Utah Trip 2016 part 1

Our big vacation this year was to go to Utah. I know what your thinking, "how exotic." Am I right? haha...we have missed our friends and family from Utah so much that we decided we had to go. That is definitely one thing living across the country has taught me, things and places are fun to see, but people are what make life worthwhile. Anyway, I digress, so we headed out to Utah and of course stopped in the middle of Wyoming at Little America for an ice-cream cone (a childhood tradition in Morgan's family). I got Eva a full sized cone, not sure what I was thinking. There were tears when we had to leave it uneaten. :(

The first few days of our trip consisted of a Lyons' family reunion (just with Morgan's siblings). The first day we had a picnic in Provo and everyone (except this tired momma and Eva and Jack) went to play tennis). Then we went up Provo canyon to a park and pavilion area for dinner, games and a sing-a-long. The next day we met up in Draper again for dinner and a slide show of Aleisha and James' recent trip to Europe.

 Eva definitely had too much sugar...

 This was one of the first meetings for Grace and baby Jack. She was darling with him and kept leaning in to give him kisses. 

 They'll be best friends someday...

 at least that's the plan.

G&G Christensen meet Virginia

My wonderful parents came and visited us at the end of March and we had so much fun.

We took them all around Charlottesville to really give them a taste of our heaven on earth. These first set of pictures are from when we went to Mitchie's Tavern up by Monticello. By the way, they have the best fried chicken I have EVER eaten in my whole life!

When we toured the tavern after lunch the tour lady pulled out this colonial dress-up for Eva to wear. She was in heaven!

 Dancing in the upstairs ballroom:

We then headed to Williamsburg and Jamestown. It was freezing, but i'm glad we made the trip.

I was trying to get a [ictures with my kiddos, but Eva wanted to be held...not stand on the ground

Then we finished their trip driving through the Shenandoah Valley up to Gettysburg. It was breathtaking and we loved Gettysburg. We really want to go back to see more of it someday.

Beautiful Moments amidst Trials

Trials, trials, trials. I've been thinking about them lately. I'm such an optimist that I have had a hard time my whole life actually admitting that I am ever going through a trial. It's something i'm working on. I've realized that when I admit i'm going through a trial it validates the feeling and allows me to then deal with it healthily and sometimes even happily because I can tackle it head on instead of playing hide-and-seek. I've had to admit to myself that my life as a young mom (which I love by the way) is a trial in my life. It is hard, and pushes me to my limits. I've had a hard time admitting that, because I LOVE my kids and I love my role, but that doesn't mean it can't be hard.

I had a bit of a low point two weeks ago. It was at the end of an awesome visit from my parents and everything just fell apart as soon as they left. The upheaval of a scheduled compounded by Morgan's end of the semester stress and the fact that Jack still wasn't sleeping through the night came to a head on that Sunday. I took Jack out to nurse him during sacrament meeting and just cried in the mother's room because I was EXHAUSTED! How could I do it? That's when I decided to admit that this stage in my life was a trial and to be ok with that. Since that realization, I have been able to tackle things head on and have had unexpected beautiful moments. For example: One evening I was feeding Jack. I was tired, he was tired and I was begrudging my task. The house was a mess and I hadn't had my best day, but as I finished feeding my darling boy I put him up by my shoulder to burp him and he just nestled right in and fell right asleep. I stood up to go put him in his bed and just stopped and looked in a mirror as I passed it on my way out. Looking at his sweet little face just made me think, "this is a beautiful moment". It gave me strength and it made me think what an interesting thing 'opposition in all things' is. Throughout our trials there will still be beautiful moments. When we experience sorrow we will still have moments of happiness. That's just life. It's just how it works and it's actually quite a miracle. What a blessing that there are little reprieves that rejuvenate us and allow us to just push a little more and go a little further.

