Moving Ahead One Day at a Time

4th of July

2012-07-23T18:27:00.000-06:00

we had a great 4th of july this year full of family bbq and awesome fireworks. the kids seriously loved watching the fireworks and i love some of their expressions in the pictures. it's so awesome to have so much family right here.

Easter

2012-06-08T15:18:00.000-06:00

I'm way behind on my blogging :)

Birthdays

2012-05-17T19:52:00.000-06:00

My beautiful babies have birthdays only 11 days apart so we always get to celebrate a lot in April. I really enjoyed doing Kayhlen's "plex" cake last year so i decided again to really try and go all out and work hard on their cakes. Dax's lightning mcqueen came out ok but i was really proud of the smurf cake i made for kay. they are difficult but really fun to do. dax turned 2 this year and got a new "car" to ride in and kay got a big girl bike for her 4th bday. we love our babies so much and it makes me so sad that they're really not babies anymore. :(

for kay's bday we went to classic skating and got to roller skate, play in the jungle, the bouncy houses and the arcade. we had a lot of fun as a family.

GA Trip

2012-05-07T21:27:00.000-06:00

We planned a trip to Georgia to visit all the family a long time ago and the date finally arrived. We did it a week before Dax's 2nd bday so that he didn't have to have a plane ticket. thankfully, my mom went too so she sat with us on the flight and that was a major help. all in all i think the kids were pretty darn good all things considering. it was so great to spend time with our georgia family. the kids absolutely LOVED being there and playing with all their cousins.

2 and 1 days to 30

2012-04-27T22:34:00.000-06:00

wow. tomorrow is the big day. how quickly 30 years go by. i don't feel mature enough to be 30. i remember when i was a kid that my parents were in their 30's and they seemed so old :) how can it be me already. the circle of life continues and stops for no one, not even me :) it's been nice to go back and think about some of the key components of my first 30 years. there's no better way to end than to give a shout out to my 5 amazing siblings. i feel so fortunate to have been raised in a family where i had brothers and sisters surrounding me at all times. holidays were awesome. i absolutely loved our tradition of all sleeping in the same room on christmas eve and staying up really late watching movies and playing games. i loved the sibling gift exchange on christmas day. we would play baseball in the basement using socks as the ball and a rolling pin (the same one my mom still has) as the bat. of course there were fights. carrie, missy and i would fight about taking each others clothes ALL the time. i have a great memory of trying to leave for school with missy driving and me in the passenger seat and trent coming out and sitting on the hood, refusing to get in the car until i got in the back so that he could sit shotgun. since me, troy and kiley were the "2nd round" we got to go on more trips together than the older kids did. we have the great 1994 wardwell family vacation on video and it's a classic and really captures the spirit of our family...lots of laughter and sarcasm is how i would describe us. we truly were lucky to have each other and i can only hope my kids are as fond of their siblings when they're adults as i am. trent-the oldest so he was the first to fly the coop. he was such a great example as an older brother. he left to serve his mission so willingly and he would write all of us individual letters consistently throughout his mission...that meant so much to me and i still have those letters. he's the rock. missy-she is the laughter. she's always been the most sarcastic and the one to crack all the jokes. i totally idealized her as a youth and thought she was so cool. she has a good heart. she knows how to lighten moods and bring smiles to our faces. she's got the most famous line in wardwell history..."we've been through rain, snow, heat" "dad" no one else will understand that but all of us will and we'll all smile when we read it. carrie-she is the quiet and steady one. she's always been good. she's never faltered. she's fun and serious. she's the best example of a mother. before i had kids i always said i want to mother them the way carrie does for hers. she's the picture of steadfastness and takes all the bumps that life throws her and continues strong. troy-we call him the "chosen" one. i'm not really sure why that started but it just kinda did. we all joke about how he's mom and dad's favorite. :) troy is a great combination of all our personalities. he's serious and strong but he's also hilarious and sarcastic. i loved how our relationship strengthened as he and i both got older. he's always been a great example to me and he's one of the reasons i decided to go on a mission. he's the one mom and dad NEVER had to worry about. kiley-she's the selfless one. she's the one that would drop anything to help any of us. she is truly amazing that way. she never asks for anything in return. it's only fitting that she was the one who had to make the most selfless decision that anyone could ever do in this life and she did it with courage and strength and all due to her love for another. i loved being able to watch her play her high school sports and follow her career. i love them all so much. i've been so lucky. happy 30th to me. i only hope my next 30 years bring as many blessings and happiness as the first 30 years have.

