Together Forever and a Vegas vaca

Last weekend we were able to go down to the Las Vegas temple to see my brother and his wife sealed for eternity. It was such a great experience. They are a beautiful family and are expecting a little boy, Carter Joseph, in June. I am so proud of my little brother and Stephanie for all they have accomplished.

The weather was beautiful and sunny and it was so nice to be surrounded with family.
From the left is my Uncle Rod, Aunt Cindy, Stephanie, Joseph, cousin Jeff, cousin Jeric and his wife Natalie. It was so nice to see them.
Thats my mom and dad below.

And here are my cute Grandma's.

Scott and I decided to make a little vacation out of it so we stayed there a few days, went shopping, swimming (outside, yes it was that warm) and went out to eat. We also went to the Mirage to show Haven the dolphins, tigers, and lions. She loved it and talks about it on a daily basis.

I want to go back where its warm!!

L-O-V-E

Happy Valentines Day!

I love this holiday. Scott bought me the most beautiful bouquet of roses you've eva seen. I mean....seriously. Look. They make me so happy. Thank you love.

We had a wonderful morning of heart shaped pancakes, bacon and staying in our pajamas till noon or so. Most of our Saturday's are like that actually :)

We hung out at home most of the day, just enjoying each others company, then later Scotty took Haven and I out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe. It was so so good and so fun, even if we had to wait 45 min. for a booth...with a toddler. I just have to say, going out to dinner changes completely once you have a kid. I always feel a little bit like I just fought a battle afterwards...keeping her from throwing things like plates and food oh and then getting her to eat. haha. But I gotta say, we've done it enough that I really don't think twice about it. Bite for Haven, bite for mommy, catch the pineapple before it hits someone in the booth next to us, pick up the crayon off the floor, grab the plate before she throws it on the floor, clean up the milk she just spilled, read the next page of a book so she will be distracted enough to not notice that I'm putting the next bite in her mouth, and then maybe another bite for mommy, without skippin a beat. Piece a cake. haha.

After dinner, we got some ice cream and drove home, put Haven to bed and then watched Everybody Loves Raymond and laughed about how similar we are to them. It was a great day. I love love you Scottywottypottimus. I really think there should be a Valentines Day every month or so.

I wrote this poem for Scott.

I love nights like this

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Happiness

There's nothin better than some Twister and smore milshakes at 1:30am with the man of your dreams.

A place of holiness and peace

Scott and I...and Haven had the privilege of attending the Draper Temple open house last weekend. It is so beautiful and I felt so peaceful as we were walking through it, even though Haven was losing her patience pretty quick. There was what seemed like a billion people there that night so it took us over 3 hours to complete the whole process. First, they show a little movie in the chapel at one of the LDS churches near by and then you wait and are eventually bused up to the temple. Haven was mostly excited about the bus more than anything else. Luckily they had an enclosed tunnel that led from the bus stop to the temple doors because we were standing in line for a long time to get in. But the wait was worth it. As we walked in, I was holding Haven whispering to her that she needed to be quiet because we were in Jesus' house. Immediately she saw a picture of Joseph and Mary, with Mary riding a donkey. And so as loud as she could, she said "Mommy! Mommy! Donkey! Donkey says heehaw heehaw heehaw!" hahaha. Gotta love that girl.
Everything in the temple is so beautiful and perfect. I am so grateful for the opportunity to live in Utah, where we have 12 temples now so that if we ever want to escape the craziness of the world, receive inspiration and feel of the peace the spirit brings it is just a short drive and a few hours of our time. I am grateful that priesthood authority was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith so that these temple blessings are possible.

RIP dear Spaz

Ode to Spaz

Crazy little bird
Blue and white and gray
You liked to bite me… a lot
But hey I loved you anyway

I adopted you one summer
When you were left in my care
You probably missed your best buddy Bogi
He moved to Pasandena… it’s pretty humid there.

Even though I was scared of you
And you were scared of me
I became attached to your cute little birdness
But sometimes I did want to set you free

Just so you could fly around in the sky
Be free and happy, see a star
But I knew maybe you’d have trouble finding food
And shelter and I didn’t want you to get hit by a car

Remember on those Saturdays
Those morning I wanted to sleep in?
You sang so loud… so early
But I didn’t stop you…I knew if we got into a fight, you would win.

