Catching up......Like WAYYY up! (& a cruise post!)

I know, I know, it's been a LOOOONNNNGGGG TIME. But life has been crazy around here.
A bit busy,
and well, sometimes blogging just doesn't happen.
To many other fun things to do!
 but none the less....
Once again, you are going to have to bear with me.....I have some SERIOUS updating to do here. 

 Now that it's the lovely, gorgeous days of SUMMER, 

I figured I'd go back through the past 6 months & document all the many things we did that got us THROUGH the depressing and dreary cold winters of Logan

 and into....... 

the warm, lazy, flip flop, wonderfuldays of Summer........ :)
**(ok, so  if you want to read this in TRUE chronological order, you have to scroll to the bottom of this post( I know, I know, it might take like a day and half to get there, but just do it.... ) and then read to the top.  Then it should all make sense!)
June, July and August posts are coming!
Soon! :) (ha ha, that's funny!)
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**June!**
{Sunday nights!}
Summer rocks for one reason. No school, which means we see family A LOT!!!
Sometimes we get random ideas around home. Like REALLY random. Especially on Sundays. Like, we walk through our basement and happen to see one of our love sacs STILL in the packaging from 7 years ago and decided we'd see if it would still fluff up!
Sam and Rex went right to work.

 After all that..... who wouldn't wanna big bowl of muddy buddies???

....and a stair to curl up on?? :)
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{the POOL!!!!!!!!!!!!}

It's official!!!! It's SUMMER!
We made it!!! :)

 The kids love getting snow cones! (and so do I!)

Cameron became such A BRAVE swimmer! He is half fish!
He loves it! And so do we!

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**May!**
{my baby sister}

This was a bittersweet day for everyone.  The baby of the fam, was really all grown up and graduating!  No more high school games to go and support, or weekend dances to prep for. :(
But then came college acceptances.
And they wanted her.
so she accepted & she is off on a full ride to
Snow College
to play
Basketball
&
Volleyball!
We are soooooo proud of her!
Love you sis!
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{It's a start!}

This is a sign of big trucks and tractors to come!  The cement truck happened to be here this morning to pour our back patio, and the kids were in heaven!!!!
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{Friends!}

Somehow, we got blessed with the absolute GREATEST neighbors in the entire world! They are some of our BEST FRIENDS and we LOVE that we can hang out ALL THE TIME!
One of our MOST FAVORITE things to do, is once all the kiddos are in bed, we go to each others houses and just hang out.
watch movies.
 play Kinect, (the pic above is Matt and Rex boxing!) classic!
play games.
order our fav pizza at midnight. ;)
you name it....we do it!!
They are the best!
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{First dam!}

Ok, i gotta know, Is there anyone that lives in  Logan DOES NOT come visit the ducks at least once a year??? I mean, it's just like a given, that First dam is definitely a favorite place to visit! We especially love going on the first warm days of Spring!  It's like the initial welcoming of warm weather!

Our sweet lil' friends.....

Cam wanted to be brave and feed them himself.
Well, he sure did, that beak was as big as his HAND!

 Korv, he wasn't quite sure about a duck getting that close to him!

Of course, nothing better than a picnic with an ice cold drink to finish off the trip! :)
I love bringing my boys here.
Thank you ducks for reproducing every year, so we can come see you all!
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{date nights!}

Rexy took me on a date one friday night and after dinner, he wanted to take me on a drive, We ended up on top of a mountain with one of the most breathtaking views of Logan I had ever seen! I couldn't believe after living here all these years, I didn't know about this!!  Gorgeous!

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{YUM!}

Planting the garden. Ahhhh...
My favorite thing that screams SUMMER IS (almost) HERE!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't wait!
I was worried we wouldn't get a garden this year because we were putting in the sprinkling system and the yard was torn up, but thanks to all the vacant lots around us, there was PLENTY of dirt to go around.
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{"kinect"-ing and the Anniversary!}
This year Rexy decided to surprise me, so on our lovely day of celebrating 8 years, he brought home one of these:

So. Much. Fun.

We also bought the  "dance" and sports game for it, so we had my fam over right before Todd and Katy left for Creighton and we had ourselves a
DANCE PARTY!!!!

