Circus Parade

 At the end of September the CIRCUS came to Salt Lake. Being the super fun (aka CHEAP) mom that I am, we did not get tickets to the actual circus, but instead headed down to the Gateway for the free, fun parade. Little Miss was so excited! We waited for about an hour to stake out some great seats right in the front row and had a blast.

 The Police department was there to keep the peace between the animal rights people and the soccer moms. Since they weren't too occupied with that job they passed out clown noses, signs, and stickers. We had lots of fun with our nose. E didn't ever really want to wear it, but loved when I did. I felt super cool, by the way.

 Blowing kisses to the pretty ladies on the horses.

 Screaming NEIGH to all of the horses. We had the police woman standing by us laughing pretty hard.

 So excited about the fun parade. It helped that the elephants were THISCLOSE:

This picture was taken with me leaning back in my seat so I could actually get the elephants in. They were so close. At first E was freaked out, but it took about .5 seconds for her to get over it and want to go ride them!

This was such a fun day! I hope I remember to do it again next year!

Yummy Summer Tomatoes

This summer we had a small raised box garden. It was so fun to be able to head out to the backyard when I needed produce! Our tomato plant was huge and produced tons of fruit. Little Miss especially loved going out and picking fresh tomatoes and eating them right from the plant. One day Michelle came to hang out and shared a huge red tomato with E and laughed as Miss E gagged through a few hard green ones. This makes me so happy because I really don't like tomatoes. I love them in stuff, but not alone, so I love that Michelle can share this love with her!

August

We had such a fun, whirlwind summer, we knew that it had to go out with a bang. We decided to take one last trip of the summer and headed to Washington again.

While we were there Steve's parents volunteered to watch the monkey overnight so we could go celebrate our 5th anniversary. We headed to a cute little bed and breakfast in La Conner, WA. This town was so cute! We ate a delicious dinner at a fish restaurant right on the water. After dinner we went out for a drive over Deception Pass. This picture doesn't show very well how high up this old bridge is from the water! It was so beautiful and a much needed getaway!

 One of our favorite traditions when visiting Steve's home is to go to the C Shop, a candy store right on the harbor. Miss E was lucky enough to get her very own treat: a chocolate covered marshmallow cone. It was such a mess but she loved it!

 I love the beauty of that area! A family friend was back in town the same time we were so several families met down by the bay (...where the watermelons grow...) to have a barbeque and to catch up. It was so fun! I only wished we could have stayed longer but our sweet child was extremely tired and GROUCHY so we had to head home.

 We also happened to be there the same week Steve's sister graduated from Western Washington University with her Masters Degree. It was so fun to cheer her on!

 Julie also was playing the community theater's production of Arsenic and Old Lace. She played one of the crazy old aunts. The play was hilarious and Julie did an awesome job!

 On our way back home we were able to stay with my family overnight and for most of the next day. We were pretty excited that my aunt and uncle and their family also were visiting at the same time so we celebrated by going to the pool. After a summer of hating big pools, Miss E had a fabulous time.

 This whole trip was such a wonderful way to end our summer of fun. Although I know Steve doesn't ever look at the blog, I had to take a (Seriously So Blessed) moment and say how lucky and blessed I am to have such a wonderful husband. He is so perfect for me and is such a compliment to all of my quirks! Happy 5 years and here's to an eternity more!!!

Awww weren't we cute, and young, and naive!

Zoo Boise

After our cross country travels, we decided that we weren't through! Steve wanted some time to vacation as well so we headed up to Boise for week. We relaxed and swam and golfed and had a great time. We went home and then two days later I turned around with Little Miss and headed back to Boise to be with my mom while the rest of the fam was on a pioneer trek. The only pictures I took of that fun week were of the zoo. E loved it!

E's first big girl piggy tails!

Checking out the monkies.

E loves her gwa gwa (grandma).

She was more than likely caught doing something naughty, like chasing the dog or pulling her tail.

Let's Be Friends. Best Friends.

(Sorry, I just love that quote from the Johnny Depp Willy Wonka movie. It always cracks me up!)

Got to love Olive Garden!

During my years as an Elementary Ed student at BYU I was so lucky to be placed in a program with some amazing women. Some of these girls became some of my best friends. More than likely it was because we were experiencing the same form of torture (girls, you know what I am talking about), but even more than that, it was because we just seemed to get each other. I really miss our freezing morning drives up the canyon and long hours in class watching Meredith watch One Tree Hill! Now it is so fun to see them as we've all grown into our roles as teachers, wives, and mothers. I miss them all and wish we lived closer, but I love those summer lunches. We need to figure out a way to get Leslee out here sometime in the future!!!

Fourth of July

The day I got back from TN, we all headed up to Steve's sister's house in Ogden Valley. We love it there! It is gorgeous beyond words! We had so much fun with the fam, eating food, talking, and celebrating our country at the sweet bash put on by the city of Huntsville.

 Cute nephews loving the glow necklaces and plethora of treats!

 Just waiting for the fireworks to start. There was lots of fun music and we all busted a move or two. I was too busy dancing to get any good move busting photos!

 I love this pic of my sweet sister in law Ashley and Miss E!

Surprisingly she LOVED the fireworks! I was so glad (and relieved) since we had been traveling ALL day I thought for sure she would freak out, but instead she laughed and squealed and pointed throughout the whole show.

Such a fun weekend!!! We love having family close by and I hope we never take that blessing for granted!

Ketchup, Catsup, Catch Up...

So...it's been a while. I have put the blog on the back burner the last few months to put other things first. I was getting a little tired of living my life as the next blog post or Facebook update. I wanted to live life. Because I love reading back on old journal entries and blog posts, I think I'm ready to work on catching up! I am doing this now because I think I have worked out how to do it without letting it consume my daily thinking : ). I hope you enjoy the mind purge as much as I do!
-D