Birthdays are our Favorite!!

We love April because it's my birthday and then John's birthday, plus Easter and General Conference are usually scattered somewhere in there :)  Each year seems to get better and better!  The only problem with this year was the lack of pictures :(  I need to get better at the camera thing....

For my birthday my biggest request was Dunford Donuts for breakfast.  They were SO good.  We also celebrated by going shopping, playing at the park, eating frozen pizza, going to Leatherby's and playing some games afterwards.  For presents I got a bunch of new clothes and John surprised me with the complete season of "Full House" haha!  It was a perfect day :)

This is what 28 looks like I guess!
PS both pictures show me wearing my glasses, which I only wear in the morning or at night when my contacts aren't in.
I wish I would have taken them off for at least one of the photo's haha. 

That weekend was Conference and Easter.  We spent a lot of time at the Southwick homestead because my parents were up in Canada.  We had a fun family BBQ, Easter Egg Hunt, played games with Grandpa, Brian and Sara, and played a lot of Kubb!  The Monday after we went to the park with some friends and John made a panini lunch for us back at the house.  It was delicious.

The next weekend it was time to celebrate John's B-day.  His birthday was on a Sunday so that made things a little more difficult for me, plus he wouldn't tell me anything he wanted, except dinner plans.  So I just surprised him with Cashews, Cocoa Puffs, Baby Ruth's, and the 2nd season of Community (he's been wanting it for over a year now).  We had 9:00 church and sang for our Easter Choir Program.  (Deja went to Grandma and Grandpa DuPaix's so we didn't have to worry about her while singing.)  After church we ended up going up to Park City for the night!  Our good friends Melanie and Greg were already planning on going to the Worldmark up there and invited us to come along last minute!!  It was kind of stressful getting everything together and packing for just an overnighter, but it all worked out.  When we got up there we made Smothered Chicken with Potato Crisps for dinner.  It took forever to cook and we were starving, but it was well worth it.  We played some games-Settlers and Elder Sign, got the kids to bed and then made some Birthday Fazookies!!!  They were delicious :)  We stayed up till 1:00 a.m. playing games.  I was so tired...

The next morning we mostly cleaned/packed and hung out with the children. On our way home we hit up the outlets (mostly the Adidas store where John bought 2 pairs of shoes).  Later that day we went to the Tanger Outlets for the first time.  John spent the rest of his birthday budget while we were there, with his new favorite item being awesome Red Pants from H&M.  That evening we found out John made it into the Weber LPN-RN online nursing program!!!  Out of 85 applicants he was in the top 20 and we were super excited!!  John had been stressed out for months about it, so to find out he's on the path of finishing his RN was such a relief.  We went to Five Guys for dinner to celebrate getting into the nursing program and his B-Day :)

John's birthday spoils-He really wanted a picture of everything ;)

Last but not least we took Deja to Jungle Jim's for the first time.  They have 2 dollar Tuesdays and it was totally worth it, she had a great time.

"What seems to be the problem officer?"

Her favorite part was the bouncy house with the slide.  She would have stayed there forever if I would have let her. :)

Other updates on Deja include:

• When you ask her how old she is she'll hold up her pointer finger and say "One!"
• During meal times she likes to hold out some of her food items for me to tell her what it is she's about to partake of.  The other night was Taco Soup so during the entire meal I was repeatedly saying "Bean" "Corn" "Beef" "Tomato" etc.  I guess it's good for her to learn ;)
• She's loving nursery and it's so nice that John's in there too. I really don't have to worry about her at all!
• She's getting better at using utensils and will ask for a napkin when her hands get too dirty.

She woke up this morning looking like a starlet from the 80's with this hair!  Curls for days...

"Good Morning!"

Deja 18 Months Old!!!

