Just Us

Adam's 25th Birthday

2012-01-22T19:32:00.001-08:00

The past three years, Adam has decided to go ice skating for his birthday here in Midway. The rink here is the largest outdoor skating rink in Utah. It was a gorgeous day to be outside. It was sunny and about 55 degrees, which is crazy for January and not a bit of snow on the ground. The kids decorated the front door of grammy and grandpa's house so that when Adam got there, there were some birthday decorations for him. Adam's in-laws, the Johnson's came too.

Adam and Megan and Megan's sister Melissa with her husband

Addie usually skates by walking around the rink in her skates. It is hilarious to watch, and I don't know how she has the energy to go around and around like that. I finally got her to take a few steps and then glide and she was so excited when it worked!

Adam showing us his Blades of Glory moves

The group of awesome skaters

Kaitie doing a few rounds with Uncle Adam and Auntie Megan

Megan's sister Brooke is such a sweetheart. My kids absolutely love her. They call her Auntie Brooke. She was sweet to spend so much time with the kids.

After an hour or so of skating we headed back to my parents house for the traditional spumoni cake. We always ask for this for our birthday cakes (I'm sure my mom wishes we would pick something else). Mom even made a gluten free version for my kiddos and she and dad.

Adam got this Tim Tebow outfit from his father-in-law. Adam looked pretty awesome in it, we had to take a few look a like photos. Pretty funny! Hope you had a great birthday Adam, thanks for such a fun day! We love you!!!

New Years Eve

2012-01-22T18:52:00.000-08:00

So, originally I thought that New Years Eve this year was going to be pretty quiet around here. My parents were still in Texas and my brothers that live close by were going to be doing things with their in-laws so it was just going to be our little family home not doing much. All that changed pretty quickly. My parents decided to come home early, the Skinners said they would come up, and then the day before Jenny called me and said that they were in town and would join us too. Christina and Rich and the kids decided to come up and Adam and Megan decided to change their plans and come up to Midway also. We had such a fun night sitting around and talking. We had some yummy snacks, the kids all played together and we were all able to catch up. It was like being back in Texas in high school again.

Jenny, Chris, and their girls had to leave early to drive to Mesa, AZ so we did a few fireworks before they had to take off. It was pretty chilly outside, but no snow. Ethan helped Chris and Uncle Adam get the fireworks lit.

It's tradition in our family to go out at midnight and bang pots and pans together and scream "Happy New Year!" The kids love this tradition. Grandpa and uncle Adam even got in on the fun. There were some great fireworks going on from the hotels around the area.

Of course we also had to have a toast with the sparkling cider. The kids were pretty excited that they got to stay up late enough to have some too.

It turned out to be such a fun New Years Eve! I am so glad that everyone was able to come and spend time with us!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Shannon gave us this darling jar filled with treats for Christmas. We saved it for Christmas Eve and the kids were so excited to break into it.

Grandma and Grandpa Muse always give the kids their Christmas Pajamas. It's tradition in our family to open those on Christmas Eve. They looked so cute- thanks so much grammy and pop pop!

Another tradition in our family is to yell up the chimney before bed to make any last minute requests to Santa. We are usually at my parents house on Christmas Eve and they have a chimney but since they went to Texas for Christmas, we had to adjust and yell out the front door.

Of course we had to make sure we left a treat for Santa's reindeer too. We sprinkled a some glittered, sugary oats to attract Rudolph.

Another concern the kids had not being at Grammy and Grandpa Hanson's was that we don't have a chimney for Santa to come down so we left Santa a special key and a note letting him know that we were sure if he used his magic, this key would let him come in the front door.

Just before bed we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and then Jacob found the redneck version on his phone and read that too. They actually liked the redneck version better. Figures!

After getting the kids into bed and warning them that they couldn't come out of their rooms, Jacob and I went to work putting together the dollhouse we had bought for the girls. It turned out so cute!

The kids know that they can't come out of their rooms on Christmas morning until they hear the bells of Santa's sleigh and he yells out "ho! ho! ho!" When that finally happened they came running out with black soot on their noses from where Santa had counted each of them in the night.

Addie's gifts from Santa. He never wraps presents. He just lays them out and puts their stocking with their gifts so they know who's is who's.

We had planned on waiting until after church to open the gifts under the tree but we ended up having enough time to do that too. Ethan was so excited to get a new basketball!

Ethan's gifts from Santa.

Kaitie's gifts from Santa. She was most excited about the docking station for her ipod!

We were truly so blessed this Christmas. It was a wonderful peaceful day together as a family and with our ward family at church. I am so grateful for my Savior and hope that my children remember that He really is the reason for this season.

Christmas Eve Ice Skating

2012-01-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

We were so excited to spend the day of Christmas Eve with the Skinner family. They came early for a big breakfast of pancakes, breakfast casserole, turkey bacon, and hot chocolate. The kids filled up and then got ready to head to the ice skating rink in Midway. We got there just as it was opening. The kids were so excited!

Addie was a little wobbly at first, falling down as fast as she got up but never got discouraged and soon she was flying around the rink.

Ethan remembered how to skate pretty quickly and loved stopping to say hi to everyone each time he came around.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day!! Not too cold and super sunny. It was such a perfect day to ice skate. Santa and Mrs. Claus even drove by in a red old fashioned car waving to all the kids.

Kaitie had gone skating the night before, so she started out a pro on the ice. There were a couple times she slid on the ice on purpose, but I don't think she fell down once on accident. She is a great little skater!

Reed and Rachel even got on the ice with the kids.

We had a few crashes but a couple bruises later, we had had an awesome time together. We are so glad that our good friends drove all the way from the Payson area to spend Christmas eve with us.

Our Christmas Express to Temple Square

2012-01-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

My friend Shannon gave me a book called A Christ Centered Christmas for a gift this year and I was so happy to have some great ideas to help the kids really focus on the true meaning of the season. The week before Christmas we started the activities suggested in the book. Each night we talked about a different person that was part of the Savior's birth. The first night we talked about Mary and the things that she might have pondered in her heart as the scripture talks about. We then made heart ornaments to put on the tree to help us remember to ponder that special night and imagine what we might have been thinking and feeling if we had been there.

Each night we talked about someone different and did a different activity to go along with that person. One of the other nights that week we talked about the wise men who took a different route in order to protect the baby Jesus from king Herod. We talked about the different routes we can go in life to make sure that the Savior is a part of our lives. The kids had some really great answers about the choices that they can make in life that may not be the popular or most common choices but that would be the choices that would lead them to return to their Savior. As our activity for that lesson, Jacob and I decided that taking a drive to see the lights at Temple square would be the perfect thing to do. I printed off these cute tickets that we presented to the kids. They say "round trip ticket on the Christmas Express". We had them get bundled up and present their tickets at the car door. We had hot chocolate and dinner ready for them to eat while we drove and talked about the wise men.

We invited Richard and Christina and their two cute kiddos, Robbie and Lexie to meet us at Temple Square so we could spend some time with them before Christmas. Temple Square was beautiful, as always. It was perfect to see the wise men in the large nativity there in front of the visitor center. The kids were so excited when they were lit up as that part of the story was told.

It was incredibly cold outside. I was so glad that I was able to finally convince Addie that she would need her scarf. She hadn't been so sure in the car, but she asked me to wrap it all around her face once we had been outside for a while.

The cousins together in front of the temple. The lights were so pretty!

This was my favorite part of the lights this year. In the middle of the reflection pond was a pure white nativity all lit up with little candles floating all around in the water. It was so peaceful and beautiful with the temple right behind it.

Hot Cocoa with Jingle Dell

2012-01-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

Our good friends, the Bush's have a cute little Elf on a Shelf too. Their elf's name is Jingle Dell and one day in December he left a note for the kids that there would be a surprise when they came home from school. We were invited to be there for the surprise. When we got there we found that Jingle Dell had put out a hot cocoa bar for the kids. They were soooo excited. He had even decorated for the fun event. There were snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and darling decorations on the table. The kids got to choose their toppings- peppermint marshmallows, red hots, and chocolate chips. There were doughnuts and cinnamon rolls to go with it. The kids were so excited, it was the ultimate after school snack!

Thanks so much Bush Family and Jingle Dell! Maybe next year our elf, Frankie Santa Jr. will do something like this too!