5, 4 and 3 days to 30

2012-04-25T20:51:00.001-06:00

i've missed some days but this will be a big post so we'll all get over it. as previously mentioned, my family moved around a lot. i spent junior high in indiana and then high school in georgia and then college in idaho and virginia. i hated moving a lot when i was younger, of course. it was always so hard to leave all my friends but of course i was always able to make new friends. as an adult, obviously, my perspective has changed a lot and i consider myself very lucky to live different places but also to have so many different friends. i have had so many different great friends at different times and all of whom played great roles in my life during that particular time period. it was always hard to move on but i absolutely love the memories that i have with all of them. here's some of the incredible friends i've had a privilege of knowing. Indiana (lived here from 4th-9th grade) and had a great group of close friends and we all played basketball and softball together...it was awesome. these friends helped get me through my "awkward" years of junior high...man i struggled finding my "look" ha ha it's hilarious to look back on now but i do wonder sometimes how my mom let me out the door. i went through the grunge stage and then trying to be preppy and just took quite a while to get it right :) these girls were so fun. i have good memories of tubing on the lake and driving golf carts around and mostly of playing softball and basketball. rachel, jyl, lindsay, laura, emily

lindsay, rachel, katie nicole

caitlin, rachel

I lived in Atlanta during my ever important high school years. moving there was really hard because i had such great friends in indiana that i'd had for a long time. the first people to really reach out to me were the kids in my church ward and they really stepped up and befriended me and it meant a lot.

After time i started to make some great friends and first and foremost was susie shelnutt. we played bball and softball together and we really clicked. she still makes me laugh like crazy. i actually got to see her a few weeks ago and she's the friend that we can go years without seeing eachother but then when we're together it feels like things never changed. then there was kim noah who was by far my best friend for a few years. kim and i were those friends that were just always together. we just made sense. we did everything together and we stayed close through our first years of college but then drifted apart. it's been so many years but i still think about her all the time. she meant so much to me. she was truly my best friend. i told her everything and we shared everything. i still miss her so much and i hope she knows how big of a role she played in my life. these 2 were the most influencial people during high school but i was so fortunate to have several really great friends. amber, kim, meghan, jenny

kim

kim and susie

susie, kim, maureen, morgan and sarah

my first year in college was at ricks in idaho. i had some great roommates and they really helped me get through that rough first year of being away from home. britni, annalisa, court and shelly

my other college years were spent at svu which i have posted about and made my feelings about very clear. i made lifelong friends at svu. i am so excited to get together with some of these girls in the colorado mountains just 2 short months from now to have a "reunion" of sorts. carlie wiechman was my best friend and she was the ying to my yang :) she is quite possibly one of the funniest people i've ever met. living with her was the most fun year of my life. we did everything together. we loved the same movies, tv shows, music...she was so great and i'm so glad we're still friends now that we're both old moms :) svu truly gave me some great friendships. some great girls that i'm meeting soon in colorado. diana, brindi and jessie

diana, carlie and shae

diesel

carlie

diana

kim, susie, carlie, stacie, jeanie, tania, heather, boo

6 to 30

2012-04-22T20:40:00.001-06:00

tonight i'm feeling rather lazy so i don't want to create a whole post. i'll just say this...the kids were pretty awnry today, they had a lot of excitement yesterday and went to bed really late and then we had church so they didn't get great naps so they were both fairly difficult and made it a rather rough evening...however, as difficult of a night as it was...they are now in bed, there is peace in the air and bottom line...i've never seen anything cuter!

