My Heart is Full....

My heart is full as I reflect on this last weekend.  I must say that I was very impressed with this General Conference.  I always look forward to conference weekend and it always turns out even better than I could have imagined.  Watching general conference brings such an amazing spirit as I know that each speaker has been called by our Heavenly Father as they speak the words that people need to hear. I am grateful to be able to sit on my couch with sweats on and watch all of the sessions on TV.  I must say that I am already looking forward to April for the next conference!

The main reason why my heart is full is the recent news that I heard from my sister Brytten and the CHD world.  One of the precious little girls that belonged to Teagan's heart group returned home to our loving Heavenly after her body rejected her transplant that she received when she was a baby.  Precious Mia was only 4 years old and was on her to way to Disney World with her family when she got sick.  My heart breaks every time I hear of a heart angel but this one hit me a little harder because while looking at her picture that my sister had posted, I suddenly realized that I had met her.  A little while ago I went to help my sister at Heart Camp where a lot of heart families go every year to bond with the other heart families.  While the heart parents attended a meeting, I had the opportunity to be in charge of a group of the little kids.  In that group was cute little Mia and I remember her standing out to me.  She wanted me to help her with the activities that we were doing and I remember her asking me to get her a drink.  When I brought back her drink, she looked up at me and just smiled and said thank you.  At Heart Camp I remember thinking she was just an adorable girl who had this wonderful spirit about her and a girl that I would see again at another heart function.  Unfortunately, I won't be seeing her at another heart function but I am happy that she is now in such a wonderful place with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

This sad experience has made me extra grateful for miracles even if the miracle doesn't get to last very long.  I am so grateful that my nephew Teagan is doing so well in his heart journey right now and pray that things will continue to go well for him.  Teagan is a miracle that has blessed our family in more ways than one.  Along with Teagan, I would have to say that my family has also been blessed with two other miracles Mason and Scout.  When Mason was born, I was so excited to be an aunt and looking back I am grateful for the miracle of a healthy nephew.  Mason is now 7 years old and is such an amazing brother to Teagan.  Scout is another new miracle in our family.  Yes, she was also a healthy baby like Mason was but she is a miracle in her own way.  We weren't quite sure when we would get to meet her since my wonderful sister had such a challenging time getting pregnant but when we heard that my sister was pregnant, I knew it was a special blessing.  I feel honored to be Teagan's, Mason's, and Scout's aunt Coke and I hope to have many more miracles to come in our family.

I Love Photography and My New Niece...

I had such a fun time taking pictures of Scout!!  It made me so excited to become a professional photographer and hopefully own my own business!  I have been thinking about the name Inifinitee Photo...What do you think?! The only thing standing in my way is school which starts tomorrow :(  Another thing that I know I really need to work on is Photoshop...I love the program but I am not good at it yet so if any of you are pros let me know because I need your help!!  Now I will stop typing and I will let you enjoy the beautiful Scout Monroe who was named after the little girl in the book To Kill a Mockingbird...

Yes, We Still Work...

Many people have been giving us a hard time saying that we never work because we have been gone so much...to those people I will remind you again that we do work and we work hard but this summer we have just been very lucky to take amazing vacations and do some fun things!! I guess I better start with saying that I survived Girl's Camp!! Being Camp Director is so crazy but I also feel so blessed to have such a wonderful calling. I love the girls in my ward and I am really enjoying being in Young Womens! Before I knew it I was off to North Carolina to see my new niece!! Before I give North Carolina details, I have to start by saying THANK YOU to my aunt Kim. I had to fly stand by and Kim helped me so much with the process. I was so lucky to get on the plane and I was very lucky to fly with Brytten and Teagan. It was Teagan's first time on a plane and he did so well! We are so grateful that he was ok on the plane and that all of his stats for his Heart were where they needed to be. In North Carolina we had such a blast!! My mom was already there so it was so fun to have time with my sisters and mom! We laughed a lot at YouTube videos, ourselves, and so many things that just made us almost wet our pants! The best part of North Carolina was of course Scout!! She is adorable and I can't believe that she is here! I loved spending time with her and I even got to practice my photography skills on her (Scout photo shoot coming soon). North Carolina ended too soon and a couple of days later, Trevor and I were headed for Cabo! Thank you Rick and Sue for such a wonderful trip! I had never been to Mexico before so it was such a fun adventure! We tried to not get sunburned and we did pretty well until the last day. I wanted to get really tan so I didn't put as much sunscreen as I should have the last day so I got a little red. Then before we knew it Cabo was over and we were headed for Lake Powell! Again we went with the Wortleys except for Rick who was sick and had to stay home :( but we met up with Trevor's mission companion and his wife! We had so much fun with them, they are fabulous! Lake Powell was great other than my adventure in Walmart!  Then just when you thought we were home for good, Trevor and his dad went to California to climb Mt. Whitney for Rick's birthday!  Once we got done with all of our vacations we still have been having fun! I went to help Brytten with Heart Camp (thanks Paige for driving me), we have also been to a couple of weddings, and the best thing that happened recently was when Chelsee, Matt, and Scout surprised us and came to Utah! They are still here for a couple more days and I have loved it! The Sniders were able to bless Scout in Brytten and Matt's parent's ward and wow Matt did such an amazing job with the blessing, words just can't describe it! We have had such an amazing summer even though we had to take summer school! We are grateful for our families and how much they have done for us this summer. Unfortunately school is starting Monday for Trevor and the 27th for me but maybe once school starts people will stop giving us a hard time about not working because we soon will be getting very busy again!