Where has the time gone?  It feels like just yesterday when we celebrated her birthday!  Here are some new things about our little girl :)

• She weighs 24 lbs and is 32" tall!
• Some of her new words include: Up, Hug, Bed, Ash, Apple, Go, Bubble, Pop, Me, Thank You, and More (which confusingly sound like "no"), etc.  She will also imitate most words and phrases.
• She points to everything she wants which is pretty helpful.
• She wants to be outside at all times no matter the weather and LOVES the park!
• She is a handful at church.  She just wants to get down and run around all the time. Hopefully she'll love nursery!
• She loves talking on the phone especially when dad calls :)
• She is getting better at being Mom's little helper.  She will put things in the garbage when prompted and will also put her bibs in the correct kitchen drawer.  She also loves helping with Laundry and is fascinated by the Washer and Dryer.  And she loves to "help" sweep!  
• She still loves books and having me read to her.  Her favorite stories are ones with pictures of real kids.
• She went through a stage where she wanted a saltine cracker in her hand at all times during the day.  As soon as she was done with one, she would request another.   Luckily it didn't last too long.
• She can point to her nose, eye, mouth, teeth, ear, hair, belly, face/cheeks, toes, and fingers/hands. 
• She's our little monkey girl and climbs on chairs, tables, on top of couches, etc.
• She likes playing "kitchen" and I caught her filling the salad bowls up the other night.

                                                              

• Her favorite foods are still cheese, noodles, and avocado!  She's still getting used to using utensils and usually prefers eating with her hands.
• She LOVES baby Leo (her cousin that I nanny).  She's always trying to cuddle with him, lay next to him, lay on blankets on the floor like he does, feed him, etc.  I try to encourage her to do these things with her baby doll which sometimes works.  She's so cute with both babies :) 
• She loves bags and purses!  She'll carry one over to the door and say "go!?"
• She has a weird obsession with stuffing things down her shirt, which John cleared up that it's because she thinks its a pocket!!!  Hahaha I could not figure it out for the longest time.
• I started putting aquifer on her face pretty regularly at night with the air being so dry and she has started requesting it throughout the day.  For whatever reason she thinks it's great.

Found these beauties set out for me one night after putting Deja to Bed.

Raiding Grandpa's snack cupboard.

Yogurt!!

Caught Deja and Ryder on their first date, haha.
There were more kids at the table, but these two lasted the longest!

Big Gulps Huh? Well, See Ya Later.

Patience's Funeral 

I have said goodbye to far too many people since the beginning of 2015.  I knew some of the individuals better than others, but each death was heartbreaking.  Our good friend Patience's mom died, followed closely by Michelle's 2 year old daughter Tyler, then John's cousin lost her 7 month old baby boy Parker, and finally it was Patience's time to return to our Savior.  I wanted to take the time to write an eloquent post about my greiving experiences for each of these individuals, but now with my fading memory I feel it important to write something quickly instead of waiting longer and writing nothing.  

IONE BUSH (Pay's mom): I was able to get to know Ione the most during my visits with Patience in the Hospital.  She was a character and definitely her daughters, Mother. She was kind and every time I came she was faithfully sitting next to Patience not letting her fight cancer by herself.  I remember Patience telling me in college that her mom's health hadn't been the greatest, so I'm sure it had its ups and downs for the next 10 years up till the day she died.  However, the news of her passing came as quite a surprise to her entire family.  She was the informant about Patience throughout her fight with cancer and frequently updated Facebook of anything new to report.  Her funeral was beautiful.  Patience was unable to attend because of her health circumstances, so Meagan, Mel, John, and I felt the need to be there for her.  It was a beautiful service and it was amazing to learn about the wonderful life she lived.  