7 to 30

2012-04-21T21:13:00.000-06:00

as a young child and into early adolescense (and if i'm honest...even now as an adult :)) i had an obsession with legos. i don't know why, i have no real explanation for it but i just love legos. i loved building them and playing with them. at a certain point i had quite a collection. i still remember when i decided i was too old for them and decided to box them up but i insisted that i would keep them and that my children would play with them one day...low and behold 15-17 years later i still have those legos and i am waiting for the day when i deem my children "responsible enough" :) to handle my lego collection. here's a couple of my favorite sets i have :)

8 to 30

2012-04-20T22:40:00.000-06:00

It's about time i give a shout out to my wonderful daddy. my dad has always been the most supportive person and my number one fan. i hardly remember a game or activity that he wasn't at even though he traveled consistently for his job. the few times he actually wasn't able to organize his work schedule around my games he actually shed tears when he told me he'd be unable to be there. even when i was in college and playing all over the east coast he would drive hours to get to several of the games and then leave right after to get back to work. he was always so amazing with his support. my dad is human, he has faults and he's made mistakes but i love that he fights through and is continually striving to be a better man and father to all of us. he has always had such a great testimony and he is has never been shy to share it. i respect that so much. i love my dad and i'm so grateful to have him in my life.

9 to 30

2012-04-20T22:24:00.000-06:00

i love pets. i have always had pets. growing up we had a dog and a cat and we also had pet rats for a long time. as i type this my cat is laying on my lap. i love the comfort and companionship that you get from pets. i ove that they depend on you and you can depend on them. as corny as it sounds, i've had pets help me get through some really hard times because they're always there and they just always comfort you. i just love them.

10 to 30

2012-04-18T22:34:00.000-06:00

Today i get to write about my Kayhlen Melissa because it also happens to be her 4th birthday. kayhlen made me a mom for the first time. i still remember when mike told me he was ready to have a baby (i was ready long before him :)) and how excited we were when we found out i was pregnant and then how shocked we were when we found out it was a girl. i was convinced it would be a boy so much so that i had already bought a bunch of boy stuff. i was a little scared about having a girl because i felt like i'd be able to handle boys better but i'm happy to say i think we've done quite well at having our little girl. kayhlen was a very stubborn child and still is in many ways. she put us through 2 years of intense breath holding spells where she would hold her breath for so long that she'd eventually pass out...there were times where she'd do it 5 times a day. she went through a long phase where no one could hold or touch her except mom (i actually didn't mind that too much :)) kayhlen has grown into a beautiful young girl. she is a total sweet heart. my mom had surgery over 6 months ago and kay still asks her about her feet every day. she has become such a great helper and is always happy to get things for me, to help me unload the dishwasher and to swivel sweep the floor. she is extremely shy and bashful...she doesn't like attention focused on her and she is very uncomfortable around strangers which can make some things very painful (ie dentist, playing sports, etc) but once she is comfortable with the people around her she is such a great kid. i never have to worry about her misbehaving in primary or other activities. she is never one to be mean to kids at the park. she says hilarious things like quoting movies and always commenting when people have byu apparel on by saying they're crazy and that cougars stink. i love you so much my girl. i wouldn't be complete without you.

11 to 30

2012-04-17T20:00:00.001-06:00

Favorites are so hard because it completely changes with time...here's where i stand at the moment. song-savage garden "i knew i loved you before i met you" it's mine and mike's song color-baby blue tv show-still is "friends" even though i can literally quote every single episode movie-too many to count but include "she's the man" "hot chick" food-mashed potatoes desert-ice cream piece of clothing-bball shorts team-Uconn, Utah

12 to 30

2012-04-16T20:42:00.000-06:00

Softball was a big part of my life for many years as well. I also began playing at a very young age and was always above average and was often asked to play on all-star teams, etc. i always loved softball and always enjoyed it but it didn't consume so much of my thoughts as basketball did. i've often been told that if i had the passion for softball like i did for basketball that i could've been a strong d1 player. regardless, i loved playing and i'm so fortunate that i got to play softball as well in college. i had some freak accidents (shout out to sarah swapp :)) that landed me in the emergency room but i'd do it all over again :) i miss it!