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{St. George, Dental Hygiensts and Hiking = VACATION!!!!}

She did IT!!!!!

My sis Lisa graduated from DENTAL HYGIENE school! This is such a prestigious and HARD thing to accomplish! (Hygiene, not assistant that is!)  She passed her boards with flying colors and I am sooooo impressed AND amazed at how hard she worked all through school to get here! As soon as we knew the graduation dates, I did everything possible to make it down to St. George to see the graduation day!!!! (thanks to 2 of my SUPER SWEET FRIENDS for helping with the kiddos so i could get away for the weekend!

Way to go sis!  

 Right after the Dental ceremony with her whole class. (and her hubby)

 This was her actual graduation ceremony!  The diploma and all!!! We were proud sistas!

After all that, she definitely deserved this strawberry shake from Olive Garden!!!

After we packed up their apartment to move them back home (YAY!!!!) Our family along with Sams family was still in town, so we all decided to head to Zions for the day and hike the
 famous ANGELS LANDING!!
HOLY.CRAP. scary!!!!!!

 Here was the crew (minus Sam taking the pic) oh wait...and my dad?? where is he anyway... (ehh, thats something we never know , anyways...back to the hike)...so here we are getting ready to hit the trails! I had such a blast being with my family!! It had been such a long time since we had done something like this!
What an adventure!!

The start of the hills.....this is steeper than it looks!

Everyone trying not to look exhausted after only the FIRST HILL!

 So this is truly why the hike is CRAZY SCARY. Hiking up the side of the mountain with only this CHAIN to hold onto!
It was fun!!

This is the view from the side of the mountain.  yeah, you don't wanna slip! (see the road WAY down at the bottom????)

But alas, we made it to the top safely~ It was so fun!  Props to all the parentals for trooping through all this!!!

 These were the switchbacks on the other side of the mountain.  This pic just doesn't do the justice for how steep  it is! :)
All in all, it was a successful and a HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT for Lis! It was such a fun weekend away being with my family and being a part of it all!
Love ya sissy!
  But oh how i missed my babies!:)

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**April!**
{Enjoying the small things}
Winter feels like it just lasts forever and ever, that sometimes, spicing up the simplest things around home,really help get us through the day, and after traveling, there is bound to be loads of this!

When I see these laundry baskets waiting to be unloaded, i just cringe....so on this particular day, Korver WAS ADAMANT to help me tackle it all!  

 Watching how fascinated he was with the whole process, and wanting to help with every article of clothing, made me almost wish there was more laundry!
(ALMOST)  :)

I love refinishing stuff.  I work on projects A LOT around here. As soon as it hits 50 degrees, i decided to take on some painting.  I wanted to do an end table for lil Ada's room, so when I saw this old thing, I decided to get to work! I wish I had a before pic of this thing! It wasn't pretty! I loved the end colors together. (click here to see what an amazing job Sheena did with Ada's room!)

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{simplicity}

April Showers bring ....Amazing RAINBOWS!!  We were spoiled with this view a few times this Spring!

Kyndra and Cameron just eatin' cookies and totally enjoyin the view together.  We love being outside for any reason, at this point in the season! The smell of summer is just around the corner!
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{Easter}
I love this holiday, for the true meaning.  What an amazing thing to celebrate and to be able to explain to our children all that our Savior has done for us.  Once we tell them all about the important part of this beautiful weekend, we then let them enjoy a few fun activities!

 Coloring eggs is probably just as much fun for me,as it is the kids! They had a blast, but then again...Cameron has a blast with ANYTHING if Chandler is there!

 And I have a blast if Ellie is there! I love this sweet lil girl!  Heidi is one lucky mama to have her as a baby! She just watched us enjoy our Easter festivities while she enjoyed.... her hands and toes!
(oh look at those eyes...melt your heart!)

 The E.B. hard at work here..... Look how nice, It even remembered a basket with daddy's favorite things.

 The E.B. always hides their baskets, it makes for a fun morning! The kids did pretty good finding them, maybe it needs to be a little more difficult!

