Easter

Here is a slideshow of a lot of Easter pics...We spent the day with our families! Had lot's of Easter egg hunts+ lot's of candy = some crazy kids and good Easter fun! The day was absolutely beautiful!

I'm hesitating posting this, but it's something I can't get off my mind...I had some time to think about the true meaning of Easter while reading a friends blog Easter morning. This family is going through something I can't even begin to imagine. My testimony is strengthened by their continued faith during such a heart wrenching time. I'm so grateful for our Savior and the many blessings he pours upon us all. I only hope that I can one day be as strong of a women and mother as Michelle is. Her family has been in our thoughts and our prayers a lot these last few weeks. I'm so thankful for the knowledge of the Resurrection and for our Heavenly Father's plan for each of us. It makes these tough times some how worth it when you know there is a Light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend!

Busy..busy...busy...

Things have been pretty busy around here...lot's of things going on. I take entirely way too many pictures of everything...but here are a few fun ones of what we've been up to...

This is a pic of Joey and his buddy KC! It was right before KC left for Iraq with Fox Company 2/23 (Joey's old unit). I'm really glad that Joey got out just in time not to have to go back, but I think it's hard for Joey not to be with the guys he helped train...we pray that they will all come home safe, and can't wait to hang out with KC soon!

I totally forgot to post these earlier...Last month I got invited to go down to Snow College for my drill team advisor's last showcase before she retired. So Tara and I brought the kiddo's and headed down south to good ole' Ephraim, UT! We were lucky enough to drop the kids off at 'Grandma Debbie's' house (Tara's mother in law) while we watched the show!
Kathleen is the blonde in the middle...performing a number from 'Mama Mia'! Old teammates...Me, Britni, Brooke, Tara, Shannon, and AliTara, Shannon, Kathleen, Britni, Brooke, Me and my monster!!Me and Tara with Kathleen...It was so good to see everyone that came!
Tara and I headed to THE Maverick to get fueled up on goodies and drinks for our 'sleep'-over...we didn't do much sleeping but we had a great time catching up! How often do you get to have a sleep over with your best friend once you are married and have kids? Who needs sleep anyways!! Thanks again Tara...we need to have another girls weekend soon!! Super Clayton!
Costume made up of PJ's...a piece of mommy's scrap fabric, and swimming goggles!!

Aspen drinking her juice...some serious concentration involved!! And I love her orange fingernail polish!

Joey playing in the All-Star roller hockey gameMe and Aspen goofing off in the curtains!This was me being crafty and deciding to make Aspen's Easter dress this year! I think it turned out to be pretty darn cute!She was a little hesitant to wear her 'home-made' dress...so i told her if she didn't wear it I would be wearing this dress out to breakfast...she opted to wear her dress instead!! (By the way...this was my Mom's actual prom dress...don't I look HOT!?!) Oh...and looking at all these pictures of myself makes me think maybe I should actually put makeup on when I'm at home...not just when i go out!! lol!One of my favorites...she looks so serious...and sorta grumpy...but this is such an Aspen look! Yay Amber! She ran in the downtown 5K this month! Totally inspiring...but not enough to make me want to do it!! Congrats though!!Aspen and her bestest friend Zoe making candy necklaces!!
Aspen had been saying for weeks that she missed Zoe so much...so we had to steal her for a playdate!!They are so cute!!At a Grizzlies game! Aspen and Auntie Stepho covering her ears after the Grizz scored!Me, my cheezer aka Clayton, Amber and RachelUmm...yeah...i don't know!! We're dorks!!So this was funny...we went to our friends house after their little boys baby blessing... Anyways, Aspen has known this little blonde boy on the swing since they were both basically babies...and they just adore each other! Aspen goes right up to Tyler (after not seeing each other for months) and asks him to hold her purse while she swang...and like an obedient boyfriend he held on to it! It was just so precious! Out of all her little 'boyfriends'...I would definitely approve of this one! He is so cute!! We always say that it would be hilarious if they ever dated...because we have about a million pictures of them together!We went to a Reunion BBQ with some of the Marine's Joey went to Iraq with. It was really nice to see everyone again and see how all our families have grown! We hadn't seen some of these guys since our wedding so it was really fun...probably a lot more fun for Joey, but I had fun too! Some of the guys had left before we took this picture...but here ya go...I couldn't even begin to name them all (most but not all) especially by their first names...and since Joey's asleep right now it's not worth trying!
Lastly, (at least for this post) The Dude is potty training right now!!! You all know how fun that can be! He has his good days...and his bad, but how cute are those X-Men boxer briefs on my little Man? Um...in case you were wondering...SO CUTE!!!! Also, he's showing off his recent haircut...i think we are up to about 30 by age 2 1/2!!
I'll do a seperate post for our Easter pics...but not tonight...Loves!

