In Loving Memory...

"At moments of crisis and challenge, some choose to abandon faith just at the time when it most needs to be embraced. Prayer is ignored at the very hour when it needs to be intensified. Virtue is carelessly tossed aside when it needs to be cherished. God is forsaken in the all-too-human yet mistaken fear that He has forsaken us.

"The truth is that our only safety, our only security, our only hope is to hold fast to that which is good. As the mists of darkness gather around us, we are only lost if we choose to let go of the iron rod, which is the word of God."
(November 2006 Ensign)


Jake Garrett Waterlyn: April 26th, 1991 ~ June 19, 2011



This past weekend our family suffered a most tragic loss. My baby brother Jake, who was just 20 years old unexpectedly died. He was taken from us quickly and we were given no time to say our final goodbye's. Our hearts have been breaking, we are in shock, and we are all still trying to search for understanding. At this extremely emotional and difficult time we are asking that our friends and family keep us in your prayers. There is nothing we need more then love and support. At times like these your faith can be tested, but I believe our faith has been strengthened. I absolutely know with not a doubt in my mind that we will be with my sweet brother again. I know that our family is Forever and that through the covenants my parents made in the Temple that our family is Eternal and death will only separate us physically for a time. We feel so loved for the outpouring of support and love that we have felt from so many. It is times like these that people's true characters come out and we are so blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives to lift us up in our time of need.

My husband and I were on vacation in Pebble Beach, California with my parents when we received the news. I know that the Lord knew that we needed to be there for them at that time. Seeing my parents receive this news and process this grief has been the most traumatic and devastating experience of my life. But at the same time this experience has been beautiful as we have literally felt the prayers in our behalf and as the spirit has overwhelmed our hearts.

I am trying to wrap my head around the events of the past few days and I just can't seem to. It is hard to understand why someone so young would be called home to our Heavenly Father. But I do know that the Lord has a purpose and he has a plan. His timing is not our timing. I believe Jake has a mission to full-fill on the other side and that he will be serving and teaching those that were not blessed with the knowledge of the Gospel in this life. I feel that Jake is at peace and I know he wants us to all feel that for him and for ourselves. I was able to go with my parents and brother Ryan to see Jake yesterday. I was very unsure if I wanted to go, but once I was there I could feel his spirit, I know he was there with us, and I know that he wanted to comfort us.

I am so grateful for my amazing family, for the family I was blessed to marry into, and especially for the incredible blessing of having the knowledge of the Gospel, of The Plan of Salvation, and of the ability to be with our families in this life and in the next through Eternal Marriage. I am truly blessed and I know that through the Lord our hearts will be healed until we can hold Jake in our arms again.

Swingset Before Photo...

I have been wanting a swingset for the kids for awhile now. They REALLY need something to entertian them in the backyard :). We have looked all over town... costco, walmart, etc... We really didn't want to spend a ton since we KNOW we will be moving to a different house in the next year or two. We were seriously considering the Lifetime swingset and found it at costco for $450. WELL... just last week the brakes started to go out our van. Took the car in and found out that we also needed new front tires and needed some repair to our struts (whatever those are). $700 later the van is all fixed, but there went my swingset money! DANG CAR REPAIRS!!!

So I began searching the classifides and found an old heavy duty swing set for 10 BUCKS!!! Court and I went over to the peoples house to check it out, the swing set was sturdy but needed to be re-painted and needed new swings. We decided to go for it. Just getting the thing taken down ended up being quiet the project! Thanks to my strong hubby and some DW40 we were able to get 3 of the legs off, the 4th would NOT come off the frame. SOOOO Court decided to put all of the seats down in the van, put the frame of the swingset inside the car and have the 4th leg stick out the passenger window (straigt up). Now this swing set is NOT SMALL, it is at least 10 feet tall!!! I was kind of freaking out, I thought forsure he was going to get a ticket or that the giant metal leg would come untied and smash the front of our car. Well he took all of the back roads home, thankfully it was only a 10 min drive, and we got the swingset to our house safe and sound!

So far the kids LOVE it! We went to home depot to get new swings, chains, paint, etc... All together the swingset cost us $130, not to shabby for how sturdy it is :). Hopefully we can get this project done asap and then I can post some after pictures!

Yummy!

Now that I am home I am really enjoying cooking "REAL" meals for my family again! I actually love to cook and would LOVE to get better at it!!! I am going to try at least one new recipe a week. I saw this recipe on the foodnetwork.com and it looked soooo yummy!



(*When I try this one I will probably leave out the onions to make it more kid friendly)

Ingredients
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for topping
1 pound yellow onions, cut in 1/2 and sliced (3 large)
2 pounds zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick (4 zucchini)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup hot milk
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
3/4 cup grated Gruyere
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a very large (12-inch) saute pan and cook the onions over low heat for 20 minutes, or until tender but not browned. Add the zucchini and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, or until tender. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook uncovered for 5 more minutes. Stir in the flour. Add the hot milk and cook over low heat for a few minutes, until it makes a sauce. Pour the mixture into an 8 by 10-inch baking dish.

Combine the bread crumbs and Gruyere and sprinkle on top of the zucchini mixture. Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter cut into small bits and bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbly and browned.

Finally!!!

WAHOOOOOO, the day is finally here!!! MY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! WOW it feels amazing (and a little weird) to be DONE (well at 5pm tonight)! I have to take my practical state boards on Tuesday the 7th and then I will officially be graduated. I studied my booty off for my written state boards and passed with a 98%. I am very excited to close this chapter of my life and move onto bigger things. I am thrilled that I get to be a stay-at-home mom again but also really look forward to the day (when my kids are older) that I can more seriously pursue my career. I TRULY love being a cosmetologist and I am so glad that I decided to finally go back to school and do something that I have wanted to do since I was a teenager. Someday I would like to go back to college and finish my degree, but for now I am very satisfied with accomplishing this. The last 2 years have been very challenging for our family and then adding me being in school hasn't made things easier, but we have all stuck it out together :).

The BEST part about being a cosmetologist is the clients. I absolutely LOVE when someone leaves and you can see how something as simple as a hair cut, color, or style totally lifted their spirits and boosted their confidence. I love being able to help people look beautiful and feel good about themselves!!! In my opinion I have the 2 best jobs, #1 Being a Mother, and #2 Being a hairdresser (who wouldn't want to get paid to play beauty shop:). I am very excited that several of my clients are going to continue to have me do their hair now that I am done with school, I would be so sad if I never got to see them again.