Much neded R&R with the girls

Every year for the past 18 years me and the girls have been going on vaction together. Before everyone was married we would go places like Mazatlan,Peurta Vallarta and Cancun Mexico, New York, and Florida. Now that everyone is married with kids, we can't go as far and as long (we used to go for a full wk) so we usaully make an annual trip to Vegas. It is so good to get away and spend time with my very best friends! Every girl needs time with her girlfriends, and I couldn't ask for better friends! We have been through so much together and no matter what have always been there for each other. I am so blesssed to have these girls in my life!

Yes we are to cheap to get 2 rooms so we push the beds together and all five of us sleep on the 2 beds in 1 room :)
This is the "widow maker" and yes, me, Brittney, and Liza all ate one! Luckily it did not turn our husbands into widow's

I Love You Dad!!!

Dear Dad,

Hey pops! I couldn't sleep so I thought I would write you a letter. Today it has been exactly 3 years since you left this earth to watch over me from heaven. I think about you every day, and miss you with all my heart. I wish you were here to give me advice, and hug me when I hurt, and dry my eyes when I'm sad, and tell me to "keep the faith, everything will be ok". But even though you aren't here, you are the voice I hear in my head comforting me, and encouraging me, and giving me strength, just like you always did.

Thank you for being such a great example to me, and teaching me with patience and love when I was so young and made so many stupid mistakes. Thanks for never giving up on me, and having faith in me when mine struggled. I knew I could succeed and find happiness because you believed in me and told me that I could. I have such big shoes to fill...I hope I am making you proud dad.

I love you with all my heart, and even though at times I long for you to be here, I am grateful for the 32 wonderful years that I did have with you. When you passed on, little Thomas cried and asked Heavenly Father why He had to take you when he had prayed for you to stay with us "for 10 more years". Then he told Heavenly Father it was ok, he knew that He needed you more than he did. So even though sometimes I cry and ask why you had to leave me, I too know that Heavenly Father has a plan, and I will see you again. For this I am eternally grateful.

I love you so much dad! Thanks for who you are, and who you make me want to be!
Now stop playing with those grandkids of yours and tell them it is time for them to come to earth :)

Love,
your sweet little Sta

ALOHA!!!

Let me just start by saying that next to Sam, vacation is one of my biggest loves! I love love love vacation! Did I mention that I love vacation ? :) There is just something about being in another part of this beautiful world that you have never seen or experienced before. Having no phone, no job, no laundry, no worries or responsibilities, and just relaxing and enjoying the company of loved ones in a beautiful place is so therapudic for me. This year for our christmas present we booked a cruise of the Hawaiian islands. Since it was triple the price the week after Christmas we decided to go in February instead. It was AMAZING! Hawaii is such a beautiful place and we had such a great time. Sam wasn't so sure at first if spending the money would be worth it (he hasn't traveled much) but I quickly convinced him that it would be priceless memories and he gave in to my puppy dog eyes. Us Westover's LOVE to travel. Sam, being a Cook could take it or leave it, but after this amazing trip I think I can soon completely covert him to Westoverism :) hehe! (Oh, by the way, I still don't know completely what I'm doing when I post pictures with captions, so the explanation for the picture is BELOW the picture, not above it)


This is us overlooking the war veterans cemetery in Oahu
This is at the top of Diamond Head mountain overlooking the city of Honolulu and Waikiki beach
The coast of Maui viewed from our ship
Some famous lookout that was filmed in the movie Jurassic Park
A whale swimming to the surface. We saw so many whales so close to our ship! It was so cool!

On the big island of Hawaii we went to see the volcanos. This lava flow was from the exact month and year of my birth. Sam said I really am as old as the hills :)
This was also on the big Island of Hawaii. They have black sand beaches because of the lava (or as Sam would say, liquid hot magma!)




We were walking down the beach on Kaui and this monk seal was just laying there on the sand. If you got to close though it would start growling at you!

This was on the island of Kaui. I think Kaui was the most beautiful of all the islands
You can see our ship here in the distance. Sam was amazed at how huge the ship was
These are both of the coastline of Kaui. These point and shoot cameras just don't do justice but it was truly breathtaking!



The temple in Oahu. How beautiful is that?

Merry Christmas!

Every year on Christmas Eve my family gets together to celebrate. After dinner, before we open presents from each other we always have the story of Jesus' birth read from the bible as the kids act it out. This is my favorite part!
Our beautiful flocked tree...This year I had my heart set on a flocked tree, and Sam will tell you once I have my heart set on something there is NO changing it! (something I need to work on) Who knew it would be so much drama! I called about 10 different stores to see if they carried flock, and most of them said, " I don't know- what is flock?" I finally found some online that I could order and my mom had a flocking gun, thank goodness cause to buy the kit with the gun was like 45 bucks extra! Finally we got the flock in the mail after what seemed like forever, and what I thought would be a fun christmas activity to do together turned out to be, as Sam calls it "a flocking nightmare"! After an hour of flocking,we somehow blew up most of the bags of flock, only half of it was on the tree, the other half on the garage floor, and we were out of flock. We had to order more, wait another week for it to come, flock the rest of the tree- this time we figured out what went wrong and the flock went on the tree instead of the garage floor--after all this we could have bought a tree already flocked for probably cheaper then what we spent on the flock, but oh well, we had our beautiful flocked tree and a memory we will never forget- at least Sam won't :)

