Brower's

No Nap For Ali

2012-01-25T14:33:00.000-08:00

With a face like that how could I not let her skip her nap? :) Although I might feel differently later....

Just Shopping

2012-01-19T22:26:00.000-08:00

We were at Ross the other day and we stuck these cute earmuffs on Ali. I'm holding her hands down because she wouldn't keep them on. But, she did flash a quick smile for Daddy's phone! Oh, and this little darling now has her 3rd tooth as of today! Strangely enough it's a top molar! I was told that Down's kids get their teeth in a random order.... get ready for some crazy toothy grins!

Ali's Favorite Christmas Gift

2012-01-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

This is Ali's favorite Christmas gift this year... a box. It came from her birth-grandparents, and it had a doll attached. But after taking the doll off, she just wanted the box. I keep thinking I need to throw it out, since it looks like I just have garbage on my floor, but I can't bring myself to do it. She plays with this box EVERYDAY! She actually 'reads' it. She holds it up and looks at the back and talks in a very loud voice as if she is reading the words on it. It's hilarious! So, if you come to my house, just know the box is a toy, not garbage!

Working on Crawling

2012-01-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

These are the many positions Ali goes through to get to things on the floor. She does ultimately get there though! :)

Messy, messy, messy...

2012-01-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

Ali is such a clean eater.... unless Sesaly is feeding her! We had a wet-wipe bath after this meal, as well as an outfit change!

Standing Like A Pro

2012-01-09T18:12:00.000-08:00

This little cutie is standing like a pro these days! She's got great balance and core strength, she can even dance a little while standing!

Finger Painting

2012-01-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

Ali did a little finger-painting with yogurt tonight. She was hesitant at first, but ended up making some beautiful art! Then it was off to the tub!

Christmas Help

2012-01-05T18:44:00.000-08:00

Ali kind of fizzled out on opening her presents in the morning, so Sesaly and Howie came and helped her out in the afternoon!

Can you tell that Ali loves these girls??

Christmas 2011

2012-01-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

Ali seeing what Santa left her in her stocking!

Aliyah liked to taste a lot of her presents...

And gifts!

Ali was so excited she just kept making this face and sticking her arms straight out! So stinking cute!

Aliyah's birth-Grandma made this beautiful aphagan/blanket for her. She loves it!

All ready to head off to church!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-29T22:47:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I will now be posting on our blog again! :) My shutterfly account only allows so many posts... boo. We had a wonderful Christmas with our little family, on the 23rd, we went to SLC and visited my Dad and his fiance, Karen. It was great, we went swimming and saw the lights at Temple Square. It was crazy busy, so we made it quick!

Ali got to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus at the local grocery store. She thought they were great! She was probably just very comfortable due to Santa's Diet Coke throne! :)

Yes, Aliyah only has eyes for Sesaly.... you can kind of tell that Ali is smiling at her in this photo. She thought she was pretty cool sitting there with Howie and Sesaly.

Great-Grandpa and Grandma Stephens came and brought Ali a gift! She was more interested in them than opening the gift! Although she did very much appreciate the gifts! More Christmas posts to come!

What we have been up to....

2011-04-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

We have been having a BLAST with this little baby! :) We are so excited to have her sealed to us in June! I know I'm terrible at updating this blog, but I've been busy updating my baby blog. So, to find out how we're doing... hop on over there!

ADOPTED!

2010-12-15T09:15:00.000-08:00

For any of you who don't know, we have adopted a beautiful baby girl! She has her own website http://worthwaitingfor.shutterfly.com However, you will need a password to enter the site. If you are interested, email me (celestebrower@hotmail.com) or leave a comment with your email! Thank!

Domesticated!

2010-10-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if it's the change in the weather or what, but I've been busy trying new things lately. Whitney and I canned salsa (for the first time ever), and we made cute little Halloween lanterns with Mod Poge and tissue paper. Then I made some delicious apple dumplings tonight ... FROM SCRATCH! :) They are delicious and I'm quite proud of myself!

OLD Grandma's

2010-09-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

So, as most of you know I spend an un-healthy amount of time with Whitney (my sis.) and her 2 girls. :) I use them as my proxy children so I don't get too sad about having none of my own. Whitney is nice enough to let me use them all of the time and invade upon her home daily.

Sesaly is always saying crazy things. Here's the latest:

Sesaly: Aunt Awest (Celeste), did you know that Jaq (her cousin) got stung by a bee?

Me: Yes

Sesaly: He's ok now.

Me: I'm so glad!

Sesaly: It didn't happen at Jaq's house, it happened on Grandma-with-the-puppies (my mom) birthday, but she didn't have her birthday at her own house, she had it at my OLD Grandma's house (my mom's mom), it's not the Grandma-with-the-Earl (Whitney's mother-in-law.. Earl is a dog). It's my OLD Grandma.