April 8th

So, I realize that I'm posting this a little late...but 6 years ago... April 8th was a pretty crappy day for the hubby! And I just want him to know that I love him...a lot!! And that I'm grateful for the many people that watched over him and kept him safe that day!! Especially our Heavenly Father! I can't even imagine the things he had to get through that day so that he could make it to the next...but he did and now he gets to put up with my crazy butt everyday!! And now it's time to go to bed with that boy that I love!! 'night...

Blue October

Me and my sister-in-law, Amber

March brought me two very happy things!! The new Blue October album, "Approaching Normal" and the Blue October concert at the Depot!! Two things that I've been looking forward to for months! I've been a huge fan!! Now some of their stuff can be crazy and dark...and I had to get the clean edited version of most of their cd's...but I just love them!!

Joey absolutely despises it all...so I had to find someone who had heard of them to drag to the concert with me! I took my sister in law, Amber with me and we had so much fun!! We were literally like 2 rows from the stage (thanks to our new TALL Canadian friends that let us stand in front of them!)...and they were AWESOME!! I loved every single minute of it...except maybe the two minutes we saw the couple next to us going at it...no seriously going at it!! It was dirty...and we all felt violated!! It was just wrong!

After the concert we stuck around to see if any of the guys would make their way out...and lo and behold Ryan Delahousaye (a wicked violin player!) came out and we got to meet him and have our picture taken with him!! He was super nice...signing everyone's autograph even though his "people" were telling him he needed to pack up and get on the bus! Amber even found a guitar pick near the stage!Amber and I with Ryan Delahousaye...the dude that rocks the violin!

A few minutes later we sorta ran into the guys from the band "Ours" that opened up for Blue while I was buying my sweet T-shirt! They were actually pretty good...and reminded me sooooo much of my brothers Isaiah and Jairus! It was crazy! (look for one of their songs on my playlist called The Worst things Beautiful...pretty cool).

So anywho, we headed out to our car when we spotted a group of people (including our Canadian buddies) by the bands tour bus. So we went to see what was going on...and we see THE Justin Furstenfeld (lead singer) and CB Hudson (lead guitarist) signing autographs! So we get in line and Justin says he will stay out until everyone was gone even though it had started to rain/hail/snow! So Justin and CB sign our gear and then Justin came around a huge tree/bush to take pictures with us (it took a couple tries thanks to a crazy drunk lady!)! He was sooooo sweet! And I now secretly have a thing for men that wear black eyeliner and nail polish! ha, ha! But really they were great and we had an awesome night!! Here are some pics and a video from the night...

Yay!!! Us with Justin Furstenfeld!

And if you've never heard of them...just try them out...I dare you! Here are some of my favorites...18th floor balcony, You make me smile, Sound of Pulling Heaven down, Calling you, A quiet mind, Clumsy card house, My Never, Should be loved, Kangaroo Cry, Jump Rope (Aspen and Clayton love this one!), Blue Skies, and Graceful Dancing...those are mostly the somewhat happier songs! And I have a lot of them on my playlist...I'm not preaching or anything...I just really like them! K...I'll get off my Blue October soap box now! :)

Twilight DVD Midnight Release Party

All of us Twihards...Melanee, Tara, Courtney, Carlie, Megan, Me and Amber

Last Friday night I spent 4 hours (10pm-2am) at the Walmart in Riverton waiting to meet Rachelle Lefevre who plays Victoria in Twilight! I wasn't planning on going to the midnight release until word got out that a cast member would be making an appearance... and me being the Twihard that I am...I couldn't possibly stay at home knowing that it might be Edward (aka Robert Pattinson) just 20 minutes away!