You worked your charm on Mom
You sang when she did the dishes and grew some more feathers that were blue
Even though you were a spaz
She grew to love you too

Rest in peace lil' buddy
Have fun up there, ok?
Try not to bite anyone
We’ll see you again someday.

-Jessica Hughes

Spaz ?/?/??- 01/16/09

Twinkle Twinkle and ABC

My sweetie pie loves music and loves to sing. Here she is performing Twinkle Twinkle little Star and the ABC song. Listen for the LMNOP part. Its the best.
This little girl makes my day. She's amazing. Check it out.

Merry Christmas?

I know, I know. I have been a lazy blogger lately. I have a million excuses but I'll spare you. I have a lot to catch up on, so I thought I'd start with Christmas. Here are some cute pictures of the Hughes' family festivities.

Haven loved the Christmas tree and still says "bye bye imus tree" to the empty space where it used to be.

She was obsessed with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We had to watch it every day since about October. Needless to say, it went "bye bye". Here she is watching it with her pal Rudolph and her favorite sippy cup. What a cutie.

Before Christmas we were able to spend some time in Cedar City with my family and it snowed. alot. Grandpa got out the snow blower and Haven loved to watch him and say "Wow Papa! Woah! Awesome! "

Haven and cousin Michael. They love eachother a lot. And just in case your wondering, Michael's hands are not really that big. haha :)

Haven decorated Gram's tree. Don't worry...we fixed it.

...and then she decorated herself. Beautiful.

My mom, to the right, played with Haven and Michael in this big container of rice for hours. Best idea ever! They loved to pour it onto their hands and dumb it in and out of things. Just remember to put a big sheet or something underneath it all. And ya gotta love that cheesy smile.

We got back home on Christmas Eve just in time to go to our annual Hughes and Butler Christmas Eve dinner at the Bonsai Japanese Steak House. If you haven't been, go. They cook the food in front of you and do all sorts of fancy fire tricks. Plus you can catch shrimp in your mouth. And the food is amazing...really amazing.

Christmas morning Haven woke up to some fun new toys from Santa...a pink explosion. And then we headed over to Sandy to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hughes' and everybody else to open many more presents.

After Christmas my sister, Kimberly and her husband and family stayed with us for a few days and we got to see the lights at temple square. so pretty. and so cold. And now they're back in Michigan two time zones away and I miss them so much.

the end.

better late than never!!

I know this is a late Thanksgiving post, but better late than never, right?! Thanksgiving was fabulous. Definitely an abundance of food, fun, family and friends. We spent it in Sandy with our family. As you can see, Haven loved helping Grandma Hughes make rolls. I did help with the dinner too!! I made 3 batches of stuffing even. Impressive, I know. Oh and me and my mother-in-law made the best fudge you could imagine- microwave even! I couldn't stop eating it. I couldn't stop eating everything actually. I quite possibly could have gained 10 or so pounds that day. Haven was even napping during the dinner so I got to actually eat in peace. haha doesn't happen very often.

After dinner and a wonderful nap, my sister in-laws husbands family came over and we all decorated gingerbread houses. Here is mine...Frankensnowman 'n all.

its a log cabin...but you can't really tell from the front.

love that cheesy smile Haven :)

Now the house is in our kitchen at home and every time we walk in there Haven says, "eat house" :)

Twilight

I looooooved Twilight!!! In fact I loved it so much, I saw it twice in one day. The 10:45 am and the 10:50 pm. I went with my two sister-in-laws, Stephanie and Mindy and we had so much fun. We were planning on taking the husbands for the late show but um...that didn't work out so we just went again by ourselves. And I'm glad we did because, lets be honest, our post show giddiness would have been weird for the men. hahaha.

