he's got me locked in...

every morning before jordan leaves at 5:30 in the am (yawn) for work, we say prayers and then i hear him leave out the front door through my half-asleep grog. right after the door closes, i hear the lock turn from the outside. he takes the time to lock the girls and i in before heading to work.
now, i am not naive to the fact that if a robber or kidnapper really wanted to intrude, a locked door wouldn't stop them, but there is just something about this simple act that is just so incredibly romantic to me. that he even thinks to stop and lock us in before leaving, just makes me feel safe... and good.
this is just a small example of the unconventional romance that i am able to find in every day. sure, it is always lovely to receive flowers or go on fancy get-a-ways, but the times i feel jordan has really swept me off of my feet are through his quiet and constant acts of service and love.
i love that he always takes the babies during the night-shift no matter what. he has done this from the start. even though he is the one who has to be up and out so early every morning, he usually hears them and jumps up to be with them before i even hear a peep. in extension of this he usually lets me sleep in on the weekends too. on saturday and sunday mornings, he is usually up with the girls at around 6:30, and i don't hear a sound until i wake up at about 7:30 because he has closed our door and tried to keep the girls as quiet as possible.
when he comes home exhausted from work at about 3:00, i love how he finds extra energy to play with his girls, and make dinner while i attend my evening classes at school. it is such a huge relief to know that if i can't be home with the girls, jordan makes an effort so he can be.
i love how he is always willing to help out, whenever i ask him to. he does dishes, gives the girls baths, folds laundry, gives foot rubs, mops...he does anything he can to make my "job" easier. he also makes my well-being a priority to him. he will ask "do you need to go get a massage?" "would you like to go lie down for a bit?" "why don't i take the girls for a walk while you finish your homework?"
i know there many good husbands like this, but there are also many who are not. how in the world i got so lucky, i am not quite sure...but i am just so glad i did...

mother of all posts....

i wanna go here again this weekend....

my program at byu requires me to go straight through to december. good news: i will be finished within the year. bad news: no breaks or vacation until after graduation. in light of this, we decided to take a family jaunt to st. george (i had never been before) to catch some rays and enjoy a long weekend before i am put through the wringer. and that is exactly what we did....

since we left early thursday morning, and weren't necessarily in a rush to get there, we stopped along the way at the church history site, cove fort. it was so fun to take the tour (led by the cutest little sister missionary) and to hear about the stalwart faith of pres. hinckley's ancestors in heeding brigham young's call to create a resting place for saints who were traveling across the desert.

we got into town at about 1 o'clock, so we had plenty of time to lazily walk the temple grounds as well as visit a dinosaur fossil museum.




we were glad to see our girls are on the right track, even at such a young age:)



this museum was pretty neat... it was very small, but it was built around a the remnants of a pre-existing lake that was filled with fossils and prints. we probably found it much more interesting than the little girls did...



on friday we just shopped, ate, and lounged by the pool... it was wonderful. then on saturday we went and visited zion's national park...

...for free! it would have even been worth the usual $25, but we got in free as some sort of promotion happening that week. it was absolutely GORGEOUS! jordan and i discussed how completely insignificant you can feel among these towers of rock--and yet at the same time, it was all created just for us to enjoy....


...simply amazing.






on friday, in addition to lounging, we also visited the jacob hamblin home (which was another church history site) as well as brigham young's winter home. if you have never heard of jacob hamblin, research him. you will NOT be sorry. not only was he an incredibly faithful saint, but he also has a lot to do with the settlement of the west. how have all of these sites been in the same state as me for almost 4 years and i haven't visited them before?







on sunday after church we began the drive home, but not without making a quick stop at the kolob canyons (another entrance into zion's). it was a perfect trip. we were able to fit so much in, yet it was incredibly low-stress and relaxing.




see you again in december, vacation time....

p.s. some trivia for you: did you know that utah was declared a state in the st. george tabernacle? also, look up why st. george is called st. george...pretty interesting:)

tricks cont'd...

p.s. you will have to scroll down to see the original post--i started it too long ago and just finished it today:)

chopped.

this friday i went from long and blond


to short and more natural




and i quite like it!

predicament...

is it cruel to run for the camera when an instance like this occurs?


that is the underside of a gliding ottoman by the way...

silly tilly...

tilly definitely deserves a post of her own too. she is such a funny little person. she loves to dance and play airplane with daddy. she is also very good at pushing our buttons and getting into mischief. if she knows she is not supposed to do something, she will slyly look at us and do it anyway. you know the look. she also said her name for the first time this last week. it sounded like " tee-dee." needless to say, this girl melts our hearts...



the funny hair is due to banana hands. don't you just love when they do that?

hope you had a happy easter!