Thoughts

I feel like I have been posting tons of pictures lately and not a lot of words.  The last couple weeks have been crazy busy.  On Sunday afternoon I came down with a cold.  So did Peter and Brooke.  It really hit me hard.  Now that I am better I have been thinking about life and my Heavenly Father's plan for all of us.  The phrase "Let there be Opposition in All Things" comes to my mind.  I seem to take so many things for granted.  Like being healthy.  It takes me getting knocked over the head with a 2x4 for me to express some gratitude to God for all the great things in my life.  I realize that we have trials for a reason and that through the bad and the hard we will find the good and become stronger. 
  One of my favorite hymns, "Lord, I would Follow Thee" has been in my head tonight. 

Savior may I love my brother

As I know thou lovest me,

Find in thee my strength, my beacon,

For thy servant I would be.

Savior, may I love my brother-

Lord, I would follow thee.

It made me think about 2 things.

a) The need for repentance and change.

b) How amazing the life of Jesus Christ was.

Not to get all preachy or anything...but I really love my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know I am so far from perfect, but I know its never to late to change or to try and do better.  I know he died for me and I don't want to waste His sacrifice.  (Geez, I feel like I am giving a church talk and need to close all formally or something! Sorry!)  I just want to put in writing my feelings and I feel like when I put things in print it kind of pushes me to really do better and try to truly be grateful for my blessings and do better tomorrow than I did today.

 

Water Fun

I really love warm weather.  I feel like I say that in every post lately.  But when you live in a place where its cloudy and snowy/rainy 300 days a year, you really grow to appreciate sunshine and warmth.  I think buying our bikes might be the best purchase of 2011.  It was well worth using 65% of my yearly personal spending money to buy it.  It has proven to get me in shape and lots of great times with family and friends.  Today we went on a bike ride to find water.  Its not hard to do in the City of Bridges!  Here are some of my favorite parts of our day.

At PPG Place Fountains.  Water at Random.  And of course- Free!

I'm gonna get you Peter!!!

Waiting for lunch....what should we eat?

why, yes.  That is in fact a pizza.  or 2!

Water Stop #2.  Another Fountain by Heinz Field.

Water Stop #3.  The Rope Swing.  In the Monongahela River. 

 Of course, Bryan tells Devin- "I'll go if you go!"  And 24 seconds later they are jumping into that really disgusting thing we call a river.  I would not recommend going in there without wearing a containment suit of some sort.  But that's just me.

Going.

going....

Gone!

Family Home (and not at home) Evening (and other times too) Adventures

 

I love summer time.  LOVE summertime.  Especially early summer before it really gets hot.  We have finally had some good weather to go play in.  We went disc golfing for FHE the other night.  It was the first time since leaving Flagstaff.  How lame are we?  We used to go at least 1x a week!  I think this is the only course in Pittsburgh.  It is a pretty good course, but not nearly as tough as Flagstaff's. 

We went down to the Pittsburgh Arts Festival last week and let the kids run wild on the grass and jam out to a local concert.  I have been forgetting my camera lately.  So there are no pictures.  We also got to go to our much anticipated Pirates vs Diamondbacks game at PNC park.  It was a blast.  The kids loved being in the stadium and it was only about 90 degrees outside.  I don't think I have ever seen my kids sweat so much.  (and they are quite sweaty...)

Our Big Night Out

For my birthday this year Bryan took me to the Melting Pot.  I have always wanted to eat there.  We found a baby-sitter for the kiddies and took off for a night out by the river.  It was so nice to have an un-interrupted dinner with my best friend.  I don't know if any of you have eaten here before, so in case you didn't know- its a fondue restaurant.  We went all out and got the four-course meal! Yum.  Cheese fondue and veggies, salads, the main course and the best part, a chocolate fondue for dessert!  Thank you Bryan for a great date!

Abby comes for a visit!

My mom came out last week from Arizona.  It was so much fun to have her here.  I wish she lived closer so she could come over all the time!  It was one big party from start to finish.
She flew into town on a Thursday morning, and that night we had  a going away party for the fourth year dental students.  The next day was Peter's birthday.

At the Fire Station

At the bowling alley

   Then we took a day trip on Saturday to Ohio to see a couple historical places from our Church's history.

Newl K. Whitney's Home

Kirtland Temple

just chillin' while Abby texts her kids back home!

We topped that off with a 'sight detour' to a fabulous ice cream shop for what may be the best ice cream in Pittsburgh and possibly the state of Pennsylvania.  Sunday after church we decided to show my mom the city the best way possible- on a bike.  It was so fun!  We rode from Carson St. to Heinz Field. 

(notice who's bike is hooked up to the kids??? In B's defense, he did take them on the return trip)

(gotta love how little kids can sleep anywhere!)

Monday was my mom's birthday and I am sad to say that I didn't get any pictures of it!  I hope she had a good birthday.  We went running, and then shopping for the majority of the day.  We also went out to dinner and took another 'slight detour' to Sarris Ice Cream for her birthday treat.

(I didn't make her a cake, and feel bad about it, but we had so much cake left over between Peter's birthday party and the baby shower I threw that I thought it would just go bad).  The next day we started a painting project in Peter's room.  Holy cow.  I had no idea it would be as complicated as it was.  I really wanted an argyle wall.  To figure out the measurements and get all the diamonds even and a good size is very challenging.  I still only 90% done so you don't get to see the finished project yet.  It took us over 4 hours of measuring and penciling (and I am not counting the time it took to tape the wall) in our pattern and only a little over 2 hours to actually paint.
It was so wonderful to have her company for the week.  We all loved it and can't wait for her to come back.
P.S.  Any other family members or friends... We love it when you come to visit.  So get your booty on a plane and come see us!  What could be cooler than Pittsburgh?!