Kendra and Christof got married!

Introducing Christof and Kendra Steffensen

Kendra and Christof got married June 21st, 2013 in the Boise Idaho Temple

I am so happy to have Christof in our family! I've never seen Kendra happier and he treats her soo good. 

The girls waiting for Kendra and Christof to come out of the Temple. I was in the brides room with Kendra helping her touch up her make up and hair before they came out.

My cool nephews

The reception in Boise ended up being quite windy and a bit cold, but it was still a party!!!

Kendra and Christof had another reception the next day in Utah where Christof's family lives. The weather was PERFECT and it was so nice and pretty!!

 

 

 

Roxie May Youngberg

My sweet Grandma Roxie died on May 5th, 2013. Five days before her 95th Birthday.  

This post is a little hard for me to write in fear of not portraying how much I love, respect and admire my sweet grandma and because I don't want to leave anything out.  Many of you know that my family has had the privilege of having my grandma live with us since we moved to Idaho in March 2006.  She had her own little apartment connected to our house where she spent most of her time. With her big white doors always open, you could always count on seeing Grandma sitting in her chair, crocheting, playing games, facebooking or playing games on her ipad, cheering on a football or basketball game, or maybe just taking a little nap or watching some tv. It was ALWAYS fun to go home and have her be just as excited to have another kid come to visit!!

 Having Grandma live with us gave me the opportunity to know her a lot better than I would have if we had just visited her a few times a year.  I was so lucky to get fun experiences like, after I went shopping, I could come into Grandma's apartment and show her all my cute things I just found and have her be SO excited for me. (I loved how Grandma LOVED getting new clothes, so I knew she'd appreciate a good find when I showed her one.) Or to have her awesome creative mind check out the fabrics I picked for some craft project or skirt or blanket and brainstorm with me on how it would look the best. 

I also had special opportunities to hear Grandma's testimony on Christmas Eves or hear her sweet stories about how she did things when she grew up. Grandma was no wimp!!! Grandma comes from a very hard working family and there were times where I really got to see how patient and determined she was.  One of the times I got to work side by side with her was during canning season. I was home visiting mom and it was time to do some canned apple sauce. And let me tellllll ya what, canning is HARD work! Not only does it have a lot of steps, but it takes a long time and a toll on your feet from standing so long.  My Grandma, even though she couldn't walk a long distance or stand for long periods of times, still came and helped can that apple sauce!!! She knew it was important and she wanted to be a part of it!! I hope that I will still be so awesome and hard working when I am a Grandma. 

It was no secret that Grandma loved her family more than anything in the whole wide world.  She'd spend a good amount of time every day on facebook checking up on her kids and grandkids.  After there was a formal dance in one of our cousin's schools or a new baby born, she'd come out of her apartment with her laptop and show us all the pictures that were posted onto facebook. She LOVED her grandkids and seeing what they were up to. She also loved to serve her family.  Something that I will ALWAYS cherish is a blanket that she crocheted for me.  She made one for EVERY grand daughter in the family and it is one of the most precious things I own.  Not only because she made it, but because I saw her make it! I saw how hard she worked and how long it took to make them. 

I am so lucky to come from such a strong family, that was raised in the church and taught how to be hard workers and to LOVE your family.  I'll never forget the family reunions every year at the lake Grandma and Grandpa made happen. Those were some of my favorite childhood memories. I am so happy for Grandma to be back with Grandpa in such a wonderful place. But Grandma, you are truly missed and I love you so very much!! Thank you for teaching me the importance of raising a family in the Gospel and loving your family more than anything. I LOVE YOU.

Grandma had a 95th Birthday Party planned before she had passed away.  We decided, we would still have a party and celebrate her life!  Almost the whole family was able to be there for Grandma. 

I thought this picture was super cute of Grandma and Grandpa.

JENICA CAME HOME!

One of the BIGGEST events of 2013 was when JENICA CAME HOME!!!! Goodness gracious, Jenica's mission felt like it lasted an eternity, but now she's home and we couldn't be more proud of her!!!!

