Dane - Jessica - Beckett - Quinn

The rest of our Christmas Vacation

2012-01-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

Bowling

Hanging with Reid

Loving the extra time with dad

Loved spending time at Grandma Myrna and Grandpa Doug's

Mini Golf

Quinn was a maniac on the piano

Hanging out at the mall with Grandma Myrna. I didn't know a 10 month old could get such joy out of a 25 cent ride but Quinn would scream and scream as soon as the ride would stop.

I still haven't broke the news to Dane that it finally snowed right before we left cause he had to leave a couple weeks before us and I know it is going to break his heart that he missed it. Papa stepped up and helped Beck build a great snowman though.

My mom and Quinn watching the boys build their snowman

This picture and the one of my mom reading to Beck and Quinn are pretty much the only 2 times Quinn let my mom hold her the entire month we were there haha

The aquarium

Just like last time we stayed with my parents, everytime Beck came up missing I immediately knew where I could find him...pigging out in the pantry. He kept trying to get everyone in my family (other than me) to hide in the pantry with him and sneak him treats. He made sure to be sneaky and tell them to be quiet so that I wouldn't catch him eating treats haha

I'm not happy to say that our vacation has come to an end! You would think being in Utah a month would be a month but it wasn't haha. Big news, I survived flying home with the kids by myself - 3 flights, a 4 hour layover, and Quinn only sleeping about 45 min all day. Plus Beck threw up twice the day before we left so I was also totally stressed cause I didn't know if he was over it yet. Once again I was completely amazed at how nice everyone at the airports were to me, I don't think I pulled my suitcase once because there were so many people that offered to help. So many people went way out of their way to help me by offering to carry bags, hold kids, or just told me I was doing a good job. There are a lot of kind and thoughtful people out there!

Beck's paradise

2012-01-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

While we were in Utah my dad took Beck down to my aunt and uncle's house one afternoon and I'm pretty sure it was one of Beck's highlights of the trip. They have all of Beck's favorite things diggers, tractors, and animals

Christmas Day

2012-01-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus came to town!

Quinn's favorite toy was a doll...it was the only toy that took her attention away from playing in the wrapping paper so I'm assuming it was her favorite

Beck made it easy on Santa all he wanted was a monster truck but I think even though he got the monster truck his favorite present was probably his bat-mobile...we also had a lot of fun with the nerf guns he got, everytime you got shot you HAD to fall over

It's scary when we realize how closely Beck is watching and copying our every move now days. I finished off the sparkling cider straight from the bottle and a few minutes later I looked over and Beck was doing the same thing

My parents got Just Dance 3 for the wii and that made for some good times and good laughs! My dad and Dane kept disappearing throughout the night and then we would find them downstairs alone in front of the tv practicing dances.

A big huge thanks to our parents for all the time, effort, and details they put in to always make Christmas so perfect and memorable for all of us!!

Pre-Christmas

2012-01-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas

Our parents are too good to us with all the fun things they plan and all the things they do for us to make Christmas time so special.

It was also SO FUN to finally meet our new little nephew Reid for the first time, and he didn't disappoint - he is the best cutest little baby ever, I couldn't get enough of seeing my kids together with their new little cousin.

We flew in Saturday and Sunday morning we went up to Salt Lake with Myrna and Doug and saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas program and then went and had breakfast at Little America...definitely one of my very favorite Christmas traditions!

The pictures above are from the Lisonbee family Christmas party, everyone acting out the nativity

I still can't get over how fun it was to hang out with Shelby with both of our little babies, after all those years growing up that we played "house" together it's crazy we are doing the real thing now haha

My mom saved our special ornaments that we would choose every year for us so we could put the on the Christmas tree ourselves.

