One year in vernal!!!

Wow a year sure goes by fast!! When we moved here I never thought I would make it a year and I never I thought I would love it here. Boy was I wrong. Vernal has been one of the best things we have done. I cant say that it was all easy. moving so far away from family and friends was so hard for us. There were many days that I cried. But I have learned to treasure the time I do get to spend with family and friends on trips to salt lake. Buying a house was also really hard. It was one of the hardest things I have done. Who knew that it would be so emotional. Now that we are in our house we have settled down and are really enjoying vernal. We love going outside and looking at the stars they are amazing. We love going for drives there are so many lakes with in just minutes of our house and we have loved seeing all the new animals in the fields by our house. Jon loves to scare the baby cows. I love that we can get just about any where in ten minutes and I love that when I go to the store I run into people from my ward. Jons work has been the best place to work for. I feel like not only does he have friends there but so do I. They treat him so good and he loves what he does. I love seeing him so happy to go to work. The best part about our move is that my little family is so close. We have been able to spend so much time together. Its been fun making so many memories with the kids. We are looking forward to the spring and being able to work in our own yeard and make some fun memories with the kids. Vernal never was our first choice but in the end it was the best choice. We love it here more than we ever thought we would.

New ways to add the church into our daily life!

This year I made a goal to make sure we were thinking about the savior and what he did for us all year and not just at Christmas time. So I decided to try what I found on a friends blog from thanksgiving. I made a bunch of hearts and put them in a bag. We named our door for the month Crane family conversation hearts. Then each night after we read scriptures we asked the kids what they learn then we added it to a heart. We look at this door every day. We pass it several times a day. Its has been such a great reminder to always keep our savior in our day to day life. Tomorrow we will have a nice family dinner then take the hearts down and read what they all have to say so we can get ready for next month which will be Our Lucky family! We will cover the door in shamrocks. It takes time getting ready for each month but my kids love to read them and love to tell us what to write on each one. I love the daily reminder. Its a small thing that I hope makes a difference in my kids life. I know it has changed mine as I have focused on getting to know my savior better.

I love Bountiful Basket

Jon and I have wanted to eat healthier. But the cost of produce is so high. We found out about bountiful basket and decided to give it a try. Lets just say I am in love. You go on to there site on Monday and order your basket then you go pick it up on Saturday. This is just one weeks. You can not buy all of this for 15 dollars. I wait until we get our produce for the week to make a menu. Then I cook according to what came. We eat it for lunch dinner and some times even breakfast. My kids are in love. They never get turned down when they ask for fruit. This also has helped us to eat healthier. Which was a big goal for this year. I am also able to try fruit and veggies I would not have other wise got at the store. I also have found many great recipes that I would not have tried had I not been looking for new ideas to use certain veggies. I feel healthier and I am looking better. Its a small start that seems to be working!!!

Christmas

Rylee, Kam and Lilly Christmas morning.
Little Miss. Rylee she is getting so big.
My handsome big boy. He is now potty trained. Yeah for Kamers.
Lilly was the happiest girl ever when she found her baby she wanted nothing else.
This cat still drives me crazy. It sounds so real. But she loved it.
Kam loves mario its his new thing. He was so excited for this.

Yes this doll is bigger than lilly and yes she carries it around and yes it is so funny.
Christmas eve at my parents.
My sister came in from seattle. I was so excited.Christmas was fun this year.
My mom and dad. Love them!!!!

My brother made bracelets for everyone this year.
The picture on our Christmas cards this year. I love my cute little family.
My brother and his family. My nephews are getting so big.
Jones family christmas party.

This year was a year I will never forget. We had so much fun that I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked. I wish I could have slowed down time for a while. We spent Christmas in salt lake and were able to spend time with my sister who came down from Seattle. We spent lots of time with family and a great time. We all got the flu which was no fun. but other than that I would not have changed a thing!

