September in a nut shell

One thing I love about September is that we go up to Snowbird every year for a family reunion. We have a condo and we eat and visit and then go to the Oktoberfest. It's the crazy German side of my family, but I love them tons!

For the past couple of years we have taken a family picture at the same spot. This year we thought we'd be a little BOLD in our wardrobe. What do U think?

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It always seems like I'm waiting around for my Birthday, but this year it came so fast.
We went to Dinner at Tucci's with my parents, my grandma and Dominic, Samantha and BB Scarlett. It was yummy, and lots of fun. We love Tucci's because it's really never busy and the staff and owners are amazingly friendly (watch for Tucci's to come up in December -it's our Anniversary spot too).

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I decided that I was going to help produce yet another Farmington City Jr. play again. Auditions were in September and the play is Alice In wonderland Jr. The play is a fun kind of upbeat version of Alice, we have a ton of kids, but it's so fun to be a part of it all again.Of course I've been crazy busy with it, but it's a blast. Natalie got the part of one of the Flowers-Violet. She has a few lines and she is ecstatic. She also sings The Golden Afternoon song.

Natalie is the far left flower.

Adventurous August 2011

After the tragic accident that took the life of a young man in our ward and neighborhood on July 30, life seemed to go at an incredibly slow rate at the beginning of August. But then, amidst the sorrow for our friends and neighbors, we were able to celebrate on August 11, when our friends Sarah and Stu Reeder were blessed with their first baby. A little girl that they named Hannah. She is so stinkin' adorable and such a blessing to Sarah and Stu.

More celebrating was to be had that same weekend when my oldest and dearest friend Mandy went through the Temple with her husband Scott. Then the next weekend they took their children, Sydney and Max, to the Temple to be sealed as a family for Eternity. Mandy and I have shared so many of life's milestones together, and what an amazing feeling it was to be with her as she embarked on another one. Congrats Donavan Family! Love you Mandy!

It's crazy how you wait all school year for summer to come and then in a blink of an eye it's over and "back to school."
I'm speaking for the kids of course, and YES, it was KIDS going to school in our house this year.

Samuel is finally in Preschool and loves it! For a kid who is so full of life and energy and curiosity, school is the perfect place for his little mind and body to be-even if it's only for 2 1/2 hours twice a week.

Natalie on the other hand has NOT been excited about school this year. The pic below shows how she was on the first day of school. I bought her brand new shoes for school and "somehow" when she put them on, on the first day of school, they didn't fit right. Talk about drama over a pair of shoes. Then it was all downhill from there on out...and that's almost how it's been everyday since. I'm not sure what's going on with her, and why she's being so grumpy about school this year, but I hope it passes soon.

As if sending the kids to school wasn't crazy enough, we decided to go on a little weekend getaway with our neighbors (the Marshalls, Goffs, Zeiglers, & Biesingers) down to the Utah Shakespearean Festival the weekend of the first week of school. Ahhhh! Well, for Brandon and I, it wasn't much of a weekend, more like a day trip because he had to be back to fly out to Vegas for work. It was a bit a of a whirlwind but we had fun anyway. We drove down Friday the 19th and had tickets to see Noises Off! It was a hysterical play about what goes on while in the production stages of putting on, and during a show. That night we drove down to St. George and stayed in the Zeigler's parent's house. It was such a beautiful house, complete with swimming pool, and Saturday morning, while the guys went Golfing, us ladies stayed behind and lounged in the pool (I promised I wouldn't blog those pics ladies-so I didn't)! After the guys got back and swam for a bit, we all got ready, ate lunch and headed back up to Cedar to see A Mid-Summer Night's Dream-one of my favorite Shakespeare plays! After that we all went to dinner at Lupita's Mexican Restaurant, which had an amazing salsa bar and even better Chimichangas. Mmmmm I want one right now. Anyway, after dinner Brandon and I headed back for home (I told you it was a quick trip).

