I am so EXCITED!

Happy Halloween!

Boo at the Zoo!
It was a super fun morning spent trick-or-treating at the zoo. Thanks Dad & Janet for the invite! My kids always love spending time with cousins- Lisa brought her Logan and George, and Eric and Tobin brought their kids. The weather was a little overcast, but beautiful, a perfect day for the zoo! The rain didn't start until later:)

Our little Lila monkey is 2!

I can't believe she is already 2 years old, where has the time gone? We had a fun little celebration for her with some friends and grandparents (none of them pictured, because she would not sit still for the second it takes to take a picture...oh well.) She was so excited to check out her presents, especially her new pink and purple bike!

Happy Birthday little one, we love you!

A very random post!

A scrapbook page I finished a few nights ago.

I want to make these...

and these.

Today, I went to the new Hobby Lobby with some fun friends and found these little treatures...

to do something like this, only cuter. Lila would not cooperate so she is now upstairs having a nap.

But, now...I hear her crying which means she did not go to sleep. I guess I am done blogging!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

I love you!

Our little girl is 2!!!

(more photos and birthday details coming soon!)

We've given up...for now!

(see post below)

It's that time!

Need I say more?

I LOVE these girls!

I love the one because she is my amazing, beautiful daughter who is so thoughtful, bright and kind. The other one may as well be my daughter, I love her as if she is one of my own. They have a truly great friendship. It makes my heart happy to know they watch out and care for each other. It is always a fun experience having these two around...whether talking about boys, or friends or just girly stuff they always make me laugh.

I love you girls! Keep being so dang awesome:)

Life feels so busy right now! I am a little behind in my posting...so here's a short one for tonight.

Gavin and I celebrated our anniversary a couple weeks ago. Thanks to our wonderful daughter who babysat so willingly, we were able to go out and celebrate.

I love you Gavin, thanks for 16 amazing years!

I just finished cutting out my next project, I'm so excited!

Lila's hair seems to have a mind of it's own!

I am always ready for a little giggle when I walk into Lila's room in the morning. Her hair seems to do the funniest things. I don't know if she is a crazy sleeper or what, but she has some of the best "BED HEAD" I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. I make sure to walk her by a mirror so she can laugh at herself as well. This morning her hair was sticking straight up in the front, Logan said he thought she looked like a rhinoceros. So... of course we had to head outside with the camera to snap some pics of our funny little girl and her crazy hair.

Back to School!

Noelle started her first day of Jr. High this week (aarghhhh) and Logan had his first day of 1st Grade. It feels like my kids are growing up way too fast. We were joined by Grandpa and Grandma at our traditional first day of school dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. This is a tradition started by my parents when I was a child. We use to go the The Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square when I was a kid. I would love to take my kids there one year, but for now there is a location a little closer to home. This is a tradition I will continue with all my children and hope they choose to pass along to theirs.

Have a great school year!

I am!

I am feeling so unmotivated! I have been so busy the last couple weeks getting kids ready for school, traveling to and home from California on the train, taking care of tons of soccer stuff, making funeral arrangements for my grandma, the list goes on and on. I am tired, but hope to be back to myself very soon. Now that school is back in session I am looking forward to some quality time spent with my demanding almost two year old, fun sewing days with friends, my house staying clean for more than 5 minutes at a stretch, the smell of fall, and a little more time to do some much needed reading.

I have lots of fun trip pictures to post. I will try to get on that sometime soon.

Summer Water Fun!

Our family has a new favorite show to watch together: MAN vs. FOOD on the Travel Channel. If you've never seen it, this is the basic premise behind it: The host is a self proclaimed "foodie" who travels around the country trying out the local "pig out" foods. On each episode he will visit 3 restaurants in any given city. One of these restaurants will have a "food challenge," you know what I'm talking about right. Some ridiculous, abnormally large amount of food, or some super spicy food that has to be consumed in a certain amount of time. It's actually quite disgusting at times, but my kids love to watch it. In a recent episode he visited us here in Utah. One of the non-food challenge restaurants he visited was Crown Burger. I know this is a Utah staple, but neither Gavin or I have ever eaten there. We had tickets to a ReAl SaLt LaKe game last weekend and Crown Burger is located close to the stadium so we thought we should give it a try. The house specialty is the Crown Burger which is the item that was shown on MAN vs. FOOD. It is a burger topped with pastrami, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and fry sauce. I was glad to see they also carry a junior sized crown burger which is what we ordered. I love pastrami and burgers, but I have to say this was not my fave. I was kind of disappointed. Of course we had fun though! I snapped a few pictures even though someone sitting in the booth behind to us made some rude comment. Their problem, not mine right?

