Fun with the Fellows... OH and Jayde went to Nursery!!

Here is Jayde after going to the nursery at church for the first time. Technically she is only 16 months old and you can't go in until you're 18 months, but the teacher is one of our neighbors and she loves Jayde. During singing time while we were watching the 3 year olds we teach Jayde was being super squirmy and not cooperating so Tyson took her out in the halls for a walk. They passed the senior nursery while they were doing a puppet show and Jayde said, "Ooooh". Catherine (the teacher) asked Ty if we wanted to leave her in there and he said they were just walking the halls. She persisted saying she can watcher her no problem so Tyson was like, "Okay!"

He led her in and she never looked back!

After church was over (and a very wonderful 3 year old lesson was taught without baby distractions), we picked her up as she was sitting by the wall sucking on a rice crispy treat. She handed us this drawing, and acted as if we'd been there the whole time. Danielle said she did better than most the older kids even, that she was a little 'table dancer' (wonder who she gets that from), and that she was a very good vacuum - supposedly she would eat all the fruit loops other kids accidentally dropped on the floor haha.

AAAAAnd that weekend our friends the Fellows FINALLY came and visited us after years of us pressuring inviting them! We had a blast and it was so much fun seeing their little boy Griffin interact with Jayde. She didn't really know what to think... as you can see from the below picture sequence from our Costco run.

I think he was elated! We went to Samaurai 21 one of the nights which was amazing as always. Griffin just talked loudly in his little corner the entire time which was super funny.

We also went to the pool which was less than appealing. Supposedly the pool by Tyson's parents house is heated but it was overcast that day and the indoor and outdoor pools were both freezing!

Needless to say we were in and out of there pretty quick... at least we got some cute pictures.

Afterwards we rinsed the kids off in warm water so they weren't in cold clothes on the drive home from the pool. Jayde has never shared a tub with another kid before and she didn't know what to think. It's so funny seeing her reactions to new things.

We had a BLAST with the Fellows - staying up until 2am the first night they got there, staying up the next night until midnight trying to remember stupid jokes from childhood, talking about babies, jobs, and playing card games for hours. Just so you know Fellows - you can come visit any time!!

(and I totally mean it!)

I want to be baptized

Tyson and I went to California all last week to go to Disneyland and Sea World with his side of the family. His sister is married to Ryan who has a 13 year old (Matt), and a 9 year old (Katie). As we drove down we stopped in Kingman where they live and were able to go to their baptism.

It was so cool being able to see his two kids be baptized! Tyson's dad baptized Katie and one of the elders baptized Matt. I made sure to mention to Katie to make sure and plug her nose when she is dunked in the water because I forgot to do that and got water all up my nose. heh.

Tyson and his mom gave talks and they did really well.

His mom had a wrapped up box for her talk and each kid would pull out one thing and she compared it to the Holy Ghost.

First it was a GPS and she explained how that guides you where you need to go.

Then it was a sea shell because the Holy Ghost will whisper softly into your ear (I think that's how she explained it).

They then pulled out a flashlight to represent the Holy Ghost guiding you in your life, and being a light.

Then they pulled out blankets to represent how the Holy Ghost makes you warm and fuzzy sometimes.

It was really neat. I actually sang which was scary!! I don't like to sing solos, but it went really well and Jayde was a trooper the whole time. We felt the spirit like crazy, it was so nice to be able to witness that.

We bought them each cool CTR rings which they love to wear. I'm so glad that they chose to have the gospel in their lives. It was such a neat experience.

Robert and Rikki are officially married!

Robert and Rikki are now sealed together for time and all eternity in the Oakland, CA temple which is awesome! We are so excited to have Rikki in our family. The sealing was really neat, and it was nice to also have Tyson fly out to CA for their wedding.

Here are some pictures of from the day.

{The whole family (minus my brother who is on a mission in NJ)}

{I love this picture - all four generations}

{The siblings}

{Our true personalities coming out}

{My parents with all their grandkids}

{Bouquet toss}

{spiffing up the newlyweds car for their honeymoon}

{my dad and Madelyn}

{Garder throw}

{Madelyn and her great grandpa}

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!

First Church

We took Jayde to sacrament meeting while we were up in Salt Lake for the first time. She did great and pretty much just slept the whole time. I honestly don't know how much I was able to pay attention because I was so focused on her cute-ness because she is still so new, but it was such a great feeling having her make us a family of three and sharing all of these new experiences with her (even if she won't remember them).

three day weekend

We went to St. George for a long weekend and had the opportunity to go to the temple. I had never been inside, and it was gorgeous as usual. I love how old it is, and that it is so perfectly white against all of the red rock mountains of St. George. We love that we live so close to so many temples here in Utah!

While Tyson was busy doing work things I laid by the pool and worked on my non-existent tan. We went out to eat with Jessi who lives there and we don't get to see as much as we'd like!

We then headed to Vegas to hang out with some friends and get our butts kicked at Ticket to Ride which was a really fun game we had never played. Went to see the lions at the MGM Grand, and ate at Cheesecake Factory. It was a very much needed warm relaxing weekend!

