The Emerald City!!!!We finally made it to the west side of the state. Seattle is a great city. It reminds a lot of San Francisco- but a lot less stinky. Instead of the Bush Man who hides behind a branch and then asks for money, Seattle has a guy with 2 teeth who offers kissing lessons. Funny and creepy at the same time. We did a lot of touristy things including eating in the Space Needle. 360 degree views of the city. We rode the monorail but didn't see Homer Simpson piloting it. We saw the markets at Pikes Place and went to the aquarium. The kids loved the octopus and got to see him eat calamari. We didn't have time to see a Mariners game or see the music and science fiction museum. The Seattle Museum of Science was cool. We spent most of our Saturday there and had a blast. Even the drive over was great. Can't wait to explore all those forests and mountains.

Seriously I wonder what he is thinking.

"Hmmm I wonder who would win in a fight between a Zombie or an Alien?"

Seriously they do this on purpose.

I took these photos back in march but have been super busy. I thought they were pretty cool. I don't really know why they freeze the trees like this but a few times when I took my kids to school we saw the trees like this. Now they look like they are covered with popcorn. I totally love spring. I think it is my favorite season. Too bad my allergies dont love it.

Look who got paid today! First time in 2 !/2 years.

Thats my man!

So we finally made our big move to Yakima, Washington. We drove out here on January 30th and it was easy-peasy. Guy and Diane made the drive with us and helped us get all settled. They were a huge help. We hired some guys to load and unload all of our stuff so it was relatively painless. Our kids finally started school this last monday after a lot of run-around...Seriously! We live about an hour from Somer, John and Caleb and got to spend some time with them last weekend. It is fun to live so close to them. Jared started work this week and everything is going really well. He is settleing right in. Things here are going great so far. Thanks to everyone who helped us get here.

It seems like overnight I went from knowing hardly anyone in Utah to having a group of amazing friends. I don't even know how to begin to tell you guys how much you mean to me. I have had so much fun these last 2 years. You guys are crazy! I should have abs of steel from all of the laughing that I have done. Each of these ladies is very different but they all have a unique quality or talent that fits so well with each other that they make the ultimate super hero team for me. I know that I would not have made it through this last year without you guys around. You saved my sanity during the day by getting us out and doing things with us, and you chased away my loneliness at night. That meant more to me than you can even imagine. My family has been so blessed to know your families. We will miss spending time with you guys. Seriously... it seems inadequate to tell you guys these things in a blog but I wanted to let you know how I felt and lets face it I am a boobin' baby right now. So lets not say goodbye, but see you later. I look forward to many more adventures and years of friendship together. I am truly blessed to have you as my friends. I love you all very much. Thank you for everything.

Love, Heather

Lovin you, Lovin life!

We would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

This is a hilarious video of Miyah getting a tooth pulled by her grandparents dog Rudy. Watch closely you can see her head snap back.

Like Father...

Like Son

This June we also said goodbye to Uncle Joel. Jared's brother Joel has been called to serve a mission in the Czech Republic Prague mission. We are so excited for Joel and this new adventure that he has gone on. He has been in the Czech Republic for about a month now and he has grown so much. Even though we miss him very much (especially me on movie nights) we are really happy to have Joel serving a mission. We Love you Joel!

Guess Who's 6 now!







This June we celebrated Miyah's birthday with a Luau. We had a fun party with some friends from the neighborhood there. We had a limbo contest and played some games. A fun time was had by all. Especially the birthday girl.

I know I have not blogged for forever. So much has happened for us these last few months that I will just give you some highlights. For Spring Break the kids and I went to California to see Jared and we spent 2 days at Disneyland. It was so much fun. I seriously love Disneyland. It was really fun this time because our kids are a little older so they enjoyed it more. Shanes favorite ride was Indiana Jones, I think we rode it 3 times.

We had the blue and gold banquet last Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun. Grandma and Grandpa came with us. We decorated cakes and ate fried chicken and salads.

At the banquet Shane recieved his Bobcat badge and a gold arrow point. It has been fun for me to help Shane earn his badges. I don't really know a lot about scouts but we are having lots of fun

So we got our pictures taken last week. We had our friend Jilynn take them and she did a fantastic job. Thanks Jilynn.

