Life Lately (According to My Phone)

Since I've been terrible at blogging this summer, I think I'll just share some pictures of what we've been up to since my last post.

Jonathan is just about everybody's favorite person to be with.

We realized that Tyler is part spider. He can 'walk' all the way down the stairs without touching the carpet.

For anyone that has seen the movie Pollyanna, I was able to eat her dream dinner of steak and ice cream. It was awesome! I wish I could have steak and ice cream every night for dinner!

My grandpa's brother Gerald came in to town and we were able to visit with him. He was very disappointed that I didn't bring a saxophone to play for him. (That's the next instrument I want to get!)

One night, Jonathan and I went on a walk and we ran into one of our friends from church and asked if we were going to the park to feed the bunnies. We had no idea that there were bunnies there and she gave us some of her left over carrots and we went to the park and sure enough, there were bunnies! We've gone back since then and there are some baby bunnies now!

For Mother's Day, I painted a small painting for my mom. It's the first one I've done since I was in elementary school!

We've been enjoying watching our cute little Charlotte grow up! 

Back in June, Tyler and I flew to Idaho to visit Chris's adorable family. This was Ty's first time on an airplane and he was so excited! (Though he didn't understand why we had to go through security.)

While we were there, we played outside, found rocks and worms, flew kites (that was mostly Annie and me), visited farmer Wayne and Denise (Annie's wonderful parents), picked strawberries, and fed ducks.

Finding worms in the sandbox.

Don't be fooled, this only lasted long enough to take the picture.

I love sweet little Clara.

Annie and I moved pipe because all boys (including my dad and brother) were at a huge Scout encampment.

Jonathan and I got a killer deal on a camera and have been going around taking some pictures.

I've been working all summer and I get to use a stack of Apple products.

They're not as new as the stuff my brother uses, but that's because he actually works for Apple and I don't!

Lyla loved playing with the balloons for her dad's birthday.

So this is what we've been up to. Lots of work and lots of playing with the nieces and nephews. We're so excited that Andy's family is moving to back to Roseville at the end of this month!

Sacramento California Temple

Jonathan and I took pictures of the temple with our new camera.

I love how going to the temple feels like going home.

 If I could, I would move in. 

Life is clearer at the temple.

It is such a blessing to live so near a temple.

Excuse Me, But Can I Have My April Back?

Today can't really be the last day of April can it?

I seriously believe that time is speeding up. Please stop! There is so much that I still need to get done before I am ready for next month.

This month, though a blur, was good. Jonathan and I went to UC Davis for a series of Physics lectures. Oh man, it was good! I'm so glad that I have someone to share those kinds of things with.

The guy sitting next to Jonathan kept falling asleep.
We were both rather alarmed!

My birthday celebration started on Thursday and ended on Monday. I don't think my birthday has ever been celebrated for that long before. I liked it and am expecting the same thing next year. (Good luck Jonathan!)

It started out with my two favorite red heads and miniture glofing.

My gorgeous friend got married! I am so excited for her and her handsome man. We now feel like real grown ups!

Just gorgeous!!!

That same night, I lost my phone and about a week later got set up on Jonathan's old phone. Yes, it is a flip phone and yes, I do feel like I traveled back to the early 2000's with the lack of technology. (It's really only about 4 years old, but it seems older.)

Before we moved in with my parents, there was some water damage in one of the rooms we were going to use. It seeped into the carpet, so after a couple of months of trying to decide on what carpet to go with, it was finally installed. It is amazing! I sometimes just lay down on it because it is so soft and lovely. Now that we have the carpet, we've been able to set up the room the way we want it. My favorite thing that we've done so far is setting up Mega Desk. One entire wall is a desk with plenty of space for both of us. It is awesome! (I'll share pictures when it is actually done.)

Things have been good and productive this month. Next month will bring the end of another semester, Taylor and Kenzie moving (BOO!!! It's actually good for them, but I'm in denial of that part), and more projects. I guess I will be okay that April is over.

My Favorite Church Meeting

I love General Conference. It comes around twice a year and we are taught countless truths. This conference has been no different for me. I love the wisdom of the leaders that speak to us. They have a perspective that I don't have. They have raised children, worked in the world, served countless callings, and seen many changes that have brought us to where we are currently in the world. They give us counsel so that we can learn from their experience and know that when we do make mistakes we can always repent.

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Our world is very confusing when we are left on our own to figure it out. Our Father in heaven knows that and has given us guidance throughout time. We have the scriptures to show us how He has helped and prepared his children. He gave them prophets and leaders to help teach them proper principles. Today we have prophets and leaders and they teach the same principles in a way that fits in with the world that we live in. I know that I would be lost if it wasn't for doing my best to follow the teachings of all of the leaders I have had throughout my lifetime. I hope that as I continue, that I will be able to help those that I have been called to serve. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves each and every single one of us. He gives us commandments to protect us and guide us back to him. This is a path that yields eternal happiness.