Now that I'm writing this out I guess I'm just describing my own personal 'tender mercies'. So, not totally profound or new, but it's been on my mind lately and i want to remember it in my own words. It makes me very grateful to know that Heavenly Father knows how i'm feeling and knows just how to sucker my soul. He knows how to turn my weary heart into a grateful and happy heart and I love that.

I found this perfect quote while reading scriptures tonight:
Maternal love has to be divine. There is no other explanation for it. What mothers do is an essential element of Christ’s work. Knowing that should be enough to tell us the impact of such love will range between unbearable and transcendent, over and over again, until with the safety and salvation of the very last child on earth, we can [then] say with Jesus, ‘[Father!] I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.' -Elder Holland, October 2015 General Conference

Isn't that beautiful?

Recent updates

Eva:

- is obsessed with dinosaurs, like really obsessed. She's always talking about being scared of them and movie requests these days are, "dinosaur moomy (movie)." followed by, "rella? (Cinderella)" Priorities girl.
- loves rocks. ANY time we go outside she immediately starts looking for them and starts another little pile. She talks about them all the time while we are outside and it is so cute.
- says, "me hungy (yes without the R)," loudly at the server at any restaurant we attend while staring at them with a very impatient disapproving look.
- has started 'nursing' her stuffed animals. It's adorable, especially since she nurses them from her belly button...haha
- she is also into making all her toys kiss. In the bathtub a few weeks ago, she looked at her two bath spoons and named one mommy and one daddy and then had them kiss. She then lined up two of her rubber ducks and said, "Jacky" and, "Eva". Nothing like a spoon and rubber duck family for play toys.


Jack:

- is FINALLY sleeping through the night! We had to do some major training, but it only took one night and now he sleeps 8 hours. Yes, yes, yes! This is a game changer.
- has his two bottom teeth and man they are sharp!
- is as smily as ever.
- eats like crazy. 2 meals of solids everyday and he nurses 6 times a day. All I have to say is he better be up in weight at his next appointment.


Me:
I had to include a section for us adults, because we don't really get a report on my blog much. So, here ya go.
- started training with a personal trainer in January and had quick success (lost 15 lbs) but now have plateaued big time. It's a work in progress. I just have to keep telling myself that it's a lifestyle change not a diet, because I honestly want it to be that way.
- started practicing the piano again. I'm hoping to take lessons from my mom over Skype.

Morgan:

- so close to being done with his second year of law school. HALLELUJAH! He hates it and I hate it, but it's almost over. haha...that sounds so sad, but it is true. Only a few more weeks and we get released from it's clutches for a few summer months!
- is LOVING his trial class. (surprise, surprise...not really). Morgan loves trials, and loves criminal law so his hands on applicable class that actually teaches trial skills is of course his non-contested favorite.
- is my favorite person ever...just had to throw that in there. We've been doing date night faithfully each week and it is my favorite day ever just to get an evening of Morgan all to myself.

A Girl and Her Balloon

Eva has been carrying around her Valentine's balloon EVERYWHERE for the last couple of days. These are a few pictures we took right after we gave it to her. 

 Look at her hugging the string, so cute.

I love how little kids show total unbridled joy for the simplest thing. Believe me, nothing can get between this girl and her balloon. 

Valentine's 2016

We had such a great Valentine's Day this year...well it was more like a Valentine's weekend. Morgan and I went out to a great Italian restaurant here in Charlottesville on Friday. We got babysitters for both kids and it felt great to go out, just the two of us. I loved the food and the ambience of the restaurant and it was such a pleasure to share it with my forever Valentine.

On Sunday morning, I got the kids up and got them dressed for church in their most festive attire, so of course we had to take a few pictures.

This is Eva tickling Jack. She squints her eyes and says, "tickle, tickle" in a high pitched voice. It's adorable. Jack reacts about like this every time...

We decorated the table with cards, flowers and chocolate and of course we got Eva her very own helium balloon. She is in love with it.

Morgan drew this handmade Valentine. Can you believe that! I love it.

Also, I love the roses he picked out. 

Jack enjoyed the morning just like this...