7 little known facts...

I've been tagged, thank you very much Jennifer! So here we go,

1. I can fit my entire fist in my mouth! Also the bottom of a water bottle between my teeth. (I have a pretty big mouth)
2. I love road trips, but I have a small bladder. So that means frequent stops, or Ryan putting drinking restrictions on me.
3. My sister and I were lost for two days in China and we thought we would never see our family again!
4. I won an AIR GUITAR contest at a Phoenix Suns game, so I got a custom made Fender strat. autographed by none other than the Phoenix Suns Gorilla!
5. While jet skiing at Lake Powell, I crashed and the handle bar went right into my leg leaving a hole in the muscle. So I have a dent in my leg. Fortunately, or unfortunately I'm finding that the "softer" I get, the less you can see the dent.
6. While in highschool, I had a series of unfortunate events that led to my being an expert tire changer. By the fourth time in only a few months, I could do it in about ten minutes!
7. Once while we were living in Utah, Ryan and I were on our way to the airport and we were a little late. A cop noticed how fast we were driving and motioned for us to pull over. Ryan didn't have his driver's license on him so once we got to the side of the road waiting for the cop to pull up behind us, he quickly hopped out of his seat forcing me to get in the driver's seat to receive the ticket. Instead I slammed on the gas and we took surface streets to the airport and then fled the country. (we went to Cancun) That was the biggest high I've ever had!

I now tag Crystal, Tara, Jodi and Tawnya

Utah trip

Last Friday I went up to Utah with my mom, Tawnya, Kolby and Tara. We were there Saturday for my cousin Cindy's wedding. They got married in the South Jordan temple, and it was so beautiful!


Then Sunday we got to go to my neice Marie's blessing. Molly and Darren then put on an amazing luncheon to celebrate. Afterwards we went to my Uncle Tom's and Aunt Debbie's house in Ogden for a BBQ. It was soo good to see my cousins, eat good food, and play Killer Bunnies.

We then spent the rest of the week on BYU's campus going to education week. It was so good to be able to go to classes, get spritually charged, and have time to rededicate myself to being the best wife and mother I can be. I was also able to see so many people I love that I haven't seen in so long!

I am so grateful to my saint of a friend, Catherine LaPorte, who watched the kids while I was gone and Ryan was at work. Also thank you to Collete, Kolby's mom, who opened up her house to all of us. All in all I had such a good time, but was SO happy to see me babies again. I feel like they just grew up so much while I was gone! Is it just me or does it seem like kids put growing on hold until you're gone? But I got the BEST hugs when I got home.

My old man!

August 16th, Ryan turned 30!!!

Of course that was on a Thursday, and he has class on Thursday,

so we celebrated Wednesday. But that was great since

Wednesday, my brother Ethan came home from his mission!!!!

That's Ethan with pops and madre.

Drake reading the wine list.

Ethan served in the Oakland California mission and in that time has learned and grown so much! He is such an example to Gwen who talks about how uncle Ethan just got home from a mission, and "he taught people about Jesus".

Welcome home Ethan, we love you so much!

Now a little bit about Ryan. I just want you all to know that I am so lucky to have Ryan for my husband! He is the best dad that our kids could ever have, and the sweetest husband I could ever dream of. He works so hard, and loves to spoil us. He has such a good voice, and I love it when I see him cuddling our kids singing to them. He is OBSESSED with golfing, and he's pretty dang good at it. He's patient enough to have taught me how to golf, and to take me on golf dates. Ryan is so funny and always the life of the party. His smile and laugh are so contagious. He served a mission in Scotland, has a solid testimony, and is always striving to be a better person. Ryan, happy birthday, I love you!

fun times

Last week Ryan and I took the kids to the zoo, and it was so stinkin' hot! And so of course Gwen wanted to go to the little water park area and get wet, but we didn' have a swim suit for her. So being WT, we just took off her dress and put Drake's shirt on her. But she loved it, so we were happy.

Then this last weekend, we went up to the cabin for Kolby's 29th birthday!!! It was so much fun, thanks for having a birhthday Kolby! Gwen loved riding on the quads, and Drakey boy wanted to scoot around everywhere, but when we let him, he got a monstrous splinter in his hand. Luckily it was so big, it was easy to pull out.

And I don't have pictures to post of this, but Buster (that's what I call Drake) is turning into a man!!! Sunday he started getting on his knees and scooting in a crawling form. He's so close to crawling, I'm so proud of him! And if that's not enough growing for one weekend, he's getting his third tooth too. His top right one has cut through and it looks like the left one is not far behind. Next thing I know, he'll be shaving. hehehe - not even close. I love that he's still totally my little baby. I'm fine with him being a little slower on the physical development, because he's my sweet, cuddly little guy who still loves being held by his mommy.

Goofy toothed Gwen at the cabin. Gotta love it!

President James E. Faust

With love and appreciation, we remember President Faust who passed away this morning.

Domestica

Last year, my mom, sisters, and I tried Meals Made Easy. It's one of those places where you go and assemble meals and then they are practically ready when you get home. You just take them out of the freezer and pop 'em in the oven or what ever they need, but they literally are meals made easy.
So we're coming up on a busy time of year, and we thought we should do that again. But this time we thought why don't we do it all ourselves? We'll come up with our own gourmet menus and do all the prep work and assemble them ourselves. Well we did, and it took almost ALL day! Between coming up with the menus and buying the groceries, and washing, chopping, and cooking, we spent around 8 hours! But believe me, I know I won't regret it when I'm eating my BLT smashed potatoes, or my Spanish Chicken and Chorizo Paella. All together we made 6 meals for each of our families. But right now all the lemons in the world couldn't take the smell of onions and garlic off my hands! Any suggestions?
So that's how I spent my fourth anniversary! Yesterday was four years for Ryan and I, but he had his LSAT classes yesterday, so we postponed celebration to tonight. For those of you who don't know, Ryan's decided he wants to go to law school. He's been taking these LSAT prep classes, and has been studying like a mad man! He is so determined to do well, and I know he will.

simpsonizeme.com

...if I was a Simpson character!

a few things

1.

First of all, I finally got the kid's birthday pictures done. And I can't believe that these beautiful kids are mine! We fooled Drake into standing in the ladder picture. I held him there, then pulled my hands away right when she snapped the picture. You better believe he got so mad! But both of them were just angels! And Gwen, oh my was she a little posing diva. Thank goodness!

2.
And so I am in love with a vampire....Edward Cullen! I finished Twilight today, and I'm so ready for New Moon. My sister in law, Emily, gave me the book for my birthday, but I was so busy with The State of Fear, and other things that I couldn't get right to it. But once I did, I was page flippin! Now here's my question, Stephanie Meyer (who's BYU graduate and AZ resident) is married. Was her husband her inspiration for Edward, or was she dropping hints? ;)

Good chick book, I highly recommend it!