Don't know if you see that little scratch on Beck's face but funny story - he walked into the room with the scratch bleeding on his face and I asked how he scratched himself and he said "Jack punched me"...hmmm funny since we haven't seen Jack in 3 weeks - before we left Virginia

Making gingerbread houses...we named some of our houses after some of the houses in the neighborhood we grew up in....I won't say what we named them so I don't offend anyone but I want to make a note of it so I don't forget how funny it was

Christmas eve breakfast at Magelby's

We also did other fun things that I didn't get pictures of. We went to Brick Oven (a must everytime we are in Utah) and then saw the play "Scrooge" with my family. We went to Sherlock Holmes and to see the Lights at temple square and ate at The Garden Room with Myrna and Doug. And on Christmas eve me and my dad took Beck to Arthur Christmas and everyone else saw Mission Impossible. Good good times

Puppy Party

2012-01-03T21:43:00.000-08:00

Not only are Beck and Lily boyfriend and girlfriend (in my mind at least) their birthdays are only 2 weeks apart so me and Ashlee decided it would be fun to do a combined birthday party for them...and lucky for me Ashlee is the most creative and talented person that I know so she came with all the great ideas and I just glady took credit for them!
We did a puppy party so when all the kids got there we gave them puppy ears to wear and painted their noses black. Then we played fetch, grab the tail, had a puppy training school where they had to sit, play dead and all that sort of stuff, a barking contest, and hid a bunch of bones with candy taped to them for the kids to find. We thought all the games were easy enough but they still had a hard time catching on to some of them...even with 6 of us adults there trying to help hahaha.

Ashlee's parents even brought their dog to the party to be our mascot hahaha. He was very handy during our puppy training school, he showed all the kids what they were supposed to be doing.

The part I was most excited for was when we served the cake in doggy dishes and let the kids eat on the floor.

Milah, Benson, Lily, Beck, Jack, Ryler

Beck's 3rd Birthday

2012-01-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

My favorite little boy in the world turned 3 last month.

I don't want to do this post on all the things I love about Beck because there are too many things I would want to say-I would be here all night!! So let me just say that having Beck join our family 3 years ago has brought more happiness to our home than I can even describe!

His birthday was on a Sunday so we went out Saturday to McDonalds and to Maymont Park, Sunday he just opened presents in the morning and then had cake and icecream after church.

Me and Dane were so excited to give him his birthday presents that neither one of us could fall asleep the night before his birthday...I'm not kidding. It got to the point that we were both thinking it might be a good idea just to wake him up and open them the night before just so we could get some sleep! We got him a train table with some pretty fancy train tracks and we knew he would be so excited for it, which he was plus he got monster trucks, a tractor, and a leapster he was in heaven!

Happy Birthday Beck - Love You!

2011-11-29T06:32:00.000-08:00

This happy little gal is keeping me busy! She is into EVERYTHING everytime I turn my back she is eating something off the floor, climbing up the stairs, or pulling things out of drawers and off shelfs. The first few pictures were taken within about 5 seconds of eachother - she just moves non-stop. 8 months is such a fun age but I don't know how she's not completely exhausted cause I am!!

Thief

2011-11-29T06:23:00.000-08:00

Well we finally weaned Beck off his binky and now he's taken it upon himself to wean Quinn off her binky. Every night and nap I lay Quinn down with her binky and blanket and many times I come in and find that the binky and blanket have made it from her crib to Beck's bed

Fall

2011-11-29T06:17:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things in the world - Virginia in the Fall

Carter Mountain

2011-11-29T06:15:00.000-08:00

Apple picking at beautiful Carter Mountain

Happy Halloween

2011-11-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

I can't tell out of me, Dane, and Beck who loves Halloween most - we are all crazy about it so it's a tough call. I would maybe say Beck based on the fact that everyday since Halloween we get out his trick or treating candy 50 times just so he can smell every piece since he knows he can't eat it all. But then again I would maybe say me because I have a sugar tooth like most people will never be able to even comprehend and I LOVE watching all my favorite Halloween movies like Practical Magic and Double Double Toil and Trouble. But I actually might vote Dane as being the biggest Halloween fan because he gets true joy just from standing at the door handing candy out to kids, he is always more than willing and very excited to dress up in any costume I have for him, he also wont watch any movie thats not a Halloween movie for the whole month of October, and I've mentioned before I think that pumpkin carving is one of the top 3 highlights of Dane's year every year . Oh but wait, Dane doesn't like candy so I guess he can't be the biggest Halloween fan since thats the whole meaning of the holiday.

Now that I talked Dane up I hope you aren't disappointed in his pumpkins. Mine is the first one and he did the other 2. I bet you would never guess mine only took me about 10 minutes to carve, when I told Dane that I was done he looked at my pumpkin and then looked back at me in total disgust. I had it pictured being a little bit cuter in my mind.

