A Happy Thanksgiving

We started the holiday out with... dun dun dun... Black Friday.. oh boy I forgot how messy black friday is. We started at midnight at Walmart.. what a MAD house! We ended up getting some AMAZING deals tho that made it worth the wait and exhaustion. 

After Walmart.. since it was 2:30 a.m we decided to go to Kohls 3 am sale.. the ONLY reason we went was because I didn't end up getting my (hotel like ) flip waffle maker ,haha, it was only $9.99 at Walmart and they ended up all sold out. Kohls ended up having some for $9.99!! So off we went to Kohls.. after getting the last one *WOOT* and waiting in line for over an hour I got up to the register only to find out the waffle maker end up being $19.99 with a $9.99 mail in rebate! Seriously! What is the point of mail in rebates! SOOO LAME but since we waited for ever we decided.. what the heck and moved on.. yep moved on to Shopko for their 5 am sale. We went there to get the $60 OFF digital camcorder we were wanting.. I snuck my way thru a huge group of people and ended up with the LAST ONE there too! Man we were getting lucky.. we ended up getting everything on the list. We ended the day with our Tradition.. Angies. 

24 hours later we got home and my dear sweet WONDERFUL hubby let me sleep in until 1 pm since we left our daughter with her grandpa while we shopped  she was very chipper the next day while we were super exhausted.. so I REALLY appreciated my husband taking care of her while I caught some rest.. 

We spent Thanksgiving, well the first part of the day, at Nanny's. It was full of delicious food, as always! I love Thanksgiving, we'll just pretend it's not just because of the food, but I love that all the family gets together.

Here you see Sisa with all her cousins.. yes.. all of them are girls! There is only one boy, poor guy, and there are still 2 more girls missing from this photo! Wonder what we will have next???? haha

As much as I miss Elysa being a little baby I love that she is old enough to start playing with her cousins more. You could totally tell the house was full of little girls because of all the squealing and high pitched shrieks while their uncles chased them around the house.

After Nanny's we went to my parents and enjoyed yet another delicious meal with my brothers, sister inlaw, parents, and grams ( more pictures coming soon.. I just haven't gotten them all off my camera yet )

Once Thanksgiving was over we immediately went out the next day and got our Christmas Tree. Sisa has been bugging us since the beginning of November to get the Christmas stuff out. So our big ol' Christmas decor box sat in the living room while sisa tore thru it. She was SO excited to put all the ornaments on the Christmas tree. She also made us dance with her to all the Christmas tunes. I love our family! :)

The next week after Thanksgiving we completed out next family tradition.. Christmas shopping in SLC. So exhausting but so worth it. And of course my favorite part.. walking thru the lights at the temple. Elysa LOVED the lights and "Jesus' pretty castle". I was so bummed I left my camera at home but I got a pretty shot of the temple with my phone right before it died.

Aren't the holidays grand!

Sad Little Clown

Elysa was a cute little clown for Halloween. She loved getting her makeup down and REALLY wanted to put the lipstick on herself.. how could you say know to "Pease momma pease?"

As cute as she looked in makeup never again will I put makeup no a 2 year old.. it DOES NOT last more than 5 minutes.

She did not want to smile for me AT ALL. She really was a very happy little clown but she did not want to show it for the camera. I ended up chasing her around the house with my camera.. she "hide" from me on the couch and when I finally caught her looking at me she was not very happy about that.

We headed to the mall for some trick-o-treating. Much easier and warmer than going door to door.. so we thought. It was a MAD HOUSE.. took us forever to get all the way thru the mall and we didn't get a whole lot of candy.. I mean Sis didn't get a whole lot of candy :).  Elysa loved it tho and that's all that matters.. she got SO excited when she got to say trick-o-treat and got candy.. She immediately wanted to eat it as soon as it hit the bottom of her bucket.. which also helped with her not making it out with a whole lot of candy haha.

After trick-o-treating we headed to grandma and gigi W's house for a movie and pumpkin carving. Elysa was so excited to get to carver her own pumpkin and her favorite part was to scoop the "guts" out.

