Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas 2011









We had a great Christmas, despite being away from our family. This year we had some new friends (Anbes and Betty) over for Christmas Eve dinner. We were up early the next morning to see what Santa had brought! The boys were so fun this year! It was neat to Chase so excited about everything. After presents, our wonderful friends, the Pearsons made us a yummy breakfast. We had a wonderful dinner with Sean, Fred, Wendy, Danny, Darryl, Rachelle, and Teagan.  We are so thankful for our family and our friends. We cannot wait to see what the new year brings for us! Merry Christmas!!


Sunday, July 24, 2011

Boston Lee Cardenaz


These are my footprints,
so perfect and so small.
These tiny footprints
never touched the ground at all.

Not one tiny footprint,
for now I have wings.
These tiny footprints were meant
for other things.

You will hear my tiny footprints,
in the patter of the rain.
Gentle drops like angel's tears,
of joy and not from pain.

You will see my tiny footprints,
in each butterflies' lazy dance.
I'll let you know I'm with you,
if you just give me the chance.

You will see my tiny footprints,
in the rustle of the leaves.
I will whisper names into the wind,
and call each one that grieves.

Most of all, these tiny footprints,
are found on Mommy and Daddy's hearts.
Cause even though I'm gone now,
We'll never truly part.


From an excerpt from Thomas S. Monson's talk, "Be of Good Cheer"

“Dear Heavenly Father, I do not know how I can go on. I have nothing left—except my faith in Thee. I feel, Father, amidst the desolation of my soul, an overwhelming gratitude for the atoning sacrifice of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. I cannot express adequately my love for Him. I know that because He suffered and died, I shall live again with my family; that because He broke the chains of death, I shall see my children again and will have the joy of raising them. Though I do not at this moment wish to live, I will do so, that we may be reunited as a family and return—together—to Thee.”


None of us makes it through this life without problems and challenges—and sometimes tragedies and misfortunes. After all, in large part we are here to learn and grow from such events in our lives. We know that there are times when we will suffer, when we will grieve, and when we will be saddened. However, we are told, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”


I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us. My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.

-Thomas S. Monson

We are so grateful for such loving family support. We want to thank you for the love, kindness, and prayers offered on our behalf. We love our little Boston and we know we will see him again someday. We are so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. -Jeff and Shanna

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Viva Las Vegas!!






We went to Vegas with the Pearson family! It was a nice 2 day getaway. When we arrived, we checked in and the boys went swimming and the girls went to Max Brenner's-yummy!! Darryl and Rachelle went out that night and we took the kids out for a bit. The next day was M&M factory and went to see the lions at the MGM Grand. Phill and I took off that night to go out to dinner at Holsteins- which was fabulous! Then to see the pawn shop from Pawn Stars, and of course Max Brenners for dessert! We had a great trip even though it was too short!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Boys Birthdays!






I love that Isaiah and Chases birthdays are only 2 weeks apart! Chase had an Sesame Street party at home with his friends! We had pigs in a blanket and Elmo cupcakes!! Chase and his friends had a blast trying to pop the balloons which had tootsie rolls inside them. Can't believe my baby is 2!

Isaiah turned 5 this year!! Crazy! We let him go to the party store with us to decide what theme he wanted for his birthday. The minute he saw the army party stuff, he knew that is what he wanted! We rented the clubhouse and had it decorated "Army style". We invited his closest friends, as well as ours. We had pizza and cake and played lots of fun games! We played hot grenade, did an obstacle course out of streamers, made paper airplanes and watched GI Joe!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

At the Zermatt!






Terri, Jeff and Aaron invited us to the Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah. We had an absolute blast!!! Our boys haven't really spent much time with their family, so it was great to be able to go up for a couple of days!! The minute they arrived, Isaiah and Terri were inseparable. It was pretty cute! We went swimming the night we arrived, and then Jeff took everyone tubing the next day. What a great time!!

Monday, January 17, 2011

December 2010






December was a fun and busy month for us! At the beginning of the month, we had some friends over to make Gingerbread houses and decorate cookies. Its always fun to see how many people we can fit in our apartment! :) We also went to see the zoo lights at the Hogle Zoo. They had the zoo decorated with over a million Christmas lights. We met Darryl, Rachelle, and Teagan there, it was pretty awesome.
Christmas eve we had a pajama pizza party! Rachelle, Darryl, Teagan, Darryl's brother, Wendy, Fred and Danny came over and spent the evening enjoying pizza and watching the old Christmas classic cartoons! The kids were so excited for Santa to come! It was hard to get them in bed half way early.
I think we were up earlier than the kids on Christmas morning, laying in bed waiting for them to get up! Up by 7:30, we were able to get Grammy Stephanie and Grampy Michael on webcam to watch the boys open their toys. It was fun to watch them get so excited about opening their presents! We had breakfast with the neighbors and then Phill took Isaiah to go see Tangled, while Chase and I started dinner. After our fabulous dinner, Rachelle and I went to see Gulliver's Travels and Darryl and Phill went to see True Grit after. Despite not being with family on Christmas, it turned out pretty good!