5th of July Boating

The crazy 4th of July weekend tradition continues!

Skiing and tubing so you can be super sore the next day! Woo Hoo!

Tim gets the best sprays!

This was the only way Megan would go tubing.

Those girls love their daddy!

Alec went out by himself. How did he get so big?

The water got so choppy, that tubing was a little crazy.

If you could hear me in this picture, I was saying "AHHHHHHHHH!!!"

And this is why my neck is sore this morning.

I am getting old. But I'm still laughing!

Boating Slideshow

Growing Old

It's my birthday. I figure I could actually post something. Yay! Happy birthday to me! As my sister-in-law, Jamie put it, next year I'll be half way to seventy. This year, I'm still young. I'd better live it up!

Side note: I'm laughing because the name of the font I used on my little note was called "Bottled Fart." Yes, I find joy in the simple things in life.

Purse Snatcher. Grrr!

A few days ago I took some pictures downtown. Tim was kind enough to come with me. What a lovely assistant! I didn't even bring my purse (thank heavens!) since Tim was driving, but I had my camera bag. My camera bag is really just a purse that fits my camera perfectly. So we parked in this busy little parking lot surrounded by lots of stores. I took my camera out of the bag (purse) and decided I would just carry my camera and not worry about the bag. I just stashed the bag behind the driver seat (we have a big SUV, so it's high up, and we have tinted windows, so I wasn't too worried about my mostly empty camera bag). I figured Tim locked the car, and we set off to take pictures.

Pictures went great. Came back later and reached behind the seat for the bag. No bag. WHAT?? Look all over the car. NO BAG!! Someone snatched my bag! The door must not have been locked, because there wasn't anything broken, and nothing else was even taken. There was $22 dollars in the glove box thing between the front seats, but they didn't take that. I had a really nice expensive flash in the very back of the SUV, but they didn't take that. Just my mostly empty camera bag/purse. Humph.

I still had an extra camera battery, memory card, camera remote, a tiny tripod and some cables in the purse, so I was hoping that whoever took it would throw it in a garbage close by when they saw it didn't have a wallet in it. But no. We filed a police report, but no luck. I'm not very happy about it. I hope their guilty conscience was worth taking my lousy camera accessories. Grrr!

Preschool Class of 2010

Lily graduated from preschool this week. She was so excited because now she is ready for Kindergarten!!! She is always looking towards bigger and better things.

Lily & Hailee- "Best Buddies & Friends Forever!!" (said while throwing hands up together, as in a team cheer) are so funny to watch. They are such cute girlie girls!

Lily loved to sing "Pitter pat, pitter pat, it's a rainy day..." and she did a great job playing the chimes for the program. Woo Woo!

She also helped sing "I eat vegetables everyday, but Simple Sal shoves hers away..." I love these songs!

Grandma & Family cheering her on.

Way to go Lily! We Love You!

Fat Mother's Day

I'm standing in the kitchen making mashed potatoes when Megan comes into the kitchen.

"You FAT, Mom!"

Whaaat?!?

I turn to look at her, ready to stand up for myself, and stop.

There's Megan looking at me through binoculars.

I have to laugh!

Later, I really did feel like a fat mom as I was eating my brother-in-law, Dan's (and Nick's, though absent) Cookie Monster Birthday Cake!! Thanks Jamie for having such a cute cake idea for me to steal!!! :) Way too much good food for one day!

I have the sweetest family! They treat me so good all year round, I know I'm spoiled. Lily tells me every night, "You're my best mom in the whole, whole, whole, whole, whole wide world. I never want any other Mom but you. How did Heavenly Father know that I wanted you for a mom? I just love you too much!" She melts my heart! Megan (when she's not telling me I'm fat...) snuggles up on my lap and tells me in the cutest little two-year-old way, "I lub you, Mom," as she puts her little baby hand on my cheek and smoothes away my hair. It is so tender it makes me forget the dozen temper tantrums we have been through that day. Alec is my big-little sweetheart. He still gives me lots of hugs and kisses and writes me nice notes at random times that make me so happy. One day after I finished folding endless laundry, he wrote me a note and left it on my pillow that said "Thanks for doing laundry and all you do." He's such a good boy. Then there's Timmy boy, that makes me strawberry and mango crepes (sooo delicious!), and always takes time to let me know that I'm still his favorite person. Thank you for being such a devoted husband! I love my family!

Madilynne is Born!!

I had to post a couple of pictures on this blog, as well as my Shot blog, because she is just to cute not to! I think I was a little bit too excited that my sister Chantelle asked me to take some newborn pictures. She is the cutest model that ever peed on her dad (a couple of times). Sorry Dan! Hope the pictures were worth it!

I'm experimenting with simple announcements. What do you think?

(Yes, I took off their last names just for my blog. They really will have last names... :) )

Tiara Sunglasses

Megan & her friend, Millie came into the kitchen just giggling.

I look down and this is what I see.

They crack me up! I had to take a picture!