I Promise I'm Still Alive

I was getting back into the swing of blogging regularly and then WHAM! I got hit by a homework avalanche! My professor kept warning us and I was ahead and then suddenly, I got swallowed up by it. Then during spring break, it felt like all I did was work. Now life is back to its busy normal self.

For us the highlights of break were:

having 20 Pattersons together (yes it was insane!)

saying bye to Chris, Annie, Seth, and Clara before they moved back to Idaho (unfortunately)

and spending some time with Hannah before she went back to Vegas. (I have no pictures, but trust me it really did happen!)

I am going to put more effort in blogging somewhat more regularly, plus I think I have some pretty cool things to share!

Another Baby Girl!

My fourth niece is here! Little baby Charlotte came just 3 days after our 2nd anniversary. (She's the reason why I took a short break from blogging.) Since today is her mother's birthday, I thought I would go ahead and share some of my pictures of her.

Garrett loves "Baby Sister". He only occasionally acknowledges that
her name is Charlotte and not Baby Sister.

Baby Sister gave him a new Dinoco McQueen!

Already smiling in her dreams!

So happy she's here!

Not to sure about being out.

A very happy grandpa.

I love seeing Jonathan with our nieces and nephews. I know he'll be such a good dad!

(No, that was not a pregnancy announcement.)

Garrett helped make a sign to welcome the addition to the family.

We all love baby Charlotte!

Five

For those of you on Instagram, I'm sure you've been seeing a lot of posts with people sharing five things about themselves. Well, my cute friend Jamey tagged me in her blog version and so mow here are my five.

  

1. For the first year of my life, I watched Peter Pan every single day. It had to stop because I wore out the VHS. (Boy, do people even know what a VHS is anymore!)

2. In my entire life, I have lived in a 3 mile radius. Thanks to Jonathan, I at least left the city I grew up in for almost two years. That should be changing by the end of this year though.

3. I can out belch just about anyone, including my husband. I refused to do it in front of him because I was worried that it would scare him off. Luckily, it didn't and now I've been helping him to not burp like a little baby.

4. When I was in high school, I really wanted to get through school, have a career, and eventually settle down and have a family. That seems pretty typical in the world we live in. What changed it for me was my nephew Tyler. I was rather uncomfortable with little babies and toddlers because I'm the youngest of my family. I babysat a lot, but they were usually older kids. By the time Tyler joined the family, I had already been an aunt for 3 years and was feeling really comfortable with kids. I don't know how to describe it, but the best I can come up with is that Tyler and I are kindred spirits. I loved spending as much time as I possibly could with him and was very bad at sharing him. (Sorry mom!) He helped me realize that I really do want to be a mom when I grow up.

5. Thanks to watching my mom do a million crafts and various projects throughout my life, I have no fear of trying things. We installed my ceiling fan when I was in high school, my first sewing project was a clutch, last month I did a little bit of simple embroidering, and this month I'm trying something new for a birthday present for one of my sisters. Trying new things is fun!

FYI, because you are reading this you are tagged!

Lover's Month

When I was growing up, I don't ever remember really caring about Valentine's Day (especially when there were no more class parties and candy Valentines). Now I love the entire month of February! Not only for Valentine's Day, but also for our anniversary. I don't feel silly for leaving up all of my decorations for the entire month.

Jonathan and I take turns being in charge of celebrating Valentine's Day and our anniversary. This year he was in charge of Valentine's Day and can I just say that he made the best meal ever! He decided to cook dinner for us and I just figured it would be a really simple recipe. I was totally wrong! He found a recipe for Chicken Paillard with Cherry Sauce & Parsley Rice. I was really skeptical at first, but it was sweet and tart and delicious. (I LOVE tart!)

There was even enough for lunch the next day!

Here is the craft that I was hinting at in this post. I have been seeing so many cute embroidered crafts on Pinterest, I just had to try it for myself.

They didn't turn out perfectly, but it's a start!

A little something special thing that I tried to do for Jonathan was give him a cute little Valentine each day leading up to Valentine's Day. I was a slacker and only gave him about 5 or 6, but that means I can give him the other ones throughout the year.

For our anniversary we went out to dinner to Piatti. Holy cow do I love that place! It was a lot fancier than what Jonathan was expecting, but he really enjoyed it. (To give you an idea of how fancy it was on a scale of Ruth's Chris to McDonald's it ranked around PF Chang's.) While dinner was so good, we were both really excited about dessert. 

A little over two years ago, Jonathan and I went to the Imax theater with his brother Taylor and his wife Kenzie. Afterward I introduced them to Rick's Diner. All they serve are delectable desserts. (It's part of our tradition when we go to the ballet as well.) 

This is only a small portion of one of the two cases of desserts!

 Jonathan had a hard time picking out his dessert, but he finally settled on Death by Chocolate. I am pleased to report that in spite of the name, Jonathan is still alive!

Isn't that cake beautiful!

Jonathan's Death by Chocolate and my White Chocolate Mousse Raspberry Tart!

Jonathan's laughing at me because this is my 5th time trying to get a good picture!

 I love February (even though it seems like it went by really quick!) I love that I have 2 special days to celebrate my love for my sweet Mr. Nelson!