Summer Vacation...Part 6...Bear Lake

The girls and I went up to Bear Lake with my parents and brother. Bear Lake is north of Logan and is the most beautiful place! I went there when I was a kid and couldn't wait to take the girls. They weren't disappointed! Neither was I! I was in my element. We camped at the KOA Campground. It is very kid friendly and we stayed in my parent's toy hauler. Not quite roughing it camping but, good enough for me. I ran 10 miles in Round Valley which is a valley on the south end of the lake. It was beautiful! I had the best support crew too. Scott rode his road bike 3 times around the 10 mile loop that I ran. It was a great run and I enjoyed hanging out with my bro! He's awesome! The last day we were at Bear Lake we rented a jet ski. It was a BLAST! The girls loved it!!!! I already want to plan next year's trip.

Summer Vacation...Part 5...Lots of different stuff.

The week after we went to Oregon for the wedding we hung out with family and friends.

Summer Vacation...Part 4...Kait & Simon's Wedding

Kait & Simon were married on July 11, 2009. I've always had a tender spot for Kait. She is such a sweetheart and I can't believe that she is married and in college (it makes me feel so old.) We love Simon too! He is such a nice guy and we're looking forward to getting to know him better. I'm so thankful that they invited us to be a part of their special day. The only bad part is that Livvy got sick and wasn't able to be in the wedding. She and I had to leave right after the ceremony. But, Allie and Ash stayed with my mom and had a ball, as you can see.

Summer Vacation...Part 3...On the road again

Road tripping again. My cute cousin Kait married her high school sweetheart, Simon this summer. She invited my girls to be her flower girls, much to their excitement. So, we went on the road again from Salt Lake to Bend, Oregon. My mom went with us and we stopped in Twin Falls as our halfway point. My dad happened to be working there so, we stayed with him. We got to see the new temple there and the bridge over the Snake River. Twin Falls was really pretty! The girls got to swim and enjoyed the time there.

Summer Vacation...Part2...The 4th of July

The girls and I drove up to Utah on July 1st and Phil met us there. We spent the 4th at Evergreen Park in Salt Lake with some friends and then went to a BBQ at Duane and Bev's. We ended the day watching the fireworks at Sugarhouse Park. It was so much fun!

Summer Vacation...Part 1...Las Vegas

Phil had a crazy travel schedule for the summer, so the girls and I decided to spend some time with family and friends. We left the day after Father's Day and drove to Las Vegas. We spent a week there with our friends and enjoyed every bit of it. Sorry we missed seeing some of you though!

Planting some flowers, baking some cookies and a future rock star...

Phil is the gardener in our family and always gets the girls involved.

He had them help him plant a few flowers in the front yard.

Alivia absolutely loves helping Daddy plant things. She is his Home Depot sidekick too! It's one of her favorite places to go.

These lilies are almost as beautiful and the girl holding them but, not quite.

Ashlie is always asking to stop and smell the flowers.

It reminds me to enjoy the little things in life!

Ya'll probably think that I don't do anything around the house but, I'm just the one behind the camera for all of the fun stuff. We always make sugar cookies the week before Easter. I make the dough and Phil rolls it out. Of course, Alivia loves to help in the kitchen too. She loves it when we make cookies or brownies together.

And for the future rock star...

After much begging and pleading and a little prodding from her guitar teacher, we got Allie an electric guitar. She loves and it fits her very well! Her guitar teacher helped her tune it and get it all ready to play! She is also going to take voice lessons starting in the fall.

Six Flags...

We made a trip to Six Flags while Donna was here. We had sooooo much fun! The girls were utterly spoiled. There was Phil, myself, Donna, Jeff, Allie, Ash & Livvy. Between the four adults we were all able to ride a lot of really fun rides that you would never see at Lagoon. At the end of the day, Uncle Jeff stayed with the girls while Phil, Donna and I went on Mr. Freeze. It was the craziest ride! Lots of straight ups and downs, twists and turns and loopty loops. I was so sick after but, I had so much fun! Jeff splurged and got the girls these capes! They love them and dressed up in them for days afterwards! Everyone had a blast!!!!! We'll be going back for sure!

The Grassy Knoll

While Donna was here, she and I took an afternoon and went to the Grassy Knoll. It was really interesting and we enjoyed it.

Book Depository

On the very right hand side, second row down, is where the fatal shots were supposedly fired from. After seeing the window and the places where JFK was shot, it is easy to think that there was probably more than one shooter.

