Bragging and Birthdays!!

Okay. I realized I had missed a few important things that have happened in June and July.


First, Jake ran the Wasatch Back which is a relay race from Logan to Park City, Ut. It was hard, he got sore, and still has two dead toenails from it. :) I'm so proud of him for running it and I wanted to brag about it for him! There were quite a few people in our ward that ran it too. We were thinking maybe a couple's team for next year and I will do it. Crazy, huh? It is.


We'll see. I'm not promising anything right now.

That is the Ragnar Relay Motto! It is 100% true.
Jake with a few of his teammates. There were 12 total.

Also, Jake had a birthday. He is now my age. Haha. I'm 8 months older than him. I know, I know, it's sick! I totally robbed the cradle.






Last but not least, today is Gavin's 6th birthday. Happy Birthday! It has been a fun day. We took Gavin and a few of his friends to see "Horton Hears a Who!" I loved it! It was just the right amount of funny and cute. It's at the dollar theatre if anyone wonders.

6 already?!!!

The Birthday Gang. Jonah, Alanna, Gavin, Marshal, Match, and Collette.

Little by Little with Fireworks.

Well, I'm excited to learn how to take pics with the new camera. I have been experimenting with Jonah, who enjoys being my model. Heehee. He is pretty cute.

I figured out how to take picture's of fireworks, thanks to Jenny Gibson. When it came to the 4th and the fireworks show, I completely lost it. I didn't realize what I was doing wrong until the last two firework booms! I was a little frustrated, to say the least. Atleast I have the 24th to try again.

We went camping with Jake's brothers family for the 4th of July. It was fun. It was at some place called Temple Hill Resort in Manti. Let's just say, I looked at the nice photos of the place online and when we drove up to it we were thinking, "huh?" It was pretty run down and the pool was a flourescent green and had way too much chlorine in it. Way too much. Oh also, if you wanted to sit on the side and put your feet in, you would feel an electric shock. Who knows what was wrong with the pool? It was enough for us to say to our kids, "GET OUT!"

We had fun setting up tents, eating dinner, and being eaten alive by the mosquitos(yes, we had repellant on, didn't work at all, that is another post for later).

I think camping away from people would be better, except I would still like a bathroom down the way to use. Sorry, no squatting for me.

There was, however, a beautiful view of the temple from our campground. It is a gorgeous temple, if you haven't seen it. All in all, it was a fun 4th!

Jonah, pondering life. :)

Jonah, with blurry background.

Gavin is in focus here with everything else blurry.

This is what you see when you drive up to the campground where we stayed. Yes folks, that is Yogi Bear.

My brother-in-law, Josh and his wife Corenne and a couple of their kiddos.

Tent set up is always fun in 98 degree weather.

Gorgeous Manti Temple.

Here are my not-so-fabulous fireworks pics.

And again.

I had some fun after the show with the cars driving by. This was the trick for the fireworks I figured out afterwards.
Manti Temple at night. Love this temple.

Boo is TWO!

I can't believe my baby is two today! She has been such a good baby and is no longer one anymore. Toddler is her official title now.

I just wanted to post a picture of her and one with one of her birthday gifts. Yes, girl's are different. Everything pink and princessy. I know that isn't a word.

I feel the "wonderful two's"(called something else) is coming around the corner. She threw a humongous tantrum last weekend that lasted about an hour. Wow!

I love her so much!! :) She is a cutie and brightens up our days.

Happy Birthday Breck-A-Boo!!

The next Ansel Adams? Nope, the next Dana Willis!

I have always had an interest in photography. Lately, (atleast the past few years) I have said that I wanted to take classes and learn more about it.
Jake and I had our 10 year anniversary last Friday. Jake is very good at making mental notes and keeping them in his head. I am good at making mental notes but then they leave soon after.
Well, for my anniversary present he got me a new camera and had me go to a little class that is offered at a place called Pictureline. Needless to say, it mostly went over my head as I don't know much about White Balancing and such. (I hadn't even turned my new camera on yet.)
I am ready to experiment and read more about my camera and about how to take cool photos with it. If anyone knows much and is willing to take me under their wing..............I would love it.
My camera is a "starter" Canon Rebel XTi 400D. All I know is that most of the people in the class I went to have it and love it.
Thanks for being so thoughtful Jake. He is a big supporter in the "if you have a passion, do it" theory. I'm glad. I love you! Happy Tenth!

My Most Favourite Group In The World

Okay. I want to post about Jamiroquai. So many do not know who they are because they are not huge in the USA. I don't hear them on the radio. Last year, I heard one song on some station (maybe 107.9?) and I called them to let them know that I appreciated that they were playing Jamiroquai and said that eveyone should be playing them. (I'm sure the V.J. thought I was strange.)

