Holy Crap it's almost July!!

Hello blog!  Did you forget about me?   These past few months have been crazy busy...April, May and June seemed to have just flown by!  I can't believe it's almost July!  You may be wondering what we've been doing since the middle of April?  Well, we've definitely kept ourselves busy!  I'm going to try to post pictures of everything...so bare with me...but here's just a few things we've been up to since our last post...

We took the kids to St. George and Las Vegas...

My nephew Jackson turned 1!!  He's so adorable...

Easter came and went...

Clayton started T-ball...seriously the cutest thing to watch ever!!  He's not exactly super motivated during the games...but he's hilarious to watch... 

I had a wonderful Mother's day...and was ridiculously spoiled with a new camera lens and my favorite breakfast german pancakes (I'm told it would've been in bed if I would have stayed asleep!)  I'm so blessed to be loved so much by my kids and hubby... 

We hiked Ensign Peak...

Jeremy was accepted to the University of Utah's Executive MPA (Masters of Public Administration) program!!  So proud of him! 

Jeremy also had a birthday...the big 2 9!! 

We had family come visit...

We've done lots of yard work, painted the front door, and planted a garden...

Memorial Day weekend...

Aspen's last day of 1st grade...hallelujah!!!  I thought it was going to be the death of us both!

I took a trip to Ephraim for a work conference at Snow College...

We celebrated Father's Day...the kids and I got Jer the coolest gift...

Aspen had like 12 birthday parties (4 really)...can't believe she is 7 years old!!

more T-ball...

On top of all that...being in our wards Young Women's presidency...enough said...

and being a mom...

and trying to be a good wife...

It has been a busy couple of months! 

I feel bad for slacking on the blog...I don't even know why i take pictures of things if I never get around to posting or developing the pictures.  I'm going to try to do better...promise!

and because this post is super text heavy...here's some cute pictures of the kids...

blogger is being dumb and won't let me add more than these two pictures...

Things that bring me joy...

Here's a video of the kids wrestling with Jer...it makes me so happy to see them happy and playing together! 



Also, the kids have been doing/saying some funny things lately...so i thought i'd share:

One morning Clayton wakes up...doesn't say good morning but comes at both Aspen and I in the bathroom wearing nothing but his undies and trying to whack us with a goalie stick he can barely hold up!  It was funny!

We were teaching Aspen and Clayton about Joseph Smith a couple weeks ago during FHE and Jer asked "What would you do if you were in your room praying and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to you?"  Aspen thought for a moment and then said, "I would tell them to go away because I wasn't finished praying yet."

When praying to bless the food at Gma and Gpa's, Clayton said "please bless the monkies, even Zach-ie poo"  (his uncle zach)

When looking at the baby sitting in front of us at church, Clayton said, "look mom she's cute, even with out tattoos"...mkay crazy boy! 
And then my sister in law sent me this email:

"This weekend Aspen and Caden felt BayLeigh move. I knew if I felt her and said did you feel it then they would probably say yes, so I felt her move and did not say anything but both of their eyes went big!
It was so neat. Aspen thought it was awesome. Caden did not care as much as Miss was just pregnant with Jaxon.
So leave it to Clayton….I was standing there by the table with Joey and Dad. Clayton comes up to my stomach, puts his face in front of it and yells as loud as he can “Cocka doodle dooo” Joey and I just started to laugh. I guess he thought it was time for her to wake up.
He however was not interested in even trying to feel her, just thought he would give us all a good laugh.
Just thought I would share, because it was stinking cute.
Love your kids to death."

Aspen, Clayton and Jeremy bring me so much joy!  I am eternally blessed to have such a wonderfully fun family that i love so much!

All the love~

Pinterest

Have you guys heard of Pinterest?  Pinterest is a place to catalog the things you love.  And I love it!  It's so much fun...and addicting...and inspiring!  Here's my Pinterest board...if anyone cares to look!  I'm pretty much obsessed with word art lately...so there's lot's of that!  But enjoy...and if you have a Pinterest account...let me know so I can follow you! 

All the love in the universe~

Make beautiful things...

Hello!  I have so much i need to share with you!  But for now this is on my mind...

I read this today...you can read more here. 

I thought it was really inspiring!  To be honest I haven't picked up my camera in weeks...i've been using my point and shoot to take photos of things and have even been known to recently buy a cheap disposable camera while on a family vacation!!  I've been in a rut...trying to figure out who i am as a person, a mother, a wife, and an artist (if i can call myself that!).  Trying to find time for all of it seems impossible these days! 

I've been thinking like this lately...

and it applies to everything I do.  Whether it's at work, at home, with my family, with myself (spiritually and physically), or with my photography...I just want to create something beautiful!!   

