Mom and Dad visit Utah ~ July 2011

My parents made a trip out to Utah again this summer and it was so great to have them here!!!  I love it when they come out and we get to play.  I was able to take time off while they were here so we could spend some quality time together.  Landen took a day off too (besides the weekend) and got to play with us.  We spent a lot of time down at Jared and Megan's which was really fun to all be together. 

Our list of events:
1. Saturday we went to Tucanos. It's tradition.
2. Going to the park to play.

Grandma and Rylie before the park...

3. Maya's baby blessing on Sunday.  It was beautiful.  I'm so grateful for the gospel and the opportunity to be part of her day.  It was great to have Mom and Dad here for it too.  I love that little girl :)

Mommy (Megan) and Maya

Grandma and Grandpa with Maya

Absolute perfection.

Okay...now this picture always makes me laugh!  One, Rylie...I don't even know how this picture turned out...  Two, you may notice Jared is wearing the flower ring I gave to Rylie, but what makes it better is that he is "sitting" in the car seat!

Landen and Aubrie

Grandma and Maya

4. Jared took Monday off work and we all went swimming at the indoor/outdoor pool in Lehi. It's a great place for the kids because they're not in the sun all day.  I love swimming!

5. We did a birthday party for Nathan and Rylie since Grandma and Grandpa obviously wouldn't be here for their real birthdays.  It was a fun night!  Landen came down after work to celebrate with us. They got to open presents and we had ice cream.

Landen and I included Dad in the birthday party and gave him his birthday gift too!

Nathan got 2 play hats and a set of Legos from Grandma and Grandpa!  Landen and I gave Nathan and Rylie dominoes...Nathan got Cars and Rylie got Princess ones...they have proved to be a great purchase!

Rylie got a cute bag and set of Disney Princess figurines from Grandma and Grandpa.  And that bag will haunt her for the rest of her life!  It was the first thing she opened and she took one look at is and said, "I don't want this." And then pushed it away and started looking for her next gift.  It was absolutely hilarious!  Jared got it recorded, so it really will haunt her!  She immediately loved the Princesses of course and once we told her she could carry them all around in her bag she gave it another chance.  Oh the honesty of children!

We couldn't resist documenting this, Megan was cold!  Really cold.  So she took care of it.

6. Landen took Tuesday off so we went to the temple with Mom and Dad.  It was so great to be there!  I love the temple!  It was Mom and Dad's first time going to Jordan River :) 
7. We went to Sundance where we took the Scenic Ski Lift ride!  It was gorgeous.  Not going to lie, the ski lift was a little nerve racking at moments.  It was such a beautiful and relaxing ride!  Thanks for taking us Mom and Dad!

8. We went and watched Jared's softball game then went and spent the evening at their house on Tuesday.
9. Mom and Dad's last night here we finally turned on the Wii.  It was so funny to watch Mom play! 
10. Wednesday morning we had to do the Deseret Bookstore run!  It's a must on every Utah trip.  Mom and Dad loaded up as usual! 
11. Mom, Dad and I went to the Training Table for lunch on Wednesday and then it was off to the airport.

It was sooooo great having them here!  I love it when they come and hate it when they leave.  I probably cried the whole drive home...and for the next day.  It was a fun filled few days and I can't wait until next time!  Thanks Mom and Dad for making the trip out west!!!  Sure love you!!!

Stadium of Fire!!!

This year we had the opportunity to go to Stadium of Fire at BYU to celebrate the 4th of July!  Our friends Whitney and Greg had bought tickets but decided to go to Europe instead...why would they do that?! HA!  But thanks to their trip we bought their tickets from them.  It was so awesome!!!  We went with my friend Des and a bunch of her friends.  It was just fun to be there.  It was probably the best fireworks show I've EVER seen.  Brad Paisley and David Archuleta were the entertainment and I love them both so it was awesome!!!!!!  We had an incredible time and were so blessed to be there. 

I love the 4th of July!  It is such a great time to remember and be thankful for the freedoms we have, for our independence.  We are so blessed to live in this country!  God Bless the USA!

David Archuleta

  Brad Paisley

These flames may not look too intimidating...but when they are flared up they are soooooo hot!!!  We weren't sitting too far away and oh man!  They put off a ton of heat.

Well...I tried to put up some videos of the evening but blogger won't let me....wish I could make it work b/c they do much better justice than these pictures, but oh well.  Life will go on I guess...lame blogger.

The next day we went down to Jared and Megan's for dinner and took some sparklers down with us.  I love sparklers!  They're just so happy!!!  It was fun doing them with Nathan and Rylie.  Nathan loved them but Rylie was a little hesitant.  After her first 2 she was done and was content with watching.  It was a fun evening!

June 28th, 2011 ~ Salt Lake Bee's Game

I was lucky enough this year to get some tickets to the Salt Lake Bee's from someone I know.  It was so nice of him to share!  We were able to go with Adri, Jared, Anita and Wayne.  It was an...eventful evening to say the least!  We met up for dinner first at Apollo Burger. Then we headed over to the stadium...and this is where the fun began.  First off, we got lost!  AH!  Darn roads that aren't marked saying, "This road will take you directly onto I-15"...grrr...but we made it there eventually. 

