Not Strangers

About a month ago on one of my weekly trips to the grocery store I walked down an aisle towards a lady. I wanted to smile at this lady so I looked at her, waiting for her to look back. She seemed to be making a conscious effort to keep her eyes glued to the ever-so-interesting floor. 

'Why isn't this lady looking at me?', I thought. 'It's not that hard to smile at someone.'

I continued shopping and forgot about the "no eye contact encounter" until I realized that sometimes I would do the same thing as that lady. Why didn't I feel up to making eye contact with some of my very own fellow shoppers. If it's not that hard to smile at someone why do I not do it more?!

Which brought me to this thought:

Everyone in our lives is put in our lives for a reason. It's our responsibility and privilege to brighten the days and lives of those people.

Love God and love they neighbor.

Those are the first two commandments. 

Cheryl C. Lant said, "We are all our neighbor. Our family is our neighbor. Our roommates are our neighbors. Our friends, our enemies, our acquaintances, and those we have never met—all of these are our neighbors."

So why not give a smile or simply say hello to those people you pass in the grocery store? Seems harmless. Easy enough right? Nobody even likes grocery shopping so why not bring some happiness or laughter to those not so happy moments?

After thinking all of this through I was determined to smile and say hello to EVERYONE in the grocery store (within reason- nobody wants a lunatic yelling hello across the whole store, but who knows...that might be very refreshing).

So I started putting myself to the test. I would smile, say hello, sometimes engage in conversation or joke around, but then sometimes I would completely fail! 

I don't know why there would be people that I would pass by. I suppose I'm not entirely used to it, but I'm getting better. I'm getting better at not pretending to be so interested in what's on my shopping list that I can't even acknowledge the people I'm standing RIGHT NEXT TO.

I'm not perfect, but I'm trying, and because of it I've laughed with a neighbor, tried to help a neighbor figure something out about coffee even after I told her I have no idea because I don't even drink coffee, I've connected with neighbors, I've let neighbors help me, and there has been a whole lot of smiling and friendly hellos.

I'm not sure how far this change will go, but at least I'll try to help people feel a little happier as they go about their day.

Matthew 25:40: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Mosiah 2:17: “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”

I'm sure if we saw Jesus in the grocery store, we'd say hi. Well, He is at the grocery store, and at the gas station, and at the park, and walking the streets. It's Him. 

Because when we do anything to someone else. Whether it be good or bad. He feels it.

So let's do some good.

Grocery Store conversation starters:

"Hello!"

"Hi there."

"I hope you're having a wonderful day."

"I just wanted to tell you that you look beautiful today."

"I'll help you look for your groceries if you help me look for mine." (Zach's idea)

"Donuts are very necessary."

"Excuse me, can I please have some help finding _____?"

"Having a hard time?"

"You already found that? Do you remember where you got it?"

"Those kids are going fishing."

"My daughter keeps smiling at you."

"(Insert your good ideas here.)"

Hawaii

Watching this video made me cry happy tears. 

I love my family and I love the memories that we make together. 

So here's to Hawaii. Cheers.

When Lucy Was a Poppyseed

Making this video so fun! It involved a lot of direction and shirt switching.

Thanks to Katie and Lily we were able to pull it off (literally).

This is how we announced that we were having a baby girl.

Valentine's Video for Daddy

Lucy is 5 months old tomorrow (March 6)! She is growing faster than I want her to.

I compiled a bunch of videos of her to make this video for Zach for his first Valentine's Day as a dad.

(I didn't put any music to it because I love hearing her little baby sounds.)

It brings tears to our eyes already.

We love our little Lucy girl!

Valley of Death

Last weekend Zach, Lucy, and I jumped in the car and drove 4 hours north.

We met up with Zach's parents and the Floyd's for a camping trip in Death Valley.

Woohoo! Camping!

We love spending time with family so camping with them was a real treat.

I've driven through Death Valley but never have I stopped to see all of the beauty that it holds.

Who knew there were so many amazing sites to see in the middle of no where?!

I sure didn't know!

The whole gang

I've always loved camping. 

Whether it be with family, friends, at girls camp, on trek, at ward camp outs, etc.

I love the outdoors. 

Singing and talking around the campfire is euphoric.

Looking up at the night sky drenched in thick amounts of stars that you can only see when you're out in the middle of nowhere is one of my absolute favorite things.

And I can't forget going to sleep to the sound of crickets and coyotes.

Lucy looks appalled

We admired the desert in full bloom. It was gorgeous and it looked like a sea of gold.

Zach took this amazing photo right when the sun was setting (and all of the other flower pictures).

twin flowers

I look so cool when I run, haha

Katie and 5 of the 6 (you can barely see Mallory)

We hiked a canyon with a sweeto natural arch and carried Lucy because we thought the Ergo would be just too dang hot. It was quite the exercise.

This pregnant woman wanted to keep going and going!

I love them.

Checking out where the waterfall cut through the rock.

Lily is so brave and didn't even need my help, but it made me feel better standing under her so she wouldn't fall to her death.

