Photo Shoot

I love taking pictures of my little guy. Especially since he seems to grow and change everyday! I just think he is adorable and he make the silliest faces!

Cupcakes and Shoes

I found a cupcake kit on clearance at TJ Maxx and knew that Maeson would just love it. It had everything that you need to make a dozen cupcakes complete with sprinkles. Maeson's has already decided that in life everything is better with sprinkles. She wants to put them on everything we make. Den'ja LOVED eating the sprinkles

Don't mind my squinty eye. We're lucky if we get one eye open with me. Two is simply too much to ask.

This sunday before I took Maeson back to her grandma's I walked into her room to find her frantically shoving her shoes onto a shelf. This picture is where her shoes go when they are put away.

And here is her handywork

When I asked her why she was putting her shoes on that shelf she said that she didn't want Den'ja to get them. I had to laugh. Den'ja loves shoes. He is especially concerned with the poor shoes that aren't being worn. We seriously can't leave our shoes out or else he follows us around with them until we put them on. I found it hillarious that she was worried that while she was gone Den'ja would be hauling her shoes around. After she was gone I put them back where they belong. And yes Den'ja has already drug them out of her room. Shhhh! Don't tell.

Busy, busy.....

I'm sure that you have all stopped even looking at my blog, as it has been so long since I have updated! :) We are still here, but have been completely enjoying our summer. We have had a lot of fun so this well be a LONG post! We went to Vegas to visit Joe's dad and see him get married. We took Maeson with us and I seriously couldn't have asked for better behaved children. They were troopers through the airport and angels on the plane. Every once and a while the plane would dip and make your stomach drop. It wasn't bad, but scared Maeson a little. She asked if we could ride a bus on our way home. So funny! She mostly just watched Dora on the Ipod, while Joe and I entertained Den'ja. He, of course, fell asleep about 5 minutes before we landed. Oh well! There was a aquarium at the hotel that was full of huge fish and stingrays. Every night they would have a mermaid go down into the water with the fish. Maeson was in awe. She said to me, "Look JJ a mermaid! They are REAL not pretend!" I think she could have sat and watched for hours. Den'ja was afraid of the fish. We must need to get out more. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures. I loaded them onto my mom's computer to print some and it deleted them off of my memory card. The wedding was in a itsy bitsy little chapel and it was soooo hot! But it was very nice. They wrote their own vows and it was probably the fastest wedding I have ever attended! Congratulations Bryan and Jill!!

A week after getting home, Den'ja and I went back to Vegas with my mom, grandma, and sister for our annual shopping trip. It has always been a school clothes shopping trip, but since my sister is a senior this year we decided to continue in the future and just call it our girls shopping trip. We drove this time and Den'ja did great in the car. He became obsessed with the movie "Harry and the Hendersons" because it was one of the only dvd's to watch in my moms car. He would pick up the dvd case and hold it up to the screen and when it was on he was glued to it! Can you believe it! I have so much fun with my mom, grandma, and sister. They are totally a blast and we laugh the whole time!

Den'ja playing in my makeup bag in the hotel room.

My sister practicing her "Kim Kardashian Pose" (Yep she has a tissue up her nose, I'm so dead)

We've also had a couple of fun trips up the the Bear Lake condo, and visited Hogle Zoo.

Den'ja helping Kyle get the cooler ready for the trip to the lake.

Joe began his first year of teaching. He has three different classes so it is a lot of work preparing three different lesson plans each night. The football team is hangin in there and they are 1-1 so far. Joe is really liking working with the boys and I think he is teaching them a lot. He is such a great coach and teacher for them.

Den'ja couldn't be more thrilled that football has started. He loves to watch them throw that ball around. Anytime we are near a football game we have to make sure we take Den'ja his own football, otherwise he is trying to steal someone elses. He just watches, grins, and yells "football, football, yaaaayyyyyy! "

Friday, I was up in Cache Valley to help with the Charity Golf Tournament. Every August my Dad's company does a golf tourney benefiting Special Olympics. It's a lot of fun for everyone and Friday was such a beautiful day! We were able to raise a record $11,000 this year which is fabulous. USU has one of the largest special olympic teams with around 80 athletes and we are so excited that we are able to help. As I drove home through Sardine Canyon I noticed that the trees are already starting to change colors. Fall is my favorite time of year so I am excited! I hope that you all have had a great summer as well!

