Maycee's biggest milestone yet!

Yep....she's crawling! Exactly 7 months, 1 week, and 4 days old! So her first day of the "crawling movement" was on Sunday, the 19th. It's only been 3 days and she can crawl across the room! She's getting SO big! I'm so proud of her. She is becoming so independent. Shem and I can't believe it! It was one year ago from this month that we found out we were having a girl. Where has the time gone? I'm so happy to know she is growing up strong and healthy. We are so fortunate to have such a sweet little girl! Yay for MAYCEE LYNN!!!!

Dancing Scorpions

I'm not kidding...scorpions dance! The other night, Shem was looking for tools and went out in the garage. A second later, he hollers to me to come see something. I KNEW it had something to do with scorpions (we live in a scorpion infested house, or so I'm convinced). So in front of the fridge in the garage there were two scorpions doing something freaky...locking claws and pulling each other in opposing directions. It gets weirder, one of them was PREGNANT! Seriously, there were a ton of babies on its back. We concluded, they were having a special "moment" together, mating or something like it. Sick!! I strongly dislike these evil creatures. I'm convinced they are alien insects trying to injure the human populating of Mesa.

Check it out....!!!

Sorry to anyone that is grossed out. I had to share!!

Random thoughts

What a wonderful weekend. I wish I could write everything that I have felt. I had the opportunity to attend meetings to hear from Elder Cook and Elder LeSuer, along with each of their wives. Although I heard many things, there are two things that have stuck with me that I want to share with others.

{Elder Cook} He spoke on faith. He shared many things, but I can vividly recall over and over his testimony on the unwavering witness that comes through the impressions of the holy ghost. Faith truly is "things which are hoped for, but are not seen". He talked of the importance of letting yourself be led by unseen faith and not having the desire or need to "see" evidence of confirmations of the truthfulness of gospel principles. I loved the words he shared of Joseph Fielding Smith, which said,

“Therefore, the seeing, even the Savior, does not leave as deep an impression in
the mind as does the testimony of the Holy Ghost to the spirit. … the
impressions on the soul that come from the Holy Ghost are far more significant
than a vision. It is where spirit speaks to spirit, and the imprint upon the
soul is far more difficult to erase.”

Isn't that so profound and so true? I love the phrase "the imprint upon the soul
is far more difficult to erase." In any case, be it spiritual or not, feelings
are much more impressing that those of things that are seen (in my experience).

{Elder LeSuer} He spoke on things of a more sacred nature,
pertaining to attending the temple. He spoke of other things, but I was so glad
to hear his words. All I can say is I am so thankful for temples and the
privilege it is to be able to worship the Lord there. All the things we are
asked of by the Lord and by doing those things, we prove our worthiness to be
able to attend the temple.

It is always a blessing to be conscious of how blessed I am regardless of all the heartache and disappointment that has
occurred in my life.

One last thing:

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men
weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that
humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto
them." Ether 12:27

This is a recurring favorite. I love this scripture because no matter how humble we think we are...there is always improvement to be made; this beautiful promise applies to all of His children, us.

Happy Sunday!

Precious

I love this picture. I love watching Maycee and Shem together. He loves her so much and she loves him too. It's so sweet. Maycee is such a lover. In the mornings, I will bring her into our bed after her morning feeding so that I can get more sleep. Maycee shares a pillow with me and sweetly sleeps next to me. Lately, she will sleep for only a short time and then make sure she gets Shem up. It's hilarious! She has to have either her legs or hands touching him. Or she'll make herself perpendicular to him and kick at his back. Every morning she makes sure daddy is woken up by her only. Shem acts a little annoyed but I know he wouldn't have it any other way. I love it. Maycee loves her daddy so very much. There is a special bond between daddy and daughter. It makes me so happy knowing Shem and Maycee have that bond so early in her life.
The end.

Our Anniversary

To celebrate our 1 year anniversary, we decided to have a week to ourselves, just Shem and I. We went to San Diego and had a fabulous time! We had delicious food and best of all made some wonderful memories together! For those who travel, let me throw this out there: DON'T PLAN, just DO WHAT YOU FEEL! What I mean is, well for us, the best trips we have are when we go with the flow and don't jam pack our time with all the sight seeing and museums, etc. Of course, there were things we wanted to do and they perfectly fell into the "unplanned" schedule. All I can say is it was one of the best trips we've ever been on! Here are a few of the fun memories we made:

Nighttime:

Skyline of downtown SD taken our first night after eating at the fabulous "Boat House" restaurant.

La Jolla:

Snorkeling. We had an opportunity to snorkel with sea lions! Also, tons of huge bright orange fish called, garibaldi. In fact, a swarm of garibaldi was at our feet when we jumped in! They are so pretty :)

Sunset at Pacific Beach:

One of the best places to eat! I have been wanting to eat here for years and finally I got to take Shem with me for my first time! My family loves to eat here when they visit. :)

"Hash"=any leftovers in mom's kitchen with potatoes..."A Go Go"= over the top, huge portions! Let me tell ya, the name is literally what you get with anything ordered here. Below is a picture of the sage fried chicken on top of bacon waffles. Yes, bacon waffles. The bacon was baked in with the waffles and absolutely divine!! You can't really tell in the picture, but the portion and plate was huge! We shared this dish and had a lot of leftovers. FYI, anyone who has the opportunity to go here, GO!

The Waterfront :

On the U.S.S. Midway, an aircraft carrier.

After touring the U.S.S. Midway, we enjoyed a delicious lunch of crab legs along with fish and chips! Awesome food at "The Fish Market" Restaurant.

Balboa Park :

The ultimate tourists. Yes, we realize we are ridiculous. But this two bike contraption was so fun!

I took this shot in the Botannical Building. There was some gorgeous vegetation I only wish could exist here in the desert.

The Old Globe Theater

Check out the size of that tree! Consider too, I'm not even standing at the trunk for a good comparison of size.
Our anniversary evening. Friday, August 6th:

We ate at "Peohe" located on Coronado Island. We purposely had late dinner reservations so we could enjoy our last beautiful sunset there. Just as we were being served our entrees, fireworks began over the San Diego Bay! Shem claimed he planned this, haha, yes in a perfect world I would believe him. Haha

Our Last Day:

Panning for gold at the Mormon Batallion Historic Center in Old Town SD

"Tacos el Gordo"! YUMMMMMM! These were authentic Mexican Tacos. Taco Bell needs to step it up.

We last went to Imperial Beach before heading back to Mesa. We were sad to leave, but our feelings were outweighed with the excitement of seeing our little Maycee!

Wow what a year! All I can say is there is no one in this world I would rather go through life with than my one and only, Shem. I love you! You are not only my husband, but my forever best friend.