Beck loves our pumpkins, to Dane's delight everynight he wants Dane to light them as soon as he gets home. We had to make an emergency candle run to the store the other night because they've already been through 3 candles and we didn't have any more. Beck walks out to look at them multiple times every night. Every time he will look at Dane's and say "ooh a scary pumpkin" and then he will look at the one Dane made for him and say "ooh a spider pumpkin for me!" and then he will look at mine and say "what's that?" EVERY TIME!!! Rude!

This was Dane's costume - he was a synchronized swimmer, so he wore this hat with a robe I was glad and very surprised that he was classy enough to choose to wear a robe instead of a swimming suit to our friends Halloween party haha. I never got a picture of Dane in his costume but Beck had no problem modeling it for me.

The Friday before Halloween was our ward's trunk-or treat. Beck and his buddy Benson (one of my favorite little boys in the world) looked so darn cute together in their twin dragon costume.

Ashlee, Me, Lara, Paige - LOOOOVE these gals

I think next year for Halloween I am going to go as something cute like a cowgirl or a princess I feel like Lindsay Lohan in means girls in this picture. I loved Ashlee's captain hook costume her whole family looked awesome in their Peter Pan costumes.

Dane and Tom Selleck - I definitely vote that Derek makes the mustache a permantent look. Dane didn't have time to dress up for the trunk or treat

Family Pictures

2011-10-24T20:36:00.001-07:00

Thanks so much to my talented friend Alicia for taking our family pictures last month!

2011-10-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

This little boy just keeps me laughing - a few of my favorite things he's said/done this week:

Saturday morning Dane was sleeping in (much deserved considering he's been getting up to go to the hospital at 3:30 am!) and Beck climbed up on the bed next to him and woke him up to tell him that if he gets out of bed then Beck would have to shut the door and put him in time-out. I bet you can't guess what we tell Beck everynight as we put him to bed

When he asks me for candy and I tell him no he just says matter of factly "ok I'll ask dad"

Quinn was in her room crying and Beck ran in ahead of me and before I went in he shut the door to their room and kept saying to Quinn "now just tell me whats the matter sweetheart"

Since Beck asks for fruit snacks 50 times a day I usually give him a pack and tell him to just keep them in his pocket until after dinner, half the time he sneaks away and eats them and half the time he actually saves them and doesn't ask again. So the other day he asked if he could have some for his pocket and I told him no because he had already had some and he started throwing a major tantrum, then mid tantrum he goes straight from crying and screaming to laughing hysterically and between giggles said "I don't even have a pocket!". I thought it was funny that he appreciated the irony of realizing he was wearing his basketball shorts which don't have pockets.

We were at the grociery store and instead of saying goodbye to the man that helped bag our grocierys Beck blew him kisses until he was finally out of sight.

And lets not forget our doctors visit last week to get the raisin he stuck up his nose! I don't know what he was thinking but I watched him as he shoved it in there and I tried to get it out with the tweezers which wasn't working so I called my mom and she googled it and read that if you blow into his other nostril and it might come out but I decided I would rather make a trip to the doctor than try that one. So I took him in and the doctor pulled out the giant raisin and after we left I put Beck in the car and he said "that was unreal!".

2011-10-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went up to DC to go to the temple and then after we went to the temple we went downtown and walked through some of the monuments. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing everyting in DC I love it and of course it was wonderful to go to the temple and spend time together as a family.

2011-10-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

I am SO IN LOVE with these two

I'm also SO IN LOVE with this guy

Quinn - is the happiest baby in the world, if you make eye contact with her your sure to get a smile (except for Lara and my mom haha). She's getting her 2 bottom teeth right now. She hates baby food - even the fruits! She loves her dad and won't let him out of her sight. She thinks everything Beck does is hilarious, he's still the only one that can really make her laugh.

Beck - I didn't think it was possible but he has a sweet tooth as bad as mine and can sniff out any sugar I have in the house nomatter where I hide it, and then he will find a hiding place to eat it in and as soon as he is finished he will find me and say "I'm so sorry for eating....", if it wasn't for his honesty I'd never even know he had done it. He's been praying for Santa Clause everynight. Love's the songs Firework, Soul Sister, Bad Romance, New York, I am a Child of God, Popcorn Popping, and I Hope they call me on a Mission. When he leaves the room he tells me to stay right where I am and be a good boy until he gets back.

