Sunday, May 19, 2013

Kim is Called to Serve


My little sister, Kimberly, got her mission call! We were all shocked to find out last October that Kimberly had any desire to serve a mission. She will be turning 19 in June. Pretty much all of her friends (boys and girls) are serving missions. I can’t tell you how many farewells she has been to in the last several months. Sometimes multiple in one day! Her call came on April 17th, and she wanted to have a small, family-only “opening”. We met up at the church building by the UVU institute that night so Tyson could come during his dinner break. We all made our guesses as to where we thought she would be called. Jason and I were really convinced that if she served state-side, she would be called somewhere in the south. We can just really imagine her fitting right into the southern culture; southern bell and southern accent and all. Our inklings were correct! She was called to the Atlanta, Georgia North mission! We could not be more excited for her (and my mom couldn’t be more relieved)! She leaves August 21st! Look out, Georgia....Here she comes!




















As the excitement continued, we enjoyed some sack-dinners that my mom had prepared.

Kimberly, we are so excited for you and could not be more proud of your decision to serve. You are going to be an amazing missionary!



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

April: Part I

Hooray! We got our tax return....oh, we used it already? Oh, I should realize it is an investment? Oh, you mean you just bought a gun? Oh, okay.



So yeah, Jason surprised me one day and brought home a gun. To his credit, he had been talking about it for months...so I knew it was coming sooner or later. I’m not against guns or anything, they just make me kind of nervous. But I see why it is important to have one. So, I guess we are gun owners now. Now I can sleep well knowing we are completely safe and protected, right?




But onto more exciting things....

General Conference Weekend!

I love that time of year. This conference weekend, we stayed with my family. I went up to Draper Saturday afternoon with Charlie, and Jason joined us after going to Priesthood Session with his dad in Alpine. During Priesthood Session, we made a fun girls night out of it. I brought my new pizza stone and peel, and made dough for five personal pizzas. We gathered all the pizza ingredients we could find in my mom’s kitchen and went to work assembling our delicious pizzas. It was perfect because we had two ovens and two pizza stones. Food just makes things so much more fun! When the men got home, there was plenty of pizza left to share.

Pizza and Italian Sodas...yum!

My mom and dad have really been into a “re-doing and re-furnishing the house” phase lately. My mom was especially tired of the basement movie-room looking like a used furniture store. Her words, not mine. So they went out and got an amazing leather sectional with five reclining seats just in time for the weekend. I can’t think of a better way to enjoy four hours worth of talks! They are so comfortable...maybe too comfortable...can’t say we all stayed awake for the whole thing. So with these new couches, we took advantage and enjoyed a good movie Saturday night: Wreck It Wralph.

With my parents getting a new couch downstairs, that left a few couches without a home. Jason and I always loved their old couch and never dreamed they would be giving it up. We were more than happy to take it off their hands! It was a win-win situation all the way around: my mom got an amazing sectional (that we get to enjoy too), we got a couch that felt like new to us, and our old couch that was gifted to us by our good friends, the Tuttles, was given to a recently married couple in great need of a couch. They had been using outdoor lounge chairs as a couch in their family room for the past several months! Christmas came early this year...very early!

My parents old couch now in our family room

The "new" couch is a little bigger than our old one...so we had to move our blue buffet table upstairs into Charlie's room:




Sunday morning, my mom made a delicious breakfast and we enjoyed the final two sessions of conference. Always uplifting and inspiring. I sure do love our prophet! After an early dinner, we headed back downstairs to watch family videos. I know you are probably thinking we would need a break after so many hours in front of the TV, but we couldn’t get enough of the new sectional!



Charlie and Uncle Tyson

Charlie sure gets spoiled with attention when we are with the family


Let’s see, what else has happened in early April...Jason finished his basketball season. He had such a fun time playing with his old high school buddies, and the wives had a great time chatting...I mean, watching the games. They ended the season with a perfect record! (But not the kind that you probably think...yeah, they were pretty good at losing...). To celebrate the end of the season and to meet T’s new baby girl, we headed to the Cook’s for an indoor BBQ (thanks to the weather). It was fun to visit and hang out outside of the basketball court.

Trevor, Richard, Jason, Parker, Nate

From the cheering section


We had another date night with Zach and Kaari. We hit up Gurus for dinner, and then headed back to the Wingers for ice cream and a movie. We watched Man On A Ledge. I definitely enjoyed the company way more than the movie. Their little Georgia is getting so stinkin’ cute! She’s got a little red in her hair too...where did that come from?!?

Waiting for Wingers at Gurus


Oh yeah, so I was called as Assistant Relief Society Secretary. I was feeling pretty good knowing I was just the “Assistant”, but then I found out a few days later that the first Secretary is moving out of the ward by the end of May, so I have a month to prepare to take her place. Oh, and did I mention that she left for two weeks? So, my Assistant calling was pretty much over the day it started, since I had to take over right away. With Jason as Ward Executive Secretary, we are pretty much the family of secretaries. Man, we really need to get a printer...and a desk. And a babysitter for Sunday morning meetings! Yikes. So, I realize this may sound like I am complaining, but to tell the truth, I am kind of excited for this calling. I enjoy keeping things organized, so I hope that will help while I take on this new assignment.


And now to share some of the beauty I have been surrounded by in early April:







LOVE the Spring blossoms!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Easter 2013

Did it totally confuse anyone else that Easter landed in March this year?!? I was totally bewildered! I can’t remember that ever happening before...I didn’t even know that was possible! Someone should have consulted with me before designating big holidays. I mean...really? Come on!


Oh well, I guess it is not the end of the world that Easter landed in March. Life goes on...though it may be difficult. This year I wanted to take advantage of the “new Easter dress” tradition. I don’t usually “cash in” on this holiday, but with it being Charlie’s first Easter, I really wanted him to look nice. Originally I wanted to find Charlie a really cute legit dress-suit outfit. I looked several places and could not find what I was looking for. There were dress-suits, but none in the right size. So I had to make due with what I could find and settle for a mix and match Sunday-best outfit. Overall, I think it turned out quite cute. And of course, with Charlie looking all snazzy, I wanted the whole family to look our best...so I “gave in” and got myself a new dress and Jason a couple new ties. I know, so difficult, right?




Our cute little Easter family

A closer look at Charlie's outfit

After church, we met up with the Gruber clan for a Thanksgiving-worthy Easter dinner. The Sunday meal was complete with turkey AND ham, among other delicious things. It was especially special (is that correct grammar?) because the Spencers were still in town, and we could share the holiday with them.




Jason surprised me with a special Easter gift: A pizza stone and recipe book. A couple months ago we started having a pizza and a movie night each week...so we have been making a lot of pizza! This was a perfect gift to bring our pizza-making up a notch.



Our first pizza using our new pizza stone and pizza book. I ordered special flour from Amazon and everything! Turned out yummy!



Our Easter decor:


Made by the hands of a young Jason Gruber


LOVE Easter candy!