The day Jenica came home was filled with MUCH anticipation! All day Kendra let us know every hour how many more hours were left until she landed. We all started making our signs thinking we had at least an hour or so before we had to leave for the airport.  While we were making the signs, we were discussing when we should actually LEAVE for the airport. Some wanted to leave REALLY early and wait for her, and others wanted to be there to welcome her home but not be bored waiting for a while. Soooo what'd we do?! Well, we sent Dad to go check on her flight and make sure it was on time. A few minutes later, he comes back in and says, "wellll, I think we better be leaving reeeeeal soon." HER FLIGHT WAS EARLY! Frantic mode kicked in and we finished our boring, plain signs and got over there!!!

This picture explains it all. You can tell we were very obsessed with her the SECOND we saw her! OUR NENKA WAS BACK!

YAY! So happy to have the family back together!

 

Graduation

Connor graduated from Brigham Young University in April of this year with honors of Cum laude! We are SO proud of him and he is VERY excited to be done and moving on to University of Utah School of Pharmacy!

Sometimes I think the pictures that catch a funny moment rather than just standing and smiling are the best of all. I liked these two especially.

HE DID IT!!!!

With the awesome support group! Gotta love the Willis Fam!

I'm Pregnant!

I think its almost been a year since I've updated this sucker, so I thought it was time for me to put some pictures and tell some stories of this past year.  I decided I didn't write this blog for some important insights I wanted the world to hear or anything like that, but I write in it so I can remember the fun things we do! So..here comes some updates!

I'M PREGNANT!!!
The day Connor and I found out I was pregnant was a little funny.  The past week I had been feeling a little "different" and thought there was a good chance I was pregnant.  I was talking to Karissa regularly about it (who was already about 3 months pregnant at this time) and she finally convinced me to stop waiting and just go get a test and find out already!!!!!! Soooo, I did. I wanted to wait for Connor to come home so he could find out the same time I did. Mostly cause I thought it'd be fun, and well....I was actually quite nervous to see the results. Anyway, Connor got home right before I had to go to work. But I decided I'd take the test anyway!! I went to the bathroom, peed on the stick like they tell you to, then I RAN out of there!! I didn't want to see any lines appear before Connor was right there beside me. I waited the recommended three minutes, then we slowly walked in holding hands.  I saw it instantly and went pale. Connor saw it and said, "DOES THAT MEAN POSTIVE?!?!? DOES IT?!?!" haha he reacted perfectly. He hugged me and was happy for us. I was SUPER happy to, don't get me wrong. But the realness of the situation had  hit me hard when I saw that thing.  I had a BABY growing inside of me! Connor took a picture of me holding the pregnancy stick and then sent me off to work.  Next time, I will NOT take the test before I have to go to work. I was EXTREMELY distracted the rest of the day, and I didn't want to when we had just found out one of the most exciting things of our lives!! But, after work Connor took me out to eat to celebrate!

Here's the picture he took of me RIGHT after I found out. You can see how I look totally freaked! haha

Birthdays, Holidays, Weddings, and Crafts

Holy Moly there's a lot I have to post about. Instead of going into great detail about everything and making this real borng, Im just gonna post lots of pictures. Because pictures say a thousand words right?! ok cool!! we'll start from October and then move on.

October
CONNOR'S BIRTHDAY

 

   

He got the cool duck shirt that he wanted!

Connor had a great 25th Birthday!! We spent his birthday playing games with some friends and ate some yummy food.  Then we celebrated it again with our siblings at Karissa and Toby's where Zeke helped Connor blow out the candles. 

 HALLOWEEN:
Every Halloween Karissa and Toby throw a Pumpkin Party!!! The party usually includes, eating lots of yummy pumpkin food, and then a game that involves pumpkins and theennn the party ends by carving a pumpkin!!!

 

 

This year the game Toby made was pumpkin shuffle board!

Connor's awesome Mario pumpkin!

Zeke's favorite Holiday is Halloween. You've never seen a kid so happy

This year for Halloween I ended up working until 8pm so we didn't do anything too exciting.  Connor came to work with me and since we knew it was going to be dead, he stayed and played games with me all night in between the few haircuts I had to do. 

November

THANKSGIVING:

This year we spent Thanksgiving at the Willises.  This meant I got to be with this goofy lady for a few days!

The cute couple!!! It was fun to spend some time with them and get to know Karoline a little better before she joined the fam!

