A few happenings in my life

1. Last week was the 24th of July celebration in Utah. I love being in Utah on the 24th and getting a holiday. When Ben and I first got married and I moved to Idaho it was strange to have to work on the 24th of July. I have loved the last three years being in Utah for the state holiday with a parade and family BBQ. My parents town has a 5K race that I have participated in the last three years. The good news is that each year my time gets better. This year I improved my time from last year by four minutes and ran the 5K in 26 minutes 39 seconds. I was pretty excited about that. Ben was upset that the T-shirt said fun run instead of 5K, according to Ben it was not a "fun" run. For the picture he would not hold up his T-shirt because he wanted everyone to see his racing number not a shirt that said fun run. That evening we had a BBQ with my aunt and uncle and then went to a firework show that was spectacular for a small town. I was glad I could be in Utah for on last 24th of July celebration.




2. Ben is done with the Bar!!!!!!
i just got off the phone with Ben and he is driving home from his second day of the Bar exam so now he is completely 100% done. We are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate and then off on a little vacation tommorow. I am so excited for Ben that he is finished.

3. A bit ago my mom and I hosted a baby shower for our neighbor and I thought the decorations turned out so cute. My sister-in-law Laurel helped me make these diaper cakes that we decorated with ribbon and flowers and a baby topper. The clothesline was also really cute, when we opened presents we hung the outfits on the clothesline for everyone to see. I had heard of this idea before but had never actually seen it done so I thought I would post this picture for all of you who might need some inspiration decorating for a baby shower.

I'm Done!!!

I have been taking an independent Study course through BYU for the last year called Residential Landscape Design. I have a secondary education degree and to keep my teaching certificate current I have to take six credits every five years. So, I thought independent study would be a good way to get the credits while being at home with my children. Of course I procrastinated a bit and didn't work on the class throughout the year as I should have so this summer I have had to cram a lot of work in. The class is due this Friday, I was planning on taking the final tomorrow but after studying a bit I felt ready and I just wanted to get it done so I went and took it and now I am 100% finished! Yeah! An added bonus is that I got an A on my project and an A- in the course plus my parents are implementing some of my design in their backyard and it looks really good. I will post pictures soon, I am just really happy to finally be done!

Memory Lane

Come on, play along!!!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Beautiful Brothers

I have often heard make-up experts say to either focus primarily on the eyes or the lips. Jacob and David took the advice and divided up the face, Jacob took care of the eyes, and David the lips. The picture of Jacob was taken two and a half years ago and the picture of David was taken tonight. Ahh how history repeats itself! (At first you may thing David's lips are pudding but it is most definitely grandma's lipstick:)

Playing Catch Up

I admit, I have a lot of catch up to do. After a while of not blogging it gets harder to start up again because there is so much to write about and it is hard to choose what to highlight. So I have decided to give a quick update in order to get me caught up and back into the blog habit. I am going to do it number style with pictures and a quick update, here we go!

1. FAMILY PICTURES
We went to goblin valley with my family and took family pictures while we were there. They turned out pretty well considering we put our own camera on a tripod and used a timer. First is a picture of the whole family and second is our own little family. The third picture is after hiking around goblin valley and playing sardines for a few hours. We had a great time!




We also went to Idaho and took family pictures with Ben's family. I hope they also turned out well but I have not seen them yet.

2. LANDSCAPE CLASS AND PROJECT
The most time consuming thing in my life right now is the landscape design class I am taking through independent study that is due in three weeks. The picture is a design that I drew that I know is not the best picture but you might be able to get an idea of what a design looks like. I am currently designing my parents yard and the exciting part is that they are following through with some of the plans in the back yard. We have added a sidewalk and flower beds around the perimeter of the yard. It looks really good even though it is still a work in progress!


3. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!
On the 4th we went to the parade in the morning after having breakfast at my uncle's house. We spent the day swimming at my parents playing sharks and minnows and marco polo. Later we had a parade that was VERY exciting and well attended:) (In these pictures you can see the back yard and some of the landscaping in the back) The kids enjoyed throwing the salt water taffy Ben bought for the parade.





