spring holidays

Mother’s Day 

We love our moms. They are two of the very best. We feel lucky to have been raised by such amazing women and I aspire to reflect and replicate many of their admirable characteristics throughout my life as a wife and mother.

I have learned so much from my mom. From how to straighten my fro to how to remain close to our Savior during times of trial, my mom has taught me many valuable life lessons and I look up to her. She lost her mom when she was 19 due to a car accident, and I thank the Lord everyday that I have my mother with me here on earth to continue to love and support me in each new stage of my life. My Dad always says that my mom and I are the same person, and that is why we sometimes butt-heads—we are both head strong and know what we want. But my mom is a successful, happy, selfless, fun lady and there is no one I would rather be just like than her!

People don't just “turn out” the way Skyler has. He was raised right. He was taught the gospel. He was taught how to treat a woman and cherish her forever. He learned these lessons from his parents, but particularly his mother. When we were first dating told me that his mom would put his scriptures under his pillow before he went to sleep at night. This was a gentle reminder to never skip out on something so important--reading the word of God. Skyler has since developed a significant habit from this lesson taught him by his mother... he now loves the scriptures and reads them often. This is just one lesson that Skyler learned from his mom, and I am sincerely grateful for her and the way she raised her son. She is such a sweet and sincere person and I am grateful for another motherly example for my future motherhood life!

Here are a few pictures from our Mother’s Day.

Memorial Day: The Ranch

Loading up the four wheelers.

Our Memorial Day was spent at Hale’s Rainbow Ranch in Afton (Star Valley), Wyoming—AKA my favorite place in the world. My family on my paternal side was commanded by Brigham Young to settle Star Valley, and after many years my Grandpa Hale was born and raised there. He and my Grandma Hale raised their family in Utah, but in 1980 he purchased the land the ranch is now on. He has since passed away, but has left the property with two cabins on it to his eight kids. Certain weekends (holidays) are family weekends. Anyone and everyone from the family goes up there and it is a party. I love my many cousins, aunts, and uncles, and have SO many fond (and hilarious) memories at the family ranch. The other weekends throughout the summer are divided up between the different kids and their families. Those weekends we take friends, mow the lawns, and enjoy the rest of the time.

The lodge.

Lunker Lake

Memorial Day weekend in particular is dedicated to spring cleaning. Both houses get deep cleaned, the fences get repaired, docks get painted, dead trees get cut down, or whatever other maintenance project needs to be done. This years big project was ripping out the old fence lining one section of the property, and later in the year we will replace it. A couple of dead trees in the mountains behind the lodge were also cut down (so that they don't fall on the house when they finally tip). The tree trunk is then cut into firewood and the rest of the branches are burned in a GIANT bonfire by the river.

As you can tell, it's a lot of work to upkeep the ranch. But my family is so huge that it makes it easier. It’s a family joke that son-in-laws that marry the granddaughters are put through the test of the ranch to see how hard of workers they are. If they work hard, they “pass the test” and everyone approves. Haha. This is Skyler’s third memorial day work weekend, but I still had my cousins Jed and John say that Sky was a good, hard worker, they really liked him, and that they approved. Glad I have their blessing ;) haha. [And Jed is even a huge Utes fan!]

Sunday best!

But despite all the work, there is usually time to play too. This year, the men still managed to go golfing (of course). We also had time for a big game of family kickball, and then a game of baseball. One of the nights we spent playing capture the flag in the dark at the base of the mountain next to the pond. People were sneaking through the woods, and Cody (my cousin) even ran through the shallow part of the pond to get people out of jail. It was a blast. There wasn't any time for a hike or a long four-wheeler ride in the mountains, but we’ll do that later this summer.

We ate well of course, from tinfoil dinners and s’mores to steaks on the barbeque. My Aunt Cheryl also brought stuff for banana boats… so yummy. Bananas stuffed with chocolate chips and marshmallows, wrapped in tinfoil, and heated in the fire? Sounds like my kind of treat! And of course we went to the Hale family-owned Red Baron Drive-In. Their bacon burgers and strawberry-almond shakes are unbeatable. And Skyler fell in love with their double pastrami burger.

All in all it was a great weekend and we are excited to go back later this summer.