The kitchen

My little stink pot climbed up on my counters.
yes this is a gas stove and yes I was deathly afraid of it and now I love it and would not go back to a electric stove again.

this is really dark but it one of the things that sold me on the house. I loved the windows in the kitchen. We still have things we want to do the kitchen, but that will come with time. I love all the cabinets and I love the color. It was a ton of work getting the house ready to move in in just two weeks jon spent hours painting while I cleaned and packed the apartment. Thats why it has taken so long to up date the blog. We love our first house and love the area. We are excited to get our hands good and dirty this spring and work in our yard.

The wall with the TV. We had to move the kids books out of there room. It kinda looks nice.
The top of my book shelf. It will stay this way for the next year. I love you Dougie!!!
I love this little cut out in our wall. I can do dishes and watch the kids and its been fun to decorate for the holidays.
My favorite wall in our house. Jon did an amazing job hanging them. He used a level and his measuring tape and made sure everything was equal on each side. It took him for ever. Its a good thing he did it cause I would have looked at the wall and said that looks good there and put the nail in the wall.

Our bed room and bathroom

It was tons of fun picking the color for our house. My bedroom and bathroom are one of my favorites.
The nice big tub. Love it!!!!
The mirrors that I hated when we got the house but am slowly starting to like them.
The double sink is the best. We also have a stand up shower. I love our room. It is big and with the master bath its even better. Our house is starting to feel like home.

The kids rooms

This is Kams shelf in his room. He has his own room and loves it.
The fan in Kams room.
The shelf in the girls room. Rylee loves to hang things on it.
The fan in the girls room. I love it. A big thanks to cousin Cheri. The fans belonged to her kids when they were younger. We were happy to accept them. We love how much they added to the kids rooms. Its been fun putting there rooms together.

The sweet sounds of my little man

Yesterday was a really hard for me. I have had very little sleep the past week with all three kids being sick. We also have had a lot of little things to do for the house so that the bank had every thing it need before we left for a week. I was trying to get ready for our trip to salt lake and trying to make sure that Jon had everything he needed for his work trip to DC. Needless to say I was so tired and was not in the mood for a complaining kid. So after many failed tried to get kam to take a nap I left him in his room crying. A little while later I walked passed his room and found him on the the floor playing with his cars making the sweet little car sounds that only a little boy like him can make. I sat and watched him for a few minutes then asked him what he was doing he said I am driving my cars to grandpas house. Then went back to driving his cars. I took a minute and sat by him to play he handed me a car and told me I could play if I made the car sounds. So together we drove the cars to grandpas house. This sweet little man reminded me today that life goes by way to fast and sometimes you just need to take a few minutes and make the car sounds.

Four of July

Our nephew Ren is a such a ham when he sings. This his him in the parade with the group tavaci. They sing and Dance. I love it.
This has got be the coolest thing I have seen. This is there high schools drill team they had a routine they did all the way down the parade.
This picture is for my Rylee. She love purple.She is now asking for a car just like this one.
The kids watching the parade.
The F16 that flew over. I was crying during this so it is not the best picture.
This is what made me cry. With Doug leaving any one in uniform like this makes me think if him.
Throwing snapits at uncle charles before the parade. The kids had a blast.
Lilly was cute at the first of the day. By the end she had pulled her hair out and was nasty from a slurpee and candy and dirt.
The cute girls eating there slurpee
This was a fun morning. The parade is not that long so the kids were amazing. They had a ton of fun before it started thanks in big part to Jons great idea to bring the snapits and charles great idea to walk around the corner and get a slurpee. And then they enjoyed all that the parade had to offer. I think I am liking this small town of events.

The kids rodeo

Kam and the chicken he got. He was so excited. I on the other hand has a ton of fun watching him not so happy he came home with us. He did not last long however.... the next day we found out he was a rooster so he went to heaven. He was ok with that after he found out that his cousins bunny also went to heaven.
Rylee also got to chase them. It was so funny watching a bunch of kids chase the animals. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.
The poor bunny. He stood no chance with these kids.
Kam loved every minute of it. He was laughing the entire time.
The flags to start off the rodeo. The kids rodeo is just for kids. They have many events and the kids are the ones that are the show. They love being apart of it. We had a ton of fun watching our kids. We hope to make this a family tradition as the kids all talked about what there plans would be for next year. If you have never been you need to look it up and come next year. I promise you it will be night you will never forget.