Swiss Christmas

2011-12-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

Swiss Christmas is always the first weekend in December. During Swiss Christmas there is a gingerbread festival benefiting the Children's Justice Center, a boutique at the town hall where there are also quite a few performances, and the Creche exhibit where you can see hundreds of different nativities from all over the world. We always go to Swiss Christmas, and this year we had an excuse to go twice. The girls performed this year on the Saturday morning with their little dancing and singing group "Twist and Shout". There were some problems with the sound, but the kids handled it really well. They looked cute up on stage.

Addie and her best friend Ellie were in the younger group and Kaitie, Abby, and Jaeden performed in the older group together.

Of course we had to get some pictures of all the girls together after their performances.

Kaitie left with her friend Jaeden to spend the day and Jacob and I took the younger two over to the gingerbread festival to see the cool houses and shopping booths. The kids got to decorate and eat some yummy cookies and pose in the gingerbread cutouts.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-05T19:38:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays. I think I love it so much because it is so much more laid back than Christmas, yet you usually get to see your family and have a lazy day together. I love that we always start out the day having breakfast together at the Homestead restaurant Fanny's Grill. We always have a lot of laughs and some yummy food. I even found a gluten free, rice free, corn free, dairy free meal! Yay!

Adam and Megan. We had a great time planning our black friday shopping strategy!

The whole breakfast gang.

Tyler and Mandolyn

Tyler is a great story teller. I love having my brothers around - they are hilarious!

We always have to take a picture out in front of the duck pond. It's tradition! Ethan wasn't too thrilled :)

My cute grandma. We took some pictures of her in the sleigh to put with her Christmas card this year.

Taking this picture was hilarious! My dad took it and wanted us all to crouch down a bit but my brothers didn't want to look shorter so we all three crouched down on 3 so that we would still look our same heights.

There were so many geese out behind the Homestead, had to get a picture of it :)

Of course we had to go through the newspaper as soon as we got home to see where we wanted to start the shopping.

Adam checking on the turkey. Too bad the grease spilled all over him and his new shoes!

Dad taking a pre- dinner "5".

Addie's new favorite thing to do is read Dr. Seuss books. Thankfully grandpa is a good listener. I'm not sure how many she went through but he patiently listened for quite some time. Addie sure loves her grandpa!

Tyler showing Ethan the new game he got on his ipad.

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some football. When we lived in Texas the guys in the ward always got together for a game before dinner. Tyler, Dad, and Adam had their own game out in the front yard.

Time for dinner - Dad carving the turkey.

We always have a Christmas craft to do Thanksgiving night. This year we made our Christmas planners. I think the little girls had the most fun this year.

Jessica and Whitney. Two of the sweetest girls ever! I have the best cousins. It was so much fun to spend the day with them.

Tyler, Adam, and my dad had plans for the 42" tv's that Walmart was advertising and I needed a few things for the kids so at about 9 we headed to the new walmart here in town hoping it would be a little less crazy. No such luck but fortunately we all got what we wanted and Megan and I were able to get in and out of there in 35 minutes. The boys were there a bit longer because they had to wait until midnight. It was fun to spend some time with Megan, and I was grateful for her help in getting all the things I needed. It was a great Thanksgiving!

Some of our Thanksgiving decorations at home.

Recess Adventures

2011-12-04T20:31:00.001-08:00

Ethan plays football every chance he can, especially at recess. The day before this particular accident he had come home with both of his eyes red and swollen. I asked him what happened and he said that playing football he had been elbowed in one eye and then another boy slid and kicked him in the other eye. I told him to be careful playing, especially when it came to his eyes. Well, the very next day I got a call from the school secretary telling me that as a mom I should really prepare myself for how bad his eye was. She said it at least 4 different times during our conversation. I called our doctor before he even got home and made an appointment for him to look at Ethan's eye and make sure he hadn't done any damage to his eye socket or the eye itself. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was so swollen!

Ethan was pretty nervous to go see Dr. Nielsen, he hadn't been to see him yet. He quickly found out that it was going to be painless. He checked the eye and eye socket and found that there wasn't any permanent damage done. Dr. Nielsen did a small adjustment and then treated him with a laser. He also used the end of one of his instruments to push the swelling to the outside of his eye to keep the swelling from settling under his eye and around his nose. We also put Chlorophyl on the eyelid at bedtime. We were amazed the next day. The swelling had gone completely down. We couldn't believe how quickly he healed! The black and blue didn't last very long either. We were so grateful that Dr. Nielsen was able to treat him and that the injury wasn't serious. Unfortunately, I'm sure this isn't the last we will see of the sports injuries!

Weekend Away

2011-12-04T20:05:00.001-08:00

Tina and I made a plan several weeks ago to swap tending each others kids for a weekend so that we could each get away with our husbands for a weekend to celebrate our anniversaries. Our anniversary is November 24th and Tina and Mikes is December 4th so it worked out great. Since our anniversary fell on the same day as Thanksgiving this year, we decided to go a week before. I wanted to surprise Jacob so I didn't tell him about our plans. It was so fun to surprise him with a weekend away. I made reservations at the City Center Marriot in Salt Lake City and got a hold of Jacob's secretaries and had them schedule time off without him knowing. It was so fun to plan!

Our hotel was right downtown within walking distance of just about anything we would want to do. We hopped on trax and headed to The Gateway to do a little shopping, get some dinner, and see a movie. We went to Jason's Deli and then saw "Tower Heist". The next day we went and did some Christmas shopping, had lunch, and did a little more shopping. It was so much fun to just be together and not have any schedule or whining kids. We had so much fun!

Our room was right in front of the Gallivan Center so we walked right past the channel 2 news going to the trax stop. It was fun to watch the news being filmed.

The Blue Lemon is one of my absolutely favorite restaurants so I was so excited to see that they had opened a location downtown next the the Deseret Book. Last time I ate there I was still eating gluten so I wasn't sure what I could eat this time around but they were really knowledgeable about what would be safe for me and were willing to make my former favorite sandwich into a salad and it was so yummy! I introduced Jacob to their tomato soup (also gluten free - yay!) and he loved it!

After dinner we walked around Temple Square for a while and met two cute sister missionaries that we talked to for quite a while. One of them was from Equador, where my brother Adam and Jacob's brother Matthew both served their missions.

Jacob at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

This was the view from our hotel room. The skating rink was so pretty, it changed colors every few minutes. It looked like a really fun place to bring the kids back to.

Thanks so much Tina for watching our kids for a couple days. We had so much fun, and it was wonderful to get away just the two of us! We had such a great, relaxing time together!

Our big 11 year old

2011-11-20T21:06:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that my little Kaitie isn't little anymore! She turned 11 last week! One of the things that she wanted for her birthday was to have her very own photo shoot--well, that was an easy one! The weather was pretty wet, windy, and freezing so we took pictures as long as we could stand it and until her eyes were watering too much. She has grown into such a beautiful young woman inside and out. I am so proud of the person she is becoming!

Kaitie has some really cute friends this year who were so sweet to decorate her locker at school on Friday (her bday was on Saturday). We took cookies to the class that day too. We had to get a few pictures of Kaitie standing next to her locker, unfortunately all I had was my phone, so this shot isn't great, but at least it's documented.

Grammy and Great Grammy stopped by before the party to wish Kaitie a happy birthday and to take Ethan and Addison home with them so that they wouldn't intrude on the "big girl" party. Turns out, that was incredibly helpful. We had a pretty wild night!

Saturday night was her "Night Owl" party. Kaitie absolutely loves anything that has owls on it. I made owl night masks for each of the girls. We started the party at 7:00 so all the girls came in their pj's and brought their pillows. We planned tons of snacks and a movie, and of course, lots of time for the girls to hang out.

I got each girl their own drink and tied on a cute little stripey straw. We made an owl cake, and then little owl party favor boxes for each of the girls to take home along with their owl sleeping mask.

The cute group of girls in their sleeping masks. Definitely now sleep happened though, and actually I think only about 10 minutes of the move was even watched. The girls mostly ran around the house eating treats and playing. It was incredibly loud, but they had a great time together and they are all really cute girls. We loved having them over. Jacob and I mostly hid in our room as long as we could. :)

I just let the girls eat off the cake pan, which they thought was so cool. Mostly, I just didn't want to get more dishes dirty. lol! Turned out a lot easier!

Kaitie got some really nice gifts from her friends. Some of her favorites were her kermit the frog hat, socks she could mismatch, the bed for her Monster High doll, a new watch, the new Selena Gomez cd, her own cozy blanket, and tons of candy.

