April, May & the Baby!

I can't believe another month has basically come & gone already. April went by in a flash & here we are almost June. Travis & I have so many wonderful blessings in our life right now in spite of some big challenges.

Easter Sunday, April 4th, I lost a very special man in my life. We were so shocked to loose my sweet Grandpa, Neil Reid, that day. I feel so blessed to be a part of his great legacy & a part of his story here on earth. His life blessed my own in so many ways. Grandpa loved all of "his girls," as he called his granddaughters, I was blessed to be one of them. I miss him. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of eternal families & I look forward to seeing him again because I miss his hugs.



Of course all I have is wedding pictures but this one just happens to be one of my favorites anyway.

May 10th, Travis started his summer internship in Idaho Falls. He's working as an Industrial Hygiene Intern & so far it hasn't been to exciting because there hasn't been a lot of work for him to do. But what he has done he really enjoys & we are so grateful for this opportunity for him. An internship is required for Graduation & it pays well. He works Monday thru Thursday, 10 hours a day. His parents agreed to let him live with them during the week, he has enjoyed spending more time with his family. As for me I'm still in Logan, working & counting the hours until he comes home again. We decided my job & our apartment were too good to loose, so rather than picking up & moving for 3 1/2 months we decided I would stay here & he comes home on the weekends.

We also celebrated our 3rd Anniversary May 10th. Travis made arrangements before he left for flowers to be delivered Monday, they were there waiting when I got home from work. And as luck would have it we did get to go to dinner together that night... at an A&W/Chevron in McCammon, Idaho. Travis had left a few essential items at home & needed me to bring them "half way." My sister, Jamie, was there too. She came with me so I wouldn't have to drive alone in the rain & the dark. I'm so glad she was willing to come with me that night. I've had a hard time the last 2 weeks not having Trav around, but Jamie & the rest of my family have done so much to help me. Don't know what I would do without them.



I can't believe how much we have changed in 3 years...

May 14th was a VERY exciting day for us. Trav's twin brother Tyler & his sweetheart, Tashie Robinson, were married in the Twin Falls, Idaho Temple. It was a beautiful day & I have never seen Tyler so happy. And well he should be! He is a lucky man to have such a special Bride. Travis & I enjoyed visiting with family & good friends all weekend. (but did I take any pictures? No, I don't know what I was thinking!)



Last but not least comes our most exciting news of all! Travis & I are expecting our first baby. I'm 20 weeks along, due October 9th & last Friday we had our Ultrasound. It's A GIRL!!! We are so excited to welcome this little one to our home. She's healthy & I feel great! I know I keep saying it but it's true every time, we are so blessed! This baby is the first grand-baby on both sides of our family, so we have 2 very excited grandmas-to-be. Just the beginning of so many changes & we couldn't be happier.



This is from our 1st ultrasound, at 13 weeks. I haven't put our newest pictures on the computer yet.

I had my first ultrasound the week before grandpa died. I'm so grateful I was able to share this exciting news with him because, to me, she's just one more of "his girls" & he would love her.

It really is the eternal plan of happiness. What a wise, loving Heavenly Father who gives us family & people to love whom we can be sealed to in his temples. We loose our loved ones, like grandpa, but also we welcome new members to our families, like Tashie & our baby. I so admire my Grandma & other members of my family as they find courage to move forward & "endure to the end." I love my Family.

Happy Birthday Jamie!

A Birthday wish for my very favorite Sister, that this year will be better than the last & that you will have more time to spend with the people you love most! (mostly Bradley)



This is one of my favorite pictures taken in Las Vegas after Jamie & Brad picked me up from the airport to spend a few days in Lake Havasu Arizona. I had been kinda discouraged so Jamie suggested I take this trip with them just to chill. It will always be a fun memory for me, mostly because just 1 month later my world changed forever when I met the love of my life.

Thanks Jame for always being such a great friend when I've needed one:) Love you Sis! Happy, Happy Birthday!

