Utah!!!

Family B-B-Q

Left: Elise (taught voice lessons to me for 4 years, starting when I was twelve)

Right: Julie (one of my young women leaders)

A brunch with the 2 women in my life who have been mother figures/great friends for 13+ years.

Bean Museum (little brother Jacob to my left)

Fun with Uncle Wally: attempting to pick up 5 kids at once (one is hidden behind him).

Having fun in the backyard at my parent's house (see cousin Rachael anywhere?)
Girls enjoying books with Papa Wally.

My beautiful roses.

At Lion's Park

Celebrating my 26th b-day.
Finally reporting about my trip (a month afterwards): Back to my hometown for a little over 2 weeks. I had such a great time with my family and the girls loved spending time with their cousins, 6 of the 8 being girls. We sure missed Michael while we were gone, but it did feel so good to be back with my family, all of whom live in Utah.

Here is a list of some of our adventures:

*BYU Bean Museum

*BYU Museum of Art (they had an "I SPY" Walter Wick exhibit that the kids really enjoyed).

*Lion's Park twice

*Took my brothers out to ice cream at Baskin Robbins

*My sister and I enjoyed pie and brownies with ice cream at Village Inn

*Family BBQ

*Celebrated my 26th birthday

*Michael sent me 2 dozen roses, which were quite the surprise (I have the best husband)

*Went out to breakfast with Michael's Grandma and Grandpa Hawks

*Soccer game

*Visited several friends (although I missed a few :( )

*Had a girls' night out with some old high school pals

*Got to enjoy my sister's new house (envy)

*Had a much needed hair cut (totally took advantage of cheap Utah prices)

*Relaxed, while my brothers and Dad and Judy played with the girls and read them books

*What a nice vacation!!!

An Amazing Mother

My sister Mary typed up a copy of my mother's journal dating from 1981-1989 and gave all us five other siblings a copy. I have been enjoying reading it the last few days. My mother passed away when I was 12 years old, so it is nice to have her written words at a time in her life when she was only a few years older than I am now.

It is also a little (actually quite) embarrassing to go back and read her entries as it makes me remember what an incredible woman she was and what I have to live up to, but never will.

Back in 1984, she had 4 children (me being the baby) at the time, my dad was working full time as a computer scientist at Eyring, part time for the National Guard, and was also getting his Master's Degree at BYU (all at once).

Mom was an expert gardener and took care of 12 garden beds, multiple fruit trees, raspberry bushes, etc., (Excerpt: "The garden is growing well. We have had and are enjoying wax beans, parsnips, peas, horse beans, radishes, lettuce, spinach, beets, chard, bell peppers, zucchini, onions and cucumbers, also purslane and parsley and cauliflower and kohlrabi, tomatoes, strawberries, green beans, carrots, pumpkins, butternut, banana squash, patty pan, raspberries, turnips, potato").

She baked homemade breads on a weekly basis (one baking day she did this: "Yesterday was baking day and I made a double recipe of lemon squares (some for Pam Shelton and her family for dessert, and Dahlin’s, Sheltons have new baby boy), 8 loaves wheat bread, 4 loaves rye bread, 4 loaves french bread and 32 soft pretzels."). She ground her own wheat and made homemade granola and graham crackers on occasion, too.

She was also taking voice lessons, worked very hard at genealogy, was a sewing wizard (doll clothes, church dresses, denim pants for Dad, just about anything), canned close to 200 jars of fruits and vegetables a year, sewed quilts for all of us children, crochet afghans, tried to attend the temple weekly, was the Relief Society secretary, and so much more. Needless to say, she arose between 5:30-6:00 every morning to study her scriptures before the rest of the family got up.

Regardless of all that, in almost every entry she talked of never getting enough done, or wasted days, feeling like a failure, and so on. If she was a failure while doing all that, I don't even want to think what I would be.

It is sad to think that I could now have so much expert advice on how to make better bread, and could call her when I need help with my quilt. She could show me how to can and grow a garden (if I ever get a yard someday). But it makes me reach out to others around me for advice and thankfully I have so many talented friends and family members (not to mention two amazing sisters who follow after my mother's footsteps). I do miss my mother tremendously, but what a better example to follow of how I want to be someday (but not for many, many years to come).

