My bday night!

Jer took me to my favorite restaurant, Carrabba's, for dinner. I love their bread they serve their, I could eat just the bread for dinner if I had too. But I also love a few of their chicken and steak entrees. We always share a meal because we get so full on the bread and salad. And, we had to leave room for the Blue Bell ice cream that is only from Texas but they serve it here. If you haven't tried it you need to.

Whenever we go to Carrabba's we like to sit outside on their patio. Nobody ever sits out there and I don't know why because it feels so good even on a super hot day. Jer and I then went and saw Swing Vote (it was alright, maybe $1 movie or rental material )., while my brother and SIL Alicia watched the kids. All in all it was a great birthday.


When we got home Marianne called and wanted to come by. This is what she brought me! A homemade cake. Yes it's all homemade all the way from the fresh raspberries in the middle to the white chocolate shavings on the top. I know she spent so much time on it and I loved every bit of it. I think I almost ate every bite myself.
Thanks for being so sweet Marianne and for slaving away on this beautiful cake for me!



She had to make sure I got a taste.

My bday lunch!

These are two of my good friends from my old ward that I've kept in touch with. Marianne (on the left) and Brandi (on the right). Marianne just moved back up here from Vegas so we will probably get together more often because she's such a planner.

We went to CPK (California Pizz Kitchen) one of my favorites for lunch and just caught up and relaxed with now kids. It was great! Thanks girls for taking me to lunch, it was fun.

I know I'm a little late at posting this but I'm trying to catch up on everything I need to put on here. I'm really trying to do better but it's so hard.


Sorry about the picture, Marianne is the only one that had her camera, she told me it was bad and that the pictures turn out really grainy, I thought she was just being picky, but she wasn't joking. Time to tell Clint to get a new little camera for you guys. But atleast she had a camera with her, that's really all that matters.

Not the smartest thing!!

Okay, so I was cleaning out some photos from my photobucket account and deleting some that I've already posted. Since I resize them for the blog I figured I wouldn't need them again. I post them using photobucket so that the images are larger. Well...

all of the ones I deleted it also deleted them from my blogs, aaahhhhh!!! If I would've been using my brain I might've figured out that it would've removed them from the blog too. So I'm going to try to get some back up on here and on my photo blog but I'm not making any promises for how fast they'll be back up on here. So sorry and I'm so mad because, like I have time to fix old posts when I don't even have time to get new ones up.

So make a note to self, DON'T REMOVE PICTURES FROM PHOTOBUCKET IF THEY'RE ON YOUR BLOG!

It's a bitter sweet day!

I love and hate this day at the same time. I love it because I get to celebrate my little angel's 5TH BIRTHDAY! I get to remember all the cute things he was doing and the great memories we created with him. He was such a little sweetheart, would go to anyone, give kisses to anyone, and loved to give hugs. He just loved people!
On the other hand I hate this day because it's so hard to remember all of these things, even though they bring so much joy they can also bring so much pain. The hardest thing, is wondering what he'd look like, how he'd act, and especially this year, he'd be starting KINDERGARTEN. So all the rest of you that have five year olds will cry because you're sending you're babies off to kindergarten and I'm going to cry because I don't get to send mine off.
You know one of my favorite sayings when we were first asked how we were doing (almost 4 years ago) was to just say "It sucks!" and today when I'm asked how I'm doing, "It sucks"! Sorry, I just had to get that out! But, on a lighter note...

I do think of the great things that Payton accomplished in his short earth life, he has blessed so many people in more ways than I even know and he still is blessing so many lives. Whether it's been getting people to cherish life and the important things in life, all the way to giving himself to save another life. (I'll tell more about his heart donation in October on his 4 year anniversary)

So to my sweet little 5 year old angel (who is way older and wiser than that now) but I love you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAYTON!!! We love you and Bailey sang happy birthday to you this morning, hope you liked it! Just one more day closer to being together again, who knows when eternity will come but when it does I'm glad that it's forever.


This picture was taken when Payton was 10 mths. old at Sea World in San Diego, you just can't help but smile when you look at it!

*sorry about these pictures below being so small they were from my cell phone.

My doorbell just rang and it was a flower delivery guy (I don't know what they're called) delivering some beautiful yellow roses and white lilies to me to brighten my day. I cried because of what good friends I have and how sweet they are to think of me and take time out of their day to do this for me. Thanks Kenny & Tara you're the best!

no phones, no computer, just my family and me!

I am 28 years old today, August 11! And...

this is really all I want. I just want a day of relaxation, some time alone, maybe a massage and a pedicure, and some time with my family and no phone calls to return, no photos to edit, and no house to clean, just hangin out with no worries, and some Blue Bell ice cream (there's only one place to get it that I know of except for Texas of course).