13 to 30

2012-04-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

Everyone that knows me is aware that i have a passion for basketball. i love playing, watching and coaching. i started playing at the age of 5 and never stopped until i graduated college and even then i continued playing in rec leagues and now i spend much of my time coaching high school girls basketball. i don't know what it is about the game but it is a passion of mine. graduating from college was so hard for me, mostly because it meant that my real playing career was over. i was always an above average player but never had the speed and athleticism to get me to a D1 college level though i know i love the game as much as anyone else. i always prided myself on my passing ability...i just had the ability to see the floor in ways that most people can't (maybe it's because i spent so many hours watching the pistol about pistol pete when i was younger). i used to daydream about playing in the wnba and being one of the best players in the country. obviously, i never came anywhere close to that point but the game still consumes me and has given me the opportunity to achieve so many other dreams. coaching high school ball requires so much time and for such little pay but it is something that i love and helps me define who i am...mike is very supportive of this. i just love the game, can't say anything more :)

14 to 30

2012-04-14T21:07:00.001-06:00

Everything happens for a reason and there was a clear cut path that led me to Southern Virginia University during my college years. I had planned on going to BYU and I was confident that I would get in. I had the grades, the extra curriculars, etc. We were so confident that we even put a deposit down on an apartment for me. I only applied to BYU and Ricks as a backup. I had decided that I was too burned out from basketball to continue playing in college so I turned down scholarships from smaller schools and set my sights on the Y. I remember my dad mentioning SVU during my application process and I laughed at him...like i'd go to a school that small :) I was literally shocked when i didn't get into the Y. So, i headed to Ricks instead. I liked Ricks...i had great roommates, loved my classes and enjoyed myself but i didn't like rexburg and it just never felt "right" to me. during my stay i became good friends with a neighbor who had attended SVU the previous year and just raved about it. so, after lots of thinking my dad and i made a trip to svu and did a bball tryout for coach harmon and he gave me a scholarship and that was that. my first year was very similar to my experience at ricks...i had some good friends, i had some good times, but it just didn't feel great. i put sincere thought into not returning for my junior year but i decided to stick it out and oh my gosh am i glad i did. my junior year and then even more so my senior year were some of the best of my life. the friends i made, the experiences playing basketball and softball, the spiritual growth i had, the life lessons i learned and the education i received are all things that i could never put a price on. i graduated from SVU exactly 8 years ago and i still feel like there is still a piece of my heart there...i think there always will be. the path that led me to svu was clearly for a purpose and i know that i was meant to be there and i was meant to meet the people that i did. i have friends for life...6 of us are actually gathering in the colorado mountains this june for a fun reunion/girls week...i couldn't be more excited. i love svu!

15 to 30

2012-04-14T20:04:00.000-06:00

Oh to have the innocence of youth again. Remember the days when your most stressful moments were what toys to play with that day, what friend to hang out with, what to wear so that boys would think you were cute (unfortunately, i went through grades 5-10 failing miserably at this :)) and whether to do or not do your homework. those were the days. oh to be young again. i love being a wife and a mother but currently my days are spent making food and taking care of kids, stressing about money, stressing about job changes, stressing about selling our house, etc. sometimes, it's nice to think about the carefree life was at one time :)

16 to 30

2012-04-14T11:09:00.002-06:00

I love taking trips. I love traveling (my love is decreasing as i have kids) and love seeing new things and experiencing new places. when i was little i would make a list of everything i would have to pack for a family trip months in advance and then i would actually pack my bags at least a week in advance because i was always so excited. my dad has always traveled tons for work and he would rotate kids and take us on some of the trips. i still remember when i got to go to san francisco with him and how excited i was to fly on a plane and stay in an awesome hotel (there was a phone and tv in the bathroom :)) mike and i took a few trips in our earlier married years and even one massive one after we had kayhlen. we've gone to san francisco, san diego, camping in moab (i know that's not too much of a trip)and our massive trip took us all over the east coast with stops in boston, salem, niagara falls, palmyra, kirtland, buena vista, dc, gettysburg, philadelphia, and nyc. i hope that we're able to give our kids some opportunities to see different places as they get older. Driving Tom Cars in Moab 2006

