12 on the 12th--June Edition

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1. My sleeping set up at my brother's house while house sitting.
2. Morning scripture reading on their deck.
3. I took Whitney, Megan and Tess to meet up with my mom, Lori, Austin, Olivia and Ashley for a fun day at Lagoon (especially fun since I wasn't going).
4. I introduced Peep the kitten to Lola the bulldog and it resulted in some super speedy tree climbing.
5. I ate my Corner Bakery take-out lunch while watching So You Think You Can Dance.
6. Since my mom was at Lagoon and my dad was working I got to pick Andrew up from "work".
7. I love taking selfies with him, they're always funny.
8. Landon came home safely from 5 days in Yellowstone with friends.
9. My dad came to my house to get Andrew.
10. My friend Jen wrote a book! My copy came in the mail today.
11. Bookclub dinner at PF Changs minus Amy and Michelle.
12. Jenn and I got shakes from Iceberg on the way home from bookclub.

Miss Sassy Pants Turns 14

This year Whitney's birthday fell on the Saturday of Fall Break, so she had Thursday and Friday off of school leading up to it.

On Thursday my mom picked her up and took her to lunch and then birthday shopping with some money from us and then some from my parents. They also had plans to pick Bella and Tess up from the train to join them for the end of their shopping outing and then for a sleepover at my parents' house.

Whitney saying goodbye to Junie.

Whitney and Bella came back to our house Friday afternoon (Tess went home) and entertained themselves so much I hardly saw them.

On Saturday, we joined my entire family at Wheeler Farms for family pictures. Usually we set up my tripod and a self-timer and hope for the best but this year Robyn's boyfriend (who is a professional photographer) offered to do a photo shoot with us. It's so weird that the kids are all getting so big! Ashley is the youngest cousins and she's now 8 1/2...crazy. It felt like they were tiny for so long and now it feels like they're all teenagers.

After a couple hours of of photo taking, me, Lori, Whitney and Bella went to lunch at Apollo Burger. I took this shot of Whitney modeling her birthday shopping finds (i.e., new shoes, new jeans and new sweater) which she is thrilled about.

She loves, loves, loves these Sassy shoes!

Lori wore her sunglasses during lunch because she was next to a bright window. She could have closed the blinds but she and Bella said the sun felt nice. It was funny to sit across from her wearing glasses though.

Next we went to Color Me Mine (just like last year).

Lori took this fabulous photo of the girls.

Lori and I both painted mugs.

I painted this mug (which will end up being a bright turquoise after it's fired), Bella painted the bulldog, Lori did an ombre affect on her mug, and Whitney did a really cute little sugar bowl, lid and small spoon which she'll probably eat cereal out of.

Later that evening we got together at Lori's house to finally celebrate her birthday (which was September 8th), Landon's birthday (which was August 10th), Andrew's birthday (which was September 29th), Randy's birthday (which was October 12th) and Whitney's birthday...apparently we've had a really hard time getting everyone together. Robyn and Lyman (boyfriend) ended up having a couple Halloween party to be at and Landon ended up going to the BYU-Nevada game, but other than that we were all there.

The spread of gifts. Lori wanted work done for her gifts so Adam and Randy hung a couple heavy duty items, mounted her flat screen tv to the wall and fixed a toilet.

We had cheesecake AND the Oreo Ice Cream dessert.

All lined up so we could sing to them.

We relit candles and put them on Andrew's piece of dessert so he could blow them out and spray as needed.

Andrew's 27th

 Andrew turned 27 on September 29th!

Andrew got to come home last weekend (he does every other weekend) and was so excited because his work helper made him this sweet Toy Story card (she drew it herself).

On Saturday a bunch of us gathered at JCW's for lunch (my dad always takes Andrew there when he's home for the weekend).

Lori went with Andrew and my parents to the Disney store and Instagrammed this super cute photo of them. It was rather momentous because Andrew got to choose a new Woody and Jessie doll (that's all he ever wants). This photo is significant because they're all sincerely smiling (no easy feat for the men in this picture).

I can't believe he's 27! I was 16 years old when my mom had him (she was 39). 

Birthday Outings

Even though we had a family dinner scheduled on Monday for my mom's birthday, Lori and I decided to take her out on Saturday on her actual birthday (June 21st).

Andrew was home for the weekend so it was a bonus to get to see him. Of course he was all sorts of chatty (not), but he is actually smiling in this picture so that's something.

We went to see "Words and Pictures" because it's a chick flick and something my dad would never agree to see. We liked it!

We went to Bucca di Beppo for a super tasty, late lunch.

Our self-portrait.

On Monday evening we met everyone at Goodwood for dinner (Robyn's boyfriend Lyman brought the flowers for my mom).