Hopefully this weekend I can find some time to do this! I'll be back soon to show you some things we've been doing.  I'm not doing too well on decrapifying my house...hopefully this weekend I can get some of that done!  But we are making some improvement in de-white-trash-ifying the outside of the house (pictures coming!)...And that makes me happy! 

All the love in the universe~

Our first date

I was looking over a calendar I’d saved from last year when I realized that exactly a year ago today Jeremy and I went on our very first date! I remember feeling giddy and nervous as I waited for him to pick me up. I had taken my sister-in-law’s advice and bought myself a new outfit and I remember hoping my heels wouldn’t make me too tall (it was a blind date)! Luckily, he was still taller than me! We went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner…and I remember the whole time thinking I’d known him from somewhere… He was cute, well dressed, and easy to talk to. It was still light out when he dropped me back off at the house…I think I was home by 9! I then sat and analyzed the night…had I told him too much…had I told him too little? I remember feeling like I talked almost the whole time…and that I still didn’t know very much about him. I had a lot of fun and I wanted very much to get to know more about him!

The weeks that followed that first date are some of my very favorite memories…getting to know each other more…having deep conversations…meeting each others families…introducing him to the kids…

Those are the weeks I found the love of my life! The weeks the kids and I fell in love with Jeremy over and over again! Little did I know that about 6 months later from that very first date we’d be married for eternity!

And now here we are one year later…still getting to know each other…and still falling in love with each other every single day! I’m so blessed to have Jer in my life. He is my best friend…and I realize now why he seemed so familiar the first time I saw him. I know that we were friends before we came to this earth…it just took us 20-something years to find each other!

What about you guys? What did you do on your first dates with your main squeezes? I’d love to hear…

All the love in the universe~

a random saturday afternoon...

So after we went to the cannery we were driving home and saw this...

for $349 it better be a good burger!! 

Then we went to run some errands and ended up in walmart...Jeremy tried to convince me he needed velcro shoes! 

Don't worry...I told him NO!  I listened to his reasons why they were so much more comfortable than regular dress shoes...and how much easier they'd be to put on at 4 am...needless to say he did not convince me!  Maybe when you're 80 years old babe! 

And finally when we got home...we discovered we left the tv on...and this was what was on the screen...

 apparently if you are lazy and watch tv for more than 3 hours...our tv gives you a friendly reminder to get off your butt and get some exercise!  We got a good laugh out of it!  

Loves,

Food Storage and Japan

So I haven't been very good at blogging the "moments"...but whatever!  One thing that has been on my mind this last week is the tragedy in Japan and being prepared.  I've never been very good at watching the news or keeping up with what's going on in the world...mostly because it really depresses me.  But last night as everyone was in bed I thought I'd check my email and when I logged into yahoo and started to read the news headlines I got swept into it all.  I started watching the many video's of an entire city swept away all while the people who lived there watched from higher up.  I started to cry when I thought of how unprepared I am for something like that to happen to us.  And then I started to cry more as I watched the many people trying to locate their families and loved ones.  I can't imagine the anguish these people are going through right now.  It's depressing I tell you!  And I think I watched enough sad videos last night to last me a few more months of not watching or keeping up with world news!

But it has got me thinking about food storage...and 72 hour kits...and organizing my important documents like birth certificates and such.  I mentioned in a previous post about us going to the cannery...and that was really a lot of fun!  I wasn't expecting it to be at all.  Mostly I think it was fun because my hubby was there with me helping!  After we canned and purchased a few things to start us off...I felt a little relieved!  Now I just need to think of ways to use the stuff.  Potatoe flakes and oatmeal I can handle...it's the dry beans and wheat that have me worried!  My most favorite thing about the things we got is that they have a 30 year shelf life!!  30 years people!!  If anyone wants to go sometime...I'd be willing to go again...it was really interesting! Here's a few pictures of us...

Don't we look cute?!!

Also, have you guys heard of Lent?  We don't celebrate it or whatever in our church...but the ideas I've seen around the blogging world of people doing good things during the 40 days leading up to Easter I think are pretty cool.  So I thought I'd join in...my goal is to try to purge and decrapify my house by Easter...in hopes of simplifying our lives and our homes in hopes of making more time for the things that are important...like having the Spirit with us, thinking more about the Savior, and spending more quality time as a family. 

Who's with me...anyone else want to have a decrapifying party?! 

All the love in the universe~

TGIF!!

 
Me and the hubby are going on a hot date tonight!

I’m pretty excited…olive garden and a high school choir concert!
Hope you all have a happy weekend!!

All the love in the universe~

Do I know you?