San Diego 2007

San Francisco 2006

Philly 2009 trip

NYC 2009 trip

Gettysburg 2009 trip

DC 2009 trip

Kirtland 2009 trip

Niagara Falls 2009 trip

Palmyra 2009 trip

Salem 2009 trip

Boston 2009 trip

17 to 30

2012-04-11T19:23:00.001-06:00

So, in my first 30 years of life i have moved 9 times and lived in 8 different states (school time included). When i was younger, specifically a teenager, these moves were extremely difficult and i really resented my parents at times :) now, i feel very fortunate to have lived in so many different places and to have experienced different lifestyles...but most importantly, i have been so fortunate to associate with so many different people and to have friends all over the country.

Here's the breakdown: Born in Dayton, Ohio Moved to Detroit, Michigan and lived there until 5 yrs Moved to Marrietta, Georgia and lived there through 2nd grade Moved to Naperville, Illinois and lived there for 3rd grade Moved to Indianapolis, Indiana and lived there through 9th grade Moved to Newnan, Georgia and lived there through High School Moved to Rexburg, Idaho and lived there for Freshman year of college Moved to Buena Vista, Virginia and lived there for Soph-Senior year of college Moved to Lehi, Utah and have lived here ever since I'm so lucky to have so many friends all over the country and to have had all the experiences that moving so much has brought me...we'll see where the next 30 years takes me...literally

18 to 30

2012-04-10T21:40:00.000-06:00

This is kind of a difficult post for me because this is something that i've never been very open about...but there's no better time than now since i'll be 30 in 18 days and that probably means i should be a grown up :) as i've previously mentioned, i am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and most people know that we send missionaries out all over the world to teach people about the gospel. boys are expected (doesn't mean they always do) to serve 2 year missions when they are 19 years old. girls are offered the opportunity at the age of 21 if they want but they are not expected to. missions are very hard experiences. when you serve a mission you dedicate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 2 years (or 18 months for girls) to serving the Lord. that means no tv, no phone, no friends, no family, no napping (except on P day), no music etc. it is a huge sacrifice. during my senior year of college i suddenly started having strong feelings that i needed to serve a mission. for a few months i really fought hard against those feelings because i didn't feel like i could sacrifice everything that would be asked of me. however, as time went on i felt stronger and stronger and i started diligently praying about it and studying my scriptures and eventually i couldn't deny those feelings any more. i went forward with the process of putting in my papers and i remember receiving my call and how shocked i was to receive a call to serve the Lord in Helsinki, Finland and to teach the gospel in the finnish language. I left a week after college graduation and entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. your length of stay in the mtc is dependent on the area that you are going to serve and since i had to learn finnish i had to stay in the mtc for 13 weeks. i actually thrived in the mtc. i picked the language up very well and fast, i made lots of friends...i just had a great time...of course i was homesick but it was not overwhelming. after 13 weeks in the mtc i flew all the way to helsinki, finland where i met my new mission president and my companion who would be training me. i was nervous but really excited. the first few weeks was like a shell shock boot camp. in the mtc when you train for this stuff it's not real and you're not dealing with real individuals. suddenly i was tracting 8-10 hours a day (which is just knocking on doors and asking people if they want to learn about the gospel) and the general population in finland isn't the nicest and most people were very rude and would yell and swear and spit and call the police and tell you how crazy you are and you're going to hell, etc. it was really shocking to go from so much positive in the mtc to such negativity in finland. other stuff was wierd too like the sun bright and beaming at 3 am (i got there in august) and then later when there would only be 6 hours of daylight. there was, of course, lots of good stuff as well such as the members and the occasional nice person at the door but there was an overwhelming amount of negative. after some time the negativity and homesickness and everything together started to take it's toll on me and every day i started to feel less and less like myself. there were days where i literally was just going through the motions like a robot but i wasn't really "there". my companion and i would have lots of fights and i feel so bad now for the way i treated her but i really just wasn't myself by that point. after about 3 months it got to be too much and we decided i needed to go speak with the wife of our mission president. we made the trip and i spent some time talking to her and then she put me on the phone with the dr of all the european missions and after speaking with him he diagnosed me as being clinically depressed and recommended that i go home to get some therapy and then decide if i wanted to come back or not. i was given a medical release and was on a flight heading home 24 hours later. it was very surreal. it's been over 6 years since this happened i still don't speak too much about it. i was immediately and still am embarrased because you can't help but think you have failed the Lord, yourself and your family. i have a much better understanding now then i did then but i'm still not all the way there. i did go to counseling and took medication for a time after coming home and i know that at that time i truly was sick. i was not myself and i didn't even recognize myself. after i was home i was called to be a temple worker and i was told that by so doing i was being given an opportunity to finish my service for the Lord. I've also had blessings where i've been told that just me being willing to go was a true test and that's what the Lord wanted to know, to know if i was willing. still, though, there are times when parts of me wonder if it was something that i did or didn't do that made me get sick but deep inside i know that the lord was pleased with what i was able to give.