November 2011 Retreat

2011-11-17T20:01:00.001-08:00

I was so excited about this retreat because my sister Angie flew in to help my mom cater it! I don't get to see her nearly enough so I was so happy that she was able to come. We headed up Wednesday afternoon to get everything set up for the 7 ladies that were coming a night earlier than the rest of the guests.

We always leave a little present on the pillows of the guests each night. Wednesday night, each lady got a "night owl" sleeping mask to wear when they finally went to bed.

One of the best things about the retreats is the yummy homecooked meals. Angie and my mom made the dinners on Thursday and Friday night and Lindsey and I did the breakfasts and lunches. It is so nice to have yummy meals that you don't have to cook or clean up. I think that is one of the things the ladies love best. Both the meals my mom and Angie made were gluten free and they even made me the same food without rice or corn! Yay!!!

We also leave a little gift at each persons table when they wake up in the mroning. Lindsey made these super cute ear warmers for everyone. I thought they turned out darling!

Malinda is a super crafty woman! She was teaching all of us how to make bracelets out of old t-shirts. They were really easy and turned out cute!

There's usually at least one night during the retreat that we get a little punchy and crazy. Friday night we decided it would be funny to do rockstar pictures. We were laughing so hard at some of the poses we got. I personally love how my hair looks like a tornado!

Our awesome cooks hard at work!

These girls had the cutest shirts and outfits that coordinated each day. They always looked so cute!

Lindsey taught a digital Christmas card class during the retreat to show the ladies how they can use photoshop to make their own darling cards. These ladies brought their own computers and played with photoshop most of the retreat. They made some cute cards and tags and learned to remove wrinkles, and move noses around! lol!

Angie and mom goofing off in the pantry. We got some pretty hard laughs back there.

It's always sad when it's time to pack up on Saturday afternoon. This is the typical amount of scrapbooking supplies everyone brings, sometimes much more :)

At each retreat we have a contest for a guest teacher at the next retreat. Malinda won again with this cute layout. She is such a great scrapbooker with an awesome eye for design. We are excited to have her teach at the retreat in March.

These two layouts are the classes I taught at this retreat.

October Conference

2011-11-16T20:58:00.001-08:00

Every 6 months when it's time for conference, the kids are excited to spend Sunday in their PJ's but hat the thought of having to watch all the hours of conference. I really wanted to find a way to get the kids to really listen to conference and have fun doing it this time so I got online and searched for some fun activities to keep the kids busy while the watched and to force them to pay just a little better attention while they were doing it. I printed off games, bought treats, and found fun quiet activities and then attached some pictures of possible speakers to each activity. I put the activities out a few hours before the Saturday morning session so the kids could see them and get excited about it. Anytime a new speaker came to the pulpit the kids got to go see what activity went with that speaker. This way there was something new to do during almost every talk. The kids loved it and it helped them get to know each person's name.

I got notebooks out for each of the kids to take their own notes from each talk. Addie was especially excited about it and told us that she was writing down "Important stuff".

One of the activities was to create themselves as a superhero. They all turned out so cute. Definitely something that will go in their scrapbooks.

Another activity was to build a temple out of marshmallows and toothpicks. We got some pretty great structures during this talk.

During the Saturday sessions my amazing sister Mary was in St. George running the marathon. I had the t.v. turned to conference and the live feed of the finish line on my laptop watching for her to cross. I was sooo proud of my sister. I had tears in my eyes watching her complete this incredible feat. She ran the 26.2 miles in under 5 hours!!!

One of the other things we did during conference to help the kids really listen was to put up a bare tree trunk and then a pile of cut out leaves was on the counter. At the end of every talk the kids wrote down what they thought was the main topic of each talk. They then put their leaves on the tree. We also put the picture of the speaker on the tree trunk. It turned out really cute. At the end of the second Sunday session there was only one activity left--the Disney hot chocolate that had a picture of Elder Holland attached to it. He didn't speak during the sessions the kids were able to watch so they never got to do this activity. After conference was over they each made up their hot cocoa and posed for a picture next to their full tree.

This was such a great experience for us and the kids. They found that conference was pretty great, they had pages of notes, and they understood how important conference is to mom and dad and how important it was becoming to them. I definitely plan on continuing this tradition for the kids in April.

Crazy Hair Day

2011-11-15T14:30:00.001-08:00

October 24th-28th was Red Ribbon Week at the kids school. I was actually over it this year and got to decide what theme's the different days would have. My kids favorite day the past several years has always been Crazy Hair Day. This year we had a plan way in advance of what we were going to do for some outrageous hair-do's. We got some lizard toys and glued them onto hair clips and then pulled out some small plastic bowls to form Addie's 'do--and of course the colored hairspray.

Kaitie is at a different school than the younger two so her crazy hair day was on Friday. She also had a definite idea of what she wanted her hairstyle to look like. It was a super fun day for all three of them. We are already planning our hairstyles for next year!

Halloween

2011-11-13T12:59:00.001-08:00

Tina and I volunteered to help with Mrs. Hopkins Halloween class party along with two other moms. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to dress up too. We even signed into the computer at school as our costume names. We had so much fun doing Halloween centers. Tina did a cupcake decorating station, I did the game "Don't Eat Frank" at my center, and another mom helped the kids make and decorate bats

that turned out soo cute! We played Halloween music while they were in their groups and just had such a fun time. During our party, Chester Cheetah dropped by and gave the kids all a bag of chips.

I love to make a creepy dinner each year for Halloween. This year we had broken glass bleeding cupcakes (red velvet with sugar glass), picked scabs (dried cranberries), bloody bandaids (graham crackers with frosting and cherry pie filling), dragon eyeballs (powdered donut holes with mint chips), bat guano (black licorice), used q-tips (marshmallows dipped in butterscotch), and rotten guts (sloppy joes). To drink we had vamp blood, kitty cola, spider sludge, and boogie juice. Usually the kids are too grossed out to each much but this year they actually filled up on dinner before getting their costumes on. We were lucky to have both sets of grandparents with us as well as great grammy!

Addie is famous for her little dinner table arrangements. She loves to set tables with vases of flowers and pretty dishes. This time she set up her table outside and sat the jack o lanterns as her guests. Her pretty table cloth is some wrapping paper from Uncle Ty's b-day that she is planning on using as her "Christmas rug" next month.

It is tradition for us to trick or treat with the Eriksson family, and this year the Bush's joined us too! The kids looked so cute in all their costumes and they were so excited to get out and gather candy!

Ethan was a cute little redneck. We ripped up some jeans that he had already destroyed, put him in a shirt that reminds me of the megadeath concert shirts you used to see people wear in the early 90's, cut off a flannel shirt and topped it all off with some bubba teeth and a mullet wig. He looked awesome!

Addie had planned on being Pippi Longstocking for months but at the last minute she found a Fiona (from Shrek) costume and changed her mind quickly. We put green eye shadow all over her cute little face and added a few fake eyelashes and some ogre ears. She loves to be in fancy dresses so this was perfect for her.

Kaitie is in that stage where she doesn't want a little kid costume but some of the ideas she had (punk nerd) just weren't coming together so well. She is a big fan of the Monster High dolls so we tried to put together a costume that would resemble that. With a ton of help from my mom I made this skirt for her and picked up some striped tights at walmart. Thank goodness for blue eyeshadow that worked will for turning her skin blue, and an eyeliner pencil that made great cracks and stitches on her face. I thought she looked pretty cute for a frankenstein teenager.

Tina and I were already dressed up from the 3rd grade party. I just added whiskers and we were ready to go.

The kids came home with a ton of candy in the pillowcases they used for bags. I'm hoping we can get rid of it fast so that I don't have to deal with the effects of sugar on their little bodies! We had a great time with the grammy's and grandpas that came with us and with the Eriksson's and Bush's. We ran into the Anderson's along the way too. We are so lucky to have so many amazing friends that the kids can spend time with. It was a beautiful night too, not too chilly at all!

Halloween Cruise

2011-11-13T12:38:00.001-08:00

My friend Shannon found these super great deal tickets for a Halloween Cruise on the Provo River a few weeks before Halloween so we of course were in! We forgot about them until the last week of the cruise. Luckily, Jacob's parents were here when we decided to use them and were able to come with us. It was a super chilly evening so we got all bundled up and headed down to Provo for our cruise.

We had to wait about an hour for our turn to ride the cruise boats so we adults hung out and talked while the kids kept warm and busy by running around, doing jumping jacks, and swinging from the tree swing.