One thing I LOVE (insert sarcasm) about working on a college campus is running into people I went to high school with.  I was just on my lunch break over at the union (i forgot my lunch...again...) when someone comes up to me...that looks familiar...but I can't place him so I try to avoid... But then he stops and says, "hey, do I know you? you went to (insert name of high school)...Leslie right?"  while I continue to look dumb and say, "yeah, yeah your...."  and then he fills in with his name.  I feel so dumb and so bad during those moments when i can't remember their name!  I can't remember what I did yesterday!  And then the conversation continues...  "so... how are you? what have you been up to?"  and then I try to come up with something cool to say because it's been almost 10 years since i've seen this person...but I fail to think of anything cool.  It's hard to make being working mom sound glamorous!  He then asked me what i was studying, and i said i wasn't...i worked here...and then it makes me feel even cooler about myself for not having a college degree and then reminds me how much i don't love my job!  Not that I hate it...it's just a job. But it does pay the bills and I'm ever so grateful to have one these days!  Anyways, thought I'd share that with you as I eat my favorite potatoe soup that is served at the union only on thursdays...

Do you have any stories of running into people you haven't seen for a while?

P.S.  just incase this said person I ran into happens to come across this blog (i don't know how he would)...it was nice to see you again and I'm sorry if i seemed like i was awkwardly trying to avoid you!  It's not you...it's me! 

All the love~

Events vs. Moments

I was stalking reading some of my favorite blogs today.  And one of my favorite bloggers made such a great point in her post today I thought I would share...

 i'll tell you a little secret about how blogging became fun for me.  i stopped blogging "events"...but decided i would rather blog "moments".

it's like scrap booking.  i couldn't move forward unless i scrapped about christmas {or insert whatever holiday/event that is holding you back from moving forward}.  but, i was never in the mood to scrap christmas, so i just kept getting farther and farther behind.

same thing with my blog.

finally i decided "who cares if i post about christmas".

i don't need to post oodles and oodles of pictures of my kids under the christmas tree.  now i just post moments.  so, maybe that one present that milo really wanted?  maybe i post about that.

whatever.

it just makes blogging much more simpler.

and i'm good with that.

Oh this is sooooo true!!  I've been thinking about this a lot lately!  I get so stuck on blogging the "events" that I end up not blogging at all!  Why is it that the dreaded Christmas post is such a roadblock for me??  And her comparison to scrapbooking is spot on!!  So anyways, I'm going to try to post more often...and not get stuck on the "events".  This blog is mostly for myself...so i need to start blogging the "real stuff"...the moments!  are you up for that? sweet...me too!

Well it's now March...here's a few things we've been up to the last few weeks of February... (i know, i know i just said i wasn't going to post the "events"...but these would've been "moments" had i posted them a few weeks ago)!!

*My super sweet hubby gave me roses and gourmet chocolate covered strawberries for V-Day!  They were yummy...and i'm pretty sure I ate all of them!

*We took the kids to the Justin Bieber movie...which they both loved!  Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Purple has become Clayton's favorite color again...and Aspen swoons every time you say the boy's name!  I bought her a CD...except that I've been listening to it in my car for the last 2 weeks and can't get his songs out of my head!  Seriously all day long i'm hearing, "Baby, baby, baby, oh!"  or "for you i'd write a symphony..." and I can't make it stop!!

*Jeremy had hopefully his last interview/review of his teaching...we're patiently waiting and hoping he gets hired on full time as a seminary teacher within the next couple months!  So...you can pray for him if you'd like!  And maybe pray that he won't have to teach early morning...cause i'd sorta like to hang out with my husband at night...you see he wakes up at 4 am and go's to bed around 8 pm...even on friday nights...like tonight!  And that doesn't work well with my schedule when i want to hang out with him! =)

*We took a trip to the Urgent care a couple weeks ago...Clayton was goofing off and dancing when he smacked his ear on the kitchen table and sliced it open...it was yucky and we didn't know if he needed stitches so we took him in.  Aspen hadn't been feeling well that day and had a fever so we decided to take them both.  As I'm filling out the paper work, Aspen says her tummy hurt.  Jeremy asked her if she was going to throw up and she said yes...and then she did...luckily Jeremy was there to catch it in his hand :)  On our way there he said to me, "i've been waiting for a night like this!"  Everyone always tells stories about nights like these...and he was just waiting for it to be his turn...welcome to parenthood babe!  So anyways, they ended up checking Aspen and she had strep throat and then they glued Clayton's ear together...and so far it's healed up pretty well!  They both are doing much better!

It doesn't look very bad in the picture...but it was disgusting!  

Me and poor little Aspen...

and ya what mom doesn't grab her camera when they're on their way to the Urgent care?  Jeremy thought I was crazy when the Dr. left the room and I started snapping pics of our sick children. 

This picture is so funny!  Clayton said he needed a puke bucket like Aspen...and right when I took the picture he yawned...but it looks like he's about to throw up!  

I would love to show you all some more pictures but for the life of me i can't find my memory card reader thing tonight...so maybe tomorrow?  We're going to the cannery tomorrow morning...and i'm sewing about 15 skirts tomorrow afternoon for young women's...so maybe Sunday??

All the love in the universe~