summertime

love of my life

10 years ago I married this most wonderful man. How totally lucky am I!

View more wedding pictures here.

Dave brought a cheesecake home for lunch and then we celebrated with a special dinner with our children. I had grand plans to look at pictures and video with them but I sent Dave off to the temple instead since the month is quickly coming to a close. We were married in the Timpanogos temple so it was somewhat fitting. I have been working on a creating a ten year scrapbook but I am a seriously slow scrapbooker so I only have four (out of 17) pages done. I am including a page about each year. Here is Year 8, June 2005-June 2006. Click it to see it bigger.

I will have to share the whole thing when I get it done. That could be a while.

I really am a lucky girl to be Dave's wife. We dated for a year and a half before he finally gave in to my charms but he was worth waiting for. Happy Anniversary, Dave. I am so in love with you!

Oh and Happy Birthday to Colin! Sorry you had to spend your thirteenth birthday celebrating my wedding.

im flash rocks

On Saturday, we went over to Dave's work, IM Flash Technologies, to enjoy the fun and festivities of their Open House. Kudos to IM Flash for putting on a great party. We arrived early and got started playing all the carnival games. The kids collected lots of candy and enjoyed snow cones and cotton candy.

When the heat started to be too much we went and got lunch--barbecue sandwiches, baked beans and potato salad from Goodwood. Finally, we made it inside to the "spine" where all the different areas of the company had stations set up to teach about what they do. Unfortunately I could not take any pictures once we were inside. The kids got to "buy" candy, sort it in the warehouse, eat ice cream made at Process Integration, cut wafers and look through microscopes in Test, sample candy and games from IM Flash-Singapore, and race remote control cars at the Automation Group. They also saw Dave's desk upstairs and got their very own badges made. We were there for four hours! The company was offering an in depth tour which I did not get to go on this time. Hopefully I get another opportunity.

I asked Dave why the company was doing this and his reply was, "because they're awesome." They really are! Thanks IM Flash!

tag I'm it (twice)

more information about me than you really wish to know:

This one time in High School, I: peed my pants while out on a group date for the Sadie Hawkins dance.
What are you listening to right now: my children playing together happily downstairs
Guilty Pleasure: staying up too late wasting time on the computer
Favorite Food: oriental food and cheesecake
Habit I want to break: Staying up too late
Habit I want to keep: wiping down my bathrooms everyday
Married or Single? Married for 10 years on June 26
Are you Happy? Zippety-doo-dah, my oh my what a wonderful life I have!
Biggest Pet Peeve: someone cracking their knuckles, gross!
Chocolate, Vanilla, or neither: vanilla...with fresh raspberries, yum!
Dream Vacation: touring Israel
Worst Vacation Idea: camping
Favorite Book: how do I choose just one? Well if I have to choose, I'll pick The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Favorite Music: as of late, bluegrass and Broadway (hey, don't judge me!)
Person You Admire That’s Not a Relative: Camille, for her wonderful outlook in a difficult time; Anna Jones , Audrey Woulard, Lisa Russo, Michelle Huenink (and many more) for their gorgeous photography; Becky Higgins and Stacy Julian for their creative genius

and now for the second tag:

A- Attached or single: attached
B- Best Friend: Dave
C-Cake or Pie: neither, I want cheesecake!
D-Day: Thursday, because it means the weekend is coming
E- Essential Item: camera and computer with internet access
F- Favorite Color: Red
G-Gummi Bears or Worms: neither, yuck!
H-Home town: Ft. Collins, CO
I- Indulgences: new photography equipment
J- January or July?: I really don't like either of those months, but I since I can't handle heat, January
K-Kids: 4
L-Life is incomplete without: family
M- Marriage Date: June 26, 1998
N- Number of Siblings: 6, I'm the middle, 3 brothers and 3 sisters
O- Oranges or Apples: apples
P- Phobias or Fears: losing my children, or really anything bad happening to someone I love
Q- Quote: “Practice and experience make you more lucky.”
– David Hurn, Magnum Photographer
R- Reason To Smile: the garage door opening when Dave comes home
S- Season: Fall
T- Tag Three: consider yourself tagged
U- Unknown fact about me: I hate chocolate ice cream
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: just call me an omnivore!
W- Worst Habit: staying up too late
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: ultrasounds
Y-Your favorite food: lately I'm loving anything with avacodo
Z: Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

funny

Check out this photographer's website. Her branding is awesome. Her work is great. The conversation on her splash page is hysterical. Loved it. Just thought I'd share.

Little Monsters Photography

colorado get-away

To celebrate our upcoming tenth anniversary, Dave and I drove to Denver to enjoy four nights and four days without children. It was wonderful!

