kona......two months late!!!

My Cute Nieces

I just wanted to post a few pictures of my nieces. They are so adorable, I love the stage they are in! They are 3 and a half months now, they are such good babies, and are really happy. Carlie has done so well, she has them on such a good schedule, they sleep for 9 or 10 hours a night!!! Trent and Carlie are doing such a great job, we are so grateful to have Attley and Berkley in our family. I am so excited to see how cute they are going to be in their little halloween costumes.

Tag!

This is Alaina's attempt to bring me out of my drought from blogging. Thank you!! :)

FYI: Pictures from our Kona trip are on their way.

3FAVORITES

3 Favorite Last Purchases
Trip to Kona, Hawaii
Thats all I've bought lately that I actually like!!!!

3 Favorite Movies
Stardust
Pride and Prejudice
Bourne movies (all 3)

3 Things I haven't done yet
Water ski, I cant get to my feet (although i've only tried 2 times)
I havent relaxed during the Holiday season the last 6 years, but this year it will be done!!!
I haven't legally changed my last name to Maughan. (I really don't want to stand in that line.)

3 Things I Can't Live Without
BRYCE, Gus and Sofie, my family
Sunscreen
Bread

3 Favorite Dishes
Alfredo pasta
Soup and breadsticks from Olive Garden
Robintinos pizza and garlic bread

3 Favorite TV Shows
Office
Chuck
Prison Break

3 Last Places I've Traveled
Kona
Bryce Canyon
Kauai

3 Favorite Treats
Chocolate covered gummy bears
Otter pops
Homemade Icecream

3 Things I'd Buy if Money weren't an Issue
Nissan Murano
Finish our basement
2nd house in Kauai

3 People I tag
Ranie, Carlie, Kristi (only if you want to though)

Returned with Honor

The Zach attack is back! Congratulations to our nephew on his safe arrival home from his successful mission in San Bernadino, CA. We will miss the blessings we received from his service but are extremely happy to have him home with us again. He followed the family trend and decided his first matter of business was to purchase a motorcycle.
Bryce

The Farm

Each August we head to the farm for our annual Jessen family reunion. It started off pretty normal with everyone gathering for lunch. Each time our families get together we always sort of gravitate towards our own families so my grandma had a great idea of numbering each table, and we would all draw out a number from the hat and thats were you sat. So we were all drawing numbers and Bryce and I both drew table 6!! So we went through the line to get our food and the clearing opened up to our table and lone behold Tori drew 6 too!!! It was kinda funny because it was only a table of 4 so it was Bryce and I, Tori and my uncle Randy. Anyways we thought it was funny!!!!

So after lunch we all posed for the annual farm picture that Bryce finally made it into! Yeah Bryce!!! Then we had a baby shower for Carlie and the babies, my aunt Susan and cousin Katy put it all together, we played the game where you unscramble words that have to do with baby stuff. I wasn't very good at it but what made it funny is my mom copied off my page and wrote one of the answers with the wrong scrambled word!!!!!! She is so funny! We had a good laugh!!And we had the best cake....it was so good!

Then for the most entertaining part of the afternoon my grandpa put together a monsterous waterslide for all the crazy guys in our family, and the little kids too!! Katie posted it on You Tube and I checked it today. Its been watched about 600 times!!!! But here is one that I recorded. My camera died so I didnt get the one with all the guys going down but it is the best one I have.

After the watersliding we went on a, what was supposed to be a scenic bike ride through Fairview Canyon. Well, it was definitely scenic but it didn't turn out at all how we thought it would. So before we headed out we stopped at Tori and Jeffs, we lathered on the sunscreen because it was scorching hot, and headed on our way.

As soon as we got into the canyon it started to get a little cold, the farther we went the colder it got. But for some odd reason we just kept going. I was hoping that it would get warmer so I opted to keep truckin on. So as we kept on driving Jeff was leading and he could tell it was raining just ahead of us so we drove kinda slow. But we eventually ran right into it and decided to find shelter. We found our shelter in a camp ground bathroom, not in the bathroom, under the porch thing. (Note the picture below) We stayed there for about 20 minutes and Jeffs all famous words of "It looks like its going to blow over" didnt give us any comfort because it never did blow over!!! The rain stopped for a second and we asked some campers from a nearby camp site how much longer until we would be out of the canyon. Fifteen minutes was their answer, so we jumped on the bikes and braved the cold wind and rain.

As we were coming into the little town on Huntington I think we all felt a little hope that things were starting to turn brighter for us. Passing a gas station and a little grocery store, we stopped at both looking for any kind of sweater or jacket (I forgot to mention that Bryce and Jeff only had a t-shirt on , and I just had a thin zip up, Tori was the only smart one to have brought her leather jacket) So we tried to find anything that we could buy to keep us warm for our long ride back. NO LUCK THOUGH!!! No one had anything. We stopped at a gas station, got some hot chocolate, sat down and all we could do was laugh about how dumb we were, and how we got our selves into this mess. Our cell phones wouldn't work and all I wanted to do was call my mom (I felt like a little kid again) I asked the clerk if I could use their phone and she asked if it was local and I said yeah Mt. Pleasant and she said sorry, thats long distance. I felt so helpless!!! I should mention that because we kept going and didnt want to go back home through the rain, our only choice was to drive through spanish fork canyon in the dark with road construction and semis!!!