Me: I know, I was there.

Sesaly: Oh yeah.

So, apparently only Great-Grandma's are old.... the other ones aren't! :)

Stuart's Lesson

2010-08-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Stuart is the new Young Men's President in our ward, so he has to teach tomorrow (the 5th Sunday so it's combined YM/YW). He's doing his lesson on the theme for the year Joshua 1:9, he's talking about courage and standing up for what you know is right. So, I made these Back To School Survival Kits for the youth in our ward. They all started school this last Thursday, so it's kinda fitting. I think they turned out pretty cute though.

These are the magnets I made to put in the kits, they were super easy. Just some clear rocks, bright paper, magnets and mod podge. Super easy and super cute!

Save the Tots!

2010-08-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today I was making Sunday dinner. While I was using a hotpad to help me drain the greenbeans, the steam from the beans must've gotten my hotpad wet. I then proceeded to get the tatertots (don't be jealous of our gourmet dinner!) out of the 450 degree oven, the heat from the pan went right through the wet spot on my hotpad and burnt my finger. So, I being the genius that I am, immediately grabbed the 450 degree pan with my other BARE HAND! And rather than waste a tray of tatertots, or grab the pan back with my protected hand, I held onto it until I set it on the counter (while yelling profanities). Needless to say, I have a very sore index finger on my left hand. :( The moral of the story is: BEWARE OF WET HOTPADS!!!

Little Lark

2010-07-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Stuart got me a kitten for my birthday!!! Here she is, Lark. I LOVE calico cats, and Whitney and Heidi drove all the way down to Ogden to get her for me. We recently found evidence of mice in our garage (which I cleaned out for Stuart's birthday), so we thought a cat is our best option! Lark is so sweet and she loves to be held. It's hard to stick her out in the garage already, but she has a nice little set-up and that's kind of the point. Thanks Honey!!!

Flowers

2010-07-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

.

Stuart's been gone camping for a few days this week, and I have been hanging out with Whitney and her girls. This is the project we took on, after cleaning out my garage (pictures to come). I think they turned out pretty cute. Sesaly wanted a picture with the flowers, it turned out a little creepy.

Cruise In

2010-07-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

We went to the Cruise In parade with Whit and Paul (and their friends Brad and Brittany) on Saturday. It was a nice night, we saw some awesome cars, and some that probably shouldn't have been in cruise in. :) Isn't Sesaly so cute in this picture?

Happy 4th!

2010-07-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July this year we had a fun BBQ at Whitney and Paul's house!

This is the cute cake I made for the 4th! I wish I could say it was my idea, but I got the idea here. Still, I am very impressed with myself that it turned out!

Then we had fun with some fireworks while watching USU's fireworks. And a few people (Stuart and Paul) who were a tiny bit obsessed with the lighters! It was a very fun night!

Sticky

2010-06-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

For the past week or so Stuart and I have spent a great deal of our free-time (and some of Stuart's work hours) installing wood floors in Stuart's mom's new house.

The wood floors are beautiful, but the job is very big... a little overwhelming. That's Helen in the above picture with Stuart.

Any guesses if Stuart's back hurts? :)

And this is my job.... I am the glue spreader. I should really come up with a more professional name, perhaps Professional Adhesive Applicator? But, yeah, basically I spread glue.... it's sticky and messy, I end up with glue all over my body and clothes. And soap and water alone do not remove this glue. It takes turpentine or rubbing alcohol and lots of cotton balls. :) And I've dipped the end of my ponytail twice now, so my hair is a tad bit shorter than it was - and now stays up in a bun!

Flying Airplanes

2010-06-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

On Father's Day Stuart, Paul, Whit, Sesaly, Howie and I went up to USU to fly remote-controlled airplanes. Paul spent most of his time fixing his :) since it dropped like a rock everytime he threw it. Stuart had some long flights, but unfortunately also ran his plane into 2 buildings! :) It was lots of fun!

It's Done!

2010-06-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

Paul was so great and came out and helped Stuart and me finish our rock wall! This is our version of a wheel-barrow. Of course the rock-wall is in the front yard and the extra dirt is in the back yard.

Paul looking strong and man-ish.

And here it is! It looks SO good!

Now all we need is another small rock-wall, more dirt moved around, a sprinkler system and then GRASS! :)

Knife Fight Anyone?

2010-06-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Today Stuart and I were in the kitchen and we both had some knives.... so naturally Stuart challenged me to a knife fight... below you will see our knives (mine is the smaller one)

I, of course, did not want to have a knife fight, so I quickly became unarmed :) Stuart grabbed my knife to show me how to clang the two together, and he dropped my knife. Luckily, he moved his foot in time, but my wood floor wasn't so lucky....
And the moral of the story? DON'T PLAY WITH KNIVES!!!