So I arranged a sleepover for my kids since Joey was working late (Thanks again Kimberly!) and after our book club, my sister-in-law, Amber, and my friend Melanee met some fellow Twihard friends Tara and her sisters; Megan, Carlie and Courtney at about 10 pm! Megan secretly snuck in on the side with the Walmart Associates/Family by agreeing she was with Scott (the manager of the store). Carlie and Courtney were waiting in a huge line...and Tara was in the middle of the mosh pit!! So the three of us decided to join Tara and waited for the cast member to show...we tried hard to get it out of the employees standing guard over the Twilight merchandise who was coming...but they were sworn to secrecy or something!

As we were waiting I almost got beat up by some massive lady who thought it was her God given right to push her way to the front!! She didn't like it when I told her to stop pressing herself up against me...needless to say, I moved out of her way and we watched as she eased her way towards the front!

Anyhow, Rachelle Lefevre who plays a sadistic vampire in the movie finally came out! She was so nice and so pretty! Although I was initially a little disappointed that I wouldn't get to grope one of my Freebie 5 (click on the link if you don't know what that is)...I was happy that it was Victoria!!Tara left the mosh pit to find her sisters in line, while Melanee, Amber and I made our way over to Megan. We got stopped by an employee who said we weren't allowed to be up there... so I tried my best to make something up and say that we were there with Megan, who knew Scott! So the guy calls Scott over and I thought for sure we were all gonna get sent to the back of the mosh pit again when Scott was like, "Yeah they're okay, they can stay!" He was awesome!! It was hilarious!!

This is Scott...the guy who made it all happen!

So we spent the rest of the night watching Rachelle sign autographs, talking to the deputy's guarding the place, talking with Scott, getting our stuff signed and meeting other Twilight Moms including Lisa, who started twilightmoms.com! We had lots of fun!

Twilight Moms...Lisa is the lady on the left!

Deputy Reyes...aka...Charlie! He wouldn't let us get away with anything!!

Rachelle was only supposed to sign autographs for the first 200 people or for about an hour, but she was so awesome and said she would sign everyone in line or until Walmart kicked her out! So at about 1:30 we were one of the last few to hop in line to meet her! I know I said it before but she was genuinely such a nice person and so so pretty!! A true class act!! I think I'm officially Team Victoria!!Notice how there is nobody left in the store!! This was close to 2 am...she was coming around to shake our hands and say good-bye!We had such a fun time...and it was totally worth having a sore back and feet after the 4 hours of standing and hanging out late with the girls!!

Here's a video from our night!!

I have lot's of things to blog...especially about our fun night last night at the Walmart in Riverton partying hard at the Twilight release party! But right now...I'm still extremely tired from being up until 4 am and I am starting to feel sick! So I'm going to bed...and I'm hoping tomorrow I will feel better and rested!!

Tammy's Diner

There is this cute new Diner by our house called "Tammy's Diner" that is our new favorite eat-out spot! They have the yummiest breakfast...and you will not find better service anywhere!! (It's on 5400 S. and right by I-215...if your ever in the area!) Just be prepared if you go on a weekend...you may have to fight your way to a seat...it can get busy in the mornings!! Anyways, we go there with Joey's parents more than we should! Here are some funny pictures from last Saturday after Aspen's skating classes when we went with his family and Aunt & Uncle that were passing through town!

Auntie Stepho teaching the kids bad habits!!

Daddy not doing much better...

Teaching Clayton...

Look! I'm doing it!!

Aspen and Auntie! She was too embarrassed to do it!

It was funny because we looked over and the little boy in the booth behind us was secretly trying to hang the spoon on his nose...way to go guys!!

New ideas for Visiting Teaching!?!

Well, since I started talking Twilight/New Moon...I thought you all might enjoy this one too...

If we used this technique maybe our visiting teaching would be easier to do! Check out the other cartoons they have on their website...they are all pretty amusing!

