most of the time, and for yummy food, and for DVR and cozy blankets, and for a laptop and wireless internet, and so much more! I have so much to be grateful for and will continue to be grateful all year long! Heres to another year of blessing and health and happiness! 

Weekend in St. George

This weekend was a busy one. Saturday am we woke up (late) and flew up to SLC to join some really nice friends of mine in line to get BYU vs. Utah tickets! Go Cougs! Then we hurried back to Springville to load up the car and head to St George. My mom, Rach, and her two girls were all going to be there for the weekend and we could not stand being only 3 1/2 hours away--so we made a quick road trip. It was so fun to meet Paige at only a little over 1 week old--she is absolutely beautiful and annie is as darling as ever as well! 

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I love my nieces and nephews like they were my own and even though I am so anxious to have babies of my own--I am so grateful for such incredible moms in my life for examples and role models. Rach, Beck, & my own mom are some of my greatest examples! 

YAY! I AM DONE!---with this:)

I presented my grad project/thesis today at our Research Symposium and it was so stressful and I am so happy that it is over! It went really well and we got a lot of positive feedback--so for that I am grateful! We had some videos in our presentation and every day we had to re-format that so I am glad they worked today with no problems! I have a lot to be grateful for. 

Here are some fun pics from today-- 

Now back to classes & assignments--but I can check one huge thing of the list so that makes me super happy! I will be done with classwork and busy work in December --yay!

Meet Paige! She is here!

Just learned how to upload pics from phone to computer without internet so I was able to post these first pics of Paige and the ones in last post of Luke & Bros.  Class was a little slow so I made this cute announcement for funs...it is about the 30th that I have made for Luke and Paige in the last month! I am an adoring aunt ... and a bit baby hungry myself!

update

Rach's water broke about a halfy ago and is at the hospital waiting for Paige to come. She is dilated to a  5 (sorry if that TMI :)?!) and is as we speak waiting for her epidural! Yay for new additions to the family! I cant wait to meet her! and hope all goes smoothly for Rach!

** Tried to get Mike to text me a pic right now but Rach voted a resounding no--understandable I suppose!..haha :) **

Luke had his shots today and is already 9 lbs 3 oz!

check check!

Last Friday I got to check one more huge thing off my shrinking "TO DO" list before I finish school. I defended my thesis/grad project & all went great! yay! We celebrated on Saturday by going to the football game (we luckily won in kind of a pathetic defensive game against UNLV--fortunately our offense came) with Mike & Tara. That night we went to dinner (Tepenyaki) and a movie (Eagle Eye--good, intense, i recommend!) with Kjel & Jen Christensen & then got ice cream (coldstone--always a hit!) to eat at their house with their girls, Halle & Bella. We had such a fun time & it was nice for Lance to have a rare Saturday off! 

Next is presenting my thesis/grad project on Saturday at the Research Symposium and then mentally I am done so I will just cross my fingers and hope the last 7 weeks of my LAST semester go smoothly:) haha--jk! But I can see the light is at the end of the tunnel! stay tuned....

Happy Birthday Grandma

so Brooke was not with me and she is the champion of self portraits--this is the only one of like 5 that has me and the headstone in it:) haha--oh well!

So I know it says the 23rd but its not--its still the 22nd because I have not gone to bed yet and lance and I still need to read for a halfy! so it is still happy bday to gma max! I have so many loved ones that have passed away and the best way to honor them is to remember them. I miss my grandma all the time and am so grateful for the relationship I had with her! I remember swimming with her at the Lake, painting her toes for her for the first time, how awesome of a penpal she was and how much her personalized letters typed on her word processor meant to me, playing cards, sitting at the bar in her kitchen while she made "grandma eggs" at her home in St. George, pushing her around the garden in her wheelchair to help dead head the petunias with my mom because she could not stand the inactivity that came with her decreasing health, laying in bed with her the last few weeks of her life--locking the door and just talking (she made me feel like my silly "love" stories in HS were really important and she told me the stories of her life), I remember my mom letting me hold her hand after she had passed away--she looked so angelic! I admire her in so many ways and am forever indebted for the perfect mother that she raised to be mine.

So happy birthday to her---and many more! (I can actually hear her singing "and many more" as she always did--I also can practically hear her every time I sing "How Great Thou Art"-the lofty mountains grandeur part--weird huh?! I dont know why?! ) Anyways--Happy Birthday Grandma--you are loved and missed but most importantly remembered!