She also got a new tv for her workout space in the basement (which was a big surprise).

And a bunch of workout videos...I soooo don't want these for my birthday!

Landon had football practice and Randy was on a campout for the week so it was just Whitney and I representing for the family; plus she was staying with Adam and Amy for a few days so she arrived and left with them. Weird.

Birthday Alley 2014

We finally got together to celebrate Amy's 38th, Adam's 41st, my dad's 65th and Bella's 14th birthdays a couple weeks ago at Adam and Amy's newly remodeled house (which is a couple streets up from their previous house).

Their house backs up to the mountain so they have a fabulous view of the entire Salt Lake Valley, and their house is full of windows to take it all in.

Poor Megan was super sad that Robyn's kids couldn't be there that day.

Evidence of Andrew (of course he was sitting right next to them).

We had croissant sandwiches with my mom's fabulous shredded beef, salad, fruit, chips and queso dip.

The pile of gifts for the birthday people, plus I returned the huge book Adam lent me (which took 2 months to read).

We put Bella in the hot seat to open her gifts (she wanted cash because she's saving for an orchestra trip).

Andrew found a couple Woody and Jessie dolls Adam had in the house, then he sat at the table admiring them.

The backward 4 candle threw Amy for a loop and caused me to laugh so hard my abs hurt, I love it when that happens.

Adam entertained us as usual.

Hugs.

I gave Amy this necklace with her word for the year.

Check out this tile pattern Adam had done in the girls' bathroom.

Sadly as we were leaving their neighborhood our car slipped out of gear and wouldn't go back in! Fortunately we weren't on the highway yet and were able to call my parents who turned around to pick us up and give us a ride home. 

You should have seen me, my mom, and Whitney trying to squeeze in the back with Andrew! He was not having it! Whitney ended up sleeping over at Adam and Amy's house because there wasn't enough room in my dad's car. (She was thrilled!) Adam was so great and said he'd have our car towed to one of the mechanics in town he has connections with (since we don't know Salt Lake at all). 

Update: We found out it will cost $2600 to rebuild the transmission of our 2003 Ford Escape, so now we're in the market for a newish car because it's not worth it to put that much money into that car. I'm so sad about this, I have loved that car and it hasn't given us any trouble so this was super unexpected.

12 on the 12th--April Edition

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1. Randy was showing Landon some sweet moves with the light sabers we were selling at our yard sale.
2. Table view into our yard filled with stuff to sell.
3. Whitney made the pricing posters and totally owned the misspelling!
4. My mom brought donuts around 10:45 when we were weak and weary.
5. Andrew watched Monsters Inc. in the kids' room while we ran the sale outside, it's always good to see him. We hooked him up with a bowl of popcorn and a Coke.
6. There was a lull at the end of the sale so Randy, me, Lori and my mom rested our weary bones on this table set we sold (woohoo).
7. The kids each made about $60 from the stuff they sold.
8. Our tulips are starting to bloom!
9. Randy and I took a much needed nap.
10. I spent a couple hours working primary assignments for the next month.
11. Randy and I watched the season finale of Under the Gunn (we love Tim Gunn).
12. I took a hot shower and went to bed at 10:00 and thought I'd finish this fabulous book but fell asleep before finishing.

Thanksgiving 2013

For Thanksgiving this year we gathered at my parents' townhouse for the first time ever as an entire family (it's much smaller than the Compound in Freakin Eagle Mountain).

The kids were excited to see each other.

We need to take family pictures before dinner so we hopped into the cars and drove around the corner to try to find a place that wasn't too sunny. 

We found some shade nearby that was backed by piles of manure! It wreaked for sure, but served our purposes and was definitely memorable. We took four shots with the tripod and self-timer.

We had Amy take our family photos (no easy task) and she ended up having to stand in the doorway of our car so she could shoot us from above, it was pretty funny. She also had to work around the trash and manure in the background. Good times.

Back at the house the boys played video games, while the girls played one of Whitney's creative games.

Amy helped Robyn with a photography app for her phone, and Olivia and Megan laid on the floor (which was funny because we hadn't even eaten yet).

We all fit at the same table except for Ashley, Megan and Olivia who sat at a little table nearby.

Andrew made an appearance with his besties.

Tess was in charge of organizing names to be drawn for Christmas gift exchange.

We hung out all day.

Amy was oh so happy to get a little nap in.

And then the M&Ms and games came out.

We taught Randy and Landon how to play Wizard.

I brought Thanksgiving Bingo (which I got from Pinterest) and it went over huge.

I also brought Catch Phrase which meant the kids could all play too. It was pretty funny.