City of Fun

So, the Ute Stampede was this past week. Admitedly it's not my favorite thing. To me it feels like a big high school reunion (one I could do without). So we usually skip the festivities, but we did take the kids down to the Carnival. It's one of those things they look forward to all year. My best friend Shannon drove all the way up from Ramah, New Mexico for a visit so they were able to go with us. My sister Tabitha and her husband Kole also came with us. It was really fun.

Jared & Me
Shannon, MaKady & Ashton

Kole, Tabi, & MaKady

Paige on the giant slide. I think she went on this thing about 50 times.

Paige & Ashton on the train

The girls on the dragon

Lucas didn't get to go on any rides but he loved being pushed around in his stroller. He was awake the whole evening and didn't make a sound, he loved the lights and all the people.

Me & Shannon

5 months old

Here is my monthly post on Lucas. He is now 5 months old. He is getting really chunky and he has so much personality. He is always happy. He loves his sisters and just people in general. He is definately going to be a people person like Jared. He loves to be in a room full of people. Last night we took him with us to see Transformers and he didn't make a sound. He sat wide-eyed in his car seat for about an hour and then he fell asleep and stayed asleep all night. He had his first bowl of babanas 2 days ago, and he is starting to sit up on his own. He can sit for about 5 seconds by himself before he topples over and we catch him. We bought him this hat the other day so that he would have a fishing hat like dads. He didn't even try to pull it off when we put it on his head. We are enjoying him so much.

Independence Day

We had a really great weekend. Jared finally got some time off from his new job so Friday (because we both had the day off) we took the opportunity and went to the Salt Lake Temple with my parents, my brother Henry and his wife Krista and my sister Lucy. Then after that we went and ate at Jared's favorite restaurant "Joe's Crab Shack".

Saturday we went over to our friends Craig and Jessica Carter's house (Jessica is actually my kids babysitter, but we have been friends with their family for a long time). The girls played with their girls (they have 5) and we had a barbeque and then Craig pulled out his guitar and we listened while he and Jared sang a bunch of songs. The wind started to blow and a storm rolled in. The wind was blowing so hard that our fireworks kept falling over, so Jared and Craig put rocks in the bottom of buckets and stood the fireworks in the bucket. It actually worked pretty well. We were able to watch a few fireworks before the rain started. It was so much fun. What a great independence day.

Me and Lucas
Katelee & MaKady

Craig & Jared

Jessica, Paige, Liberty, & Kinlee

Craig

Jared & Lucas

Kinlee & Paige

Katelee, Liberty & MaKady

Happy Birthday

Jared turned 33 yesterday on July 2. We had some friends over and had pizza and cake. It was a lot of fun. Jared is so great. He is a great dad and my best friend. Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!

Hair Cut

Oh, I don't want my baby to grow up so fast, and part of that is not cutting his hair. He was born with a full head of hair and it has just kept on growing. I swore I was not going to cut it until his 1st birthday but Jared came home the other day and noticed that Lucas had a couple of "bald" spots, patches on his head that he has worn the hair off of, and so Jared told me that I needed to cut it or he would take him to a salon and have his hair cut. So, reluctantly I "trimmed" his hair. I admit it does look much better, but I still had a little bit of a cry because my baby is getting so big much too quickly.

BeforeAfter

Doesn't Lucas look older. What a cutie boy. He was so still while I was cutting his hair.

Time...

We have been advised to "use our time wisely" but like many of you I spend way too much time on the computer. I waste a lot of time updating my blogs and looking at other people's blogs, playing on facebook, searching the internet, etc. However one thing that I do is something I feel great about and I don't feel like I am "wasting" time.

I do family search indexing. In 30 minutes you can help people find their ancestors. It's free to join, and it is very addicting. You can go to their website here to find out more information and sign up.

Pinkalicious

We have "pinkitis" (Pinkalicious: , by Elizabeth Kann, Victoria Kann) at our house. Everything around us seems to be pink. Even the sunrise this morning cast a pink hugh on the clouds. It was beautiful. I couldn't resist taking pictures of all of the "pink" in our lives right now.

Pink Sunrise
Paige's pink hair (Thank you Aunt Mary)

Pink Hoola-Hoops

Even Baby Lucas had fun with pink. (The kids at the babysitters house were playing dress up and they put this wig on him).

Oh what fun we are having so far with "pink". With all this rain we have had to find some fun indoor activities to do. We got the girls each a hoola hoop, we play games and puzzles, we watch movies, and play with playdough. It's so much fun. I hope you are all having a great summer so far, and if you haven't read the book "Pinkalicious" by Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann, then I would highly recommend that you do. It's great.

In Memory...

Jordan

October 11, 2005 - June 12, 2007

It's been two years since my nephew Jordan passed away. In some ways the time has gone by very quickly, and in other ways it has seemingly stood still. They say is gets easier with time, but my heart still aches every day. I miss all of the little things, like the way he would cozy up to my leg when he wanted to be held, his smile, his chubby little hands and curly black hair, the little words that he was just starting to learn "no", "go-go", "hi", "stomp -stomp" (accompanied by his little dance, and "nonna". I miss the way he would tease you, when you told him to come here he would run over to you until he was very close, then he would stop and turn around, then look back at you and grin. I miss just being able to see him everyday. I find myself looking at other kids who are the same age that he would be and try to think of him now. I am grateful for the short time he was here with us and the knowledge I have that I will see him again someday. We love you Jordan.