So seriously I am a slacker. (I hope you are happy now Jillyn!) Well things here have been pretty crazy since I last blogged. Jared has been very busy with clinicals. He has about 375 cases so far which is pretty awesome considering he has only been doing clinicals since September. Miyah is in Kindergarten and doing very well. She is really reading well and learning a lot. Shane is also doing really well in school. Jared and I were able to go back to St.Helena California where we used to live back in November. We spent the weekend there doing all the stuff we loved to do while we lived there. We went to San Francisco and spent some time in Napa. We ate at the Red Hen Cantina and Guini's (Junies). We were also able to go to our old Branch and visit with all of our friends there. It was fun to see the old place. Shane turned 8 this December so on December 20th he was baptised. We had a special baptism just for Shane so that Jared could baptise him. Our family and friends were there. It was a very fun day. He has also had a blast going to cubscouts. We also had a very nice Christmas and New Years.

So when I said that I would blog more often than Jared did obviously I was lying. Summer is finally here and we have been having lots of fun. Before school got out and in between Jared's semesters our family went down to Zion's National Park. It was a really fun trip. We stayed in a hotel in Mesquite that had a pool and bowling alley that the kids really enjoyed. That is the first time that I had ever been to Zions and it was really beautiful. We hiked around on a few trails and had a really good mini vacation. We also went and visited our old friends Mike and Katrina Wood. They are just as hilarious as ever. It was fun to see them.
Jared has been going to school this whole summer. He will probably go to school right up till he starts clinical rotations.( Loads of fun let me tell you ) The kids started swimming lessons last week. They are taking them up at Westminster. Miyah is in a class with about 5 other kids. She is doing really well. She has been a little afraid of the water this year so this class has been good for her. Shane's class didn't have any other kids sign up so he is getting private lessons. He gets braver every time, it's fun to watch them.
Mostly this summer we have been hanging around our place. We are finally starting to make more friends here and we have all the neighborhood kids over about every night. It gets kind of crazy but you know I love that stuff.
We had a fun visit with our friends Lisa and Luke Morgan from California. It was fun to hang out with them and catch up on all the goings on of our old branch.
We have been living here in Utah for 1 year now. It's crazy how fast the time is going. Miyah turned 5 last month and is very eager to start kindergarten. She asks me every other day when school starts. It's hard for me to believe I will have two kids in school this year. We hope you are all having a good summer. I will post more soon.

Hello Friends!
I finally had Jared show me how to work this blog so hopefully it will be updated a little more frequently now.
Things here in Utah are pretty crazy. Jared is very busy with school. He pretty much spends all of his time studying and studying some more. In a few weeks he will be done with his second semester with only 5 more semesters to go. I just keep saying you can do anything for a few years. He is doing well. I don't mean to brag (ok maybe a little) but Jared is one smart dude.

Shane and Miyah are also doing well in school. Shane is learning a lot and his reading has improved about 100%. Miyah loves preschool. She is very artistic and she loves to sing. If she doesn't know the words to a song she just makes them up as she goes. (kind of like Jared).

I am also doing well. I know this is hard to believe because I look so youthful but I am turning 30 this week. I am officially one of the old ladies in my ward.

We hope you are all having a great spring.

Hello from Utah!
No more bragging about how warm we are while the rest of you freeze. Now we are bundled up in parkas while our neighbors are wearing shorts here in Utah. Our family moved here from St. Helena, CA in July. We now reside in Lehi. Nice Mormon sounding town. And there are a lot of them here. Like anything, this brings its own benefits and problems. I do miss being the token Mormon at work, etc. Now I am the token 49er fan. Shane and I started school in August. Miyah started preschool on Friday. We are all enjoying it getting into our respective routines. We did have a lot of fun this summer. We have been to Lagoon (sort of like 6 flags). We camped and played up at Bear Lake. We got to see the fall leaves up in the mountains at Snow Bird ski resort. Now we are trying to find ways to have fun that is cheap. I quit my job to better focus on School. It is not easy and I actually have to work my butt off to do well. Thankfully, I have a good wife who understands my neuroses and loves and supports me. I am going to teach her how to do this blog, so it actually gets updated more than once every 4 months.