summer vacation 2014

Joe finally finished his rotation at the local VA hospital and had two weeks before school started. We packed up the car, packed up the kids and drove to Logan, UT.

We drove from Sahuarita, AZ to Las Vegas, NV, 8 hours away. We stopped every couple of hours to feed Makenzie and to just get out of the car. We got to see Nicole and her kids on our way to and from Logan. Corban and Jovi had stickers, markers, crayons, movies, toys, books, and food to keep them pre occupied. 

From Las Vegas we made it to Highland, UT where we got to spend the night with one of Joe's good friends. A new Beck/Maughan friendship was created! The kids ran around and had so much fun! 

We drove to Logan, UT the following day where we met up with family for a picnic and then the adults went to the temple. 

Top Row: Amber, Joe, Scott, Bob, Ron
Bottom Row: Steve, Anna, Bri, Sharity, Charles, Liz, Ruth

I love the temple. It is so peaceful inside and the spirit can be felt so strongly. This was the first time I got to go to the temple since Alyn was murdered. I sat down inside the temple with my family surrounding me and I just cried and cried. I believe that I will be with my family after I die. I believe that God knows each of us and loves us. I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior and because of his atonement I have the opportunity to repent and to return back into His and my Heavenly Father's presence. 

Sunday we blessed Makenzie. Most of both our families were there and it was AWESOME! One of my sisters drove up from Texas and brought her Yorkie named Tony. I love Tony! He is so fun and thinks he is bigger than he is. He and I had some bonding time before we headed off to church.

After the blessing and the luncheon, a bunch of us headed up Logan Canyon to Tony Grove Lake to complete our cold water challenge for the IPOF and in memory of Alyn. Check out the video on my FB page on August 17. 

Joe and I took our kids to Bear Lake for the next couple of days where we were able to driver over to Afton, WY where we were able to visit Alyn's grave. 

We spent the next couple of days with my parents where we stocked up on Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers and cookies, relaxed, and chatted. Thursday we then drove to Salt Lake City to welcome home Andrew who returned from two year mission. He and Corban became good buddies when I helped watch my Grandma Allen and Andrew lived with my parents. We got to spend the night with another of Joe's good friends where we laughed so hard my face hurt. We drove back through Las Vegas, NV and finally made it back to Arizona. About 1.5 hours from our house Jovi completely lost it and started screaming! She wanted out of her car seat and out of the car and she was letting all of us know. We got home Saturday night and Joe started school the next Monday.

baby beck #3

Joe and I packed up the family one weekend and went to The Price is Right for a special baby shower show. We had gone to our five month appointment and had the results sealed, which we revealed on stage at the show. We weren't contestants, but we did get to go on stage, meet Drew, and find out that we are having another girl! 

Joe's face makes it look like he's disappointed and I'm excited. Watch this video to find out if this picture is accurate: 

(We come on stage right after this couple around 1:17).

visiting Utah part II

In my last post, I mentioned we went to Utah for the month of March. I was 7 months pregnant and drove the entire 18 hours by myself with two kids. Crazy? Yes. Desperate for adult company. Yes. Worth it? YES!

Three miracles happened on this particular trip.

1. When we travel to see family we usually go through Las Vegas where Joe has a brother who lives there. The plan was for me and the kids to drive there, take a day to recuperate and then drive the rest of the way to Logan. Right as I am pulling into Las Vegas, my check engine light came on. Yikes. I got it checked out at Auto Zone (did you know they do FREE diagnostics?!) and it was only a little part replacement problem that my fantastic BIL, Alyn, fixed for me that night.

2. We were about two hours away from Las Vegas when my cruise control went out. Seriously?! This baby of mine is sitting so low there is an incredible amount of pressure and pain in my pelvis and back region. Having to use my foot to actually push the pedal was a little torturous. I would periodically check the cruise control to see if it would work occasionally and it never turned back on. I still had 8 hours to go! When I left Las Vegas I remembered the story of the lepers that Jesus Christ healed by telling them to wash seven times. They did, and they were healed. I thought, if seven times is a good number for them, it's a good number for me. I pushed the cruise control button seven times AND IT TURNED BACK ON!

3. My kids are busy. They love to move. And they love to pick on each other. I put Corban in the third row of our car and Jovi in the second row and they were kiddy-corner to each other so they still couldn't touch each other. I had movies, books, treats, and we stopped every two hours to stretch our legs and use the bathroom (remember, I was seven months pregnant). They were absolute GEMS on the ride to Utah. There were some minor fights and arguments, but it was AMAZING at how well they did.

I had a great trip, but am so glad to be home!

visiting Utah

Joe is in the worst and hardest year of pharmacy school (I've also heard rumors that the first semester of the third year isn't all that great either. Hooray!) so the kids and I packed up the car and we headed to Utah.

I got to see my new niece for the first time and she got blessed too! Too bad she won't really let anyone else beside her mom hold her. We played outside and Jovi did NOT like it! She was always complaining about it being too cold. It was in the 40s and 50s. Heaven! My parents recently returned home from their 18 month mission so they and my kids got reacquainted for the three weeks we were there. We also got some library story time in at the local library.

I celebrated my 32 birthday! Jovi had to sample the cake before we sang Happy Birthday. Chris and Vickie and their families came over. We went to The Jump Zone where the kids jumped, swung, and played on tramps and foam pits. Having Uncle Eric and Uncle Chris and grandpa throw them in the foam pit was heaven for my kids. We've been in Arizona for about two years now and I have been going through some withdrawals with some local companies in Cache Valley. I went to The Pepperidge Farm outlet store and stocked up on toffee covered milanos and gold fish crackers. We've already ate through 2 bags!