Mt. Olivet looked so beautiful with the blue sky and fall leaves so I took a few other pics. My camera was doing funny things and the lighting is a little off but they are pretty nonetheless...

Fall Break!

me and Cait at the game

Well my "fall break" was not too much of a break considering I am still working on a 12 pg. research paper, my grad project, cleaning my attic (big job!) and picking up shifts at work--but Caity coming for a few days made my break! She came on Thurs night and stayed till Mon. We did alot of eating, shopping, went to BYU football game, and just hung out! We had a lot of fun and I am glad she was able to come visit for a Sister's (some of them :) Weekend!

at Red Robin when Caity got in

with Connie, a friend of my mom's who cheered with her:)

Love you Caity-Cat---to the moon and back!

Luke Houston Parker

Luke was born last friday-10/10/2008 at 12:46 PM. He weighs 7 lbs, 14 ozs and is 19 in long. He is so cute and I cannot wait to meet him and Paige (coming soon) at Thanksgiving! Congrats Parkers! Love you all to the moon and back!

Happy Belated Tanya Jo George!

I met my best friend 7 years ago--tawn tawn, tawny, jo, juan tawn, fro, tj, etc.! Her birthday was last week and sometime between when I wrote a card last week and our belated dinner date tonight I misplaced the card so I thought I would write an ode to Jo to publicly thank her for being my best friend and tell her just 25 of the million reasons I think she is amazing!

1. She shared a tube with me as we floated down the provo river like the third day we knew each other

2. She can rock a one piece denim cat suit or a white trash blond wig like it's nobody's business

3. She has an appreciation for chocolate covered fruit or sour patch fruit like I do

4. She loves to be spontaneous and do silly things

5. She likes to capture funny moments on film (as made clear in the slideshow below:))

6. She was the champion at the first annual foosball tournament

7. She is excellent at karaoke in the car--using a maglite as a mic

8. She is real sly when borrowing posters from BYU campus...or laundry rooms:) haha

9. She has been known to play in the mud, wakeboard in her panties, pee on the side of the road & do other crazy stuff

10. She can study and walk the canyon with her bestie at the same time--even when it's raining

11. She appreciates a good deal on shirts and other goods at the DI

12. She loves kids and is so good with them

13. She is an official member of the scooter brigade

14. She would enjoy Jim's Family Restaurant if she tried it

15. She is a really good soccer coach

16. She likes to have a good time in Vegas! 

17. She doesn't mind staying in a KOA campground, sleeping in the Xterra, & showering in a truck stop

18. She can start angel food cake on fire and have it still taste delicious

19. She is always so anxious to serve others and helped me to do so since I met her--especially instilling in me my love for the residents at Crestview

20. She is so dedicated to what she loves and wants to do and works hard to accomplish what she sets her heart to do..

21. She has treated me to more than a few pedicures--thanks Jo!

22. She is always dressed so cute and trendy and looks great all the time in anything she wears

23. She is an incredible teacher. I had the opportunity to observe her a few times in her class and was in awe of how good she is with the kids, how organized and creative she is, ad how much she loves them and they love her. I have no doubt she has touched the hearts and lives of the kids she has had in class and will continue to do so...

24. She put up with me borrowing or wanting to borrow her clothes all the time even though I know it drove her crazy--I could not help it they were so cute:) 

25. most importantly she put up with me and is always there for me! Jo and I are besties no matter how long we go in between talks or texts, we know we can count on one another for anything and have been there already for eachother through a lot! i know we will be friends forever--butt buddies forever! 

I LOVE YOU JO! 

I had so much fun looking at pics and reminiscing! HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!

Come what may and LOVE it!

Come what may and LOVE it!  and don't get mad, embarrassed, frustrated, or angry...just laugh! I love that. Elder Wirthlin's talk was one of my favorites but I don't know if I can even say that because I loved all of conference (I will have to re-watch a few talks of Sun afternoon session because I got a little caught up in making the ward directory). There were so many wonderful talks and it was so motivational and comforting that things will all be ok. I loved President Monson's message to live now as well..and so many others!  It was wonderful and definitely strengthened my testimony that this IS the true church and I am so grateful to be a member of it!

Happy Birthday Anna Grace!

Anna turned 2 today! Brooke and I got to road trip down to Vegas for a couple days last weekend to celebrate early with her! It was so much fun bonding with her and Rach and Mike! We love you guys! Happy birthday to my Anna Grace!

