White Coat Ceremony

WABDL

World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters

The girls and I flew down to Houston for my mom's Power Lifting competition a few weeks ago. I am proud to say that my mom is the new Texas World Holder for Bench Press in her division.  The girls and I had a great time jamming to music, watching world records be set, eating Chick-fil-A (my favorite!) and watching my mom lift.  Phoenix and Eva even slept for about 2 hours through the blaring music!  The highlight of the day was when my mom and I were literally a foot away when Tiny Meeker was benching to beat the world record at 1080 lbs. (my mom got to lay on the bench) It was incredible!

She has been training with Tiny Meeker who is a 16x World Champion in the bench press.  He is an amazing coach. He has already increased her bench by almost 40 pounds in a few months.  She has only lifted in one other competition and set the state record.  She hasn't been able to even train that much with 2 torn meniscus and knee surgery!  My mom was able to bounce back and compete again breaking her old record and setting two new ones! She has been invited to the World Championships in Reno this November.  

My mom is amazing.  I hope that when I am her age I can be as hot and tough as my mom!

Tiny Meeker 

State Record 126.8 lbs

State Record 132 lbs

See ya in RENO!!!!!!!

The Move + 4 Years

PACKING

Moving is definitely in the top 3 of the most stressful things in my life.  Problems with moving = 1) I didn't realize how much stuff we had accumulated over 4 years of being married 2) I didn't realize how difficult it would be to get all that stuff boxed up 3) I seriously underestimated how big of a trailer we needed!!  Advice: Always go bigger than what you think! With that being said I was thoroughly impressed with Russell and Sampson's packing skills.  There was not one inch of space wasted in the trailer and I only had to leave a few things behind that were easily replaceable.  It was really nice because Phoenix and Eva kept themselves occupied while I dealt with the stress of packing the trailer.

Phoenix is scratching her back

 MOVING

We had 7 days to get to Tennessee, which is way more than enough time since Sampson and I have made that drive before in 24 hours.  Driving with 2 kids at 55 mph is a different story.  After 3 days and many episodes of Dora we made it to our new home in Tazewell, TN.  Our house is perfect for our family and we couldn't be happier with our neighbors (7 donkeys, 8 sheep, many chickens and roosters, a pony, and a pig)! It is very different than Provo but the hills/mountains are beautiful and green.

Our poor car

Getting Settled

Even though we moved out in June we didn't really start living in our house till almost August.  Sampson's family only lives 3 hours away so we have already visited them 3 times.  We flew in a twin engine to Texas with Luke and my dad (Sampson flew all the way to San Diego with them) and then flew to San Diego for Houston and Nate's Wedding.  It was so great to have a vacation with our whole family there!!  I love being by the beach! Houston looked absolutely stunning in her dress and all my hard work sewing the 6 flower girl dresses paid off.  Everyone looked great! We ended up having to drive back to TN because of airplane problems.  So after A LOT of traveling we made it back just in time for Sampson to start Medical School. Life is crazy and I never see my husband any more, but I have found a new love....The Flea Market.  Sampson hates when I go, but I find the funniest stuff there.  It is definitely a cultural experience that I simply can't miss!
We had our 4 year anniversary and I can't believe how fast time is flying by.  When time is so precious for Sampson I was shocked when he surprised me by taking the family to Gatlinburg for the day.  It was so nice to be together as a family.  You never realize how precious things are until they aren't around any more.  And any time with Sampson right now is a blessing.  I am so grateful to be married to such a hard working and dedicated man and have two beautiful children.  I am one lucky girl. 

Random

Compliments of Kenny

Not afraid of anything...

except Star Wars characters

Country Water Slide

P.F. Chang's

uhhh.....

I made this

Flea Market Find

 The Aquarium in Gatlinburg

The Great Salt Lake

 SAN DIEGO

The Farm

In case any one is wondering how Phoenix is coping with the move just watch this....

A lot happened in May...

Phoenix and Eva

Graduation

Two kids and 3 years later I conquered the mountain (no really I did...I climbed a mountain in my cap and gown in my mom's shoes)!!  Sampson graduated from BYU with BS in Public Health.  I graduated from SUU with a MS in Sports Performance and Conditioning and I wrote my Thesis on Complex Training.  We are both SO excited to be done with school (well Sampson will officially be done with his class next week).  

Houston and Nate

While down in Cedar City, Houston and Nate came down to take some engagement pictures.  I am so happy that they are getting married July 21 in the San Diego Temple.  I am even more happy that I decided to help Houston make the flower girl dresses for the wedding.  I couldn't possibly be happier when I told Houston that I would finish the dresses when she had to go back up to Idaho.  Well we only managed to make 1 of the 5 dresses.  Sure wish I knew how to sew!! 

Death Hike 

(as Kenny described it)

So after graduation I went down to Texas with my mom (who is now a State Record Holder in the Bench Press!!!!) and Sampson decided to take a man trip down to Goblin Valley to hike Little Wild Horse Canyon and Ding n' Dang Canyon. 

 Rock Canyon Park

While picnicking on one of the half way warm days we have had this year, Phoenix didn't care to have some of mommy and daddy's amazing sandwich from Great Harvest (SO GOOD!!) so she decided to steal Kenny's chicken sandwich from Wendy's.  As you can see she thoroughly enjoyed it. After eating, Phoenix ever so slowly ventured towards the bottom of the hill.  After a while Phoenix finally felt comfortable walking up and down the hill and then we all started rolling down the hill.  Phoenix rolled at a diagonal so it took her quite a bit longer to get down, but we had fun.  Kenny lost his phone, but luckily we found it. At the playground Phoenix and Eva went crazy.  Phoenix can't stop going down the slide and Eva has never seen so many wood chips and can't seem to get enough of them!  (The only picture Sampson would let me take of him was of his shoe....luckily he has really nice Chaco's! Oh yeah and I cut off 10 inches of my hair and gave it to Lock's of Love.  I really miss my hair, but I am glad some little girl can have a beautiful wig.

Kangaroo Zoo

Kangaroo Zoo is Phoenix's new favorite place to go (as you can see the guys were thrilled to be there).  She loves going down all the slides especially the big one because "it's weally huge" (see video below).  This kid is not afraid of anything.  She loves helping mom feed Eva, wearing her sunglasses at all times, and playing dress up in her duck costume. Eva is sitting up, scooting all over the floor, and pulls herself to a standing position any chance she gets.  She loves watching Phoenix run around the house.  They both love playing in the doll house and doing tummy time under the coffee table.  I am lucky that they are already playing so well together!

What can I say I love taking pictures of my girlies!!! They are so cute! And plus I had to get a few more pictures of Eva sitting up before she can crawl away.