Angels

I haven't written a blog post in years, and the ones I started I obviously didn't finish.  But I just had an experience that I needed to write down and save and this is where I thought I wouldn't lose it. 

Our sweet baby Henry has a hard time sleeping.  So as pictured above, I normally end up holding him to nap, and all night long is a struggle.  We have made some progress and he is napping and sleeping (kinda) on his own, but getting to sleep at night is full of tears and screaming and stress on all sides.  

Tonight, after 30 plus minutes of our nightly struggle, I went in to comfort Henry.  I received a Spiritual nudge that told me that he feels alone far away in the corner bedroom, a big room and a big bed for such a little guy.  So I prayed with all my heart to Heavenly Father and asked Him to send angels to Henry to help him know that he is loved and to comfort him so he wouldn't feel alone.  I told Heavenly Father that I knew that this was possible, that I knew that He could hear me and I knew that He loved our Henry even more than we do, which I can't even imagine. I told Heavenly Father that I knew He could send some angels down to be with my baby.   Immediately, I felt the presence of  what I can only assume to be a few of His Heavenly Angels in the room, I had the thought that they might be his two grandpa Roberts (Trottier and Stewart). Henry calmed down, his breathing steadied, and he fell asleep.   

I don't think this will be the end of our sleeping struggles in the long run, or even for the night.  But our storm was calmed by a loving Heavenly Father for concerned and over tired parents, and a lonely little boy.  I will treasure this experience and will share it with Henry when he is older so that he can know, like I do how much our Heavenly Father loves Him.  A little 7 month old who was in need of comfort. I know that our Heavenly Father hears our prayers and he cares about us.  He cares enough to send angels to to my baby.

Halloween Week amt the Gy

Kendall Halloween Party

I'm Gonna Get You Game

Evelyn LOVES the game I'm gonna get you. she will just run and run and run

Sister Schwab

Sister Schwab came to America!!! Finally she was able to save up and plan a trip to come and visit everyone!  She stayed with us and it was so fun to have her there!  I had the sisters over during priesthood session and had a great time reminiscing and talking and laughing.   On Sunday we went to conference!  We....butted in line....but we didn't even feel bad because we got to our seats right when the prophet walked in which is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Sister Schwab.   We then went to my moms for a Kendall Family party.  She was a little overwhelmed by the amount of people but she had a great time i think!  She gave us our wedding present that she has had for a year and a half which was so nice of her!  A German card about weddings and sandpaper :) and gave us a candle that she painted.  It is a tradition from Germany (LOOK UP WHAT SHE SAID ABOUT IT

National Siberian Dance Company

BYU hosted a dance team from Siberia so we of course got tickets to go see it!  It ended up being a little mini mission reunion,  Sister Margolies and Elder Capps bought tickets right behind us so that was good fun.  President and Sister Gibbons were there also.  Not only that, the  dancing was amazing! I can't even describe it.  The girls basically floated across the stage, and the men jumped like jumping beans.  It was so fun to be there with so many Russian speakers and other returned missionaries from so many years and so many missions.  It was funny because some of the dancers came out to meet people and had someone to translate for them. what they didn't know was that almost everyone there spoke Russian so it wasn't necessary.

Park City

Another Hot Air Balloon Festival with some of my favorite people!

Kanarraville Falls

Labor Day celebration for us was in nature enjoying God's creations!  Jacob and I hiked part of this trail when we first started dating on our way to the Ragnar that we ran. We have wanted to go back ever since to hike it again, so we decided on a whim the night before to drive to Kanarraville and hike it again!  Shayna and her husband Zach (Shayna coaches at Bailie's Gymnastics with me) were already in Cedar City so they met us there to hike!  It's funny because the hike starts out not so beautiful hiking past a water tower but when you get to the slot canyons it is just incredibly gorgeous!  We hiked up the river and climbed up 2 different waterfalls.  We were looking for the famous natural slide that everyone goes to but we were so busy trying to get away from crowds of people that we totally missed it and hiked for more than an hour before we decided to turn back.  The trail was no longer a trail and it was more forested than canyon anymore.  It is absolutely gorgeous up there with the red rock and water!

There were so many people there because it was a holiday and one of the last warm weekends.  We ended up waiting about an hour to climb down the waterfalls because of the huge line to get down!  But we made it fun anyways!

Hiking the Narrows in Zion's

We were invited by our friends Caroline and Brandon to go to Zion's National Park and hike the Narrows.    It was a long drive early in the morning for us but it was totally worth it!  There is so much to go see within a few hours of us!  We have decided to take advantage of the beautiful state  of Utah that we live in!

We took a bus ride right up to the trail head from just outside of the park and began the trek up!  The water was a little chilly but it felt good in the heat.  We took the first canyon the right and it was a good decision! We had to swim, climb up and jump off waterfalls as far up as we could go before we would have needed rope to get farther.  We hiked for quite a few hours and were exhausted but we went and got food and headed home anyways!  I drove and we stayed awake by singing loud to our favorite music!

We love hanging out with Caroline and Brandon! it makes for lots and lots of fun and also good conversations. Thanks for a great day!

Camping, Paddle Boarding, Sailing, and the Hot Air Balloon Festival with Kate and Kye

After I presented at the FEEFHS conference we went to meet the Giles Family and head up to Pineview.  Who knew that paddle boarding was so fun?!  I didn't but I sure fell in love with it! I loved being able to paddle out in the lake by myself and with my sweet Jacob.

We didn't have any utensils so Kate's dad Troy stirred the dinner with the back of a screwdriver!  We're camping!

Friday night we went to the Hot Air Balloon on festival for the lighting.  If you just ask they will let you turn the fire on!  It was the best experience ever! I was so excited!  Jacob is so sweet that he supports me in my silly loves and fascinations.