The cruise was different from what we all expected it to be. We had a pirate captain that took us on our cruise up and down the river. He told us stories and jokes and showed us some of the really cool carved pumpkins along the river banks. Some of them were carved upside down so that their reflections in the water would be right side up. At one point there was a pirate attack on our boat which was about as scary as the cruise got. He told some funny jokes. One of the jokes he asked the kids the answer for was "What is a pirate's favorite cookie?" Addie yelled out above the 40 other people on the boat, "Chocolate Chip!". We never did hear the real answer, everyone was laughing too hard.

We had so much fun watching the kids have a good time on the cruise. It was so much fun to spend the evening with the Bush family and with Grammy and Pop Pop Muse. After the cruise we all headed to the nearest gas station for some much needed hot chocolate. Definitely a fun evening!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-10T20:30:00.001-08:00

It's tradition to carve pumpkins with the kids every year before Halloween. We were almost too late this year, I don't know where October went. We headed over to Days to pick the perfect one for each kid and then went to Grammy and Grandpa's to have dinner and carve our pumpkins. We are usually freezing every year, but this year it was absolutely gorgeous and really pretty warm out. I think this was the first year that all three of them were actually willing to get the "guts" out of their own pumpkins. They had a great time!

The finished product, along with some goofy faces.

Addie drew her face on and then had me carve it for her. She was so excited to have found a pumpkin that had a warty face like a witch.

Ethan was pretty sure he wanted to do the entire pumpkin himself. He did a great job!

Kaitie is a huge BYU fan, despite the fact that I went to the U :) so she of course had to carve a Y in her pumpkin as well as add some blue and white. Turned out pretty cute for a BYU pumpkin.

Great Grammy was there watching the kids carve their pumpkins on the front porch. We love spending time with great grammy!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-11-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Once again it was time for family pictures for the Christmas card...before it gets too cold and dark. My good friend Lindsey took them for us this year. What a great sport she was walking into shoulder high weeds with us for some cute shots. I love the way they turned out, thanks so much Lindsey!

Scarecrows and an apple party

2011-10-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

My good friend Lindsey was in charge of the Scarecrow festival at the school this year and I volunteered to help her. Over two days we helped 21 classes each build a scarecrow based on a storybook character. Each class chose who their scarecrow would be and then a room mom helped them put together a costume. Lindsey and I helped the classes put together the bodies made from PVC pipe, pantyhose, and straw. The scarecrows turned out so cute. I was so impressed with the work that the moms put into the costumes. We had cat in the hat, thing one and two, puss in boots, spongebob, bad kitty, splat the cat, wilbur the pig, gritch the witch, pippi longstocking, the principle from the black lagoon, and harry potter just to name a few. The kids seemed to have a really great time putting them together. It was a ton of work for Lindsey and I (especially Lindsey) but I really had a good time those two days. Addie's class did Boris the terrible and Ethan's did Puss in Boots.

The scarecrow festival went hand in hand with the Apple Party. We put the scarecrows up in front of the school the next night so that they would be on display during the party. The party was different halloween books and activities outside in the school parking lot. I helped Tina with her center. She read a book about a young frankenstein who wanted to dance. Tina had me do her makeup, I thought she looked great!! The kids loved the bolts we stuck to the sides of her neck.

Tina did an awesome job reading the story to the kids, she was soo good and the kids were almost in a trance listening.

After the story, the kids got to do an activity. We had doughnuts tied on strings hanging from poles and planned an eating contest. The first go around we found that the kids were getting their hair in it and licking each others doughnuts and we just had way too many kids want to be at our station so we just started handing out the doughnuts and saying "ready, set, go!" The kids were stuffing their faces in record time. It was such a fun apple party. Some of the other stations were making witches brew, having a skeleton scavenger hunt, and several other halloween themes. After all the stations were over the kids got more sugar in the form of cinnamon rolls. We had a fun time with all our friends!

Just some random stuff

2011-10-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

Addison is a huge fan of sitting down at the table with some markers, crayons, and half the ream of printer paper. She created this beauty the other day that was definitely picture worthy. I think it is sooo cute. It's a picture of her teacher Ms. Bingham and some of the kids in her class.

Every year in the fall we end up at two soccer games a week. This year the kids opted for some different sports. The girls both chose to take a singing and dancing class (which they are LOVING) with their friends and Ethan decided to try out football. He LOVED it!!! He had such a great coach who really focused on the boys getting a taste for the game and learning to have fun playing it. Ethan ate it up, I don't think he will ever go back to soccer, as much as he really did like that too. Next up for him is Jr. Jazz. We are hoping to take the advice of the pediatrician that tells us every time we see him to put a ball in Ethan's hands so that he can buy us a huge new house someday :) The kid loves sports and we are finding out that he is quite the little athlete.

Jacob and I have birthdays 10 days apart and my mom always is so sweet to make us a birthday dinner. This year we did it together since Jacob was on a hiking trip with his brother Jesse on his birthday. We invited our family and good friends the Skinners to come over to my parents to have dinner with us. My mom even made me a non dairy, non flour chocolate cake that was sooo yummy!

After dinner Mandolyn pulled out her game Headbandz to play with the kids. It's kind of like a 20 questions. The kid who's turn it is asks questions of everyone else trying to figure out what picture is on his head. It was pretty funny to hear some of the questions the kids were asking.

We had planned to take the kids for a little walk up the mountain near my parents house but Jacob had to work late and there had been cougar sightings so I didn't dare do it by myself so we went to the state park which was just as pretty. The kids splashed around in the water and fed the ducks before they headed to the playground for some monkey bars and climbing fun.

Mirror Lake

2011-10-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

We hadn't been able to get to Mirror Lake the entire summer, partly because we had had so much snow this past winter that they weren't even able to clear the snow off the roads up the Mirror Lake highway until half way through the summer and then the rest of the season was just too busy. So we knew we had to take advantage of Labor Day and get up there before the snow falls again. Our good friends the Bush's love it up there and had planned to go there too so we met up with them up there and spent the day with them at the Lake and then Provo Falls. We hadn't thought about how crowded it would be up there but we were actually able to find a little spot that we could hang out by the water while Jacob did a little fishing and the kids played around in the icy cold water.

Of course we had to get a family picture while we were up there.

After playing in the water and the clouds rolling in, it got pretty chilly. The kids were still pretty good sports about all the photos Shannon and I forced them to pose for.

This picture doesn't do the beauty of this place justice. It really is such a gorgeous area! We are really fortunate to live so close to so many incredible places to explore.

These two girls are a crack up together. They are the best little friends and they get along so well together.

After the lake, we couldn't miss going to Provo Falls on the way home--another gorgeous spot. The kids of course ran right down the hill to the bottom of the falls where they could get back in the water and climb up the falls.

Another family picture of course :)

Shannon and me

The kids were hilarious playing on the rocks. I think they were pretending to be mermaids. I love their imaginations!

I am so glad that we were able to get to one of our favorite spots and that we were able to spend the day with such good friends. It was an awesome way to spend a holiday.

Lagoon

2011-10-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Kaitie had been to Lagoon with her friend Megan, and I grew up going to Lagoon every summer but Jacob, Ethan and Addie had never been so we had to take them before school started. I thought I had already blogged about our day there, and then realized tonight that I hadn't! Oops! The kids were so unbelievably excited to go!

Ethan and Addie didn't think that the Spider ride sounded too fun, but Kaitie was of course ready to take it on! I stayed with these two while Jacob took Kaitie on the ride. They loved standing under this giant spider because it spit water and the day was getting pretty hot.

After walking around a bit, we passed this splash pad and the kids couldn't help themselves. They went right in, even with shoes and socks on (which they later regretted). I think Addie and Ethan would have been happy to just do this all day and forget the rides.

We got a little rain in the middle of the day so it was a good time to go on the bumper cars since they were under a big roof. Ethan was a vicious driver and loved smashing into me!

We went on quite a few roller coasters that Addie wasn't interested in so she and I went back to the Kiddie land while Jacob took Kaitie and Ethan back on the White Roller Coaster. It was pretty funny, because at Disneyland Addie was ready to jump on any scary ride in site but at Lagoon all of a sudden she was scared of them. She had a great time on all the rides made for kids just her size.

We were afraid that the lines were going to be long while we were there, but they really weren't that bad. The kids were pretty exhausted after swimming at Lagoona Beach for an hour or two so they were glad to not have to stand around very long to get on a few more rides before it was time to go home.

This swinging ride seemed to be one of their favorites. I went on it with them once and after feeling sick to my stomach from all the spinning, decided that I would just stand and take pics the second time around.

