Turning 33 :(

My mom loved birthdays. Thanks to my great friends and family I am beginning to be able to stand my birthday again. We have birthday months at our house. Mine actually started in July...
Happy Sumo and Pedicures with Sarah, Doni, Lisa, Misty (we missed you Mindy)*
Benihanas with Footes, Newmans, Bullingtons, Forshees,(we missed you Christoffersons)*
Sushi (I can't remember the name,but it was delicious!) with Jody, Natalie, Bec*
Lagoon with family and Coopers*
Red Lobster with Dad, Claire, Wes, Bec, Josh, Bart*
Rumbi's with Alison, Trish and Tiff (we missed you Heidi)*
Cafe Rio with Rach, Sheena, Nichole, Tori, Michele*
Alpine Country Club with Barb*
Happy Sumo with Cheryl, Irene and Bec*
Porter's Place with Paula, Raquel, Robyn and Bec*

This is the cute cake Bec made for me, accompanied with cupcakes!
There are a few things we learn from this list.........
1. My life revolves around food.
2. Bec is happy when my birthday month is over. After a month of celebrations she is ready to
move on to Sept.
3. I gain about 5lbs during August!
4.The most important is, that I have the best family and friends in the whole wide world!!!
I love you all!!

Mutual Dell

Girls camp was at Mutual Dell this year. Due to the "Freedom Festival," I had to get a babysitter to stay with my kids, but I got to go for almost the whole week. I hate to camp, but I had a blast. We slept in tents on the ground even. I haven't done that since I was in girl's camp a million years ago!
They had a really fun zip line that we all did. It doesn't look that bad until you get up there on the platform. It looked like it was a hundred feet in the air. We hiked up to some beautiful waterfalls and played lots of fun games. My favorite part was the morning meetings. The stake young woman's presidency had each ward act out a part in the Book of Mormon. They wanted it to be a spiritual thing not funny. I wondered how that was going to work with 50 young giggly girls. We had the part about Helaman's stripling warriors. We worked for a couple of months preparing for our part. It is one of my favorite stories so it was so much fun. Our girls did such a great job. When they finished there was not a dry eye in the crowd.

I work with the most amazing women. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like a calling because I am just hanging out with all of my friends.

Lake Powell with Kids

So we got home from Bear Lake on Saturday night at midnight, went to sleep. We got up went to church came home and left for Lake Powell. It was a lot of water in a short period. I love Lake Powell with all of my heart so I was in heaven. Becky tended Ansiton so it worked out great. It was fun to hang out with the big kids and give them all my attention. Kennedie wanted to wake board. If you know this child all it takes is a desire and it gets done. She got up so quick I couldn't believe it. She makes everything look easy.

The boys loved tubing. Sean was a good sport and took them all day long!

After Weston saw Kennedie wake board he wanted to do it. So Sean put him on the board and pulled both of them up. It was crazy! Weston weights a TON!! Weston told Sean he was the strongest person he knew. The problem was that after he did it once Weston wouldn't stop bugging him to do it again. It was fun to watch. Sean got his work out for the year!!


Here is my sexy husband. He is HOT when he wake boards!!

I have been wake boarding a lot more than skiing these past couple of years. So this year I tried skiing again. I started skiing when I was really young, so it is what I know. I found that I am a much better skiier than wake boarder (is wake boarder a word?)

The kids had so much fun going off the slide, and jumping off the top.
I know I keep talking about my childhood but it is what we do when we get older. I remember going to Lake Powell with my grandma and staying in trailers in Bull Frog. I hope my kids will look back with a smile on their childhood as they remember going to Lake Powell as a family. It is still my favorite vacation!

Alaska's Sweetheart

This is from Becky's good friend from college that lives in Alaska. I thought this was very interesting. (Sorry Laura I totally stole this from you, but I think you have great insight.)

I am not usually a Political person.. okay, I'm still not, but I will say this: Alaska loves Sarah Palin. (And it's Pay (as in rhymes with day)- lin.) We loved her long before she made national headlines. She came to office and immediately tried to clean up after our past loser Governor, who thought he needed all the luxuries life can bestow. One of her first orders of business was to sell the State Jet that he had to have. She has done some "cleaning house" to say the least. She is a strong woman and one of great character. She is a family woman. And yes, her daughter is pregnant. I think we can all agree that no matter how well you teach your children, in the end.. they have their agency.This was her statement after giving birth to her Down syndrome baby, Trig, in April:"We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives"..We may be a little biased up here in Wasilla. :) It is small enough that we all have connections to her:

-Her parents live literally around the corner from mine.

-Her sister works at the same dentist office as my mom.

-I babysat for the loser trooper that she is under investigation for trying to get fired. (I worked with his wife at the time, whom he cheated on.)Anyways just wondering your opinions on her?

Who Am I?
Does history really repeat itself?
Who Am I?
I am under 45 years old,

I love the outdoors,

I hunt,

I am a Republican reformer,

I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,

I have many children,

I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president with less than two years in the governor's office.

Did you guess?

I am Teddy Roosevelt.

Viva Las Vegas

I have not been to Vegas since I was the good year blimp, pregnant with Stockton, in 1998. The Hills and us were staying in St. George and decided to drive down for the day. I don't remember much about Vegas other than we had a lot of fun, and I did a lot of whining about how fat I was. In July we decided to go down for the weekend. We had so much fun laying out, going to the spa, sleeping and eating. My kind of perfect trip.

