Trouble...

This is kind of long and probably boring for most of you but we are posting it for Grandmas and Grandpas.

Ez is all over the place now and is forcing us to bring out the dreaded baby gates. Every time I turn my back for a minute, he is on the stairs. He is quite the little adventurer.

Vote For Me

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...A Lesson on Waste

While making cookies together tonight, Bella was talking about when she becomes a mom. I asked her how many babies she wanted and she said, "five" while holding up four fingers. "Is this five?" She asked. "No, that is four", I told her. "Well", she said, "Maybe I'll tell Heavenly Father that I want three babies" as she held up three fingers. "Cause", she continued, "I don't want to waste the babies. 'Cause everybody wants a lot of babies."

Yes, good thinking Bella...let's not waste the babies...

7 Years

Yesterday was mine and Blaine's 7th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we did something that we've never done before...left the kids at home while we went "away" on a romantic little getaway. We bid on priceline.com for a hotel in downtown Denver and we were happy to get the Grand Hyatt for a reasonable price. The white bedspread and luxury accommodations sure beat our recent La Quinta Inn stay with the nasty, multi-colored bedspread (what ARE they trying to hide with those hideous things?)

Anyway, I was worried about how well Ez would do with my parents as he has recently been experiencing extreme separation anxiety and stranger danger. But, the old adage out of sight out of mind proved true in this case as Mom and Dad reported that both Bella and Ez were perfect and that everyone had fun in our absence. Hmmm, maybe we should do this more often...



Needless to say, we had a fabulous time alone. It was fun to be right downtown and to walk to the 16th street outdoor mall where we dined, experienced the street entertainment, did some shopping, and just enjoyed the ambiance and each other's uninterrupted company. BTW, a big THANK YOU to Mom and Dad for making our getaway possible!

It was also very sweet to get home and to know that even though the kids were having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa, that they missed us, too. When Ez saw us, he started laughing and army crawled to us in high gear. My Mom said that right after breakfast this morning Bella asked when her Mom and Dad would be home. Grandma said, "After lunch." With out missing a beat, Bella asked, "Can I have lunch?" I love the way her mind works!


Celebrating our anniversary has caused me to ponder our life together so far. Statistically speaking, most marriages and relationships end after 7 years, hence the popular reference to the 7 year itch. Well, we have some statistics of our own that we have accumulated over the past wonderful 7 years.

2 phenomenal, miracle children
1 apartment, 1 summer at Tiff's house, and 2 houses
1 Bachelor's degree and 1 and a half Masters' degrees
Endless support
Eternal love
Millions of "I love yous"
Lots of laughter and some tears, too
4 vacations to Mexico, 1 vacation to Chile and Argentina, 1 to Mt. Rushmore, too many to Utah, not enough to California, a few to Oklahoma and Oregon, and 1 to Vegas (Oh, wait, our car broke down there...that wasn't really a vacation, was it?)
Dozens of dreams that came true
An enormous amount of hugs and kisses
Not enough sleeping in together
Much joy and happiness
More than enough poopy diapers (but, still hoping for more...)
And loads and loads of fun

I feel extremely blessed to have married my best friend and I look forward to accumulating more and more statistics with each passing year. Babe, I am so grateful that the sun rises and sets with you in my life.

Quick Trip to Utah

We always enjoy a trip to Utah visiting familly, birthfamilies, friends, Cafe Rio, The Pie, and whatever else we can fit in. There is always so much to do and so many people to see, one of these days we are going to have to stay awhile.

We started our trip off at Wade and Kati's house. As always, we loved hanging out with you guys. I can't think of anyone else we'd rather stay up with until 2:00 am talking, just to be woken up by our kids at 6 am! Oh, well, might as well start the day off early for more chatting time! Thanks for some yummy meals, guys.

We also went and visited Bella's birthfamily. (Not pictured). They are an amazing group of people and it is so awesome to see her getting to know her "extended family."

After Roosevelt, we headed to Mapelton to visit with Blaine's sister, Shalynn.

Bella and Michael had fun catching butterflies.

Jessica and Ez hanging out together. I loved how social Jess was being...reaching out to touch Ez, giggling, and playing with her toys. She has a powerful spirit.

Then, we were off to The Pie Pizzeria. (Last time I mentioned The Pie on my blog, they actually commented...let's see what happens this time...)

We met Raul, Blaine's good friend from high school, his wife, Nicky, and their adorable little girl, Olivia, for some grub pizza.