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas. It's amazing how much you can pack into one weekend & how quickly you can spend all the money you've been saving all year! Trav & I decided last September to buy our Christmas gift for each other a little early. What I should have done is put a big bow on the box & put it away for a few months. But we couldn't resist & have been enjoying it since then.



With the start of Football Season in September the price was the best we had seen, so we bought ourselves a new TV. We had good intentions. We set limits for each other saying that we would only do stockings... well you know how that goes. For some reason if you don't open it on Christmas it's just not the same. But we had fun shopping for one another & our families.

We spent Christmas with my family this year. Christmas Eve we decorated cookies, shared a wonderful meal & played "Scum." For some reason it was decided that the President & V.P. needed some kind of crown. We agreed Tyler's Disneyland hats would do. Trav & I both had a turn at the top of the table as Pres.





We went home that night & I really enjoyed celebrating Christmas just the 2 of us. We exchanged one gift that night, New PJ's for me & a new pillow for Trav.



Christmas Day we spent the first couple hours just us then it was off to Mom & Dad's for "Brunch," more gifts & a little Wii. From there we went to Grandma Jan's for even more gifts & Lunch.

The best part about having a Missionary out is that all day long you have something to look forward to. Kiel called about 6 that night & we all enjoyed visiting with him. Leave it to the Holidays to make me miss my little brother more than ever. I am so proud of him, he is not the same Kiel we talked to last year. And although I might regret saying this, I really hope these next 9 months go fast!

That weekend we went to Idaho Falls to spend a little time with the Butterworths (of course by this point I have totally lost interest in taking pictures). I appreciate all they do for us. Trav & I have been very blessed, we have wonderful family all around us. This year we came home to find all was well (doors still shut tight... unlike last year) & the first thing I did was cut my finger using one of the Cutco knives Lorie & Steve had given us. Nothing a Band-Aid couldn't fix.

Today is January 1st which means that it's time to take the Christmas tree down... but I'm just not quite ready. For me the Tree holds so much of the Christmas Spirit. Wondering what some of the symbolism of this tradition is I looked it up on Wikipedia. Here is some of what it said:

"...the evergreen tree represented eternal life and the promise of replenishment during the cold winter months. Apples and other fruit were hung upon the tree to represent the plentiful food to come. Candles were lighted to symbolize the warmth and brightness of the sun."

Although this definition doesn't directly refer the the Savior it does mention things that I often associate with him such as eternal life, faith, hope & light. I guess I don't want to take down the tree because it reminds me of Him. I am grateful we have this time of year to remember the "Reason for the Season" which is remembering Him who came to earth so humbly, but to fulfill a great purpose & ultimately He became greater than all.

Just a Thank You

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are taught to liken the Scriptures to ourselves. That being said I'd like to share the following:

"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days..."
-1Nephi 1:1-



These are my "Goodly Parents" (I love this picture) & during this week of Thanksgiving I have been increasingly grateful for the wonderful family that I have. Particularly my parents. We recently celebrated my Grandma Reids 80th Birthday & on that day my dad took the opportunity to thank his parents for their example. He pointed out that his parents never expected him to do anything that they had not already done themselves. At the time I don't think I understood the power in that statement.

This week I had the opportunity to receive some sweet counsel from my parents because I have been overwhelmed with the everyday challenges of my life. They shared experiences that helped them to overcome the same trials that Travis & I face now. And I realize that they do not expect any more from me than they have done themselves. There are 2 things I learned during our visit. The first I already knew, it is that my sweetheart, Travis, is an awesome blessing I have from my Heavenly Father. The Second thing they told me, they have taught us before (my brothers, sister & I), is that as long as we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives we will be blessed. I am so thankful that I have also been "taught somewhat in all the learning of my father [& mother]." I am thankful that they were able to remind me that I have many gifts in addition to my inadequacies, because that is how Heavenly Father intended it to be. I have always known I have a Father in Heaven who loves me, because they taught me by sharing testimony of him & of Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel we are taught about the example Jesus gave us during his ministry & we learn that He also does not expect any more from us than He has done. I think it would be appropriate here to quote 1 John 4:19, " We love him, because he first loved us." This is what I am most thankful for this year, & every year, while we celebrate this Holiday Season.

