Preparing to be Elder Vaughan

 I am so proud of Benjamin aka Benny!!  He is such a wonderful brother and a great young man!  He went through the temple on Saturday so we headed down to Billings.  As we went through Jarom was able to do baptisms and it was a beautiful day indeed. 

 Well if you know Mom and Dad you are not surprised by the pics here.

 Look at that handsome missionary in his suit!!!!

Congrats to Benny!!  Germany will be so blessed to have this lil bro of mine!

The Beauty of Summer has already begun!

 Mom makes sure we take time to smell the roses, quite literally.  Here are some of her cream colored roses that will greet you as you first open the gate and they smell so good!

A little girl named Roo

 I was lucky enough to get to hang out with Roo while Holly went to work.  I love Lil Roo.  She is such a ball of cuteness and personality!  We watched Rango, had breakfast, read books, put together puzzles, did a card game, and took a nap.  Then everybody was at home and we had lunch together. 

 Roo saw Mom pull out the vacuum and she instructed everybody to cover their ears.  Haha!
Then she had some snot in her nose.  I told her if she got me some toilet paper I would help her blow her nose.  She came back with this tiny piece of toilet paper.  I was so impressed with her, but had to laugh when I walked in the hallway and saw this coming from the bathroom.  I knew it was too good to be true!

 Roo found a new spot to store her change

 She is such a little momma!  She was cleaning her bear up to put a diaper on him or her.  She made sure to clean her bear and get under the tail as well.  Then she was a little confused of where to get rid of the "dirty" baby wipe (notice how she is carrying it, as though it really is dirty haha)

 This wasn't from when we were watching her, but it is one of her many outfits of style.  Holly is so good about letting Roo practice making choices.  She informed us this was one of those opportunities of choice.  What have we on this little runway model:   her sunday dress with a bubble vest over it.  Then we have not only one pair of pajama pants, but as you can see from the right picture, two pajama pants. and her styling grey and pink shoes. 

Elegance in Recycling?

So I had the privilege to work with photographer Danielle on one of her fun projects. . . a newspaper dress she had made!  I had a lot of fun with the idea and the pink as well as the fun makeup!  She is a very talented photographer and it was so much fun!

 Here is some of her work from the event, love the editing with the lighting!  You will have to check out her website at faeriehillphotography.net   or check her out on facebook!!!

Where to start. . .

 What an eventful, yet wonderful month it has been! 

 Holly and I had the privilege to go to The Avengers together as she had not seen it yet, and I was more than willing to go see it again.  I loved it just as much as the first time I had seen it, but this had a few memories to make it a special memory:  We had fun posing in the photobooth before the movie, but then we were stuck in the second row from the screen!  Talk about too close!  Our bodies paid for it the next day, but it was totally worth that time to spend with my beautiful and amazing sis!

Then I received a text of how somebody wanted to meet me.  I was told I knew one of the people, but not the other.  Needless to say I was intrigued by who it could possibly be.  I agreed to have a visit and it was my old friend from primary, Rebecca and her little daughter who I had never met yet!  Thanks Sam as it was a nice surprise and such a joy!

I also had the opportunity to have surgery!  After having some pains it was concluded that I had a teratoma.  Dr. Henzel performed surgery to remove the teratoma as well as the ovary it was in.  I stayed on the surgical floor in the hospital so I was in my old workplace and it was nice to see so many familiar faces.  Dr.Henzel did a wonderful job as I am told the incision is healing perfectly, it is a work in recovery, and she took pics for me!  For those with sensitive eyes, you may want to scroll past the three pics:)

 One of the interesting things about this type of tumor is that it can produce different cells as it grows, so it is interesting to see what is inside.  Dr.Henzel cut mine open and found bone, blonde hair, and subcutaneous fluid as you can see below.

 There were so many blessings that had come during this time, but especially all the love and support from everyone.  They were all so great and I appreciate all the get well wishes as well as all the help!

 Jarom was getting ready to go to work and Grandma had asked him to change his shirt.  He has a certain shirt he wears sometimes that Grandma hates the graphic on it.  Anyway he grabbed one of my tshirts from when I worked at Planet Beach.  Clearly it was way too small for him, but it made me laugh.  The shirt is supposed to be a v-neck so you can see how much it is stretched.  I am grateful for such wonderful brothers who know how to put a smile on my face!

On the way home Mom and Dad tried to save a mother duck and her little ducklings from getting hit.  However the mother duck was determined to gather all of her little babies including the one who had run into our bushes.  It turned into a difficult task and despite our attempts to reunite them she ended up abandoning the little one.  Thankfully the Whitneys adopted the duckling until it will be able to be on its own.

 Above you see Momma Duck and below is her abandoned duckling

A new blog?

So to explain my new blog!  It will be a work in progress, but I have had several people ask to update my blog.  So I finally had some time and for some reason the whole template is off on my old one (jessicagracev.blogspot.com) so it cuts off my pictures and words to any new posts, so I am hoping this one will be better.  I also figure this is a new start that I may make a promise to you to keep you better updated of the "tales" of my life as well as the joys that are inspiring!  

Speaking of inspiration you may be questioning the inspiration to my title and webaddress for this one.  Well I will tell you there is a reason and it is based on a true story, but it may have to wait for another time.  So be patient and in the mean time look for more to come!

You are also more than welcome to see the old blog if you want  http://www.jessicagracev.blogspot.com