A Beautiful gift, from a Beautiful friend.....

I love getting the mail. Even though mostly it is filled with bills, ugh, I still love getting it, I find it exciting to get the mail and Ashtyn shares this with me, she will come out with me in her mis-matched p.j.s or mis-matched clothes and mis-matched socks, she will run in her bare feet to go with me 20 feet to the mailbox.

Wednesday was a normal day for me, I went to get the mail with miss Ashtyn and to my surprise, there was a thick envelope addressed to me. It was from a dear, close friend of mine from Spanish Fork, the one and only, Amber Prior. I was so excited to open this up, it was like a kid opening their present for Christmas.

Inside this envelope was this cute handmade envelope that held 4 CD's Each one read, "Inspirational favorites for Kylie." All made specially for me from someone I have truly looked up to since high school. They are beautiful, inspirational songs that Amber said would bring a peace and good feeling throughout my home. I LOVE THIS GIFT.


She wrote me a beautiful letter that went with it that made me cry. So I wanted to write one quickly for her,

Amber,

Thank you so very much for thinking about me enough to take some time out of your busy day to do this sweet, and thoughtful thing for me. You and your family are inspirations of how I want mine to be. I love you so very much and have the utmost respect for you. I can't wait to see you and your family one day, maybe when you come visit Vegas next year, we could go to the temple together here. I also wanted to let you know that I will be getting my patriarchal blessing at the end of the month. I am unbelievably excited!!!!

Love , Kylie

That's right!!!! I said PATRIARCHAL BLESSING!!!!!!!! I am so excited and have come so far and worked so hard for this. My in-laws will be there, which means more to me than anything, I love all of my readers and in one way or another, you are helping me through this journey of life. :)

I don't like to brag......

Well, you all know how I hate to brag, it's so dang tacky. ;) However, this is such a great accomplishment, I could not stop myself.

For the last month or so, Kai has been talking about winning this award where you get to eat lunch with none other than....... wait for it..... THE PRINCIPAL!!!
He said he was trying so hard to be extra good in class because that is how you win, you have to be very well behaved and do your schoolwork as best as you can. He said it would be a while before the winner would be "Pronounced".... Well, yesterday, while Kai was at school, the woman in the front office at Kai's school called me. I had an uneasy feeling because last time the school called during school hours, Kai wasn't feeling well and the poor kid was sick. I was pleasantly surprised because she called to tell me that Kai had won the award for his behavior and his schoolwork and she invited us to come to the school today and see him get his award and sit on stage with him while he ate with the principal.

I was so overjoyed for Kai, he had been talking about this for so long and had NO idea he won it. I could barely keep the surprise to myself. I think it is such a great lesson to him that if he works hard at something, he can attain it. We went to his school today and his face had a perma-grin plastered on it and he had his chest all puffed out from how proud he was of himself. I am proud of you too Kai, I love you, you are such an amazing kid!!!

Book of Mormon stories......

I got that feeling again. That really good feeling that devours my heart and soul. Cheesy, I know, but I have this happy feeling inside and I have a great desire to keep gaining a testimony and go to church and read the scriptures.

I think I know when this started. Christmas was so amazing this year and so spiritual, I couldn't get it out of my head and I couldn't stop thinking about how good it felt. I specifically remember looking around on Christmas Eve at my family and thinking, "Wow, this is truly the best Christmas I have ever experienced." I found myself getting choked up and my eyes brimming with tears at random. It was awesome.

I started reading the BOM about a week ago with my cousin who lives 1500 miles away. We were on the phone having one of our nightly chats, and she asked me to read her a chapter because she was busy and she had to read because it was her goal to read the whole thing on 90 days. She totally tricked me into it!! LOL, but I forgive her. Anyway, I decided I wanted to read as well and I am in Jacob now. I like reading them. I did not realize how interesting the stories are in them. I remember learning about some of the stories when I would go to church in my childhood, but I only remember them on that level. I can now read them and understand them on a higher level, and its great.

I pray a lot too. I use to think it was selfish to pray and ask for things all of the time, but I really cant do this without prayer, I just make sure to say how thankful I am for everything, and I specifically ask that I can keep this desire in my heart all of the time. I know it'll be difficult at time, but I really don't want to lose this feeling. I have had this before where I start going to church and then I lose the desire almost as fast as it came to me, but It feels a little different this time, and I am determined to keep it.

Kai turns 8 this September and I want him to get baptized, so that is another reason I am determined to faithfully attend church and live righteously.

Ok, I re read that post and let me tell you people, IT'S NOT EASY BEING CHEESY OKAY!! LOL, I will still always be my sarcastic and loud mouthed self though, just a better version.

5 YEARS!!!!!!!!!

JANUARY 8th marked our 5 year wedding anniversary! Yay. Tyson's parents have been married for over 30 years and both sets of his grandparents have been married for over 60 YEARS!!! What great examples for us to have. Here are some pics of our wedding, we did not have a professional photographer, but our brother-in-law was suppose to take some pics, instead he went downstairs to play video games. These are all snapshots and the only pics we have of our wedding, but we have our memories and it was a very quaint, beautiful reception at my in-laws house. I really loved it and Valerie did all of it herself.

The candlelight was so pretty

I was so hungry and the food was so good, we even had a chocolate fountain!