I'd love to be soaking up the rays on this beach, (really not even sure where it is) but it looks good to me. It's not going to happen but maybe there will be some relaxation somewhere in my day!

Yep, a timer!

So here are a few pictures from our family trip/reunion with Jeremy's family up to Island Park, Idaho. For those of you that don't know, Jeremy has 9 siblings who all but one are married and all but two have kids. So that just equals craziness, but fun craziness! These are some from our attempt to get a new family picture with everyone, it only happens once every couple of years since not everyone lives here in Utah. Now keep in mind for the big family group we used the timer on my camera, being that we couldn't find anyone up in the middle of nowhere, to come and push the button. I told myself I would never take a family picture of Jeremy's family on a timer, but what do you do! You do what you can and...

it actually turned out pretty good. Thanks to my niece Kylie who got up and down who knows how many times to run up and push the button for the timer to start! Believe it or not there are only two babies that aren't looking.

There are a few other shots of some of the individual families that I took. We didn't get all the families but some! And I should've had someone take a picture of my family but Beau and Jeremy had pink eye while we were there and and they each had one eye swollen and bright red, so we decided not to, even though now I regret it I should've just done it for the record. Oh well, too late now!



These are the two people that started all this chaos, Jeremy's parents. Who, are the most giving and selfLESS people ever.
The two super models are my gorgeous nieces Paige and Kylie (they're sisters) I can't believe how grown up they both look in this picture.Jeremy's oldest sister Laura and her family! And, his other sister Annette and her family!

Jeremy's brother Jeff and his family! His sister Janae and her family!
All the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa, you gotta love the grandkids shot, isn't this how they all turn out. Some looking, some not, some crying, some happy, and grandma and grandpa just holding those smiles waiting for it to be over.

The very last picture is just another group shot we tried last minute, not too shabby either.

What?

Jer: Um , Amanda did you put Beau in his highchair?

Me: No, why?

Jer: Well, come and look at this!

I walked down into the kitchen and there's Beau in his highchair that he climbed into by himself. One foot in and one foot out! It couldn't of been that comfy, but he did it all by himself and I'm glad I didn't see how he got there.
His new thing is to climb up on a chair and then onto the kitchen table, so I'm guessing the climb on the high chair was somewhere in that mix. Just like the last post, I can't take my eye off of him!!!

Just thought I'd do a quick post since I'm so behind...

need to add Stadium of Fire, Yellowstone trip, BYU football women's clinic, and the most recent photo shoot (if you want to call it that) of my own kids. They get neglected since I'm shooting everyone else's pictures! So hopefully I'll get around to at least one of these posts in the next week, if not don't hold your breath.

Best Buds

Everyone always told me when I was pregnant with Beau that I would love having Bailey and Beau so close in age. (They are only 16 months apart.) For the first little while I kept wondering when the love for the closeness in age would come, the first 6 months was pretty hard. But now these two are FINALLY starting to love each other and love to play with each other.

These pics are right after Beau woke up from a nap and Bailey was laying on the couch. He came down and went straight to her and just laid on her chest and she just hugged him. Jeremy yelled to me to grab the camera, and I'm so glad I did. How cute is that!

I just can't take my eye off this one!

I tell ya, Beau is the busiest little 14 mth. old around. He gets into everything. I turned around to wash some dishes the other day and all of a sudden the house was pretty quiet. You know when it's quiet the kids are up to something. Well Bailey was just playing in the backyard, but Beau found Bailey's unfinished yogurt and decided to "TRY" and feed himself. I think he got more on the floor and his face than he did in his mouth. But, he loved it and had fun, and I had a blast cleaning it up!!!

Sticky, sweaty, diaper buddies!

I won't be complaining about no consistent warm days anymore. We've got plenty of sunshine now. The kids were so ancy this afternoon so I took their clothes off, gave them popsicles, and sent them in the backyard to explore. They both love to sit on the shed porch and just hangout. The only downfall is they get slivers easily on it. Anyway, I just couldn't pass up this photo op, these are some of my favorite shots, when it's just real life. Bailey and Beau are becoming such good buds, I love watching them play together.

Ooohh, I love my kiddos!

Look at the difference in their skin color, Bailey is so lucky, she has the most beautiful skin, Beau's isn't bad but nothing like Bays, she is so stinkin' dark.
Bailey was showing Beau an ant about to crawl on his foot.
This boy loves, loves, loves food, especially if it's sweet and cold.
Yummy!
I really need to start potty training Bailey soon, I think I need to convince myself I'm ready to go through the training part more than I do her. If anyone has any good advice or ideas on getting started, please share. I'm open for any help I can get to get at least one kid out of diapers.