We drove there on Wednesday. Driving to CO without kids is an entirely different experience, isn't it! I read. I snoozed. I listened to Dave's book tape. I ate lots and lots of junk food. After seven and a half hours (too long), we made it to Denver. We stayed in the Oxford Hotel in downtown.


While it maybe wasn't "modern" enough for Dave, it was just what I wanted. Beautiful four poster king bed. Lots of fluffy pillows. And for Dave, free wireless internet access.


It was also in the perfect spot downtown. On Wednesday evening, we walked the three blocks over to Coors Field to watch the Rockies play. Now baseball is always boring but this was an especially boring game. Scoreless until the bottom of the ninth when the Rockies finally scored to win the game, 1-0. At least we had good weather and fantastic seats.

On Thursday, we walked one block over to spend the day on the 16th Street Mall, an outdoor pedestrian mall. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, watched two movies, enjoyed just walking outside, and finished with a divine dinner at Maggiano's. A fabulous day!

On Friday, after eating leftover cheesecake for breakfast, we walked over to the Tattered Cover to spend a few hours in the bookstore. Bookstores (and libraries) make my heart flutter! Oh the possibilities contained in their walls. I could spend a whole day there and be so happy. In this case, I just got to spend two hours this time but it was still wonderful.

Then we headed up to Ft. Collins to see my parents and brothers. I asked my mom to take some pictures of Dave and me. We're cute! Thanks, Mom!

That night we went to dinner at the Charco-Broiler, a fantastic little steakhouse that my parents have been going to for years. The original plan had been to go out to dinner with my parents and my brothers but my older brothers weren't able to come. Bummer. We missed you guys! Jeremy was able to come over later to play games with us and to figure out some code for my blog. Computer geeks rock!

We headed back home on Saturday and picked up the kids from Keri's house. Emma promptly told us she wished we were still gone. Nathan peed his pants. Slade sprayed wrinkle remover all over Keri's dog, laundry room and sitting room. And Sawyer wouldn't let me put him down. Ah, its great to be back!

heber valley campground

Camping. Ugh. I want to like it! I really do. I think it could be a fabulous way to make memories and strengthen family connections. It is just so much work. And so dirty! I was not looking forward to our Daniel family campout last Friday. We didn't get on our way until 4:00 pm even though Dave had the whole day off. Once we did make it to the campsite, I was pleasantly surprised. Now this is the way to camp. In a cabin! With electricity. And showers and toilets. And a kitchen! The campsite is owned by our church and is very well maintained. We had three different cabins (actually yurts) with 16 beds each. I use the term "bed" loosely. It was just a wooden platform but at least it wasn't on the ground nor did we have to set up a tent.

We spent Friday evening eating tin foil dinners, playing Bocce, exploring, hiking, getting dirty, eating smores, and taking pictures. The adults played games while the kids "went to sleep". Even in a yurt, one does not get a good night's sleep. I slept with Sawyer who tossed and turned all night. At least my air mattress didn't leak.


On Saturday, we woke up to this....
SNOW! I was totally unprepared for snow. We had light jackets. No gloves. No boots. No hats. I was sure the snow was not going to melt and our day's activities would be canceled. Katie had more faith than me. It sure didn't look too promising in the morning but the sun came out and the snow slowly melted away. We were able to go out on the lake at one in the afternoon.

After the lake, we went up to the challenge course where we got to climb a 25 foot pole, then walk along on a log for another 10 feet or so and finally speed down a 200 foot zip line. Emma was first to go in our group and did it with a smile on her face the whole time. Slade looked totally terrified the whole time but he did it. Nathan got scared on the climb up the pole so he just got to swing on the rope for a little while instead. I got up the pole right after my nephew Austin. This was his second time up. He got scared the first time and just got rappelled down. The second time he made it over to the crow's nest for the zip line and then just clung on and wouldn't let go. I got to hang out on the log 25 feet up in the air while they coaxed Austin into going. In the end, the missionary had to just give him a gentle shove off. Then it was my turn. I did some step kicks across the log just for fun and enjoyed my zip through the air. Dave showed me up with some clogging on the log.

There were some other challenges after the zip line. The poor sister missionary looked rather irritated with us but we were dealing with tired, crying children who weren't interested in the gospel applications. Oh well, it was still fun.

After cleaning up the campsite, we headed back home around 5:45 and took it easy that evening at home. So while I still don't think I really like camping, I would like to go back to that campground next year. Hopefully it won't snow.

a third eyebrow

Work peer pressure led to Dave growing a goatee.

I thought it looked pretty good on him though it made kissing no fun. This week he shaved it to a mustache. Seriously wrong.

