Happy Birthday America!

 We had a fabulous and patriotic fourth of July this year. We started out the morning bright and early to go see the Murray 4th of July parade. I have never been, but I had heard that it had a cult-like following, and that was no understatement. It was beyond crazy, but really fun. Especially because we had amazing seats, courtesy of some friends in our ward. They set-up an area in front of their dealership (which happens to be on State Street right where the parade is) and they save seats for friends and family, cook pancakes and bacon, and they have a huge breakfast smorgasboard. It was a lot of fun.

 Andy was the red and white, and I was the blue with the white polka-dots, er, I mean, stars.

 The floats were from every city in the valley, and they were really fun to look at. There were a ton of politicians this year, since Murray City Mayor is up for grabs this fall. Overall, it was a good time with good friends.

 Later that day, while Magnus napped and Andy did homework, I took the kids swimming. Nothing more All-American than that!

That evening, we went to Andy's sister Stefenie's house where we had a barbecue and watched fireworks. Fun night with more good food and great people that we love! Isn't that what holidays are about?

 I love this country with a fierce pride, and I am truly proud to be a part of this great nation. I love you America!

Up At The Cabin

Our friends have a huge, nice cabin up near Park City, and they invited us (along with four other families) to come stay the weekend. We had so much fun. There were 20 kids between the 5 families, and everyone had someone to play with. We all contributed to meals, and had fun cooking delicious food in the kitchen together. The adults stayed up waaaay too late talking, laughing, and playing games (3 AM.... I haven't done that in a long time). The scenery was gorgeous, of course, and it was nice to get out of the heat of the valley. I took a few shots on my morning run:

The kids (and dads) all loved the 4-wheelers

Apparently the adults weren't the only ones who stayed up too late:

It was such a fun weekend, and I am so grateful for good food, fun times, but mostly, wonderful friends.

Happy Anniversery to My Love

 I can hardly believe I have been married to this man for 11 magical and then sometimes not-so-magical (haha) years. I haven't ever really shared much of our story on this here blog of mine. Maybe some day I will. But for now, enjoy some wedding pictures. They bring me such happy memories :)

Our day was really low-key. On the day of our 11th anniversery, Andy had class from 9-5. I had a ton of homework, and spent most of the day doing that and taking care of kiddos. I actually managed to decorate Andy's car the night before so he would have a little love surprise in the morning.

After he got home from class, I had to go to class. He fed the kids, and put them to bed, so that when I got home, we could finally celebrate. We went to dinner and to dessert. It doesn't really matter what we're doing together, I just like to be with him.  I am so glad that through all of the hard times, the stress, the happiness, the joy, the long days, the disagreements, the short years, the tears shed, the kisses shared, and everything in between, that he still makes my heart flutter, and I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see him. I love this man.

Happy 11 years, Andy. 

xoxoxo

Happy Father's Day 2013

 Dad's are awesome, and we sure love ours around these parts. Every single one of my kids helped me make Andy breakfast in bed. They all colored him a card, and helped me wrap his gifts. We love our dad!

I especially love the cute little gifts the primary has the kids make. They had them each fill out this questionaire, and while Laylah, Daphne, and Baron's were sweet... Jonah's was just hilarious.

Homemade biscuits to go along with our Father' Day dinner.

Can I just talk about what a great dad Andy is for a minute? The kids adore him. He is so much fun. Saturday mornings are one of my favorite's. The kids usually all end up in our bed, where a huge wrestling match ensues. I just hide under the covers in the corner, trying not to get trampled. It is one of the memories I will always cherish about my husband. He is also a great teacher. He is so smart and knows how to do everything, and he is passing on this information to our children. He teaches them to work hard so that we can play hard. He is also funny, and always joking and making us all laugh. I love seeing my children's little personality quirks that remind me of Andy. I sure married a keeper.

 Can I talk about my amazing father now? Anyone who knows my dad loves him. He is so generous with his time and talents, and happy to help anyone in need. My dad never wants to see any of his children unhappy. He will do anything he can to help them. This has stretched over to his grandchildren as well, and my kids love their "Papa Bry" so much. My dad loves to have fun and he is very spontaneous. Growing up, one of my favorite things to hear from him was, "I feel like doing (insert fun thing here), so let's go!" and off we would go on a weekend adventure camping, or to Lake Powell, or just to get ice cream down the street. I know I get my appetite for getting out and doing fun things from him. My dad is the greatest, and I love him dearly.

And like I mentioned, my kids adore him.

I don't have a recent photo of Andy's dad, Jeff, but he is wonderful too. I am so grateful to have such a generous and kind father-in-law. I am especially grateful to him for raising up Andy to be a good man, and a hard worker. Jeff is hilarious, and we get along so well because he and Andy are like the same person. It is really funny how alike they are in everything they do. Their personality, humor, and quirks are so similar, it's no wonder I like him so much!

I am so grateful for these amazing men in my life, and grateful that we can have a day to celebrate them and their said awesomeness :) Happy Father's Day boys!

St. George Girl's Trip

I wasn't going to blog about this trip, because it ended up being kind of weird, and stressful, plus on top of that, I hardly took any pictures (except of myself, haha. I am so vain!). But, anyway, it ended up being the same week that I started school, and it had kind of been planned for me by my thoughtful mom (before I knew that school started that week) so I went, and it didn't turn out as I had hoped because I was worried and stressed out, but yeah. Sometimes that's the way life works, right? At least all of the kids had fun with their cousins, so that was good.