The singing, dancing and acting camp that Natalie attended over the summer had two performances on August 23rd and 26th. The first one was at Bountiful Music on a tiny little stage that the kids barely fit on. It was very hot in the room and the music kept skipping every time the kids danced. The one on the 26th was at Cherry Hill and it was on a cute little outdoor stage. The kids performed their show and their solo songs that they'd worked so hard on over the summer, and Jessie Clark Funk (their teacher) performed some songs also. It was a beautiful night and a great little performance by the kids. Natalie had such a blast over the summer doing the things she loves best. Acting, Singing and Dancing! Not sure where she gets that from... ;)

On August 27th me and the kiddos went to the Federal Heights Rehab & Nursing Center for an Alzheimer's Fundraiser. Our Neighbor Pete is the Executive Director of the facility and we went in support of him, and of course, the cause. There was much fun to be had, including bounce houses, a "boxing ring," booths with lots of fun things to buy, carnival food, and Natalie's favorite-a rock wall. She and I took a turn climbing the wall. I was able to get to the top (in bare feel of all things) and Natalie made it up about half way. She kept freaking herself out and repelling down. It was a lot of fun, and a great day to spend time with our neighbors, Pete, Ashli and their son Boston. All for a good cause!

It was a pretty exciting end of August for Sam. He got to finally play soccer, and to our surprise...is really good at it. He dribbles the ball well and is kind of pushy (at 3 years old we still have to tell him to be nice, but one day that aggression will be good for him on the field). His team name was THUNDER and they were really cute boys. He had such a blast playing, and we really liked Tuesdays because it meant Sam slept really well that night. I'm hoping to find an indoor soccer league to put him in for the long winter months. That would be a win win for everyone!


Ahhhh, well that was a look at our Adventurous August...one of these days I'll blog within a reasonable amount of time, and maybe avoid this month-by-month blogging thing....then again maybe not!

OUR JULY!

Well apparently I'm blogging by months now, since that's about how long it takes to upload my pictures, make digital pages and get them on here! So without further ado, here is a look at what happened during the month of July.

Natalie has spent this summer in the Ivy Performance Academy. It's a summer program for kids to help them learn skills in vocal technique, acting, basic dance and performance. They have been practicing a small play and even got to go to a studio and record their voices with the minus tracks that they'll be singing in their show! The classes are taught by Jessie Clark Funk (who happens to be a favorite at our house) and she is so cute with the kids. She even got the kids to walk in the Farmington Festival Days Parade this year!

After the parade we went over to our friends (the Biesingers) house for a Luau and to watch the Farmington City fireworks. It was a fun night with ymmy food, volleyball, homemade Ice Cream and s'mores! I didn't get pics of the Luau, because we were having so much fun...so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was a blast.

Our cute little German friend Tini was in town during July and for Mom and Dad's Anniversary we went to...Yes you guessed it, Bucca Di Beppo. It's become our tradition when the Germans are in town and/or for Mom and Dad's Anniversary-sometimes they happen to coincide.

On July 30th we were invited to our neighbors daughter Lily's Birthday Party, which was up at Pineview Reservior. We had so much fun playing in the water, eating yummy food and having a great time with our friends and neighbors.

The night we had gotten home from Pineview was a very surreal night for our Ward and Neighborhood. We had found out that 7 of the youth in our Ward had been in a very serious accident, and one of them had past away. His name was Gabe Hanson and he was 15 years old. He was such a cute kid, who was so funny and full of life. His family is amazing and such great examples to me. Gabe's older brother Cooper was my trek brother when I went to trek as an "adult child" 2 years ago, and his little sister Daisy is in my primary class. They also have 3 other boys too.

Gabe was well know for being a goofball and always wore these pink Vans shoes. At his viewing and funeral SO many people had on pink. Vans, Converse, church shoes. Girls had on pink shirts and dresses, guys had on pink ties. They were even giving away pink wrist bands to all who attended the services. It was such an outpouring of love and support to the Hanson family, and to Gabe!
Two of the other youth in the car, were taken to the hospital and one of them is still recovering from her injuries. The other four have emotional injuries, but all of these kids have become so close since going through this tragedy together. It has been amazing to see all of the youth in our Ward come together and take care of one another. My heart is still aching for the Hanson family and their loss and my thoughts and prayers are constantly with them.

Ear Piercing and an Infomercial

I was just thinking that I posted this on Facebook but I didn't post it on here...oops!

While at the Mall (Fashion Place-which I haven't been to in ages) we were walking around and went into Claire's (or whatever it's called now) and Natalie said, "I want to get my ears pierced." Just like that. So we picked out a pair of earrings (do you KNOW how much they charge for those things?) and she got 'em done. She kind of freaked out right before the girl did the first ear, and cried a tiny bit when it was all done, but then as she looked in the mirror, she was all smiles. It was a pretty big deal for her, and me, since she's kind of a chicken when it comes to things.