Well, Jamiroquai has been around for a while. Their style is like a funky, disco, jazzy sort of music. Great musicians. My friend Brandi introduced them to me one night in San Clemente, CA. while driving in her Celica (cool sports car back then). It made the drive so enjoyable and I asked,"Who is this group?"

You may know them from the "Napoleon Dynamite" dance song at the end. They also have songs in the movies "Center Stage", "Devil Wears Prada", "Sweetest Thing" and more. I have every album so far(minus some imported stuff) and love them all.

This is the music you listen to when working out, cleaning house, driving and you want it loud, dancing, etc.... You cannot listen and not start moving!

**Go listen to some tunes and you will have found a new love**

I like all kinds of music (except Country, haven't been able to get into that) but Jamiroquai still remains my favourite(spelled like the British would spell it)!

It might help also, that the lead singer Jason Kay (Jay Kay) is a cutie (a not so close second to Jake).

Take a lookie below. He is funky and has style in my opinion. Oh, somewhere there are photos of a Hugo Boss photo shoot. I'm not the only one who thinks he has style. :)

Now, go find it and listen!

The Purchase.

Well, we found the new member of our family. We haven't named it yet, any suggestions are welcome.

We bought it on Friday night May 30th. We got a really good deal. I'm loving that our monthly payment is only $120 too. Haha!

Don't worry, we didn't fall for the "how much do you want your monthly payment to be?" ridiculous question.

I'm glad Jake has a reliable car to drive to work. Okay, maybe I'm a little happy that I don't have to take him and pick him up everyday too.

Here are the first photos of the car:

Hyundai Elantra '04





PS- The major oil stains on the driveway are not from this car. They are the remnants of Geo. (sniffle, sniffle)

Our little family will be growing soon.

We are trying to find a little car to add to our family! (were you thinking I was pregnant? Nope!)
We sold the Geo. It was a very sad day! Really, I came in the house and bawled after they drove off in it. It needed some repairs in order to get it registered and it would have been around $650 which is more than the car is worth. Geo went to a cute, humble 16 year old boy who was ecstatic to have it! (many have said, "Someone paid money for that car?")
Yes, it still drives!! I told the boy(while gazing off in a different direction, remembering) I was also 16 when I got the Geo. I think he thought I was strange. I also hugged the door as I got out of it. Hahahaha! Okay, I am strange. Su Lo, I know you can relate with your "Buck the Truck" when you sold it!
Anyway, I bawled because of the many memories I had with that little car(see past post about Geo) and also my Dad bought it for me and he passed away just four years ago. I felt like it was another little piece of my Dad going away. Well, I'm sentimental.
Anyway, we have been trying to find a reliable car for Jake to drive around. We were looking at Toyota's and Honda's, but with our budget the miles are too high on the one's were looking at.
So, we decided to start looking at Hyundai's. We used to have a Santa Fe which I loved!
We are looking at Elantra's and Sonata's now.
I'll let you know what we ultimately find. Until then.................

My week of niceness.

It has been so nice having Jake home for a week. I got to go to California all by myself, for a few days. Yep, no kids:) I got to see my Mom and spend some time with her. I saw my sister Robyn, who had a little girl just two weeks old. I got to spend the night at my other sisters, Melinda, and we went shopping, saw a movie, ate at the Soup Plantation. It was nice to be there. When I got back, Jake spent a day cleaning and organizing our garage. It looks fantastic now! We organized things around the house, and bought and put together a dresser from IKEA. We have desperately been needing more space to put our clothes. We have been staying up late watching TV, going to lunch during the day with only Breck. It has been a treat.
Tomorrow he starts his new job. I'm excited and hope he will love it!
I am excited to get our first paycheck too, as we had a whole week off without pay! HAHAHAHA! IT HURTS!

Me and Taylor. (She kept making faces)

Me and baby Jenna. So sweet and sqeaky!

Melinda, my sister, looking pretty.

Dave and Robyn and their new little girl. (their 2nd child)

mY HuBbY iS MoVinG oN...............

to a new J-O-B!! We are very excited about this news! He was happy to put in his notice at Goldman Sachs & Co. yesterday. It was a great job while it lasted, but too many corporate politics happening and not enough pay to deal with it all. (oh yeah, his boss was a big, fake, jerk too.)
He is starting at a company called The Modellers in a couple of weeks. No, it's not a modeling agency all though it would make sense since Jake is so tall, dark and handsome!!
It is a marketing research company and they are starting a new department and Jake is IT! He is the first guy in the dept. and they are going to build it around him.
I'm so glad he got this job and we can breathe again!
Good job Honey!

I hope I'm hooked!