Addie, Kaitie and I were the only ones interested in this ride, they boys sat it out. It was one of my favorites. We were right next to the ride where two people get inside a little metal ball and get catapulted into the air. It was fun to watch their faces from this high angle. Not a ride I would ever be interested in going on!!

The wild mouse ride is one that I remember going on when I was a kid and thinking that it was one of the scariest because if the way it jerks and tips at each turn. Kaitie wanted Jacob to ride it with her. It is a bit different now then when I went on it but Jacob says it is still pretty jerky around the corners. Kaitie loved it!

This was our last ride. Kaitie had a hard time deciding between this one and Wicked. She and Jacob got to sit in the very front so we had an easy time seeing them as the spun upside down. Addie and Ethan chose the Musical Express for their last rides.

We had a really fun and really exhausting day. It was so nice to be able to spend the entire day together. Disneyland definitely wins over Lagoon but we really did have a great time and the kids are already talking about going next year. It's nice to have a place like this so close. Next time I will bring my own camera!!

Swiss Days

2011-09-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

I love the first weekend in September because it means that it's time for Swiss Days. It has become tradition to drop the kids off at school and head over to see what cute things are in the booths. We were sad to not have Rachel with us this year but Shannon was able to join Tina and I and we had so much fun. One of the booths had a bucket of props and a great spot for pictures and we had so much fun picking mustaches and sunglasses.

Saturday morning we took the kids to get a giant scone for breakfast and to watch the parade. I don't remember the parade ever lasting as long as it did this year. The kids got quite a few handfuls of tootsie rolls so they were happy.

Later that day we headed over to the air show at the airport here in Heber. There were a lot of really neat old planes. We were able to see a few of them takeoff and the kids were even able to play inside a few of them which they thought was sooo cool.

It was such a fun weekend and the kids had such a great time together exploring and playing.

First Day of School

2011-09-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

The first day of school finally came and the kids were so excited! Of course we had to do some modeling out in the front yard before we left. I was so excited for the kids, they all got awesome teachers this year. This is the first year for me that all my kids are in school all day.

Addie was the only one who let me walk her to her classroom. Ethan disappeared in the playground as soon as we got to the school as if he had never left. Even Addie said, "You can go now mom!" which was kind of a relief, I was so worried about how she would handle the first day. (We have had a few meltdowns since but the first day was great :) )

Ethan was the least excited about starting back to school, since he was filling every summer day with basketball and buddies, but he started to get pretty excited as it got closer to being time to leave.

Kaitie is in 5th grade now which means that she is now at the Intermediate school. She was so excited and nervous all at once. She has a locker and was issued her own laptop from the school as well. I can't believe how grown up she has become! She let me walk in with her just to be sure she could open up her locker but after that she was ready for me to go.

This is the first year for me that all my kids are in school all day. I was picturing a whole bunch of free time and a perfectly clean house but it turns out I am just as busy as ever being involved with a couple PTA activities and my new calling at church. I am looking forward to getting to spend some time at the school with the kids and watching them interact with their teachers and friends again this year.

Last Day of Summer

2011-09-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

We had to get in just one more time at the lake before school started the next day. We had a fun lunch at the park with lots of friends from the ward and then went home to get our suits on and head to Deer Creek with the Eriksson's. It was a really hot day and that cold water felt so good. The kids had a blast pretending they were mermaids. Tina and I loved listening to their different play scenarios. So hilarious!

We were having such a good time that we lost track of time and almost missed Kaitie's back to school night! We really live in such a gorgeous place where there are so many things to do so close. I am glad we were able to spend a few hours together playing in the water!

Berry Picking

2011-09-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

For several years I have wanted to take the kids to a "pick your own" farm, and so had my friend Shannon, so we decided that this was the year we were both actually going to do it. Shannon looked online and found a place in Salem that had raspberries and that didn't mind if we sampled while we picked :) Our good friends, the Skinners, live in that area so they met us there for some fun too.

I brought small buckets for each of the kids since we were going to be paying by the pound and I knew the kids would fill anything I gave them. I think we all ate as much as we put in our buckets, they were the sweetest berries!

The soil was like sand and it was a little tricky to walk in, let alone push a stroller with Logan in it down each row. The kids had so much fun running down each row, there were so many!

I was a little worried about how much all these berries were going to cost, but it actually ended up being really pretty cheap compared to what we would have paid in the grocery store. For all our family's berries it ended up being under $10. The kids were so excited to head home for raspberry shakes. After picking berries we headed over to Gracie Lou's quilt shop (the cutest fabric ever!), and then went to see Kung Fu Panda with the Bush's and the Skinners. We had so much fun with all our good friends, it was a really fun day.

Josh Groban concert

2011-08-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Josh Groban tickets went on sale this past April (I think) and I looked up the price of tickets, about choked, and then decided I wasn't going to go this time. After all, I had already been to 3 of his concerts. But the morning they went on sale I decided that I wanted to go anyway but was on my way to centers for Addie's class. I called Rachel and begged her to get my tickets for me while I was gone. The concert was two weeks ago and I am soooo glad that I decided to fork out the money to go. Jacob and I had such a great time! It was such an amazing concert.

A guy named Elew opened for him. I guess he is from the show America's got talent. He was insane! I have never seen anything like that before. I forgot my camera and had to rely on my phone, I was kicking myself the entire concert because my phone camera couldn't handle all the lights, it just showed up and big blurbs.
Josh Groban was hilarious, we laughed the entire time. He interacted a lot with the audience, even took questions from people. One of the guys whose question he answered asked him to sing some Kanye West tweets and he did. I don't know if you have seen this skit he did on Jimmy Kimmel Live, but it is histerical.

Aside from the really funny things he said, he was incredible live. I loved the concert, and Jacob even really liked it too. I am so glad that we went, it was so fun to spend the evening with Jacob going to dinner and then the concert.

Boating at the Lake

2011-08-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

MaKell came up to say goodbye to the family before she moves to Austin, TX. We thought it would be fun to spend an evening at the lake boating and having dinner. The kids were excited to get out on the tube. They had been tubing with Grammy, Grandpa, and dad while I was in OBX and they couldn't wait to get back out- with the exception of Addie who wont even get on the boat. She spent some time doing sand angels and then finally decided that if I came she would go out on the boat but she insisted that she did not want to go in the tube.

Kaitie is a little fish, she loves the water and could have stayed in that tube all night if we let her. She did a great job, I would love to see her on waterskis.
She was really excited when grandpa said it was ok for her to take a turn driving the boat by herself.
Ethan loves the water about as much as Kaitie. The only thing that got him out of the tube was the pounding his rear end was taking going over the different wakes.
Addie decided that she couldn't stand to see the other two having so much fun without trying it too. She said that she would go in the tube if daddy promised to only go slow and not go over any bumps. We went pretty slow and told her that if she decided that she wanted to go faster she could just give us a thumbs up. It was only about 3 minutes before we saw that little thumb poking up. She wasn't scared at all!

We had a little fun on the sand too, before we started getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

I am so grateful for the close family I have. We have such a good time together, I am so grateful for them!

More Fair Stuff

2011-08-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

Just realized that there were some pretty important parts of the fair that I never blogged about. The 1st week of August is Fair days here in our little valley and everyday there is a different activity that families can go to. Monday is always party in the park. The county puts on a free dinner for families and has all these fun blow up slides, trampolines, and climbing walls for the kids. The kids look forward to this all summer. I just look forward to the watermelon :)

All three kids tried out the climbing wall and just so happened to get their turns all together. It was fun to watch them all climbing at the same time. They did a great job, even if they didn't reach the top this time. They are excited to get there next year.

There are always talent shows of several different kinds as part of fair days. This year Kaitie and two of her friends decided to be in the lip syncing competition. A cute young woman in our ward put together a dance for them and coached them the entire week. They did a song from Moulin Rouge that was originally a Gloria Estefan song. They did such a great job. I was so proud of them. They were so nervous before their turn but as soon as they got on stage you would never know it. They didn't place this year but they had a good time and they found that they really could do it. I was really proud of them!

The Parade: I'm pretty sure this is the kids very favorite part of the fair- other than picking up their projects and getting their money earned :). We always melt, and for some reason we always sit in the same spot right in the sun, but we have such a good time! We went with several of our good friends and their kids this year. It was fun to sit and chat while the kids ran out in the road to grab candy. There were quite a few entries this year so it went on for quite a while.
Tina helping the kids to cool off in between candy runs.

Thank goodness for all the free popsicles!