They almost look like twins in their matching spring stripe sweaters!! -oh, except Megan is about four inches shorter (yes, they're the same age...), and one has brown hair, the other blonde... Okay. More like Twins- with Arnold & Danny Devito.

My Cute Pregnant Sister & Her Husband

This post is for family that doesn't live close by, and miss out on all the little details of everyday life here. My sister, Chantelle, doesn't blog, so I am taking it upon myself to post a couple of cute prego pictures! This little baby will be coming any day, and I can't wait!! It's much more fun waiting for someone else to go through labor & delivery!

Don't they look so cute?

They have a little idea that their entire life is about to change... for the very best!

My Wedding Cake was a Smash Hit!

My brother, Matt got hitched last month! Yay!! In Hawaii, without me. Boo!!! :) Okay, okay, enough pouting! They had an open house luau and it was a lot of fun. I got talked into making a little wedding cake. What's wrong with me? Have I ever made a wedding cake?? Well, I decided that simple is good, and fresh flowers are the greatest cake decor ever!

So, enter Matt & Amber.

Enter wedding cake.

(Yes, the corner of the cake got attacked by a sea shell...)

Enter Matt's evil laugh as he's holding the slice of cake...

And it's a smash hit!

As Amber was eating the cake off her face and hands, she tells me how good it was, too. That's a bonus!

Amber, we are so happy to have you in our family!

We wish you all the best in your life together!

Soccer Dad

Let the games begin! Lily has been so excited to start playing soccer!! We got her on a team with some friends from our ward (thanks Nathan!) and they looked like they were having a great time! They needed a coach for the team, and Tim was called into action. Way to go, Tim! Though, really, this is the best possible age to coach. They are so funny. If they kick it the wrong way? No big deal! Miss the ball completely? It's all good! As long as there's a treat at the end- Woo Hoo!

Coach Dad. He's pretty hot!!

This picture made me laugh. Lily with her tongue sticking out in determination to get that ball! It's a good thing that she has a big brother to keep up with, because she looked so little out on that field! She's a tough cookie (unless there's blood or a scratch or shots involved...).

Go Green Team! We need a better team name, too. Go Broccoli?

Compliments From A Two-Year-Old

"Glad you're home, Mom!"

I came back from the gym, and Megan is there waiting for me with a hug. It melts my heart. Especially since we've only just started being happy again. She had a yucky cough and cold that turned into an ear infection. Lucky her, and lucky all of us. She has not been sleeping well for several weeks!! I'M TIRED!

"Cute shirt, Mom!"

I bought a new shirt from Kohl's (Where else? Love that place!)

Megan liked it, too.

We're sitting down for dinner, and Megan looks at me and says,

"Cute eyebrows, Mom!"

Sometimes I just love this stage she's in. She makes me laugh!

A First Place Photo!!

I joined a camera club last summer. It has been great to see so many fun photographs and hear what people like/dislike. They offer help and advise, and I like the constructive criticism of my photos. Well, March is the Annual Print Show. Members can submit four photos in four categories: Open, Flowers, Landscapes or Portraits. Then they are judged by a college art teacher. Well, I wasn't really sure what to submit, but this is one of them.

Banana Spider Awaits

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Imagine my surprise when I go to the Art Stroll where the photos are all on display, and see a

FIRST PLACE RIBBON on MY photo for the Open category!

Woo Hoo! I'm still not sure how that happened!

There were some great photos.

I decided that my photography expertise is like golf. I take a million shots, and every once in a while I get that "Sweet Shot" that just feels good and goes like it's supposed to. It makes it all the more fun. I'm hoping that I continue to improve my game so I get more and more sweet shots!

Growing Old Is Mandatory...

But Growing UP is Optional.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!!!

Tim's sister, Rebecca sent him a card with the "growing up is optional" message, and I thought it was just perfect! We tried out iFly for his birthday. I was just planning on Tim & me going, but Alec started begging. "Please. PLEASE! J.J. gets to do it..." J.J. is a friend that is a little younger, but about half his size. I looked on iFly's rules, and it said ages 3 and up. Ages 3?? Why would you put your baby in the tunnel with wind speed of up to 160 miles per hour!! That's crazy! But I figured that if they thought 3 year olds could handle it, so could my 90 lb. son. I told Alec that if he paid for half of it with his allowance I would let him. "Yahoo!!"

Alec did great! He was worried about how you were going to breathe in there at first, but it all worked out fine. :)

Tim also did very well. Woo Hoo!

Not to brag, or anything, but Tim said I did the best out of our group! It was so much fun!! I guess it was going pretty well, so the instructor let go of me, but I didn't realize it, and all of the sudden I was going up high. WAAAHH!! I want to go again!

We also went out and had SUPER delicious fettuccine alfredo and spinach calzones (thanks Maurizio!), and cheesecake. Did I mention Boot Camp is over?? Oh, it tasted so so so good!

I LOVE YOU, TIM!!

You are what puts a spring in my step.

I love to be with you!