Regan's Birthday

This year was a friend party year for Regan. But with a new school and a wedding, we just didn't have time to have one. So, we told Regan that we would do something fun while in California for her birthday. And we had FUN!!!

We took her to Medieval Times!

We had such a good time! We got the red knight and no I didn't ask for that we just got lucky. Anyway, the red knight was really feeling our group. Maybe because we were the loudest and most obnoxious. Every time he would earn a flower from the princess, he would throw it to someone in our group. Hali got the first flower, then Trini, and Zoey. He chose Camden to give his favor to. She became the Queen of Love and Beauty. And was convinced that she was now married to the red knight.

Porter thought this was the greatest moment of his life. He barely sat down. He got a little impatient with the fancy horse walking and wanted to know when they were going to fight. The red knight won and then was attacked by the evil green knight and Porter was appalled. He kept calling the green knight a cheater and thought he shouldn't attack someone when they win!
Zoey was so thrilled with her flower. She just waved it around.
We had such a great time! The kids LOVED it.

I can't believe that Regan is 12! She got to start Young Women's last week and has even gone to an activity. She just loves it! I'm thrilled she has such great leaders and I'm glad that she is so excited about getting older. Seems to me that last year, she wasn't so thrilled with her birthday, because that meant she was closer to liking boys. HEHE. I'm sure she's not so happy about the boy thing, but she likes being in YW's.

Happy Birthday, Regan!

I Just Want To Eat Her UP!!

So, my niece is getting married this weekend (YAY, Elyse!) and I decided to make my girls cute new dresses to wear. I like to take pictures at least of all the smocked ones I do for posterity, I guess. Anyway, here it is:

Hali told Zoey to pose and this face is just too much!
And she has the sweet little personality to match!

First Day Of School 2009

This has felt like the

Longest. Summer. EVER!!!

We've been on year round school, but switched to traditional this year. So we've been used to our summer being maybe 6 weeks long. This year it was three months long! That's a HUGE difference! And then the first day got postponed for a week, because it's a new school and they were having electrical problems, so it got pushed back! Ugh.

So, the girls started today. Porter starts next week. They are going to a new charter school in our area. I'm really excited about this. I'm excited about the opportunities it will provide for my kids. In first grade they start learning Spanish and that will continue through all the grades. And with such a Spanish speaking population here in the West, I think that will be so useful for my kids to be familiar with the language.

They also have to wear uniforms. HEHE.

Hali, my little diva, was so not happy about it. We went shoe shopping and she was getting so frustrated when I had to veto every shoe she liked. Plain white is so not her thing. And there is no pink involved in the color scheme of the school. She is not happy. But a couple of her dance friends are in her class, so that makes up for it a little bit.

Regan is excited. I think this school will actually be able to keep up with her. We got to go to the school last week and walk around and meet the teachers. The kids were really excited after that. And felt more comfortable about starting a new school.

I'm just excited to have control of my house again. I love how quiet it is right now. Course, Porter's still downstairs and quiet is never good with him. I guess I'd better go check!

My Baby Is Three!

Wow. Time sure does go fast! My baby is not really a baby anymore. Makes me sad and also makes me want to do a little happy dance. No more bottles, cribs, strollers, baby toys that take up half your family room. Now I just need to work on the diaper thing.

Zoey got a cute little princess cake. She's really discovering Disney Princess's this year. It's kind of sad that she can name them all. I blame that on older sisters. Mom didn't have anything to do with it. (wink. wink.) Oh, and to explain what she's wearing, it's an old dance costume of Hali's. I don't normally dress her as a Vegas show girl.

I tried to get a picture of these two together, because they are just so dang cute! This is Zoey with her cousin, Olivia. It is such a crack up to watch two three year olds play together!

Zoey is such a sweet little girl. And with Porter starting Kindergarten next week, she will be my little shopping buddy! Love you, Zo!

Oktoberfest

I know, I know, it's not October, but every year Snowbird resort puts on it's annual Oktoberfest. We try really hard every year to go, but somehow life just gets in the way, so it's been a really long time since we've been. And we had to go this weekend, because life is coming to get in the way!
The first thing we did was hop on the tram and ride it to the top of the mountain.
We had a great view of snowbird below.
Heber Valley was this way.
We also had a great view of the Salt Lake Valley. I just didn't want to overdo the scenery shots.

For some strange reason, my kids LOVE these.
We got to listen to traditional Alpine music and watch some really cute old people dance in traditional dress, all while we ate what I was hoping would be really good German food. It wasn't. Luckily we have Sigfried's deli in downtown Salt Lake for good German food.

The Post You've All Been Waiting For.....

Summer 2009

Exciting, isn't it?! I'm lazy no more! So, rather than do five billion separate posts, I just thought I would shove them all together and make one really long post. I don't mind if you just scroll through the pictures and ignore the writing. Although, you may be missing some extraordinary thoughts, so I'll leave that up to you.