Landscaping!

2010-05-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

We got some free rocks from some people in our ward, so now we are officially working on our yard! But, it's very hard work to do by hand, as Stuart can tell you! He worked on it on Saturday in the rain and got a row done! Yeah! Thanks Honey! :)

Sesaly's 4th!

2010-05-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Sesaly had her 4th birthday today! She had a great little party that was meant to be at a park, but got moved inside due to the rain. She got lots of great presents and even had a pinata! Happy Birthday Sesaly!

St. George!

2010-05-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

Stuart and I went on a little weekend getaway to St. George this last weekend. It was a great little break! We were able to stay at my Grandma's condo and then we drove to Zion's every day to hook up with Heather, Justin and Helen. We went on some fun 4-wheeling trails and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

Heather, Luke (in front pack), Justin, Kaden, Celeste and Stuart (Helen is taking the picture)

This is an awesome lookout we found on one of the trails. It was beautiful!

This is looking up at where we were standing in the last picture.

We parked by this old cemetery to begin our 4-wheeling trip. There were tons of historic headstones and stories about how everyone died. This area was fenced off and had 3 graves in it. A husband/wife and brother. They were killed by indians. It was interesting to read the histories and look around the cemetery.

2010-05-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

Some scenery from our 4-wheeler trip!

Helen, Kaden, Justin, Luke and Heather

Stuart and Celeste

Campfire Dinner

2010-05-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

After 4-wheeling all day, we headed back to Heather and Justin's trailer to have some dinner around the campfire. Here's Heather hanging out.

And Justin...

These were what would appear to be delicious dutch-oven potatoes. They had all the right ingredients, however, we were very hungry... so Helen and I decided to stick the dutch oven directly into the campfire. I wouldn't recommend it. They were burnt. :( And although the rest of us were sickened by them, Helen ate a healthy portion!

These little beauties were made by Stuart! He makes the BEST roasted marshmallows!

This is the delicious smore I made with Stuart's perfect marshmallows! YUM!

Sand Dunes

2010-05-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Justin, Kaden, Stuart and I went to the sand dunes one day, they were awesome! We had to be careful though, because we didn't have the tall flags on to let people know when we were coming over a dune.

Stuart

Justin got stuck - I'm pretty sure I have a few other pictures of Justin being stuck in other places on 4-wheelers... perhaps a trend?

Justin with Kaden, and Stuart. I was there... but the only picture of me looks stupid, so it's just the boys!

Morty...

2010-05-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, Stuart went camping a few weekends ago, and since I am such a baby, Morty got to sleep with me. He loves sleeping on our bed and this is him the next morning... he wouldn't get up! It was so funny, and I thought Stuart was hard to get up in the mornings! :)

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T08:59:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there. Especially to my own mom and Stuart's. We hope your Mother's Day is great!
For those of you who are easily offended, stop reading now. The rest of this post is for those like me, who hate this holiday.... as this is my 7th Mother's Day without children.
Now..... for all of us who aren't mother's...........
I wish you all a happy day also! For those of us who aren't lucky enough to have children, here are some of the things we can appreciate on this depressing day.

* Not waking up all night to crying
* Being able to do whatever we want whenever we want
* Having our husbands to ourselves
* Basically living less-expensive lives
* Not having stretch marks!
* Being able to leave the house with only our purse ... not 10 million other things
* Sleeping in
* Staying out late
* Not having to work around a child's nap schedule
* A heck of a lot less vaccuming
* Not changing dirty diapers
* Watching a movie as loud as we want without fear of waking up any children
* Let's face it, vacations are more fun without kids
* Not having to wonder if our kids are ugly :)
* Not having to wonder if we are good parents

Now I realize that those of you with children could make an equally impressive list of great reasons to have children. However, this post is intended to make me feel better on this depressing day. Oh, and thanks to Stuart for making this day bearable by not making us go to church and for making me feel special with breakfast in bed! :)

Heidi

2010-04-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

That's right.... not only is she HOT, she is 16 and single!!! Although, I must warn you all, her motorcycle skills are limited! :)

Easter

2010-04-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

My New Best Friend...

2010-03-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yup, here's my newest best friend... the tissue box. I'm home sick with a nasty cold. :( I've decided that 2 days home sick is too many.

And this is what Stuart get's to come home to, my nasty pile of used tissues. Don't worry, I did clean them up today... and finally got somewhat dressed around noon. Blah.

St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

Every year for St. Patricks day my family single-handedly keeps the green food-coloring business in business! This is our meal that we had the Sunday before St. Patty's Day. Yum! At least Mom didn't dye milk green!

