End of 2012

It has been quite the year for us!  2012 definitely was full of lots of ups and downs. 

Here are a few highlights:

• We planted our own garden and it was huge!!  It took up over 1/2 an acre.  We were able to preserve hundreds of quarts of food and stocked our freezer full.  Especially now that times are getting difficult, it is awesome to have food when we need it.  Basically it has cut our grocery budget to almost nothing!!
• We have been working non stop on our house.  The basement is almost complete.  As of today, we have all the first coats of mud done and sanded for the second coat of mud.  Soon we will be priming and painting.  We can't wait to have space to unpack things we haven't seen in over 3 years.  We also can't wait to set up Jeremy's business stuff again.  He is anxious to start using his laser engraver and vinyl machines again.
• I went from part-time to full-time at my job.  I teach six full classes of World Civilization, AP Government, Honors Government, and Regular Government.  I also got my own classroom and it is fantastic.  I have spent time getting it all set up, organized, and decorated.  I have grown to love my department and have made more friends with coworkers around the school.
• Due to an accident in the summer, Jeremy quit his job and started at school Full-Time.  He did so well this semester and recieved a 3.85 GPA!  He worked so hard.  He is excited to keep at it and graduate in the years to come.
• We enjoyed our first vacation since our honeymoon!  We went to Park City for a night and rode the Alpine Slide and Extreme Zipline at the Olympic Park.  It was a blast!
• Jeremy was released from Young Men's and called to Primary with me.  We taught the 5 year olds and have had such a fun time.  Starting in 2013 we are moved to the 4 year olds.  This will be an adventure!
• We have thoroughly enjoyed all of our family time we have had this year.  We were able to welcome new members of the family and celebrate lots of birthdays, anniversaries, and special events.  We had one family member come home from a mission and another member get a mission call.  We also said goodbye to Grandma Lowe after 92 full years in November.  We love and miss her so much.

Although we had such a great year, we cannot wait for what 2013 will bring us.  We have been so blessed by Heavenly Father in our time of need and trials, we can't imagine what to expect.

 

Happy New Year! 

 

Love ya!

 

Thanksgiving 2012

We had such a great week! 

After the viewing and funeral on Monday and Tuesday, we relaxed a bit on wednesday.  I was still pretty sick, so I slept most of the day.  It was heavenly. 

On Thanksgiving, we got up and I was feeling much better.  Still sort of stuffed up, but no longer with the flu symptoms.  We visited Vern and Vickie for a bit, then headed over to my parents.  Paul and Susan, Adam and Nichole, Brian, Steffanie, Brian and Alyssa and Royce, and all of my family were there.  It was fun!  Congratulations to Adam and Nichole for their little one coming in February.  I can't wait!  We had fantastic food and played lots of fun games.  The family time was so enjoyable.

By Saturday, I was no longer sick and we headed to Thanksgiving dinner at Vern and Vickie's.  Everyone was able to show up and it was so fun to relax after the last two weeks.  Due to the way Vickie had arranged the living room, everyone was able to eat and converse together.  It was fun afterwards to sit and chat and enjoy each other's company; and I have such cute nieces and nephews! 

We definitely gained a few pounds after all the good food from the week, but it was so worth it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love ya!

Grandma Lowe

Well....its been a rough couple of days.  On wednesday afternoon, we recieved a call from Jeremy's mom that Grandma Lowe wasn't doing so well and we better go to the hospital and visit her.  She had pneumonia and her lungs were filling up with fluid.  We traveled up there and realized there wasn't much time.  Everybody in the family came by to say goodbye.  At one time, it seemed that there were 50+ people there.  As the night wore on, people came and left.  Jeremy decided he wanted to stay the night, I packed up around 12:30 in the morning and headed home.  Our dogs were there and they hadn't eaten or been outside in hours. 

In the morning, I called Jeremy for an update.  Grandma had made it through the night and nothing in her condition had changed in a while.  I left for the hospital.  When I arrived, everybody was crying.  Grandma had died about 15 minutes before I arrived.  Jeremy says she quickly went downhill after my phone call.  She was only getting about 70% oxygen and her body couldn't handle it anymore.  With her family surrounding her, she passed on to the next life.

We loved her so much.  She was a great lady and had lived a long full life.  We will miss her.

We had the viewing at the mortuary on Monday Evening and the Funeral on Tuesday.  She was buried in Logan next to her husband. 

Throughout this whole experience and in the last several days, I have had my testimony tested and strengthened.  In life, there are trials we go through to test us and to see how we react.  Heavenly Father loves us and will only test us with what we can handle.  While at the hospital and by ourselves, Jeremy and I have felt the spirit of Heavenly Father.  We have felt peace throughout this experience and joy in the plan of salvation.  I know that we will see Grandma Lowe again.  I know that she is safe, healthy, and happy.  Her death was not the end, it was only the beginning of a new chapter. 

Love ya!