Exciting News

It's A Boy!!!

We are really excited to add another man to the family. Start evening things out a bit. Little guy is lookin' good. Now for the hard part: Deciding on a name.

Peace and Quiet

My three babes are sound asleep right now and it is nice to enjoy a few moments of silence to myself. Michael told me to wake him up five minutes ago, but I am going to let him sleep a little longer as he needs it. CFA studies will consume the rest of his Saturday afternoon.
Sometimes I wonder what we got ourselves into here in CA, 2 hours commuting everyday and busy job, plus CFA exam looming over us, among many other things (new baby on the way, busy church callings, classes, fatigue and doctors appointments galore (mine and Ambyr's)). I feel like I hardly ever see my husband; can't remember the last time we went on a date; and eating dinner together as a family during the week disappeared several years ago. But just to have him asleep on the couch next to me brings so much comfort and reassurance. I know he is doing his very best to take care of us (and I am so grateful he doesn't have to work weekends, too). Things are usually crazy for 6 months of every year, but when summer time rolls around, things start to slow down and we love to spend more time together as a family. I just have to think, on days when he doesn't come home until midnight, and into bed until 2 a.m., where would I be without him?

Here are some of the fun adventures we had over the holidays. I am finally posting the pics that I promised over a month ago.

Girls enjoying a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show in CA Adventures.

Hawks family tradition: dipping chocolates. McKenna really

enjoyed getting her hands covered in chocolate and licking it all off afterwards.

On King Arthur's Carousel at Disneyland

Storybook Land ride in Disneyland

The girls were so excited to meet Princess Aurora

On Casey Jr. train ride

Making sugar cookies at Grandma's house. McKenna kept

trying to eat all the sprinkles off the cookies before

we baked them.

Fun Happenings

Well, the holidays have come and gone and I haven't updated you all on the fun things we did. McKenna turned 2 over the Thanksgiving holiday and was a little shy about all the attention. We enjoyed 3 days in Disneyland with Michael's family and we had a blast. The girls really enjoyed themselves and Ambyr talks about our trip almost daily and what she wants to do "the next time we go to Disneyland." She especially loved the parades and the Dumbo ride and doesn't forget to mention that the Snow White ride made her "a little nervous."

Other news, we are excited that Hawks child #3 is on its way and is due July 31st. I have been pretty fatigued lately, morning sickness better than the first time around, but worse than it was with McKenna. Hoping it will pass soon. I got an extra ultrasound the other day because the nurse couldn't hear the baby's heart beat in the routine exam. Quite the active little one and we got to see it take the umbilical cord and move it off of its shoulder. Cute!

Promise to get pics soon!

A Crazy Life in CA

After leaving this blog sitting around for a few months, I have finally come around to actually letting others view it.
We have been in CA for 3 years now and time has sure flown. Michael takes BART into San Francisco everyday and likes the atmosphere of working in the big city. I am blessed to stay at home with our two little girls, Ambyr (3.5 years old) and McKenna (2 years old). This year has been full of interesting experiences, some good ones, and others that you would call "learning experiences" to make them sound less negative.
We started off the year coming back from holiday vacation to discover an excessive amount of mold and several leaking pipes behind a wall in the girls' room. The result: half the wall torn down and pipes replaced while we shared our room with the girls for almost a month.
Ambyr also developed a problem with her eyes where they were unable to focus properly, especially her left eye. Within a few weeks, her eye went from looking perfectly normal to being crossed all the time. Months of glasses and patching were to no avail and the big surgery day came in June. She is doing really well and her eyes are improving daily.
Our trip to New York City in March was the highlight of our year. What an awesome place to visit.
Next came the leak in the kitchen (does this sound familiar?) resulting in discovering that the entire wall by the sink and cupboard and up into the ceiling were soaking wet, equaling in another mold removal process and repair, meaning no sink or dishwasher and all my cupboard supplies in boxes for a month. Turns out the HOA is discovering faulty pipes in other apartments, too.
With Michael studying for the CFA III(Chartered Financial Analyst) and the GMAT, and applying for graduate school, things may not get any less crazy. All in all, this year has been full of growing experiences, but that is what life is all about, right?