April 30, 2008

Scott, the photographer...

Over the past 7 1/2 years, Scott and I have seen some beautiful sights. Scott has a fantastic eye and has captured some of the scenes. I have picked a few of my favorites and have decided to share them with our friends and family. I am going to print some of them on canvas and create a bragging wall somewhere in our house. It's true, I am a proud wife, but I really think he could sell some of his photographs.


Sand Dunes '01


American Fork Canyon '02


Paiute Trail '01


Puerto Vallarta '01
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More of Scott's pictures


Paiute Trail '01

I can't remember

Paiute Trail '01

Sand Dunes
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April 29, 2008

When I have to travel for work...

I really try hard not to travel very often for my job. When I took this job 3 years ago, I was told there would be minimal travel. Then in September of 2006 I received a promotion. With that promotion, I was told I would have to travel more. Now, a year and a half later, it looks like I am traveling even more than expected. It's funny, because I have told my team "no" on multiple trips this quarter, so when Scott was commenting on how much I'm traveling, I was a bit surprised. But, I guess I really am traveling quite a bit. This week I'm in Raleigh. Next week, I'm in Orlando. The next week, I'm in Phoenix and two weeks later, I'm in Toronto.

It's really hard on me and the girls to have me traveling. I sometimes forget, it's hard on Scott too. So I thought I'd post a picture that may get a few questions, a few eye rolls and a few laughs.

Seven years ago, Scott and I got married. As some of you may know, I did not get an engagement diamond ring. Instead I got an engagement Raptor. We used to have so much fun on our weekend trips with "the boys". (Our nickname for Red (the Honda 400) and Blue (the Raptor)). Blue, seemed to have some carburetor issues. So, this picture is of me, jetting the carburetor. I post this picture, because it illustrates one of the MANY (heehee) reasons Scott fell in love with me. It also shows how much I am willing to be a princess that gets muddy, greasy and take risks because of and for him. Unfortunately at this time of our life, that willingness sometimes translates into traveling for work.

I'm sorry I have to travel, but I think of my three troopers at home, constantly.
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The Kentucky House

I miss my garden in Kentucky. I miss our neighbors and getting to play with Will and Jake. I miss the tornadoes and the ice storms. I miss our house. I miss having guests come and stay with us. I miss the Derby horses all around town. I miss the horse track. I miss the Louisville zoo, the Shaker Village, the drives to Cinci, the children's museum.
But, I love being close to family. I love our ward. I love having two little girls and taking them to places I went when I was little. I love the mountains.



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April 28, 2008

The Mound of Rocks is so much work

I am really lucky to be married to a smart handy man. On top of our large mound of rocks, we have a patio. We thought we gave it plenty of time to sink before we had the cement laid. Well, we were wrong! There was a good 2-3 inches of nothing between the dirt and the cement. So, Scott and Jon spent several hours on Saturday shoving dirt under the cement. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing so hard on Saturday that they couldn't finish his big project. He needed to come up with a drainage system so that we don't continue having the same problem. He figured out a really cool way to do it. Below are some pictures that show how he is doing it. Ivy was thrilled to help.
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL IT'S DONE!!!!



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Work in Progress

Scott and I took the day off and nearly completed the front yard. (Okay, so I still ended up working some). We leveled out the flower beds and put in new top soil. We planted some burning bushes, barberry and gerberer daisies. Scott planted a Japanese maple and an Autumn Blaze maple. The yard needs to grow up- a lot, but I'm really excited about how it's going to look.

This evening we planted some pansies and the Susan Magnolia. I'm so excited about the Magnolia. They are my favorite! We had one right off the patio in Louisville. It had beautiful white blossoms. This one will have dark purple blossoms. Scott's looking forward to us getting more color.

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Working on the Yard

Friday was the first day we got to work in the yard.

The girls had a blast playing outside.


