Surprise Visit!

April not only brought awesome weather, Conference, and a quick visit from my Mom's sister and her family,  but also brought Brandon's Mom, Dad, and youngest sister to Utah for a day! The other awesome thing is that Brandon had the day off work!

We met his family in Salt Lake to do some sightseeing.  We did a tour of the LDS Conference Center, went to the Salt Lake Temple Visitors Center, and then had lunch at the City Creek Mall.

The Conference Center was absolutely gorgeous.  There were a couple times I had to stop and try my hardest to not cry.  This was one thing that my late mother and I had talked about doing together but we never got the chance.  I know she was there in spirit with me.

Here are some of my favorite paintings from the Conference Center:

This painting has a very big impact on me.  I hadn't seen it before until the tour and it was all I could do to not break down crying.  This illustrates a woman that is dealing with depression and the multitude of angels and ancestors helping her stay strong.

This painting is of Mormon looking over the battlefield with Moroni behind him. The cool thing is that this is the full painting. Not the cropped version that is in the LDS Gospel Art book.

This painting is of Christ when he came to the Americas to visit the Nephites. This is also the full painting-not the cropped version that is also found in the LDS Gospel Art book.

After we looked at the numerous paintings in the Conference Center we went to the windows that are behind the waterfall that is in front of the Conference Center. This was Emma's and Giselle's favorite part.

The tour guide then took us to the roof and we got this gorgeous view of the Salt Lake Temple.

Of course we had to get some family pictures up on the roof.

Once we were done touring the Conference Center, we went to the Visitors Center at Temple Square.  We took Giselle up to see the statue of Christ that is in every temples' visitors centers.

Giselle pointing and saying "Jesus."

We wanted to get a picture of Giselle and Darius with the statue but it was a little high for comfort so Brandon held onto Darius.

Family photo in front of the statue

Brandon asking Giselle who the statue was. She very enthusiastically said "Jesus."

Giselle was practically glued to Emma's side if she wasn't in the stroller or was being carried. So we snapped a picture.

Giselle and Brandon

While I was getting pictures of Giselle and Brandon, Todd was holding Darius and they were both smiling and giggling. Perfect photo opportunity.

In the visitors center, they had a model of what Jerusalem looked like in 33 AD. So cool!

Before we left for lunch, I asked Marilyn to grab a couple family photos in front of one of the many flower gardens that are on Temple Square.

I also managed to grab these shots of the front of the Salt Lake Temple.

After Temple Square and lunch, we headed back to Orem to do some shopping, dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and swimming at the hotel pool.  Giselle LOVES the water and threw a decent sized fit once we told her it was time to leave the pool and go home.

Before Brandon's family left the next morning, we all went to Build-a-Bear.  Giselle and Darius got a Chewbacca bear and a Stormtrooper bear. Needless to say- Giselle was SO excited seeing as those are two of her favorite Star Wars characters.

All in all it was a great visit, even though it was short.  Can't wait until the next time!

March "Cleanout" Madness

Some people are excited for March because of March madness.

I get excited because it's the month that winter (supposedly) ends and spring (supposedly) begins.

Growing up in Lewiston, ID this is what I saw around the middle/end of March-

However, since living in Southeast Idaho and Utah I mainly see brown, dead grass around this time of year. However, I can always count on seeing robins flying around.

Also along with March comes the dreaded Spring Cleaning. Most people dread it, but I love it. So far this month I've taken 2 loads to DI (with Brandon's help) and am currently working on a third.

Some may say "How the heck do you guys have so much stuff?" My response- "4 years of marriage, 2 kids, and all other changes that happen during that time."

We're NOT hoarders by any means. But the mindset of what is important has changed. Some of this mindset change happened shortly after my mother passed away 6 months ago.

Now instead of thinking "oh my future kids may want this" I think "if I were to die unexpectedly tomorrow what do I want to leave for people to clean out." Yeah, it's kind of morbid thinking but it works. There is an effective method to my madness.

During the last couple weeks I've also rearranged and redecorated our living room. Now instead of feeling boxed in, it feels so much more open and the "flat space" has been reduced significantly. If it needs a little explaining- "flat space" is what helps attract unwanted clutter- junk mail, opened bills, crayons that your toddler keeps trying to eat, etc.

I've found that getting rid of the materialistic excess helps get rid of the "mental clutter." And boy, does it feel nice both ways. I'm finding that my down time is actually relaxing instead of always having to run through a mental "to-do" list and not having the physical stamina to get through it all.

Here's to more "cleanout madness" and a more put together home.

New Year, New Beginnings

Welcome 2016!

Yes, it's practically March (what?????) but hey, this post is better late than never right?

These first two months of the new year have flown by but we've been keeping busy. Here's what we've been up to:

Brandon is still working at Big Lots but he's put in applications to jobs in Salt Lake and Washington, D.C.  These jobs are more career type jobs so hopefully something will come out of the submitted applications.

He is still working towards graduate school but we've decided that whether the end game is graduate school or possibly a house (we need roots!) he needs a higher paying job.

I'm trying to help supplement the income by doing my own businesses. Yes, you read that right- businesses. Plural.

There's three different ones I'm currently launching- there's Huffaker Photography, Vivi Jewelry, and my sewing studio-Sew Many Seams.

It seems like a lot for a stay at home mom with two kids, but if I can generate a little bit of cash out of any or all of these ventures then it'll help the family. I'm really excited for all of them and I've started to catch the eyes of some people so fingers crossed!

