New York!!!

                                  

Last week, we took an amazing trip back to New York with all of my kids and Riken. We rented a great apartment at 1 West 119th Street in Harlem from a guy named Bill Kammer. It was the trip of a lifetime, for sure. We got to visit the areas where Tyler served on his mission, meet some amazing people and see some great sights. 

                              

It's hard to choose a highlight of the trip but this has to be at the top. When Ty was serving in 

Poughkeepsie  on his mission, he baptized a sweet lady named Gloria. When we got to Poughkepsie on Sunday for church, Gloria's 8 year old son Jacob was set to be baptized after church. When they saw Ty, it was like a rock star had arrived! They asked Ty to perform the baptism and it was so incredible for me to see that moment. 

   

We were able to do an endowment session in the Manhattan temple, which was amazing! 

                           

We lost three out of the four Yankees vs. Red Sox games we were in town for, but it was so fun taking the subway out to the Bronx every night.

I sat on  the steps where the Gossip Girl stars sit for a photo op at the Met 

                        

Kissed my man in front of the Romeo and Juliet statue in Central Park 

                         

Empire State Building

                          

Cookie shots!!!

                            

Top of the Rock 

                            

St Patrick's Cathedral 

                            

Times Square

Ground Zero 

  

                          

Wicked was incredible!!!!

  

   

   

     

   

  

  

Unbroken

We went on a date with these two beautiful people last night. Ah, it was SO great to hang out with them. Zack works in the oil fields in North Dakota so he only comes home every few weeks, and I love it when we get to see him and his wife, McKenna. 

They gave us this beautiful picture of the Bountiful temple, where we were sealed in July, for Christmas. I love it so much! 

After a delicious dinner at Mi Ranch in Payson, we saw the movie "Unbroken" about Louie Zamperini. My biological grandfather, Ray Freston,  was a Japanese prisoner of war for 42 months. I never met him and consider Larry Swenson to be my grandfather, but as I watched the movie, I had to wonder if he was one of those men alongside Louie Zamperini during his imprisonment. My Grandma tells me that Ray had strength and intelligence, and I am so grateful to him when I see those same traits in my three amazing kids. 

I am the Busiest Person Alive

I've been telling my kids for YEARS that I am the busiest person alive. 

But I really do feel like it right now. 

I get up early and get ready for my college classes. I'm a senior at Utah State University, but also taking a class at Snow College because tuition is cheaper, and I am passionate about Snow College. I love Snow.

So after school, I volunteer for 4 hours a week at Ephraim Elementary School, 6 hours a week at Snow College, work at Snow 5 hours a day, go to the gym as soon as I get off work, come home and study like crazy for my 20 credit hours of college classes, grab a bit of our Paleo diet dinner with my husband, read scriptures at 10:00 PM, sleep at about 11:30 after a bit more homework, get up and do it all again. Someone asked me the other day 

"How do you do it?" 

This is how. 

These two are pretty much my salvation. 

Ken does EVERYTHING around the house. Even scrubbed a toilet this past week. I couldn't do it without him. He fields all the apartment calls, does all the stuff that my anxiety prevents me from doing here in our 2nd job as managers of the apartment complex. 

 And when life gets to be too much, I just go visit Riken for a couple days. So when I get to have them both with me at the same time... HEAVEN!!! And then I get the bonus of spending time with these two as the icing on the cake...

 Mack and Ash are great together. They communicate well, love and respect each other, and absolutely adore this little man they brought into this world. 

I'm being kind of a crazy Mom about Zack's wedding. Why is it SO much harder to see your sons get married than your daughters? 

I love McKenna. I'm so glad she and Zack found each other and that they are excited to begin their lives together. So why am I acting all crazy about losing him? He's 22 years old, has lived without me for nearly 4 years now, and it makes no sense to me in my head that I am having a hard time with this. In my heart, though, I see me having to share him for the rest of his life and for some reason, it's harder than it was with Ashli. I think it's probably because 

" A son is a son til he takes a wife, 

A daughter's a daughter the rest of her life"

I guess I'm worried that the old saying is true.  The wedding plans are SO much different with a son than they were with a daughter. Particularly when you throw in the fact that all of the parents in the scenario are not married to each other anymore. It's weird and complicated, and I know I'm not doing everything right. But I love my son. I want him to be happy. I want to figure this all out and be a good Mom-in-law to a girl that I really do love without her feeling like I'm resentful that I'm kind of losing my son. 

So complicated. 

But I'm working on it. 

Along with all the other things I'm working on to be a better person. 

Temple with Tyler

 Tyler received his endowment in the Manti temple today. He had some great support from people who love him. 

 His best friend Kelton was his escort. Kelt leaves on the 19th for his mission in Oregon, so it was awesome that they got to share this experience before he goes. 

 McKenna and Tami had the exact same color on when they arrived. SO CUTE!! 

 Tami is always so supportive of everything my kids do. She drove a long way this morning to be there for Ty. Love her:)

 My boys and their dad

 Us:)

I'm blessed with two amazing sons. I love these guys beyond words.