Summer Break!

This post is long overdue! Raymond & I had such a fun summer break this year!  It all started with his old mission companion inviting us to come and visit him and his family in Cincinnati and ended up being a VERY long road trip! A Baseball/Church History/visiting people we love trip!  Be ready for a picture overload! :) We started off heading to Salt Lake to be there for Ammon's blessing and then headed to Nebraska.

Omaha Zoo

This guy was our favorite! They were fun to watch!

The look I get from Raymond when I wake him up! :)

We went to the Winter Quarters Temple/Visitor's Center.   It was such a special temple with beautiful stained glass windows! 

 

 Don't mind the sweaty pictures! It was so humid!

 The water was so high because of all the flooding but we had to go to the Pedestrian Bridge.

Kanesville Tabernacle

 We had such a gorgeous drive across the country!

My love/hate relationship with Tomato Soup...

    So to give a little background: I was just diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, which explains A LOT! Raymond and I have been trying to get pregnant for over a year and  I went to the doctor a year ago because I was gaining weight and no matter how healthy I ate and how much I exercised I couldn't loose any weight.  I asked my doctor to check my thyroid because that is the only thing I could think of.  He checked it and it was fine.  It was frustrating not to get any answers but I just figured I wasn't doing the right combinations of things.  I finally went to a different doctor and almost immediately she knew what was going on.  I wish I would've gone to her from the beginning because it's such a relief to finally know!  The good news is that it's something that can be fixed by a change of diet.  To make a long story short I can't eat food with sugar in it.  Just LOTS of meat and veggies until I can get my body stabilized.  I've been trying to be creative with what to eat because everything has sugar in it!
    It's been raining today so I decided to make tomato soup.  Of course I had to make it from scratch and everything was going great until I had to blend the soup! I couldn't get my blender off the stand and before I knew it tomato soup was going everywhere! I accidentally hit a button and of course , I had already taken the lid off! It was all over my kitchen, dripping down my hair, and I just wanted to cry.  You should've seen Raymond's face! He was trying so hard not to laugh and made me go and get myself cleaned up while he tackled the kitchen! What a sweetheart!  Needless to say I won't be making tomato soup anytime soon! :)
    It's been pretty hard going through this trial without my family and friends close by, but it's made me realize how much Raymond means to me!  He's been my strength through all of this and it's really brought us closer together.  What a blessing it is to know and understand that Heavenly Father has a plan for us and I know one day we'll look back, so grateful for the experiences we've had! I just have to keep reminding myself that right now! :)

4th of July

Before we went on our LONG road trip (posts to come on that!) we went down to Salt Lake for Ammon's Blessing and the 4th of July!  It was so good to get to see my family...

 Look at that proud daddy!

 We were so happy that we finally got to see him, even if he slept the whole time! :)

 What a stud!

 Atta boy, dad! :)

 We also got to stay with my best friend from Memphis and they invited us to go to the Bees game with them...definitely didn't have to ask Raymond twice! All of my pictures with Jess were blurry but thanks Jess and Adam for taking us! We sure do love you guys!

They had awesome fireworks after the game! What a perfect way to start a summer! Proud to be American!

We finally have a Carroll Baby!

Ryan and Aimee had their baby boy today...his name is Ammon Ryan Carroll and we are so excited to have a nephew on my side! He was born at 10:30 this morning and was 7 lbs. 7 oz. and 21 in. long!   I wish we could be there already but we're going to go down sometime later this week! But congratulations to Ryan & Aimee!

 I can't believe that my little brother has a son of his own!  I still remember my sweet toe-headed little brother doing the hula dance on his bead...running around in his favorite teenage mutant ninja turtle undies...watching his favorite movie of all time Robin Hood...coming and sleeping on the floor of my room because he was scared...then later as he got older (and taller than me) doing everything he could to sneek around the house to scare me...always being the one that could put a smile on your face...chasing me around the house pretending he was "Edward Scissorhands"...and so many more fun memories! I'm so grateful for the time we had in High School to become best of friends and of course when we were both serving missions which was  a time that drew us closer than ever before! I sure love you brother! We're so happy for you Ry Ry and Aimee!

What makes a Monday better!

Today is definitely a Monday!  We had such a fun weekend going to Salt Lake to be with my family!  Brittany's birthday was on Thursday so we've been planning forever that we would go down and surprise her for the weekend.  We were supposed to go Friday night  but we had bad weather so we went down on Saturday.  I was doing so good at making her believe that we couldn't come until Ryan accidently said something about hanging out with Raymond on Saturday!  My family is the worst at keeping secrets!  :)  It was good to see Ryan & Aimee too, especially since the next time we see them their little bundle of joy will be here!  Raymond always has a hard trip going back home because I'm not always in the best mood heading back to Fort Washakie...but hopefully soon we won't have to make that long drive home!  Today was kind of a blah day but my Kindergarteners can always make me smile...here's one of our conversations during lunch...what it would be like to be a little kid again!