New Moon

Okay, so this was WAY too good not to post on the blog!! This is for all my Twilight crazed friends...

Mmmm...

Thanks to my friend Melanee...this seriously just made my day!!

Okay, now I can go back to work...and stop daydreaming of Edward Cullen!

Update...yada,yada,yada!

So it's been a while (again) since I've updated anything! February was a very busy and sorta crappy month for us! I just haven't really been in the mood for blogging lately! But here is an update on some things we've been up to...

Aspen completed her fist level ice skating class! We are so proud of her! We signed her up for the next session and also for the Spring Ice Show! She's really excited about it! Practices start on March 18th and the show is in April (I forget the date?). But I'm sure I'll post more about that later! We are supposed to pre-register for Kindergarten this month!!! And I have no idea what we are going to do! Do I bus her to Oquirrh Hills or have her go to the elementary that is in her Day Care's boundaries. I'm freaking out! Joey and I both work full time...and I work clear up at the U. So I have no idea what we are gonna do about the whole 1/2 day thing...do I choose AM or PM...who's gonna pick her up...should I work just part time...should i stay at home??? So many things to figure out! Can't she just stay little? Who needs school? I'm trying to stay positive...but does anyone have any suggestions?


Our little Clayton is so much fun these days! He's starting to potty train...which has been fun...and interesting! He's been doing pretty well...but still has a ways to go! He will not use a little potty...which i actually don't mind! He wants to sit on the big potty...and he loves wearing his big boy undies (or panties...i got so used to saying it with Aspen, it's hard to break the habit!)!! He is talking so much now...and you can usually understand what he's saying! He absolutely loves motorcycles, trains, trucks, spider man, batman, and McQueen! He's getting so big...it's exciting but a little sad too cause he's no longer my baby!

Joey got a second job at Acord Ice Center...not sure if I've already mentioned that? But he got hired as a supervisor and will start working once a week. The nice thing is that we no longer have to pay for Aspen to take skating lessons, and both the kids think it's pretty cool that Dad now drives a Zamboni! Joey's excited because he'll get to play hockey more often...which could be a good or a bad thing I guess! He just finished up a semester of school, and he also is playing roller hockey again.

Speaking of roller hockey...I finally went to one of his games a two weeks ago and as luck would have it...someone decided it would be a good idea to steal our Honda! That was AWESOME...
especially since we just paid loads of $ to get it fixed! I still can't figure out who would steal a car with two car seats in the back...ooh and a tape player!! While Joey was in looking at the security tapes with the police (which didn't show anything by the way!) Aspen asks me, "Mom what are we going to do?" So I say back to her, "Well, maybe we should say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help us" she replies back to me, "why? Jesus isn't here...he's in heaven!" So I tell her, "Well, Jesus is always here for us and if we need help with something, all we have to do is ask." So she says okay and we said a prayer. The next day my Dad watched the kids and this is what she told her Grampa..."Someone stole our car, but it's okay cause Jesus' trying to find it with his special powers!" She's so cute!

Well they did end up finding our car a few days later in Bountiful...and they stole the two car seats, my $200 double stroller, and yep...they tried to pull out the tape player/radio!! And they left a duffel bag with the tools they used to break into the car...they also took the license plates off and replaced them with Low Book Sales covers!! That was so nice of them! Thank goodness we had full coverage...and hopefully we'll be able to get everything back/fixed!

So I've been in a pretty grumpy mood lately to say the least! But I'm hoping to put February behind us...and hoping that March will be better! A few things I'm looking forward to are: going to Ephraim and seeing some of my old Badgerette friends and advisor, Kathleen! The new Blue October album comes out this month...and even better their concert on the 31st at The Depot!! Sooo excited for that!! And more importantly...moments like these...

Just chillin' with Dad!

Also, I came across this blog called "The Meanest Mom" and it seriously made me laugh so hard...something that was much needed! I sat up reading so many of her posts...and was just laughing to myself!! All you Mom's need to check it out...it's hilarious! Look at the Reader's Favorites...just make sure you go to the bathroom first!!


Sorry...that was kind of a long one!