I'm glad that today I have my clean-shaven husband back. Let the kissing begin!

a week in our life

Brace yourselves. This going to be long....

Tuesday--
I was attempting to get some exercise so went for a walk. Emma rode her bike, Nathan rode his scooter and Slade and Sawyer were in the stroller. Of course Nathan quickly tired and needed a break. Slade can't/won't ride the scooter though so he had to walk. Can you imagine how much "exercise" I was actually getting? We did a short circle around our neighborhood and went over to the path along the creek. They threw sticks and rocks in, climbed on rocks, sat down on the edge and got soaked, and Slade even fell in! Good times.

I whined and pleaded and begged for them to let me take a picture of all of them together. Curses that when they finally complied I didn't get the focus right. Curses. Curses. Oh well, aren't they so cute hugging each other?

We watched the American Idol final performance that night. Going into it, I was kind of rooting for David Cook. I felt he was the more mature performer. However, Dave and I both thought David Archuleta stole the show.

Wednesday--
I drive Emma up to Salt Lake on Wednesday nights for her violin lesson. She is doing really well and is proving to be quite a good musician. On the way home, we heard on the radio that David Cook had won American Idol Season 7 despite all the votes from our house for Archuleta. We went to the grocery store afterwards and I stuck very well to my list. Amazing what that can do for your budget!

Thursday--
Schoolwork for us is winding down though I plan to continue with math and reading during the summer. Emma is working on two-digit multiplication. She is understanding the concept but not always understanding where to put the numbers or when to add and when to multiply. She'll get there though. She told me today that math is her favorite subject. Who knew!?

I've started doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Slade. He speeds through the lessons and does really well when I can get him to focus. That is no easy task. Sadly, I must admit I am not doing very well in keeping my temper under control with him. Man he can make me crazy! I have to walk away from the table a lot.

Emma has Irish on Thursdays. She will be competing in her first Feis (competition) next month. This is another activity which she is totally loving.

Friday--
The boys take a gymnastics class with other homeschoolers on Friday. They totally love it. Even Slade! I'm sad the teachers are taking the summer off because it has been great for both boys. I spend the whole time trying to keep Sawyer off the equipment. I paid Emma a dollar this Friday to watch Sawyer so I could take pictures. Doesn't this kid know that he is ruining my social life since I don't get to just sit and talk!?

After gymnastics, we usually spend the rest of the morning doing fun things like going to the park, the library, or Thanksgiving Point. We take the day off from formal school work and just have fun. This Friday, we met Dave at Costco for lunch since he needed to get passport photos taken. I didn't do much shopping but I still spent over a $100. What's up with that?

We came home so Sawyer could take a nap. The others kids all ended up playing with friends so I had a quiet house to myself. Bliss.

Saturday--
Dave and I took the boys (Emma was playing with a cousin) to RC Willey to look into getting a swing set. Our backyard neighbors just got a fantastic set which we have been jealously eying. Woah sticker shock!!! We were not ready to plunk down that kind of money so we moved on. We headed back over to Dave's sister's house to pick up a cousin for Slade to play with. Emma and Isaac wanted to switch families for the day, they said. I headed back out for a little alone time at Target and Home Depot. I came home with summer clothes, paint, and a new sink and faucet for the kitchen.

Katie's family and Dave's parents came over to enjoy quesadillas and an evening together. Grandma and Grandpa were already worn out from a day of grandkids so they took it easy. Katie and I went and got some ice cream and root beer for root beer floats. Yum. We didn't get to play any games but it was still a lovely evening.

Sunday--
After church, Keri and Colin came over for dinner. Keri's family was off four wheeling so we got to enjoy her company. Colin just got back from his tour with the folk dancers to Europe. He's stashed his stuff down in our basement and stayed here for a couple of nights. He has since moved on to our aunt's house since we are not close enough to his girl. It was fun to talk with him a little bit and hear his tour stories. He went to many of the same countries that Dave and I went to in 1997.

We went on a walk after dinner to deliver soccer pictures to the kids on Dave/Slade's team. I took them for everyone because they missed the scheduled team pictures. Mine were much more fun!


Monday--
Our Memorial Day was cold and rainy. Dave and Emma woke up early to go to the ward breakfast. I opted to let the boys stay asleep and avoid the rain so I stayed home. Our day was spent on projects. I worked all day on this:

My new website! Coming soon to an internet near you.

Dave and his brother put in a new shiny sink and faucet in our kitchen. It took way longer than they thought. In fact, they didn't quite get it finished before they left to go move his brother into their new house. He came home much later in the evening completely wiped out.

When I put it all together in a blog post, one week in our life seems kind of full and busy. Really it is all rather ordinary. The kind of ordinary life we feel totally blessed to be living.