4. JUMPIN JACKS
We went on a family date to a place called jumpin jacks that is full of inflateable houses and slides. The boys had lots of fun. Ben and I enjoyed it as well but we got tired faster then they did.


Hopefully I will now be better at remaining current on my blog. I hope you are having a great summer!

Our trip to Lagoon

This past week we took a little day trip to Lagoon with Ben's family. We had lots of fun and the boys loved it!! Jacob was really excited that Caleb was going to be there and that they could play together all day. Here are a few pictures from our day.



David was scared of the rides at first. He went on these cars with his cousin Mia and was acting unsure and scared, she reached over and put one arm around David to comfort him while she "drove" with the other hand. It was really cute!

Even though David was scared of many of the rides as you can see above, he never questioned any of the rides we put him on. He would get scared while riding but not as he was getting on the the ride. Ben took him on a ride called the parasailers (or something like that) he was terrified but still went on other rides afterwards, what a trooper!

Jacob and Caleb thought they were so grown up. After riding the helicopters they ran to me and said, "we are going on Puff now" no they didn't ask or wait for an adult, they just told me really quick and off they went. They had a good time running around all day.

Here is our family after a fun filled and tiring day at Lagoon. Everyone had a good time, even Madeline was well behaved and got to ride the train and the carousel! Thanks to all of the family who helped watch our kids so that Ben and I could enjoy some rides.

Speaking of enjoying rides, I enjoyed some and not so much others. I am not a big fan of the free fall feeling, I like some roller coasters but the ones with huge drops are not at the top of my list. There is a ride at Lagoon called wicked that you can barely see in this photo taken as we were leaving, it starts off with a fast straight up incline and then an immediate drop perpendicular to the ground. Normally not a ride I would be interested in riding. Ben really wanted me to ride it with him and practically dragged me into line, yes I am a wimp. We waited in line and then the line stopped moving and we waited and waited and waited some more. Come to find out a passenger had lost a flip flop and a hat under the roller coaster so they stopped the whole ride to retrieve the lost items, then the coaster wouldn't start for who knows what reason. After standing in line for 45 minutes we decided our time could be better spent elsewhere so we left. A few hours later we went back and the same thing happened again! Only this time we only had to wait about 20 minutes for the hat to be retrieved. Wouldn't you think people would be smarter to not wear hats and flip flops on a roller coaster that goes straight up and then straight down and has an upside down corkscrew? Better yet wouldn't you think employees would know to tell a passenger tough luck or come back at closing rather then stop a ride and make a ton of people wait? It was frustrating but after all of the waiting I did ride Wicked and I didn't really like it all that much, free fall just isn't for me. It was a great day, we were all exhausted when we got home but I think that means the day was a success! Thanks Mowers for the great day!

Family Fun!!

One of the fun things about being in Utah for the summer is that our kids get to spend time with their cousins. Last weekend we went to Idaho and Jacob and David loved playing with Caleb and Mia. Jacob and Caleb played non-stop from the moment we got to grandma's house until Caleb had to go home the next day. I forgot to take pictures of them but I will definitely remember next time. Madeline and Owen enjoyed sitting next to one another and played with each others hands a bit.

In Utah we have a new cousin Claire. David loves when Claire comes over! Claire and Madeline have matching dresses so we got the two dressed up and took pictures of them.

Woops! Madeline doesn't sit up as well as Claire!

Here is a picture of all the kids. David didn't really want to cooperate so he just mostly sat in the background.




It will be sad when we leave at the end of the summer. Last week Jacob said he never wanted to leave Idaho because he wanted to play with Caleb all the time. Then today he told me he was sad we had to leave Michigan, I am glad my kids make friends wherever we go, it is always sad every time we have to leave an area. Right now I am just enjoying the time we have to be with our families!