New Haircut

A little bit before Thanksgiving I decided I was so tired of my hair and everything about it. I went and got it cut a lot and also got it professionally colored for the first time (my color was looking so bad and pregnancy kept making it darker and darker that I just didn't know what to do with it anymore). So here is what my new style looks like:

Not the best smile (I look so tired-I guess being great with child does that).

Zions and Bryce Canyon National Parks

At the end of September/early October Jarod and I went on a trip to Southern Utah. We wanted to see some of the National Parks and have one last weekend getaway while I wasn't too pregnant to travel. We stayed in St. George and went to Zions National Park first. There were so many beautiful scences and so many pictures but here are a couple of our favorites.

Love the ginormous arch-this was one of many we saw but definately the biggest. We also went through a tunnel that was over a mile long. It was built in the 1920's so it was really small and they only let traffic through one way at a time. It was really neat-they had holes in the tunnel looking out and you could see amazing cliffs and rocks. We had to drive up hundreds of feet of switchbacks to even get to the tunnel (it was little nerve racking). The arch in the picture above was taken on our way up the switchbacks. Zions is very well maintained and they have a shuttle system through part of the park. We parked our car and took the shuttle up the main canyon and got off at all the spots and walked around and looked at all the amazing cliffs-truly a beautiful place.

We also went to the St. George temple and the visitors center they have there. They had just finished painting the temple and it was so bright white! The St. George temple has so much history as the first temple finished in Utah. Something new I learned was that Brigham Young never like the original steeple that was on the temple (it was a lot smaller and looked a little strange on such a big building). Only a few days after he died a lightening storm hit the temple and burned just the steeple down so they had to rebuild it. Everyone says Brigham eventually got his way even after he died.

Bryce Canyon is really an incredible place. The formations of the rocks are breathe taking. There are all of these little peaks and spires for the freezing and thawing of water through the ages and there are just views for miles of all this peaks. Everything is so red from all the iron so things just glow in the sun. Its really amazing that all of this is so high up-we were at 10,000 ft above sea level looking down into the canyon. The park has on main long road with several vantage points along the way. Here are a couple of the amazing views we shared at Bryce Canyon National Park.

This rock has a complete hole through it-so cool!

WICKED!

Sorry for the long time between posts-life gets crazy as everyone knows. Jarod and I were lucky enough to see Wicked a few months ago and loved it! Jarod had never been to a Broadway play before and was really impressed with the music and sets and everything. I felt like I just sat there with a smile on my face the whole time-enjoying every minute. Jarod has definately been converted to the thrill and excitement of Broadway so I am excited about that-now if only we could afford the tickets more often.

Thoughts...

This was written by a friend who lost her baby only a few days after we lost Hope for her daughter's first birthday. I feel that it expresses a lot of how I feel but haven't been able to explain. I thought this was a great way to follow up my previous post about Hope's Birthday.

On the day you were born; not a sound was heard; not a word was spoken
I held you in my arms and my heart was forever broken
I looked into your beautiful face and begged you to cry, open your eyes, and look at me
It just had to be a lie. There must be some mistake; babies aren't supposed to die
We had so many plans for you,
My little girl you would be, and Daddy's little princess
Oh, the things for you to see;
the lullaby's for you to hear; hugs and kisses to be given
How today and every day, I wish that you were living.
Your life was meant to be; no matter what they say
and though tragically your life was not; in my heart you will always stay.
Our arms can't hold you now, since you have left this world
but you will always be Daddy's princess and my sweet little girl.
So today I sing "Happy birthday" as tears fill my eyes and I weep
Please know my tears are not because of you, but because no matter how much I wanted to
"You" I could not keep.
Sleep well my angel until we meet again.

by Jennifer for Kayleigh on her birthday

One year ago...

One year ago we welcomed Hope Maxine Rollins into our family and we had to say good bye too soon.

We finally got a headstone to mark her grave. We did it in bronze and its beautiful. There are scrolling vines and flowers and even a little ladybug.

We brought her a cupcake and also some balloons with messages and released them into the sky.

We miss Hope everyday and think about her always. Its hard to not feel like a complete family with a piece of us missing but we think about the promise that families can be together forever and wish for forever to be here soon.

New Scam to Watch Out For...

On the news this morning they talked about a new internet scam the FBI is warning about and everyone needs to watch out for. The scammers send you an email that's titled "Really Funny Picture" or something similar and once you open it they can see everything you type. They than can access your email accounts, facebook, etc. because they can get see your username and password that you use. They than start to contact all of your friends and family through your accounts and tell them that you are in trouble, got mugged, lost your wallet, etc. and that you need to wire them money. The scary thing about this scam is that your friends and family really think that it is you because its coming from your email or facebook. Please pass on this information to everyone and just remember never open email from someone you don't know even if the title of the email sounds legitimate.