TYLER MARIE DAVIS:  Tyler was amazing.  She was smart, brave, spunky, and beautiful inside and out.  I wish I had spent more time getting to know her, and I bet a lot of people feel the same way.  But I will share a couple experiences I had with her.
-When Tyler was born, I was so excited to go to the hospital to meet her.  John and I took turns holding that tiny baby and admired her beautiful little face.  We talked about how she looked like a porcelain doll.  She didn't have a bump or bruise to be seen from the delivery and came to this earth as pure as she left it.  
-A couple months later she played Baby Jesus up at This Is the Place Heritage Park.  John and I were in the caroling choir and had the opportunity to sing Silent Night to Michelle, Skye, and Tyler as they portrayed the nativity scene.  There wasn't a time that I didn't feel the spirit in that setting.  She was the best baby Jesus :)  Michelle shared this experience on Facebook.
  "The past few nights my little family has had the opportunity to portray Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the live nativity at This Is The Place Park. The experience as a whole has been great. I wanted to share a moment from tonight. A small family came into the barn where we are set up. There was a mother, a father and their son with special needs. When the young man realized that Jesus (Tyler) was a real baby, he gasped; put his hands to his mouth and said, "That's my brother." I was immediately moved by his simple statement as well as his reaction. At this time of year, it can be easy to forget the real reason for the holiday, which is to celebrate the life of Jesus Christ, our brother. I hope that I never forget those simple words, or how that young man looked. Thank you so much Cliff, and Tate for giving us the opportunity to experience such a touching moment. I urge everyone else to make time to go the Candlelight Christmas at This Is The Place, and see the live nativity."
-I couldn't believe she was already potty trained around the age of two!!  It blew my mind how smart she was :)  
-Last but not least, over the summer some of us got together to hike Bell Canyon.  Skye was unable to come so John took it upon himself to help Tyler climb up the mountain and back.  Tyler was always trusting of Men Folk (which makes sense since Michelle is kind of a man.)  But she went right to John without question and let him take care of her.  It is so tender to think back about that fun day and hold that memory dear.  When we reached the reservoir some of the kids wanted to play in the water.  I'll be honest it was FREEZING!!!  Tyler was one who insisted in splashing around.  It was so fun to watch her joy and happiness.  

I shed a lot of tears over the death of Tyler.  About a month after she passed away Michelle's sister Andrea wrote a blog post that really touched my heart.  If you want to read it, hopefully this link will work.  It is also a tear jerker.
http://fifefamilyevents.blogspot.com/2015/02/playing-with-john.html

PARKER LYON:  The news of Parker came about 2 weeks after Tyler's passing.  I couldn't believe it was another child's time to go already.  I was unable to attend Tyler's funeral because we were on a cruise, but luckily it worked out that both John and I could attend Parker's.  It was a very sorrowful funeral.  I didn't know Parker as well as Tyler but I grieved both of their deaths during the meeting.  The spirit was strong and all I could think about was what the parents must be feeling.  To this day I can't imagine what both sets of parents were/are going through.  When I do try to imagine, I'm brought to tears and hold little Deja so tight and express to her how much I love her.
During the Bishops remarks he talked about how he knew that Shannon and Richard were both living spiritual lives and keeping the commandments. He said if it had been God's will, the Holy Ghost would have prompted them to check on Parker in order to keep him alive, so it was truly his time to go.  (My summary isn't nearly as articulate as the Bishop's beautiful words, but hopefully you get the idea.) When he said this, my heart told me that this was also true of Skye and Michelle.   What a trial to have.  What a trial to watch.  

PATIENCE BUSH BOEHME:  Patience's passing was in a way the hardest and also the easiest.  With her being in and out of the Hospital so much these past couple of months, a part of me knew she might not make it to her next birthday (June 30-Her favorite day.)  I had many opportunities to visit her and often wished I had gone more.  Every time I told her goodbye, I knew one of the times might be our last.  How fortunate I was to have that "Last Goodbye" be such a memorable one.  
Rewind to 2006 when Patience introduced me to a little place called Oakcrest.  It was there she was known as "Cole-Slaw."  She wanted me to apply to work in the kitchen with her to feed hundreds of girls every week.  I did and became "Trapezoid."  At Oakcrest, girls who were beehive age would come up for a week to have a little girls camp with other girls their age from all over Utah.  There were many fun, spiritual, goofy, and uplifting traditions that took place, but one of my favorites was the Thursday night "Staff Serenade."  On the last night that the young women slept over, we as a staff would light torches and visit the cabins and sing a couple spiritual songs for the girls.  We would then tell them how much we loved them and send them to bed.
Now Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago. Patience went through a lot of emotional suffering after her mom died.  Many of us wanted to help, but didn't know how because of the visiting restrictions and other complications.  Luckily around this time, one of my Oakcrest buddies, "Harley" contacted me about doing a staff serenade for Patience.  They only allowed 7 people in the room because of the ICU rules at the Huntsman, so what a tender mercy it was that Harley asked me to join them.  We met in the lobby before even going up to Patience's room so we could practice a couple songs and figure out a plan.  When we went up, we started singing "I am a child of God" in the hall and walked into her room, electronic candles in hand.  After we finished that song we went right into "Christ is the Reason" "Walk Tall" "Misty" and "Chloe"  It was perfect, the spirit was felt and my eyes were the only dry ones in the room.  (I gave myself a pep talk on the way to the hospital and told myself there would be no tears from me).  Every time I sang the harmony, Patience looked right at me with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.  We both loved singing the harmony way more than the melody.  I'll never forget how happy she was to see us that night and I'll never forget that last Goodbye.

