15 Years!

Rod and I celebrated 15 years together! 

I can't even begin to tell you how lucky I feel to have this guy by my side!

Life is rocky and crazy and wonderful, and he's stuck by me through it all.

15 years of hard, 15 years of amazing, 15 years of choosing each other. 

Rod proposed to me on top of Angel's Landing, which is still one of my most favorite places, so we went back this year to mark 15 years of marriage and commitment!

Even though we lived in Cedar City for 4 years, we had never hiked Kanarraville Falls, so we stopped there on the way down. It was gorgeous! It's crazy we didn't know it existed until now! 

We woke up the next morning and hiked to "our place" on top of Angel's Landing. It's just as amazing as I remember it being - we are just a lot older and not as nimble and flexible!

Same place - 15 years ago!

It was such a beautiful weekend - sunny and warm . . . and then Utah pulled a fast one and dumped so much snow! It was a LONG and kind of scary drive home

15 years is just the beginning of adventures ahead! I am so glad you chose me and I chose you! 

I love you with all my heart! You are forever my greatest blessing!

A hard goodbye . . . Susan Madsen

Rod's cousin Jon and his wife, Susan, really took me in as one of their own.

I struggled to find my place in the Madsen family for a lot of years, but Susan always made sure I was included. She literally kept my kids dressed in the cutest clothes, had us up for Sunday dinners all of the time, watched my kids, etc. 

On May 8, 2014, Rod and I had just climbed into bed when his phone rang. It was his mom. She was calling to let us know that Susan had been killed. 

The words did not register for a long time. She had five young kids and was involved in everything they did. There was no way she could be gone. 

A man who was under both the influence of drugs and alcohol got behind the wheel. He had just had a fight at home and was driving MAD in addition to being intoxicated. 

Susan was just picking Tessa up from gymnastics in Draper and was stopped at a traffic light when he came flying through the intersection. He hit Susan and Tessa head on, along with 7 other cars. Susan was killed instantly and Tessa was critically injured. 

Sweet Tessa was in the hospital for a very long time. She had such major injuries - a broken jaw, a broken leg, skin grafts, surgery after surgery, a concussion, but the emotional trauma this poor girl suffered was the worst of all. 

Susan's funeral was a tough one. It was the first time Tessa had "seen" her mom since the accident.  She wasn't even technically released from the hospital yet, but a medical team brought her to say goodbye to her mom. I don't think my heart has ever ached so much.

Jon asked Rod to be a pallbearer. It was pretty special. 

All the pallbearers wore RSL scarves in honor of Susan. 

Susan loved diet coke and chocolate chips more than anything!

The girls loved Susan and wanted to honor her with one of their incredible chalk drawings. 

Jon also asked us to release lanterns in Susan's honor. They didn't work super well, but it was super tender to have everyone who loved her gathered together to honor her.

 

ANOTHER Broken Arm . . . For Carsyn

Remember how I said we weren't going to be the injury family?

Wrong. Again. 

Carsyn broke her arm for third year in a row. 

This time she was in Aerobics at school. She and another kid crashed with a huge exercise ball. This one was a DOOZY!

The school secretary called me and said she thought Carsyn needed to be seen for her arm and all I could do was laugh. She wasn't quite sure how to handle that kind of a reaction from me, but after the third year straight, it's the only way I could handle it! Rod went and picked her up from school.

Our dear neighbor, Drew, saved the day for the millionth time and got her in for x-rays pretty quick. 

The bad news was this break actually had to be set. 

They gave her some loopy meds and Drew set it for her. 

And we keep adding to the cast collection . . . 

Hopefully the third time is the charm and we can be done with injuries for a long time - if not forever!

Hogle Zoo

We spend a fun day at the zoo with our own little monkeys!

Love these beautiful girls!

Soldier Hollow 2014

Soldier Hollow with our beautiful girls (and bonus daughter, Belle) is always so much fun! 

These girls and their hats and sunglasses cracked us up!

I love this picture of Ty trying to figure out her fingers to give me a sign.