But honestly, I am just as giddy while they are looking, because I love them moment when they find the basket and their eyes light up and they drop to their knees right there to dig into those eggs full of SUGAR, SUGAR, SUGAR, ...(it reminds me of exactly what we did as kids, and man, i miss that. Can I be a kid again?)

Korv loved his little treasures. After devouring 389 jelly beans, he decided it was time to fly.  (yes,if you look close, he even has his cheeks packed with jelly beans while flying. :)
I love Easter!!
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{Friends}

I was so glad we got back from the cruise when we did, or we would have completely missed seeing our friends leave! They stopped by just as they were headed off to Florida, (and probably never coming back to live in UTAH!) :(  Isaac and Keri are some of the greatest people we know, and we came to love them so much, Isaac was moving up to something important in the Army, so it required them to move, So excited for them, but sad day for us! We will miss them dearly!!
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****{April showers were welcomed in Utah, cause....we were in Miami!}****
Click below to see the post of our
2011 Carribean Cruise :)


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{to the moon and back}

We decided to take off for the gateway one afternoon, and spend the day with the kids!

 They loved throwing pennies in the fountain!

 But they even loved riding escalators MORE than that! (why do kids love these so much!?!)

We went to Clark Planetarium and watched the light show for U2 (yes our own best interest was at heart here...but the kids LOVED that light show!!!)

 After looking through the exhibits and walking on the moon, we hit the store inside and found LOTS of fun toys!!! Cameron LOVED this expanding ball!

This is a pic we snapped right after the light show, you can tell our eyes hadn't quite adjusted yet!  It was such a fun day to spend with our lil family, I love spontaneous trips like this!

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{Lazy Sunday mornings}

 I have a confession.  I. LOVE. WAFFLES.
 and I credit my mom to this love, because she SPOILED us as kids, by making us a hot breakfast every morning before school!  Now I love making it for mine!

This particular Sunday probably wasn't lazy for Rex....he had to speak in church! (sucka!)
But Korver was being soooooo sweet while he was preparing that I couldn't resist a picture!
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{Indoor fun}

If I can get past the thought of all the million gross disgusting germs that float in places such as these, I love takin' the boys here! They have an absolute blast and the smiles never leave their faces!  So a few different times this past winter, when we are DESPERATE to get out and have some fun, we load up the 12 bottles of hand sanitizer, and hit the fun park :)


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There were 2 things that would entertain Korver for hours on end......

Thank goodness I happened to grab these random souvenirs at our last stop before we left Hawaii.
Seriously, they were a HUGE lifesaver for entertainment.  I love watching him play!
(Now, If I could only find where he hid them all!~)
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**March-**
We got to take a fun trip to Hawaii!

(Click below to read the post!)
Hawaii!
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{Spring break}
Havin' some fun:

Lisa and Sam came home from St. George for their spring break, so we had ourselves some fun one night! Who knew a house could be so fun?!!
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**February!**
{Dad's 60th Birthday!}
We had the honor of throwing my father in law a SURPRISE party! I got put in charge of decorating and the designing the tables, so..... I decided I'd put my new gift to use Rex gave me! (see previous post!) I was stoked!

 We were almost done with the set-up!

The tables were set with all the yummy goodies! (just some of his favorites!)
and then.......

HE WAS DEFINITELY surprised!!!!

Lots and lots of hugs for the Birthday guy!

  He had quite a turn out of friends and family to support him! What an amazing guy!

Rex's family is such great singers....of course one of the things on the agenda was to sing for their dad/husband!!!!

 Crazy Rexy with our sweet mom!

A few family members & friends with one of his FAVORITE GIFTS :) A WALKER! ha ha!

Amanda made this cute poster for him!  Overall, it was a BIG SUCCESS and he was surprised! Even a few tears were shed! :)  We love you dad!

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{Valentine's Day}

Oh how I LOVE this holiday.  Lots of people hate it.  Secretly though, IT IS SO FUN! There are always SO MANY fun things to bake, and the decorating, and not to mention, I can have AS MUCH PINK as I want in my house at this time! :)

 Breakfast is always more fun with heart pancakes!