I was finally able to send a text to Carlie to let them know we were alright and I would call them when we had service. So we found out there was a Walmart in Price, which was supposed to be 10 min away. Well it wasnt, it ended up being an extra 40 minutes round trip, but it was a must!! We bought sweaters and jackets and we geared up for our hour and a half drive back home. It was seriously so scary driving through Spanish Fork Canyon in the pitch black. We passed about 5 different sets of deer (thank goodness for Jeffs loud harley, he led the whole way home and each time he saw deer near the road he would rev up his engine and they would run away) and Bryce being the skilled driver he is, was able to smoothly swerve around a cardboard box in the middle of the road as we neared the end. But we did eventually make it home, and it felt so good to be back at the farm.

Attley & Berkley

My sister Carlie and her husband Trent adopted twin baby girls. They were born on July 10th, and were able to bring them home on Sunday the 13th. They are just so beautiful!!! I have been trying to help them as much as I can, I stayed a couple nights, and they are definitely a hand full. As soon as you get one changed, fed, burped, and to sleep, then you start all over with the next, and it just keeps going!!!! They are really just so cute, I can't get enough! We are so excited to have little babies on the Shaw side of the family, my mom and dad are now GRANDMA and GRANDPA! Carlie and Trent are doing great, they are wonderful parents.

Baby Mac

For those of you who don't know, our niece Cali and her husband Josh lost their precious baby McKallister last Thursday. He was only a few days shy of his due date, Cali went in for a stress test and they were not able to find a heart beat. For more information you can click on the Baby McKallister link under our friends and family, Josh's sister has created an entire blog all about little Mac.

What an honor it is to know Josh and Cali, and to be a part of such an amazing family, and to have the knowledge we have, that we will be with Mac again. This last week has been quite difficult, with so many emotions running through our minds, and the heart break that we feel for Josh and Cali, it truely puts life in perspective. Its amazing to see how little Mac has touched and changed our lives forever.

Today we went to McKallisters funeral, there was such a peaceful feeling throughout the entire service. Mac is such a perfect, beautiful little baby and we are so blessed to have been able to see him again. My heart is broken for Josh and Cali's loss, they're so amazing and have been so strong. We love you Josh, Cali, and Baby McKallister.

We were all asked to bring a yellow, orange or red balloon to let off at the end of the service. It was so beautiful to see all the balloons let off at the same time.

A memorial fund has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank, just go to Josh and Cali or Baby McKallisters page if you would like more information.

Bike rides and BBQ's

Summer, I thought you would never come. Who else is excited for flip flops, swimming pools, slurpees, tan lines, and watermelon? More daylight, sleeping with the windows open, boating trips, camping trips, bike rides and wedding receptions. . . . . . . yes, I know you all secretly love wedding receptions. Hopefully this year I will make my first Jessen family farm photo at the reunion. It will have only taken me 3 years!
-Bryce

Our Sealing

This last Saturday Bryce and I were sealed in the Manti temple (1st picture). It was such an amazing experience and I am so grateful for our gospel and for the opportunity we have to be together for eternity. We chose the Manti temple because my Grandma and Grandpa Jessen were married there 55 years ago. We also attended the Manti Pageant while we were dating and fell in love with it (2nd picture). We would like to thank all our family and friends that made the trip to share our special day with us.

I've been tagged!!

What is his name? Bryce
How long did you date? 7 Months
How long have you been married? Almost 2 years.
Who is taller? Bryce
Who eats more? I think we are almost even, but Bryce is now demanding an eat off!!!
Who is the better singer? Bryce!!!! He's so good.
Who does the laundry? I do! He suddenly develops amnesia. Although I've shown him quite a few times, he will still say he doesn't know how!
Who pays the bills? I do, I like the money stuff.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Bryce does.
Who mows the lawn? What lawn? Well, the little lawn we do have our HOA takes care of.
Who cooks dinner? Me....once in a while, but bryce can cook an awesome totinos pizza.
Who drives? Bryce, I hate driving.
Who is more stubborn? Me.
Who kissed who first? Bryce kissed me.
Who asked who out? Bryce did, but I made the initial contact from not seeing him in 5 years :)
Who proposed? He did, he took Me to ensign peak and played a couple tunes on his guitar. It was so romantic!!
Who is more sensitive? I am!
Who has more siblings? Bryce does, He comes from a family with 9 kids, mine only has 3.
Who wears the pants? Neither, we are pretty balanced in that sense.

NOW I TAG RANIE, CARLIE, AND EMILY!!!!

Gus and Sofie

Last January Bryce let me get two of the most adorable little kitties from the SL animal shelter. I know that he was quite reluctant at first, but he LOVES them!!! Gus and Sofie are so much fun. Sofie is definitley the crazy one that has no boundries, and Gus is completely opposite. He is more laid back, doesn't get into trouble and is scared of everything!!

We love the Jazz!!!

We have season tickets to the Jazz, and we love it!! It has definitely kept us busy the last 6 months, but its been so worth it. All we need to do now is beat the Lakers !!! GO JAZZ!!!