Do you see the X in the middle of the road? That is where the throat shot was.

Just about 50 feet down the road is another X for the head shot.

Donna at the Grassy Knoll. There is kind of a reverent feeling here. Next time we will go through the museum.

Numero 33...

It's been two weeks since my birthday. I had to get over the fact that I am actually 33 now. Ugh. I feel old. But, I did have a great day! It started with anticipating the arrival of two of my favorite people. One, my hubby was coming home after being out of town and Two, my SIL Donna was flying in for a long weekend visit. (I have a lot of favorite people...so don't feel bad.) Then I made LEMON SQUARES (my favorite and traditional birthday dessert.) After I was done with those I went to get in the shower and left Livvy on the couch watching Strawberry Shortcake. While in the shower I had the thought, I really should have moved the LEMON SQUARES out of Livvy's reach. As soon as I got out, I ran to the kitchen and this is what I found:

If you can see I dusted them with powdered sugar when I was done and then while I was in the shower, Livvy decided that they needed chocolate on them too. So, she got out the NesQuik and dusted over the powdered sugar. I wasn't really mad but, laughed and just started over with the LEMON SQUARES. Thankfully they are easy to make and oh so yummy.

Phil brought me some flowers and then he and the kids surprised me with a new Canon Rebel camera. I was sooooo excited. It was a really fun day!

Ashlie has turned into a little photographer with my old camera and takes pictures of everything. I checked the old camera card and in one week she had taken about 720 pictures and 20 short videos. Oh well, we'll nurture her creative side!

On to 34...for a few short weeks Phil and I are both 33.

Road Tripping with my Girlies...

Over Spring Break the girls and I decided to make a road trip to Austin to see my cousin Havilah and meet her husband Ryan and her girls, Casey and Gabrielle. We got to stay with my Uncle Reed and Aunt Joy. I haven't seen Havilah for almost 13 years. We've always had a good time together and this time was no exception. I love her dearly! She is like a sister to me. When we were kids we would write letters to each other and I was always jealous of her beautiful handwriting. She always had the prettiest stationary too.



This is on the road to Austin. I took a picture because it was such a pretty drive and reminded me of central Utah with all of the scrub oak. We took a back road down because traffic getting into Austin in the evening is horrible.



We went to the State Fair, where Casey was showing her goat. The girls went through a little petting zoo and met Elsie the Borden cow and her calf Beauregard. We had fun!



Havilah has the best dress up box ever and the girls went nuts with it. Not to mention that she has sewn almost all of the dress ups. She is the coolest mom on Halloween!



We spent quite a bit of time with Reed and Joy too and enjoyed every bit of it. They live in Dripping Springs, which is about 20 miles west of Austin. Their house is in a wooded neighborhood where deer roam around. The girls got to feed the deer and loved it! Unfortunately I was still laying in bed and didn't get any pictures. It definitely felt like home.



On Saturday night, Havilah and Ryan had a big barbeque at their house with a bunch of family and friends. It was fun to meet some of Ryan's family. Ryan is a really talented musician and has composed some really awesome music that he shared with us. It was fun to get to know him.

We had a great time and felt right at home. It's so nice to have family close! We will be making another trip to Austin soon!

6th Folder 6th Picture Tag

How lucky is that? On this tag I pulled up our family picture taken just a few months ago.

My posting has been very spotty sorry! A little addicted to Facebook these days.

I tag: Cindy, Maribeth, Megan, Amy, Mindi, Racquel

Posting Issues

Blogger is being difficult for me so, I haven't posted on our latest adventure but, I will when I feel like being more patient.

American Girls...

The girls and I ventured into Dallas and went to the American Girl Store today. They had so much fun and it was like "a kid in a candy store." (Only a lot more expensive.) I took a few pictures of them with my phone so, I hope that they show up okay.

Spring Break...

Spring break started off very soggy. It rained most of the weekend but, yesterday and today have been beautiful. We planted our garden yesterday, today we spent at the park, tomorrow we are venturing into Dallas to go to the American Girl store and Thursday we'll be heading down to Austin to see my cousin and her family. It should be a fun filled week for the girls. Next week will be fun too because we have some visitors coming. Yay! I'll have some pictures to post next week.

Thank goodness for the wind...

I never in my life thought I would say thank goodness for the wind. But, today I was so glad it was windy. Why, do you ask. Because I never would have been able to run 3 miles without water in dead muggy air. It was 85 degrees when I finally got out the door to run. I'm supposed to run 8 miles tomorrow. So, I think better get out early and hope it's slightly breezy. Running in different climates is definitely an adventure.