Alice ------------->

2010-03-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

I found this great new website that is so cheap and so user-friendly! You basically save yourself a million trips to Walmart and the ever-dreaded coupon shopping. This website (which you can connect to by clicking on the ad to the right) has tons of name-brand products (all non-perishable) on it for CHEAPER than Walmart. They find coupons for you and add it into the price. They also have this cool feature that breaks the price down by unit, so you can compare easily!
I have placed 2 orders online so far and the shipping is FREE (with tracking numbers)! I always receive my orders within one week. They also have a budgeting feature on the website that lets me know how much I am spending! It's awesome, AND if you click on the link to the right and let them know I referred you, you get a $10 credit after you spend $50! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Sea Lions

2010-02-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

So, these are the sea lions we can see from our condo window... this picture was taken from the beach however. They come every morning durring low tide and hang out on this rock untill the tide sweeps them away. It's pretty funny, they just lay there and twitch and scratch themselves enjoying the sun.

I climbed out to this point to get a picture with them, and almost fell! The rocks tend to get a little bit slippery when wet! :)

And here's Stuart enjoying the company of the sea lions!

Beautiful Beaches

2010-02-22T10:53:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful beaches here in Oregon. We went walking at low-tide and were able to spot this poor little starfish waiting for the tide to return. So pretty!

Valentines Day!

2010-02-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

I know this is out of order, but I figured the longer I wait, the worse it will be! :) For Valentine's Day we (Stuart, me, Paul, Whit, Mom and Dad) went to Texas Roadhouse. It was tons of fun. Great food...as Whitney is showing...and some lovely pictures... Mom and Dad! (and that man hand holding my face is Stuart's.... even if it looks like it should be mine!)

Oregon!

2010-02-22T09:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are in beautiful Oregon! This was the sunset on the first day we were there...

We left Logan at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and arrived at our condo at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday. We were so sleepy.... this is us later in the day on Saturday, we took a few pictures before, but we looked sleepy, so this is us looking wide-awake!

Here's a picture of Stu on the beach. It really is a very beautiful place, the view from out condo is gorgeous. I'll post some more pictures a little bit later.

Sledding!

2010-02-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

Nicole and Jeremy stopped by on Saturday and we all got to go sledding on the hill by our house! It was FREEZING outside, but it was tons of fun!

Makelle's hat may not have been super warm, but it was "cute"!

The Burton's.... plus Morty :)

Stuart catching some air off of nothing...

WHAT?!? A NEW FLU?

2009-12-10T20:01:00.000-08:00

So, a few days ago I had a close friend (sorry no names) tell me a funny little story. She had the TV on the news but had the volume muted. As she was watching, the bottom scroll bar mentioned something about the HINI (obviously pronounced hin-e) flu. Now, this friend of mine was shocked to hear that there was a new flu out! It was only later that her husband was kind enough to explain to her that the "I"s she saw were actually "1"s! :) I'm sure some of you can guess who this lovely person is. Here's a clue for those of you who might get it: "Limiat-ed.... limitat-ed...." (lol)

For Annaka ...

2009-11-29T21:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so has anyone seen New Moon yet?!? This post was requested by my darling 18 year old sister Annaka. All of us sisters went and saw New Moon on Saturday night, we had a blast, and we all agreed that Jacob is HOT! This was the best picture I could find but his body is awesome. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. :) I thought it was perhaps important to point out what I got to go home to though! :)

MUCH hotter than Jacob!

I love you honey!

My Handsome Hubby...

2009-11-22T12:22:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Stuart is in the Young Men's Presidency. Well, all the YM leaders decided to grow mustaches for 2 weeks and then wear them to church together. So, Stuart actually grew a beard for 2 weeks (which was very attractive), then shaved it for Halloween (see picture below) and then to just the mustache for church. Now, I am a huge fan of facial hair, but after this fun little experiment, I've realized I'm not a fan of ALL facial hair! :)

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-22T12:16:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We had our annual party at our house. It was a ton of fun! These are all the characters that showed up!

We had a fun "candy-corn toss". If you notice Whitney, we had some cheaters... or maybe it was just strategy? :)

As per Paul's request, we had to have a drinking contest. Stuart's idea this year was to have O'douls to drink. It's farily obvious we don't have may alcoholics in our family as nearly everyone was gagging theirs down. Although, Justin drank his fairly quickly... :)

More Games...

2009-11-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

Dougnut Eating contest! The kids were so cute, we let them go first and they were a little un-sure of what we wanted them to do, but they all got the hang of it pretty quick!

Then it was the adults turn...it's harder than it looks!

We also had a pinata! I bought it at the dollar store and it was made of cardboard... I guess you get what you pay for, the kids tried it for a while, then we had to call in the adults to break the stupid thing! :)

Just bad luck...

