What in the.....

So, in the last two weeks I have had a couple of fun adventures... ... ... ... we dressed as clowns for the local city parade. We did it for a politician in our ward. He's so awesome. ... ... ... PS vote for Keele.






Then off to the Lehi City Rodeo. Um, it was pretty much amazing. Mostly because we were there. Ha! There was no bull-(insert bad word here) going on at this row-day-oh. These bulls were huge. Kacey made eye contact with one big, ornery bull and we thought we were going to get eaten alive. He nearly jumped in Trav's lap. That's what you get for sitting front row. Oh, even better though... One bull came running along the fence, right by us. He was T.O.'d. He flung his head up and... yup, you guessed it... bull SLOBBER... splashed all over Trav's face! Hahahahahahaha!

A Beautiful Day

Six years ago, Nic and I became husband and wife. What a beautiful day. I'm so grateful for him. I love him with all my heart.


Here are a few photos from that wonderful day, six years ago.


Just coming out of the Salt Lake Temple.




This is Grammie's hand next to mine. Nic gave me my dream ring... a replica of Grammie's ring. I love you Grammie and I miss you so much.


In front of our wedding castle... also known as the Salt Lake LDS Temple.


The sweetheart's tree at the temple is a very popular place for photos. All the grounds are beautiful. I feel so blessed to have been married to my eternal love at this historic and stunning temple.


Us, cutting our absolutely beautiful cake!


How lucky we are to have each other for eternity. I look forward to all the years in front of us, and I rejoice in the years already passed.

PS We love and miss you Mercydez. Our family is eternal.

PSS For a sneak-peek inside the Salt Lake Temple, click HERE. This is so cool! I've seen this in person and it's incredible. You should see it too!

Remembering In Our Own Ways

Memorial Weekend was beautiful.

We visited the graves of all of Nic's family: Nic's grandparents, Mark & Norma; Nic's brother, Mark; Nic's sister, Heather; Nic's niece, Ma'Kayla; and our sweet little girl, Mercydez. It took all afternoon on Sunday and it was so nice to be with family, remembering those we love so much.

Me and Mark'ella hanging out by her Uncle Mark's grave side.

Allie, Kirt, and li'l Maxx at the Sandy Cemetery.

Nic and li'l Millie. It's crazy to think that Maxx, Millie, and Mercydez are all the same age. Can you imagine how cute Mercydez would be with her daddy in a picture like this? One day...

Mark'Ella was being so cute. I love her little scrunchie face!

Uncle Jess, Aunt Lynn, Drew (Dad Haws), and Millie (Mom Haws). We bumped into them at the Sandy Cemetery. We love you!


It was fun to crash Norm's birthday party (thanks for the delicious food - you're all so sweet to let us unexpectedly drop in). Happy birthday Norm.

Monday morning we woke up early and got to work in our Angel Garden, as well as doing some other projects.
Adrienne working in the Angel Garden.

Dad gettin' to work!

Mom playing with the tractor thing. She was coming right at me... I would have been scared except she was going under two miles an hour. Scaarryy!

Me having FUN! Ha!


After working hard in the Garden we went to a big family BBQ. It was fun! There was tons of yummy food and lots-a volleyball! Super fun! Then most of my family and Nic and I went to visit Mercydez and my Grandpa and Grammie. We love you!


(I don't know why the picture of my Sweet Grandpa and Grammie's headstone isn't turning the right way... blasted computer)

PS Thanks to Megan and her adorable children for the beautiful flowers they left on Mercydez's headstone. They are BEAUTIFUL! We LOVE them! We paid Dex a visit too. Sweet little boy.

PSS I miss you Grammie. I had the urge to call you today... I miss my best friend.

True Royalty

My beautiful Grammie left this world and returned to Heaven last night. Oh, how my heart aches. She is my hero. She is my best friend.

With the heartache I feel great joy in knowing that she is with my grandpa RIGHT now. I can't even imagine what pure happiness she must be experiencing. She is with Mercydez too. My heart leaps for joy at that thought.

Grammie, Adrienne, and I were the three musketeers. We have been a best-friend trio since the day Adrienne and I were born... probably in Heaven before any of us were born, come to think of it.

She is an elect lady. I've never met someone with so much faith and determination to do what's right. She stood FIRM. Nothing intimidated her. Nothing could make her question. Choosing what was right was probably just part of her very being.

I'm going to miss her. I miss her already. I'm so grateful for the life she has led. I'm so grateful that I was blessed to be a large part of her life. Adrienne and I were "her twins". I would walk in and she would say, "There's my Ashley... there's my Adrienne." Always the one to meet tribulation with dignity and a smile, she is my shining example.

Grammie, oh, how we love you. Thank you for sharing so much. Thank you for teaching us so much. Thank you for being an elect woman, a woman deserving much more than a crown of jewels. You are my Princess Grammie. You are a queen. You are true royalty.

Adrienne and I are blowing you kisses and flashing our lights to you. We will never forget you. Never.

Give Mercydez a kiss and tell her we love her.

Melancholy

I don't have much time.

I've been procrastinating. (sigh)

Yes, we are still here.


Mothers Day was beautiful, and hard. In the moment, it felt hard, but looking back on that Sunday, just over a week ago, I have realized that it was actually really, REALLY hard for me. It was wonderful to honor my own mother and mother-in-law (as well as the many women around me), but it was an empty day for me.