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April 23, 2008

Wednesday night and my first RS lesson is prepared

It's been a really long time since I've had a teaching calling. The last one I had was in Kentucky. Scott and I co-taught the 14-15 year olds. They were a fantastic class and I can't believe they are all getting ready to graduate. Wow, time flies. Anyway, before that I taught in the Young Women's organization. I loved both of those callings. But, back then, there were several blogs that I could go to where people had prepared the lessons and were sharing them for others that might be preparing the same lesson. I loved going to those blogs to learn, gather and prepare. Well, I CAN'T FIND THEM ANYMORE!!!!! Oh well, I did go to the LDS Living site that I mentioned in the post called "Family Home Evening". I found a great conference talk from last year, that I did end up pulling from.



I'm really excited to get to teach again. I've really missed it. It is so exciting for me to get to spend a few hours focused on reading about the gospel. It's not uninterupted time, but it's time that I feel helps me be a better wife and mother. Oh, and getting to serve, always makes me happier!

Our Little Drummer Girl

Jade has really been practicing the drums on RockBand. She'll spend a long time in the practice mode and then she'll ask Scott to join her and do the song for real. She's gotten pretty darn good. She is adorable when she does the foot peddle because she lifts the opposite shoulder! You can tell she is her mother's daughter-- tongue's out.

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Swimming in the bubble is cold

One of the activities we do, trying to make memories with the girls, is go to the bubble to swim. We've gone a couple of Saturdays and some evenings. Saturday mornings are our favorite. It isn't very crowded- before noon, and the diving board is open. If you go in the afternoon it is CRAZY busy. But the girls still have a blast. I can't wait until it is warm outside and we can enjoy the sun warming up our freezing bodies when it is time to go home.

***The "bubble" is the American Fork Rec Center.



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Mowing the lawn is a boy's job... unless you don't have any sons

In our family, I am often razzed because I have NEVER mowed the lawn. I'm sorry, but it is a father or a son's job. I'm willing to weed, plant, scrub the bathrooms, clean the kitchen floor, dust and do laundry but I have no interest in learning how to mow the lawn. Jade, on the other hand, will get to learn how to mow the lawn and she'll learn to enjoy it. As you can already tell, she's thrilled to help Scott. For now, it gets to be great daddy time. (I'll pull up some older pictures of her helping Scott in Kentucky too).- stay tuned for that post.



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April 19, 2008

Getting to go to the park makes every day better

To wrap up the most fun week ever, the girls got to go to the park. Jade always has a blast at the park and managed to find some boys to play tag with. Ivy, she loves the park, don't get me wrong, but Jade's carefree-ness, Ivy does not have. The only way Kim could get her to go down the slide was with her. Goofy girl. The three girls (Kim counts as one of them), had a picnic and played so hard that all three of them slept well Friday night. (At least Kim said she would).

I loved when they came home because Jade and Ivy both smelled like sunscreen, grass and sweat. Now if we could have thrown in salt from the ocean and they would have smelled like my perfect summer day!





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Growing Up...


Sometimes, I think I can see my little teenager. Miss Kim took this picture one day, and I just love the glimpse it gives into the future.

Chuck E. Cheese's

If you get to play in the sun, go to the park and go to Chuck E. Cheese's in one week, who wants to help mom and dad clean the house and the yard on Saturday!?!

Miss Kim took the girls this week to Chuck E Cheese's. They were so excited to go. I was working from home that morning (still recouping from kidney stones and a kidney infection), and they could hardly stop long enough to say goodbye to me. Okay, maybe not exactly, but they were really excited. They played so hard (and each ate 2- 2 1/2 pieces of pizza) that they both fell asleep on the way home- and were still able to go to bed that night.

Here is Miss Kim's post about it. From the pictures you can tell that all three of them had a great time. We sure our lucky to have found a nanny that likes to play as much as the girls and adores the girls as much as she does.





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April 18, 2008

Bubble Blowing Beauties

What is it about blowing bubbles that makes us close our eyes? Don't we want to watch the bubbles grow? Or is it that we are so intent on watching the bubbles that our eyes just appear closed?

I think Ivy got more bubbles on her shirt than she did in the air. It is a good thing that Jade has mastered the art of blowing bubbles so that Ivy can pop some of them.








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