2009-10-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

Whitney, Stuart and I went 4-wheeling today down at my mom's house. Stuart decided to go through the creek, well, he made it fine, but Whitney was only in 2 wheel drive when she went....

and she got stuck. No problem though, we sent Stuart for a tow-chain....

and he got stuck! Luckily we had 3 4-wheelers there, so...

we pulled him out then Whitney next, then I thought, "I'll bet I can make it through..."

and I got stuck! :)

Happy Birthday Howie!

2009-10-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

Howie (Hadley) celebrated her first birthday today! We got to go to her party out at my Mom's house and we had a blast! She is such a cutie!

Cake

2009-10-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hadley got to eat the center of her birthday cake all by herself. She was enjoying it until she rubbed her eyes... poor thing. I guess frosting doesn't feel too great in your eyes!

New Website

2009-10-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official... Stuart has his own website! :) We've been working so hard at getting it up and running, and I think it turned out really well. Check it out for yourself
www.utahidahohomeloans.com. I can't believe how difficult it was to put together! We've worked weeks on it now... although if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. Enjoy!

4-Wheeling!

2009-10-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Brower-family boys go on an annual 4-wheeler ride every year. This year Justin, Michael, Stuart and Ethan went. They rode from Millville Canyon to Bear Lake (120 miles round trip). It took them 11 hours! They had a blast!

Stuart getting ready to ride.

Apparently it was necessary to "Fuel up" with some Mountian Dew before the big trip!

Here is Ethan securing the extra gas tanks.

2009-10-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

Here they are getting ready to go!

Stuart showing just one of his many talents!

This is poor Michael trying to get to the top of Mount Logan on his 2-wheel drive 4-wheeler... everyone else had 4-wheel drive. Needless to say he made it about 10 feet from the top and had to walk the rest!

The view from the top of Mount Logan! Beautiful!!!

2009-10-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well, apparently when you register your 4-wheelers, they want you to stick the new little stickers over the old ones! :) Yes, they were registered, and yes they got pulled over by a park-ranger. Luckily the guy was nice and just looked it up and saw that they were telling the truth! :)

Here is Michael getting pulled out of the mud.

This is Ethan and Michael... yes Ethan rode the same trail as Michael... yet Michael is un-recognizable for all the mud!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2009-10-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my Grandma's birthday! So, all of us local girls ran on down to Layton to have lunch with her. It was a blast! Grandma looks great and is still so young! Only 77!!! We love you Grandma, thanks for letting us share part of your day with you!

BOOKS!

2009-10-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, well Whitney and Lauryn have both written on their blogs about these WONDERFUL books we have been reading! Yes, they are romance novels (but clean ones!). The author's name is Marcia Lynn McClure. You seriously cannot put them down. Annaka started reading them then got us ALL into them. My mom even loves them and she's not a reader. If you decide to reward yourself by reading one of these books, start with "The Visions of Ransom Lake" It is my favorite! :) Enjoy!

Annaka

2009-10-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

Annaka got asked to Homecoming (I think) this year. I got to do her hair and makeup. She borrowed the dress from a friend. Doesnt' she look pretty?

Jackson Hole

2009-10-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

So, Stuart and I went to Jackson Hole over Labor Day with my Dad's family. It was tons of fun. Whit and Paul came to and we had a blast!

Obviously this is Pauls "better" side!

2009-10-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Celeste and Stuart

My Dad and his girlfriend Karen

Hadley and Whitney

Hadley... not sure why I didn't get any pictures of Sesaly... but she was there!

Hummm....

2009-10-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

Are we noticing a theme here with Whit's pictures? :) Sorry Whit... it was too tempting!

Some Random Pictures...

2009-10-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

So, here are some pictures I found of some of my nieces and nephews. They are so cute! Also, please bare with me, as I haven't figrued out how to edit pictures correctly yet. :)

Bear Lake!

2009-08-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

We went to Bear Lake with my family this past weekend, it was a blast! This is the sandcastle we all built, it was pretty amazing...

I guess it was more of a city than a sandcastle...

This was the stadium that the boys built

Very impressive!

2009-08-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Then the kids got to destroy what took us HOURS to build..Sesaly was walking very carefully though...

Hadley loved her little building she got to sit on. She was actually riding it at one point like it was her little horse at home!

Stuart is laying in the "stadium", it did eventually all get destroyed, the kids finally understood that they could!

2009-08-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

The canoe had to come... and it sank even more this year. I didn't get any pictures, but Morty was in there for a while. He acted so put out every time it would sink!

I know it looks like they are swimming, but that water is super shallow. I'm pretty sure Sesaly's bum is sitting on the bottom....

I had to take a picture of myself to prove I was there. Unfortunately, I am unable to get any action shots of myself! :)

Blake and Leif just relaxing!

2009-08-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Lauryn, looking AMAZING after just having a baby a few weeks ago!

