Declan

Jim has spent the last 7 years living with just girls.  He misses his boys.  Thank goodness we have had Declan living next door to us during that time.

Declan is preparing for his First Communion this weekend.  Since it is suppose to rain on Sunday his smart mother decided she better take some photos of him yesterday when the sun was actually shining here in Portland.

Declan got all dressed up but his dad wasn't home to help him tie his tie so Jim to the rescue!

Declan looked so handsome I just couldn't resist getting my camera out and taking a few shots of this sweet moment.

Birthday Boys

While I was in Utah we were able to celebrate the boy's birthdays which had been the week before.

We decided that The Texas Roadhouse would be a good place to celebrate.  The place is a mad house and the wait was about 90 minutes so we went and hung out at the mall and picked up a few birthday presents for the boys - some new ties for Logan and a few polo shirts for Clark (we also picked him up some new dress pants at Nordstrom Rack the next day)

Dinner was great and their rolls are amazing.  I'm not going to tell you how many I ate but I had a really small steak and salad to try to counter balance all the calories of the rolls!!

For their birthday they brought out a little horse saddle and Clark got to sit on it.

 

After dinner we met up with cousin Drew for some ice cream.

On Saturday morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground which was only a problem because I hadn't brought a heavy coat, any closed toe shoes and only had skirts with bare legs to wear!!  

Cali and I headed up to Salt Lake to attend the wedding luncheon of our friend Louisa Densley at the Joseph Smith Building.  We stopped at Nordstrom Rack on the way and I got some panty house for my freezing cold legs and some closed toe shoes!!!

After the luncheon we headed to the airport and flew home - Cali was flying Southwest and I was Delta.  When we checked her in her bags weighed 54 pounds and 52 pounds!!!  We quickly repacked some things into my suitcase which now weighed exactly 50 pounds and we got her two bags down to 50 pounds each also.  Her carry on was really heavy!

Her plane arrived in Portland about an hour and a half before mine so she just hung out in baggage claim and Jim picked us up.

Good to be home!  Tessa is in Florida for DECA so Jim had a few days home alone!

BYU Women's Conference

On Wednesday I flew to Utah.    I was honored and terrified to be asked to speak at BYU Women's Conference on the Time Traps of Technology.  I spoke on Thursday afternoon.  I was so glad that I got it done early so I didn't have to be nervous the whole time and I could actually enjoy part of the conference.

It was so fun to have so many family and friends there to support me!!

Logan, Clark and Cali were there (although Clark had to leave right away to get back to work so missed the photo).  Tricia, Teresa and Emily were there too - which I appreciated so much!!  I have such great sister in law's and nieces in law!!!

Lizzy was also there and she brought me a delicious cupcake from the bakery she is working at!
Cali's good friend Kat who is now living in Provo with her husband came along too.

I shared the hour with Lisa who is works at BYU in the counseling center.  It was so fun to meet her in person and share the podium with her - she did a great job!

I had several blog readers there too and it was so fun to meet them!  Thanks to Heidi who was my personal paparazzi for the event!!  Love the photos she took.
Here I am with Nurse Heidi!  One of the many wonderful people I have met as a result of my blog.

 Another wonderful  blog friend - Patti!

More fun blog friends -
Heidi took some photos as I nervously sat and waited for my session to begin.  Logan and Emily helped keep me calm.

Logan trying to avoid the paparazzi!

And here I am giving my presentation.

Things went well, I think.  Logan told me I did better than he thought I would so I am going to take that as a compliment.

Logan's friend Lane who is the head video guy for the football team was helping make a video for Women's Conference so he interviewed me and Tricia afterwards -we'll see if we make the TV!!


Tricia, Teresa, Emily, Cali and I headed to Zupa's for lunch aftewards which was so yummy and relaxing!!