4th of July Weekend...

Over the 4th of July we got to go out on the boat with my family and had a blast. I miss spending time on the boat and so whenever we get the chance I am so excited. Especially Josh, he loves it and is always asking when he gets to go again. Rachael is such good baby she just sits back and takes it all in.

We also took Josh up to Marc and Tara's where we then let the kids ride their bikes in the Bike Parade. It was quite a long ride and they did amazingly well. Afterwords we had Popsicles and then a yummy BBQ.














The evening of the 4th we had Marcus and Nichole around for dinner and games. I went outside with Josh for only a few minutes to watch all the fireworks because the mosquitoes would not leave us alone. So we then finished watching the rest through the windows in our bedrooms.

The weekend after that we got up really early and headed down to Mona where Aaron and Jon ran the Lavender 5K. It was a little chilly that early in the morning but as we stepped out of the car you could instantly smell the gorgeous lavender fields. It was so beautiful there. After the run they had a breakfast and then we walked around the farm. Aaron and Josh also had a fun little paddle boat ride. It was quite the site as Aaron weighs quite a bit more than Josh so most the time they were going in circles. It was cute!


That evening we met Marc's family in the mountains for dinner. We couldn't find a camp spot to roast hot dogs so instead we had KFC on some picnic tables at the Alta Ski Resort. The kids had a lot of fun running around and chasing squirrels.

That evening Aaron's sister Jess and her family arrived. They were on their way to a family reunion and stopped by to spend a few nights with us. We had a great time seeing them although Josh and Jack had a hard time getting along. It was a little stressful as we couldn't relax for long before there was another fight outbreak. A little madness as they are two completely different characters but we are so glad they came to see us and we got to spend time with them. That evening we had a 6 player game of Settlers and if I remember right Ben took that win.

The End of June!

Here is the first of a few posts to being the catch up events of our wonderful Summer thus far. We have been so busy and having a lot of fun!

The end of June began a lot of fun family activities. June 24th we celebrated my brother's birthday. It is also the birthday of a little girl I watch in the week. That day I took the kids up to Bridal Veil falls and let them splash around in the water. It was a blast and a perfect day to be up there. That evening we spent with my brother celebrating with gifts and cake.

Thursday June 25 after Aaron finished work we made our way to St. George. The drive was quite pleasant with only a couple of 'potty breaks'. We stayed with my cousin Justin and his adorable little family. We had a blast while we were down there and can't wait for the next trip down (we will be going down when Aaron attempts to run the Red Rock Relay).

While in St. George we spent most of our time with family. We went to Texas Road House for dinner one night and had them sing to Ashley as it was her birthday that weekend.


On her birthday we spent an evening in Pine Valley. It coudn't have gone any better as we spent time laughing, hiking, eating and watching Josh and McKade play together. It was the cutest thing ever and they had so much fun together climbing on rocks and playing with pine cones.

We also spent another evening at Sand Hollow, I couldn't believe how scortching hot it was while we were down there so we only spent a few hours there. It couldn't have been more beautiful sitting there on the red sand beach.

One crazy thing that happened was on sunday while we were at church I look down and a cockroach is crawling right out from under Rachaels car seat. I FREAKED out silently haha. We all spent the next 20 minutes or so watching that thing crawl around until it made itself to someone else's bench. EEWWwww Any of you that know me well know how I freak out with bugs... After church we walked around the St. George Temple visitors center and took some fun pictures.

We had such a good time and we miss our family down there. We wish we could see you all more often!

A Hard Day!

Amongst all the exciting and fun things going on this summer I have hit a major low today. Although I have not yet posted about our fabulous summer thus far I had to put my feelings down today.

I have never had such a hard day as a mother as I did today. Maybe it's a combination of many things like simple house chores, piles of laundry, my procrastinated study and projects that are due soon, fast growing crazy weeds and yard work, feelings of guilt for trying to get all of these checklist type things done and not spending more time focusing on the children. What ever it is it sent me to a breaking point today. I honestly don't know if it was my fault or something else but my son was completely out of control today - so much as to say I didn't recognize him at all. He was so different and saying and doing crazy things. I seriously got to the point I didn't know what to do anymore and had to go into another room and cry for a bit. By the end of the day I was in tears with feelings of guilt, failure and all those horrible feelings that Satan wants us to feel and dwell on. Luckily my fabulous sister was here to help me and she did a terrific job doing all she could, I feel bad she had to see such a horrible side come out in me but I couldn't have done it without her. My loving husband also came to the rescue and after having dinner with my sister and mom I was able to get Rachael in bed while Aaron took Josh out for awhile. Then I went on a 30 minute run which felt so good. While running I was listening to my iPod, I have a few thousand songs on there (most of which I am not familiar with) and came across a song that hit me hard. I've listened to it over and over again, it made me feel so much better.

I have a passion for music and this one song couldn't have come at a better time.

Last night at Relief Society we had some great discussions with some amazing women. We spoke about feelings of guilt at home and how it is so easy to feel guilty for not having a clean home but yet you've spent the day teaching and playing with the children. But then if you spend all day cleaning you feel guilty for not being with the children more. AAAHhhh... it's so hard sometimes.