If you are really craving a good burger, stick with JCW's, theirs are the best!

Now...onto the game!

We had such a good time in spite of a little, well okay...a lot, of rain! We all got completely soaked, but with it being so warm we dried quickly. Logan was so into the game, he hardly noticed the rain and totally enjoyed himself. The girls had fun just being silly together.

A fun day spent with cousins at the Living Planet Aquarium!

What is it they say about a frog and a princess?

Do you think Logan was in heaven or what?

Gavin & Logan enjoy mowing Grandpa's lawn (not a hard thing to do with a mower like that.)

These pictures were taken with Gavin's new phone. Not too bad huh?

What's wrong with this picture? I have a monkey for a child instead of a little girl, that's what's wrong.


Lila is such a climber, and I don't know what to do with her. She is much worse than either of my others. I've moved the bar stools into the garage, and the kitchen chairs sit on top of the table 90% of the time. It seems as soon as an opportunity opens up this girl doesn't miss a beat. I ran upstairs to grab something, and I guess that was just the opening she needed. She quickly pulled out a chair and slid it over to the counter to give her the boost she needed. So of course I grabbed my camera to document her antics. I keep gum in that cupboard and she knows it. I have recently moved the gum, but that has not kept her from checking anyway. (Yes, my baby chews gum like a seasoned professional, but that's a story for another day.) She has always been very curious. I know she will grow out of this phase soon, and I can't say that I will miss it. What makes me sad though is knowing she is my last and we won't go through this again. Even though it can be a terrible pain at times, I am not wishing her to grow up anytime soon. She keeps us laughing!

Logan's Birthday Quilt!
I had so much fun making this one! Logan has been into pirates lately as you can tell by his party theme, so this was an appropriate quilt for him. I decided to try and do the machine quilting part myself. I know I am no where near being able to do anything fancier that straight, well...fairly straight, lines. It took alot of time to do all the quilting seeing as I could only work on it when he was either not home, or asleep. I am happy with how it turned out, but I don't see myself doing many quilts this way (no worries Jen, you still have my business.)

Happy 7th Birthday Logan!

After waking up at the crack of dawn, and I do mean crack (5:30) I was able to convince Logan to snuggle with me in bed for awhile before the excitement took over and he woke up the girls. This is something I absolutely adore about Logan. He is so easily excited. Whether it's Christmas, a particular movie, his birthday, or even someone else's birthday he always makes it such a fun day for everyone because he is so happy just to be having a good time.

Opening presents, eating crepes for breakfast, and losing a tooth is a good way to start out a birthday!

Logan received a scooter for his birthday which he has ridden every day since.

Logan chose a PIRATE theme for his party this year. We've had so much fun coming up with ideas for games, activities, invitations, and decorations. As Logan's friends arrived at the party they played "Pin the Flag on the Treasure Map," and "Walk the Plank" relay race, followed by "Digging for Treasure." After breaking open the pinata, opening presents and eating yummy cake the boys played outside in the water. This mom was super tired after such a fun-filled afternoon. Here's the proof!





Logan wanted a BBQ dinner with his grandparents. Thank you to everyone who helped make this a super fun birthday celebration! I love you Logan, my super 7 year old boy!

Girl's Camp, here she comes!

Noelle left for Girl's Camp this morning with a huge smile on her face. I am going to miss her lots, but I'm so excited for her! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago I went to girl's camp. So, I ask the question: How can I possibly have a daughter old enough to be going?

I know she will have so much fun hanging out with her friends and doing all the fun activities the great leaders have planned. I think I am most excited for how this experience will help her testimony grow. She is a strong young lady and such a good example to others. Noelle is a great leader in our family, she is kind & generous and Logan and Lila are crazy for her (me too!)

I am so proud of you Noelle. Have a super fun week! I can't wait to hear all the stories:)

I found this note written on her white board. Isn't she so sweet?

So this is what I did this morning. My sister-in-law called earlier this week and asked if I would take pictures of her family while her dad was in town visiting. We met at one of my favorite spots to take pics of my own kids and had a great time.

Thanks for a good morning Eric & Tobin! Love you!

Logan's birthday post coming soon!