Called to Serve

We dropped dear brother Jake off at the MTC today. I can't believe that my little brother is officially Elder Kartchner. I am so proud of him and his choice to serve the Lord for two years in Monterrey, Mexico. Jake is an outstanding person and has continuously been an example to me throughout the years despite him being four years younger than me. I love him so much and am so excited to be able to share his experiences with him through letters and emails. It takes a lot of strength, courage, and most of all faith to serve a mission and Elder Kartchner is definitely prepared. Love you Bocaj, God speed. (To follow Elder Kartchner on his mission visit: http://elderkartchner.blogspot.com )

Couper and Jake have become very close in the 2 years Couper and I have been married. I think Couper is going to miss his buddy what do you think??

I know this is kind of a lot of pictures, and really there's more where this came from. But I just wanted to post some of the memories we've made with Jake in the few short months this summer that he's been living in Logan. We were so lucky to have my family move to Logan shortly after Jake got his call so that we could take advantage of the summer months we had to spend with him before he left!

Lagoon trip! Last time for two years! We were excited that Chelsey and Nicole Gleave could come too!

Canyon cookouts were the best!

This was a common sight with these two together :).

What a spiritual and heartfelt day to go through the temple with someone you love so dearly.

Bountiful Temple.

The proud parents.

Having a good laugh at our 4th of July celebrations as we tumbled down the giant hill on ice-blocks after an intriguing game of kick-ball.

You may think this picture is random, but to me it was kind of the essence of Jake and Couper. They have a love-hate relationship. They are the best of friends but are almost always arguing about trivial things just for the sake of arguing. They both always have a certain tone of voice they use during these moments and each one is "always right." This moment during the kick-ball game was no different. (lol...I sound like I'm talking about a married couple)

Hard work and working hard. The house my parents moved into here in Logan was in need of some major renovations. Due to working endless hours with my dad on various projects Jake has become quite the handyman and became the boss on site, always making sure projects were getting done so that he could see as much progression as possible before he left the country. There were a few late nights where I think the paint fumes started getting to us. . .

hmm..what did I tell you???

Well Jake, we'll miss watching Discovery channel and sports with you, we'll miss making midnight runs for rice pudding and always making sure we buy extra groceries when we know you're going to visit, we'll miss the late night talks and movie watching! But we are so excited for what is in store for you! We love you and know you'll make a great missionary!!

Hey Jude!

I just couldn't resist posting this picture before July was over!

My sister-in-law posted this picture of my nephew Jude on facebook for the 4th of July and quoted it with something like "I love my country but my arm is too short and fat to reach my heart."

This picture makes me happy and could quite possibly be the picture I'll always look at when having a bad day. What a stinkin' cutie!

My nephew Jude was born April 25th and his older brother Jonas got to come stay in Utah with my parents for a few weeks. I LOVED being able to get reacquainted with my little nephew Jonas and was super excited when my brother Justin asked if I would be willing to fly Jonas back down to Arizona and stay for a couple of days. Who can say no to that? Especially when you know you get to hang out with these two little guys!?

My sister-in-law Nan is Thai so my nephews are beautiful little half Thai boys. Jude is such an adorable baby! I'm pretty sure the whole time I was in Arizona he never stopped eating....EVER! (hence the chubs he's put on in that 4th of July picture!!!) It was fun to cuddle him and get to know him and give his mom and dad's arms a break :).

Justin and Nan are always the best hosts, even when they have a screaming newborn and haven't slept in days they want to make sure you have a good experience while at their house. Especially when it comes to food!! We ate out at one of their favorite Chinese buffet's where Justin made me eat all sorts of things I would never put on my plate on my own! We had an awesome American BBQ even down to corn on the cob and raspberry lemonade. And they made me my favorite Thai dish!...which I can never remember what it's called...nor do I think I could spell it, none-the-less, it was DELICIOUS!!! I'm glad there are such great cooks in the family!! Thanks Justin and Nan!!

Jonas was so cute getting acquainted with his new little brother. I think they're going to throw out a large dose of double trouble once Jude is on the move!!! I love my nephews!!

What would you do?

This week I was put in a very awkward position at work outside of my comfort zone. I know I'm not a mother, but I'd like to think I would have acted differently than this particular mother, and am not okay with what she did. In a way it's humorous now looking back on it...but really not.

About an hour before we closed we had a huge rush of people. We have one one-room bathroom for our customers that has to be unlocked by an employee every time it's needed...(kind of annoying but a necessity)... As our rush kicked in I was straightening some items in between helping people and looked up to see a little girl, around the age of 7, walking toward the bathroom. Doing my duty I headed straight over "Oh, you need the bathroom?" I asked her, she just kind of glanced at me, didn't say anything, but I heard her mom from a few feet away, "Yeah, she needs it." I grabbed the key then turned to smile at the young girl. As I did so she quickly brought both hands in cupping position to her mouth and her cheeks puffed up...I knew that look all too well...