But once I have a chance to calm down and invite the spirit back in I feel peace that what I did accomplish that day was well worth it. If my kids know that I love them unconditionally and feel safe at home that is all that matters and once the love and faith is there everything else seems to fall back into place and we are all happier together.

I am so grateful for my husband and my children they mean so much to me. I literally spend every waking moment with my kids and wouldn't trade it for the world. Yes there are hard times and often I go to bed at the end of the day seriously wondering what I had accomplished but it's those little moments of joy that bring it all back together. Like tonight right before Aaron put Josh in bed he came up to me, gave me a huge bear hug and kiss, looked me in the eyes and said "I am sorry you had a bad day today mommy, I love you so much and want to be here with you, I am sorry I yelled at you..." and when Rachael's gorgeous blue eyes look up to me and she smiles so big; it just melts my heart and makes it all worth it!

Why does the month of June always go by so fast?

This time of year always seems to fly by with all the
fun and exciting things we do.

I just can't get enough of it and love being busy busy busy.

Even though we seriously had rain nearly every day in June we did actually take advantage of the nice weather when it did seem to find us.

We finally got around to fixing Joshua's bike and he has been riding it every chance he gets!

One day while we were out doing some yard work I let Josh go through and pick all the strawberries. I told him to only pick the red ones but he was having so much fun he couldn't resist but to pick them all :)

After picking the strawberries he asked if we could dip them in chocolate (one of our favorite treats)! So after we cleaned them off really good we did just that... Mm mm yummy!

A friend let me borrow this Bumbo chair and from the minute Rachael first sat in it she loved it! I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing. Isn't she such a cutie :)

The only problem now is that she already arches her back trying to get out of the chair but she sure does hold her head really well.

So I promised to post some pictures of our grass... Here they are!

That yellow patch you see I accidentally spilled fertilizer on... Oops...

For Father's Day we had a BBQ at my parents house. We had a wonderful time chatting outside while eating dinner and yummy dessert. The weather was crazy though... In the couple hours we were there thunderstorms would roll in, downpour, and then the sun would be back out in a matter of minutes causing some strange humidity. We sat underneath the awning while all this happened and enjoyed watching the craziness. It was really a lot of fun!

After dinner we took a walk in the river bottoms. Here I am pushing the bus as I like to call it. I swear it's bigger than me:) But it is handy on occasions like this... I do love it!

Aaron actually didn't join us on this occasion because as mentioned before he was running the Ragnar Relay that weekend. Lets just say that things didn't go so well. He ended up not being able to finish the race as he got deathly ill while running his 2nd leg. When they brought him home he looked so sick and he literally slept for 2 days. Aaron was disappointed he was unable to finish the Relay so he has already booked in to run The REDROCK Relay on September 4th & 5th. This relay looks really exciting as they run 181 miles through Brianhead Resort - Dixie National Forest - Cedar Breaks National Monument - Zion National Park - Sand Hollow Reservoir - Snow Canyon and then finish at the Tuachan Theater. You can also visit UtahRelayRaces.com and get 5% or 50 dollars off.

We are excited to go down and support him on this race!

Here are some pictures of Aaron and his team running the Ragnar.

Finishing Last week of May

To finish up on the last week of May along with Lagoon Day and Aaron's Oath Ceremony we still had quite a lot going on.

On the Thursday we finally got sod for our back yard. It only covered about 1/3 of our yard but at least we now have something. We hope to finish the remaining 2 sprinkler lines and get more sod put down by the end of the summer beginning of fall. After 3 years of 'weed removal' I am so excited to have grass. It is seriously so annoying how fast weeds grow. I will get some pictures up of the backyard soon! Thanks so much for all who came by and help us put our grass in, it sure did make it go so much quicker.

For the past while Aaron has been training for the Ragnar Relay like I had mentioned before. On May 29th he ran just over 16.5 miles. CRAZY! He was dead by the end of the day. This morning he left bright and early and is out running again - I did get a call from him a little while ago informing me that he was still alive :)

On a side note I decided I would like to do a Triathlon. I have thought about it a few times but never did much to entertain my thoughts until my friend Trisha ran one: SheROX in Tempe! This motivated me to do something about it (thanks Trish!!) So yesterday morning bright and early I got up and ran 1.69 miles. Sounds quite pathetic compared to Aaron's 16.5 miles but hey I did it and it kicked my butt. I was so tired after and today I am really sore but it's a good thing. Having had a baby over 2 months ago I am so need of some good exercise to get my body back in shape. The thing that excites me about a Triathlon is the biking and the swimming (can't say I am fantastic at either of those though...) but the running comes along with it. So I've got to do it! My plan is to do all three in the week so I might split it up, 2 days of running, 2 of biking, and 2 swimming. Wish me luck! If anyone wants to join me I would be happy for you to - more motivation right? :)

Back onto last week - My little Sister's birthday was on Saturday and we celebrated by going to Boondocks. We all had a fabulous time and Josh had his first mini golf experience. He absolutely LOVED it! I didn't golf but carried Rachael around while shooting pictures. I had just as much fun doing that as I haven't gotten to just sit around and snap pictures in awhile. In the end Josh scored 48 and Aaron got a 44. They were both doing a lot better earlier on but towards the end Josh was dancing around like a monkey because he was bursting for a pee. We had a great time and he keeps asking when we can go miniature golfing again.