Early Saturday morning to woke up and made our way to the field.  We asked the owners of the yellow balloon with flowers if we could help them and they said yes!  We got to help with all sorts of things and then Kate and I followed along in the truck with the balloons drivers wife and followed him so we could help dream  take it down!  Oh man it was so great! Now I all I need to do is to fulfill my dream of riding in a Hot Air Balloon.

We spent the rest of the day on the lake sailing and paddleboarding!  Sailing is SOO cool!  Kye is so cool that he know how to do that!

FEEFHS International Conference

I was invited to present at the Federation of East European Family History Studies international conference.   I prepared these classes for months and it was an amazing experience.  I taught about Russian Script and how to read Russian documents in order to collect genealogical information and I also taught about the different Russian documents available for use.  I am grateful for this opportunity. It helped me to gain confidence and knowledge.

The Chronicles of Narnia

I decided to read the  whole Chronicles of Narnia series this year for the first time. I don't know how I escaped reading them my whole life but I LOVE them!  The gospel symbolism was exquisite and I want to read them again and again!

Doughnuts for My Love

Craft Lake City!

A tradition continued!  Mom, Sami, Camille, Whitney and I went to this last year and we went again this year (Sami couldn't make it).  It rained pretty good but it was still very fun!  People are so creative and I want to buy so so much but I restrained myself quite well.

Whitney bought a necklace with Jarom's zodiac constellation on it which was quite romantic....and I bought myself doughnut earrings because Jacob's favorite thing is doughnuts! HAHA! I just thought that that was a funny comparison...maybe that says something about us.... :) haha

Kendall Camp 2015

I always love and look forward to Kendall Camp!  Which used to be an actual camp out but is now just a day in Mueller Canyon.   This includes LOTS AND LOTS of food always with 7 layer dip, and scones, and s'mores and other deliciousness!  We also always color, Shannon brought her amazing oil based colored pencils and I want some soooooo bad! We also play lots of games and this year we hiked part way up Big Rock hike.  The best game that everyone loved this year was Jake's game called....nail in the stump...or something like that.  Everyone puts a nail in the stump and we take turns trying to get each other's nails sunk into the stump with out aiming!  It is hysterical and fun!  I am glad that we have a fun family that we can play with and love!  Brooke and Paul and Emma played too but are not pictured.

Paul arm, Caeden, Alan, Jake, Jaymon, Olivia, Jacob, me

Caeden, Alan, Jake, Jacob

Grandma's elbow, Tyler, Caeden, Alan, Jake, Jaymon, Jacob

Russian Dinner

We found a Russian Restaurant!  It is in Salt Lake City and is called The Galley Grill, run by a Russian Family.  We invited our Russian missionary friends to join us. Jacob, Spencer and I decided to order a bunch of different food and share so that we could try a variety of things and everyone else shared bites with us too. We tried Borsht, Schi, Pelmeni, and Vareniki.  Gotta say that my favorite thing we tried there was Pelmeni!  Oh I love Russian food so so much! And I love my mission friends.

Melissa and Colby Capps, Spencer, us, and Scott and Abby Christensen.

Gymnastics Meets

I love my girls so so much. Meet season is so much fun but so stressful at the same time! I am even more stressed out for them than I remember being stressed out for myself when I was competing. I just want them to do their very best. They are so amazing! Here are a few pictures.

Temple Date with Hungarian Breakfast

My dear sweet husband takes me to the temple for dates!  We stopped early in the morning at Huruska's Kolaches in Provo!  Mmmmmg! So good! Very reminiscent of Russian food.  we decided this trip would be to the Payson Temple.  It was our first time going there and it was incredibly beautiful.  The rooms were breathtaking and the wood used was just amazing.  I love spending time with my eternal companion and I love it even more when we spend time together in the House of Lord remember our covenants and contemplating our eternal relationship that we have.  I am so grateful for the temple and the revelation and spirit and love that I feel and receive there.  I am grateful for the gospel and the eternal perspective of life it gives me.

Camping with Friends!

First camping trip of the year!  Mark, Bekka, Victoria, Carol, and Sam (Jake was there for the first night).  We had such a good time.  We didn't think we would need to make a reservation so it ended up that we drove around and around Sundance trying to find a spot haha and we finally found one! Camping is so fun, we had chili and corn bread for dinner, parfaits for breakfast and tin foil dinners the next night.  These friends that we have made are so much fun.  They planned a "talent show" for us to do that was just silly and crazy! We had delicious s'mores and sang songs etc.  We slept in a tent the first night and the second night we slept in the car because Jacob was so excited to see if it was comfortable!  Jacob is so great.

Scottish Festival

We love our annual trip to the Scottish Festival! I love that this amazing family that I have joined holds so strongly to their roots.  Jake joined me, Jacob and Alex this year and I think he had a pretty good time.  We had some traditional food like corned beef and cabbage and a scotch egg (a hardboiled egg inside of sausage). 

There were of course lots of bag pipes  that played beautifully! And Jake's math teacher, my old cross country coach was there!  Way to go Hoodie!

The Highland Games which are so so cool.  Who just flips a log?!  the biggest one we saw flipped was 135 pounds and....I can't remember how long!

We tried our hands at lifting the rocks from one of the contests, each weighed about 260 pounds ( think)....I couldn't lift it....

I love my Mr. Stewart.

Happy Birthday My Love!

Happy Birthday to my big hunk of a husband! He is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and my life. I seriously don't know what I would do with out him.  He makes me laugh, he keeps me calm, he lifts me up, he encourages me, and he loves all of me.  He is a hard worker, a worthy priesthood holder, and an amazing man, and look how cute he is!