Okay. I ordered it off of TV( I can't believe I did that) and I'm ready to do it daily! My usual opinions of home workouts are that they get boring to me. Well, TURBO JAM is fun and although today was my first day doing the workout, I think I really like it. Oh my gosh, my abs are nice and sore too. :) If you have seen the info-mercial and have wondered if it is what they say.............I'm not sure yet. I need to try all of the workouts and the "sculpting gloves"(wet suit material full of sand for added weight). Then I will tell you if it is. Hahahaha. The girl in it, Chalene, is quite happy and fun to workout with. (See photo of her being happy below) Thanks for the "40 minutes of being sweaty and hopefully on my way to thinness" Chalene!

A few things that make me happy:

1. Happy children
2. Warm weather (preferably 80 degrees)
3. $5 Watermelon from CostCo
4. Lakers winning
5. A minor sunburn (bad, I know)
6. Driving alone with my music loud.
7. Dating my husband. (hopefully tonight!)
8. Not having to set my alarm clock.



I hope they all happen very soon!!

Sunshine and I are pals.

Well, we just made another trip to California. It was a gorgeous 75 degrees almost everyday. Let's just say, it was soooooo hard to come back to Utah(it always is).
We did the whole Disneyland thing and it was us and 65,000 other people standing in line all day. Never again!! We will maybe go back when it is a dead day in Anaheim. Of course, it was Spring Break for many. We made it to the beach and played in the sun and sand. We had Easter dinner out in my Mom's backyard and the kids had an egg hunt. All in all it was nice to get away and see my family.
Here are some pics of the trip below.

Here is the beach I grew up going to........T Street, San Clemente. Love it!
After the beach, we went to the Rainbow Sandals Factory and shopped a little. If you don't wear them, you should.
Here we are on Disneyland Main Street for a photo.
Mom and Me in our shades.

Jonah and Gavin with cotton candy faces.

The kids in line for the Matterhorn(sp?).

Jake and the boys in Tarzan's treehouse.

Me and Su at our Arbonne booth at the San Diego Outlet Market. We had a blast hanging out and laughing hysterically all day. Our husbands were there to be really supportive since it was early morning and very hot. Fun day though!
Our booth was the most professional looking one there. Thanks to Su and Jon!! We offered sunscreen, and samples of Arbonne's energy drink, protein and fiber shakes, and the kids vitamin drink. We got to talk to many people and share Arbonne with them. It was a good experience for us.
Jake wore an Arbonne apron and helped get people over to our booth. He is so charming!

Me with my sisters, Robyn(pregnant on left), and Melinda in the middle(just barely pregnant). Happy Easter!
Cousins after Easter egg hunt. Happy to have MORE candy! Thanks Shawna for making it happen!
Me and my handsome, single brother Jeffrey.

My younger brother Andy and his wife Shawna. Kenna is their youngest daughter.

Jon and Melinda posing for me.

Me and Jakey after Easter dinner. Isn't he so cute?

Sorry Robyn, somehow I didn't get a shot of you and Dave that day. Dang it! I will post the one of you and I at your baby shower.

Here is Robyn, due in a few weeks with her 2nd baby, and its a girl! I'm so glad I got to go to your shower.

PHEWWWW!!! I'm finished posting all the pictures. Sorry about that! I love taking pictures:)

If you like piña coladas........................

I'm B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!
Okay, so I find these random little surveys on other blogs and I like to do them. Why? you ask. I don't know. I guess I like to see if the most random questions they ask result in any truths about me. I feel that this one was pretty dead on. I'm a banana! That's all there is to it, I'm a banana.

You Are a Banana

You are mellow, easy going, and a total softie on the inside. People find it really easy to get along with you. You suit most tastes. And while you're very sweet, you're not boring or ordinary. You have an attraction to the exotic, and you could show up anywhere... doing almost anything! You are spirited, energetic, and a total kick to be around. You're also quite funny. Your sense of humor is on the goofy side, and it fits you well.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

Why did the shopping cart cross the road???

Answer: Because some idiot decided to build a grocery store and have the parking lot on a slope!! (all residents near me will understand exactly what I'm saying)



This story makes me laugh all of the time. I try not to go to the Smith's on Hwy 89 but it is the closest store to me. If I am in a hurry, I go there.
A while back, I sent Jake to the store to get a few things for me. Well, it was dark, he was putting groceries in the car and looked up to see the cart flying down the hill and into the busy road. He ran after it and luckily it didn't hit any coming traffic. He was surprised it didn't smash into any cars in the lot while going down hill either. We had a good laugh and are always aware of the cart now.

Love being Lost.

Ok. I saw this on another blog. I guess I'm Desmond. For the record, I do not enjoy taking long pulls from alcohol bottles.
I enjoy watching Lost, even though it has been dragged on and on. The writers are good because they always leave me wanting more. I have to finish this show no matter what.
I still want to know what the "fog monster" is though. I also need to know who Jacob is.
Who are you most alike?

Which Lost Character Are You?

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