Overall a very fun day. Kids certainly make it so much more fun :)

Practicing her trick-or-treating

Our Hunting Experience

I've been asked " How can you love hunting? You know killing bambi and all?" For me it's much more than that. I love to be in the outdoors.

I mean.. how could you not love god's beautiful creation? We hiked a good 2 hours up Hyde Park Canyon to get this view.. breath taking!

So here's our little hunting adventure story:

Day 1: Saturday, October 21 2010

We drove up to the Sinks. We drove around for 8 hours! We saw only 1 deer.. well I saw it. There were SOOO many people out and about but the back country was pretty. We decided to take a detour up to Old Ephraims grave since I have never been before.

Doesn't she look adorable in her little makeshift "dress" orange haha.

Elysa loved the big statue and especially the story of the "scawee bear!"

Day one was full of fun, ALOT of driving but in the end unsuccessful .

Day 2: Sunday October 22 2010

We decided to head up Hyde Park Canyon. We did alot of sitting in a nice, warm, car :) Mostly because we didn't want to drag Elysa out in the cold. We ended up seeing about 15 doe that day tho which was a HUGE difference then the day before. We drove around a little bit but gave up at dark and went home.

Day 3: Monday October 23 2010

We went up Hyde Park Canyon again and ended up seeing about 15 doe again.. we are assuming it was the same group. That morning 2 buck were shot by some hunters a few miles from us.. so that gave us some hope. But noon came around and nothing, no buck, and we were starving. At around 3 we were able to find a babysitter, devins wonderful mom, and Devin, his dad, and I decided to ditch the car and hike around. We were hiking up a mountain and, of course, aaaaallll the way across on an other mountain were a group of deer, to far to shoot at and identify. So we decided to hike over and try to get closer. About an hour later we got up the other side and to the spot we saw the deer.. but they were gone. :( We did spot either the same group or different group a little further up.. there was about 9 of them this time, there were 6 before. All doe as far as we can tell. After enjoying the view and chillin, literally, on the mountain for 45 minutes we decided dark was approaching and we headed back down to the car.

About 20 yards from the car, while I was being all bummed out for not getting to shoot my gun once haha, I looked up and spotted a group of deer on a ridge about 60 yards away from us. 2 were buck! So we shot, and we thought i'd hit one, my first deer! So we ran after them, 30 minutes later after chasing them down trying to figure out if we got one or not, the sun went down.

We went out the next day when the hunt was over but we couldn't find any trails whatsoever.. all well.. the adrenaline was fun enough. My husband is bummed about not having a good supply of jerky haha.

For those of you who think that hunting is all about killing.. for some people it's really not. I enjoy the outdoors, being with family, and i'll admit the thrill is fun.. i'm not to into killing animals but getting to shoot a gun, even if your not good at aiming because you are too excited haha, can be quite fun. Not to mention.. when you do get one.. the steaks and jerky are awesome!

Maybe next year... but at least this year was memorable and fun as always to be with family and in nature!

It's Been Said Before

I know it's been said before or is maybe cliche but I truly married my best friend! 5 years ago today Devin & I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan Temple. I am so glad that we are going to be spending eternity together because I wouldn't have it any other way! I never knew there could be someone so perfect for another person until I met Devin. I love that we are there for each other no matter what. I love knowing I will always have a shoulder to cry on and a friend to talk to and that that person will always understand me. I am so lucky because I don't know if any other person out there could tolerate me the way Devin does hahahaha. But i'll save you all the mushy gooshy because I could seriously go on and on but I just wanted the world to know how much I love my husband. He has given me the world if not more!

Love you Dev!!!!

Being a Parent

Being a parent is the most wonderful thing. I love being a mommy and I love when my little girl calls me "mama". I love when she gets excited for me to be home and grabs my hand and says "come on mama!". I love when my little girl wants me to dance with her and I don't even care if I look like an idiot because i'm having fun with my Lysa Bear. I love when I am shopping with Elysa and I talk to her just like I would an adult asking which kind of soup we should get for dinner. I love being a "scarwee monster" and chasing my little girl around the house while she squeals and shrieks in laughter as she runs away from me. I love when Elysa wants me to hide under the blankets with her as as she waits in anticipation for her papa to scare us. I love playing games with my little girl. I love that she loves to play soccer with us and watch us play soccer. I love seeing her cheering her mama and papa on on the sidelines. I love when we are watching movies she'll come up to us and say "a hold you" because she wants to snuggle with us too. I love feeling her little arms wrapped around my neck. I love singing songs with her. The list could go on and on.. overall I just love being a parent and I wouldn't ask for anything different. I don't know anything else and I don't want to know anything else but being a mama.