One year older...& sexier every year if that's even possible :)

Just a birthday shout out to my babe to tell him how much I love him and appreciate him and all he does for me! We went out to a yummy lunch at Charlie Boy's Pit BBQ and had a yummy dinner at 11 when he got home from work as usual! Cake and ice cream to come on thurs with sibs and some friends! Ill be able to add 2008 pics this weekend:) I have loved celebrating my babe for four birthdays and look forward to many more to come! Happy Birthday Baby!

Olly Olly Oxen Free! (isin't that what you say when you touch base?!)

So pretty much I am bored out of my mind—a dumb concept considering I have tons of school stuff I could do but I am not in the mood for that. Its Lance’s one night off this week but he has bishopric meetings starting at 7 and is not home yet (its 12!). I have checked all my blogs, the space and the book and have watched all the shows I had DVR’d this week. So what else but follow through on the Tags I have not done. I have avoided tags up till now Amber Beck and others have tagged me on, so I am turning over a new leaf. Here you go! Enjoy!

4 Things TAG

4 Random things that I love about my husband
1. I love his hands. I have memorized Lance's hands! He grew up working on the farm and his hands are strong but "soft". Hands that work hard to provide. Hands that have recently fixed impossible to fix cars. Hands that vacuum and scrub when I have been too busy or lazy to do so. His hands bless my life. Hands that I held at the temple 3+ years ago and hands that I fortunately get to hold everyday!
2. I love his songs. Lance gets in these silly moods and sings all the time and makes up songs about what he is doing, thinking, or feeling. He often throws my name into the lyrics whether it fits or not—even hymns :) Sometimes he will pick one line of a song and just sing it over and over again or pick one note to hold out real long, usually in falsetto. He also likes to stop mid-sentence of a familiar song and wait for me to fill in the words. He is hilarious.
3. I love watching him laugh real hard—its dang cute!
4. I love cooking for him. He seriously eats copious amounts of food and when I am not cooking, it is usually in bizarre combinations. He will eat anything and is so fun to try new things out with him there to eat it. He also thinks I am a super good cook—I have fooled him :)—but it is nice that he thinks that!

4 Jobs I have had
1. “Beautification specialist” at Bridgeport Dental Arts :)
2. H & L Produce
3. BYU—Athletic Department & Cougar Creations Copy Center
4. Provo Canyon School

4 Movies I have watched recently
1. What Happens in Vegas
2. Vantage Point
3. Hancock
4. The Other Boleyn Girl

4 places I have lived (or 5)
1. Student Housing/UW-Seattle, WA
2. East Cardinal Way-Cottonwood Heights/SLC, UT
3. 5504 and 8207-UP, WA
4. David John & Belmont-Provo, UT
5. Springville, UT

4 TV shows I have watched (this week—or else this list would be real long :)
1. Gossip Girl
2. Prison Break
3. 90210-new :)
4. ANTM

4 places I have been most recently/today
1. Carmen B. Pingree School for Children with Autism
2. Cougar Creations to make Anna’s birthday shirt
3. Legends Grille-Brooke bought us dinner with dining plus :) Thanks Toots!
4. Golds Gym

4 people who email me regularly (pretty clear sign that my cell phone has replaced all of my social emailing :)
1. Debra my mother-in-law is a big fan of forwards—but they are usually pretty funny!
2. Deb Bachan and Kelly Brown-secretaries at school :)
3. Class mates at school
4. Southwest Airlines with their Ding updates

4 favorite foods lately
1. Fresh Fruit
2. Fancy salads
3. L&T wraps :)
4. Big yummy sandwiches

4 places I would like to visit
1. Australia or Europe (I know that is broad)
2. NYC or just East coast in general
3. Lake Merwin—my haven :)
4. My dad’s new place in Kona

4 things I am looking forward to this year
1. Graduating with my Masters in Occupational Therapy from the UofU & getting paid to work full time vs. working for free AND paying tuition
2. Welcoming my new niece and nephew to the family in October and November
3. Moving back to WA in December and then to Dental School in Fall
4. Hawaii in the Spring with the WHOLE family and then hopefully getting prego next summer?!

4 people I TAG:
1. Beck
2. Rach
3. Tara
4. Marnie

Go Cougs!

Mike and Tara were able to get us tickets to the BYU-UCLA game last week. Fortunately Lance was able to get the day off and we had so much fun with Mike, Tara, and Halle! BYU could not do anything wrong which made things fun but after like one quarter we knew it was not going to be a nail-biter! That's ok though, we'll take a boring (because of the lack of competition:)) blow-out--59-0--over a close loss any day!