Dane - The hardest worker I know...but in my opinion he has mastered the "work hard play hard" whenever he has some spare time he wants to be doing something fun! He's super busy doing rotations but still makes time everyday to spend with me and the kids even if its just a quick trip to the grociery store or helping me get the kids ready for bed. And he definitely keeps me laughing...the other day we were at the mall and he tried on a pair of pants and then came out to show me, I told him I didn't love them and he agreed, then without even thinking he took them off right then and there....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE!!! And the worst part is that I didn't notice what he was doing either until we both looked at him holding the pants and then looked down at him wearing his nice white silk underwear in the middle of the store!!! For anyone who knows Dane they know that he walks around shamlessly in his undies all the time even in front of my family or anyone who knocks on our front door haha but in the middle of a store at the mall...thats a stretch even for him!!

2011-10-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

What would we ever do without our good friends to entertain us everday!?

Beckett and Jack on the train at the childrens museum

Lily brought some treats over and I told Beck he couldn't have one until he ate all of his Macaroni so Lily totally backed me up and saw to it that Beck at every bite before she would give him his candy kiss. She cheered him on everybite and kept telling him how many more bites he needed to eat before it would all be gone...and he insisted that she blow on every single spoonful before he would take a bite.

I know Beck isn't going to remember all the fun he had as a 2 year old with all his Virginia buds, but he sure loves them and I hope they will be friends forever and I'm sure there will be many more good times to come!

BFFs

2011-09-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

We finally moved Quinn from our room to Beck's room and even though it's a huge pain because they keep eachother up and then wake eachother up it's also the cutest thing ever to listen to them laugh and giggle together after we put them to bed I can't get enough of it! Quinn is starting to react to everything Beck does, she thinks he's so funny and he just eats it up. And you better not mess with Quinn or else you will without a doubt get in trouble from Beck his favorite phrase is "My Quinn!" anytime anyone touches her. I hope he's always that protective of her ( well maybe not THAT protective)

2011-09-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

I thought when I made these bows that I was making them for Quinn...but Beckett is really rockin them so I guess they can share

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

For labor day we went and stayed at a cute little Bed & Breakfast (owned by REALLY rude children hating people) in Staunton VA with our good friends Eric and Ashlee.

When we first got there we had a picnic at a cute little park with a pond and a train. Me and Ashlee waited with our babies while the boys took the older kids on the train. While we were waiting we made friends with A LOT of hillbilly kids who were waiting to get on the train. I was sitting next to a couple of little hillbilly looking girls with really thick accents and I asked them if they had been on the little train before and they said yes, then I asked them what grade they were in and the smaller of the two said "second grade" and then pointing to the bigger girl she said "she's done it four times!" I wasn't at all surprised by this sadly...but then I realized that she meant she had been on the train 4 times not repeated second grade 4 times haha.

Finn and Quinn hanging out together in their strollers (no - me and Ashlee are not obsessed with Glee...it's all just a coincidence haha)

After the park we went and walked around downtown which was REALLY cute. They had some kind of festival going on so the kids had fun getting balloons and riding tractors there and then we went in some fun stores and went to eat.

Beck and Lily at Shenandoah. I've told both my kids that at least one of them has to marry a Stettler...they're just so darn cute together!

Our last full day we drove through Shenandoah National Park and then went to Luray Caverns which were really cool!

I love seeing new things and places and I'm so glad we have such fun people to do it with!!

Back to the 80's

2011-09-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Katie's 30th birthday we did 80's scraps!! It was so fun we played name that tune to 80's music and name that 80's movie and really I love any excuse to make my hair as big and poofy as I want to! I love these girls and love spending all my Thursday nights and early Friday mornings with them every week!

Just Precious

2011-09-14T20:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I can't resist spending all of my free time during the kid's nap time taking pictures of them napping!

2011-09-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

Gosh - I guess she's too big for the bouncy seat! Dane brought Quinn downstairs yesterday and layed her in her seat next to me and I looked over and she was standing next to it, it caught me a little off guard I guess she really isn't a newborn baby anymore.

Go Cougars

2011-08-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

I know that a lot of times kids will choose one outfit that they love and want to wear it every single day...I love Beck and Quinn so much in these little cougar outfits that we got in a wonderful package today that I think I'm going to be the one thats going to make them wear them every single day.

Sidenote: I was showing Beck the picture of himself in the football jersey this morning and when he saw it he said "look at that cutie!"