T'n'T

So I pulled out some of Trav's pictures today & I wanted to share some of the cuteness. Travis has a twin brother, Tyler. I love looking at pictures of them growing up, mostly because it's fun to see if you can tell them apart. It will test just how well you know them, because if you know them it's not that hard to tell.



I'm not sure I know which is which... I don't think you can see, but if you look close you can see those beautiful eye-lashes.



I love the blonde "fly-a-way" hair.



Lorie wrote on the back of this one "one day they insisted they didn't need a nap."



Travis says that they each had a color they preferred to wear, I can never remember who was which. But this picture is super easy to tell without the hint.



Cool Shades.



I wonder what's in those presents...



Travis has wanted to go to Lagoon the last 2 summers... We haven't made it yet.



He-Man & Skeletor!!!!!



Just in case you're wondering, they still do just about everything together.



Taken just before they left on their missions to Argentina.

3 Years Ago Today...

I'm not normally a Sentimental Person but for whatever reason today I pulled out my journal to read some of the entries & came across this one. I thought my family & a couple of good friends would find it interesting so I decided to share.

November 7, 2006

I'm not sure why I allow myself to go so long without writing in my journal, I know it's a commandment to keep a record of my life but the truth is my life is Boring! Well... Kinda... I had a date last Saturday (Nov 4) with Travis Butterworth from the Branch. He learned the hard way that I am one of the hardest people to get ahold of (on the phone). He called Monday & Tuesday & Wednesday & Thursday, Mom even gave him my cell phone number & it still didn't help. Wednesday he left a message on my voicemail so I knew it was ok for me to call him (I'm kinda old fashioned).
Anyway we went Ice Skating. I don't really like Ice Skating but he said he had never been, so we HAD to go. Everyone needs to do it at least once. It was more fun than I thought it would be. Travis was really shaky the whole time but he improved & neither one of us fell down (that is a BIG Deal).
We went to Village Inn for Pie after, which was great. We doubled with Travis' friend form work & his wife. The funny thing is no one told me that they were married. Travis said they wanted to act like it was their 1st date. I kinda wondered & just thought they had been dating for a while, She wasn't wearing a ring. He told me on the way home. I thought it was funny.
I was actually surprised that he would plan a date for that weekend because his family was in town from Idaho. I hope I wasn't pushy when I called him back. Oh well it's over now. We talked for a long time in his car when he brought me home. I think that's when I blew it. Talking too much & I'm sure I said some dumb things. He's a nice guy, I asked him how to tell the difference between him & his brother & he said Tyler has a spot on this chin & one has a squarer face & one has ears that stick out more. (By the way none of these things help unless they are both standing in front of me)...
... Oh & just for the record I think Travis & I will just be friends. I don't know but I don't think he's super interested & that's ok.
I went to lunch with Jamie & Grandma Jan today. Keith Urban's new CD came out today & I LOVE it! "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing"



The rest is History I guess. I hate to imagine life without Travis Butterworth.

POO99 & The Corolla

This is a really random post (Now that you have been warned I'll continue). Last Spring Travis & I were going over our finances & realized that we were spending a ridiculous amount of money on our cars each month. Also we were beginning to see that Trav's Passat was starting to have major issues that we knew that we couldn't afford to fix. So we set a goal to sell the Passat & then increase our payments on The Corolla until school started, & if all went well we would have the car paid off by September.

We sold the Passat in May & spent the summer as a 1 car family. My parents were kind enough to loan us their extra car (the Green Machine) which helped us out a lot because our work schedules are not conducive to car-pooling. It was a long hot summer for Trav, driving a car without air conditioning, but now he basks in the cool comfort of the Corolla. Which, I am very excited to announce, we officially paid off this week!

I'm excited to have the car paid off but not nearly as excited as I am to be able to say that we accomplished our goal. I tell Travis all the time, I plan to drive The Corolla "'til it dies." It's a good car & I'd even say it was worth the money.

The picture with this post is the famous POO99 licence plate from the Passat:)