Our Life Update

Well...there is not much to report on that front! But I thought since it had been over 2 months since my last post, that I would try. Most everyone has been e-mailed at this point, but here we go anyway! =)

Will and I have been doing well. Both of us have taken a break from the insurance business for awhile. Will is doing that very part time and working his previous job semi-full time. Since the work at the Brokerage has trickled off to virtually nothing, I have taken up looking for a new job. It feels like I have been searching for months, eventhough it has only been 2 1/2 weeks. I have a job working at a Private school right up the street from our home. However, it doesn't start unitl mid-August. So until then, I am hoping that I will be able to get something else going.

Church is going well. I attended Young Women Camp back in June. That was one of the best week's of my life. Despite the no shower allowed policy for the ENTIRE time we were up there. I had a blast. I have been so blessed with such a wonderful group of girls. We are not without our faults however! There were a few "issues," but only a few and they were all quickly resolved, by the girls themselves. One of the coolest experiences I had while at camp was at night. The tradition was started last year by my Ward's old YW President. It is called the singing tree. Each night, each Ward brings flashlights to a tree they choose. One by one each Ward turns on their lights and flashes them up the tree. Then that Ward sings a song. They then turn off their lights, and the next Ward does the same thing. The last Ward to sing turns their lights off, then turns them back on, along with all the Ward's. We then sing the last Ward's song all together. That was and is the most spiritual experience I think I have ever had. It made me ball like a baby every night. Being in God's creation, singing his songs of praise, was amazing. I will never foget that as long as I live.

Will has been coming to Church every Sunday now for a month and a half. He gets up every Sunday and attends Choir practice as well. It is such a good feeling to have him their with me every Sabbath. I am greaful that he is willing to come and supports me in my endeavors as well.

I also had the "privelage" of attending Stake Youth Conference, overnighter, on July 11th & 12th. That was an interesting experience. We had to share a cabin with 2 other Ward's. That was very trying at times. Especially at 2 o'clock in the morning when they were still laughing and talking loudly!!!! I actually got sick at the outing. That was also very fun! =) Nevertheless, I am still glad that I went. We had a good time.

Will and I are celebrating our 6th Year Anniversary this month on the 27th! I can hardly believe that it has almost been 6 years! It trulley does not seem that long at all! It feels like we were nervous and walking down the aisle just a year ago. We are very excited to be hitting this mark! I am so very blessed and so very greatful to have such a loving and kind husband. Will and I have been through a lot together. I would not trade it for the world. I love him now more than ever. He is my heart. We have no big plans, due to limited funds. But we are excited none the less to spend a day together laughing at memories and telling old stories.

Not much else has happened or is happening with us. Know that I love you all very much! I think of you all everyday without fail!

All My Love,

Kate

Cartier's Visit to UT

So here are some more pictures of the

family.

We had so much FUN with everyone
we are so glad that you all decided to come out and visit. It was so nice to finally meet Makaela. To see everyone else again.

Will and I still talk about the visit.

We miss you guys very much!!!!!

We are excited about the prospect of coming out to Seattle in November. Hopefully we will be able to manage it.

Most of the pictures were taken when we had our Temple Square

day downtown. That was a lot of fun too. Will and I had not been to Temple Square in a VERY long time.

Well overdue for a visit. I posted more pictures of that visit in our photo album on our website too.

While the Cartier's were here we got to spend a lot of quality family time together. Like I mentioned before we got to spend time meeting our newest niece, Makaela, and getting to see Bay & Isabella again. We blew bubbles, swam...A LOT, and got to watch baby ducks being born! What a cool experience we had doing that. I was amazed at how still the kids sat and watched the baby ducks. They never disturbed the mommy or the babies. It was amazing. You all have raised some wonderful kids!!!! We are alos excited for the "newer" arrival coming to Paleia in February. We look forward to another niece or nephew, or both? =)

We had an awesome time playing games and just hanging out as a family. It had been way too long!

McConnell Family Pics

So I SUCK at keeping our blog updated!!!! If anyone reads this, sorry about that!

Well this first group of pictures is from the middle of June. The McConnell's wanted some new photos for their family. So they asked me to take the pictures. It took about 2 hours outside in the middle of the day nice and in the heat! But, we had a lot of fun. At least I know that I had TONS of fun! We got a lot of good pictures taken! I was very pleased with the outcome! Thank goodness for

William's help! He helped keep Sean entertained. Around the end of the "session" he had had it! Sean did such a GREAT job being good and not complaining! Mir & John took so many cute pictures! They both are very photogenic. So is Sean! I only added a very few.