Thanks for letting Lucy borrow your hat, Mallory! Haha

We also got to see the golf course that the devil made. He did a pretty awful job.

Good job again with the pictures, Zach. Jolly good.

Salty, yet satisfying.

Those eyes get me every time.

Death Valley is nothing new for the Howe family. They went every year growing up and the highlight was the sand dunes (at least for Zach it was). Zach always told me how they would climb to the highest dune and throw themselves off and roll down the sand to their heart's content. They would also use sides of barrels to sled down the dunes.

The dunes were HOT but the sledding was oh so fun.

Grandpa Howe to the rescue! (Katie captured the moment)

Such a cute picture. Nicely done, Katie.

We didn't quite make it to the tallest dune, but we found a good one for sledding. Zach, on the other hand, was determined to make it to the top. He asked Kaylee if she wanted to go with him and she agreed because she "Is not a quitter".

After successfully reaching the top, Kaylee zoomed down the dune with lightning speed! 

The adrenaline rush and all that walking made Kaylee pretty exhausted.

Zach walked the whole way from the tallest dune to the car with Kaylee asleep on his back and the sled tied to his belt, dangling behind him

There they are in the distance before making their journey (a little dark but that's okay. I'm learning the photography way of life).

A tired girl and an amazing uncle.

The last thing that I want to share that we did is Artist's Drive. We drove it twice. Once under the stars with the windows down, listening to the sounds of the outdoors at night (which was magical). We drove it again the next day and we are SO GLAD WE DID! The scenery is fantastic and the mountains are purple, bluish green, and all sorts of other colors! 

SO pretty.

Probably my favorite place that we visited and no pictures can even do it justice.

Well, there you have it. Death Valley in a nutshell.

Thanks for the fun weekend and lifelong memories, Death Valley. We'll see you again soon!

There's a first for everything.

Usually baby's firsts are exciting and fun.

This one was horrifying and...not fun.

We don't know if she was feeling sick before or if it was motion sickness or dehydration or a mixture of them all,

but our poor Lucy got sick for the first time...her first time at Disneyland.

Yes, she's so young and yes, she won't remember this Disneyland experience, 

but my sister, her two kids, and my mom were in town so why WOULDN'T we go to the happiest place on earth?? (Plus, we were so excited to see her so happy on the rides, of course).

So we went. 

With a 3 year old, 4 1/2 month old, and a 1 1/2 month old. 

It was an adventure and worth it.

But let me tell you....it is the saddest thing to see a baby throw up.

Especially when it's your baby.

It started on the Mickey Mouse ferris wheel. 

I've never been on it and it was going to be a peaceful ride to take babies and a child.

Well, yes it would have been peaceful enough....if we didn't take the swinging gondola.

Why did we take the swinging gondola?!?

From a distance, the swinging gondolas do not look scary or like they will have too much force for such tiny humans.

We boarded the ride and they closed us in...

As we began our journey around and around, Mckay held onto Mindy and yelled "This is not fun! This is not fun!"

As we were laughing and trying to convince him that it was actually fun, Lucy projectile vomited all over Zach. Twice.

Who knew that she even had that much fluid in her?

That ride seemed like it would never stop! When it finally did Lucy fell right asleep. Fewf.

After she woke up, I fed her and she threw up again.

Through all of this, by the way, she didn't cry at all and she kept smiling at us. 

She is seriously such a happy girl.

We weren't sure what to do and then she started heaving, her face went red and she starting throwing up small amounts of yellow (gross that I'm so descriptive, but it just explains why we were so scared and sad and felt so helpless).

Zach called our pediatrician while I was watching her closely.

Mindy taught me what to do if she was choking, because it looked and sounded like she was.

There's good news though. She got better. 

After the crazy day at Disneyland and a sleepless night for both mommy and daddy (because we took turns sitting up with her so if she threw up she wouldn't choke) she got some electrolytes in her tiny body and she perked up.

l

This strong girl gave us a scare, but everyone seemed to know she'd be okay.

That day I learned some things.

Not all firsts are good, but they are a part of this life.

I would do anything to make my daughter's pain/discomfort go away, Which made me appreciate even more that Heavenly Father sacrificed His only Son to die for everyone who has and will live on this Earth. I can't imagine how difficult it was for Him to see His Son suffer and die.

This experience also reaffirmed to me that God listens to and answers our prayers.

Steep Stone Staircases

About a month ago Zach, Lucy, and I went with our friends Rachel and Brandon to climb up and down the old historic steep stone staircases that are hidden in the the Hollywoodland hills.

Almost 100 years ago these stairs were built when most people didn't own or drive cars. The people would get to other homes and the city by walking these staircases. 

If you didn't know about the staircases you probably wouldn't take them because you'd just think they lead to someone's house.

Well, we walked up and over and up and over and down and up and across and up some more. ALL throughout this cute, unique city. Some houses small and quaint while others were literally castles. 

It was fun to get out and see the city from a different point of view.