This is baby Leif. He is so darn cute, and what a good baby! (either that, or Lauryn is an amazing mom who just keeps him VERY happy!)

For those of you who don't know, this is my real Dad. He was up for an 80th b-day party for an uncle, so he came to bear lake with us! It was great having him!

And Paul... the best we can come up with is that he was roping the "Bear Lake Monster".

2009-08-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

There were helicopters that kept flying overhead - and everytime we heard one Jaq would yell "PLANE"! It was pretty cute!

Whitney looking HOT! Maybe she just washed up from a swim!?!

Hadley is quite the bathing-beauty. She also was single-handedly trying to consume all of the sand. It was very noble of her.

I'm not 100% sure Jaq and Sesaly understand how the tubes work. This is what they did with them the whole time!

2009-08-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

Dang, I hate posting in the wrong order. These pictures were supposed to be below the next post. These are just a few more people who were at Sophie's birthday party!

Isn't she cute?

Obviously Jaq's present to Sophie was a look at his belly-button!

Annaka is so tall these days... she is like a giant! he he he!!!

Sophie's Birthday!

2009-08-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Sophie had a birthday a few weeks back and we had a little surprise party for her! She is 5!!! She was so cute opening all of her presents.

Whitney, of course, had to wear the birthday crown... she hates it when anyone else has special attention (lol).

I'm not sure what Emily is doing here... but she looks guilty. Why did she insist on opening the presents?

Howie is always ready for the camera! What a beauty!!!

Trek

2009-07-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

So, we recently went on the Trek with our stake. What an AWESOME experience!!! We had such a great family, all of our kids were the BEST! It was such a spiritual and wonderful time. Stuart also celebrated his birthday on Thursday, during the trek. I took all of these pictures with a disposable camera... so I'm sad that some of them are too dark and didn't turn out. We absolutely loved our family and wouldn't have changed a thing! We miss our kids so much!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T09:52:00.000-07:00

We watched fireworks last night at Whitney and Paul's apartments. USU does them on the 3rd (not sure why). Nicole and Jeremy and Makelle came too. Sesaly hated the fireworks, Makelle was facing the wrong way in her little chiar, and Hadley LOVED the fireworks! It was a ton of fun!

Swimming

2009-07-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am so behind on posts. This is when we went swimming last week. It really was a lot of fun, Sesaly and Jaq even went down the slide. Thad (Lauryn's Dad) went with Sesaly and Blake went with Jaq. Jaq loved it! He just kept going... but Sesaly was done after one time. Whitney was there too, and Michael... there just aren't any pictures of them.

Hogle Zoo!

2009-07-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

We recently (back in June) went the the zoo with all the kids. It was a blast!! Although I remember the zoo being so much bigger! I guess I haven't been in a few years. :) P.S. The turtle picture is for Paul.

2009-07-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Michael (Lauryn's brother... just off his mission) came with us to the zoo. The kids LOVED him! :) Here he is pushing Jaq, with his little friend Sesaly close by.

Then a few moments later he had another friend Sophie right there with him. He obviously is a magnet for children! So, if any single girls read this... he IS available! :)

June!

2009-06-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, it has been FOREVER since I posted anything... so here goes a month re-cap. First of all, these lovely pictures are compliments of my very talented sister-in-law Emily. Let me just say that neither Stuart or I are photogenic.... in fact, Stuart looks angry in about 90% of pictures. But, look at all of these great shots!! There are tons more too. I LOVE pictures, so I'm in 7th heaven over these!!!
On June 5th we celebrated our 7 year anniversary! Holy cow!! 7 years?!?! We are so old! :) We went to Lagoon with Stuart's cousin and fiance. We had a TON of fun! We even splurged and went on the huge swing. It's the one where they strap 3 of you together on you bellies, then haul you way up high, and then you have to pull the cord to let yourselves go. Then you drop 60+ feet (going over 60 mph) before you swing forward. So much fun!!! We also went on a 4-wheeler ride up Mount Logan - really very scary. Stuart had to do some parts for me. It was beautiful though!
Other than that I am LOVING summer! We finally got to take the top off the jeep... now that it stopped raining and we are gearing up for a week of fun at Bear Lake with Stuart's family. Yeah for summer!
Oh, and just a quick brag from me... I tried on some capris that I haven't been able to wear in about 5 years, and they FIT! Yes!!! They are a little snug, but I am thrilled!!! I thought I would never wear a size 2 again!

Roughing it...

2009-05-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

So, we went camping to Yellowstone over Memorial Day. It was a TON of fun!

It was rough being without all of our "comforts of home"... oh wait.... maybe we brought them! Does it count as camping if you can get internet and electricity in your tent?