19 to 30

2012-04-09T19:32:00.001-06:00

Coaches Sports have been a big part of my life (more to come on that at a later time)and i truly have been so fortunate with many great coaches over the years...i have had some coaches that have truly impacted my life and not just the way i play basketball. Coach Jones was my high school bball coach at East Coweta high school. I graduated 11 years ago (don't even get me started on that) and i still have contact with her and even got to see her last week when i went to atlanta. she was such a great coach. we had great teams all three years that i played for her and those years are some of my best memories. what i loved about her was the trust and faith she had in me and showed me...sure she got mad...we still joke about how she would yell my name and stomp her foot (a trait i now have as a coach)but no matter what i did or how mad she got she never yanked me out of the game for making a mistake...she always trusted me and that gave me so much confidence and i know i played better because of it. she still is the coach at EC and i know her retirement is coming soon but i could never explain to her the positive impact she had on my life. it was during my years of playing for her that i first started to desire being a coach myself. here's a pic of us when i'm in high school and one from just last week.

Coach Clark was the assistant bball coach at southern virginia university. she was like the big sister that i didn't have in virginia during my college years. she was so great to us and some of my all time favorite memories include her (i can't discuss some of them...eh hum bertha panties :)) she would have us over for dinner, would help arrange our class schedules, take us to dr appointments, make us get in great shape during preseason conditioning and even just hang out with us. she made my years at svu so much better.

Coach Harmon was the head coach at southern virginia university. he and i actually didn't get off to a great start :) our personalities clashed my first year or so and i didn't always agree with his techniques but i decided to stick it out...i am so glad i did. what i learned about harmon is that first you have to give him your whole trust...put your faith in him and i was eventually able to do that and by so doing i got so much more than a basketball coach...i got another father. once you get in that inner circle of trust you get a life long love and trust from him in return. he took great interest and care into my self esteem issues and truly tried to help me love myself better. i trusted him and once i did he gave me everything he had. i still know that i can call him at any time no matter what it is i need and he will do everything in his power to help me...he became a father figure for me and that still means so much.

Coach Dryden was my softball coach at southern virginia university and she was so great. she is someone that you would NEVER hear anyone say a bad word about. she was so loving and caring and would do so much for us whether it was tutoring or letting us do our laundry at her home or letting me use her tv when i didn't have cable to watch Uconn play. she let us be a part of her family because we were constantly around her kids and that meant so much that she trusted us with them.