I met Patience at Snow College about 10 years ago and she blessed my life more than she'll ever know.  I'm going to miss her so much and long to hear her voice, her perfect comedic timing, her love of the gospel and Jesus Christ, her passion for life, her charity and her uplifting of others.  I shared this on facebook, but one of my favorite qualities Patience possessed was her ability to make people feel amazing about themselves.  

I don't really know how to end this post other than bearing my testimony so here goes.  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the most correct church on this earth.  I know that through the plan of salvation we can be with our loved ones again after death.  I know that because of the Atonement Jesus Christ knows our pain and our suffering and he can comfort us through the Holy Ghost.  I believe that I will see all these people again and that there was a reason they passed when they did.  I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and we are sent here to have trials and experience sorrow that we may have opposition in all things and also know true happiness. I know that we are all beloved children of God and that through Christ all the things are possible. In the name of our Lord, Brother, and Savior, Jesus Christ Amen.    

Now sorry to keep going but lets be honest, it's mostly for me.  It is my journal so to end things I tried to remember as many things as possible that I shared with Patience.  They won't make sense to the world but they are more precious than gold to me.

Where to even start.... "Hold on for one more day,"-especially at Jordan Commons on the ice cream parlor seats, Dr. Mario, driving me up to my parents house on the weekends when I would fall asleep in your car every time, "No matter what happens", being "best friends" at Asher's baby blessing, You telling me you were pregnant-that the birth control didn't work whilst stuffing spinach down your throat (I wasn't sure if you were lying or not!), Introducing me to great music like Relient K-Cruisin'-Dave Mathews Band-Curious George Soundtrack-etc., Kent's Mondays, your car Gilbert, BAAD Club Saint George Trip, "Phew, she's not pregnant!" Sock Wars, It's raining men, "Sha-bam-bam" The Gun, Breakfast at Tiffany's, riding up to Logan when I auditioned for the Music Therapy program, visiting creepy cemeteries in Ephraim, Institute Counsel, The time I came home from musical practice (Mame) and all I could do was lay on the floor and cry about how hungry and tired I was and you happily offered to make me soup, it was the best :)  You giving Larry the name Larry, Brittany's Kitchen, "Fro-frow-frown..." The unmade movie we talked about where everyone was creepy and I was the only normal one, your hat with the picture of you on it-you told people it was your twin "Charity" who died of Cancer-People always said Charity never faileth but that time she did (Ironic much?), Me making you MC at the ward Talent show when you weren't even in the ward anymore, haha. You introduced me to Oakcrest!!!, "Well...Are you Hungry?" The constant Pacing, Long boarding, the knife fight with Michelle, how you loved to talk about your favorite mole that you had to get removed, how you gave up hip-thrusting for Lent, Going out to lunch and talking about kitchen plans for summer, "When I look to the sky"-the song that reminded you about Cole-Michael, "I may be deaf, but I can still hear!" Playing our own version of speed scrabble at game night, Singing to Wicked and High School Musical. When you and Zyph visited me at DQ, You asking me about my testimony and how I knew the church was true, The GGG and getting our food handlers permits, Sending Bee away when the kitchen got inspected, How you loved your birthday "june 30", Allowing you to pour the leftover green Jello on me, Fingertips, our Wednesday trips to Park City, You visiting OC when you opened your mission call and I made you tell your Pooped your pants at Prom story to everyone on South, Sharing your love of Aspen Grove and East with me, "We're coming to America!" thinking we could take on our campers at Dodgeball when you came back as a counselor those last 3 weeks, Teaching FHE together to our campers-you were always an amazing teacher, "Thanks for dinner Cole-slaw, but shouldn't you be writing Hardy?" Making up the Harmony to "The quest" and making our own theme song, The Gator waits for No One!!, Letting your fam stay at Hotel DuPaix!, watching Conference with cute Brookie, The night we went to the trading table and sang the chili's song met Cole's family and went to the Rio Grande.  Random Trips to Leatherbys with Zyph, Your fam, and before watching the Hunger Games, Your birthday party at Liberty Park and your love for Salt Lake, Boating with Brittany, "Thanks Jamie" Sysco, crazy night of 777, Taking you and Brandon up to Temple square so he could open up his Mission Call with his parents and then running around trying to find your old companion, Your beautiful farewell and sitting on the sunny porch taking pictures, "It's been a long time"-random song, Your Karaoke Reception, Bowling and ice cream in Salt Lake,  Random Choir song that helped us bond, singing a count down to Brittany's B-day, That you called Harmon's Hormones.  And so, so, so much more!  

