Owls living in the garden department of a Lowe's

One of the parents.

Another parent.

One of the babies.

Lowe's employees provide fresh water.

This is the baby owl who turned its neck when we walked to the next isle.

The second baby. 

It was a neat experience to see real live owls. 

According to one of the Lowe's employee this set of adult owls have had two other set of babies before this current set. I think it's great that the owls could have a home and that Lowe's takes care of them and provides water.

Homemade bread

For Christmas my husband Jason bought me a red 6 quart KitchenAid. I made cookies Christmas day and a couple more days. A few weeks later I decided to try out making homemade bread in my new appliance.

This batch makes two loaves.

I let the bread dough rise for 1.5 hours.

It doubled in size.

I kneaded the dough on my counter and then put the dough in two bread pans and let rise.

I covered with saran wrap.

I let bake for 25 minutes.

This is how the bread turned out.

I added a thin layer of butter on top.

I let cool for a bit then it was ready to slice and enjoy.

I made this bread and a several days later I made two more loaves but with some wheat flour added in.

They part wheat and part white bread was very good as well. My girls enjoyed the white bread the most. My husband loves both varieties. 

I used a recipe from Iheartnaptime for homemade bread. 

Here is the link...

http://www.iheartnaptime.net/homemade-bread/

Christmas 2016

This was our tree this last Christmas. My daughters loved it because it is a pre lit tree and you can have it white lights or colorful lights or both. I preferred having it on white light but my girls would switch it to colorful. Either way it was very pretty.

I loved our tree topper. Our tree is 7.5 feet tall and the ceiling downstairs is only 8 feet high. I made the Santa tree topper work.

It was fun to decorate our house inside and outside. I really enjoyed it being our first Christmas as a family. Jason and I go married in June so Christmas Eve we were married for six months. We loved spending Christmas together.

We opened gifts then go ready for church. Church was at ten o'clock in the morning. We had a great day. 

This was before church. I was wearing a cardigan that Jason bought me in Hawaii. He was wearing one of his new ties he got for Christmas. 

I bought us matching shirts for Christmas. Ha Ha! 

I love my awesome husband!

Our Hawaii Trip

Jason In December of 2016 went to Honolulu, Hawaii. We had a fabulous time and made many fond memories.

My fabulously wonderful husband Jason! I sure love this man!

The water is so pretty.

Here is my husband being silly...

He was happy to rent this Dodge Challenger. 

He really enjoyed driving it while in Hawaii. 

We liked these pine trees that look liked they were breeded with a pineapple.

We went to the Honolulu Temple and did an endowment session. 

It was beautiful.

After the session in the temple we walked around the visitors center.

Around the globe you have Book of Mormons in many other languages.

The main reason we traveled to Hawaii is because of Kymberleen. She graduated as a Radiology Technologist in the army. She is stationed and working at Tripler Army Medical Center. I am so very proud of Kymber! She will be there for three more years. 

Jason, Kymberleen and I. We were so happy to spend time with Kymberleen. We went to dinner one night to at a Mexican Restaurant. The next night we went to the movies. Wednesday the day of her graduation we helped her move to her new barracks. We did some shopping afterwards. We bought gifts for our girls at home and my mom and Jason's mom and step mom.

You can see from the above pictures how pretty the water in the ocean was on Tuesday. This was Thursday. It was cold, windy and rainy. We enjoyed some time at the beach anyways.

There was a man swimming in the ocean.

Panoramic view...

Goofy Golfing Night

 Jason took Kindsey, Kendree and I to Golfland to play goofy golf. This was in April, just one month after Jason and I met. 

It was fun having the girls spend time with Jason. 

 Jason and Kindsey

Kendree

These were taken on April 28, 2016

How I met my husband

On a Tuesday I went to the Mesa Arizona Tempe to do a Sealing session with other singles from the valley. It was there that Jason and I met. We did proxy sealings together.

