Mike survives Honduran earthquake

Mike slept through the 7.1 earthquake in Honduras at 2:24 am this morning. The epicenter of the earthquake occurred 80 miles off the coast of Honduras, northeast of La Ceiba, the city where Mike is currently staying. The quake hit closest to the tiny idyllic island of Roatan. Mike left Roatan for La Ceiba only yesterday and meant to travel to the major city of San Pedro today. He is currently trying to figure out how to do that since the country's biggest bridge spanning its largest river, the Ulua, collapsed in the earthquake. All planes are grounded at this time as well. We are seriously wondering when the bridge might be repaired, seeing as the police took close to 3 days to clear an accident on the mountain road between the base and San Pedro in March. So far only one casualty has been reported, although the earthquake was felt throughout Honduras as well as in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and northern Nicaragua. In a hotel close to where Mike is staying a worker reported that the water came completely out of their pool. Crazy! We are so grateful Mike is safe. Please pray with us for his continued safety.

Hanging at the cabin

We have spent many wonderful hours up at the Connellys beautiful cabin. Here are a few pictures from our last trip up there.

Thomas the Train!

Thomas the Train came to town and Jay's wonderful grandma decided we just had to go! We've been talking about going to see "big Thomas" for a couple of weeks now and over the weekend he finally came! Trains are Jay's favorite thing right now, especially Thomas. He knows most of the engines by name and plays with his little train set for hours on end. He even likes the silly Thomas the Train movies. Seeing Thomas in real life was quite the experience for him. So Friday morning Jay dressed up in his finest railroad gear and headed out to the Midway train station where Thomas awaited him.

Here's Jay waiting for Thomas to be unveiled...

And finally he's here!

Blowing kisses to Thomas...

Before our ride on Thomas, we did some of the fun things offered at the station including playing with bubbles, seeing the animals at the petting zoo, and playing at the train tables. Jay carried his little Thomas and Percy with him everywhere we went.

Jay was pretty excited when we finally made it on the train. We even met the conductor! Jay was so excited to show Thomas and Percy the train. He made sure to hold them up high so they could see outside.

Going to the Park

We have been visiting many different parks in Provo lately. Jay loves going to the playground. He can't get enough of it. Here we are at a cute little park in South Provo. Jay had a great time climbing the little wall and blowing bubbles. His favorite thing was throwing "lions" (dandelions) down the little stream though.
I just had to add this picture at the end. Jay is grandma's little helper when it comes to gardening. He loves helping her, especially when he gets to water the plants!

Calling all moms!

Dear moms,

I am making a book with quotes and poems in it about motherhood (mostly from General Authorities). I am using this book for myself - I'm not selling it or anything. I may give it away as a present to close friends and relatives. I have found some awesome quotes that have uplifted me as a mother and I wanted to have them in one place, so I figured why not make a book online? I was thinking it might be fun to have some photos of mothers with kids in the book, but I want them to be of real people - not models. So if you want, I'm asking you to send me a picture of yourself with your kid(s) or with your mother, grandmother or a mother figure. It's completely up to you. I won't be using the pictures for anything other than this book. Also, if anyone is interested in a copy for themselves, I will provide the sign in information on Shutterfly (I won't be making it public) so you can order one. If you wouldn't mind me using a picture of yours, please send it to me at: dejah6@hotmail.com. Oh, you are also welcome to send me any quotes on motherhood that have uplifted you or helped you through this crazy adventure. Thanks for your help!

New friends

While we've been in Provo Jay has had the opportunity to make some new friends. We have had several playdates with Nikki Packer and her boys. Jay loves Kale. On our last playdate we went to the BYU art museum to see a cool new art exhibit featuring trash and toys. The boys loved it. After the museum we went to see the birds at the pond south of campus. It feels like yesterday I was a Sophomore walking past the pond to Liberty Square, thinking about this really hot guy named Mike Connelly. Now I'm married to him and we have a 2 1/2 year old. Crazy! Time flies. Mike's still hot though ;) Jay and Kale had a great time at the pond. I was interested to see BYU has added turtles to the pond. They're really cool. Jay and Kale also had fun chasing one of the ducks. Poor thing was so fat from being fed that he could hardly outrun them, and he didn't seem to be able to fly either. He finally made it back into the pond though and all was well. We sure love hanging with the Packers.
Jay also loves Reed and Melissa's neice Oni. He has so much fun with her. She's adorable. Whenever we tell him Oni is coming over he gets super excited. When the doorbell finally rings he goes screaming to the door to see her. I guess she's the closest thing he has to a cousin for now. They sure love each other. Here they are playing with flashlights. They love hiding in dark places together... uh oh!