First off, we found this great little beach about 5 minutes down the road from us. And I'm sure you are all thinking, "A beach in Utah?!" Yes, indeed.

We've been there several times and the kids just love getting out of the house for a few hours.


Scott traveled to Colorado the first part of August to do a bike race with his brother. They were in the Vail area and the bike race had an elevation climb of about 6 to 7 thousand feet. It was pretty crazy.
The kids and I traveled to California to visit my family and I even got to go to my niece's bridal shower. I was so glad that I got to be there for her shower! I got to visit with my cousins, my aunt and lots of other women that I haven't seen in so long.
I thought this was the most creative present of the night. These are towels!
This was my gift.
These three girls had the best time helping with the presents and feeling grown up enough to be there!
Most of our week in California was doing this:

SWIMMING!!!

Story behind this picture. Zoey spent her time splashing on the top step and saw me pull the camera out. So she walks over to me and asks me to take a picture of her, then walks back to where she was and smiles for me. A model in the making.
We did go to the beach one day. I had to show my kids that the beach at the lake isn't quite like the real thing.


It was such a great week! We spent tons of time with cousins and Grandma and did so much swimming, that we all came home fried crispy! Perfect!

Lazy, lazy, lazy.....

I know it's been a pretty long dry spell on this blog, lately. And it isn't because we haven't been having fun this summer. On the contrary. We've had a lot of fun. I wish I could say that we've been having so much fun, that I just haven't had a moment to blog! Alas, that isn't so either. Frankly, I'm just being

LAZY.

See, my computer is upstairs in my room. And as I sit here and look at everyone else's blogs, I think of all the pictures I have on my camera and all the blogs I should be blogging. Here's the lazy part. My camera is downstairs. That means, I'd have to go downstairs and get the camera and then come back upstairs to download the pictures. I know.

And it's not like I'm not up and down those same stairs all day long! But I never remember the camera those times! So, there you have it. I'm LAZY!! I'll get over it soon. Maybe.

4th of July

Every other year, we have a big vacation with Scott's family. We always have a great time and we've had some pretty memorable times. Glennwood Springs, anyone? We laughed about that one quite a bit this time round. It just seems that every time, there is some sort of drama with our family. This time was no exception.

We had only been there a few hour when the drama started. Emma was standing in the doorway of her trailer and started to shut the door. My brilliant son decided that even though he was about 10 feet away, he could make it through the door before Emma had it closed. He launches himself towards the door and smacked his head right on the corner of the door. He starts crying and mean mom didn't even get up out of her chair. I'm so used to him doing something that I never really take it seriously anymore. So, I'm telling him to come to me, thinking I'll just kiss his head and he'll be fine. So, he comes over with his hand pressed to his head. He takes his hand off and it's covered in blood. Then the blood starts to gush! The last time I saw blood like that was when I was a kid in the emergency room getting stitches and they brought a kid in who had been hit by a car on his bike. But that's another story.

I quickly stood up and yelled for Scott, who rushed over with some paper towels. It took a while to get the blood to stop, but it did. When we finally got a look at the cut, it was so small! Not even the width of a dime. Crazy!


I know. He was still upset and I made him pose for a picture. What I'm willing to do for a blog. At least, I didn't make him pose for one while he was still bleeding! Although, I must admit I thought about it.


We went to Flaming Gorge this year and stayed right on the lake. It was beautiful! Too bad it rained on us pretty much every afternoon. I love my trailer. Have I ever mentioned that? When it wasn't raining we did manage to hang out at the beach. The kids LOVED that!

Mike and Amy brought their boat, which was so much fun. Jeff decided one day that he would take Taylor and Porter out on one of the tubes. They pulled them really slow and the boys loved it.
One the way back, though, they had four kids on, Porter, Taylor, Hali and Emma, and Dave decided he wanted a picture of them looking nervous, so they sped up the boat and made the boys not so happy. Mean, Dave.

I loved hanging out at the beach and wished we could have not had the rain, so we could have stayed longer. I was able to just relax while my kids had so much fun, playing with cousins and splashing in the water. It reminded me so much of the years we spent at Lake Powell with my family! Yes, mom and dad, that's a big old hint.

One afternoon, we took a little tour in the boat. It was Scott, Jeff, Lori, Dave, Natalie, Zoey, Porter and I. It was so beautiful and peaceful and I love it. Zoey loved it when we went really fast! She giggled and smiled and said Whee the whole time.
Awful picture of both Porter and I, but it's the only picture taken of me the whole trip, so I felt obligated to put it in.
Scott and Porter went for a dip in the FREEZING water.
My kids are so trained to pose for pictures. Porter was so not happy to be in the cold water, but smiled big, when the picture was taken. Good boy!
When the boat wasn't going fast, Zoey zonked. When the boat slowed down, she fell asleep. When the boat when fast again for the return, she woke right back up.
Even though it rained A LOT, we had a great time and we were sad when it was time to pack up and go. We really wanted to stay a few more days!