Forgive me, but I feel the need to brag

Last Saturday Joe calls me on the phone and asks what my plans are for the night. I tell him that I don't really have any and he asks if I want to go to a Bees game. I say okay and then he hits me with the big news. He couldn't contain it any longer and blurts out, "I'm working the Bees game!" Now this is big news. Joe has been dreaming of umpiring a triple A game for such a long time. He began umpiring to make extra money and fell in love with it. He is so good at it and has moved up the ranks at an incredible pace. Many umpires will NEVER get the chance to umpire at this level. We of course had to get tickets that night and we watched him much more then we watched the game. He was awesome and says that the experience was "Incredible". He is still on cloud nine about the whole thing. Here are some pictures!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. In honor of her special day I thought I would share some thoughts about my mother. I am quite certain that if you were able to pick your mom, sister, daughter, aunt, or grandma that my mom would have quite a line up of people for her. So many that we'd probably have to do a lottery to make it fair. For example, my mom bought eight tickets, front row, for the stadium of fire this year so that my little cousins could see Miley Cyrus. She didn't do this for any specific reason, only because she knew it would bring smiles to their faces. My mom routinely takes Den'ja for sleepovers. He loves his grandma so much and I am able to relax knowing that he is in very capable hands. The best part is that I don't have to pack a single thing for him because she has everything he needs at her house. Recently she has been spending evenings up at the hospital with my cousin who is on bedrest expecting twins. She takes her up movies, magazines, and games to help pass the time and stays with her so she's not lonely. Also, my mom is a great example to me. Recently she was called to be the primary chorister. This is funny for three reasons. One, my mom cannot read music. Two, she cannot carry a tune. And three, she has no idea how to lead music. Despite these facts she readily accepted this calling and has decided to give it her absolute best shot. She is learning a lot and although I'm sure it is a little stressful for her she has shown me that a positive outlook and willingness to serve are what's most important. I could go on and on for days about my mom and her amazingness, but I will quit now. Happy Birthday, I love you and you're the best mom!

Finally.....some fun!

We have been so busy lately working on our house. It seems like we get up early, stay up late, and that their aren't enough hours in the day. I feel so bad for Den'ja and Maeson. They've been couped up inside watching us work. We decided that we needed to have a little fun this week. It's finally feeling like summer so I let the kids play in the sprinkler. Den'ja LOVES water, so we broke out the Elmo Sprinkler that Uncle Keenan got him for his birthday. They had such a blast. We will definitely doing it again.

Den'ja Splashing

He got brave and decided to crawl into the middle

Maeson "tasting" the water

If you know our family at all, you know that we love our bees games. Our favorite day to take in a game, other than opening day, is when the Famous San Diego Chicken comes to town. This guy is hillarious and he happened to be here this weekend. He performs various pranks on the field and is quite entertaining. Maeson calls him "my chicken" and loves him from far away, but is scared to pieces when he gets close. If you've ever thought about attending a game, but thought you might be bored. You should really give it try. I thought the same thing, but the people watching is fabulous, the hot dogs are great, and I've always thought that guys looked good in baseball uniforms. Seriously though, Joe has turned me into a baseball fan.

The Famous Chicken

Den'ja and Daddy

All of us

And just to make your day I'm including a future blackmail picture. Den'ja thought that he would try on one of Maeson tiaras. I couldn't resist.

Home Improvements

For those of you who didn't know, Joe has accepted a job teaching and coaching football in the thriving metropolis known as Morgan, Utah. Although it is a small town we are excited that we get to raise our son in such a good community. We managed to find a great house with tons of space and enough property for us to be happy with. There was a large additon done to the house in 2004 that provides me with my wish list (a huge jetted tub and walk in closet, yay!), but the downside is that the rest of the house was built in the early 70's and you can so tell! I kid you not, when you walk in the front door there is carpet on the walls. I have never seen this before and would be okay if I never did again. The bathroom tub and sink are a lovely shade of yellow, the kitchen sink is avacodo green, and one of the bedrooms is half carpet, half linoleum with paneled walls. As terrible as this sounds I am actually quite excited! I am such an HGTV DesignStar wannabe and I have a vision. We spent all day Friday up there painting and I am always amazed at how big of a change a $25.00 can of paint can make. There is still a lot to be done before we move in, but by the time we are finished you won't even recognize it. I am including some pictures so that you can see I'm serious. Just remember that these are the "befores" and that there will be "afters".