I am married to a U.S. Citizen...

Yep that's right - Aaron became a U.S. Citizen on

Wednesday May 27th, 2009!

He had the Oath Ceremony that morning at 9:00 and said it went really well. I am so proud of him and so grateful that everything went so smoothly. The application process has defiantly been a major work in progress but we worked our way through it and are so happy we are at this point now.

Aaron has had many questions as to weather or not he has gotten dual citizenship - he does not have dual citizenship. I looked a little into it and couldn't find too much on it, not sure if they are changing it or what but he was OK to just get U.S. Citizenship. When Aaron is asked this question he just says "Read the Oath of Allegiance and tell me what you think."

U.S. Oath of Allegiance:
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.




That evening we went out to dinner to celebrate. We ate at Chili's and enjoyed our first dining experience as an 'All American' family :)

Rachael before and after I told her that her daddy was now a U.S. Citizen :)

Memorial Day

Aaron's work had it's Lagoon Party on Memorial Day!

Last year's Lagoon Day wasn't so great, the weather was horrible and Josh was just too short to ride much so needless to say it wasn't ideal. In the past 4 months however, Josh has grown 2 inches and is now tall enough to ride a lot more.

The day was absolutely gorgeous, not too hot yet not too cold - perfect for a day at Lagoon. It was so fun to watch Josh's face light up with all the excitement and he loved the rides. I was impressed as no ride scared him, if anything he was running to and from different rides in excitement. Aaron had a fabulous time on the rides with Josh while I spent most my time capturing moments with pictures and enjoying my time with Rachael.

Aaron's work also has a drawing with prizes for all the kids while eating lunch. This year Josh and Rachael won new buckets and shovels, sidewalk chalk and a Frisbee. Josh was so happy to win the buckets and shovels as a couple days before I accidentally broke his blue shovel. He quickly reminded me of that and then reassured me that it was OK because he now had new ones. He said "Now mommy don't buy Joshy new shovel from Wal-mart, Joshy got new ones from Lagoon", he sure does make me smile :)

First Bottle

We have had a very busy week and an even busier weekend. With so much going on i've decided it's time to introduce Rachael to the bottle. Aaron has been busy with work and training for the Ragnar that some nights we barely cross paths. Tuesday night I had YW's came home quickly for Aaron to head out for soccer. As he returned home I then left to clean the bank and by the time I got home he was asleep.

So yesturday Aaron was out playing tennis and I had gotten a bottle ready for him to give Rachael as I then left for an activity at 7:00. Well Rachael was hungry before he had time to feed her and I wanted someone else to feed her as she might not take it from me. Well in came her loving and very helpful brother Josh. He was so excited to get to feed Rachael her bottle.

While Aaron's mum was here in April she had a bottle ready to give Rachael while we were at the temple but we made it home before she needed it.

The bottle feeding went great, I did have to help her figure it out but then Josh took over. He is a very proud brother and has been talking about it all morning. He did a fantastic job - I just had to take some pictures...

Rachael has also become quite vocal so I had to capture a bit of her making silly noises.

This Morning

I had to post this as it melted my heart. This morning after I fed Rachael she shortly went back to sleep and I put her on my bed while I folding clothes. Minutes later Josh came into our room and climbed into the bed next to her. Minutes later this is what I found.
It was so cute I had to quickly grab the camera to snap a few pictures before either of them moved. I love how Rachael's hand in on Josh's head and his is reaching up towards her. I just love it!!!

2 Months

Rachael had her 2 month appointment last week and it was fun for me to compare her and Joshua's growth at 2 months.
Here are the numbers:

Josh

Weight: 11 lb 14 oz (26%)

Length: 24 in (61%)

Rachael

Weight: 13.27 lbs (97%)

Length: 22.75 inches (67%)

What do you think? Do you think they look anything alike?

They look so different to me....

Mothers Day!!!

Sunday was such a beautiful day! Although Aaron woke up feeling horrid (I think he had done a bit too much Ragnar training over the weekend :)) I resumed usual mothering duties and had a fabulous day. After having breakfast together Joshua was so helpful in getting himself and Rachael ready for church. We had a fabulous sabbath day at church and I loved watching Josh get excited to go up to the front and sing. Although he didn't sing while standing up there, I was so excited to see him go up for the first time.

I just LOVE this picture - I was so lucky to catch them both looking at the camera at the same time... and smiling - or at least grinning :) They are SO Cute!

It makes me so happy to see josh get excited to go to his sunbeam class. After his class he came running up to me with a cute card and inside it said "I love it when you play trains". A true Josh statement :)

After church we went up to my parents house for dinner. We had a fabulous afternoon and I was happy to spend it with my mom. It is such a great day to be able to reflect on how wonderful mothers are. I am so grateful for my mom and mum ;) They are both such wonderful women and inspire me in many ways to be the best mom I can be.