Birthday Bash 08!

The big birthday weekend is finally over.

It all started with my birthday on Thursday. Scott took me out for lunch and gave me tickets to Mama Mia in Vegas. I ate raspberry chocolate cake and clam chowder with yummy sourdough bread. I can honestly tell you I didn't feel even a little bit guilty. I found this amazing cake store called Nothing Bundt Cake. They have these little individual cakes called bundtlets. Perfect for one person.

As I was savoring this perfect slice of heaven, my wonderful friend Joey brought me another one! Oh the day just gets better and better!

So I didn't eat that one all by myself since I was starting to feel a little sick from gobbling down the first one. I shared it with the kids.

I did get a big one for the big dinner and birthday celebrations.

Later that night we went to one of those Astro Burger (one of those yummy greek burger places.) The kids all had cheeseburgers and Scott and I had gyros. So yummy....until I threw up later that night. I guess I wasn't used to so much crap. Anyway, I enjoyed most of it.


See my bodybugg on my arm? I've had a few people think it was a tatoo. huh? really? ok.

The next day (Friday) was Scott's and Ash's birthday. It was pretty quiet for me we did go out for dinner again since it's a tradition. They picked our favorite pizza place. We had salad, pizza and spumoni with rum sauce. I gave Scott one of those flip camcorders. They are way cool. I can't wait to put up some of them. Sierra slept all through dinner since she woke up at 6:30 in the morning. Her normal time to wake up is anywhere between 8:30 and 10:00.


Here is Ash and her best friend. I can't believe she is 17! That freaks me right out.

Here is the Scott doing what he loves. Who knew you could surf behind a boat? This was just last weekend down in St. George.

I had to put one up of him smiling. He is such a hottie! Yum!

Then came Saturday and little Sierra's birthday. Three years old. She gave me the best birthday present. She pooped in the potty! Yes, she finally did it and we celebrated. There was much rejoicing. ha!

We spent the day getting ready for all the family to come for dinner and cake on Sunday.

She got her first crown and princess jewlery and shoes from her cousin Jamie.


She then did some Irish dancing on the kitchen floor. So adorable.
Grandma gave her a cute crayon apron and a huge coloring book. He other Grandma gave her some books which she loved. She also got a fun little Brat doll from her Uncle Ken and Aunt Shana. They are so awesome. Uncle Ken did have fun teasing Ashley about her boyfriend. She get two dozen red roses from him. He is a sweet kid.




So we are all another year older. I don't think I'm any wiser but at least I'm thinner than last year which is almost as good in my book. ha! Woo Hoo!

Here are some more fun pics from our trip to St. George and Sand Hollow.

Scott's Alaska trip

Last week Scott was gone to Alaska fishing and it was a pretty sad week around here. I was fine during the day but when at night I missed him so much. Sierra kept saying "I miss Daddy" all week. At night she would look at his side of the bed and ask "where is Daddy? On vacation? Ya, Daddy on vacation." It was so sad. I missed our nightly walks. I found out it's no fun to walk alone.

We talked almost every night. He didn't get a lot of sleep.

He loved Alaska. He thought it was so beautiful there. I have to agree from the pics.

He caught this weird spiny fish that has a venom on it's spines. He got a little cut on his finger. It was swollen with a little bit of pus. Another guy up there caught one and kicked back into the water. The spines went right through his boot. That stupid decision had him limping the rest of the week.

He saw a ton of whales and some Orca. They were out in freezing water with a big pod of Orca around them. One of the guys with him got totally freaked out.

He caught the biggest Salmon of the trip. Yummm!

He caught about five halibut. Ken and our neighbor Dallen caught two each. Dallen's friend that was with them on their boat had to leave because his Dad died. They didn't catch as much as they wanted but all three got about forty-fifty pounds of fish. They share all the fish they catch.

He loved the area they were in. This is the little cabin he and Ken stayed at.

Here are a few more pics.


The reflection in the water is amazing.

Scary fish. I can't remember what Scott said these are called. Way ugly.

More of the area where he was.

Jelly fish. Eeek, it's good he didn't go swimming.

I was wishing I was there with him when he was describing how beautiful it was, not to mention all the animals he saw. Then he described the little alumnium boats and the cold and how it rained every day.