20 to 30

2012-04-08T22:19:00.001-06:00

Another appropriate post today as it is my mom's bday...appropriate that this year she shares her bday with Easter as she has more Christ-like love than I could ever imagine having. My mom truly is my best friend, my rock, my confidant. She has always been such a stable foundation in our family. There are so many days when she spends 3-4 hours on the phone because each of her kids make their rounds in phone calls to talk about everything going on in our lives. When i was young i remember her being in the house waiting for us to walk in the door from school and she'd always have a snack sitting on the counter. i loved having her there...it meant so much to have her there to greet us when we got home. as we started to get older and "went out" at night she would stay awake until we were all home and i have so many memories of sitting on her bedside as i would spill all the details of what i did that night...many of those talks would last until 2 or 3 in the morning but it never mattered how tired she was or how early she had to get up...she was there to listen. i think that explains why she still gets those contiuous phone calls from all of us even though we're all grown and have our own families...she's a listener. she has also become such an awesome grandma. she is so involved. she has 20 grandchildren (and counting...not by me) and they still get actual birthday gifts and christmas gifts even though half of them live on the other side of the country...i can't imagine how much money she spends on shipping alone. she goes out on everything for her grandchildren from the massive easter egg hunt we had yesterday to the annual halloween party and it's many activities and then to the annual gingerbread decorating...she puts all her heart and soul into everything to make all these special experiences for her grandchildren. she flew with me and my kids to georgia last week and as a mom, i of course had a bag full of snacks, movies, books, etc for them to do on the flight...as the time went on, however, they were quickly making their way through everything i had brought and gma just started pulling out new stuff that she had gone out and bought for them. i didn't ask her to do it...i didn't even know she had done it but there it was...and she just kept pulling stuff out. that's just normal grandma. i truly mean it when i ask her to please out live me because i can't imagine a world where i don't have her to talk to. she is the wife, mother and grandmother that i will continuously strive to become like. i love you mom.

21 to 30

2012-04-07T19:41:00.000-06:00

Daxten Matthew Lee It's so cool that I'm going to get to highlight both of my kids during this time frame on their actual birthdays. Today is Dax's 2nd birthday. I am so grateful to have him in my life. He is such a mixture of Mike and I. He is 50% sweet and cuddly (me) and 50% temper tantrum and difficult (Mike) :) Dax came to visit us via an "emergency" induction on April 7th, 2010 just a few hours after my Uconn girls won yet another national championship. We were so excited that we were having a boy. I was convinced that my first one would be a boy so when we got pregnant with Kayhlen I immediately ordered a bunch a boy Uconn gear so when we had Dax we finally got to use it all. Daxten adores grandpa wardwell and usually will run to him when he sees him. he is a VERY tall and skinny boy and has been since he was born. his birth was seriously pretty darn easy see post as far as baby births go...not that i have a TON of experience. there's no real cool story to his first name. when he was born we still didn't have a name picked out so we spent the first few hours of my labor googling and finally decided on daxten. his middle name is matthew, named after his grandpa lee who won't get to meet him in this life but who we're confident was with him in the premortal life before we held him in our arms. he was a pretty great baby except when sleep was concerned and it took a while to get him on a good schedule. i do remember, though, that his "spit" up was not spit up...he seriously would throw up entire bottles...we went through a few burp cloths a day because they would get so saturated. as he's gotten older he's gotten very ambitious and we foresee ER visits in our future with him. he'll just jump off of things no matter how high they are or what's underneath him...things like that. he is a total boy and loves all kinds of sports balls and is obsessed with cars, though, he also enjoys dressing up with his sister like a pricess :) we love our 2 year old boy!

2 days old leaving the hospital

22 to 30

2012-04-06T20:29:00.000-06:00

Grandparents I was so blessed with incredible grandparents. Some of my greatest childhood memories include trips to see my grandparents. They are/were all so great in their own individual ways. Gpa DeMille (mom's dad) I actually don't know a ton about my grandpa DeMille...he is definitely the one that i had the least amount of contact with. I actually only remember meeting him twice in my life. he died when i was around 12 years old of Aids. Later in life he made some decisions that we didn't necessarily agree with but that doesn't change the great man he was and the loving father he was to my mom. he served a mission when he was married and had 3 young children and i can only imagine how hard that was for him. he worked for BYU and moved his family to Saudi Arabia for a couple of years and gave them some great experiences in the process. he made his yards GORGEOUS...he was obsessed with gardening and i've seen some pictures of his creations and they are incredible. i know he loved my mom very much.