It was good to be around other adults, see family, and have help. Did I mention I was seven months pregnant?

summer vacation 2013 -- in pictures

Our first stop was family in Mapleton and Logan. Jovi got to try on cousin Andrew's gear from Mardi Gras (don't worry, he's serving a mission. He didn't get them that way) and Corban got to help his cousins sell lemonade and cookies. He even made a buck!

Joe and I actually got to go through the temple together! That hasn't happened in a long time. We also go to see Joe's niece, Madison, get married.

We then went to the wedding luncheon. Corban was cold, Jovi took a bit to warm up to her Aunt Sarah, and most of the sisters and sister-in-laws got our picture taken.

Jovi had a minor accident during the reception. I was trying to dance with her--proof right here that I should never, never, never dance again--and took her wrist out of joint. 

After the wedding stuff was finished and the Beck family said our good-byes, we drove back to Salt Lake to spend the day with my family. We had a little time to kill, so we went to Temple Square where we saw the Salt Lake Temple, the Christ statue, and Jovi rode her very first escalators! Corban had just as much fun and asked to ride the stairs one more time before we left.

We finally had to pack up our car and say goodbye to family and the mountains.

Corban and Jovi finally fell asleep on the car ride home. 

This trip was a whirl wind. But it was great!

shoreline preserve

Towards the end of our vacation we stopped at my brother's house in Kaysville, UT. He had the day off (or took it off) so we headed over to the Shoreline Preserve near his house to take a walk and have a picnic. 

Jovi didn't want anything to do with the camera or the stroller.

Corban just HAD to go! At least it wasn't in his pants and no one saw him. My SIL gasped a little (she was the first to see him) and then took a picture of it.

 And then Corban acted like nothing strange had just happened around the corner. Love that little man.

We spent 10 days traveling, in Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Pictures and posts to come.

Viva Las Vegas

The whole family went down to Las Vegas to visit Alyn, Joe's brother, and his family. It was warm and sunny, but a little breezy, but A LOT warmer than here. We went to the shark encounter at Mandalay Bay, The Blue Man Group, shopping at the outlet mall, watched some hoops, and ate a lot of good, good food.

The Vegas Becks have a guest suit that includes a king sized bed. Joe definitely got too used to that bed. Two nights here in Utah and I woke up with a knee in my back. A king-sized bed is most definitely a purchase we will be making in the future.

Corban did pretty good in the car. He napped for about an hour both ways and then watched DVDs. I use "DVDs" loosely because he really only watched one DVD multiple times. By about Provo, on our way home, he was screaming, "Out!" It's funny now, but I'm sure glad we're all out of that car.

We had a blast and can't wait for the weather to catch up here and get warmer. Thanks Vegas Becks for a fabulous weekend!

bear lake 2009

This past weekend Joe, Corban, and I went to Bear Lake and stayed at my parent's condo. Bob and Liz were there too with their kids, Cole and Lexi. They invited us to go boating with them on Saturday.

This would be Corban's first time going on a boat and wearing a life jacket. I had my doubts of how long he'd last, but he did so good! He just sat on my or Liz's lap and just stared at the water spray and the people being towed on the tube. That tube was so much fun! There was a slow leak in it, so we either had to wait until someone bailed or the air leaked out. I haven't smiled that much for a long time.

When we got up to Bear Lake on Friday, Joe got us a tee time and we all went golfing. Again, I had my reservations on how well Corban would do for the 2 hours it took us to golf, but he did so good! He played with the golf balls we found, crawled around in the shade, and played with the cart. I ended up winning, but I cheated. I only counted how many strokes it took me to get to the green. I suck at putting.

first time swimmer

Over our family reunion was the first time that Corban has been in anything bigger than a tub and he loved it! When Joe and I tagged teamed getting him out and dried, he put up a bit of a struggle and didn't want to get out. His diaper was so swollen by the time we got him out. Now that we've seen how much water those things can hold, we really need to keep his diapers on longer!

kicking it in North Logan

Joe and I were in charge of his family reunion this year. We wanted to spend the entire 3 days over at Bear Lake, but it just didn't happen. Instead, we stayed in my parents and grandma's houses and did activities around here.

Each night we spotlighted a family. The burner on our Mac decided to quit on us the day of the reunion, so all 25 of us had to huddle around and watch the clips on a 5x7 screen. Really sad. Anyhoo .. when it was your turn to be highlighted, you had to wear a hat.

Our theme was "Myths and Legends." We went out to Martin Harris' gravesite and visited Pepperidge Farm's outlet store. We got Glen Israelson to come out and tell us the story of Old Ephraim. He has so many fun visual aides and was so cute with the kids. We had a blast! We had a family photo taken with almost everyone there; we missed the Peterson's and Steve and Anna. We had a miniature golf tournament in which Joe won with a 41 (that's 8 under par)!

We played Bingo that night where people won fabulous dollar store prizes like giant bubbles, Disney princess mat, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and Nerf football.

We then went to Bear Lake and spent the day there. We went on our annual fun run/walk for healthy hearts at the Limber Pine Trail. Joe and I walked along with Avi and Lexi. Those two are so cute and had the funnest things to say like, "The lake was so cold that it was burning cold!" Northern Utah has been pretty wet and cold for the past month, so the lake was pretty darn cold. Scott and Bri brought their wet suits so they were nice and toasty. Staying with our Myths and Legends theme, Joe and I bought a blow-up, water monster to act the part of the legendary Bear Lake Monster.

The kids said they weren't scared, but later admitted that they were a little. The monster looks ferocious doesn't it?

We went to church the next morning. After sacrament meeting, everyone packed up and left. We sure enjoyed everyone coming and helping out with games and food. I love having family around, but am a little happy that our year to be responsible is over. Last night was the first time in four days that I slept deeply and as long as Corban.