Afterwards I went to Pete's Fish and Chips where it was where the singles were to meet afterwards. I do not eat fish and wasn't thrilled it was the place picked. I went anyways. I thought I could get a salad but it wasn't an option on the menu. I ordered a root beer, french fries and coleslaw. I went to find a table thinking I was the only one there. I walked around the side of the building where they had more tables. I was happy to see Jason sitting there.

That night at Pete's Jason and I were the only ones who came after the Temple night. It was nice to sit with him and we had a good conversation together. I liked that he asked me all kinds of questions and seemed to care what I had to say. I did learn many things about his life and what he likes. He traveled a lot and loves to go deep sea diving.

We were surprised to find out we grew up so close together. We only lived a few streets from each other. He was in 7th ward while I was in the 9th Ward of Mesa South Stake. We went to Mesa Junior High and Mesa High School together.

We talked about the recent Easter Pageant that I was in. He knew one of the assistant directors who owns JesterZ Improv. It's a comedy club in Mesa, Arizona. We talked about our favorite restaurants and talked about Matta's Mexican Restaurant that we both ate at growing up.

Near the time we left he asked me on a date for that Friday night. To go to JesterZ Improv and eat at Matta's. I happily said yes. I gave him my phone number and he sent me a text the next day. We texted back and forth until our date Friday.

I am so thankful I went to the temple that night and then to Pete's Fish and Chips. I am so thankful to have met the man who swept me off my feet and I am writing this after being married for a little more than six months.

I especially love telling people that we met in the temple. What a dream come true. I wanted to meet a temple worthy man and I did! We had many dates going to either the Mesa Arizona Temple or Gilbert Arizona Temple and once in the Redlands California Temple. We'd go to the Temple and then to dinner.

My wedding reception invitation

I love our invitation. We had pictures taken at the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch. It is a beautiful area on Greenfield and Guadalupe in Mesa, AZ.

This was on the back of the invitation.

Jason and I got engaged on May 8, 2016. 

We had gone to California for the weekend.

On Friday, May 6th after work we drove to 

Redlands, California. 

Went to the Redlands California Temple 

and did an endowment session.

Saturday, May 7th we went to Disneyland. 

It was my first time and he has been several times. 

He surprised me on the Thursday before that we were going. 

We planned the California trip to meet his dad and stepmom. 

I had no idea Disneyland was part of the plans. 

It was an awesome day!

Sunday, May 8th we had just left his parents house to head home. 

He drove to a spot overlooking a valley. 

We were on top of a mountain. 

He said he wanted to take some photos. 

I posed for his camera. He then got on one knee 

and proposed to me. I had no idea. 

We had already picked out the rings 

but didn't know he had bought them. 

Jason had been out of town and came home Thursday night. 

He bought the ring set Friday morning while I was at work.

According to Jason I didn't just say Yes, 

he said it was a very high pitched YES!

I was so happy! I cried tears of joy!

I smiled so much that day that my face hurt!

I love being Kristi Patterson

Here are a couple more photos from our engagement photos.

Broccoli from my garden

It is nice to go in the back yard and cut off a head of broccoli, instead of buying it at the grocery store.

Sunflower

This sunflower is the tallest one so far. Quite a beauty!

Broken pinky toe...

A few days ago I broke my right pinky toe. It was very painful. I went to see a doctor the next day. X-rays confirmed it is a fracture. I was given a post-op shoe with a hard sole.

Thankfully I can still attend a youth girls camp for my church. I am one of the kitchen staff. The doctor said as long as I wear the shoe he gave me and stand. He said no if I have to be in a field doing a sport.

I'm glad it was my little toe and not my big toe. I remind myself of that when I want to complain.

This is a temporary trial in my life. I keep praying I can do all the things that need done. I pray it will heal good.

This is four days after the break

This is the tape splint.

Yesterday I didn't go anywhere, but today I have an appointment that was made before this happened. When I get home I'll put my feet up. I wear a sock because this shoe is slightly too big. So wearing a sock helps a lot. If I tighten the top strap too tight so the shoe isn't as loose then my toe hurts worse. Also by wearing socks then the white part will stay white.

Lesson learned...Don't walk into furniture!