Horrified at what would potentially be happening in few precious moments, and annoyed at the mom for not having any sense of urgency in her voice when stating her daughter needed the bathroom, I fumbled with the bathroom key. Right as the door began to swing open the poor girl lost it....as I tried to jump back in the small space provided, vomit splattered all over the partially opened bathroom door and onto me and the floor, creating a nice speckled pattern on my eye-glasses. Adrenaline kicked in as a heard the mother casually under her breath "Welp, there she goes." Uh yeah there she goes! Thanks for the warning!! The poor little girl looked terrified so I ushered her in the bathroom while asking if she was ok, in reply she ran to the toilet and continued her business. Thankfully her mother put down her merchandise and came over to help clean up the smelly mess while I searched for plastic gloves and disinfectant. The mother was apologetic and helped clean up the worst of it. After making sure the girl was okay I went to town disinfecting the entire bathroom and trying to get chunks out of our new carpet.

It took me a good 1/2 hour or longer before I was convinced the bathroom was vomit and germ free. I sighed, sweaty, stinky, and disgruntled I opted that the last step to finish the job would be to take out the overflowing garbage. After taking out the garbage I walked to the front of the store for some relief from it all.

Relief didn't last long. Someone pointed to the bathroom. The girl was standing at the door again. I was seriously speechless!! The mother had continued shopping?? Her daughter was obviously ill, had thrown up all over, and she decided shopping was the best medicine. Come to find out from others, the mom had just made her daughter lay on the floor of a busy store while she continued shopping!!!

Although another employee was already opening the bathroom door for the poor little victim, I knew my fate. I headed back to the bathroom, doing my best not to breathe through my nose so that I could make it through round 2. The mom was back there again trying to clean up the vomit that she had instructed her daughter to aim into the drinking fountain (GROSS!!!) if the bathroom didn't get opened quickly enough. I was mortified. A drinking fountain is quite a different matter than the toilet....The mother then said "Well, I guess we better go now, next time you really need to tell me if you're not feeling well before we go somewhere." I'll save you the graphics of the second clean up, you get the idea.

You may think that I'm not okay with what the mother did because of the situation it put me in...obviously that ADDS to it! But come on lady! Put your kid first! Her daughter may not have mentioned that she didn't feel good before they got to the store, but she mentioned it when they arrived, and then threw-up, shouldn't it have been a good sign to leave after the first episode?? I understand that kids are unpredictable and something like this could happen to anyone. But I don't think it's okay that the mother let it happen twice within her visit to the store! Am I wrong to have these feelings toward this lady? Should I have said something to her? What would you have done??

Utah State Alum 2010

May 8, 2010: Bachelors in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education: SLP

Utah State University

Receiving my diploma. Our graduation ceremony was actually pretty cool considering all of the stories I've heard of the boredom. Our speakers were short, and they had a children's choir sing, the song was actually quite touching, I don't remember what it's called at the moment, but it was something about not ignoring your children's education and teaching them to read. It was cute, and different. The funniest part was we actually sang the Scotsman! The longest and yes boring part was waiting through lines of graduates having their names called...we all grew a bit restless. But they finally called my name!!

Makenzie Taylor, Me, and Allisa Blackburn

Me & Cara Alder

All of these girls were major life savors multiple times throughout the last two years!! From study sessions, group projects and presentations, to craft days, sharing recipes and being a friend when in need. Love you girls, thanks for all of your encouragement and support, you'll go far, and I appreciate all you've done for me! You've left your mark!

Thanks just doesn't quite say it mom and dad....but THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!!

We had a relaxed and enjoyable graduation BBQ at Summer & Davey's. It was fun to celebrate this day with family and friends! I debated posting another plethora of pictures, but these were all just too cute, and these are the people that helped get me where I am today, so I thought it fitting to post pictures of all of these amazing people I'm lucky enough to call family. (I missed having you there Justin, Nan, Jude, Ben, Melissa, Tosh, Chesie, Kalia, Jake, and Jenni, and all other family who couldn't attend)

Amber, Me, Shantel

The nephews present kind of stole the show...but I was more than okay with that.

Mom and Jonas

Porter

Summer, Davey, Me, Porter

Porter, Brandon, Shantai

Levi, Jonte

Kionna

Denise, Meghann

Porter, Aaron

Couper, Maddi, Sky

Kim, Cody

Thank you everyone who helped me when emotionally, financially, educationally, or otherwise afflicted during my college years! I'm forever in your debt!

Grad Announcements

I feel a little weird making this post...because it's mostly a bunch of pictures of me...but Summer took so many good ones it was hard to decide which ones to put on here...and you only graduate college once right?...well, some people...anyway, I'm apologizing in advance and forewarning you that this post entirely consists pictures of me ( and some with my hubby) celebrating the fact that I graduated from Utah State this year!!!! YAY!!!

Sadly we're actually not True Aggies...we still have a couple of years in Logan though, don't lose faith in us yet!

Love my husband!! Thanks for all of your support Couper! You and I both know I couldn't have made it through the days, weeks, months, and years without your encouragement!

The Lillywhite, the small building I've lived in for the last two years that no one seems to know where it is...

Okay...so I posted a lot of jumping pictures, but it's funny to see the progression and the failed attempts.

Looking to the future...what will it hold for us???

Oh yeah baby! Class of 2010--my time has come!!

Striving hard to still gain an education even though not in school.

We just wouldn't have felt right about our on-campus photo shoot if we didn't get a picture on the French Fry statue, don't we just blend right in?