Post-edit: I ran my 8 miles today (with my waterpack) and felt pretty dang good and the weather cooperated, so it was fabulous!

Hermit crabs, spinach and air conditioning

First of all, Ashlie was the star student today and got to bring the class pet home. Lila the Hermit Crab is temporarily taking up residence here. Ashlie has carried the poor crab everywhere, talks to it and pretends to play with it. She won't touch it though. It's kind of cute.

The other day while at the grocery store, Alivia noticed spinach and said "ew, gross." Then Allie and Ash chimed in saying how much they hate spinach. So, what does their mean mamma do? She chops up spinach and puts it in their salad and they eat it. Then I tell them that they just ate spinach. It was kind of funny! So, now spinach isn't so bad. Baby steps!

85 degrees in Texas feels like 100 in Las Vegas. So, it is March 5th and we've had our air conditioning on in the house already. I never knew that I could sweat so much!

P.S. I think that the flu has finally left our house, it may be temporary, who knows, but, I'll take the reprieve.

Please just go away!

We moved to Texas just in time for the peak of the flu season here. They've actually shut down a few elementary schools because of it. I was hoping that we were in the clear. Not so fast though. Ash and Liv have had it and it is just getting worse. Livvy scared me last night when her fever spiked to 105. Yikes. Sleepless nights of listening to them cough and moan. Thankfully Allie hasn't had it yet, she just finished the annual state testing at school. Please, flu just go away!!!!!!!

Daughters...

Phil has been on yet another business trip and so the girls and I had a long week of coming up with fun girlie things to do. Pedicures, manicures, hairdos, sewing etc. We've been reading Anne of Green Gables for a few months together. It's such a great book to read with your daughters. We've been planning to watch the movie when we are done but, we went to the library and saw they they had it and couldn't resist. So, we checked it out and made plans to watch it Saturday night. By 7:00 we were all in our pajamas and snuggled into my bed to watch it. We all watched it until 10:30 when we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. Then we woke up and finished it. We all loved it and the girls pretended to be Anne all day long (way better than Britney Spears.) We are going to check out the sequel for Dad's next business trip. I love bonding moments like this and I love having daughters to share them with.

Ladies and Gents...

I have registered myself for a 1/2 marathon in April. That means that I need to get my booty going. I haven't run since last Saturday (Phil's been out of town since Monday.) Guess I need to join the gym and run on the treadmill, ugh. I would rather run on concrete than a treadmill but, here I go. I know that I can do it but, it's only 7 weeks away. Goal is set! Now it's just getting there. I'm going to try and beat my PR of 1:59. Wish me luck!

P.S. This half marathon course is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to do it. Besides there are hardly any uphills. That's motivation, if you ask me.

Getting used to it...

Some peculiar little things about Texas...

The most popular car (aside from the 2 ton Ford dually) is the Ford Mustang. I see probably 10-15 a day and I really don't go very far from home.

They fly the Texas flag everywhere, sometimes higher and bigger than the US Flag.

I am called ma'am by everyone, even old ladies. I know it's just a term of respect but, it makes me feel so old.

Some restaurants have black toilets in their restrooms. I'm not kidding, truly black toilets.

Check out this blog...

I posted this at the bottom of a previous post but, you really should check this one out. He makes some incredible points. (I am lucky enough to have him and his wife as part of my family too.) Click here for See Thru The View.

Pictures of January/February...

Warning, lots of pictures to post...I'm catching up.

Ashlie's 5th birthday was a little bittersweet. Daddy left for Texas just a few days before and couldn't be there for her actual birthday but, she had a really fun day anyway. She woke up to two excited sisters dying to open some presents. I took her to Target and let her pick out a new outfit and then after some popcorn with her best friend Kylin, we went home to have a birthday party with all of her friends. She loved being the princess for a day!

The girls and I went up to Utah a few days after Ashlie's birthday. We wanted one last chance to say goodbye to all of our friends and family in Utah. We had a big birthday party with the girls cousins and friends and we all had a blast. It was kind of sad to say goodbye, knowing that we won't be home again for awhile.

Allie's 9th birthday was on a Sunday and Daddy was home for the weekend. Daddy took her clothes shopping the day before and we picked out a fun birthday cake for her. On Sunday we invited a few of our neighbor friends over for cake and ice cream. Fun times!