 My mom actually ended up taking my kids down with her (minus M) because I had my first math class that evening. Kaylie came and picked me and M up and we drove late into the night, not arriving until about 1 AM. We were being really goofy in the car, and Magnus was being a crazy kid, so we were thrilled when he finally fell asleep. After that, we both pretended to be asleep as well, and caught this gem:

I know, we're hilarious.

Anyway, we did some fun stuff. We went to a movie, we went swimming at the awesome Washington Rec Center, we went to the park, we went bowling, we went out to dinner, we stayed up late, and we played, played, played.

Sometimes we played too much, as evidenced by this sleepy picture driving from one activity to the next:

The other thing I really enjoyed about our trip was my alone time in the mornings when I would get up early to bike or run. It was so hot, but still enjoyable.

We also had fun visiting our St. George cousins (Kathryn, Alice, Lucy, and Sam) and going to the cookie shop that their parents own and run (Andy's sister, Jenny, owns The Sugar Cookie)

The only not-so-fun things were my stress, and I think I made everyone a little crazy while we were there because of my moodiness (sorry family! I'm glad you still love me anyway!). And also, my sister-in-law Annette got in a car accident on the way home on the freeway, which was incredibly scary and she was very shaken up by it, of course. Everyone was fine, thankfully (except her front fender and headlight), so I am so grateful that she was watched over.

Anyway, I can't wait for next time, because I know I will be a happier camper, and I love having me some girl time :)

Laylah's Lion House Birthday Party

 Okay, so I need to give you a little background to Laylah's party here at the Lion House in downtown Salt Lake City. Most people don't know that the Lion House even does parties. Well, they do! And they are amazing. 

When I was a little girl, somehow my mother and my aunt started the tradition to have their daughters' 8th birthday party here at the Lion House since 8 is such a special birthday (what with that being the age that a child is baptized) and they wanted to have a special party to go along with that special age. I am not even sure how they knew about these parties (I should ask her sometime...), but I have 2 cousins that I am close with, and an older sister that all had their parties here before I turned 8, as well as my younger sister's and cousins. I remember being so excited at their parties, and hardly able to contain my excitement when my own 8th birthday finally came around so that I could finally be the special birthday girl at the Lion House. They provide a party hostess and do not lack one detail. The party girl (or boy) is treated like a princess (or prince) and it is the most special feeling. It is still one of my favorite and most cherished childhood memories.

So, imagine my disappointment when we moved away from Utah over 3 years ago when Laylah was almost 7. One of the first things that came to mind was that I wouldn't get to continue my Lion House 8th birthday party tradition with my girls. It might seem silly to some people (ahem, my husband), but it was a big deal to me, and I was really sad about it.

Fast forward to us moving back to Utah. I only do birthday parties for my kids every other year, so when Laylah's 9th birthday came and went, having her party at the Lion House didn't even cross my mind, because it was her year for a family party. And then as her 10th birthday party approached, it still didn't cross my mind, because it wasn't her 8th birthday, so I didn't make the connection. Somehow, she remembered my stories about the Lion House, and brought it up one day that she would like to have her 10th birthday party there. Oh my! How could I have not remembered that we were back in Utah and that that was even possible?! I called the Lion House that very day to ask about their parties. I was happy to find out that they only do parties for 8-10 year olds, and that Laylah could still have it there. I also found out that they are so booked and they usually fill up at the beginning of the school year, but that they had just had a cancellation, and that I could do it the day after school got out at lunchtime. It couldn't have been more perfect, and I booked her party for 2 weeks after her actual birthday.

 Fast forward to the party day, and I found myself walking out of the Joseph Smith building with my mom and 10 little girls ready for a pioneer party!

 I love how they attend to every detail, and I just had to sit back, snap pictures, and enjoy.

Laylah was the party princess, and wore a special crown. I was a tad bit disappointed to find that they no longer have the girl's dress up in old pioneer clothing like they did when I had my party there. Eh, small detail.

The hostess starts out with a tour of the Lion house, and telling the girl's all about the pioneer's and how they lived and did things differently than we do today. It is so interesting, and the girl's were enamored with the little tidbits of information.

We played pioneer games (hide the thimble and button, button) and then we had an old-fashioned taffy pull.

We had a delicious little luncheon, and Laylah was the bell ringer to start lunch.

We had cake and ice cream as well. The baker bakes a gumball into the cake (it was a penny when I was little, but that has changed for obvious sanitary reasons :) and if you end up with it in your piece, you will have good luck the rest of the year. No one got the gumball at the party, we found it later at home in Baron's piece of cake, which was INCREDIBLY delicious, by the way :)

 (I have this exact picture of myself, sitting in this exact chair, at this exact table with my birthday cake, probably wearing this exact crown)

We went out in the beautiful back yard to open gifts, where Laylah received all sorts of fun and girly things.

Afterwards, we came back inside where Laylah got to choose a porcelain doll to take home as her gift from the Lion House. I still remember the excitement I felt as a little girl getting to choose my doll. She had long curly red hair, and the most beautiful floral dress. I still have her somewhere, packed up in storage.

Laylah chose a blonde curly girl with a black dress of taffeta. She gently carried her around the rest of the day.

It was so much fun to be able to take Laylah to the Lion House for her 10th birthday, and I couldn't stop smiling while we were there, having all sorts of wonderful memories come back to me during her party. 

Happy 10th, my Laylah girl. I can't wait to do it again next year for Daphne's 8th!