Easter Weekend 2014

What a fun and special week it has been. I feel so eternally grateful to have a wonderful, loving husband that makes me want/strive to be a better person. He is such a hard working man and has been such an amazing trooper. He has had night shift after night shift (11pm-7am or 8:30am) this week he will have worked 62 hours just in night shifts. He could...well should have been spending his off time sleeping but instead he has been spending quality time with Damon and I. It makes me emotional that he has sacrificed his time for us, it is a Christ-like attribute that I cherish. Some of the best memories were made this weekend.

 For date night we went to a restaurant called, "Hickory" in good old Rexburg...I must say...It. Was. Delicious! I'm not a big hamburger person but this was a place were I would order a burger again. Damon ate some Burger meat too and that is just a rare sight. He's getting so much better at eating, especially meat! He is a picky eater so I've been real happy with him eating more! Below is a picture of Damon in the parking lot, right outside the restaurant. We had to wait for him to finish up talking to his Grandma Dekorte before we could go inside :) He loves talking on the phone but he loves talking to Grandma even more!

Damon got to experience coloring eggs for the first time. He was so silly! He kepted on picking them up and tried taking a bite of them.  

 

He hasn't quite captured the understanding of this event but he had so much fun watching.

I don't think he could get any cuter. He is such a happy boy!

Damon got some dye on his arm and was trying to show me/the camera.

Family picture!

 Below is a picture of me trying to make the bed :) He was giggling up a storm. This silly boy loves getting into our bed. He looks so grown up to me!

Such a sweet boy. Damon LOVES his Daddy. Everyday he will either run up to the gate, (guarding the stairs) look up and asking for Daddy. My favorite is when he goes to my bedroom door and knocks on it, asking for Daddy...

Above and below, Garrett was leaving to help someone move somethings out of an apartment. Damon was distraught! I've never heard him cry so hard. He just had to stop and snuggle on Daddy for a little bit.

On Saturday we took Damon (for the first time) to the Sand dunes in Rexburg. We had a blast! It was so nostalgic for me. It made me feel at home...also made me feel very child-like. It gave me the satisfaction feel of being on a beach (I miss being close to the coast) but what warmed my heart the most was thinking back to the Daddy Daughter trips I had with my sister and dad. It reminded me of our ATV trips. We would ride around for hours, I could almost taste the lunches we would pack. I was reminded of the rides later on at night...to go build a campfire and play in the sand. It was a very fun trip for me this weekend, for going back down memory lane and for making new memories.

The weather was perfect! I never felt too hot or too cold. The breeze was just right, too. It was so fun watching Damon and Garrett dig around. We walked around and ran up the ledges (I'll tell ya what, if you want an awesome work out, go run up the sand dunes. I felt so out of shape) the best part was watching Damon scoot himself down the edge. Of course it got a ton of sand up his shorts but it was worth it :)

Garrett really got into the digging part for awhile. So cute!

I love the little Damon hand print in the "I love you" picture.

Of course, being my father's daughter, I had to document the date and take a picture. He would be so proud! :)

For some reason, Damon thought it was so fun and funny to throw sand into his face. As you can tell he was throwing sand up in the air in these pictures. Also, Damon even tried drinking the sand from one of his cups. He soon learned that that was a bad idea haha.

Oh, you know, just being awesome like Michael Jackson...

Garrett doing the famous lean :) 

I must say, he did it even better than Michael ;)

Family picture!! 

I love my happy boys!

Muah!

Damon never really played without having this ball near his side the whole time. Even when he was trying to climb up a big sand pile he wouldn't let it go (I didn't have a camera at the moment to take a picture when we walked over there). I had a little spiritual thought as I watched him struggle up the side (Having a child brings out the best spiritual teaching moments). I find it appropriate to share, especially, because it is Easter weekend. Easter is all about the atonement and resurrection. Two objective thoughts came to mind actually. 

1.) Damon was a normal human being. The football was the sin. Life is the sand pile. We can not go through life without having the extra strength to make it through. To do so we have to drop our burden (the sins) to make it through.