24th of July get together

2011-08-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

A few years ago my mom's entire family got together at my Uncle Brent's house and we had such a good time. This year my mom invited everyone over to her house for a yummy lunch. It was so fun to see my cousins, I don't get to see them very often now that we all have kids and such busy schedules. I didn't take as many photos as I wish I had but here are a few from the day.

Lindsey, McKenzie, and Kaitie. Kaitie loves to get together with these girls, they always have a good time together.
We all got together in the family room and the front porch to hang out and talk. The little kids played on the slip and slide outside. It was good to just relax together and laugh.
K- my brothers really are good looking, normal guys but these are extra special shots of them goofing off. I'm thinking blackmail....

After all the cousins left, my brothers, their wives, my parents and me and the kids headed over to the Homestead for the outdoor concert. It was a really fun concert...don't remember the name of the group singing, but they were good and we had fun singing along to some of the songs they sang.

The kids had a good time and then all of a sudden hit a wall and we had to go home for bed but overall it was such a fun day and so fun to be together as a family.

Rachel's Wedding

2011-08-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

Almost a month ago Tina and I were able to take a trip to North Carolina to be there for our best friend Rachel's wedding.

We took a red eye so that we would have as much time as possible there in the Outer Banks. We were hoping for a pretty empty flight but found that our flight was even over booked and full of tired little kiddos that weren't interested in sleeping on the long flight to Atlanta. We were able to get a little sleep before we landed and had to run to our flight to Virginia. Luckily we made it in time and this time had a pretty empty flight. Tina and I had the whole back of the plane to ourselves and got a little more sleep.

Virginia was beautiful. I had never been there (actually no where near that far east) and it was fun to see a little bit of it. The airport was really close to the Chesapeake Bay and that was cool to see too. We rented a car at the airport that Marc had set up for us and then headed out to the Outer Banks, NC. It was actually a much shorter drive that we had thought it would be- only about 1 1/2 hours. Kittyhawk was so pretty! We drove around along the shore for a bit trying to find the hotel and saw some really cool houses. Most of the houses there along the beach and even a bit inland are up on stilts to protect them in hurricanes (which will come in handy tomorrow with hurricane Irene hitting there first). They were painted bright colors and some even had patios on the roofs. I would love to go back and rent one of them with the family sometime.

We finally made it to the hotel and found Rachel. It was so good to see her, we have missed her so much! We met hers and Marcs' family and then headed out to run some pre-wedding errands.

We got some yummy mexican food at this little restaurant in Kill Devil Hills. We were surprised to find that NO ONE knew what we meant when we said we needed to eat gluten free while we were in NC. Here in UT, just about everywhere I go the place has a gluten free menu or the waiter has some options for me, but not here. Tina and I both had some trouble with unknowingly eating gluten while we were there, but after only having apples and gluten free rolls on the plane it was great to have a real meal.
We found this great shop that sold every kind of seashell you can imagine. Rachel wanted Marc's boutonniere to be a starfish and we found a perfect one here. Outside the shop was this cool rusted out old boat with some really beautiful houses in the background along the water.

That night we went to a pretty amazing (if you like seafood) seafood buffet restaurant. Tina and I shared some awesome potato skins and nachos while everyone else piled their plates high with crab. Tina got brave and held one for a second.
It was really a funny dinner, a lot of laughs happened at this table and all the way back to the hotel. Definitely some journal material!
This is the hotel we stayed at. We had a great view of the beach from our room balcony.
Tina and I had an hour or so before dinner to walk around on the beach and explore a little bit. The water was really warm and the surf was pretty mild. It was a gorgeous beach!

It was unbelievable how humid it was there, nothing like the humidity in Texas- it was above and beyond anything I have ever felt. As soon as we took the lens cap off the camera the lens would fog up, I had to wipe my lens between photos and hurry before it fogged up again. We met some really interesting people on the pier that night. I couldn't believe all the fish in the water around the pier. The fishermen up there would throw out their line and several fish would chase after it. They were pulling in fish after fish. It pretty much solidified that we weren't going to go swimming--not that I was planning on it anyway-- Jaws ruined me. lol!

Our view from the hotel room that Tina almost caught on fire with her burning bag of popcorn! So funny!!!

The morning of the wedding we headed to Rachel's aunts cottage close to the beach for brunch. It was so pretty inside and it was fun to see inside one of those cool houses. After eating we had to rush Rachel back to the hotel to meet the girl coming to do her makeup and hair. She did an awesome job and Rachel looked gorgeous!

We helped Rachel with her grandmother's earrings and her dress.

I was able to get some photos of Rachel under the pier before Marc came down to meet her before the wedding. It was so fun to be there the first time they saw each other in their wedding clothes. They are such a cute couple and so much in love!

They picked a gorgeous place along the Cape Hatteras National Shoreline close to Bodie lighthouse. This was Rachel's niece and Marc's nephew. They were so cute together!
My lovely assistant photographer, Tina.

Marc had picked a gorgeous spot on the dunes there on the beach, it was a perfect spot for a wedding and made it really private.

I am so happy for this new family! Marc is a wonderful guy, we absolutely love him. I am so excited for their new life together!

Rachel and Clay. If you look really closely in the background, you will see Bodie lighthouse.

After the wedding we headed here for dinner. Again, If I liked seafood, I am sure I would have been in heaven. I loved my veggie platter though, it was soo good.
We went out onto the beach with the ghost crabs to set off the fireworks Rachel had bought on their way to OBX. I was amazed at how big they were- like the ones you see at firework shows. I was afraid the cops were going to show up, but they were beautiful!
Leaving OBX to head back to Norfolk, VA. It was so sad to leave, I wish we could have stayed a few days more. What an amazing weekend it was! I had such a great time taking a vacation with my best friends and seeing Rachel marry the love of her life. I hope it isn't too long before I can get back to this beautiful spot!

Fair Projects

2011-08-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

Every summer the kids look forward to fair days here in Heber. They LOVE to enter projects into the fair and earn a little extra money. This year we started a little earlier than usual getting projects done. My friend Mandy and I switched off taking the boys and girls and working on art projects with the kids that would fit into the different 4H categories.

One of the days that I had the boys, we worked on some tin punching with canning lids. I think they were interested in this for about 5 minutes but we did finally get the ornaments done and the boys did a great job.

A couple of days we got together with the Erikssons and did a few other projects together. They did watercolors, family trees, embellished flip flops, friendship bracelets, and a bunch of other fun projects. They were so proud of their work and I think they did such a great job!
Some of the scrapbook pages they kids worked on
I love this picture of the kids feet in their flip flops. I think they turned out so cute!

On Thursday the exhibits opened up as well as the carnival so of course we had to go see how the kids did. Grammy came with us and we met up with Mandy and Natalie and their kids. Grammy gave the kids each a few dollars to spend on a ride at the carnival. Kaitie ran into her good friend Kelsey and went on this crazy ride.
One of the days that the girls spent with Mandy, she taught them how to embroider. Kaitie made this darling cherry stitchery that we turned into a pillow. She got a blue ribbon for it.
Ethan is our expert shark artist so of course that is what he chose to paint. This year Ethan is a cloverbud in 4H and he is so excited for next year when he can get blue and red ribbons.
Addie LOVED learning to embroider and was stitching all day after Mandy taught her. This was her second stitchery that she designed herself- a hot air balloon that she also colored after she finished stitching. She was pretty excited when Grammy turned it into a pillow for her.

The kids all did such a great job this year and got so many ribbons, they are excited for tomorrow when they get to go pick up their projects, ribbons, and money. We are planning to go buy school clothes with their money, they can't wait!

C day

2011-08-07T19:51:00.001-07:00

We had a fun "c" day a few weeks ago. We went over to Zermatt here in the valley to ride the Carousel after we had spent some time making Cards for the Cousins at Grammy's house. After riding the Carousel we went to the bakery there and got some yummy Cones. What a fun "C" day!

S day

2011-08-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had an "S" day with some of our friends. It was a hot day so it seemed like a good day to play in the water. Tina invited us to her house to Splash in the pool for a little while.

some Silly faces were definitely involved

We did some Sliding and Swinging

Abby and Kaitie treated us to a bit of Singing. It was quite a concert :)

Then when it was time for a treat, Tina brought out the "Sweetermelon". We couldn't call it watermelon on "S" day. The kids still call it Sweetermelon.

After a while we went back to our house for some Slushes.