I decided I would much rather go on a cruise to Alaska. I don't think sitting in a little boat in the ocean with rain coming down all day would be so much fun. Unless of course you are a guy, fishing with other guys.
When I went to pick him up he took forever. He and a few others were standing around the carousel waiting. His 50 pound box of fish never came. Delta took it and a bunch of other baggage off the plane. It was supposed to come yesterday. Hubby called and called and no one knew where it was. We were so disappointed. We knew that even if they did find it, it most likely wouldn't be good anymore.

It finally came today and it was still a little frozen. I threw that into the freezer. The fish that wasn't frozen was still cold so we are eating that tonight. Fish tonight! Woo!!!

A round of antibiotics and a week in sunny St. George has helped kicked the crap out of Jackson's lungs. We were planning on going camping up high in the Uintah mountains. We went up last Sunday to find a spot. We found a nice place but it was only fifty degrees. We decided that Jackson didn't need the cold. We thought a week of 100 to 115 degrees would be better. It was. We had a great time over the holiday. Pioneer Day for those of you who are thinking "what holiday?"

24th of July is Pioneer Day in Utah and it is just as big or bigger than Independence Day. Same kind of stuff going on. Parades, fireworks, picnics. That sort of thing. It's great.

The kids got to swim a lot and just relax. Sierra loves the water until we try and get her to swim or float. She then screams her lungs out. Hub thinks its good for her.

Our friends that live there have a pool at their house and they have a little boy a month older than Sierra. Ya, he can totally swim. At least he isn't potty trained yet. HA! Well, neither is Sierra but we are going to work on that very soon.

No signs that Noelle is getting sick. Hopefully she will pass this one by. I hope.

Celtic Celebration 2008!

I feel so loved!

We had our big Celtic Celebration last week and so many of my family came.

The Wasatch Pipe band

My parents were there. I told them they didn't have to come but there they were sitting with Hubby and the kids. My Aunt and three cousins came as well as a really good friend that I've come to love a ton. It's really amazing when you find a friend who is so much like you that you just become fast friends.

I had been working really hard to get all my steps down and I felt really good about them all.

My dress was still a little tight across the front (ahem) but it felt better in the tummy area which makes me very happy.

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We went to St. George for Father's Day. It was so hot but the swimming pool took care of that. We had a great time.

Scott took me on a killer three hour bike/hike in the red hills.

I thought I was going to collapse but when I took a second to look around at the cliffs I noticed how beautiful it was. Even if I was gasping for air and sweat was running down my face. Scott took a small tumble on some slick rock but was overly tuff about it and wouldn't let me baby him. *pout*

Scott's parents helped us get all the furniture for the St. George house put together. We got everything all at once at Ashley Furniture. It's is really good quality but when you get it from them you have to put it together. It took us a while but wow is it great stuff.

We cooked Scott and his Dad a yummy breakfast on Father's Day then came home. It was a great weekend to lay by the pool and just relax.

Memorial Day 2008

Memorial Day is the day for remembering our loved ones. What I remember is that since I was little our family got together and had a picnic, barbecue, or a get together at a park or in the canyon.

So, in the spirit of our family's Memorial Day we went to St. George. My grandparents had a condo while I was growing up. Some of my most wonderful memories are of our family going to St. George. I thought of my wonderful Grandma the whole time we were there.

Here we are hiking on the gorgeous redrocks above the city.


Ash and her good friend Megan holding up a big overhang.


I was holding my breath as they sat under this big rock.


Big cracks in the rocks were kinda spooky. You could see all the way down. In some of the other areas you can walk through the cracks. I did that when I was little. Maybe thats where I got my fear of being stuck.
Jackson did a big leap over a crack.


Noelle in front of a beautiful rock with holes.


Everyone hiked up to the top of the biggest rock while I stayed with Sierra.


Sierra got tired of being carried and wanted to "rock climb" too


A fun jump to Daddy.


Hiding in the rocks


We had so much fun. This is such a beautiful place to spend the weekend.
We also went to the pioneer home of Jacob Hamblin.



A very old Book of Mormon


The kids got to see how hard life was for the early pioneers.
I hope they came away feeling very grateful for all they have. I know I did.