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Oh, while I'm talking about this it reminds me that the whole reason I went to the mall was because my neighbor Ashli had saw some "Feeling Cheeky" mini cheek tints by Benefit on Good Things Utah and wanted to get some, so we went all the way down to Sephora for this stuff, and I'm not kidding you...I LOVE IT!

There are 3 "mini" bottles in this set ($15). Two of them are the cheek tints, and one is a highlight cream. The posie tint is a pink cheek tint that gives your cheekies a nice sun-kissed look, and the bene tint is a darker rose tint that gives you color without looking like a clown. The high beam is creamy and you use it at the top of your cheek bones and brow bones and it gives you that fresh glow and brightens up your eyes.

Wow, I sound like an infomercial and really I'm not telling you to go out and get this set...because I have used them almost everyday this month and I'm feeling like mine are getting used really fast because they are in such little bottles (like a very small bottle of nail polish), but I am saying that I've found a whole new love for cheek tints and will definitely be in search of more.

Okay, now that I've babbled on about that...

I'll go!

4th of July!

Every 4th of July our neighborhood does a BBQ at the end of our street, and of course, this year was no exception. A few neighbors wheeled out their grills and we cooked up some yummy BBQ, while loading our plates with side dishes and desserts! It was a nice time to just be with friends, and neighbors. Since this year the aerial fireworks were permitted (crazy), we had a pretty great firework show right above our heads!

Even though it's stinkin' hot outside and we've actually had a bit of humidity, I still love the summer! I love parades, sticky popsicles, night time walks with the kids and dogs, luaus, pool parties, summer rainstorms, fireworks, BBQed hamburgers . . . and just basking in the sun (with sunscreen on of course)!

It's the time of year that takes forever to arrive, and yet it flies by so fast, if you don't take a moment to enjoy it, you might miss it! So stop reading this and go outside and jump on your trampoline with the sprinklers on-if you don't have a tramp, well then just run in the sprinklers!!!

July 2, 2011

My friend Mandy's daughter Sydney was baptized on July 2, and Natalie and I drove up to Logan to say hello and celebrate Sydney's special day.

Mandy and I have known each other our whole lives, and Natalie and Sydney only really met each other in May, but you'd think they've known each other for their whole lives too with the way they've became little buddies.

I wish we lived a tiny bit closer so we could see each other more often, but Natalie and Sydney email each other and are planning a "hang out" day before they have to go back to school!

It's crazy that it's been well over 20 years since Mandy and I were Sydney and Natalie's age, causing mischief and mayhem almost everywhere we went! Where does that time go?

"June Is Bustin' Out All Over." -Carousel

June has gone by so fast that I haven't had any time to blog, but since the month is almost over, I thought I'd better give you something . . .
So without further ado, here is our month in pictures (with a few snippets).

The beginning of June was quite a whirlwind after getting Dash and all. I didn't take to the new dog as easily as I thought I would, and spent the first few weeks trying to keep anxiety attacks at bay (that's a topic for another time though), but finally, I felt somewhat normal enough to load us up on some summer fun! Which is how it's been ever since. . .well maybe it's not ALL been fun! You'll see.

On the 10th of June we were invited by our friends and neighbors, the Biesingers, to go down to Thanksgiving Point for the Scottish Festival and Tattoo. It was a lot of fun to walk around the different booths, eat the yummy food and hear the bagpipers play. A few bands came out and played and we all danced, then we got to see the different Clans walk through and place a torch on a stand. It was a bonnie wee good time! Hee hee.

After our Scottish weekend, Natalie and I spent FHE at Bountiful Park for a little concert with Cori Connors (she is a great guitarist, and she teaches in Farmington), Michael McLean (yes THAT Michael McLean) and John Batdorf. It was a nice night of music and fun. Brandon was sick so he stayed home with Sam :(
The concert in the park was the first of many fun things Natalie did for her Birthday Week.

