Little Get-a-way Today!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

We have been waiting for a good weather day for over a week now, so we could take and afternoon for Blaine's birthday adventure.

The sun was shining bright today and the warm weather was begging us to spend some time with it.  So we got in our swim suits, packed a picnic, and drove to one of our favorite get-a-way spots, Egin Lakes.

The next few hours were bliss as we built sandcastles, played in the shallow water, watched the tadpoles, had a sandy picnic lunch (yes all our food was peppered with sand!) and enjoyed being together.

Can we please go to Egin Lakes every day?  I sure wish so!


It was a perfect day to be at the lake!  Just warm enough, but not too hot!


All of us were digging the sand and water..literally! :)
 
 One of our favorite things was to dig a trench and then watch the water pour in!

 Love these cute little babies....

 ...and this handsome man!  He is such a fun dad!




At the end of our perfect lake day, we showered and got in our p.j.'s and played "chase" in the sunset on our front lawn!  It's days like this, (no not every day is as fun as this one,) that make it all worth it!

 Love how this little boy laughs so hard when I am chasing and tickling him!  Love the sunshine that comes from this little angel Afton of ours every time she smiles and looks and me with those big gorgeous eyes and goofy smile!

Sure hope we get a whole lot more days like this one this summer!

Life as of Late

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Life has been a whirlwind of wonderful and hard things lately (just how life goes.)  Let me tell you a few...or a lot...I realized how long the list was when I published this post...so I edited it :)
  •  We have got to see my family a lot lately! (4 times since March!)  This has meant that we have gotten to see some of my most favorite people....EVER!
  • Seeing Blaine's uncles and cousins have a roping contest at a Munns' party.
  • Finished a quilt for Afty.
  • Afton got the weirdest rash that covered her body and made her swell up.  Found out she has an allergy to certain kinds of medicine.
  • Have made some amazing food lately, such meat and potato calzones and unfried-fried ice cream balls garnished with hot fudge and raspberries.
  • Blaine's tree pruning business has picked up and has been a HUGE blessing in our life!  Blaine is the hottest tree pruner ever!
  • Afton girl hit the edge of the toddler bed which shoved one of her teeth back into her gums.  Luckily there was no root damage.
  • I got some good snapshots of my kids at the gardens!  I wasn't even planning on taking  individual pictures of them on this day...which is probably why it worked out! :)
  • We got an email from the grad school (that we really want to go to) telling us that Blaine is an alternate candidate for this fall's entering class.  We are taking this as great news!  We feel really good about it all.
  • We aren't really sure what life holds in store for us right now.  It took a little while for Blaine's business to pick up, and also to get the email about grad school.  I have days that I feel on top of the world because I am totally trusting Heavenly Father.  Then other days, I have a hard time not doubting the promptings I have received.  Overall, I think I am learning to have greater faith, even when it looks bleak and like there is no way that things will work out.  After almost 27 years of living, I should know by now that things always do work out!  God is good to us!
  • The weather here has been amazing, which means a lot of after dinner walks with our kids in the sunset...thanks Mel for letting us use your other jogging stroller so we can go on family walks together!  This has definitely been a highlight!
  • Hyrum and Afton have loved strolling the house in a new reversible Batman/Superman cape.
  • Afton's language has started exploding.  So fun to hear her say words like cheese, please, milk, and choo choo in the midst of her jibber jabber.
  • Hyrum has starting saying the darndest things. I just want to freeze him in this stage he is in!  It is so fun to see him make these connections about how life and the world work.
  • Blaine's birthday was Friday!  Because he had to work that day, we kept the dinner celebration simple.  We had firecracker chicken for dinner with our favorite chocolate cake for dessert.  We watched some airplanes practicing for the airshow.  We are looking forward to celebrating more this week to a day trip to one of our favorite recreation spots!
  • Yesterday we got to watch the Air Show.  We went to a park close by the airport!  The tricks were phenomenal!  All four of us were enthralled!
  • Today we got to celebrate Blaine and the "Papas" in our life.  We got to see Blaine's dad and we are skyping with my Dad tomorrow.  

 Here are some of my favorite pictures of our life lately.  Enjoy!

Below are some of my favorite high school teachers



Front porch sitting with my family and neighbors in Kaysville

Little Miss E-love those big gorgeous eyes!

Papa Dave-love seeing my Dad be a grandpa!

Big and Little Afton together-they are about 92 years a part but kindred spirits!

Spontaneous and best photo shoot ever in the gardens on campus
 Love their big, real smiles!

 Love that Afton has to touch everything and put it in her mouth...sometimes! (As long as it's not a choking hazard...right? :) )

Doing what I always dreamed of...being a mommy with my sisters!

Loved how Afton was Papa Dave's little pal on our Utah trip!  She took her bottle right up to him, climbed on his lap and snuggled into him before bed...these are the moments that make it all worth it!

Provo play date to J Dawgs with my peeps!

Munns' family roping competition...felt like I was living in the olden days for about 20 minutes!

Blaine and Afton sitting on this cool swing around this campfire gazebo thing....must have one when we have our own house someday!

Afternoon walk with my girl

Poor Afton's allergic reaction...she had to be on sterroids to stop the swelling and bruising... :(

Mountain man calzone and frozen ice cream balls I was telling you about above...yum!


The Batman cape I was telling you about...love the way this girl holds and drinks her bottle!

Thought this was a cool picture with Hyrum flying into the sun as Batman.  We can dream right?!

 Blaine's as the birthday boy!  Just the other day we were talking about something that happened 10-15 years ago...I felt so old because you hear old people say that all the time!  But he is a handsome old person right?!