To Mom(s)

Dear mama,

Indebted, blessed, grateful, humbled. These are a few words that come to mind when I think of the inspiring influence you have over me. Heavenly Father saw fit for our relationship to be mother-daughter. I am so grateful He blessed me with you.

I still remember when I was little and I would lay on your stomach while you would scratch my back every night before bed. I still remember when you had me put ketchup on my lima beans because for a crazy while ketchup made everything taste good. I still remember when I broke my arm riding a bike and you were so compassionate towards what I thought was a huge mistake. I still remember you calling me sweet pea every night before bed. I still remember you yelling at me through gritted teeth for being mean to Rachael. I still remember when you surprised Rachael and me with Grady, the best dog ever. I still remember seeing you in the stands at all of the football games.

All of these little moments over time have created an amazing relationship and wonderful example of motherhood. You are dedicated. You are kind. You are fierce. You are passionate. You are submissive. You are faithful. You are selfless. You love your family. You sacrifice daily. And most importantly you love the Lord.

I am so grateful for all of the skills, characteristics, principles, lessons and game show trivia you have taught me.

Thank you for signing me up for soccer, gymnastics and swimming. Thank you for forcing me to be in marching band. Thank you for going to all of my games and cheering me on. Thank you for reading to me. Thank you for serving others. Thank you for singing Journey in the car with me and helping me fall in love with 90's country. Thank you for working 3+ jobs as long as I can remember so that we didn’t go without. Thank you for loving dad no matter what and standing with us when even when it seemed impossible.

Thank you for exercising your God given gifts, found in the sacred calling of motherhood, and letting those shine through us.

To all the other moms out there who have done so much for me. Thank you. I promise it does not go unnoticed. I love yall and am so grateful for the sacrifices yall made for me as well.

I love you to the moon a million times over and I can’t wait to see you next month.

When you feel down read this to remind yourself how important you are and that you are needed.

Love,

Hannah

New Year New Job New Home

I am overwhelmed. I am fearful. I am avoidant of possibilities. I am questioning all of my adapted philosophies on life and people.

I have been looking forward to 2017 since 2016 began. 2016 was rigorous, tight, near impossible and made me cry myself to sleep one too many times. Oh, but how great is the hand of the Lord in my life to help me learn why.

2017 can be described as a new home, new friends, new job, new town and comes with ample amounts of questions. I had no desires to live here but yet here I am loving how hard I have to work to learn. I was intimidated by my new job but I LOVE my relationship with my boss. Wisdom does not come with age, it comes with experience and choice and she is a prime example. I was worried that I would not fit expectations that the kids have of their teacher. Somehow here I am, being me, learning in the job and realizing that there is a reason Christ lists the attributes of a child as things that will be worth your while. They teach me, mold me, humble me, humor me and somehow through the tension I know they feel, they still love me.

Jagger is beautiful. Her spirit is designed to love and to be loved. That is all I have ever wanted out of life and here it is manifesting itself in the form of a fiery, sassy, confident, blonde blue-eyed 5 year old.

Weston is soulful. He is care free and works hard to make people smile and laugh. He can play the guitar and when he does he sings from his gut and heart because the passion is begging to show. He loves to read and understands his scriptures better that any child I know.

Boston wants to be accepted by everyone. He will work so hard in any capacity he can to please people. Whether is is figuring out a problem in math or dancing in the kitchen to Mulan and The Goofy Movie he will find a way to go the extra mile for others.

I love knowing that I can accept criticism and correction and be okay with it. I didn't even know I possessed that talent. It is definitely a new one. 2016 prepared me for 2017. I was consistently being humbled by the Lord's will for my life. I am so grateful he took the stubborn in me and beat it up a few times to take the pride out. It has made a world of difference.

At this point all I can say is bless my heart for taking this long to figure out some obvious flaws and bless my heart because now comes the task of refining them into strengths.

HRJ

Alabama vs. Reality

Confession:

I hate to admit it but I now secretly love being able to say I call Idaho home, especially Teton Valley and my vacations are spent where I used to call home.


Sundays in the South:

I loved being home and being able to catch up with my home ward and meeting all of the new members. This is Nikki. I went to high school with her and she converted 2 years ago and now she's married and pregnant so next time I see her she's gonna have a baby! Also my mom and I went to a piano recital for my sister's best friends since she wasn't able to go because she was at the beach.