The other day I had an eye opening experience. I was reading a friends blog who had read another friends blog  : patrickandashley.blogspot.com. I never sobbed so hard until I read this touching, sad, and inspiring story. A family lost their little girl, 18 months old, due to drowning in a canal. I couldn't EVEN imagine living without Elysa, now I hold back tears everytime I see her and remember that families story and loss. They are truely inspiring tho, they are so strong with the spirit you could just feel it from their blog. I hope I never have to endure that but I sure hope that I can be that strong and rely on the Lord as much as they have. It really made me realize life is short and you need to spend every hour you can with your loved ones. 


I Cherish life and I Cherish being a parent!

Elysa's first hair cut

I am really bad at getting around to posting because this happened awhile ago but better late then never right? Anyways, Elysa got her first hair cut a at Cookie Cutters and she did such a good job at holding still and letting the nice girl trim her hair. She even styled it after and sprayed some glitter spray in Elysa's hair.. she just loved it! Plus they to sit in a car and watch a movie while getting their hair cut and after they get a balloon and sucker. "Cookie Cutters" is the cutest place so I highly recommend it to all you locals for your kids to get their hair cut!

A Hug

The other day I was having a litte bit of a sad day. I tend to cry easily when I am stressed out too. I was in the car pretty much sobbing and I hear this sweet little voice from the back say " a mamma crying? a mamma need a hug." So I went back and sat by her and she wrapped her cute little arms around me and said "Luv you mama." I just love that little girl! She always makes my day brighter.

Just an Update

I just thought I would inform those who read my sadly updated blogs where I have been. The past couple of months have been insane. I am going to school full time and work full time right now.. not sure how I am doing it but I am doing it. My hubby has turned into a stay at home daddy.. lucky ducky! Over the summer we were both working full time while my wonderful mother-in-law watched Elysa for us. But once school started up we lost our sitter :( We really REALLY didn't want to send Elysa to daycare.. we always wanted at least one of us home with her and since I was offered a graphic design position by my teacher and they were awesome enough to go over what my husband was making I decided to take it. Especially since Devin was really having a hard time with his job and needing change in his life. I know how it is when you feel like you just aren't going anywhere and your stuck in a dead end job, so I decided we could switch roles for a little while until he finds something he knows he will want to work at for a long while! We seriously feel so blessed that we are able to have one of us stay home and Elysa just LOVES that her daddy is home.. sometimes I get a little jealous because she is such a daddy's little girl now!

Oh boy I don't even know where to start with everything that has happened. I am working on scrapbook pages for everything. I thought that it would be easier to scrapbook the events and throw them up here rather than write about everything but it turned out to be harder than I thought. I just can't seem to find the time. I really don't even know where all the time goes because when I sit down and think of what we really do during the week it doesn't seem to be filled up but then when the week goes on the time just seems to disappear with random things. I really miss just chilling at home doing nothing! That's why I am a little.. JUST a little bit excited for the winter weather because life seems to really slow down during the winter. I just REALLY am not ready for the cold at all! I am excited to get to play in the snow more this year now that Lys is a little older and I know is going to beg us to play in the snow with her.

