Jess and Danny May: 2009

Probst Family Christmas Party

Our family has always gotten together for Thanksgiving but for Christmas each family would usually stay home and spend it with their own families so this year we decided to do a Probst Christmas Party. We had it at the ranch in Alamo and it was so fun! Aunt Lynn and Uncle Ron have really put a lot of work in to the ranch and everytime we go there is something added to it to make it even more fun. They completely re-did the little barn and made it super cute inside! Tonia and Ramondo cooked mexican food for us and then we went on a hay ride, sang songs, drank hot chocolate and then we went back in the barn for the white elephant gift exchange. The gift exchange was fun! One of the gifts had $100 bill in it so that added a little twist.

The hay ride!

No Probst party is complete without the Limbo! :)

Sleepover at Aunt Jess'

Well Danny is working on a job in Winnemucca, Nevada which is really sad but good for the work. He left December 2nd and will come home the 23rd... wahoo! 2 wks down one to go! Anyways, since I was home alone last Friday I decided to give Kyle and Emily a date night and had a sleepover with the kids. (I don't have any pictures of little Presley because she was already in bed by the time I got my camera out.

Kylie and I made cookies...

...while Kade watched a movie. He wasn't very interested in making cookies (he was getting very tired).

Kylie's job was to put the sprinkles on. She went through an entire bottle of sprinkles with only 1 dozen cookies :)... as you can see, she did not miss a spot. haha

Kade fell asleep before me and Kylie so we stayed up and watched Cinderella.

It's so fun living so close to my neices and nephews. I was in the delivery room when Kade was born and watched him take his first breath. I can't believe how fast they grow. Kylie is such a sweetheart (with a tiny bit of sass). Emily said that Kylie will just randomly say "mom, I love Gecka" or "Gecka is so nice".

The kids love Danny and keep asking where he is since he's been gone. When Kade looked outside and saw the dog house that Danny made for Reggie he said "Uncle Danny is amazing!".. it was so cute.

Hopefully my next post will be a picture of me and Danny when he FINALLY gets home. It's our first Christmas together and haven't been able to do anything thogether. Although we are grateful for the work, it has been a little tough.

Girl Friends

Last night we went to the midnight showing of New Moon -I know, I know. It was SO much fun! We made shirts last year for Twilight so we carried on the tradition and did it again this year. You can't see the back but on it we gave it a jersey look with the name 'Cullen' on it and the #17. We left at 8:30pm, got home at 3:00am, I got 3 hours of sleep and then got up at 6:00 to get ready for work. I got off work at 4:30pm and now me and Danny, Emily and Kyle are going back to Mesquite for dinner and... da da dum... New Moon - again! No, we are not fanatical Twilight fans but I think the boys secretly want to see it too so now we are going with them. :)

I just love these girls and I am so thankful for good friends! We try to go to a movie or have a girls' night once a month and we always have fun no matter what we do.

Halloween Party 2009

Friday night we had a family Halloween party at Aunt Kathy's house. This has turned in to a tradition and it is really fun to see everyone dressed up. Dusty has been busy with football and didn't have time to get a costume so he was a "nudist on strike" lol, my mom was Kelly Osbourne and my dad was Ozzy, Kyle and Emily were so funny as old people, Presley was the cuttest little chicken I have ever seen, Kade was a football player, and Kylie was the "cuttest costume award" as a little indian.

Getting Danny in a costume wasn't easy but it actually wan't as hard as I thought it would be :). and, NO! I am not really prego, I just stuffed my stomach for the costume. We are the hillbilly bride and groom.

My coustins Brandon (little boy), Lindsay (Batwoman), Grant (Richard Simmons), and Bryson (toothfairy lol)

Grandma was an "old bag" and Grandpa was "Captain Buttocks" (anyone who knows Grandpa would say that that is a perfect costume for him :)

My mom won the contest for the "hottest costume" and dad won "best costume"

Kyle and Emily's costumes were great!

Grandma, Mom, Aunt Lynn, Aunt Kathy

I am already looking forward to next year...

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Meet Reggie

Danny has always wanted a bloodhound so while he was hunting, I surprised him with little Reggie. I found her in the KSL classifieds so last Tuesday after work, I drove to Richfield and got her. Danny was so excited! She is so cute and has so much personality. I will say though that having a puppy is a lot of work!

Kylie LOVES Reggie...

