every girl needs one

Not that I am one to be known for accessorizing, usually my wedding ring and *possibly* a bracelet will do, but I am really into headbands lately. Everytime I find myself at the Gateway, I have to go to Forever 21. If you love hair bands, this is your place!! They have the most fabulously unique accesories around, I love them. And someday, I am going to have a killer dress that will suit these perfectly, I love old fashioned or vintage-ey looking things. But for now, Bella is my model,(she's such a cute model too!) and I love them. I know one of them has made their appearance here already..but the top one is new, so fun.

More from our "beach" trip

These are the rest of our evening beach outing. Moses wakes up in the morning and askes "are we going beach today?" I think it was a big hit..my inner London says yay me!

lets just go

At about 2:00 in the afternoon, I turned to Buddy and said " Lets just go" and he was up for it! I had a plan to take him camping and fishing for fathers day weekend but I just couldnt get it pulled together. I knew the much needed getaway would be the perfect way to break the stress of a very hard last semester of school breathing in the fresh air, sleeping under the stars, smelling like campfire. We did a very fast packing job, if you can even call it packing, and headed up Ogden Canyon. We found a lovely little campsite right on the river. It was so private and so SO fun.It was perfect. We played games, went exploring in the woods, splashed in the river, had s'mores..of course! and slept with the tent cover off and gazed at the stars all night. The kids were giddy, it made it hard to sleep. Well, that and the fact that the hippies next door were serenading us with "by bye Miss American Pie" on their guitar. Seriously, check out this traveling Van, we were dying with the giggles. I always tell Buddy I want to bring a mattress with us. Imagine my jealousy when I see them packing a mattress in their bus the next morning. Jealous.



We also laughed about the unfortunate circumstances the employee must be facing in this job. We did not hav flushing toilets. euwwww.



Right after we go there, my camera battery died. (I was secretly a little happy) luckily we had Isabella's to catch some memories. That weekend was great. And I hope it re-deemed me for forgetting the actual fathers DAY...sorry Buddy, I still love you so so much!!

playing Guess Who



campfire time


Exploring


Exploring, he loves his head lamp (and cheetos)



Our lovely typical family photo

oh goodness

We had THE MOST delicious treat today. OH.MY.GOSH. Bella had the Strawberry shortcake, Buddy had the homemade ding dong and I had the Va-NIE-lla squared. You better beleive we'll be frequenting this charming little bakery..I think you should too.

http://thesweettoothfairy.com/

seriously

Check out these serious faces today when I ruined their play by busting out my camera..ouch. I have to say though, this reminds me of some editorial type model photo, where the models are supposed to be all edgy...except mine are a bit younger. I think I kind of dig it.

Moses got a summer buzz from dad yesterday, he runs around saying "I look like Buzz Likeyear" Sort of Moses..except you are WAY cuter. Although I think his new do is much cooler for him, I find myself telling Buddy that he looks so...so....whats the word....so...pretty. Dont be mad when you read this later Moses, pretty's a a good thing, you get it from your mom :)

Also, I found this picture that has me smiling tonight. Friends are the best...especially these girls, I love them.

refreshhhhhing

oooohh, we love summer!

Making a memory

"You never know when you're making a memory"
-Rickie Lee Jones


Isnt this the truth!

By the time 630-700 rolls around, if we havnt been out of the house, things start getting a little nutty. I dont know what is up with all this June rain, but it is certainly putting a damper on our out of door activities and making me a little cranky, which is weird coming from an Oregonian when we are supposed to be used to this! At any rate, I hopped in the car and drove. We ended up at Saltair. Oh my gosh, we got out there and it was a beautiful night! The kids kicked off their shoes and had a ball and in being there, in the moment, playing, splashing, being careless, we were definatly making a memory. If only I could write how my heart feels just to be with them. I would be a poet for sure.

More to come from our fun adventure.

whoa

Just like I predicted, Bells opened the fridge on her birthday morning and said "Whoa, this is perfect mom, its just what I wanted for always!" I was yet again reminded of 2 things: How much I adore her, and how simple she is to please. Turns out she liked my feeble attempt at a white with pink polka dot cake.

She seemed to enjoy every second of her day, which made us so happy. The night before, we went to the airport to pick up a "friend of dads" turns out it was much, SO much more than that, her grandpa flew in to surprise her, we are all so thrilled that he came and he certainly made the day extra special!