On Tuesday June 14th, it was her 9th Birthday and she spent the whole day with Brandon's Mom and had a sleep over. They went to Build-A-Bear and saw the Judy Moody movie. Then on Wednesday, my mom picked her up and took her shopping, where she got spoiled with Harry Potter Lego sets (I thought that was just for boys?). Then my family all went to the Olive Garden for her Birthday Dinner.

On Thursday night (16th) Natalie had a "late over" Birthday Party with her friends. It was a Campout Party, except the weather decided (like it always does) to be crappy so we had a Camp-IN. It was a lot of fun though, the girls ate pizza, made friendship bracelets, opened presents, and I made S'mores in the oven. Natalie's isn't the biggest fan of cake so I made her a s'more, drilled a hole in the top graham cracker, and put a candle in it and the girls sang Happy Birthday to her. Then they watched Scooby-Doo Camp Scare! Ooooooh!

Saturday the 18th I drove up to Logan with my friend Katie (and our Farmington Librarian Jelaire) for a Book Signing and Meet & Greet with one of our favorite authors. Her name is Marcia Lynn McClure, and she writes the cutest romance novels. Not Romance novels like heaving breasts and the like, but cute happy, make you giddy romance novels that are not smutty. The book signing was at the American West Heritage Park and the people working there were too cute all dressed up in their pioneer garb. They even acted out scenes from one of Marcia's books.

We attended a VIP dinner where Marcia went around to the tables to meet her fans and then we got our books signed and got to chat with her a little more. Her husband was there and her sons and soon to be daughter-in-law. They were all super cute and fun, and seemed to really enjoy being around all of us crazy ladies! Me, Katie and Jelaire had a great time taking goofy pictures and laughing at an "outlaw" guy named Lucky who kept flirting with Katie. It was such a blast to have a girls night that really felt girly!

So. . . since 2009 I have been praying that we never see the people at the Primary Children's Medical Center Emergency Department again. I know, not likely with a VERY active boy.

Well, on Monday the 20th I went to pick up the kids from Brandon's Mom's house and Sam was playing on the tool box in the back of Jann's boyfriend's truck, well my mommy intuition KNEW that that was not a good idea but did I listen? No. And all it took was 2 seconds for Sam to lose his footing and fall. It was a horrible thing to witness and I've been kicking myself ever since and wishing I could go back in time and listen to my gut instinct. I took him up to Primary's and after waiting and CT scans, and more waiting and brain scans, they found that he had a skull fracture above his eye brow and a smaller one below his eye. He had to stay the night in the hospital for observation and most likely will be going back for a sedated eye exam just to make sure there isn't anything lurking within his eye that may cause future complications. But even with all of that. . . he hasn't slowed down in the least. He is still just as active as he was before, except now he isn't allowed to do anything but walk for 6 weeks, which is going to make for a very LOOOOOONNNNGGG summer. If anyone has any amazing indoor activities to keep a confined 3 year old occupied, please send them my way!

On Thursday the 23rd. My great neighbors and friends Ashli and Katie knew I was having a rough time after Sam's fall, especially having to keep him tethered to the house, so they invited me over to Ashli's to do "Glitter Toes." It was so much fun, and not to mention WAY cheaper than going to a Salon to get them done. The kids watched a movie while we moms chatted and beautified our little tootsies. I really needed some time to just let go for a bit and this was perfect. I even got to show them off that night at book group. Woot Woot! Mine are the lime green ones!

On Friday night the 24th Brandon and I, Ashli and her hubby Pete, Katie and her hubby Aaron, and our other great friends and neighbors Kristie and Sean all went to the Temple to do a Sealing Session. The Sealer was Stephen E. Dalton who is the husband of Sister Elaine S. Dalton who is the General Young Women's President. SO COOL! Anyway, it was such a great Sealing Session and I was so glad for the opportunity we had to get to the Temple. It was much needed for both Brandon and I. We even saw Bran's Uncle Ron and Aunt Cindy there too.

After the Temple we all ate at a little Thai Restaurant in Salt Lake called Sawadee. I've only had Thai food once before, so it was fun to do something new, and nice to be with great friends. I didn't get any pictures, but I had to write about it because it was such a fun spiritual night!

I'm thinking, with only a week left in June, not too much more is going to happen, and if it does, I hope it's good happenings! This month has been crazy and a bit of a roller coaster, and I'm sure with Sam's "restrictions" things are going to be pretty calm for a while.

Then again . . .