This is my friend Shanna and I standing in front of Pamela Anderson's car she was auctioning off for charity.

It is so nice getting away with good friends and hanging out with each other. I feel like I am a better wife after trips like this. Bart doesn't love Vegas but he was a good sport. I can't wait to go again. Raquel you are so lucky to live so close to good shopping and nice weather!

Okay so it is the marathon blog posting month. I am so excited, I have almost a year on my blog so I am ready to print it out from blurb. I just have to get caught up from the summer and I am done!!! I am still in July......

Bear Lake Fun

My grandparent's built our cabin before I was born. Bear Lake has been a summer tradition my whole life. Just driving up there brings a happy feeling to me. I love everything about it. I have so many happy childhood memories driving in my grandma's green station wagon sitting backwards in Logan canyon. (No wonder just looking at a car makes me car sick!) Every weekend we would stop in Logan and get curds then up to USU campus to get my mom Aggie icecream. I am so blessed that I get to share these fun memories with my kids. Sometimes when my kids are out making sand castles or collecting sea shells I imagine my mom and grandma standing on the same red deck, that has been there for 35 years, and smiling while watching them.
I love Aniston's chubby little legs!

This is my cute sister in law Claire.
Two little peas in a pod ruining the big kids sand castle.

See what I mean about the piggy smile.
Here is our new tradition.......sitting around the camp fire roastin marshmellows and just visiting.

Again the piggy smile!

She said she wanted to go tubbing with Squeezy. I don't think she understood what that meant. She got in and started screaming. Maybe next year!

Stockton's 10th Birthday

My baby turned into a great big boy over night. I seriously feel like I had him yesterday. As long as I can remember I wanted a baby. When we found out we were going to have a baby, 11 months almost to the day we got married, I was thrilled. Bart and I were both still in school and thought McDonald's was our splurge for the week. We were just livin' on love. The minute he was born I was in love. We went in on June 1st to have him. I was in labor for 12 hours and didn't dilate past a one. My Doctor sent me home. So 14 days later I went into my Dr's. office and told him I would sit there and cry until he got this baby out. I had waited long enough and I wanted him NOW!! I was in labor for three straight days and pushed HARD for about 17 hours, and finally he was born. It was worth all of it. He was born on June 17th. As soon as he was born I knew he was special. He hardly even cried, he just laid in my arms and slept. I had never seen anything so special and wonderful in my whole life. I didn't know one person could feel this much love for anything. He was an angel and still is. He is such a good boy and always wants to make everyone around him happy. We used to sit around for hours and laugh at the funny things he did. He is my parent's first grandchild, so he grew up with all of our undivided attention. Still to this day he brings me so much joy! Thanks for making me so proud of you everyday. Happy Birthday Stockton!

Stockton loves Indiana Jones. He got to pick out his own cake.

The boys had so much fun playing football outside I wished we had planned that for our activity. They were sad we had to get in the car to go to the real party.
We went to the Space Center in Pleasant Grove. It was so neat. They all had a blast! Stockton already has next year planned out for the same place.

At our house it is Birthday week. We had a fun family birthday party also. Stockton get spoiled every year. He deserves it!

Birthday Fun!

Sarah and Doni are the best cake makers ever! Misty's birthday is in May then we have one a month until Mindy's in October. Last year they did cake's to match everyone's personality. Misty had a breast cake......with a bikini on it. That is self explanitory! Doni's was a Edward Cullen's head. Sarah's was a purse. Mine was a cell phone. (I do not know why they did that....whatever!) Mindy's was a ski scene with polly pockets, and Lisa's was a diet coke can. They were so neat. I wish so bad I had my camera but alas I did not. So anyway this year we did themes. Misty had just had a baby so we did a spa theme. They made a face with cucumber eyes, creme on the face with a towel around the head. (There is a picture on her blog of the cake. The Newmans) Then for her gift and activity we went to a spa in Salt Lake. It was a birthday present for all. Sarah's was all about tennis. Doni made a tennis racket cake. It looked like you could pick it up and hit a ball with it. We gave her a tennis outfit and a ball holder with tennis balls for a year. Then we went and played tennis and went to breakfast at Kneaders. Doni is going to Hawaii for the first time this fall. We got her a gift certificate at Hapari for a new suit. Her cake was a pinneapple with a real top. I wish I had a picture because it looked so real! Then we made pina coladas and layed out by the pool until it got to windy and we came back inside for more drinks. This time I had my camera....
I promised Doni I would not show anyone these pictures. But this was the only birthday I captured, so I have to use it. She looks darling. She does not look at blogs so the deal is no one says anything and she will never know she is in her swimming suit on my blog.
Here is Mindy making our drinks with her special recipe minus the rum!
So for my birthday this year they made a sushi cake. It had all my favorites, a california roll made out of twinkies and fruit by the foot, and a vegas roll from half of a powdered donut. Then we went to Happy Sumo. After we went for pedicures from the talented Asains! I got a cute watch and necklace wrapped in a chinese to go box. (They couldn't think of an Asian gift I would appreciate.) It was so much fun. Turning 33 wasn't as painful as I imagined! Lisa and Mindy's birthdays are coming up and they are going to be great. I can't give away the surprise but stay tuned.....