Grandpa took her to Salt Lake for the afternoon. They went out to lunch, toured the new church history library and spent time talking and walking hand in hand. So cute. He then took both kids to the dollar tree with $5.00. That is like CA*CHING to them. She wanted to bbq hotdogs and have a picnic on the lawn. Dad snapped this picture of us, I think its so sweet. Rarely do we have the whole family in a picture..plus, I hate being *in front* of the camera..but I do love the feel of this one. Good job Dad!

After dinner of course we had cake and ice cream and presents. All she wanted was high healed dress up shoes and a hannah Montana wig. She's so easy.

Unlike other birthdays, this one she really did seem to change the day after. She's just blossomed into a full blown 6 year old who even said to me tonight when watching the Jones Brothers on TV " I like the middle one" WHAT!? This year is sure to be a blast with lines like this. Bella, you are the sweetest, most tender, most silly, most loveable, most suvvy little girl and you are absolute perfection for our family. We love you a billion times plus infinite!

sweet six

Its nearly 1:00 in the morning. I am stuffing her favorite Bubble gum into balloons to cover her room tonight. She'll love popping them in the morning and finding her surprises. I just got done making what could be the poorest excuse for a birthday cake ever made, but the beauty is, she will think its the prettiest cake ever to have existed. I have the eggs, bacon,toast and "water with ice" ready for breakfast in bed, and I am sure to beat my mom in wishing her a very happy 6th birthday tommorow morning! (my mom always calls first thing to be the first to wish a happy birthday) I just gave her another kiss goodnight and she is curled up with her dibbie, just like she was last year and the year before. I get sentimental on birthdays, I think they should rank up their with Christmas and Thanksgiving.
I'll post later about her fun birthday surprise visitor and the days happenenings!

water banoon scotchhop

We have to be creative now that school is out.

I hike this!

A favorite story that my parents like to tell is about my speach issues when I was little. I couldnt say my L's, they were always with a Y. One time I told my dad in front of a group of people "Dad, you're a yucky guy" Well, the preverbial speach apple doesnt fall far from the tree, my little Moses, or as he would say "hittle Moses" Cant say his L's either, except he has replaced it for an H. Its quite endearing and cute actually. We finally made it to Bridal Veil falls, just him and I and he kept saying "mommy, I Hove this!" or "I Hike this so much" And of course, when he tells us he loves us its always "I hove you" He hoved jumping in the hittle water, and throwing hittle rocks. I totally Hove these pictures of our day, just me and my hittle boy.

workshop day!

I have been anticipating this morning for weeks now! I went to a photography workshop this morning at wheeler farm and learned from two awesome photographers, Jen and Marissa. It was SO much fun and very informative. I loved learning from them and watching how they do things. Thanks to them, I feel much more confident in manual shooting! Plus, its always fun to meet more photography friends, and there were several in the class, it was great. Their kids are beautiful and such little models, they were amazing to watch, my Isabella would never go for this, even with all the bribing in the world. I was impressed for sure! Here are some of my favorites of the super fun day.

yay, you!

Kindergarten year is officially over today. Seriously, kindergarters know how to go out in style, this has been the craziest weeks of the year! It started on Monday with a trip to the Zoo. Then clean the classroom on Tuesday, Field Day Wed, Assembly and Wii party on Thursday, and Hot dog party Friday. Whew! And as I type, she is loudly singing to Annie while snuggled on her mattress in the living room eating popcorn. I told her she could stay up as late as she wants tonight, she has several movies lined up and just asked me "do you remember when you said I could watch cartoons in the middle of the night? (yeah) Do I have to ask first? (no) YES!" I have a feeling I will be a zombie tommorow..but thats okay, she is on cloud nine! She also realized tonight that come Monday, she doesnt have school..awh, I remember that great feeling. I'm so happy for her. This year, she has learned to:

1. be a good friend
2. Read with enthusiasm
3. remember to pee even if it means she has to stop playing for a second
4. Make so many art projects mom cant contain them
5. say crazy things like "mom, your weird"
6. plan impromtu parties and spring them on me
7. do homework
8. be more responsible for taking care of things herself, chores
9. swing with reckless abandon on the monkey bars
10. Be even sweeter and more thoughtful and then she was before.

She is a happy child, We are so thankful for her and really look forward to the whole summer to sleep in and spend more time playing before sending her off to school ALL DAY next year...I cant even think about that now.




Hating my camera...whats new.



but still willing to break out that gorgeous smile as one last favor

these guys!

I love them! Jen, I have so many more for you to see, I just wanted to give you a preview :) This was too fun, thanks so much!















It is SO fun to see you, and I'll miss you terribly!