I'm at a point in my grief where I just block things. Yes, I'm still grieving and I will always be grieving. It's something not many understand. I appreciate those who try to understand though. I can tell when a person tries and when a person just flat-out doesn't. I don't like people who don't try. I don't have the energy to say that it's "okay" if they don't try. Selfish? Yes. Do I care? No. So, there ya have it.

I've been struggling the last while. My sweet, beautiful Grammie is really sick. In fact, today, she took a turn for the "worst" (which, by the way, really isn't the worst thing that can happen to a person). I have "blocked" the heartache, but today it has been fresh and some-what raw. I don't know how much longer we'll have her. All I know is that I love her. She is my Grammie. She is my best friend. She is my coach, my mentor, my life-guide. But, I don't blame her. She's been without my Grandpa for way too long. She and my Grandpa are madly in love. I'm sure they will both be weeping for joy when they meet again. I will be weeping too. A happy weep. And, most definitely, a sad weep.

Nic and I have been reading our scriptures together every night. It's something I look forward to. I love it. It has been a comfort. We were reading in The Book of Mormon and I came across a verse that reads as follows:

"...many shall be afflicted in the flesh, and shall not be suffered to perish, because of the prayers of the faithful;"

Hm. Did that catch you off-guard like it did me? The word "suffered" as mentioned above doesn't have the same modern-day meaning commonly used. I've pondered that a lot. There is a lot hidden in that small passage. I love the scriptures.

I'm taking a few sociology classes this semester. My mind has been moving, spinning, analyzing, pondering, and questioning quite a bit lately. This class has both helped me learn A LOT about myself and it has caused me to question a lot about myself as well. ... ... ... ... ...

Okay, back to the studies. Homework will be forever taunting me unless I stop procrastinating and JUST GET 'ER DONE.

Funny, Funny (Warning: A Little Crude)!

I'm ticked that I didn't think to hold my camera the RIGHT way when I recorded Nic coming in the finish line. Urg. Ahwell, just cock your head to the side. You'll get the same affect. See post below for some sweet pic's of our big race!

********* FUNNY STORY **********

So, Nic came through the finish line and I (of course) greeted him! He was so frozen he seriously couldn't talk at all! Ha! But, that's not the funny part. I asked him how his race went and he said, "Great! I did my best and I ran the whole way!" It sounded a bit more like, "Gray. I di ma bes an ran da who wa." So, he then goes on to tell me that his finish time would have been better BUT half way through the race his BOWELS kicked in and he had to "crap like you wouldn't believe" (cra lie yoo woh-nt beleevv). So, he tried to keep going and he "squeezed his cheeks like he's never squeezed before. HARD!" He said a prayer that he would find somewhere appropriate to "let it go" or else he was gonna let it go in his (very nice) running shorts (which, according to Ash, happens all the time. I wonder how she knows this??? ;)) So, he's running the Provo-River trail and, wa-lah! There was a park bathroom facility. Nic "ran in and made sure it was empty of occupiers. If anyone had been in there [he] would have kicked them out. [He] pulled down the shorts and pushed harder than ever before. And, it was like Niagara Falls!"

Not only is that HILARIOUS but, you should have heard him tell me! His mouth and tongue were so frozen he couldn't enunciate AND he couldn't smile or laugh with me! So funny!

So, note to self, go potty (and PUSH) before you run a half-marathon. I think he's learned his lesson.

PS Besides this whole experience, the only other "bad" experience was that his nipples HURT. I told him that he can now have some sympathy for us women when we breastfeed or pump. TMI? Maybe, yeah.

Check!!!

Today was my first-ever 5K and Nic's first-ever Half-Marathon!!! Check that off our bucket list! It felt so good! I am starting to really enjoy running. It's becoming very therapeutic. I'm so happy because I ran the whole race. That was my own personal goal. I've been training for a long time and I'm so happy with myself.

Adrienne, Me (yes, we are identical twins), Nic, Ashley (the original Ashley Haws :), Lindsay, and my awesome mom, LeAnn. Nic and Ashley (his sis) did the half-marathon. The rest of us did the 5K. It was great! In the words of my mom, "I can see why this is so addicting! I want to do another one!"



The half-marathon-ers RIGHT before their race began! They were both nervous, but they did AWESOME! I'm so proud of Nic and Ashley (the original).

And off they go!

Mom, Adrienne, Me, and Lindsay after the race. I took them home after our race and then went back to wait for Nic and Ash to finish their half-marathon. By-the-way, it RAIN, SNOWED, and HAILED. It was FREEZING (literally, it was). We were FROZEN. But, hey, we did it! And, we did it together!

Nic was SOAKING (so was the person behind the camera, a-hem). He was completely frozen head-to-toe. He couldn't smile, he couldn't talk, and he couldn't hold anything. The only thing he could do was SHIVER. He did SO good on his race. I'm so proud of him!

Ash didn't come in long after Nic. She did really well, especially considering for the last while her heart and mind hasn't been on running (wink, wink).



GOOD JOB ADRIENNE, MOM, LINDSAY, ASH, NIC AND ME! WE DID IT! WE DID IT FOR YOU MERCY! LOVE AND MISS YOU WITH ALL OUR HEARTS!