We Be Cruisin'

Rewind to January!  (It's a good thing my new years resolution wasn't about keeping up on my blog!)  Once upon a time in 2012 John and I went on a cruise and had an amazing time.  We loved all the food, relaxing, and spending time together, but John's biggest request for the next time we went on a cruise is that we go with other people to make it a little more entertaining :)  So fast-forward to 2014 when Melanie and Greg just so happened to have credit through Carnival that they needed to use or lose within the next couple months.  So all the stars aligned for a weekend in January and we packed our bags and flew out to Cali to go on a quick, cheap, cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico!  Commence picture dump!

Boarding Day!

I didn't take any other pictures on this day, but we pretty much just got settled in, played Mini-golf, ate dinner, played some phase 10 and other games, and started binge eating Ice Cream Cones :)  Greg was struggling with some motion sickness so I think we went to bed a little bit early that night.

DAY 2
John and I slept in a little bit and then got ready to go to the island.  The only excursion John and I did was Parasailing :)  It was something we have both always wanted to do, so we figured why not?  We were the first couple to go from the group, so we weren't able to get pictures of ourselves, but we can pretend these random people are us, haha.  Everything was super peaceful once you were up in the air.  It was so quiet and awesome to look across the ocean and sky.  More serene than I thought it would be!

View of Catalina Island

Chillin' on the speed boat while our other group members went parasailing.

The weather was beautiful on Catalina.  After the excursion we explored the island a little bit, bought some playing cards for us and Mt. Dew for Greg, and played a couple card games whilst people watching.  (Mel and Greg went power snorkeling so when we caught back up we were able to talk about our different experiences!)

We had our fancy dinner that night with Lobster and other fun foods! I'm pretty addicted to their Chocolate Lava Cake with ice cream.

Mel and Greg!

Serious/Sad faces?

I asked Mel to take our picture...

Us:  "What in the world are you focusing on?!?"
(She was just trying to be funny)

The "Real" Picture haha.

After dinner we went and changed and got settled in for a good ol' game night next to the ice cream machine!!!  Adult Mormons on a cruise alert?  We taught Mel and Greg how to play Settlers of Catan so they could be as addicted as we are ;)

DAY 3
Tragedy struck early when John woke up with a killer stomach ache and vomiting.  Turns out he ate something bad on Day 2 so he had Food Poisoning--which is pretty sad on a cruise because half the reason you're there is for the non stop food :( :(  The rocking of the ship didn't help out either, so he took some nausea meds and then hung out in the room for a while.  The other bad part was it was our "day at sea" so he couldn't even get off the ship to catch a break from rocking back and forth.  I felt so bad, but it was kind of nice that while he recuperated I was able to hang out with Mel and Greg.  We went to a couple Trivia games and totally rocked the Harry Potter Trivia.  Greg won a small trophy for getting all the questions correct and doing the best Hagrid Impression!  John was feeling a little better by dinner but still didn't eat much.  After Dinner we went to this show called "Rock of Ages."  It was pretty much a Live version of "Regionals for Glee," but at least they picked good songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, Total Eclipse of the Heart, a pretty cool mash-up of I Love Rock and Roll and We Will Rock You.  My favorite part was actually their pre-show which was just a guitarist showing his mad skills up on stage.  He played Sweet Child of Mine and we did our best Guitar Hero impressions.  That song is our fav.