Then we got out the Slip and Slide for some more fun in the water

It was such a fun "s" day with some of our good friends. The kids are loving this new summer tradition of doing different activities to go along with the alphabet. We are glad our friends wanted to join us!

Pinkalicious 6th Birthday

2011-08-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Our little Addie turned 6 last Thursday. This year her family party year but she wanted a Pinkalicious birthday party so we had to at least invite some friends over for dessert. Addie LOVES all things pink and the Pinkalicious books are her very favorite so this birthday theme fit her perfectly. She got up early and immediately asked what she was going to wear for her party that night, so she got to open one present early so she would have something pink to wear when our close family friends came over for dessert.

Addie helped me design her birthday crown. Every detail was her decision and she was in charge of glueing everything down.
Addie was so excited when it was time for people to come over. We had made these little straws to go in the pink lemonade.

We got these cute cups and spoons for the pink jello with pink whipped cream and sprinkles. Addie was so excited to have so many pink desserts to share with everyone.
In the book Pinkalicious, the little girl eats so many pink cupcakes that her skin turns pink. Her doctor tells her that the cure is to eat green food. Since we had served lots of pink desserts we had to send our guests home with a cure for pinkititis just in case they woke up the next morning with pink skin.

We tried to make some of the cupcakes look like the ones in the book
Some of the cute kiddos.
Apparently Austin got too close to the pinkalicious doll. This is a classic Addie face.
Addie with Grammy and Grandpa. Grammy was the one who found the Pinkalicious dolly, which was a huge hit with Addie - Along with the pinkadoodles coloring book that her best little friend Ellie gave her.
We love our sweet little Addie. She is such pure sunshine and we are so grateful that she is our little girl! Happy Birthday Addie girl!

4th of July

2011-07-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

What an awesome 4th of July! We got to spend it two ways. First we were able to go to the Angle's home- which has been tradition for years. We love spending time there on the 4th, it just wouldn't be the same if we didn't go there for this holiday. They always have tons of games and activities planned for everyone.

We played Russian ping pong outside. I have never played ping pong this way before, it was so fast paced and was pretty intense. It was a lot of fun.
Kaitie and Charlotte played volleyball for quite a while. We weren't able to stay for the water balloon volleyball that has become the tradition there each year.
The past couple of years there has been a pool filled with sawdust and tons of prizes for the kids to find, but this year they kids got to go fishing 4 times for prizes. They loved the toys they pulled out.

Laurie Cutler, the Angle's daughter gets to celebrate her birthday on the fourth. It is fun to have a birthday party and a bbq at the same time. She made these darling decorations.

We had an awesome dinner! They had smoked 5 turkeys. It was better than any bbq I ever got in Texas, so yummy!
Addie found a water gun and was sneaking around squirting people and then laughing this evil genius laugh as she ran away. This time grammy caught her and got revenge.

Rachel's tradition every year is to go to Johnson Mill park and sit under the flag pole there and play games and hang out until the fireworks start on Memorial Hill. We joined her last year and had a great time. This year she asked us, Tina and her family, and Kam and her family to join her and Marc and the kids for one last celebration together so after dinner at the Angle's we headed over there for snacks and lots of fun.

Kaitie is sure going to miss her best friend Megan. These two have grown up almost like sisters the past 8 years.

The camera's came out and we got a little crazy. We always have so much fun together.

The fireworks were great, even if we were getting drizzled on the whole time. We had a great time with incredible friends! We will be so sad to see Rachel and the kids go!!

First Family Pictures

2011-07-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Rachel and her kids headed off to New Jersey to start their new life with Marc, they are getting married at the end of the month. I am so incredibly happy for her. Marc is such a great guy. Before they left, I was able to take their first family pictures. Rachel wanted to have some pictures taken with Mount Timpanogos in the background. She found some gorgeous spots here in the valley so we got up bright and early to get a few shots. Aren't they a cute family?

Last Game Night Together

2011-07-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

The four of us have been getting together for a few years now for game night. We usually end up laughing and talking just as much as playing games. I love these women, they are incredible friends and I can always count on them. Rachel is getting married and moving away so of course we had to get together for one last game night together. We had so much fun, and according to a couple boys having a sleepover in the backyard, we were way too loud. It is always so nice to get away from laundry and dishes and spend a night laughing with these three.

M Day

2011-07-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

My mom had a great idea at the beginning of the summer for my sisters and I to do with our kids. She gave the kids each a journal to write in and then throughout the summer we are going to try to cover the entire alphabet - one letter a day (not necessarily in order) where we do things that start with that letter and then the kids write about that day and identify the things we did that day that started with our letter for the day. Last Wednesday we had M day. My mom and I took the kids to meet Auntie MANDOLYN and then we went to the Kennecot copper MINE. After the MINE we went back to MANDOLYN'S house for some waterMELON and other yummy things for lunch. The mine was really interesting, I had never been there and had no idea just how large it is. It is one of two man-made things that can be seen from space (the other being the Great Wall of China). It was incredibly deep, I was amazed. We got up to the visitor's center and got out and headed for the edge to see down the mine when a HUGE gust of wind started up there. Addison was terrified thinking that it was going to blow her over the edge and down into the huge hole. She made a beeline for the visitor center building and wanted absolutely nothing more to do with the outside portion of the tour.

The top part of the mine.

This is one of the tires on the trucks they use to mine. The tour guide said that the trucks are the size of a house. Looking down to the bottom of the mine, these massive trucks look like little toy cars.

Ethan and Kaitie were fascinated with the mine and the different rocks there. Ethan could have spent hours inside the gift shop deciding what treasures to take home with him. Kaitie decided on a shiny black rock, Ethan finally settled on some fools gold and a pocket knife. Addie walked out with a bag of skittles- which I guess shows you just how impressed she was with this field trip. :)

It took quite a bit of coaxing to get Addie to do this photo, you can see that she was very unhappy getting anywhere near the mine.

Inside this old cart were hunks of rock that had quite a bit of pyrite going through them, Ethan was so sure that it was gold, he even got Addie to take a quick peek.
The kiddos playing at the park at Auntie Mandolyn's house after our trip to the mine. Ethan made a good new friend there. The poor kid was knocking on Mandolyn's door the next day looking for Ethan. We will have to go back soon so Ethan can play with his new buddy again.
We had such a great time on our M day. I'm so glad my mom had this idea, we have had a lot of fun with it so far. We already have our C day planned!

Bush Kids

2011-07-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

My good friend Shannon asked me to take some pictures of her super cute kiddos a couple weeks ago, and of course I jumped at the chance. I love these three kiddos! We had a good time getting these shots, and I love the colors Shannon chose to dress them in!

Baby Blake

2011-07-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

I've been photographing this family for several years now, and a few weeks ago I got to spend a few hours with the newest addition. He is such a sweet baby and it was great to see the other kiddos too.

This is The Place

2011-06-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Last year I bought a gift certificate on City Deals to take the kids to This is The Place Heritage Park and kind of forgot about it until a couple weeks ago when I realized that it expired at the end of the month. My mom went down with us on Monday so that the kids would have something fun to do. Already they are getting a little bored being at home all day. It was fun to take the kids to see where the trek that they learned about the beginning of in Nauvoo actually ended. So cool that the kids were able to make that connection and understand what it was all about. I think it helped that we had driven to and from Nauvoo so they knew how long it was and that they got to pull a handcart there and really get a feel for just how difficult that is. We went on the most perfect day. The temperature was in the low 70's and because the previous Friday had been Huntsman Day where everyone got in free, we basically had the park to ourselves. The kids really got to enjoy everything without crowds pushing them through.

Ethan and Addie loved trying out the old-fashioned plows. Ethan loves to help Jacob with the garden so it was especially meaningful to him to see how tough the pioneers had it when it came to planting their gardens.

Kaitie and Addie loved hanging the laundry. The kids favorite place in Nauvoo was the Pioneer Pasttimes and this house was a lot like that. They really got to play around and experience the pioneer way of doing things.

One of their favorite places there was the old school house. Here is the deseret alphabet that they used back then when they felt that they would need their own way of writing to protect themselves from the government. Pretty interesting.

They learned about discipline in the school back then. They thought it was pretty funny the way things were done. Kaitie wore the dunce cap, Ethan got paddled (not really), and Addie wanted to be the one that stood in the corner holding books behind her.

In another part of the park the kids got to pan for gold in a stream. When they weren't looking the goldminer dropped pieces of gold into their pans. They were so excited! Since they were on the goldminers property, they had to turn their gold in to him but he paid them with a sucker, which of course was fine with them.