Chuck made this to help my mom hear. Do you think it will work?
Devan in his beautiful christmas sweater LOL! Becky's family was having an ugly sweater contest, I think he might win!
The swing that Sam made me for our front porch. He surprised me with it! I had no idea he was making it. Who knew I was married to such a talented guy :)
Rockwell in his new christmas beanie- he is so stinkin cute!
Our real tree that we cut down ourselves from Sam's grandpa's property up Fairview canyon. What a fun tradition this will be!
Where do I even start? It has been so long since I've blogged anything, life gets too crazy! Christmas this year was SO good--besides the part that Sam had to work.. I have felt so happy all month, and just filled with the spirit of giving ( of course at every store I was filled with the spirit of one for me, one for them- but oh well :) I really need to focus on keeping this happiness and love in my heart that I have felt all month, with me all year. I have been reflecting on family, friends, and of course the love of my saviour and have felt such overwhelming peace. I am so blessed with so many wonderful things and people in my life. I am SO blessed to have been born into a free country, into a family who loves me and takes care of me and has taught me the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be married to the man of my dreams, to have an overabundance of clothes and food and everything we could ever want or need, etc. etc. etc. Sure, our life is FAR from perfect, and we've had our share of struggles, heartache, and trials, but still we are truly blessed. I am so grateful for this time of year to remind me of that...
for all these wonderful memories, and the birth and life and sacrifice that our Savior has made for all of us so that we can continue to be with our family for all eternity! We love you and hope you had a very merry Christmas!

Thoughts...

These last 15 months have been some of the happiest and hardest of my life! The day I met Sam I knew my life would never be the same, and it hasn't. He has made my life so amazing and he has been such a blessing to me. He is my rock and my strength! Thank you Sam for who you are.

We have had a lot of frustrations and struggles also with our new lives together. We want more than anything in the world to be parents and have had to deal with a lot of heartache in trying to make that happen. 1 year ago I had a miscarriage, and had tried to get pregnant again for the next year without success. This September we did In-Vitro and last week had a positive pregnany result, but this week I am miscarrying again.

It's hard for me to understand why this has to happen to us, when we are trying to be faithful and follow the commandments of bringing children to the earth. Why is it so hard? But I know that we have to have faith and know that Heavenly Father will bless us.

I remember when we found out that my dad had cancer and the survival rate was zero. We still fasted and prayed that we would get a miracle. I remember my dad saying, "I feel like we are doing the right thing in asking for this, and even if our prayers aren't answered in the way we think they should be, it is helping us to have faith and rely on the Lord" After my dad passed away, my mom said she thought we had our miracle in that my dad didn't have to suffer.

My dad would always say that in great trials comes great faith and great blessings. I don't know why this has to happen to us, and it's hard not to be an emotional mess, but I am trying to follow my dad's example and have great faith. We will keep trying and maybe Heavenly Father needs us to give one of his sweet little spirits that is already here on the earth a good home. We are so grateful for the many prayers and love and support from our family and friends! We are so blessed to have so many people in our life who love us so much! And we love you so much! Thank you for helping us through this hard time in our lives

We Made It!

So I decided since I haven't posted anything for a few months it was time! We finally sold our Orem townhouse after soooooooooooooooo much drama. Like my sister-in-law Darci I have lost all faith in the realty business.The day we were moving and supposed to close the buyer backed out! Are you kidding me?!?!?! But we found a new buyer and everything worked out,although we could have gotten $23,000 more just 1 year previous. Oh well, we are finally here and almost settled.. besides our yard.. and we LOVE our new house! It has been so much fun for me to decorate, and redecorate! I'm sure it drives Sam crazy, but he is so good to let me do what I want to the inside of the house. I told him he can have the garage ;) I am posting a few pics of the kitchen, great room, sitting room/office and master bedroom

Our soon to be NEW HOUSE!!!

We've been married almost one year and I can hardly believe it! The whole time we have unfortunately been having to make two house payments, and Sam has sacrificed so much in driving so far to work. Well, things are changing... YAY! Sam sold his house in Moroni, and we should be selling my townhouse in Orem shortly, and we found our dreamhouse! Well, at least the dreamhouse that we can afford :) We decided Santaquin would be a good compromise for both of us, kinda in the middle for both of our jobs and both our family and friends. It is on the east benches of Santaquin right off the Canyon Rd so we have a beautiful view of the mountains and outdoor life for Sam, and also not too far from "the big city" for me. In the pictures there are still a million weeds, and we will have to put in a yard, and the city needs to put in a sidewalk, but it gives you an idea. I will post more pictures after we move in and get it decorated. Hopefully by the middle of July we will be all settled in... YAY :)