Rachael Graduated:

My sister Karen came down from Nashville with my baby niece Elizabeth and my brother Joe works downtown where it was held so he was able to come as well. I'm so proud of her and all she has accomplished and I can't wait to she what she decides to pursue.

Graduation Cookout:

I loved seeing so many people come together to support Rachael and what she has done but I especially loved seeing my family. I surprised my nieces and nephews and hung out with them the whole night. My oldest nephew is now taller than me!

Fishing for Days:

How do I spend my last night at home? I fish. It is one of my favorite things to do and I was the only one who caught a bass. I caught 5 for the night. Don Paul just wanted me to take a picture with his catfish so I took one with Hunter who leaves for his mission on my birthday next month to Spain. Last time I get to see him for 2 years!

Home to Home in 1 Day:

Usually when I travel home I break it up into 2 days because it is such a long drive to Idaho alone but I did it all in one day on Wednesday. Woke up at 4, flew to Dallas with a 2 hour layover, then SLC, then drove 5 plus hours to Teton Valley. I got a beautiful sunrise before I got to the airport and when I got back to Idaho I got a rainbow in my backyard.

JOSH TURNER:

Thursday I went to a sold out show at my school for Josh Turner. I went with my friend Daniel who has heard of him but doesn't know much of his music. I'm pretty sure he loved it. Scotty McCreery came 2 years ago and sang a cover of Your Man and Mr. Turner ended the night with that song. It was great to say I've heard it twice on the same stage. We had amazing seats too!

Training:

Thursday I also started my training to be an AFY counselor and so far it has been a blast and a ton of work. I got chosen to be one of the wranglers so all that time at President Wilson's paid off! I also live with 34 people and that has been one for the books as well.

Lovin' Every Minute

Sunday Flower Fields:

Dandelions are actually really pretty when there are enough to take cool pictures like this on a Sunday afternoon.

Alli's Birthday Present:

I went riding on Monday and I took Alli with me for her birthday. But of course she one upped me and brought her camera. But I'm glad she did because just look at these!! Photos courtesy of Brock.Alli Photography:

Snow:

I thought this was over but we woke up on Tuesday to 4 inches of snow! It melted by noon thank heavens! But green and white look oddly beautiful together.

Critter Ran:

Wednesday I am out with President Wilson riding. He had to get down to clear the path and cut a small dead tree. He is about half way done and critter decides that he has had enough and runs home to the barn. Sure enough when we got back he was there. But in the mean time president takes the horse I'm riding, Indie, and goes to make sure he ran home. So I was in national forest for a solid 15 minutes by myself paranoid a bear was going to eat me.

Tailing:

So president comes back and he walks the whole way home clearing this path. We get to the bottom if a very steep hill and he says to me, "Okay when I say go you are going to have Indie run up the hill and make sure he runs and I will follow." I was fine with that but I felt bad that he was going to have to walk up this dreaded hill.

He tells me to go and I go, then I turn around as we are going and I see President Wilson holding onto the horse's tail and running up the hill behind Indie! It was the craziest thing I have ever been a part of. But it was so cool. Here is President Wilson (photo courtesy of Brock.Alli Photography):

Bike rides:

Thursday Bree, Merideth, and Bekah all decide that they want to go on a bike ride so I borrowed a friend's bike and tagged along. Little did I know how out of shape I am. We rode to Tetonia and back and it was a whopping 8 miles. I thought my legs were going to fall off. But the sunset on the Grand was beautiful! And so was the sunset afterwords. And we saw 2 owls and their nests!

Work:

We built and delivered bunks to different camp sites on the property in preparation for AFY. We built 22 bunks which passed our goal of 20 so we get to have a pizza party. We also had to set up more tents but we didn't have enough poles so I had to cut some new poles. Sparks were flying and it hurt when they hit but it was fun to try something new!

Ebony and Water:

Since Critter ran away Wednesday I got to spur train him on Saturday. I took my friend Kennedie to ride with us and she rode Ebony. We go down a trail that crosses over a creek about 3 times and Ebony did not want to get her feet wet. The first cross she jumps and Kennedie almost flew off. Then next one she dragged her through all of this side brush and the last time she ran Kennedie into a tree. I felt so bad, so this week President Wilson is water training her.