4 months old

Honestly, where has the time gone. It seems to be flying by. I cannot believe that my baby is 4 months old already. He is just amazing. At 4 months old Lucas does the following:

• Sleeps through the night, usually from around 8:30 - 5:30 (which is when I get up)
• He smiles at everything
• He's not fussy at all, except the last couple of days because we found out he has thrush :>(
• He loves his lovey (which is a small stuffed animal head with a blanket attached) We give it to him and he hugs it and sucks on the bears ear
• He wants to sit up. He can't do it by himself yet, but his aunt Tabi gave him this awesome bumbo chair and he loves to sit in it
• He loves his sisters, he makes silly noises and laughs whenever they are around. They have been gone this week and you can tell he misses them. He just looks a little bit lost. I finally had to turn on the disney channel and just hold him yesterday so he would be happy.
• He is a little pig when it comes to eating. He eats 4-8 ounces at each feeding. He is a great little eater.
• He sucks on his hand to soothe himself. It's really funny to watch him because he usually has his hand in a little fist and the whole thing shoved into his mouth. (He has a big mouth like his mom)
• He likes to ride in the car, he never makes a sound
• He likes T.V. he will sit for long periods of time and watch t.v. especially if his sisters are watching with him. He loves "Wizards of Waverly Place", "ICarly", and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"
• He likes to take naps with his dad
• He loves to laugh
• He can roll over from his back to his stomach. Then he screams until you roll him back onto his back. Then he rolls over again. It's really funny to watch

Baptism and a Birthday

This weekend we had a lot of fun. We went to my parents house in Brigham City. Jared was able to baptize my nephew Brock. It was so cute, when we got there Brock was so nervous and we were all trying to get him to calm down and he was just so scared. I told him it would all be over in about 3 minutes. He said "that's what I'm afraid of. I don't think I can hold my breath that long." :>) Silly boy, but he did great. Jared also did really well and he was so excited to have that opportunity.

On Sunday we went to church with my parents. They live only 3 houses away from their church. During sacrament meeting Paige kept telling me she was thirsty, so I told her to go out in the hallway and get a drink from the drinking fountain. She didn't want to get up and walk out so she just sat beside me and continued to complain. My neice Trinity stood up in the middle of sacrament meeting went out the side door, which happens to be in the front of the chapel. Then about 6 minutes later she came busting through the doors again carrying something in her skirt. (completely exposing her undies). She quickly came and sat down, and then we saw what she had done. She had gone home and gotten Paige (and herself) little bottles of grape juice, which she so proudly passed around during sacrament meeting. What a funny girl.

After church we had lunch and a birthday party for my mom. She was so excited she said because someone made her a cake for her birthday, instead of her making one for herself. We love you mom, happy birthday!!

Jared & Brock
Tabi & Mom

Tabi, Brock, Mom, Paige, Trinity, & Brittney

Baby Lucas and Grandpa Orin, just hanging out.I made this cake for my mom's birthday. It was a white cake, strawberry filling, buttercream frosting, pirouette cookies & fresh strawberries & raspberries on top drizzled with white chocolate.

New Blog

Well, it's not a big secret that I love to cook. My mom is a great cook and passed that on to all of her children. Even my brother is the chef at his house. I have wanted to create a recipe blog for some time now and I finally decided to just do it. My little sister Tabitha will also be posting on that blog as she loves to cook as well. I hope you all enjoy it, and at the very least get a new recipe to try once in a while. If there is a recipe that you are looking for let me know and I will try to find it for you. (The cake above is one that I did for my friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago). To get to my recipe blog just click on the picture of the cake in the right hand column of my blog or go to the link here.

Girl Scouts

MaKady has worked hard all year in girl scouts. She did great with the cookie selling and she has earned several badges and awards. She is also moving on to the older girls. She has spent 2 years in the Junior and now she has completed her bridging and she is a Cadette. Good job MaKady!!!

Kindergarten Graduation

Paige graduated from Kindergarten on Thursday. It was so cute. They had a little program in the gym. There were so many people there, parents, grandparents, and brothers and sisters. I even checked MaKady out of class for an hour so she could be there. All three of the little kindergarten classes filed in and sat on the steps of the stage. Then sang so many cute little songs. Then they were all given their diplomas one by one.

After it was over Paige wanted a picture of herself holding her scrapbook page from her teacher. On the way home she asked me why I didn't cry. I told her because I wasn't sad and she said "but you were supposed to cry when we sang that song at the end, our teacher said it would make our parents cry because it would make them sad to see their kids growing up." I told her I was excited for her to grow up and to live life. I told her that her milestones make me happy for her. She thought about it for a minute and then said "but mom, you were supposed to cry." Oh the mind of a six year old.

Forever..............

It has been a long time coming. Jared and I have been married almost 8 years and on Saturday May 16, 2009 we were finally able to have our family sealed together in the Manti Temple. It was one of the best days of my life. I am so grateful that I will have my family forever.

Thank you to all those who where able to join us. And a special thanks to Tessa for taking our pictures and Carianne for the editing.

Spring is Here...

I love living where we live. I know that the weather is crazy sometimes and one minute it's pouring rain and the next it's sunny, but it's so beautiful either way. The orchards are in bloom and I just had to take advantage of that. Yesterday it was pouring rain, but right after church for about an hour there was a clear spot and the sun came out. We ran out and took some pictures of the kids. Then a little while later the clouds rolled back in and it was raining again.