...but Reggie loves Presley

I Lost the Battle

Fall=Hunting Season

Well, I survived the first deer hunt with the Mays. We had a lot fun. I went up with them Friday after I got off work and then I had to come home Sunday. The rest of the boys took this week off work so they are still up there. I am ready for the season to be over so I can have my husband back! This is something they always look forward to though so I understand. :). They are still up there but as of today, they have filled 5 out of 7 tags.

Above: Danny's deer.

Kirby's first deer!

My brother-in-law Courtney's deer.

Ok so this is a HUGE tranchula that David found for Danny while they were hiking... you can imagine my excitement... Danny loves, loves them. He lets it walk on and him and everything... ugh! I wont even go near it! So he took it home and now it is just me and this stupid spider home while he is gone... he may be surprised to see it's gone when he gets back.

Nauvoo

We had the opportunity to go to Nauvoo last week to pick up Danny’s grandma (Ora Mae) from her mission. Danny and I, his parents (David and Becky) and his sister left Wednesday, September 9th and came home Friday the 18th. We drove as far as South Jordan and Wednesday night and then the next day we got up early and headed to Martin’s Cove in Wyoming. That night we stayed in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 9/11 we drove from Cheyenne to Sidney, Nebraska to go to the Cabela’s headquarters then continued on to Omaha, Nebraska. That night we went to Winters Quarters aka Mormon Trail Visitors Center. 9/12 we drove to Liberty, Missouri and went to Liberty Jail. That night we finally arrived in Nauvoo. 9/13 we went to church in Nauvoo and then went to Carthage Jail. 9/14 -9/16 we toured old Nauvoo, going through all the little houses and shops and, my favorite part, the temple session. Wow! What a beautiful temple!! This whole trip was such a good experience! I learned SO MUCH! We left Nauvoo on Thursday and finally arrived home late Friday night.

Below: These are statues of the Four Sweetwater Rescuers. On November 4, 1856 the saints came to the Sweetwater River and didn’t know how they would cross it. These 4 brave men – C. Allen Huntington, Stephen W. Taylor, David P. Kimball and George W. Grant – got in the river and helped the saint across the river. They were in the water all day helping the women and children across. The water was so cold that ice chunks were floating in it.

Liberty Jail – the picture of the key was the original key to Liberty Jail. This is where Joseph, Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander McRae, and Caleb Baldwin were for about 5 months while awaiting trail.

Carthage Jail – what a humbling experience to be in the exact place where Joseph Smith was martyred. The picture of the door is the original door with the bullet hole from the shot that killed Hyrum Smith. The window that Danny and I are standing by is the window that Joseph Smith fell out of.

The sunsets on the Mississippi River were beautiful!

Brigham Young carved this Noah's Ark set for his son.

Danny’s dad, David, is a professional horse shoer so he got the opportunity to make a horse shoe in the old blacksmithing workshop. That totally made the whole trip for him.

The Jonathan Browning Gunsmith Shop – this was one of Danny’s favorite things! It was pretty cool too see all those old guns and take a tour through his house

Riser Boot Shop, print shop, tin shop, general store, and the Family Living Center.

What a handsome guy! :)

The sun represents celetial glory.

Making a rope at the Family Living Center.

We stayed in this cute little house right in Old Nauvoo, next to the Riser Boot Shop

This was one of my favorite stories… after the Saints left Nauvoo, John Taylor noticed that his son was really really bummed so he asked him what the matter was. His son said that he was sad because he had to leave his rocking horse behind. So, John Taylor snuck back in to Nauvoo one night and got his sons little rocking horse and brought it back to him. The family later donated the rocking horse to the church. This is the original rocking horse. What a good, tender hearted man! I just love that story.

This whole trip was such a testimony builder. I was so inspired by the pioneers and learning more about what they had to go through and the good, positive attitude that they had.

Bathsheba Smith said, "my last act in that precious spot was to tidy the rooms, sweep the floor, and set the broom in its accustomed place behind the door. Then with emotions in my heart... I gently closed the door and faced an unknown future, faced it with faith in God and with no less assurance of the ultimate establishment of the Gospel in the West and of its true, enduring principles, then I had felt in those trying scenes in Missouri". As Danny and I walked down the Trail of Hope and read that quote, we talked about what we would do in their situation and we could only hope that we would have as much faith as these saints had.

Something that I realized that really inspired me was that the saints always kept going. They didn't stop when things got rough or when they lost a loved one....they kept going. If we, in our lives today, can keep the faith and "press forward" when life gets rough and hard, we too will make it through and be stronger because of it. I am so grateful to them and their sacrifices for us.