Baylor:  "Mrs. W, you can come to my birthday party! I'm going to have a scary clown there!"
Me:       " I don't like scary clowns...I'll be scared!"
Baylor:  "That's ok, my dad will hold you!"
Karma:   "Teachers can't get scared...teachers are tuff!"
Baylor:  "What are you talking about, man?"
Karma:  "I'm not a man! Look at my face...does this look like a man?" (with her little diva attitude!)
Baylor:  "No, you look like Justin Bieber!" (as he's laughing...they are seriously obsessed the the Biebster!)

They may just make me smile but these little kids make living here worth it.  Whenever I'm having a hard day or am just done with everything that comes with living here...my sweet kids can always pull me out of my funk!  I'm so grateful for all the lessons that I've learned and the person I'm becoming from my experiences in Wyoming! :)

My Mission!

Three years ago today I returned home from serving a mission in Independence, MO.  Time has gone by so fast but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about the experiences that I've had and the lessons that I learned serving a mission. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to serve!  Here's some of my favorite memories and people from my mission!  I know that it's a picture overload but I tried to get everyone in!

MTC! Sister Hinmon, Sister Bunderson and Sister Durrant!

When I first got to Missouri I served at the Liberty Jail!
The perfect place to start my mission!

Oh Foss! Need I say more!  It was probably a good thing that
we were never companions!  We would have had too much fun!

Anna and her girls!  Love these three!

Gotta love mission apartments...
especially when they turn closets into bathrooms!



I was blessed to serve with so many amazing sisters!



Sabastian's Baptism...

My Dear Mission President and his wife...the Hackings.

Sweet little Makayla and her sister Bailey on Makayla's baptism day!
I loved these girls! They reminded me so much of my little sisters!

I never thought that one of my best friends sister in law would
be my companion...It was so much fun serving with Leigh
and I'm so grateful I can call her my sister!

It was so much fun serving with Sis. Rounds and having her

share my love for music!  We had so many great times at the piano...

If I only had an ounce of the knowledge of the gospel Camille

has I would be so happy! I learned so much from her!

Not the best picture with Brian but I couldn't leave him out!

I got to go back to MO a year ago to see he and his wife sealed

in the temple!  I first met him taking him on tour at the VC and

then I was able to see him get baptized!  He makes me smile!

Sister Hansen...I sure love that girl!  We had so much fun serving together!

This woman taught me so much...we had so much fun
learning how to be future "homemakers!"

The Tedrows...they were the directors when I was at

Liberty jailand the IVC!  We were so blessed to have

 so many extra grandparents  on the mission!

 The Poll's were the VC directors and I wouldn't be the same person
without knowing them.  They taught me so much about the Gospel
and were my grandparents away from home!

Kati Pena is such a sweet lady!  When Leigh and I went back last January
 she still had a picture of Sis. Williams and I in her living room! 
It made my day to see that she still thinks of us!

I got to serve with the Faamoe family for 6 months of my mission and I'm so
grateful for their example and generosity!  We sisters never went hungry!

I loved ending my mission in Kansas! It was hard to leave the Visitors Center
but being able to be out full pros was some of the funnest times of my mission!

 

Decisions, Decisions!

   It's been a while since I've posted but really nothing new has been going on with us.  We're still three weeks away from Spring Break...there's still snow on the ground...and no baby news yet! :)  The only thing that is even post worthy is that we MAY be finally moving closer to home!  I know I'm jumping the gun a bit  but positions have opened up in Evanston and Mountain View, WY and Panaca, NV (where Raymond is from)!  We are really hoping to be able to move closer to family and it would bring us at least three hours closer! You have no idea how happy that would make me!  We have some good connections in all these places so we're praying that one of these will work out! Living in Fort Washakie has been a neat experience and we've learned a lot about the Indian culture and about ourselves but I'm ready to move on!    I'm so grateful for Raymond and how much of a strength he's been for me through some of the challenges we've had since moving here.  He is so patient with me and can always put a smile on my face! We know that it's not a sure thing that we're moving but we've been feeling a little excited lately since we would love to move to any one of these places! Hopefully we'll find out within the next month or so!
   I'm so excited for Spring Break!  The plan is to go to Missouri to visit my mission, Nebraska to see Winter Quarters and South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore!  The plans might change if Raymond ends up having interviews (we're crossing our fingers that it won't be during this week!) but we can't wait!  Raymond has never seen the church history sights in Missouri and I can't wait to go back!  Hopefully we'll have some exciting news soon! Keep us in your prayers!