My good friend and old roommate, Kristi, also met us there. It was great to catch up. Kristi and I met at the Jerusalem Center and she and I backpacked through Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria together on our way home from our semester abroad. We had some CRAZY experiences together getting into a bus accident in Bulgaria, hitchhiking back to Greece, dodging flashers in Athens, and I could go on and on. Oh, to be young and adventurous (or stupid?) again!

Well, this is where it all began...right here at the Pie, a little pizza joint near the U of U campus. Just about 8 years ago, Blaine and I met at the Pie for a blind date, set up by our good friends, Jon and Jami. Just look what they started!

Still there...Our names penned in white out on the Pie's wall. Graffiti, dark lighting, and loud music...all part of the Pie's charm.

The next day, we finally made it to IKEA. Now that is a whole other post to be written at a later date. Suffice it to say that I am a fan...

Then, we met Jen and her little girl, Grace, at Cafe Rio (yum) and then on to Gateway where they have a great children's Discovery area to play in. If Grace would have sat still for more than half a second, I could have caught a better picture, but alas, she had things to do and places to be and no time for trivial things such as pictures! Grace is a real cutie and keeps Jen, who is prego again, running. And, since our kids were pulling us in different directions, Jen and I didn't get any pictures together. Just like Kristi, I met Jen at the Jersualem Center 12 years ago and we were also roommates for a few years after our missions. Nutella on the Sea of Galilea brought us together and roommates at BYU and the U of U, missions to Spanish speaking countries, MSW programs, and a great friendship has kept us together.


That evening, we went to Ezra's birthfather's parent's home for a BBQ and to meet the whole family. (Not pictured). We felt so comfortable with them all, just like visiting with old friends. Once again, we feel so blessed to have WONDERFUL birthfamilies and to know that our children have so many people who love them and want the best for them.

Before driving home Wednesday evening, we fit in a boating trip with Naomi and her husband and her two adorable boys. Naomi was one of my very best friends in high school. I love how no matter how much time passes with out us seeing or talking to each other, we just pick right up where we last left off. I have the best memories of cruising around in a VW bus, hanging out with her in her room all of the time because she was always grounded, chasing after boys, EFY, and embarrassing and unfortunate moments involving serious wardrobe malfunctions. Love ya, Naomi!

Blaine busting a move.



We wish we had more time to visit longer and to see some of you that we missed. Maybe next year...

Happy Campers

We went camping with some friends last weekend. This was real camping with out any toilets or running water. It was a beautiful area and we enjoyed hanging out with some friends, telling stories by the campfire, and running for cover when it started to rain. Good times.

Every family had a baby.

And lots of kids for Bella to play with.

Someday Ez is really going to be mad about this...but, for the time being, I think he was just glad that Brinnley shared her other sleep sack to keep him warmer that night.

Our little nature walk the next morning. It started pouring rain after we got back from this.



Sacked out!

Does this mean her wish gets to be EXTRA BIG?

Mexico 2008

We started our vacation at Rial and Emily's house (Blaine's brother) in Tucson. Bella thinks he is the coolest because he is a fire fighter. Then that night, one of Blaine's other brothers, Wade, flew in on his way back from visiting Steve and Kelli (yet another brother of Blaine's) in Georgia. Wade was flying stand by and decided to break it up by coming through Tucson. It was fun to hang with both Rial and Wade.

The next day, we drove the rental car to Rocky Point, Mexico, which is about 3-4 hours south of Tucson. It was my side of the family's reunion and we had a great time.


All of the grandkids.



Yeah, we got used to this view pretty easily! We spent so much time at the pool and beach every day. Bella got a little sun burned and Ez tanned right up.

Aaaaw...this is the life...




After a few days, Bella was becoming more daring and quite the little fish.

Ez LOVED splashing in the pool.

Wedgie bum and saggy bum cousins.

We went out to dinner one of the nights to a restaurant with a killer view. The Mariachi band provided fun entertainment and the food was pretty good, too.





The best part of the vacation was seeing how much fun the kids were having. Bella keeps saying that she wants to go back to Mexico. I do, too. Anyone want to come with???

Twilight in Mexico

While in Mexico, two of my nieces and I were trying to get ready for Breaking Dawn by re-reading the first three books. We all happened to be reading New Moon so I couldn't resist a picture. (More Mexico pics to come shortly...)

Jacob is a WHAT???

TWILIGHT in Mexico...showing some love to our favorite vampire. My sisters and I on the bottom row and my nieces are standing behind us.

A bunch of friends at Borders with our brand new Breaking Dawn books. You all look FABULOUS, ladies! Wish I didn't miss all of the pre-release party fun with you.

Our plane got in at 10:00 pm and Mom, Tiff, Maddie and I made it to Borders at 5 minutes past midnight to get our Breaking Dawn book.