I know that I have been promising to get out picture CD's to everyone. That is still my intention. I am done editting now. So hopefully we will be able to get those made soon enough.


Thank you for your patience! I know this foot picture might be a little odd. However, I really thought that it was cute for a couple reasons. One you can see everyone's coordinating colors. You also can see everyone is holding hands and splashing in the cold water. I just thought that it was cute. TONS OF FUN!!!!

I also posted more of the pictures on the "Family Minutes" site. They are in the McConnell's photo album if you haven't had a chance to view them yet.

Anyway, I have some more pictures to post on my blog. So I will get started on that now.

Love To All!

Kate

Been a while

Good Morning,

It has been awhile since I have updated our blog. Not much has happened, same ole same ole. Will is doing great. 2 weeks ago he was not feeling well at all. But he worked throught it anyway and did a phenomenal job. He is my hero. Will has changed so much over all of these years. All for good. I have heard from people that as the years go by that your love for your spouse grows. Or...that it grows each day. I realize that, that is not true in all cases; for me it is. I use think that it was odd to hear that, back before I found Will. But the truth is, he is my hero, my knight in shining armor, my heart, my everything. I am so very thankful to have him in my life. Not a day goes by that I am not thankful for the love, support and comfort that he gives me. It is not all a fairytale, but all of the good and happy far outways the hard times. Janice, you raised an excellent son. Thank you for all that you have done and did to help make Will who he is.
As for the rest of our life...we are doing well. Last Friday, was my last day at work. After training 2 people, and both of them not working out, we tried a 3rd time and found a winner. This week has been really odd. I am not use to being able to do what I want when I want to. I LOVE it!!!!! I am loving being a housewife!!!! Thanks to Will, he is making it possible for that to happen. I have started cooking and baking again. Which I love, very fun. Although, Will might not think so sometime. I use him as my guinny pig. So far, I think it has been good.
On Saturday, we hung out with the McConnell's. We had an early Cinco de Mayo celebration. Tamales, tacos, burritos, the fixins, all the good stuff. Very fun and yummy. Sunday was a traditional pot roast day, Monday was homemade lasagna. That one freaked me out!! But it turned out very good, according to Will. Last night when went to go see the movie "Iron Man." If you haven't seen it yet, and you like Marvel comics...you will NOT be disappointed. We loved it. Very cool!!
This week the weather has been gorgeous. A nice 75 to 80 degrees, bright and sunny. Today, not so much, stormy. Hopefully that will clear up quickly and go back to Spring. That is really all. Like I said, not much new here.
Hopefully, all is well with each one of you. Know that we love you very much, think about you all the time.

All Our Love,
W & K

Weekend Fun

Short update and blurb about our weekend. We had lots and lots of fun. Will and I spent the entire weekend with family and friends. It was the most fun we have had in a very long time. The McConnell's came over. We had lost of good food to eat, played some Guitar Hero 3 and hung out. We got to also spend some time with Greg and his kids. Which we hadn't done in a while and was a lot of fun. We bought ice cream from the ice cream "person" and played soccer in the park on Friday. Saturday, we had a BBQ, hot dogs and hamburgers. Good stuff!!!! Then back out to the park to play frisbee and hang out some more. The boys played Halo 3 while I made some cookies.

All in all it was a very fun and GORGEOUS weekend!! The weather was perfect. Bright and sunny, nice breeze, 70 degrees. So nice! Tomorrow it is back to the grindstone. Hopefully it will be an early day, that would be nice.

Well, everyone, sleep well and have a good week!

All Our Love,
Kate and Will

Looking on the web

So, I was just searching online about a week ago and found this website for LDS art. I saw these paintings by Greg Olsen, and I just stared. There are several that he has painted. Only some are shown on the website. The website is

www.lds-art.com Just click on his name and it will pop up with several paintings that he has done.

I just thought that these were so beautiful. The one with just Jesus is called "AlphaOmega." The other is named "In His Light." These are just beautiful. If you want stop on by that website and take a look. There are other artists that are featured as well, like Arnold Friberg, Simon Dewey, etc.

Anyway, I just wanted to share these with you. It impacted me a lot. Don't know why, but these pictures simply, just did. Know that every single one of you are always in my heart and thoughts. I Love all of you very much.

Happy April!

