Ensign Peak

We decided for FHE one night that we would hike Ensign Peak as a family and have a picnic dinner up there.  It was really windy and kind of cold so we decided against the picnic...but we all had a great time hiking up!  It's such an easy hike that the kids did great!

 Also, this is one of the first pictures of Aspen with her new glasses!

The view...

There was nobody on top to take our picture...and nowhere really to set up my camera...so these pictures are funny...and you can tell just how windy it was!  

More T-Ball

Here's some more pics from another one of Clayton's t-ball games...this one my dad came to and got to help out on first base!

Hope you've enjoyed the updates...it's now way late...and i needed to go to bed 3 hours ago!!  ; )

All the love~

T-ball

We signed Clayton up for Taylorsville T-ball this year and it was so much fun!!  His team was called the Muck Dogs.  He wasn't exactly motivated a whole lot during the games...but he got better and better after every practice and every game and he made some good friends!  His dad and gpa John coached him...and Jer and I got to help out on the field a few times too!  It was intense though!  2 games per week plus a practice...so he had t-ball 3 times a week!!  It was a little too much if you ask me...but it only lasts 2 months...and it was really fun to watch!

Here are some pics from his first game...

and a video of his first hit...he falls between 1st and 2nd and get's hurt...but toughs it out til the end of the game!

He's gotta be the cutest and toughest little t-ball player ever!!  I love you dude!

Aspen and Auntie Stepho at one of the games...

Ellie...I love this pic

this one's pretty cute too!!

All the love in the universe~

Easter 2011

Easter this year was a lot of fun...here's us decorating eggs the night before...on the floor because we gave our kitchen table a makeover...maybe i'll show you some pics of that later...

Easter morning the kids enjoyed all their goodies the Easter Bunny left for them...and I enjoyed how cute they were all dressed up for church...

Beautiful Aspen and her silly braids...

My handsome little dude...

I've heard of some great traditions on how to celebrate Easter and I'm thinking next year I might try having the Easter bunny come the Saturday night before (maybe do a night hunt with flashlights?)...so that Sunday we can focus on the real reason we have Easter.  Have one day devoted to the Bunny and one day devoted to Jesus...we'll see how the kids like it...  I'd love to hear any traditions you all might have...this year was fun, but crazy...and anything we can do to help make sunday mornings go smoother...i'm all for!    

Party

So I mentioned my nephew Jackson turned 1...well here are some cute pics I took at his party...

Jackson eating his cake...

Clayton eating his...

Playing with the HUGE balloons...

Clayton with my dad...aka "Papa Ron"... I love pictures of the kids with their grandparents...hopefully one day they will cherish them too!  I would give anything to have more pictures of me with my grandparents...especially my dad's parents who passed away when i was young.  Love you Pops!

My sister Melissa and her cute belly...

St. George/ Las Vegas

At the end of March we decided to go on a vacation with the kids.  Jeremy's gma and gpa live in St. George so we thought it would be the perfect quick trip to go see them and maybe spend one day in Las Vegas.  Road trips are always interesting with the kids...there never seems to be enough movies, toys or snacks to hold them over...but we managed to make it to St. George without killing the kids!!  totally kidding...with 2 portable dvd players they did pretty well!  It was nice to be able to spend time with gma and gpa Marsh and get to know them a little better...it was also nice for the kids to get them to themselves for a whole weekend!  They are wonderful people and we had a great time!  We took the small trip to Las Vegas and spent one day there looking at so many different things.  I've decided that Las Vegas isn't super kid friendly...I mean there is a lot for them to see and do...but it's a city full on sin!!  When we first pulled off the freeway we ended up right behind a nudie truck...trying to get the kids to look the other way was interesting...and there isn't a street you walk on that people aren't handing out pornography cards.  I remember going to Vegas as a kid...and i guess because there seemed to be so much magic...I never realized how dirty the city was.

Overall we had a great time!  We took the kids to the "Tournament of the Kings" show/dinner...and they both loved it so much!  Clayton flirted and winked at the wenches/dancers and Aspen devoured her dinner!  Clayton on the other hand didn't want to have anything to do with the cornish game hen they give you...he thought it looked gross....after wards i asked him why he wouldn't eat and he just replied..."because mom, didn't you see that chickens butt hole?"  That boy is hillarious!

Me being a dummy...totally forgot to charge my batteries in both cameras!  I got a few shots before they both died!  And I call myself a photographer?!  oh well...i ended up buying a cheap disposable camera..and have yet to develop the film...one day!  But for now...here are a few cute ones i did get!

 The kids love Sponge Bob...and were pretty excited over this guy!  

My favorite people in the whole world...

They have all these fun characters who work off tips for pictures...Clayton wasn't afraid of them at all (unlike Aspen) and wanted his pic with one of his heroes...

By the end of the day they were seriously tired!!  

Oh ya...and this was when we realized that Aspen truly needed glasses! As we were driving into Vegas we kept saying "see the BIG tall buildings?!  And she couldn't see a thing until we were literally right on the strip...it was crazy!  I felt so bad for delaying going to the eye Dr because i just thought she wanted another accessory!  my bad!  

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~