We're Back

2011-08-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

We miss our family but it's been fun to be home and see all our friends again! Beck definitely missed his girlfriend Lily and he has a new darling little buddy Ryler that just moved in, we are so excited that they moved here we already love them!!

Beach Boys!!

2011-08-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Best night ever!! This weekend we went to the Beach Boys and it was AWESOME!!! Me and Dane know and love every song that they sang, everytime they would start a new song we would both get so excited - we sang and danced the night away!!

Kansas City

2011-08-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

After we left Utah we headed to Kansas City (which is where Dane's brother Trent and his cute family live) for a Church family reunion. Since Dane's sister Ashlee lives in Nebraska, Trent is in Missouri, we are in Virginia, and Myrna and Doug are in Utah it's hard to get everyone together but it's so fun when we finally can all get together!!

The first day we were there we all went to the zoo. They had this sweet polar bear that would come right up to the window where everyone was standing and he would backflip into the water over and over and then come up and put his paws up to the window - it was really sweet! The first picture is Beck and his cousin Kai in front of the polar bear even though you can't see the sweet bear - darn

That night we all went out for pizza and then took a drive to see the beautiful new temple in Kansas City.

Beck loved hanging out with all his cousins, he especially loved Delaney and Abby and they were so cute with him. One of the nights while we were driving they came in our car with us and had Beck giggling the whole time.

We went to a Royals game while we were there, and lucky for us it was dollar hotdog night so of course Dane and Trent had to have a contest to see who could eat more - dollar hotdog night ended up being a lot more expensive than you'de think. Beck loved the game at first but then just got really frustrated because he wanted to go down and play on the field too.

The next day we went to a childrens science museum, it was so awesome there were so many fun things for the kids, Beck was in heaven cause they had golf, so we spent most of our time in that area.

Beck and his cute little cousins Crew and Bennett playing on the trains together at the childrens museum. Beck has 3 cousins within about a year of him and they are all boys so when they get a little older it is going to be so fun for him...he's not quite to the age where its fun yet since they just steal eachothers toys the whole time they're together

We also went to an awesome theme park "Worlds of Fun" we waited to go at night because it was soooo hot during the day, and we still thought we were going to get heat stroke at 10 pm when we were there but I wouldn't have minded getting heatstroke in exchange for going on all the sweet rollercoasters. They had a little snoopy land for Beck to play in and he was definitely a happy camper cause they had a monster truck ride which is one of his other favorite things

Sunday we BBQ'd at Trent and Lindsays house, after a week full of fun it was nice to just hang out together. It was such a blast to see and spend time with the Church family we wish we could do it more often!! Thanks Church family for such a fun time!!

And this last picture is of Beck and Quinn crashing at the hotel the night before we flew home. When we finally got home we pulled up and Beck said "where are we!?" I can't imagine he really forgot what home looked like but we were gone for so long that I'm sure he was totally confused. It was such a fun summer thanks so much to our families for everything!!

Golfing

2011-08-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

Just a couple more cute pictures of the highlight of Beckett's trip to Utah - GOLF!

Friends

2011-08-17T12:10:00.001-07:00

One of the things we loved about being in Utah for so long this summer was that we had more time to spend with some of our best friends. But even though we had more time with them, it still didn't seem like enough, i wanted even more time to be able to hang out with them again and again.

I wish I had got more pictures hanging out together but I'm going to write about all of them so I don't forget!

I got to meet up with some of the girls that I used to work with at the hospital that I miss SOOOO much Annie, Lindsay, Mandi, and Stacy.....we pretty much just spent the entire time together laughing it was so fun....having to work isn't all that bad when you work with girls like them....we had some good times!!

I also had such a fun time getting together with some of my cousins and going out to eat...they are all so fun I love spending time with them.

We were able to get together with Dan & Alysen a couple different times and they were so nice to take us boating and have us over for dinner a couple times. Beck loved their little boy Owen, maybe some day they'll be best friends just like their dads

Hanging out with TJ and Stephanie is always a must for us we love them SO MUCH!!!

Steph and Tahsha were also nice enough to entertain me during the day and invite me to lunch and the park a couple times...me and Beck both loved it!!

