Chicago Temple

I was able to go do a session at the Chicago Temple before I came home. It was one of the most personal testimony building experiences I have had in the temple. The peace and comfort I felt there while I sat in the celestial room was overwhelming. I know I will remember that experience for a lifetime. How grateful I am for my testimony of the Savior and my Heavenly Fathers plan. I am grateful for the atonement and the healing that I know can come with using the atonement in our lives. Sometimes the battle seems long, sometimes too long, but I am thankful for the good days! It was wonderful to talk with Father and to feel of his love, it was hard to leave! I wish I could bottle up those feelings and open them up to feel them again on those hard days.

Thanks Justin!

The flowers Justin sent were beautiful and I was grateful for his thoughtfulness. Thats about all I can say in a blog..............

WICKED in Chicago

One of the highlights of my trip to Chicago was seeing the Broadway show Wicked. I LOVED IT!! I hope to see it again when it comes to Tempe next year. I just love down town Chicago.

Me and my niece Aubrey outside of the Oriental Theater. It was such a gorgeous theater which only added to the Wicked experience! We had a wonderful girls night out. I love my sister so much and am so glad I was able to go visit her for a week. It was much needed therapy for me!

Wicked is a must see as far as I am concerned. We had great seats which always makes it nice when going to a broadway show, so thanks Troy for getting us the tickets.

Love the city of Chicago. I make a trip every year. This was the first year I went without my kids or Justin. It's always nice to have a mommy break! I did miss the kids quite a bit.

Marla's Sweet Family

Garrett Rogers Hoyt was blessed while I was visiting my sister. Isn't her family adorable! It was so fun to go back and visit them. My planned trip couldn't have came at a better time in my life. It was just what I needed, so I could try to catch my breath! I loved my week there and it was hard to come home............except I missed my kids dearly!

My nephew Nolan................he is such a character. He was my little buddy all week and I just loved being around him. He has such a great personality and he always made me laugh!

Garrett Rogers Hoyt.............absolutely adorable little guy! I loved holding him!

Rieley standing by the flowers Justin sent to me. One thing I am learning more and more is that I need to be grateful for the little things. It was sweet of Justin to send me these flowers. They were so pretty!

Rieley is in football this year and I got to be there for his first game. I love this guy!

My Trip To Chicago...............

Open Faced Shrimp Sandwiches! Absolutely Delicious!! I went to visit my sister in Chicago for a week and her husband Troy and I made a delicious birthday dinner for her. These Shrimp Sandwiches were so good, I'll have to post the recipe. They would be great for a party and they look elegant.

We ate out on their back patio that they recently had redone. It was a beautiful evening and the food was great. The food was great but it didn't beat the company, I just love my sister so much and don't know what I'd do without her. Besides the shrimp sandwiches we had shrimp cocktail, lemon grilled shrimp, and coconut fried shrimp...............of course we had to have bottle neck root beer, great combination.

I love shrimp so this was my idea of a wonderful meal!

Happy Birthday Hunter!

There were three cupcakes left over from sending them to Hunter's preschool, wow what luck huh? I let the kids have them for breakfast the next morning and they couldn't believe they didn't have to have a "real" breakfast. What a simple way to please them I had no idea they'd be so impressed!

Fun Picture! They all got to blow out a candle. I loved that I actually caught them all blowing out the candles. I can't wait to have Hunter's actual birthday party!

Hunter Turned 5 on September 3rd!!!

We had decided to have Hunter's birthday party at the end of September because we had so many photo shoots and trips out of town and boy am I glad we planned it that way. Of course I didn't want him to have to wait until then to get his presents from us so we gave them to him on his actual birthday. He was so excited! I love birthdays and seeing my kids get so excited about what they got. YEAH more train stuff! The kids and I have just loved the GEO track train set. It has been such a good investment for us and now with an unfinished basement we have plenty of room for it to be out and not in the way, which makes it that much more fun! They just came out with airplanes for the set and I was so excited to just them for the kids.

This has been a GREAT toy! Hunter LOVES it! He wants to read all by himself so bad, because Kiersten can and the TAG lets him feel like he is doing it all by himself. It works amazing and so far has been worth the expense. I love educational toys that the kids actually use and this has been one of those toys! Happy Birthday Bud!