Spring is in the air!

I love spring! Our flowers are starting to bloom, our grass is turning green again, and I'M SMILING!

April seems to be the month of birthdays for our family. Brad turned 32 on April Fool's Day, Kaylynn turned 5 on the 8th, my mom turned the ripe old age of 65 on the 12th, Natalie turns 2 on the 16th, Jessie will be 22 on the 18th, Chris will be 31 on the 20th, and I'm going to be **30** on the 22nd! It also includes other nieces and nephews birthdays - Rachel, Justin, Karmindy, Lynnea, Brett, Clay...the list goes on and on! I can't afford the month of April! This is a picture of Chris last year on his 30th. He LOVES ice cream cakes. I'm hoping he's getting me a chocolate cake from Magleby's for my birthday. I could eat one of their cakes all by myself, in one sitting. YUM!

Chris has purchased my birthday present. He says I'm not allowed to tell people what it is yet. But...I don't care what he says! HA! He's taking me to the U2 concert in Salt Lake City on June 3rd. It will be an anniversary date too. Our 3rd anniversary! How time has flown. It's been a great 3 years. I love being married to this man!

Holiday Month

Isn't July great? I love all the holidays & visits from family. The fireworks are my favorite part! The fireworks on Independence Day in Washington, DC were absolutely amazing. I don't know that the fireworks I'll see this year will compare, but at least I'll be with Chris. Fireworks are that much better when you're with the one that you love. How's that for corny!? It's true though, cuddling under a blanket with fireworks going off above your head is one of the highlights of the year for me.

Family visits are lots of fun as well. I'm looking forward to my 10 year reunion. I'll get to spend time with my sister, JoAnn, and her family, as well as my parents. It's been a long time since I spent time in my good 'ole hometown. It should be fun. The Mormon Pioneer Days are always a good time down there.

My nieces & nephews sure love visits from Grandma & Grandpa, as you can see from the picture of Kaylynn, Grandpa, & Ryan. Blake sure loves the fireworks as well. It's amazing how quickly they grow. Sometimes I wish it could stay this time forever. But, every year I get a little older, and so do they. In fact, my niece, Nicole, visited for a week. She's going to be a senior. I can hardly believe it. She's beautiful, intelligent, and talented. I'm proud of her.

Kids are amazing. Every once & a while Chris & I talk about when we'll have kids & what we'll name them. You can only imagine the discussions (AKA arguments) that begin. I love the names Rylee, Jaycee, Jackson, and Carter. Chris once mentioned the name Dash, for a boy. I think we have a LONG way to go before we have kids, if those are the names he's thinking about using! :)

Actually, I recently learned that my LPC license is a little further off than I thought. I have more supervised hours than I realized, as well as Utah requires LPC's to take 2 tests, in addition to the NCE that I just passed. I'm looking at a lot more studying and a lot more $. Blah. Maybe I should've pursued my LCSW, or maybe I should use my 2nd degree instead? No, I love the work I do. I guess I just have to settle with VERY little money and working forever to get credit for the work I do. HA!