We also had an electric blanket on our air mattress. It was so tough being away from home! :) Although, if this is camping... I'm all for it!

Look at that... a decent picture of both of us!

2009-05-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

We went to Big Springs one day and the water was so clear! It was beautiful!

This cute little critter was just swimming his little heart out trying to get to the food people were throwing for the fish. I think he's a muskrat (?)

We also went on a little path that went up to an old cabin... who would have thought that there would be snow?!? It's the end of May!!! Needless to say, I wasn't prepared ... and my toes got a bit chilly over the snowy patches!

4-Wheelin'

2009-05-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

Here we all are 4-wheeling (except Justin). We had a BLAST! We found some awesome trails and even got stuck in the snow (Stuart).

GOLFING!

2009-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

We went golfing last Saturday with Nicole and Jeremy. We had a blast - even though we were both going on about 4 hours of sleep. We had stayed up late the night before and played WOW with a bunch of guys at Stuart's work. That's right... I'm confessing that I am a Wow-er. I love World of Warcraft! Anyways, we had so much fun golfing!

2009-05-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

Stuart thought this picture was pretty funny.... it was my 2nd hit of the day - and yes, I started from those little yellow markers behind. :) I DID get better though!

I LOVE driving golf-carts! I just don't see the point of golfing if you are going to walk!?!

Nicole and Jeremy waiting patiently while either me or Stuart are looking for our ball.

Nicole and Jeremy! We had such a great time with them. Nicole is due in July, and she still got some awesome shots! And Jeremy put us all to shame. Thanks guys!

2009-05-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here's everyone golfing... we had TONS of fun!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

For Mother's day this year, a bunch of us kids went in on a book for Mom. It was tons of fun to celebrate with Mom! I know she'll hate this picture because of the band-aide on her face. But, I for one, am glad she went and FINALLY got some skin-cancer removed. I LOVE YOU MOM!

Happy Birthday Whit!

2009-05-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a bunch of us celebrating Whit's b-day at Angies! It was lots of fun and WE LOVE WHITNEY! :)

Boo on Insurance

2009-05-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

That's right... boo on insurance. I recently went to the U of U to see a fertility doctor, and found out I need to have an MRI and some blood-work done. So, I called my my lovely insurance (that I PAY for every month). Not only were they rude to me, they wouldn't give me any straight answers. They kept asking if I was infertile. Now, my insurance won't cover any infertility treatments but they will cover anything that is diagnostic. I kept explaining to this woman that niether the MRI or the blood-work would get me pregnant. So, it didn't really matter why I was having them, they were not to treat infertility. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting a call back from Natalie. Boo on insurance.

Sushi

2009-05-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I found out today that I am NOT a sushi person. Blah. I went to lunch with Stuart and a few guys from his work, to this great place in Logan. The beef was delicious, the salad dressing was devine, but I don't like sushi. I thought I was so brave to try it (since I HATE fish), and I almost lost it all right there. First I tried some roll with tuna on top. It tasted fine, but the texture was enough to kill me, then I tried california rolls - which by the way, have no raw fish in them - and they were the worst! They tasted just like fish. Blah. I guess I have to say that I did like the "Anger Management" rolls, although I don't think they really count... they had cooked, fried shrimp inside. I do like shrimp, so they were actually fairly good.

Road Show Idol!

2009-05-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the video of our ward's road show. Stuart did an awesome job being "Ryan Seacrest". The video is about 10 min, so don't feel obligated to watch it all. Plus, I recorded it on my camera, so there was no zoom or anything I could do. The girls yelling, "We love you Ryan" are Annaka and Heidi. It was by far the best Road Show of the stake. Good job, Honey!

It's HERE!

2009-04-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

YES! My furniture arrived yesterday! Merry Christmas to ME! We were up so late last night putting things together! This is my beautiful kitchen table! I am absolutely in LOVE with it!Just a few before and after pictures...

I also got a bedroom set!!! I am so excited, I FINALLY have a post bed and I LOVE it. I need to take some pictures of it after it was all assembled, but I'm waiting until I get my nightstand and dresser set up also!No, these weren't extra pieces, but there were a LOT of screws!

This is Stuart's cousin Matt and his fiance Marie. They were so sweet and brought us doughnuts out and helped us set everything up!

EASTER!

2009-04-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

For Easter this year, we had an Easter egg hunt in Whitney's backyard. It was great fun and we all got tons of candy. Although, next year we either need more kids or less eggs! :) HAPPY EASTER!

Easter Eggs

2009-04-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, all of us girls (local ones anyways) got together and dyed easter eggs! Stuart and my eggs.

Jaq LOVED dying easter eggs... he just wanted to keep dipping them in (not gently either). Here are Lauryn and me trying desperately to release his little death-grip on his poor egg.

Whitney was busy in the kitchen...

