8 months old

Here are the latest pictures.

Last Saturday Stacey and I were at church for a primary activity and we met a girl named Natalie. Natalie is 18 and she just moved to Nashville from Indiana to start college. She had read the whole Book of Mormon and she came to the church looking for someone to talk to about it; she has so much faith! She has friends in Indiana who introduced her to the church, and she seems to already have a testimony of the restored gospel. Her parents are very opposed to her coming to our church so she is afraid of alienating them, and she wants to make sure she is doing God's will before she commits to anything. The missionaries taught her in our home on Monday. We feel so lucky to be the ones who can share the good news of the gospel with her! She has quickly become a good friend.

This week Evelyn had 2 teeth come in. She is becoming very mobile even though she isn't really crawling yet (her belly still touches the ground). Now Evelyn can fall asleep on her own after screaming at bedtime, that's a blessing.

School started again. I'm only taking one class so I can (hopefully) finish my masters research in about 6 months. I'm also excited to go to a workshop in Miami this December but Stacey isn't too happy about that.

After thinking and praying about it for a long time we decided Stacey should get a part time job. She searched and interviewed for a few weeks, and we were very blessed with the job she got. It's only two 8 hour shifts per week, from 3pm-11pm, working with old people at a hospital. It's a lot like a nursing home except the people are only in for a couple days. She visited the floor and the nurses really liked working there, in part because they only have 3 patients each. The old people are in because they forgot who they are, or they stopped taking their meds and had problems, etc. The hourly pay is good, and she even gets health benefits. Stacey starts orientation this week.

Here's a video of Evelyn playing the piano. Someday we'll get a camera that doesn't take such dark videos.

Dodds Reunion

Okay, so I finally finished the Host so I can finish blogging about our trip. Tip: Don't read that book "The Host" unless you have a lot of time and you don't have to wake up early in the mornings. It's pretty intense.

So back to the Dodds' reunion we had lots of fun. One of my favorite things we did were playing games. Okay, so playing games is my most favorite thing to do. Visiting is fun too, I guess. :) I would have to say playing Mafia was the best game. We even got Grandma Cherry and Rich playing. It was awesome. Other fun activities we did were, raspberry pickin' in which I decided that if I was a bear I would just stick with a fish diet. Also we went to the sand dunes in St. Anthony and played Ultimate Frisbee in the lake there, we also played in Grandpa's trees in which we cut them down and shredded them, I preferred working with the vinyl siding, there wasn't nearly as many bugs. I also got to see my cousin Elana graduate from BYU-Idaho and the temple there which is beautiful!





This is a picture of when I discovered that Nathaniel really was a murderer in Mafia! I suspected and killed off everyone else so Nathaniel and his brother, Jeremy won. Go figure.








I love the Rexburg Temple!

Surprise in Idaho!

Even though I was with family and friends in Arizona and in Idaho, I missed Nathaniel so much. After the Gurr family reunion he had to go back to do research so we wouldn't see each other for 2 weeks. We would talk all throughout the day and many times we talked at night until 1:30 am which was 3:30 am his time! Also, Evelyn was not sleeping very well at nights too so both Nathaniel and I were not getting enough sleep. One night Evelyn was up from 1:30 -4:00 am and I was not a happy camper. I called Nathaniel at 3:30 am to tell him I was coming home! Since his family reunion was the following week, he offered many ideas two being to drive up to Idaho since his flight to Idaho wouldn't leave for another 5 days or to change his flight to a closer date. I told him no. My in-laws, Rich and Diane, were so patient with me as I rampaged about the previous night. They really helped me to calm down and we changed the sleeping arrangements so Evelyn and I would not be in the same room. So I called him back, told him I was fine and not to worry about me. So we talked throughout the day, he mentioned how he was going to our friend's house to eat dinner then take Shawn (our deaf friend) to the store to buy groceries and then later informed me of all the details that had happened.

Well, in the meantime, Jeremy (Nathaniel's brother), Laurel and Hunter were on their way up to Idaho for the reunion. So at 3:30 am I was in comforting Evelyn who was crying and Nathaniel walks into the room. That was the best, sweetest and most awesomest surprise ever! ( even though it sounds like nails on a chalkboard Nathaniel had been traveling all afternoon and night to be in Idaho with me!! Yeah... I felt pretty special...What's really awesome about this is that Nathaniel is not very spontaneous at all. Everything is not just planned out, they are carefully planned out so everything has a purpose and meaning. So this was a big thing! So now looking back on it, I am sooo grateful for a Heavenly Father with a crazy sense of humor and for my little Pearl who cried for 2 1/2 hours so I could be with my husband. :)

30 days around the West

Here are the latest pictures.

So after Nathaniel and I went to Colorado for the Gurr family reunion, Nathaniel flew back to Tennessee on the 8th of July to continue to do his research while I went back home with my parents in Arizona. While I was there I visited with many family and friends. It was so good to see everyone again!! I also got Evelyn to start eating rice cereal after talking with my childhood buddy Lori (Dees) Farnsworth who recommended that I mix in applesauce with the rice cereal. Evelyn loves it!

KRISSA WALTERS!!!!!!!!
(my high school companion)




Then on the 15th of July my parents took me up to Blackfoot, ID where Nathaniel would meet up with me on the 23rd for the Dodds/Cherry family reunion. My parents wanted to go visit the sand dunes there anyways and the family of course, so Becca, Ev and I drove out there for a day and had a blast! I had forgotten how much I loved riding on the dunes.