DAY 4
Well Day 4 was the day in Ensenada.  John and I didn't have an excursion planned so we slept in again, ate breakfast at the cruise "restaurant" and then went and explored the city a little.  I bought a little toy turtle as a souvenir for Deja and we took the obligatory picture in front of the giant flag and called it good!  Mel and Greg were off Kayaking to the blow hole and eating authentic Mexican Taco's so their adventures were a lot cooler than ours haha.
When we got back on the ship John and I sat by the ice cream machine and played some games in hopes that we would see Mel and Greg when they came back (because obviously that's the first thing you do when you get back on the ship), but we were amazed at how many times the workers had to fill up the ice cream cone trays.  It was insane!!!  I wish I would have kept count because we were only there for about an hour, but there were people getting ice cream non-stop!  There was one little kid, probably 7 or 8 years old who came back every 15 minutes for one and all I could think was "Where are the parents of this child?"  It was crazy.

That night was our last night of gaming, so we stayed up pretty late and even went hot tubbing on the ship.  John betrayed me in the game of Alliance so that was disappointing, but it's all good now.  We also had this magician come entertain us for a while and he did a cool trick where he had Mel and I close our eyes and he flicked me on the nose with a card and Mel felt it on her nose at the same time without him touching her.  It was crazy and had us talking about how he did it for a while.  We checked out the comedians for a little while, but since it was the last night I think they had used up their best material already.

DAY 5
The last day we pretty much just got up, had breakfast, packed, and headed back out to the airport!  The only cool thing that happened that day was we're pretty sure Josh Hutcherson was flying first class on our plane to Salt Lake City.  I regret not taking a sneaky picture of him, but lets be honest, who else has that jaw line?  AND it was the weekend before the Sundance Film Festival, so it kind of makes sense :)

Anyway it was an awesome trip, our biggest complaint was definitely that John got sick and the rocking of the boat was much more prevalent on this cruise (probably because we were on a smaller ship).  It was so fun going with friends, not having to worry about what to make for dinner, not having to clean, and taking a break from kids and diapers.  For the record, I did miss Deja like crazy!  Every time I saw little kids I just thought "Oh we totally could have brought her!"  next time ;)  Well now that I've finished writing, I'm ready to go on another cruise haha, but seriously who's in?!?

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

December was probably the busiest month of the year for our little family.  The first couple weeks of the month it felt like John was either studying for finals, taking finals, or working.  We really only saw each other right before bed or right after waking up.  Luckily that went by quickly and John successfully completed his first year of Nursing School!!  As soon as he takes the licensure test he can start working as an LPN, not that that's the official plan, but he can at least add it to his resume!  I had a very busy month up at This is The Place in their Caroling Choir. I sang with the group on Mon, Wed, and Fri. evenings and we also did some off-site performances at ward parties and such.  

Deja was such a trooper with me being gone so much.  John watched her the most especially once he was done with school.  When John had work she spent time with Grandma DuPaix or Aunt Debbie!

They came to the park one night and it was so fun performing for people I know and love!

Deja has been really into pens and papers, we need to get this girl some crayons!

Christmas was so fun especially with John having work off :)  We opened presents with Grandpa Southwick on Christmas morning, had a party with the DuPaix's, and then went back to Grandpa's in the evening to spend time together and talk to Kyle!  It was a fun busy day.  Some of our favorite gifts were the complete series of Psych, new Coats, socks, some movies, random kitchen appliances, and lots of Chocolate!!!

Grandpa Southwick made homemade Kubb games for each family!! Quite the project!!
(The game is similar to horse-shoes. You basically try to knock over the other teams blocks with the sticks)

So much Chocolate...and it's not a bad thing

Our fancy new coats!
(Aaaaand I look Prego in this pic, but I'm not, promise.)

Deja feeding her new baby

Posing with her new toys!

The week after Christmas was so nice because John was still only scheduled to work part-time.  With some of our spare time we went to see Into the Woods and Big Hero 6.  On New-Years eve played games with some friends, but left the party early so Deja could get some sleep ;)
This year flew by and we are excited to see what 2015 brings!

And last but not least here's our choir performing Jingle Bells!  It was a new song this year and I actually helped choreograph the 2nd half.  This wasn't our best run-through so don't judge too harshly (and no offense to my group, but the T/TH/S cast always did it better, ssshh don't tell them I said that!)