I am working on the scrapbook pages for it but on August 18 Elysa turned 2! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by!! I love her so much, even tho she is SOOOOOOOOOO dramatic about everything.. sometimes I just have to sit back and laugh at how dramatic she is because the littlest things will set her off and man she is good at tantrums.. her favorite is to throw herself on the floor and start kicking or she'll cover her face and bawl while peaking thru her fingers to make sure we are still paying attention to her. I cannot believe how much of a jabber jaw she is. She amazes me at times because I don't realize how smart she really is and i'll try to tell her what something is or how to use it and she'll look at me and say "I know mama!" I don't know where the attitude comes from and altho it's pretty cute right now I remind her that when she's a teenager that will be unexceptable haha! I love her to death tho because when she is in angel mode or goof mode she's hilarious! Her now favorite words are "What's that?" and when you ask her something it's always "huh?". We ended up taking her to Hogle zoo for her birthday as well as had a birthday princess party for her. We wanted to have a Dora party because she loves Loves LOVES Dora but when she saw the princesses she just went crazy with excitment so we decided to go with princess instead. We dressed her up as a little princess, got her a princess cake, and a castle pinata ( pictures coming soon ) She also got a princess four-wheeler powerwheel with a princess helmet.. do you think she's spoiled yet?? Because I sure do!! We really aren't trying to spoil her but somehow it happens.. I think it's time for another little one so she can learn what sharing is.. altho she is really good sharing with adults just not kids!

Well I could go on and on and on but I'll update with pictures soon because they describe everything much better than I can in words.. I never was good at writing haha.

Yellowstone 2010- part 2

Yellowstone 2010- part 1

Because I literally have NOT had anytime to do anything, that's why I have been so far behind on my blogging, I am just going to post these scrapbooked pictures I have done so far. I have PLENTY more to come.. I am only on day 2 out of 4 so far hehe.. but I am getting there. So enjoy until I get the rest done and can actually write about our FUN FUN FUN trip to yellowstone :)!

A long needed update

It's been awhile since I have updated so I am going to try to go back in time, like to Memorial Day :). We went and visited my gramps and had a bbq and my grams after.


After that we went fishing at one of the Dams.. 3rd I think haha. Sisa loved fishing.

Especially with grandpa D!

She was really scared of the fish tho once we pulled them to shore. As long as she could look at it from a distance it was fine. We ended up catching 10 fish between all 4 of us. I have never used raw hamburger before as bait but oh my heck it worked better than anything I've used. You would catch in and catch a fish right away. Britton even used fetta cheese and it worked! Guess the fish like the smelly gross stuff.

Fathers Day

Devin's fathers day gift! He has been wanting a motorcycle again for awhile. So I allowed him to get one because it would save us ALOT on gas money also! We both went and got our licenses this week too! :)

I didn't get a chance to write about how happy I am that Devin is my husband and our daughters daddy!

From day 1 Elysa has been a papa's little girl. Already she likes to "Kick it" (the soccer ball) She LOVES papa's jeep and motorcycle.

She loves to have papa tell her it's alright and not to be scared of the little bouncy bunny, hehe :). She always wants papa to make sure there are no monsters, I think this phobia has come from Monsters Inc. which she still loves to watch.

I can't think of another person I could be more happy with in life.

Plus I don't think I could ever find someone who could put up with me the way Devin does, :D!
I love more than anything that we have SO much in common. We love to play soccer together and while some may think we are just addicted to soccer or we play to much I don't think they really understand that it's something we love to do together and it's something that we can both for sure support eachother in. We love to get out the chairs and sit on the sidelines and watch each others soccer games. We've decided, which luckily comes easily, that we are going to support each other in everything. When sisa is older and is going to soccer championships, or dance competitions, or whatever she gets into we will be there for eachother no matter what! even if we have to sit out in the freezing cold rain or snow to watch support her!

I just love that we love each other unconditionally and that we are such a happy family! It's great to know I married my best friend and that there isn't ever going to be anyone else!


Crossfit

I've been trying forever to lose weight and let me tell you, it's not easy! We joined a gym and had been working out for 6 months, I felt better but I just didn't feel like I was getting any results. A friend of mine invited me to try out crossfit. Having no idea what it was I decided to try it out. OH man it kicked my butt.. I was sore for days but I have to tell you, I feel SO much better, stronger, fitter than I have with anything I have ever tried before. Even tho I get nervous for the next days workout, I get excited to go so I can get that one step closer to getting fitter. Altho the pounds haven't been flying off the scale  I know it doesn't matter because I am gaining muscle and I can tell! The other day we had to do a workout called Angie where you do 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, and 100 squats. Brutal right? Well I did it! It wasn't easy but I did it in the time frame! I was stoked! I'M GETTING STRONGER AND MY CLOTHES ARE FITTING SOOO MUCH BETTER! I am now a crossfit junkie! I love it!

