Clay Through the Ages

I came across these baby photos of Clay from when we made our wedding video. I hope our baby looks like him - I love those blue eyes and that blonde hair!


This one (above) is my all-time favorite. I swear he still does hand gestures like that and his legs look the same, but the chub is just muscle now. Please let my baby have those dimples!

I wasn't going to reveal the mullet. Really, I wasn't. But I couldn't resist.

Communal — yum, yum.

I tried out this new restaurant on University Ave. with my sisters over the weekend. It was created by the Pizzeria 712 guys. The food is fresh, fancy and delicioso. We each only paid $9 - not bad for three courses. The portions aren't huge, but it was just enough. Maybe I'll try their dessert next time.

How Firm a Foundation.

I love this hymn. The words speak for themselves. Click here to listen to it.

How Firm a Foundation
(With dignity)

How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in his excellent word! What more can he say than to you he hath said, Who unto the Savior, who unto the Savior, Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

In ev’ry condition — in sickness, in health, In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth, At home or abroad, on the land or the sea — As thy days may demand, as thy days may demand, As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed, For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous, Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow, For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee, And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only designThy dross to consume, thy dross to consume, Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

E’en down to old age, all my people shall prove My sov’reign, eternal, unchangeable love; And then, when gray hair shall their temples adorn, Like lambs shall they still, like lambs shall they still, Like lambs shall they still in my bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

Text: Attr. to Robert Keen, ca. 1787. Included in the first LDS hymnbook, 1835.

Meet my new best friends.

I know this show is old news to some of you, but I just discovered my love for it. And for one who has never been much of a TV watcher, loving this show is monumental (as the husband would say.) Thanks Bri, for sharing this love and lending me the seasons.

If anyone wants to jump on the magical bandwagon of Gilmore Girls with me, let me know.

Together, we'll be mesmerized at Lorelai's unbelievable wit and Rory's calmness among the drama and wish we lived in a quaint little town like Stars Hollow.

Handmade Headbands

I love the handmade flower clips and headbands that are popping up at local markets and Etsy shops lately.
I really like the ones Daris Day makes - and she is doing a giveaway!
Click HERE to check it out.

My friend and co-worker, Jessica Peterson, just designed this blog header for me.
Click here to check out her fun Web site.
And go to byusoccerwives.blogspot.com to find out about the BYU men's soccer team's upcoming game against Real Salt lake!

Calling all Recipes

If you are a mom or know of a mom who has a great recipe ... submit it here and it will have a good chance of ending up in a cookbook that is being released by Covenant around Mother's Day.

Here is the link: www.worldwidewardcookbook.blogspot.com

Post a recipe here, too — so we can all enjoy it.

Dear Fall,

You are my new favorite season.

I love your vibrant colors and crisp weather.

I love that you mean hot cocoa, snuggly blankets, scarves and Halloween.

Sorry, Summer — you might be my favorite again when you come back next year. But this year, you were a little too hot for me and my bun in the oven.

What are your fall favorites?

The Utah State Fair - An annual tradition for Clay and I. Can you find the three pumpkins? One of them is my 30 week prego belly!

29 Weeks & Counting

I can't believe I'm almost 30 weeks along. Ten more to go seems like nothing! Last night when I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep for an hour, I was contemplating my experience being pregnant. Here are some thoughts.

At the risk of sounding too happy-go-lucky — I can honestly say I have loved being pregnant. Really. It has been such an exciting, fascinating and happy experience.

Physically, I have felt great and I think it's fun to have a little belly.

One of my favorite things is feeling my little girl move and imagining her little body squirming around. I am so excited to see what she looks like! Is it weird that I am really excited to squish her thighs? I just think baby legs are so cute.

But amidst the fun of pregnancy and anticipation about our baby, I haven't gone without a few emotional breakdowns — especially in my 3rd trimester. Here some things that have gotten me down from time to time.

Sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the prospect of being a good mother in addition to the good wife I am trying to be. I already make mistakes in that area, and know I'll make more as a mom.

Sometimes I worry that I will have to go through the hard things I've seen others go through as parents — like my own strong mom has. I can't imagine the pain of losing a first child (or any child, at that) or suffering the effects of a difficult divorce.

Most of all, I worry about my girl growing up and us not being close — or her not liking me or thinking I am just the lame mom she got stuck with.

It sounds obvious, but what helps me the most when those thoughts come into my mind (often inconveniently in the wee hours of the morning) is to replace them with positive, confident self-affirmations. To remember that my role as a mother was cut out for me long ago. Heavenly Father trusts me to be a mother. And he doesn't only trust that I'll scrape by — he believes I will succeed at it. And how could I be scared when He and my amazing husband are on my side?

Romans 8:31:
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can a be against us?

Forgive me for spilling my emotions ... and thanks for hearing me out if you read this far!

Escape to Paradise ...

Well, to St. George, anyway — which qualifies as paradise because it has palm trees and I have so many fun memories of family trips there.

Clay and I joined my dad, step-mom and fam for a Labor Day weekend of fun. With my cute tweenager sisters around, there were a lot of sing-alongs to David Archuleta, replays of the Hannah Montana movie, and questions about the baby girl in my belly.

We had a fabulous time!

As you can see ... my belly has sort of doubled in size over the past month!

Clay, Ana, and dad