Truly Grateful

It has been a pretty amazing few weeks. Last time I blogged I let everyone know that I had tried milk and was waiting for the reaction. Well, it never came! I have had several different kinds of dairy products over the last little while and have been able to eat all of them without reaction. I am so grateful to be "back to normal" that I cannot possibly express my love and gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father and family who have been so patient and caring with me - leading me in the right direction and encouraging me when I got so discouraged and was so hungry. I have truly been blessed.

General Conference was amazing! Jake had to work on Saturday so Abrielle and I enjoyed conference together. She sat on my lap for HOURS on Saturday and listened to the words of the Prophets. She loves listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and always held really still and sat quietly so she wouldn't miss any of the song. We are truly blessed to have revelation today and to know that this Gospel is true and eternal. What a wondrous blessing!

Sunday morning we hosted a large Conference breakfast at our house with many friends whom we love so dearly. It is so much fun to spend time with people in similar situations of life - new couples, many about to embark on the journey of starting their own families. We had so much food and great spiritual inspiration.

Monday was the celebration of our SECOND ANNIVERSARY! I honestly cannot express my love and appreciation for the man I have the privilege of calling my husband. Jake is... so much more than I could have ever hoped for. I am truly the luckiest woman in the world to have him by my side each and every day. Nothing makes me more happy than to know that I am his forever. He does so much for us. He is the most amazing husband and father. Two years with him has gone by so quickly, and yet I feel like I have known him forever. I love him so much more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. Thank you, Jake, for giving to my existence the beauty of a full and rich life and the blessings of true eternal love!

To celebrate our anniversary we stayed overnight in a delightful bed & breakfast called the Armstrong Mansion. We dropped off our beautiful baby with my fantastic best girlfriend Ashley Crapo. She, most generously, watched Abrielle all day for us until my sister took her overnight. Thank you so much girls for your help! After munching on large sandwiches at our favorite sandwich place, "The Philidelphian," we stopped by Walmart to grab lots of fun snacks and some bubble bath! We paid completely in gift cards that Jake has collected at work over some time and we both got quite a kick from handing all of the gifts cards to the poor cashier to take off of our bill in $5 intervals!

From Walmart we drove to downtown Salt Lake to check into our room. Because we were the first ones there (there are only 12 rooms in the place) the innkeeper let us tour all of the rooms. We booked a special deal where we book for $99 and they put us in their lowest priced room available (which was already a room that normally cost $119 a night), and then when you arrive they upgrade you for free to their most expensive room. We decided that we wanted the room called "August Retreat." I wish I had pictures but I didn't take my camera. The front room has the bed and TV and then you go through a door to a small room with a sink and toilet and then you can turn the corner and there is a staircase leading to the attic. When you get to the top of the stairs their is a 5x5 foot JACUZZI nestled in the attic. It was so enchanting!

We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Rodizio Grill where I introduced Jake to the Brazilian lemonade and then spent the remainder of our night watching movies, visiting, and playing SkipBo. We woke up to a gourmet breakfast in the parlor and wanted to catch a movie... but nothing we wanted to see was playing in the dollar theater and so we just got some new things for Abrielle at Kid-to-Kid. I love that place!

Yesterday we enjoyed lunch at Taco Bell because I am on a serious Mexican food kick right now and then we went to my brother's baseball game. He is on the 9th grade West Jordan High School team and they played Riverton yesterday. They fought a great fight and ALMOST won! The second to last batter hit a KILLER Grand Slam.... Dang!

We dined with my family on Taco Time (lol! Mexican kick!) and then spent the remainder of the evening at my Grandma and Grandpa Troff's house celebrating my baby brother Kayden winning the gold medal at the North American Youth Chess Championship in Mazatlan, Mexico! He had 6.5 points out of 7 (meaning he won all of his games and got one draw). He is so awesome! Check out his blog at http://kaydentroff.blogspot.com/.

We left around 8:30 and were in bed at 9:00. After so much fun we were truly exhausted and slept until our natural alarm (aka Abrielle Ranay) went off at 7:30. She just went down for a nap so I think we may head back to bed for another quick nap - Jake has the day off, hurray!

All-in-all we are so grateful for each other, our families, and the knowledge of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel. Life is not perfect, but in it we can find so much to celebrate and take joy in. We sincerely hope that you have also found reasons to delight in life and that our Father in Heaven may bless you and your family.

Love always, Shayla and the Bentley Family