* sorry this is so far going really long, the next 2 things are pretty short so I'll keep going *

Cache Valleys FIRST 6 v 6 womens soccer tournament

was this weekend. We started out with 2 games Friday and ended in 2 games on Saturday. Our team lost 3 and won 1 so it wasn't the best but it sure was fun! It was more about the fun than winning anyways :)

I just love to play soccer! And it was fun having my husband and little girl cheering me on on the sidelines.. Elysa would love to yell "go mamma!" and tell me "Good Luck" before I'd go play. I love family :).

Old Neighborehood get together


Lastly a couple of old time friends got our old group back together. We used to hang out ALL the time in the old neighborhood from when I was 13 until we graduated! It was so fun getting to see everyone, especially those we really hadn't seen in awhile. It was also fun to find out what everyone was up to, see who of us were married now and had cute little kids! Fun that our kids could all play together to! Makes you miss the old times but appreciate the new. Something we need to do more often. I will get pictures up when I steal them from people hehe.

* Wow, what an update huh? Next time I'll try to do it as they come rather than all at once!

Who could be cuter

I've been wanting to take Elysa out and get some cute pictures of her at an old barn or in a field somewhere but didn't really want to go somewhere that's been over used and really couldn't think of where to go. One day I came out of the shop and took the back yard route to our house and really noticed the old "ugly" barn in our backyard. I didn't realize how cool it really was. I immediately started thinking of how fun it would be to get pictures of Elysa there and couldn't wait for it to warm up. Once it FINALLY did I took her out for pictures. She is so good and just LOVES to pose for the camera. I had to try and get her out of the habit of saying "CHEEEEESE" everytime I pointed the camera at her haha. But here are some of the pictures I took of her, I thought they turned out pretty cute :)

I didn't realize how cute dandilions could be, altho I still hate them in my lawn haha. But sisa loved to pick and sniff them. I just love my little girl!

I was going thru her closet the other day and found a cute little pink tutu ballerina outfit i'd bought for her before she was even born and now she is finally, altho sadly, big enough to wear it! So I am planning another cute photo shoot :)

Rather Random

I havent posted in a little while so I just thought I give an update. Devin's  on a soccer league here and I was realizing, we don't have ANY pictures of either of us playing soccer so I wanted to get some pictures to prove to our grand kids that we really did play soccer, were hoping to still be playing when we have grand kids lol! So here are a few fun shots of Devin at his best!

I wanted to try and get some cute pictures of Elysa while we watched Dev play. It was REALLY windy, plus Elysa just kept wanting to go play on the "Weeee" aka slide. There were TONS of people there so I couldn't get any cute shots without some weird person in the background so I gave up on that but I did get this cute photo when Elysa finally started to tucker out, she is almost impossible to get pictures of because she is such a little busy body and doesn't hold still for more than 2 seconds!

Later on that day we went to Hyrum Dam. I had to write a report for my history class on the history of something in Cache Valley. We really wanted to go to Old Ephraims grave but wasn't able to make it up there, plus we didn't want to get stuck in the mud because we heard it was still pretty muddy up there. My grandma gave me some really old history books about Hyrum and the Dam. It was actually pretty fun to read because it was stories from the pioneers rather then just straight old history facts. Our teacher wanted us to actually visit the place we were gonna right about so we could have some sort of emotional connection to our report also. So I took the opportunity to get some pictures.

I love my little sis so much! She is growing up WAY to fast! Kinda brings you to tears sometimes with how fast they grow. It's about time to bring on another little one :) Were thinking maybe next summer, we'll see! Elysa is ready tho, she carries around her little babies ( I should get photos of that huh? ). She loves to tuck them in their crib and give them kisses a nu night. It's so stinkin' cute. She's gonna be a good big sister. I just love family, especially our little family. I love that we do everything together and its so fun getting to experience new and fun things together too. We are driving to Yellowstone in July and I am SOOOOO psyched! Anyways just had to post a little something :)