Connor was in charge of the place tags and he went allll out.  I was sad I didn't get a picture of all of them.  But each person had a thanksgiving type picture drawn into their name. He's pretty talented huh?

Since we were all together, we took some family pictures!!

This is my other family, they're pretty awesome huh?

YUMMMMY food and GREAT company!!!

CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas at the Limbs!!!!! Oh man, I LOVE being with my family!! It just makes me so happy!! While we were there we went bowling, played gym games, decorated Christmas cookies, played lots of games, and had an unforgettable Christmas Eve and Christmas!!

 During the gym games this year, Jess and Trent brought a couple of big jump ropes, and we all brushed up on our jump roping skills.  MAN! My siblings ROOOCK at jump rope. Especially the girls.  Me, on the other hand, I could run in and out, and jump like everyone else, but I never was able to conquer the double dutch! That's when TWO big ropes are swinging opposite and you have to run in and jump with both!! I couldn't ever accomplish the entering part of that one.

After jump rope, we played some volleyball with a really big ball.  My momma was being as awesome as ever, diving for the ball and then ended up hurting her wrist.  We think she hit the ball as the same time it hit the wall and it hit back at her.  It allowed us the opportunity to help her make the big Christmas eve dinner and learn some of her skills.  

 

Kendra and Tyleen were in charge of decorating the table for the fancy Christmas Eve dinner.  They made each plate look like a snowman and hung balloons from the ceiling to look like it was snowing :) 

Every year this picture is redone. Sometimes the people change, but the posing are pretty much the same. 

Our awesome mom made us these cool aprons and gave us a cool cook book!!! She's the BEST

AND my dad MADE these SUPER cool salt and pepper shakers!

Karissa was in charge of the big Christmas Eve game and she did SUCH a good job!!!! We would compete for a present we knew, or a mystery present! It was TONS of fun!!

Toby was so proud of himself for betting Connor in a sporty competetion

But, Devin ended up beating them both! 

INTENSE musical chairs!

The mystery gift I ended up getting was two framed pictures drawn by Zeke and Porter!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!:

I got more spoiled then I ever have in my ENTIRE life this year!! I couldn't believe it! Every gift I opened I almost fainted with excitement!

Believe it or not, in this picture Tyleen is the one that got the Cricut. I was just SO happy for her! 

THEN I GOT ONE!!!! 

I should have taken more cool pictures of Connor during Christmas.  He got spoiled too!! Here's one of him and his awesome new back pack! Something I was excited about giving him was a scooter!! yes, I am in fact talking about those little razor kick scooters.  On Sunday afternoons when it isn't freeezing outside, we have had many occasions when we wanted to go on a scooter ride! Welllll, NOW WE CAN!!!!!

I also got a REALLY nice sewing machine from my parents!! Can you believe how spoiled I am!!?!?!? Gosh I can't wait to make a million things with my two awesome crafty toys!!!

 Christmas afternoons usually include us playing with our new toys, eating yummy food, and being lazy.  This is what happened that night. We all gathered around with our ipads and exchanged our favorite apps. hahah this picture cracks me up. 

January
MORGAN AND KAROLINE"S WEDDING

From our hotel windows it over looked a big field full of snow.  Connor decided he had better make it obvious to all what the theme of the weekend was so he went and stomped out Morgan and Karoline's initials in the snow for all to see! 

I got the opportunity to do Karoline's hair for her big day!!

The newest Mr. and Mrs. Willis!!

It was a really fun weekend celebrating Morgan and Karoline's wedding.  After the reception, we kept the tradition where, after you say goodbye to the newly weds and get the reception all cleaned up, then you spend the rest of the night relaxing in the hot tub with the fam.  I just love weddings, they're so much fun! And I'm so happy to get another awesome sister in law! Congratulations Morgan and Karoline!

MORE CRAFTS:

I made another table runner!!! This is actually the same table runner, but it's reversable!!!! Pretty cool huh? It's a good fall and halloween one!!! WAY fun to make and I felt pretty accomplished because I figured out the quilting all on my own!!! 

Well folks, thats all I have for ya.  I told you there'd be LOTS of pictures!!! Hopefully I'm better and keeping you updated this time!!