Giselle is still as busy as ever for a toddler. She LOVES playing with her toys and Darius.  She loves to make him laugh and smile.  She is also turning out to be quite the little helper.  She likes to help with almost EVERYTHING- dishes, sweeping, laundry, picking up toys, sewing, and many other things I do around the house.

She started nursery at the beginning of the year and it's her favorite thing about Sunday-aside from the afternoon Disney movies after church and nap time.

Her love for Disney has blossomed.  Her favorite characters are Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Roo, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Mulan, Ana and Elsa, Olaf, Sofia the First, and the rest of the Disney Princesses.

She isn't talking in sentences yet but her vocabulary includes- Tigger, Roo, Pooh, poo, boo boo, mom, dad, red, purple, car, milk, juice, blue, pink, and pray.  She can identify her arm, head, hair, feet, toes, hands, nose, mouth, and ears.  She understands what we say to her, she just can't form 'big girl' sentences.  We aren't worried about it-she still has time and is improving every day.

Darius is a cute little guy.  I say 'little' meaning 'young.'  He is growing, growing, growing.  He has almost outgrown his infant car seat and is in the process of outgrowing his 6-9 month clothing.  He'll be 6 months old in a couple days.

He isn't crawling yet but he can almost sit up on his own and can lift his chest off the ground.  He just started solid foods.  His favorites are bananas, applesauce, and pears.  He likes the applesauce and pears better if mixed with rice cereal.  He definitely has his daddy's appetite.

He LOVES to squirm, wiggle, and laugh.  He has many ticklish spots and so we try to make him laugh as often as we can. The laughter of a child is such a sweet sound and you can't help but smile when you hear it.

And that folks gets us up to date with what's happening here in Utah!

Christmas 2015

Two months later and I'm finally writing about Christmas.

I hardly need to mention that this Christmas was different.  However, we made the most of it and it was quite enjoyable.

The Christmas season started out with us setting up our tree the day after Thanksgiving.  However, we didn't decorate it until Nov 30th due to Brandon's work schedule.

Giselle had fun showing Darius their ornaments:

These two ornaments are for Darius.  Giselle got 2 "baby's first Christmas" ornaments from a lack of communication. So we decided that Darius would get 2 as well.

These next two are mine.  The top one says: "The ones we've lost are found in our memories."

Giselle's ornament for this year was Minnie Mouse-one of her favorite Disney characters

Darius and Giselle also got a Mickey and Minnie ornament from Grandma (Marilyn) and Grandpa (Todd) Huffaker-

The top of our entertainment center:

Also with Brandon working at Big Lots, we got Giselle a little special something- a giant Christmas Olaf.  It's as tall as she is but she loved it.

Brandon had to work Christmas Eve so Sabina, Robert, the kids and I went to my Uncle Nathan's house for Christmas Eve dinner.  We made a couple batches of Swedish meatballs and put together a meat/cheese tray to contribute to the meal.  It was a fun time had by all.

Christmas morning brought SO MUCH SNOW.  About a foot fell between 11 pm and 7 am.  It was GLORIOUS.  I had to go get Sabina from Provo that morning since she and Robert were spending most of Christmas Day with us.  Robert had opted to sleep over Christmas Eve but Sabina needed to go back to Provo.

Yes, I did in fact use a snow shovel to get most of the snow off of our van.  What happened to the Expedition you ask? Well that's for another post.

Anyways, so instead of about a one hour trip (to and from Provo), it took me about 2 hours to get into Provo and to get back to Pleasant Grove.  Again- SO MUCH SNOW.  Plus the van got stuck in a snow bank right outside Sabina's apartment. So that was a fun 20 minute adventure.

We got back to my apartment safely and we opened gifts.  I didn't get any pictures of the gift opening but I can guarantee fun was had by all.

Sabina and Robert left for Provo later that afternoon.  Brandon and I made more Swedish meatballs making the total being FIVE batches made this Christmas season.  I believe that's a record.  Also- I didn't make fruit soup this year making this the second year of my life not having it.  That's kind of a big deal considering that fruit soup is in my top 3 absolute favorite Christmas dishes.

It was a nice Christmas spent with family and I LOVED watching Giselle's reactions to her gifts as well as to other people's gifts.  I'm excited for future Christmases when the kids are older.  Having young children and seeing their reaction to all the decorations really does bring back the magic of the Christmas season.

I love it.

Tragedy

This post is hard to write even though it's been 4 months...but here goes.

My mother, Tamra Gerber, passed away October 4th, 2015.  It was General Conference weekend.

It was a sudden, painless death.  She died of either a heart attack or stroke and she was dead before she hit the floor.

My siblings and I knew that she would die eventually but we didn't expect it to be as sudden as it was. We all thought that we would be gathered around a hospital bed to say our final goodbyes.

Mom suffered from two major illnesses but she didn't let that stop her.  She loved to serve others, sew, garden, scrapbook, and decoupage among MANY other things. Her love of music and serving others was taught to all of us through example and sometimes sit-down lessons. Even though her health wasn't the best, she still had an excellent quality of life.

The last few years of her life, Mom was home bound (different than bed ridden).  She couldn't get out much on her own but she made the most of it.  Yes, there were days when she got frustrated about her situation, but she still tried to think positive.

Family was extremely important to her. Even though there were rough patches with all of us kids, she had our backs and loved us through it all.

We miss her so much but we are also happy that she's in a better place-able to do everything she wants to do.

I can't seem to write anymore through my tears so I'll let some pictures tell the rest:



































Link to her obituary:
http://www.wingmortuary.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=3343690&fh_id=10655