Hello family. Happy April! Hopefully everyone did not get to doused with practical jokes yesterday. Will and I did not do the joke thing...thank goodness. =) I just wanted to write a short update, sorry no new pictures. I am starting part time work, much quicker than we first planned. But we think it is for the best. I am VERY excited to be working part time. Will has been outstandingly supportive and wonderful through it all! I am currently training my replacement this week and 1 day next week, then I am done. I have been on a few job interviews. 1 that looks very promising. I go in for a 2nd interview on Friday. We are hoping that I will have a job by April 14th. Will is still doing phenomenal! He had another great week last week, and he is doing just as awesome this week. We both still feel that this is where and what we should be doing. I will have more time to be at home, to be an at home wife. I will be able to see Will more frequently and do the things that I love and don't have time to do. Will is excited for the cooking and baking that will happen. I am excited at the prospect of having more energy, learning new things, and actually having time to read a book or do something that I enjoy. Crazy thought! =) Everything else is the same with the UT Hopper's. Another update in about a week or so!

Love To All!
Will & Kate

More Pictures

This was his birthday cake. This is him bustin a move at the bowling alley during Cosmic Bowl. I just like the 3rd picture, I think it is a cute picture. ENJOY!!!!

More Bowling Fun...

I will send out the picture CD soon. Lots of love to everyone! Have a great day! I will update again soon!

Fat Cat Fun!

I will make a CD of all the pictures that we took and send them Mom Hopper. If anyone else would like a CD let me know. Everyone got atleast a strike at some point last night.

Happy 5th Birthday Sean!!

The night started out great. The McConnell's and us got together to eat a yummy dinner of ribs, and Mom Hopper's potato salad. Sean had his favorite foods for dinner, sausage pizza with lots of black olives and mac-n-cheese. After dinner we rested our full stomachs by opening up birthday presents. That was a lot of fun to watch him open up his presents. He got all cool things.

His very own soccer ball, t.v., very own video game system (mind you it is educational), and 2 new games for his video game system. A Cars game and Finding Nemo game. He is very excited to be like Uncle Will with his own "X-Box." After opening presents and taking a lot of pictures we sang Happy Birthday, blew out his candle and ate really really good cupcakes, ocean themed, with Vanilla ice cream.

For his birthday activity, Sean wanted to go bowling and play video games. So we left for Fat Cats bowling alley and arcade. Everyone had a BLAST!!!! We played in the Arcade for the first 1/2 hour or so, then moved on to Bowling a couple games. Will dominated the first game, I came in 2nd, John 3rd, Sean, then Mir. Game 2 was John, Will, Me, Sean and Mir. Sean is a pretty good bowler! Very strong! I will attach more pictures. We had a long and fun family birthday night. Around 10 o'clock, Cosmic bowling started. Really loud music, cool lighting and black lights to make things glow. Sean and Uncle Will busted out some dance moves, very AWESOME!!! Those pics will be attached too.

We left the alley around 11:15 last night! Crazy late, but crazy fun! Everyone had a great day. Sean had a very Happy Birthday!

Love To All,

Will and Kate

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We hope that everyone enjoyed their Easter day today. Will and I had a great time. We spent today with my side of the family. We ate LOTS and LOTS of nummy food. We watched Myles go on an egg hunt. Very cute! Took pictures, caught up, hung out and just had an all around good time. Today was a Gorgeous Easter! The sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue. Warm enough even to wear shorts! Will made Mom H's fantastic potato salad, that is always a good treat. We are very greatful for this day. We are very greatful for our family. We would like all of you to know how much we love and appreciate you. Our lives are better because each one of you is in them. We are greatful for the daily blessings that we receive from our Heavenly Father. For the love and blessings that he pours upon us everyday. Please know and always remember how important you are to us. We Love you all very much! Happy Easter!

Well this is the first time, I have been able to sit and update our blog. Things are going well for us, now. For about 4 months at the end of last year it was really touch and go. Now, things are going well. Will and I are doing much better business wise and financially. We will put it this way...we were able to buy our own groceries 2 weeks ago for the first time! It was a momentous occasion! Will is thriving at Cornerstone! He is kicking butt and taking names. I am very proud of all his success and achievments. He is the best event in my life and I am so blessed to have him as my Husband.

This weekend we are taking a much overdo trip. Just to Boise, nothing big, to meet up with some friends. We will be back on Sunday.

There is nothing new in our lives...just work and eachother. I just got over being sick w/Influenza A. Now it is just a runny nose and small cough. Thankfully Will has not gotten it, so far! For that we are VERY greatful!

That is about all right now. I will do a much better job at keeping this updated. Thank You again Jen for this great present!

We love you all very much!