We had great seats along the first base line...well, we thought they were great!  Until a crazy thing happened.  A foul ball was hit our way.  Now, this is one of those moments in life that you don't think will ever happen to you, or one of those things that you only see in a movie... So, this ball is hit and it was coming directly at us, no exaggeration here. It all happened so fast, yet it was in slow motion.  As I sat there watching the ball I kept thinking that I needed to move but I couldn't seem to do anything. Then all of a sudden I closed my eyes and thought, "Ouch!"  I realized the ball had hit me...THEN I realized it had pegged Adri!  I just got the ricochet.  When I looked at her she was so pale and it had knocked the wind out of her. It was so crazy!  I still look back and it and realize how insane it was.  Of course the people came down and did an incident report and all that jazz and eventually they took her up to their little medical station to check her out a little better.  Nothing was broken but she had a pretty massive welt and bruise right on her ribs. 

When the four of them went up to the medical station Landen and I stayed in our seats with all of our stuff.  While we're sitting there people kept asking us if she was okay and then one guy goes (to all the people around us), "Hey! Where's the ball?  She should at least get to keep the ball."  People started looking around and then this little family a few rows in front of us said they had it and handed it up to us.  They had a little boy and he was very sad to see it go!  It was kinda funny b/c he just didn't understand.  (But no worries, he was rewarded later in the evening and ended up with a ball of his own!)  So Adri got to keep the ball...though I'm not so sure it's a pleasant reminder of the evening.  And we were joking the other day that Jared doesn't want the ball b/c it will always remind him of how he didn't protect Adri...and she could use that against him for a really long time :)  HA! 

The next day Landen was listening to the radio and the guys were talking about seeing that happen at the game and Landen wanted to call in and say, "THAT WAS MY SISTER!"  But he didn't.  So there you have it...another memory preserved for posterity's sake.  Oh yeah...and pictures to go along!

Adri and "The Ball"

 A view of the field AFTER we moved up so we weren't so close anymore...we just couldn't sit down there comfortably!  Every time a ball was hit in our general vicinty we got a little nervous... 

 Wayne, Nita, Jared and Adri

 Me and Landen 

June 14, 2011 = MAYA!!!

We added a lovely new addition to our family this past June!  Jared and Megan had their 3rd baby, a beautiful little girl named Maya.  I love her.  It has been so great having a new little baby around!  I was "on call" for when the baby came to help watch the other 2 little rascals.  I headed down after work to take care of the children...but on the way to pick them up from their friend's house I got to stop by the hospital and see Jared, Megan and Maya.  It was so great to finally have her here! 

I got down to Springville and picked up Nathan and Rylie and the party began!  HA!  As cute as Maya is, these two definitely did their part to out weigh Maya'a cuteness :)  3 Words: Good. Birth. Control.  Okay, all kidding aside, I love those 2 kids and had a great time with them!  The next day I took them to the hospital so they could see Mommy, Daddy and their new little sister.  We ended up spending a lot of time there.  Nathan and Rylie loved Maya!  They loved holding her a lot.  Rylie sang her a song...which unfortunately we did not get the full thing on film b/c it was hilarious!  The best, and most random, part of the song was when Rylie was singing about a crocodile eating Maya...what???!!! Yes, it is true. She's so cute :)  I think Nathan may have been a little more excited to see the chair that folded out to a bed that Jared slept on the night before.  When Nathan was saying his prayer the night before he asked "to bless the chair that folds out to a bed."  I love the prayers of children, they don't get more honest than that.  Needless to say, we had a good time.  I'm glad I was able to help out while they were in the hospital. 

That weekend we went down to their house for Sunday dinner as usual and Landen got to meet Maya for the first time.  Love me some Miss Maya!

Rylie, Maya and Daddy

Nathan and Maya

Me and Maya

The Happy Family :)

Megan, Jared, Maya, Nathan and Rylie

Me, Landen and Maya

Cute little Maya!

#115 Back together again!!!

So, I have some pretty great friends!  One of my apartments from college was awesome and we are all still good friends and try to get together every month or two for dinner and to catch up.  This is my shout out to #115!  A few months ago most of us got together and met at Zupas for dinner...YUM!  It is so fun to be able to get together every so often!  I'm glad we're still friends.  Everyone always told me it's usually your friends from college you stay in touch with and for me this is true.  I made some of my best friends at college!  Love them all! 

Just a few weeks ago we all got together again at Ariel and Brian's place again. This time we were lucky enough to have Amber there since she was in town from Arizona!!!  Yeah!!!  So happy.  We always laugh about how our conversations change as we get older!  It's mostly about work and all the "joys" that come along with it...and...Ariel and Brian's baby that will be here super soon!!!  We're quite excited to have a new addition to our group :) 

Des, Ariel (+baby) and Brian, Landen and me, Whitney and Greg (Amber's not here, she went off and moved to Arizona for a job or something...what's that all about?!!!!  Love you, Amber! But come home!)

A day at the Swinford's

One Saturday Landen and I went down to Jared and Megan's to spend the day with them and then watch the kids so they could go on a date!  When we got there they were all working out in the yard.  It was great to see them all working, even little Rylie :)  We also took our Wii down there to play.  Nathan absolutely LOVED it!  I should have gotten a picture of him playing it but I forgot.  We had to limit his playing time because he would have played it til the sun came up if we would have let him!  It was a fun day!  I'm so glad they're so close that we can see them often!

Jared, Nathan, Rylie and Megan



Our little fair-skinned beauty, so cute in her hat!

Landen and I hanging out watching...ha!

Umm...as you can see, Rylie was worn out!  It was a long day for this little girl.

I love Des!

We had the opportunity this year to attend the temple with my friend Des!  She went for the first time along with her brother who was leaving for his mission.  It was such a wonderful opportunity!  I'm so grateful for the gospel and the blessings of the temple and to see one of my very best friends be able to take part in this special experience.  I love you, Des!  Thanks for letting us be part of your special day!