Happy Tyson

Ron, my father-in-law, welcoming me to the fam!

Tyson's BFF was our unofficial ring bearer, thanks Oggie!


It was such a great day. Happy 5 years to my hubby, I love you now more than ever!! :)

Word to live by....

My cousin picks a word to live by every year, and I just LOVE this idea. I thought I would follow suit and pick a word to live by. Here is my word for the year, and I think it is a good one.


This isn't just something I am going to say I am going to do, its something I WILL do. I want everyone I love to always know that I love them. Life is too short to live life with any sort of hatred or contention. I know this will be a task, especially when I am not feeling so "lovey" but I am determined to do it. Call it a New Years resolution that I will keep, so if any of you catch me not acting with love, just remind me.:)

Happy New Year!!!!

This New Years Eve was the same as it is every year for us, a night at home with the kids! It is just too dangerous to go out here in Vegas, everyone on the Metro police force has to work New Years Eve, it is Mandatory, but, Tyson works days, so he was able to be home with us that night.

Tyson and Ashtyn took a nap and Kai and I decided to go to The Dollar Tree and got some decorations and some fun stuff for a little family party we wanted to have, we were going to surprise Tyson and Ashtyn. Tyson had been grocery shopping earlier and picked up some hats, blowers and poppers for us, but he didn't know that Kai and I had went to get more decorations.

We decorated the whole family room with streamers, balloons, and we put the dinner table in the living room and set out a cute tablecloth and set up our gingerbread house that Great Grandma and Grandpa Curtis gave us to make for Christmas. When Tyson and Ashtyn woke up we yelled "Surprise" and they were so cute about it, especially Ashtyn. We then watched movies and made the Gingerbread house and had Sparkling Apple Cider in some cute champagne flutes. IT was a really fun night. Tyson and Ashtyn were getting tired again, so we pretended it was midnight at 10PM and Ash went to sleep. Kai and I made it until midnight and rang in the New Year by going outside and banging pots and pans and blowing our blowers. It was a really fun night and I love spending it at home with the kids. Happy 2010!

Things aren't always as they seem....

This is a bit of a "venting" post. I will write about our awesome New Years Eve in a completely different post. Something happened with someone recently who I thought was my friend. This has actually inspired me to have a few resolutions this year regarding my relationships with people.

I befriended someone because their child became close with Kai, it was a bad idea from the start to try to be friends with her. And I TRIED so hard, for months I ignored HUGE red flags that I knew were warning signs. In the end, all of my feelings (and Tyson's feelings) were true and we found out through and through that these people were VERY BAD PEOPLE. Wolves in sheep's clothing. I am just frustrated because I feel so bad for their kids. Kai doesn't know anything about it and is still good friends with their son, but its so sad that these poor innocent kids are being raised in this unhealthy home.

I am the type of person that can make friends very easily, but I have a hard time really investing and really putting my all into my relationships. I have a theory about this, I tend to make the WRONG friends. I am not sure what it is about my personality or maybe even my standards, I meet and befriend people that really aren't the best members of society (not all of them of course) I just feel that everyone deserves a second chance and I go against all of my better judgement, this always blows up in my face. It also makes it hard for me to keep the good relationships I have with friends, its like I am so jaded by the bad ones, that I sabotage the good ones. Make sense?

Well, this is something that I am really going to work on this year and from now on. I am really going to nurture and value the good relationships I have and the great, positive people I have in my life right now. Tyson is my number one and he really is the only one I have really let myself open up to and not try to completely push away. I love him for being so great to me and treating me with nothing but absolute and total respect and love. We celebrate our 5 year anniversary on Friday. woo hoo! Another relationship I am going to try harder on is with my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws. They are very good and loving people that really are my family in many ways. My in-laws have done so much for me and have treated me as their own daughter and I haven't always acted appreciative and loving like I should, to say the least. They are the best things that have happened to me in my life along with Tyson and my children. I may not have good biological parents because my mother passed away when I was four and I have had 4 step-mothers since then who were all horrible and my dad is a drug-addict and feels more like having a troubled son than a father. I consider my in-laws my parents and I know so many people that do not get the opportunity to have that.

And last but certainly not least, I cannot write about this without mentioning my relationship with my cousin, Rochelle. We got back in touch about a year or so ago and I can (and do) confide in her with everything. I trust her and love her with all of my heart and I respect her opinion immensely. I feel so completely comfortable with her, that our relationship doesn't feel like "work", and, unfortunately, that is not a normal feeling for me. She is one of the only people that can tell me the absolute truth about anything from my attitude to the clothes on my back and I so not get upset with her. I am so very grateful for the rare relationship I have with her and I don't know how I would have gotten through a lot of hard times this year without her. I love you Shelly.:)

So, I started out this post on a sour note, but am finishing on a good one. I think friends are so important to have, but family is the most important. At least the bad experience I had with the "friend" opened my eyes to what I need to look for and what I need to work on to have trustworthy, and positive people in my life. Thanks for letting me vent, as if you had a choice.:)

Our fabulous family pictures...

I honestly LOVE them all, here is a collage of them. Kara Hancock with Flash Photography is wonderful and works all over Utah. Thanks again Karbear!! ENJOY!

Spring and Summer

Kids throughout the year.....