Ginny's Blessing

Virginia Lynn Neill was officially given a name and a blessing in church this Sunday.
Her Daddy gave the blessing, along with the help of Grandad Dinnell, Uncle Evan, Tyler Kendall, David Pfile, Bishop Henderson, .... and maybe I'm missing someone?

It was a beautiful blessing. I wish I could have recorded it so I could write it down word for word!

She wore a dress made by her Aunt Erin.
I asked Erin to make her blessing dress, because I felt like a homemade dress would be much more meaningful for her special day. Erin reminds us all so much of our mother, Virginia, and since that is who Ginny is named after (as well as my middle name), and had her grandma Ginger been here to make one, I would have had her; I thought it only appropriate.
(Was that the longest run-on sentence ever?)

Her Great Grandma Pooley (Grandma Ginger's mom) made her blessing blanket. I made her little blessing bracelet.

After church, we met at our apartment and had some yummy food and visited a bit with each other. My sister Carol drove up from Colorado with her three kids, so it was fun to catch up with her. Dirk's brother Evan, and his wife Paula flew in from Phoenix and spent the weekend with us in Missouls, which was lots of fun. My dad, brothers Nick and Billy, and sister Sarah and her kids were also there.

Sunday Hike

We attempted to hike up to the "M" on Sunday. We made it about 3/4 the way, but Hayden was way too tired, so we turned around.
It was a beautiful day, and we had lots of fun.

University of Montana campus


Downtown Missoula

At the Doctor's Office

Nurse: "Hayden, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Hayden: "When I grow up, I want to have big balls like my daddy, because he has big balls."

*crickets chirping, awkward silence....*

Then the nurse and I both bust out laughing.

And the nurse went and told all the other nurses and doctors in the office.

I'm glad we were able to provide them with some humor on what would have been antoher average and mundane day.

Girly Girl

Before Ginny was born, my cute and talented friend, Kelsey, sent a package full of all sorts of goodies. This adorable onesie and tutu were among the many, many gifts she made. Kelsey is expecting her 2nd baby, and I really hope she has a girl so she can have all these cute things for a girl of her own!

Helper Hayden

Hayden is such a big boy and sometimes LOVES to help with chores!

He really loves being a big brother too!

Healthy Kick- What's the Point??

Okay- I started this little healthy lifestyle back in February.
If you'll notice at the end of this post, I weighed myself at 194.
I'm still to this day weighing in at 192-194.
REALLY?!
I've been exercising more in the last 1 1/2 months than I'd ever exercised in the last 5 yrs.
I've been eating WAY healthier than I've ever eaten in my life.
I've also been breastfeeding, which supposedly helps as well.
What the heck have I been doing wrong?!

DownEast Basics Giveaway

I LOVE DownEast Basics. So naturally I'm doing everything I can to win this giveaway: Take it From Me!

If you're not familiar with DownEast, check them out. They have some seriously cute stuff.

The Seventh of April

I think April 7th will always be a date that sticks in the back of my mind as a significant date.

Two years ago, April 2008 was the last month of our "good life" as we've been seeing it. For two years we've had trial after trial after trial.

A year ago was the due date of our miscarried baby. An entire year has passed by since we left our home in San Antonio behind to start on a new and unknown chapter in our lives.

It was a strange and sad morning as we drove out of the still dark city. My mind wondered if this unexpected change in our lives was the reason I was not able to carry that baby? If I had been that far pregnant I would not have been able to drive across country to our new lives. For how long had the Lord had this event in store for us? What did he have for our future?

Tears streamed down our faces as we drove off in to the dark. Even though we had an end point, my parents' house in Montana; we felt like we were driving in to the unknown. We didn't know if Dirk was going to be able to go to school, or how we would support ourselves or where we would live, or why we weren't blessed with a new baby. We didn't know if our house that had been on the market for over a month would ever sell, and for how long we would continue to have to pay a mortgage on a place we didn't live in.

It was a very difficult point in our lives. We had very little hope and faith left that things would turn for the better. We'd been dragged down for so long we didn't know if it could get any worse.
We learned that yes, indeed it could. This last year has definitely been a huge trial for us. We are grateful things are starting to look up in so many ways. We held on to that tiny little thread of hope and faith we knew we should have. We prayed and pleaded with the Lord on many occasions. Often times we thought he'd abandoned us or let us down. We now know he was only making us stronger.

I am so grateful for the trials the last 2 years has brought to us. They have only made us stronger in so many ways. I think the most significant strength we've gained is great reliance upon the Lord. And for that I am thankful.

We now have a beautiful baby girl. After a year of chaos, Hayden is just now starting to feel a little settled (but is still struggling with it). Dirk is well into his schooling and has finally found a wonderful job that he loves. We are getting our debt paid off and are finally feeling like we can enjoy our lives again.

Easter

I love Easter.

Not only is spring time such a happy and refreshing time, but I love to be reminded of Christ's love for us, as he died on that cross and Lived again so we too could be resurrected. I love to be reminded of the details of the atonement.

It's also extra special when Easter falls on the same weekend as our church's General Conference, which is held in April and October of every year. This conference session was packed full of goodness. So many talks were on parenting and our roles in life as members of our families. As always, so many things were said that I needed to hear, and so much uplifting encouragement was given. It was such a good conference!

Trance, Ethen, Addison holding Ginny, Hayden

We spent the day with my parents, my brother Nick, and my sister Sarah and her family. We had a yummy ham dinner and an egg hunt for the kids.
Traditions are also what makes these holidays so special to me.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday and took some time to reflect on Christ.

Train Ride

This week was Spring Break for Dirk, and we wanted to do something simple, inexpensive, but still different and fun. Hayden had been begging to ride on a train for months, and we'd heard about a fun Amtrak ride up by Glacier Natl. Park, so we decided to go for it.

The mini vacation didn't quite go as planned, as it was pouring rain the whole time, so we didn't get to do the fun outside stuff we'd hoped to.
The hotel had an indoor pool and water-slide but the water was FREEZING, so we only tried out the hot tub a little bit.
We were all going to take a round trip train ride, and in between we were going to explore some foot trails in Essex. There's nothing in Essex but an old historical hotel, so after we found out it was pouring rain, we decided to not spend 10 hrs in Essex, and to only take one ride on the train.


Hayden and I rode the train which was just over an hour, while Dirk and Ginny drove up to Essex to meet us. The train ride went right along Glacier National Park for a while and followed along a gorgeous Jade green river. It was foggy and rainy the whole time. Watching the world go by on a train was really fun. When we got there we warmed up by the fire, explored all the old train memorabilia, and then headed back to Whitefish.


We spent the day in downtown Whitefish, eating lunch, and walking in and out of all the cute little shops there. There was a toy store/game store that was so much fun! We bought quite a few things there. I could have stayed in there all day! We also had fun browsing the cute boutiques and looking at all the stuff we couldn't afford, but it was fun to browse anyway.


We were going to stay one more night in the hotel, since it was pre-paid, but Hayden was really having a hard time, so we decided to check out early and go home. The whole 2 1/2 hr. drive home was pouring rain like a monsoon. It was kind of crazy!

All in all, it was a fun experience, but if we were ever to do it again, we'd probably plan it more like how our back up plan turned out!