Gma DeMille (mom's mom) I had a lot of contact with my grandma DeMille from around the age of 15 up until she died a few years ago because she always lived by us. when i think of her i think about what a sweet and gentle spirit she had about her. she loved music...loved to play and loved to listen to her grandchildren play and sing. i remember she'd always sit with her eyes closed with a smile on her face when we would sing like she was soaking it all in. she endured a lot of hardship in her life. she supported her husband and her children when he left for 2 years to serve a mission. she dealt with some blows later in life in regards to her marriage that i just can't imagine and yet she was strong. she was truly sweet and we actually got to visit her a few hours before she passed away and she was so strong and ready and looking forward to meeting her Maker. she was awesome.

Gpa Wardwell (dad's dad) I actually saw grandpa wardwell less than a year ago when he came out for a wedding. he is my only living grandparent though as i write this he is dealing with a lot of health issues. he is hilarious and is very open with his choice of words :) all i need to say about him is that he is not actually my dad's biological father. my biological gpa was an abusive drunk who my dad remembers beating my grandma in front of him. he then left her to raise 6 children on her own. my grandpa wardwell came into the story and adopted them and took care of them and became the dad they all deserved. i can't imagine the love he must have felt for my grandma and her children to do such a thing. what an incredible man.

Gma Wardwell (dad's mom) I put some thoughts down about her in a previous post when she passed away. It's been a few years and i still am tearing up right now as i think about her. she truly was everything you want in a grandparent. she was so involved. she followed everything we did and cared and asked and attended and if we were playing in mud then she'd get down and play in mud. she endured an abusive husband and a time when she was alone raising 6 young children. i just can't say enough. i love these pics of grams because it is truly her in her element. this is what she'd do with us...she'd play and she'd play whatever we wanted to play. i love that you can see diet rite in one of these pics because that's their beverage of choice. i really miss her.

23 to 30

2012-04-05T10:22:00.002-06:00

My religious beliefs I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For those that don't know what that means, the nickname for the LDS church is Mormons. For me, this defines everything that I do in my life and every choice that I make. There are so many misconceptions in the world about my faith. Let me clarify some things in case some of you are curious. What do I believe? First and foremost I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth and lived a perfect life. He is the only one to ever do so. I believe that in the Garden of Gethsemane He atoned for all the sins of the world including mine. I believe that He was crucified and then rose from the grave making it possible that we will all one day be resurrected and that if we live worthily we will live again with our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ and all of our loved ones. I believe that if I live worthily and use the Atonement to repent of my constant sins that I will live with my family after this life. I know this is what my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ want for us. I also believe that when Christ was on the earth he called apostles and he bestowed the priesthood upon those apostles. After his crucifiction the apostles were also killed off and there was eventually an apostacy that the Bible refers to and that the priesthood (the authority to act for God)and the church that Christ had established was no longer on the earth. I believe that the earth remained in this dark state until a young man named Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and RESTORE the same church that Christ had designed back to the earth. I believe the priesthood was restored and that I now belong to the same church that Christ organized. Christ is the head and governs His church through his mouthpiece on the earth in the form of a modern day prophet. Currently, that prophet is Thomas S. Monson. As a member of this church I am expected to live with certain standards and by living those standards I have been given more "freedom" and then I could ever imagine. Some of those standards are...I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't watch R rated movies, I was abstinent until I was married, my husband and I are faithful to eachother in every possible way, I try to be honest, I dress modestly, and many more. These are my beliefs and I believe them with every fiber of my soul. I also believe that everyone has a right to believe and belong to whatever church they so choose. I believe that Christ loves all of us, no matter what our imperfections are. If anyone wants to know more about what I believe visit www.mormon.org

24 to 30

2012-04-05T09:42:00.002-06:00

Sleep Sleeping is at the top of my hobby list. I love to play sports, i love to read, i love movies...and i really really love to sleep. obviously, as a parent i don't get the sleep that i once did but i still cherish those hours and i still make sunday naps a priority...as mike will tell you...do NOT get in the way of my Sunday nap...it will not go over well. and, from the looks of the pictures below this obsession extends to some of my siblings as well :)