Addie was pretty terrified about the pony ride when we actually got there so she watched Kaitie and Ethan have thier ride first. Luckily there was a really nice guy willing to give her a ride all by herself so that they could go really slow and so I could take a picture. She really warmed up to the idea just about the time that the ride was over.

We had such a great time on Monday! I couldn't believe that we had spent almost 4 hours there. The kids got to talk to a mountain man there too who did a great job making the kids believe that he was real. Ethan had a thousand questions for him. So glad to have so many great places for the kids to have fun and learn something too!

Fun time at the lake

2011-06-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

We love hanging out with the Skinner family! We had planned a camping trip with them last weekend and then when the day came we found out that the temperatures were supposed to drop down in the high 20's where we were going. I think Jacob and Reed were ok with that but Rachel and I didn't think it sounded too fun with a bunch of little kids so we settled on going to the lake and having dinner there. We had such a good time! Rachel and I got the hot dogs going on the little charcoal grills they had there while the guys took the kids out on boat rides. After we left there we set up a tent in our back yard for Reed and some of the kids to still get a camp out in. We roasted smores in the fire pit and then put the kids to bed. The adults stayed up talking and laughing around the campfire until 1 am. It was so much fun to spend time with our good friends!

Ethan's Baptism

2011-06-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Ethan's special day, his baptism. He was able to be baptized with 3 of his good little friends from his primary class- all on the same day. Listening to the talks before the baptisms took place, Ethan whispered to Jacob that he was so excited. He beamed all day.

Our family was given the assignment of the talk on baptism. We asked Ethan who he would like to give that talk and without hesitation he asked if Great Grammy Larsen would. He has a special relationship with her and was so happy that she agreed to do it. She did such a great job.

Ethan and one of his very best friends, Abby. She was baptized last September and was so sweet to be there to support Ethan. Tina and I were laughing that we hope we see a picture like this in 9 years for prom!
Brother Acklin, Ethan's primary teacher plays the bagpipes in the Nauvoo pageant every year and told the kids that on their birthdays he would come play just for them. He was out of town on Ethan's birthday so he promised to come in full costume after the baptism. Ethan loved it and it was fun to have him come during our family get together. Brother Acklin also made all the kids who were baptized that day little wooden boxes for them to keep special treasures in. He and his wife are incredible teachers and the kids adore them.
Ethan and Great Grammy Larsen.

We are so grateful that so many of our family members came to support and show their love for Ethan. It was such a special day for our family. We love Ethan and are so proud of the decision that he made to be baptized and join the Lord's church.

Ethan's 8th Birthday

2011-06-18T20:30:00.001-07:00

This was Ethan's year for a friend party and there were certainly lots of friends! We started out with 9 invitations and ended up with about 16 boys. Ethan couldn't bear to not invite almost his whole class and I didn't have the heart for anyone to be left out.
Uncle Ty, Aunt Mandolyn, Uncle Richard, Aunt Christina, and Auntie Shannon came too. I was so glad to have lots of adults there to help with so many boys. We dug a firepit in the backyard so that the boys could roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Ethan wanted an outdoor theme for his party which worked out well with so many rowdy little boys. I don't know what we would have done if it was indoors. I was amazed at how many hot dogs the boys were able to put away!

This was the boys party favors- hobo sticks filled with treats.

Ethan's cake. This is what he wanted, thank goodness for Winco and the candy bins. I was so glad to be able to find the chocolate rocks to go around the fishing themed cake!

It was so fun to have Auntie Shannon here with us, we don't get to see her very often. We loved having all the aunts and uncles and so many good friends to help us celebrate such an important birthday for Ethan.

Beach to Bay 2011

2011-06-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Last May Angie talked me into running my first relay marathon with her down in Corpus Christi. I had so much fun that this year I went again and talked Rachel into going with me. We flew into Phoenix and had a 1 hour layover that turned into 4 and didn't get into Austin until 2 am. Poor Angie had been sitting there forever.

Rachel had never been to Texas so of course we had to take her for some good Tex-Mex. Chuy's is the best! I think we could have eaten there for every meal. They were even able to make me a gluten free lunch and it was soooo good!
After a day in Austin my mom and grandma flew in too and we headed down to Corpus Christi for the race. My grandma has a time share on Padre Island that just happened to be right next to where the 2nd leg of the race ended which made it really easy for the first 3 drop off areas.
Angie ran the first two legs since one of our team members wasn't able to make it. Rachel had the second leg that ran over the bridge connecting the island to the main land. She had a gorgeous run.
Somehow this got out of place. Here's Angie and our awesome driver and friend Brooke the night before the race.
Here's Rachel handing the baton off to me at the end of her leg. There were over 16,000 people running the Beach to Bay this year. My leg went through the Navy base there in Corpus. I was so grateful for some of the residents there who turned on their hoses to spray us as we ran by. Right after my leg started the sun came out and steamed us all. It was so humid that day. I think we were all sweating buckets before any of our legs began.
The amazing Angie after running both the 1st and 2nd legs!
My friend Alison's dad lives in Corpus Christi with his wife Kris. They own two snow cone shops there on the docks and invited us to come see them after the race. They gave each of us huge yummy snow cones, which was wonderful since none of us had eaten since about 7:00 that morning. They are wonderful people and it is always so good to see them!
The backs of our shirts. Our team name was The Mavericks.
There were actually 6 on our team but we never saw the other two members. They drove down with another team and had to leave before we were able to meet them at the finish line. We were so grateful for Brooke and her mad driving skills. Getting around with that many people was CRAZY!
Our first meal of the day-dinner at La Playa. More Tex-Mex before we had to leave and return to the land of no good Mexican Food. It was pretty good, but not as good as Chuy's!
After dinner we went to see "Something Borrowed" and then came back to the condo for some much needed sleep!
Angie, Me, Rachel, Brooke
My cute grandma was so sweet to get this condo for us and to come and support us!
The morning of the day we flew out we decided to go see the beaches there on Padre Island. We drove to one beach and opened the doors and the smell of rotting seaweed was way too strong so we drove a little farther and found a beach with a pier and sand dunes all around. There was still A TON of sea weed on the beach but it didn't smell quite as bad.
The beach went on forever and there was a ton of surf that day. I wish there hadn't been so much seaweed, it would have been an absolutely gorgeous beach.

Rachel in all the seaweed.

Angie and Brooke under the pier. I think they were calling this their Britney Spears pose. haha!
Angie on the pier.

It was such a fun trip and so nice to be back in Texas! I miss it already!

Conference Sunday

2011-05-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

I LOVE conference weekend, especially for the chance to spend an entire day in my pajamas with my family and watch and hear incredible talks! We spent the day at my parents house with Adam, Megan, Tyler and Mandolyn too. Megan asked me to take a few photos of her for her BYU graduation announcement. We had a lot of fun getting a few shots, she is gorgeous so it wasn't hard to get some good shots!

Addie loves to wear dress ups and this witch costume happens to be her favorite. She insisted on wearing it to my parents house. Meanwhile, Adam had a pretty bushy beard and was going to shave, so he shaved everything but his neck. He looked like an amish man, and my dad happened to have a hat and a shawl to go with it. It made for some really funny photos!

Easter 2011

2011-05-29T16:04:00.001-07:00

My mother in law asked me to post pictures from Easter about 3 weeks ago and I am finally getting around to it!! Things have been way too busy around here! Here's some photos from another great Easter Sunday this year!

After church we went to my parents house for a super yummy dinner. My uncle Bryant and his family came for dinner too. He had heard that my dad and I couldn't have gluten so he got on the computer and did a little research and made a gluten free cake for us and it was sooo yummy! My mom also made gluten free cheesecake. I felt super spoiled!
Ethan did not want to have an Easter Egg Hunt with the girls. He wanted a pure boy one all to himself so he asked Uncle Adam to create a hunt just for him.

The cute girls. They had so much fun together!

I love having Adam pose for pictures, he cracks me up with the semi serious faces!
Grammy made an egg roll for the girls. When my mom was a little girl she used to go to the White House for the egg roll down the grassy hill there and wanted the kids to get to do an egg roll too. They decorated their eggs first.

Jacey was the big winner. They had so much fun seeing how far their eggs would go! It was such a fun and relaxing day. I am so grateful for the true reason for Easter. All the eggs and candy are fun but it is the real reason, our Savior Jesus Christ, and his incredible atoning sacrifice that we celebrated on this special day. I am so grateful for my testimony and the incredible blessing the gospel is in my life.