I loved Edward and Bella. I thought they were perfect...don't care what anyone else says about it. They looked kinda just how I pictured them. And yeah there were a few cheesy lines, like the spider monkey one. whoa. hahaha but I can forgive them. Can I just say that I thought the baseball scene was awesome?! Those who know me, know how I feel about baseball in real life, but oh my vampire baseball is so cool. And did anyone catch Edward mouthing "I love you" when Bella rode away with Jasper and Alice? I didn't but Mindy did! I want to go again just so I can see that part. sigh.

It wasn't perfect but who cares, it was fun and I loved loved it. Loved the books loved the movie. Thats all I have to say.

Mal hurry and read the books so we can go see the movie again!!

I am thankful for....Scott

Happy almost Thanksgiving! I am thankful for a lot of things. But at the very top of my list is my husband. Its hard to know where to begin. He does so many things for me and our daughter. Sometimes I feel like even though I am always grateful for the many things he does for us, they don't always get acknowledged, so...

Thank you, my love, first for being mine and bringing me to the temple so that we can be together forever.

Thank you for stopping me on the stairs coming out of English 101 to ask me out :) You know after you were out of sight I called everyone I could think of to tell them the wonderful news.

Thank you for fake marrying me at Mardi Gras night back in our college days.

Thank you for signing up to work extra hours just so you could be with me a little longer at work.

Thank you for taking me to the Rascal Flatts concert and wearing that cowboy hat.

Thank you for being such a wonderful father. It means the world to me.

Thank you for going to work every day and excelling in everything you do there.

Thank you for putting up with an emotional/moody/huge/uncomfortable pregnant wife the first year of our marriage.

Thank you for providing us with a home, a car, food, clothing, all the necessities of life.

Thank you for always being so quick to compliment me.

Thank you for holding me every night for almost the past 3 years.

Thank you for always thinking I'm pretty.

Thank you for taking me in your arms and putting my head against your chest when I am upset, for knowing this calms me down instantly and makes me forget about my worries while I'm there.

Thank you for letting me have control over the music (most of the time) during our car rides and for letting me sing and dance to my hearts content.

Thank you for our beautiful daughter. I see you every time I look in her eyes and it makes me so happy to know that even when your not with us, part of you is, in her.

Thank you for being so awesome that you can jump and put both legs in your pants at the same time. hahaha. You really should go to that school for the gifted you were telling me about ; )

Thank you for being drop dead gorgeous, especially when you first wake up.

Thank you for teaching me Spanish a little. Donde esta mi juaves? (I'm sure I spelled that totally wrong)

Thank you for being you. I love you. Everything about you.

Thank you for giving me and our daughter such an amazing life. We are so grateful to have you.

I can play again!

I love playing my piano, but it has been making a strange raddling sound lately. I was very sad because it messed up any song I was trying to play and made it sound horrible. I didn't know what to do.

Then, the other day I'm in the kitchen making some dinner or something and I look over just in time to see Haven pushing a CD into the piano through the little slit on top of the keys. ha! So Scott took off the front of the piano and this is what we found:

There were 5 or 6 cd/dvds and some papers. That would do it! Hooray! I'm so happy to be playing it again. That Haven is quite the little trouble maker :)

This is for Jen

The red coat

it looks better on me. hahaha.

Eight

long time comin Mal- thanks for bein stern with me!

8 favorite T.V. shows: This is tough. I don't really watch too much t.v. I don't think I could think of 8.

8 favorite Restaurants: Much easier. Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs, Asian Star, Black Angus, Wendys, Crown Burger, The Roof, Cafe Rio....oooo can I name one more? Bonsai- Japanese Steak House (someday I will learn to catch shrimp with my mouth).

8 things that happened yesterday: I think in this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.

8 things to look forward to: bed, I'm a little sleepy, TWILIGHT this Friday. I'm sooooooooooooo excited I just might have to blog about it, Haven, Scott, Smores, Book Club...when is that btw?, Seeing my brother and his wife get sealed next month, my life.

8 things on my wish list: that $300 fabulous red coat at J. Crew, eternal life (these are not in order!), brown close toed heels, more highlights (in my hair), Justin to do his residency at the U, an old Victorian mansion, a black Kate Spade handbag, a meat thermometer.

8 things I love about fall: leaves, coldness, coats, sweaters, cardigans, Haven in her cute hats, Thanksgiving, blankets.