My Niece is ONE!

This last weekend we were in St. Geoge to celebrate the FIRST Birthday for my Brother's daughter, Shaylynn!! It was a great party, complete with yummy food, party hats (whats a birthday without party hats?!), and treat bags! And as expected at first birthdays, Shaylynn got so many presents! We love you Shay!

Ashley, Shay, and CJ

This is the gift Whitney and I had made for Shaylynn. (Uncle CJ made one for Daxon when he was a babe that said #1 Uncle...its only fair!)

In Case You Haven't Seen Her in a While...

Can you believe my baby is SEVEN months old now?!! I just wanted to post her cute face and let everyone know how stinkin cute she is! There is not a day that goes by that I do not realize how lucky I am to be able to stay home and take care of my kids.

This shot is actually when she was 6 months, but its cute none the less. Zayla's personality shines through more and more every day. She is going to be a mover and a shaker, thats for sure! Enjoy her babyness!!

Get up and Shout!

For some reason I have had a few "SHOUT-OUTS" in my head lately, so I thought I would post them on my blog so all two of my faithful readers can enjoy them. I find that if I can't get it out of my head, I need to write it down, or in this case, post it, to clear my head.

• SHOUT-OUT to my HUBBAND (yes, Hubband) for being my best friend, and for supporting me in ALL of my little project ideas, and get-a-way needs.
• SHOUT-OUT to my KIDS for taking naps at the SAME TIME occasionally so I can have a few moments to myself! (This is one of those moments)
• SHOUT-OUT to my sister TEED for loving my kids almost as much as I do, and keeping me sane. You do it just by being there!
• SHOUT-OUT to EDWIN my father-in-law for growing the biggest and best garden I have ever seen. I love the veggies all summer! Thank You!
• SHOUT-OUT to my BRO. I don't get to hang out with you much, but I love you so much! Stay Positive!
• SHOUT-OUT to my SCRAP-ASSY SISTAS! We will have another scrap-away, oh yes, we will!
• SHOUT-OUT to MELLY for hanging out with me weekly, and being such a fun person. POSSUM!!!
• SHOUT-OUT to NATALIE for always leaving comments on my blog and making me know that somewhere out there, someone is looking at this time trap. (You are one of my two faithful readers!)
• SHOUT-OUT to THE GIRLS OF TEN for staying in contact all these years. I miss you all, and we need a gathering soon!!
• SHOUT-OUT to VANESSA for being such a loyal friend and for always sending Triston's clothes to Daxon. You are the most giving person I know! Love ya!
• SHOUT-OUT to JULES for being my BFF in Utah (I can say that because of your BFF in California!) and thanks for the Hat and Flower. I totally owe you!
• SHOUT-OUT to MAEVE for hanging on to our silly nicknames, and for staying in touch with me over the years. Even if we only get to see each other for two hours a year. Girls Trip here we come! Bev loves ya!
• SHOUT-OUT to BOO for being the best You're-not-the-boss-of-me-friend ever! I miss you. Hang in there and "May the Force be with You!"
• SHOUT-OUT to MOTHER NATURE for gently reminding me each year that I love Autumn. (Summer is best, but Autumn is nice!)
• SHOUT-OUT to BLAYKE! I miss your spunk around the house!

and last but not least...

• SHOUT-OUT to MYSELF for losing 25 pounds (and counting) with Weight Watchers!!! (Thats a small child I've lost!) I feel great, and am so proud of myself!

Love to all!

Our Labor Day Weekend

We had a busy Labor Day weekend. It started with Jon going up to Fort Bridger Wyoming to the Mountain Man Rendezvouz on Thursday night. He set up camp for us and stayed until Friday. Meanwhile, my mom, Grandma, Brother and his family came up on Friday for our cousin Dallan's wedding. My mom and I went to Swiss Days in Midway, and while we were there we jaunted in to the Homestead Spa so my mom could get a facial from Whitney (Lucky!) The next day Jon went Golfing, had band practice, went to the first BYU Football game (most of it) and then met me and the kids in Farmington at my Aunt Chrisy's house for the wedding. (Thats where we were married 8 years ago!!) We canceled our plan to leave straight from Chrisy's house to head up to Fort Bridger and instead left Sunday morning. We also canceled our camping plans for Sunday night at Fort Bridger due to stormy weather. We came home later on Sunday. Once we were up there, our hearts were really wishing we could stay, but we just didn't have the right gear to fight out the storm with two little ones! We had a good time anyway!





This is all of my mom's kids and Aunt Chris's kids with the newest In-Law Courtney! (We refer to ourselves as the "Original Six")





It only took most of the night, but all six of mom's kids and her grandkids finally got together to get a photo taken. We are only missing Blayke and the one-on-the-way for Ashley and CJ.









...the next day at the Rendezvouz. Having lunch in the field.



Jon, Daxon, and Uncle Vince (The ultimate Mountain Man and Daxon's namesake!)

Shop 'til our Babies Drop!

Melly and I took our kids up to Park City to do a little school-clothes-shopping for Blayke. The shopping spree was an overall success with only a few minor glitches! Both of the babies wouldn't eat, Daxon only ran over an insignificant number of people with the stroller, road work got in the way of our eagerness to get home, and the kids had reached their limits before we got to go to all the shops we wanted to, but Blayke made out with a ton of clothes! Although we were on this excursion no longer than 4 hours, Mel and I felt like an entire weekend had past since we left Provo that morning! Doing anything with kids sure wears one out! Would we do it again? Heck yes!!

HAPPY CAMPERS!

We went camping last weekend with Jon's parents at Lodge Pole Campground. It was a lot colder than we had expected, but it was still nice to be up there. We have been meaning to go camping a lot this summer, but as always life gets in the way of plans - so it was nice to finally have gone. Our next trip camping I will bring more warm clothing as it seems to be getting colder...is it nearly Fall already???!!!

A Day at Lagoon!

Because our family didn't get to take a summer vacation this year, we decided to have some fun somewhere around home. Our destination was Lagoon!! We had a great time together. We started out the day at Logoon-A-Beach. Daxon loved the kiddie water slides. Zayla fell asleep on my shoulder... and Jon and Blayke had fun on some of the big water slides. We then went out into the park to take in some rides. Blayke is in the best position because she is still small enough to take Daxon on the kid rides, and big enough to go on the big rides with me or Jon. (Notice the photo of Blayke and Daxon on the Kiddie-Coaster...Dax has a half hysterical look on his face!) Blayke decided before we left home that she was going to try to go on the Colossas. A ride that has up until now scared her silly. I got to be the one to take her on her first up-side-down-screaming-adventure. She wasn't sure what hit her, but was VERY proud when it was over! Overall, taking small children to any theme-park results in cutting things short to accomodate their tiny schedules. We didn't stay as long as Blayke would have liked, but the day wore us out just as well!