PNW for a season

I've decided I need to blog more. For me and my family. I've noticed that there are very few places that I record my memories these days, and I need to be better at it. I love looking through my past posts and remembering all the great times with my family. I hope I can blog more for my family to look back on. And then maybe it will trickle into better journal writing and other kinds of record keeping. 

So... Here's some past entries I don't want to forget.


Washington! We spent roughly 4 months in Puyallup, Washington in the fall of 2014 for Eric to do a physical therapy rotation. This is actually a really neat story that I just can't forget, so I will try my hardest to remember the details. 
We had originally planned to go in the summer but last minute Eric's professor told us the internship had fallen through and our only other option was to go in the fall. We decided to go with it since my twin sister lived 10 minutes away and it would be a fun adventure that we probably would never be able to do again. 2 small kids, 2 cars packed with 4 months worth of living supplies, 12 hours of driving with Eric's brother and his wife to help us (they have no idea how much that meant to us), figuring out insurance, furniture and all the logistics, we finally made it to our tiny apartment. It was no beauty. Dark basement, sleeping on an aerobed, Seattle rain, weird neighbors that smoked all day- filtering into our apartment, Eric's awful work hours, kids getting pneumonia, etc, etc. BUT, we had a wonderful time, saw and did some amazing things, and learned a lot. With all of the hard, there is no doubt in my mind we were supposed to be there at that time. And that is what I want to remember most. That God directs our lives and knows exactly where and when we should be in life.


Alex and Lacee saved us. They helped us move up there and we got to hang out with them for a couple days.


We went to a Mariner's game. REI headquarters, space needle, lots of bike rides, hikes, museums, all the Seattle downtown sights, I did a triathlon in Bonney Lake, we made it to the Oregon coast, etc. We made some great memories.


We got to spend a few weeks with Jackie's family before everything went crazy. We even took a trip to the coast one weekend and did family pictures. Washington was beautiful, and it was just so fun to have cousins playing together almost everyday.
Then one day Jack dropped her kids off at my place for a routine checkup and found out she had a lump in her breast. It was surreal. We didn't believe it. A couple weeks went by before they confirmed it was indeed breast cancer. And that's when everything changed. No more frolicking around in Washington. (Not that that was what we were doing, but we realized we were there for a reason). It all clicked. We knew we were meant to be there for her since we were their only family close by. The next couple months were constant dr's. appointments and babysitting her kids, making meals, and just being there for her. It was crazy because I know if I was living someplace else at the time, my twin sister bond would have ached to be next to her the entire time, and I think God knew that, so he put me there ahead of time. I am still sooo grateful for that. Jack did awesome with surgery, chemo and radiation. She is now fine and is a giant of a person I hope to be like some day. 



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Monterey, CA

Eric had a rotation for school out in Monterey. Heber and I went with him but came home a couple weeks early. It was such a fun adventure to have as a little family. We stayed in an extended stay hotel and were within 10 minutes walking distance from the ocean. Heber and I would drop Eric off at the hospital every morning and then find something fun to do. We went on lots of walks and played at the beach a ton. Heber looooved the rocks sand! We were lucky to have some friends out there. My good friend growing up (Karalee McNeil) happened to be living there with here little family, so it was fun to hang around with them. We had to get creative with dinners since our little place didn't have much to cook with. Lots of frozen dinners and simple meals. Weekends were the best because we could all go and do something. We drove up to San Francisco and went to a Giants game. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We got together with Eric's uncle Paul and Anna and went on a hike. Eric's parents were there at the beginning and then my parents came at the end to take me and Heber home. I was 36 weeks pregnant, so I wanted to be home in Utah that late in my pregnancy. Luckily nothing happened, but it was nice for the peace of mind.
We had such a great time in that beautiful area. It was great to just have all that time together and get a little adventure in with Heber before the new baby.
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Summer so far

It's not very common to ski on the 4th of July, so we took advantage and went skiing in our shorts up to Snowbird. It was really fun. If it happens again, I would really recommend it to anyone

Mama Proctor sure knows how to entertain the family.

Spring is in the air.

Momma Proctor rented an old home at This is The Place Heritage Park up in SLC. We celebrated Easter there with the family. A petting zoo, pony rides, crafts, train ride, and a giant egg hunt. I thought it very fitting to be amongst our roots as a Church. Those pioneers traveled so far because of their strong belief. . . that our Savior lives. It made me think about Easter a little bit differently. A good different.

Christmas over here

We've been out on the slopes this winter break. It's been especially fun to have family around to ski with, like those Californians, Nate and Katie.

Eric decorated our lime tree this year. (We got it this fall, and it's been growing like a champ.) We made salsa for neighbors, gave paperwhites to friends, and I had a little too much fun wrapping gifts this year.

We had some friends over for a "some people wear Christmas sweaters, boys too cool to." and played games, ate treats and got to see Aubree's baby boy Sam. Winner of the best Christmas sweaters goes to Jackie's "Christmas cat" and Aubree's "Because I'm the mom, that's why" (Wish I would have taken pictures of them.)

Oh, and the ugly doll in the back is what Eric got as a white elephant gift. Thanks Care and Grant. :)

Peppermint chocolate cake.
Merry Christmas!

ski utah

We are big fans of the snow. Especially skiing... It makes the winter months go by so much better. I love to get up in the mountains- no matter what the activity is. Brett and Selena took little Madi up skiing to Sundance. I'm sure it was funny to see her pink, puffy body do the "pizza" and me try to stop her from shooting down the mountain, while i tried with all my might to do snow plow behind her. I never knew skiing with a kid attached to you could be so exhausting! A great bum workout fyi :)
Here's to many more beautiful snowy days ahead! Let it snow.

A Maiden Voyage

This was our first Lake Powell trip as a Proctor family. There were some bumps as we expected, but just bumps. The rest was a dream.

Dear Lake Powell, What a swell time we had.

Thanks.
Love, Jennie

Steph and Brock......................................................................................................................Nate and Katie

Lots of kids to play with, and two dogs:) We were lucky to get everyone down there (minus 4, plus a few.) Which is quite a feat with our Ginormous family... and it's still growing!

Brett and Selena spoiled us all with their generosity. They provided all the toys. Jackie took us to a sweet cave (she was/is a Lake Powell gal) and we did some serious exploring.

Wake surfing was tried and defeated by Brett. Eric showed us his slolom skills. And Nate and Brock rock climbed our campsite landmark.

What a beautiful place to spend some quality time with family. Lake Powell really is magical. There's no place like it, and we live so close. How lucky we are. Auvoir, Until next year!