SORRY

The Blog is under construction--be patient! haha:)

darling videos

Not really posting these for everyone but this is the best way to share these cute movies with my family that Brooke had from her trip home--so enjoy! I have the cutest nieces & nephews ever and I thought these movies were priceless with how attentive Dane and Anna were. To set the stage they were sitting in her suitcase while she was packing when the sing-a-long started :) haha!

Grandpa's Birthday!

Grandpa had a birthday on August 28th! It was fun to get together with lots of Shaw cousins/aunts/uncles/etc. that I dont see very often. I just wanted to take this chance to say how much I love my grandpa! I admire so much his hardworking nature, his love for others, his service to others, his ability to make friends wherever he goes, his musical talents, his funny jokes:), his strength and optimism, 

and countless other qualities. I am lucky to have him for a grandpa and 

eternally indebted for his role in raising my incredible dad! 

Love you Grandpa Dick!

UP/Merwin for a week!

After the family reunion in Royal I got to fly over to Portland to spend a week with my family both in UP and at the cabin. I had a root canal re-done which served as a wonderful excuse for some time in UP which unfortunately :) meant a week at cabin first. I had so much fun with my parents, sisters (minus brooke :( ), bro-in-law, nephews, niece, shampoo man, and the alligator with the party hat. I not only had fun relaxing time at cabin but I got walks with my mom, a date night with Rach, Annie, Cole, and Dane on B&C's anniversary where we colored a 4 foot Rafael, a super fun Ninja Turtle party courtesy of the Parkers (Cole's 6th birthday), fun times shopping, etc. I love that the home I grew up in is such a wonderful, happy, comfortable place to be and the relationship I have with my family is so amazing! I am lucky to have them and even luckier to have a PERFECT husband who lets me go home while he works to provide for our family (I do work when I can on the weekends:)). Thanks babe and thanks fam--for everything!

Reunion in Royal

Lance and I got to go home to Royal for a family reunion August 1-5.

We had such a good time relaxing and bonding with everyone.

We also got to celebrate Grandma Erma's 80th Birthday.

We love her and appreciate her example, love and support of us.

Enjoy some pics of all the cute kids and the family.

One more semester to go...

I just finished my first level II fieldwork affiliation at Kids on the Move. I loved it. KOTM provides parent education, therapy services, and other support to families with children birth to age 3 with developmental delays and disabilities. It was a great opportunity and I learned so much! Now I just have one semester left and one more level II fieldwork affiliation in WA and I am DONE with my Masters and school in general. It will have been 19 straight years of school (yes I am counting grade school:)) and that is plenty!

Brooke's 18th Birthday!

We started Brooke's birthday festivities the night before her birthday with a steak and potato dinner (her fav) at my house, a fun game of softball at the park, and, per request, funfetti confetti cupcakes. On her birthday, after my work and her classes, Brooke, Katie, Lucy, and I headed up to Park City to ride the Alpine Slides and Coaster. We had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures. We ended the evening with a delicious meal at Macaroni Grill and a fun "making of a birthday video" session around Provo. Later that weekend we made a trip to SLC to show Katie Temple Square and ended up taking some pretty awesome shadow pics.

I can't express how much I have loved having Brooke in town this Summer. She graduated in June and started Summer Term at BYU. While she was not super happy about coming to school so quick after HS grad, I have been so grateful for the time and fun we have had together. Happy Birthday Brooke! I love you and am so proud of the person you have become! Thanks for being my sister and my friend!

So the video, I am certain, was extremely obnoxious to everyone but us. I reverted back to my freshman days when my friends and I made videos and busted out the video camera for a drive around Provo. We had a ton of fun--and that is what 18th birthdays are all about!

Photobooth goodness!

So I have this awesome program on my computer that can

distort the picture in a variety of different ways. I am sure many have enjoyed

the hours of entertainment Photobooth on Macs can provide--

We have had a lot of fun with this program since

I got the computer in October and figured I would share some of our favorites

featuring Lance and I and my cute sisters Brooke & Cait. Enjoy!

There ain't no doubt I love this land...God bless the USA!

Lance and I went up to the Englund's house in Salt Lake (Amber's parents) for Independence Day festivities. We had a delicious BBQ dinner, courtesy of Ryan Englund and then headed up by the capital building to watch all of the fireworks in the valley with Dan, Amber, and Emily Christensen (cousins). We had a really fun time and after many attempts at a self portrait, we got a good picture or two. It was fun bonding with Dan and Amber while they stopped into Salt Lake on their way from Illinois to Oregon--who knows, maybe we will join them in Portland next year for Dental school?!