Good Things Utah

Thanks to my fabulous friend Lis, she scored us some tickets to go see a taping of the Good Things Utah show today! We had our two seconds of fame as they panned the audience, and got to hang out on the set afterwards. So much fun! Here we are cooking up things in the kitchen......



Rubbing shoulders with Marti and Reagan . . . .

Nicea and Angie had to leave early to do a news broadcast-

But they were nice enough to let us get a picture first.

These girls were just as friendly as they were pretty. Lis and I love to see the shows behind the scenes, cause then you feel like these people you see on TV have become your very best friends. I'm sure they'll never forget us and the moments we spent together!

Five years ago we saw Oprah and had a blast. Next on our tour will be Regis & Kelly, or maybe Ellen- that would be fun!

Torture Week

We just completed a week of swim lessons for Cade and Avery. Whew! Who knew it was going to be such a mental challenge? I thoroughly enjoyed watching Cade, who has become quite the strong swimmer, and maybe the next Michael Phelps. (A mom can dream, can't she?)

Avery was excited about swim lessons, until she caught on to the fact that the teacher was going to make her put her head under not once, but every single day! I had such a difficult time watching her struggle with her own personal fears, and she kept looking to me to come rescue her. It was agonizing. I would give her the thumbs up, while holding back my own tears.

She pretty much doesn't like putting her ears, nose, eyes, or mouth in the water.

Every day this was the part she agonized about-- putting her head under water. She would whimper and stare at the water and shake her head.

She kept looking up at me, and I'd tell her it was OK.

But it felt like sticking a fork in my heart and twisting it......

This look just killed me, and so many times I just wanted to run down there and scoop her out of the water to make her stop doing this face! Even after she'd finally do it, she still had this look on her face like it was just awful, and she never wanted to do it again.

The last day was a fun day, they got to put life jackets on and float in the deep end. Finally Avery was happy! This is her kind of swimming!! But notice the other little boy in the picture, who was so uncomfortable in a life jacket and was crying about this. Go figure. He had absolutely no problem all week long jumping in and going under, but put a life jacket on and he's the one crying now. Kids are so different!

Cade loves the diving board, and kept trying to perfect his 360 spin.

So why was Avery willing to subject herself to so much agony in the swimming pool every day? It's all about bribery. She would go through all of that, just for the hope of a snow cone on the last day. I'm so proud of her.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

This past week is my most favorite week of the whole year! With two birthday celebrations and the Fourth of July, it makes for a jam-packed week-o-fun. This week is waaaay better than Christmas, in my opinion, because it's all the fun and no stress. Not to mention I prefer the warm weather to the snow. Here's a summary of the holiday(s).

SUNDAY
Bailey's 10th Birthday! Her theme for the year is "Pixie Hollow". We found some plates with the Disney fairies on them and they became the inspiration for the cake.


I cut out the marshmallow flowers and then Bailey carefully placed everything on the cake by herself, and I think she did a fabulous job! We share a love for chocolate, so it's chocolate with chocolate pudding inside, mmmmmm.


We sprinked some glitter on the table for the fairy dust too. My family came up to have dinner and celebrate with us.

Horses, fairies, DS games, new clothes, and earrings. Just what she wanted!

For my birthday, my mom surprised me with these great blue glass dishes to add to my collection. Then she told me they belonged to either my grandmother or great-grandmother!! I am so thrilled to have this new/old addition! Thanks, Mom.

For the kids' entertainment, our friend Petey launched his homemade bottle rocket, and soon we had all the neighbor kids over. If you launch it, they will come.

Here's the spectator section. Notice the twinner pants! This doesn't happen very often when there's six years between my girls.

MONDAY

Bailey decided to forego the party this year (yea for me!) and just take a couple of her good friends down to the Discovery Center at the Gateway. I decided to take a couple of my friends too, for my entertainment, so it became a large party anyway with 11 kids.

Bailey is so full of imagination, and loves this place. Especially the barn area and the grocery store. I love that my 10 year old girl is still playing make believe and adores her stuffed animals. Maybe we live in a bubble, but I'm keeping it that way. I'm enjoying watching her blossom into such a beautiful young woman. She's teetering between wanting to be young and wanting to be grown up. And I must say, she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.

We took a break to play in the fountains and get snow cones.

These little cuties were so fun to watch !

Happy Birthday Bailey, I hope it was everything you dreamed it would be. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so special for her.

Happiness is . . . . . . . . .

having great friends like these!

WEDNESDAY

This is the day I look forward to 364 days out of the year. My birthday! It's 24 hours of doing whatever I want to do, and I wanted to maximize it. So I dragged Dave out of bed at 6 am to go hike the Crimson Trail with me. There were some spectacular views and we sat on this ledge for awhile. Next time I'm taking a lunch and sitting right here.

After the hike, I said goodbye to Dave and the kids for the day, and left to do some power shopping. I had a break at 1:30 for a massage, then back to more shopping! Dave said I needed to come home for a minute because the kids had a surprise for me- they had decorated the whole house with balloons and streamers. They were so proud of themselves!

I opened some gifts, then went to the Olive Garden for dinner. Can this day get any better? I don't think so. Then we came home for some pie (key lime and chocolate truffle) with the Woodruffs. Finished off the night with some sparklers.

To all my great friends and family who sent me birthday wishes and gifts, Thank You. I feel so loved, and lucky. And to my sweet husband, thank you for spoiling me beyond what I deserve. And now this day is over, BOO.

THURSDAY

Wait, the birthday continues! My sister took me out to dinner! Ok, it was really Subway, and we stuffed the sandwiches in our purses because we decided we really wanted to see the movie "My Sister's Keeper" instead of dinner. It was a great movie- bring a box of tissue. Seriously. Thanks for the fun, Nessa!


FRIDAY

Dave took the day off, and the Jensons invited us to go tube the Logan River with them. So fun! It was so c-c-c-cold, but you go numb after about 10 minutes. We live in such a beautiful place.

The Gang.

Then we relaxed all afternoon at First Dam and enjoyed the company. The kids caught a fish in a bread bag, now that's talent! (It was only partially dead, Cade says) After this, we spent the night enjoying Logan's fireworks.

SATURDAY

was our annual Fourth of July picnic with Dave's family. We love this tradition of sitting in the backyard eating and talking, eating and talking. We also played a little croquet . . . .

Ryan said we had to do the "croquet pose" for this picture, which is one foot on top of the other, hand on hip.

Then it's on to the fireworks in Brigham. These fireworks are the BEST, you are so close they practically land on you. And you get the occasional fire.

Waiting for the fireworks to begin. Avery begins to dance to the band and shake her booty. She's really good at this. A little too good. :)

I love summer.