 But....I love making a dinner and eating over candlelight~ Cameron still asks "when we can have a fancy dinner again"

 I was super excited to try out these yummy "before dinner" smoothies!

My lil Korv just enjoyin' himself!

I decided to try and make....Chocolate Molten cake!  Yum, but ohhhh so bad for you!

And I followed a little tradition.....my mom always gave us a cute lil valentines gift, and so I was walking through the store a few days before, and KNEW this is what Cupid was delivering my boys!

Well and then....my own SWEET, AWESOME, THOUGHTFUL cupid decided he wanted to surprise me, LIKE REALLY SURPRISE me, and give me one of these!!!!  (he said he likes doing BIG surprises when I least expect them....well I was SURPRISED. :)
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{girls night out!}
We all take turns hosting this each month, and I love the month of  Love, so I opted for February to host!

 Part of the decorating was displaying everyone's favorite valentine treat...
(Mine were sugar cookies in the shape of hearts, with pink frosting...can you really go wrong?!! :)

One of the fun activities for the night was playing MASH! (remember that game?!) It was a hit!
We also played a game about everyone's own "love" story, and you had to remember whose story was who's.....and the winners got this lil "love package"
(Have I ever mentioned how much I love putting together baskets of stuff)

It was such a fun night! I love these girls!
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{Katie's last H.S. basketball game!}

(She is the one in white:)  She had a killer game to go out on and they won!! but after the game.....

many tears were shed, but not for long. There were many hugs and (kisses) to help!
We'll definitely miss watching her, but now it'll just be about a 3 hour drive to watch!
She got a scholarship to play basketball and volleyball!!!!
Way to go sis!
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{Baby Showers!}

I love ANY reason to have a party, and well, my sweet friend Heidi was about ready to have sweet baby Ellie, (her FIRST girl )
so.....we NEEDED 
to throw a shower! I was so excited to decorate for it!

She would say she hates this picture, but I think she is such an ADORABLE pregnant person!  I wish I looked this good! .....And Matt, well he had to know if my camera was in my hands and he was carrying a LOT of pink, that I was going to get a picture! We all know how much he loves being...girly ;)
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**January!**
{Painting!}

 When it is like 20 below outside, ya might as well do something with the inside, right??
So we decided to paint our half wall!

This was the before picture...and I forgot to take an after, but you can see the finished wall in all our pictures!
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I love Sunday mornings.  I love seeing all my boys all dressed up, but most of all....

I love watching Cameron shadow everything his daddy does.

Look at these 2 studs~! :)
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{Jazz games!}

We LOVE  LOVE LOVE going to JAZZ games! Thanks to Rexy's extremely generous bosses, we get to go often! We decided to take the kids with us this time, and they had a blast!

 Cam wasn't sure he wanted to smile here!

I love our backdrop in this ;)

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{New Years Eve!}

 Every year we have a rockin' party with our whole extended family and stay over at a hotel, to ring in the new year.... Even the kids stuck it out til midnight with us! (obviously Cameron was on a huge sugar high)

 We eat lots and play some sweet Bingo! :)

And of course.....My favorite part..... The New Years KISS! :)

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**December!**
{Cameron's birthday!--Dec.30, 2010}

This was his card from Grandpa & Grandma Travis! He was sooooo excited when it came in the mail!  

They are so sweet to send him a card and money EVERY SINGLE YEAR.  (they do this for every single grandchild and GREAT grandchild.) They are amazing!  :)

 Cam turned 4 years old!
 He LOVES tools!  So we bought him his OWN tool set! Hoping this will keep him out of daddys!

 He also LOVES Phineas and Ferb~!  So that's how we decorated for his big -shabang!

He wanted a P&F cake....but they do NOT make a cake pan for it, (of course they don't....that would make my life simple) so....I had to resort to making my own version! So I printed off their faces, aligned it on a couple sheet cakes, cut it out,

and......

Voila! ~ 

a ghetto lookin' P&F cake

.....ehhh, Cam loved it and that's all that matters, right!

 He had some of his best friends over for a party and definitely made out well with lots of fun loot!

 Happy Birthday Big guy! We love you to pieces!