2.) Damon couldn't make it up without the help of another which ended up being me. We cannot make it through this life without helping each other out. Also we have to let in the Lord, so that he can carry us when we most need him...

I cherish being a mother. It is the greatest job I can have. Lately I have been asked a lot on what I do. 

Answer: I proudly am a mother and housewife....a homemaker.

These are what make me happy :)

 I am so grateful for the moments, the realizations, or better said--reminders I have had lately. Family always comes first. I am so thankful for this Easter.

On the drive home from the sand dunes we saw this little guy crossing the road! Of course we had to pull over to get him off the road...especially with his slow moving legs. We named him Francois!...

Unfortunately, Garrett wouldn't let me keep him.

Easter Morning!

The Easter bunny brought Damon a rad book for the bathtub and some goodies.

He was pretty excited! We all were :)

Our church is from 1pm-4pm. Damon zonked out during 3rd hour (Our schedule is weird. We have Sacrament last) 

It was a wonderful Sabbath day!

Just getting our photo shoot on. (Damon was fast asleep at this point)

I love us.

Damon woke up real groggy. He just needed his Daddy's love.

Damon does this cute thing when he sees something awesome. I was doing it in this picture. He makes an airy "hoh, hoh" while making the face I'm making in this pic. It's the cutest thing.

Just checking out our Easter baskets again :)

Some of the Best Kisses right here!

Perfectly content

We then drove around (we visited a cementary...I know...it sounds horrible but it was fun for us looking at the different head stones. It felt appropriate to visit these people that we don't know. There's comfort knowing that, because of Christ, they make it back home to him)....

Then we visited the temple. Again, being my father's daughter I had to stop to take pics of Damon in the exact spot where I "proposed to Garrett." I was trying to be cute. Of course, Garrett proposed to me but later on when I got his ring, I gave it to him there. I wanted to make it memorable so I actually got on one knee. When he noticed it made for a good laugh. I'll tell ya though, for some odd reason, just doing that made me feel real nervous! I couldn't imagine how it would feel being in Garrett's position when he was asking for real in the first place....

I wanted to make sure to get some pics of Damon at this temple while were have lived here. We actually move to Centerville, Utah on May 1st!! I know! Surprise! We are actually really excited. We know it's the place we need to be at this time in our lives. That also explains to you why we were taking pictures in the living room on a mattress. We sold our couch, so that's been our temporary couch lately lol. Yes, I feel like a hillbilly.

Too cute. On the steps. A guy walked by and went on about how cute and smiley my boy is. It is very true. I am very lucky. Also, almost daily, a girl tells me that Damon is such a flirt. This I know to be true. He is quite the kisser too! It's so cute now but I know it will be something for me to get gray hairs about later!

Walking back to the car. He didn't want to get back in. But to his surprise...Daddy let him drive for the first time in the temple and stake center parking lot.

The stake center parking lot was the same place that Garrett and I did "donuts" or Garrett would call "cookies" the day we first met. (After snowboarding we peeled out on the snowy ground. Funny thing is that when Garrett asked us if we wanted..."To go do cookies" I literally thought he meant make cookies. At first I was disappointed because I wanted cookies but that experience was way more fun. I love his choices on fun things :)

Studs.

I guess, the reason why I'm talking so much about so many memories I've had in Rexburg is because I love it here. Yes, I'm ready to get out of a college town, I wouldn't want to live here forever....but I feel like this is our place. It is our stomping ground. This is were Garrett and I met, started a family. I love how it is a populated that is broken up by fields. Beautiful fields. I never noticed the beauty of a line of rows on farm land until I met Garrett. I love the open space feel out here. And the sunsets (especially during harvest season) are exquisite. I love the homes we have had here and the parks near by. BYU-I has been too good to us. I'm going to miss it here. (Good thing we have families to come visit here and we will only be like 3.5 hours away)

Last picture of the day, Damon putting on his pajama pants haha! Two legs in one hole :)