"I hope they call me on a mission"

My younger brother Thomas and I had a fun time laughing and telling stupid jokes as we flew from DC to Utah. He was to report to the Missionary Training Center the day after we got back to Utah and I was lucky enough to be his family support and drop him off. As we were driving around doing the few last errands, he went down his "people to call" list to say bye to his friends one last time, and remind them to write to him while he was on his mission. We drove up to the MTC and were led around by the leaders telling him where to put his luggage, and where the families will go. There was a group of 'non-newbee' elders who had been there for a few weeks asking him if he was nervous, and reassured him that he was going to have a blast and meet some amazing people. I was glad about that because I know he was a little nervous about this huge experience in his life that was about to unfold.

As we met up in the reception area they asked everyone if they were or had been sick recently (swine flu and all). I said no, and was hoping that Thomas didn't tell them that he just spent a week touring around Mexico City. They let us in and I got to put his tag on him which was fun. I made sure to have a random lady take a picture of it to send to my mom because she couldn't be there for her last son to go on a mission. (A week after this they didn't let families come in because 4 elders got the Swine Flu - they had to drop them off at the curb! Haha we just missed it!)

We heard some great speakers; some were very spiritual and some were funny and light-hearted. They showed a short clip about the MTC and people going on missions, which was where I started getting a little teary-eyed. It didn't help that there were grown men sitting next to me crying! After that we went to get him set apart which was amazing, and was when I really broke down because I knew I wasn't going to see him for two years! Then he started getting teary-eyed... Anyways, today marks the day that Thomas flies to the New Jersey, Morristown Spanish speaking mission. We have written him a few times and sent him some fun packages at the MTC, and I know that he will be an awesome missionary serving the Lord these next few years. I love getting letters from him that tell me about the experiences he is having and know that he will have many more amazing stories to come!

Washington, DC Temple

our official LAST long run...eek

Us trying to smile through the pain of our throbbing muscles...I'm obviously doing a better job than him.

I forgot to post about our General Conference weekend. Well that Saturday didn't anything too exciting...except the fact that WE RAN 20 MILES!! It was officially our LAST really really long run. This Saturday we are doing 10 and then the next Sunday is the marathon. I try not to think about it too much because I start feeling like I'm going to throw up...ok so yah I'm really nervous. And it doesn't help that my right knee started hurting real bad on our last Saturday's long run but that's life. I've been trying to take lots of IB Profin and icing it. Tyson did amazing on the 20 miler so we should be okay. At least that's what I keep telling myself over... and over... and over again :)

Anyways - so that night while Tyson went to the Priesthood session I was completely wiped out so I stayed home and gave myself a mani and pedi while watching Pride & Prejudice. I love that movie! Sunday conference didn't start until the middle of the day East Coast time, so I woke up and made a good breakfast and convinced Tyson to bike with me to Old Town Alexandria to feed the ducks at the river. (We don't really like the heels on bread so it worked out perfect). The only problem was I didn't really realize how far away that was from our apartment, and I thought it woud loosen up our muscles, but it just made them worse. Yah that's the last time Ty is going to listen to me, but it was still really fun.

Sometimes Tyson doesn't like smiling for pictures...we're working on it.

2 Whole Years

As of July 22nd, we have officially been Mr. and Mrs. Horrocks. (Yah I know I'm behind with posting again but that's life.) Tyson and I met at BYU and 8 short months later we were married 'sealed' in the Salt Lake City mormon temple. These two years have totally flown by, and yet we feel like we've been married forever. I feel so lucky that we found each other. We are having a ton of wonderful adventures and we look forward to many more to come! Here are some pictures of our wedding. There are a bunch on here, but we didn't start our blog until way after we were married so I pretty much got jipped and wasn't able to post them....so here they are!

Some fun facts about us since getting hitched:

*Tyson has attended 2 different law schools & only has 1 year left!

*We have moved 3 times (which includes moving in together)

*Laura went blonde, to brunette, and back to blonde again

*We have signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon

*Tyson and I have lived in 3 different states...well if you consider DC a state...which I guess it isn't...but whatever

*We've traveled to Niagra Falls, New York City, Philly, San Francisco, Ensenada, Catalina, Vegas, Pennsylvania Amish Country and Virginia Beach (and I guess you can count DC too)

*Laura has worked at 3 different jobs. Hey I gotta provide for the fam! Tyson calls me his 'Shuga Mama'

*OH and we're pregnant...haha JUST KIDDING! Like that's even going to happen for awhile! Here is a picture of Tyson's wonderful family

And here's my family...my parents had a lot kids, what can I say?

My three sistas
Mi hermanos

Man...the cake was sooo good. We ate the top on the way down to Vegas for the honeymoon. We weren't into the whole freezing it and eating after a year...blegh...what a waste of good cake!

The smashing of the cake. I kept telling Tyson that he'd BETTER NOT smash cake all over me...and then I did it to him hahaha. He didn't even expect it! It was awesome!!

*Obviously as you can tell from this picture I need to work on my reflexes...I could've planned that part out better.

My family just being...well...my family

Country Dancin'...and me getting my dress stepped on. That thing was so dirty when we were done!

AND THEY LIVED...HAPPILY EVER AFTER!