3 cute girls! Annaka, Sesaly, and Heidi!

Suprisingly, we didn't have any disasters with the egg dye!

WINNER!

2009-04-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

So, it's official! STUART WON THE CONTEST! He did such a great job and got his body fat percentage down to 7.5%!! WAY TO GO HONEY!! Now it's just hard to decide what to spend that money on! :)

Mr. Man

2009-03-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here are Stuart's before/after pictures. He did such a great job with his diet and exercise! :)

After Pictures...

2009-03-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

What could I possibly say that could do these pictures justice? HOT! The big weigh-in is tomorrow! :) Cross your fingers that he wins!

New Maid

2009-03-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

So, the housework has been piling up so high lately that I took the plunge and hired a maid. She's very cheap, dresses VERY professionally and mopped EVERYTHING... now when I say everything, I mean everything... even the dog! Now, she is one of a kind, however I hear she has a sister... :)

Mexico?

2009-03-18T20:59:00.001-07:00

Ok... I know everyone is wondering where the pictures are from Mexico! Well, for those of you who don't know... we just got back from Puerto Pinasco Mexico. It was a BLAST! Thanks to everyone who made it magical! :) Anyways, the pictures are on the way. It's going to be a lot of work, so I'm gearing up for it! :) Untill then, enjoy these posts...

Nashville Tribute Concert

2009-03-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a concert put on by the Nashville Tribute. They are the people responsible for the Joseph cd and the Treck cd. Both amazing albums. The concert was amazing!! It was so much fun and the spirit was there too. These are some amazing artists and I would strongly recommend everyone own these CDs. They played us a song from their new CD about missionaries, and it will be amazing as well! And I obviously love to use the word AMAZING! I should invest in a thesaurus. :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2009-03-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

A little leprechaun visited our house on St. Patrick's Day and left some fun little green treats for Stuart! Hope everyone wore green and had a great day!

Shooting!

2009-03-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

So, we recently went shooting out in Lewiston. It's so nice to shoot out there because there are so many animals! I'm just kidding, we were only shooting clay pigeons and cans.... and an owl (the fake kind that are supposed to scare away birds).
Here's everyone taking turns shooting. We have some very good marksmen in the family!
We went through a TON of ammo and pigeons. It looked like a ammo-shop in the back of the truck. We were all a little nervous about Blake with the gun!

Here's Celeste shooting... I actually got one clay pigeon! My favorite gun is the 22, not the shot-gun.

2009-03-18T20:39:00.001-07:00

What a cute couple shooting together!

These are just a few more pictures of what you'll meet if you come un-invited to Lewiston! :)

Foggy?

2009-02-26T06:27:00.000-08:00

This post is specifically for Mom... I was just wondering is it foggy at your house today?

We have beautiful clear skies here! Too bad I have to leave my house-above-the-fog to go to work. :( I love you!

14 Days of LOVE

2009-02-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

So, for Valentine's this year I am doing the 14 Days of Valentine's for Stuart. It's kind of like the 12 days of Christmas... I wish this was my original idea... but it wasn't. Each day from Feb. 1st through the 14th, Stuart will get a little something as a reminder of my love for him! I would give you the list of what he is getting... but he does occasionally read our blog, so I'll have to post it later. This was what he found for day one. The note included said, "ONE cute wife who is WHEY into you." He got the picture and some whey protein. I know it sounds like a lame gift, but Stuart is currently in this hard-body competition at work, he's working out like crazy... so he eats (or drinks) this stuff everyday. Stuart is looking great by the way, I will have to post the before/after pictures of him when he is done. I have also been doing the diet/workouts, and I'm proud to say I have lost 9 pounds! Yes!!! Anyways, I will post more later!

(bytheway, Emily (my sis-in -law) took that great picture of me... it was quite a feat, since I am NOT photogenic at all!!! Thanks Emily!)

Christmas!!

2009-01-25T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am FINALLY putting Christmas on my blog... I am such a slacker! We had a great Christmas break and got to spend it with lots of family! Here are a few pictures of Christmas morning... I LOVE Christmas! You can just ask Stuart... I get so worked up and excited! He could get me dirt and I would be thrilled!

This is the first gift I had to open...Stuart is quite the gift-wrapper! :) Stuart totally surprised me by buying me a kitchen table!!!! We have been using my mom's old one, but I am THRILLED to be getting one of my own. Stuart actually had this one all picked out (I helped pick it out, but thought it was for my Dad), but there is more to this story....I found out with the next gift...

This gift was a furniture catalog. Stuart actually has a buddy who can get furniture at wholesale. He told Stuart this 2 days before Christmas, the tables were 1/2 the price! It is insane, so I got to pick one out of here that I actually like better, plus I get bar-stools! We're getting them ordered this week! Horray!