We got together Rhett and Jessie a couple different times not only do we love hanging out with them cause they make us laugh the entire time but they also took us kayaking down the Provo river which is one of my favorite things in the world...they are seriously so fun

I know I know sweet pictures huh

I was able to catch up with a few friends that I hadn't hungout with in years it was so fun!

I went out to eat with my friend Laurel who I hadn't hung out with since highschool and we could have sat and laughed and talked for days it didn't feel at all like it had been 7 years since we hung out.

These are pics of me and my friend Lyndsey - we were best friends as soon as I moved to SF in first grade and stayed best friends all growing up. I hadn't hung out with her in so long so it was fun and totally crazy hanging out again especially now that we both have 2 kids! We took the kids to the park by my old house and then we went to eat at barries which is not only the best hamburger and shake place ever but also where me and Lyndsey would always go together so it was fun to take our kids

P.S. The first picture of us was taken after our Halloween parade - Lyndsey didn't usually wear a dance costume to school and I didn't use a can in 3rd grade - it was for my "wheres waldo costume"

And the second picture was just us thinking we were pretty cool when we were in highschool haha

haha and another blast from the past - me Tessa and Megan at highschool graduation - again I didn't get pics of us hanging out, but lucky for them I found this little gem in my photo album.

Even though I didn't get to see her a ton this summer it was fun to hang out with Tessa and meet her fiancee Josh - I would have been really troubled if she had married someone that I'd never met especially since Dane practically spent as much time with Tessa as he did me while we were dating since me and Tessa were roomates and always together haha.

And I hadn't hung out with Megan since highschool either but I had a total blast getting together with her and meeting her darling little twins I'm so glad that we got to hangout!!

More Utah

2011-07-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

After 2 months of studying seriously all day every day Dane is finally done with boards!! He flew in to meet us the day after he took his test and it is AWESOME to have a husband again!!

I'm starting to think I may just move in with my mom and dad while Dane finishes up his last 2 years (jk) but we have been having such a good time with our family and friends it's going to be hard to leave them!!

Dane's sister Ashlee and her 6 kids came to visit from Nebraska so we were able to have a fun week with them while they were here, Ty is a year older than Beck and Bennett is a couple months younger so Beck had a lot of fun playing with them and he LOVES his cousin Abby who is so cute to play with him all the time. While they were here we went to the pool a couple times, Kangaroo Zoo, they took Beck to Chuck-E-Cheese, and we went to Provo Beach Resort where the kids played on the playground, ropes course, merry-go-round,and arcade but the only thing Beck cared about was bowling they have mini-bowling and he LOVED it

haha is this trashy or what - Beck and the cousins had a good time as always playing with the baby lambsBeck (and me and Dane) loves riding Dane's old go-cart at Grandma's

Our good friends Danny and Alysen took us boating at Utah Lake, I LOVE boating it was so much fun and Beck had a ton of fun with his little buddy Owen.

We started the 4th of July festivities early by watching fireworks Saturday night, it took a few minutes before Beck warmed up to it.

Shelby and Trevor got here just in time for us to all be able to celebrate the 4th of July together. We all went to breakfast at Magelbys, then played some cards, then girls went shopping while boys went golfing, then had a bbq, and topped it all of with our own firework show.

And let me tell you the firework show that the boys put on for us was not a disappointment...it never is when Dane is involved! I can't begin to explain Dane's love of fireworks, we can't drive by a fireworks stand without him saying something like "oh doesn't the sight of that stand just make you so happy!?" I'm pretty sure he would spend every penny he had on fireworks if I let him. My mom gave us money to go buy fireworks cause she knew Dane would take that job very seriously, and it took him an hour running back and forth between the fireworks at the grociery store and the stand before he decided what he wanted to buy.

So that night the boys all got together and set up all of the fireworks in the driveway and then strategized who was going to light which firework and in which order...and to top it all off my dad has his classical music blasting in the background...believe me it was magical!! haha

We went to Provo Beach Resort with my family too. We all bowled and then Dayne did indoor surfing while me and Trevor did the Ropes course, and Beck no surprise bowled some more.

We did a baby shower for Shelby. AHHHH I can't wait for my little nephew to get here!! Without a doubt Shelby and Trevor are going to have one cute baby!!

Then since Dayne is going on his mission next month he got to go through the temple for the first time and my entire family was able to be there....it was so awesome to be able to have the whole family in the temple together.

Every summer my family goes to St George to go see the AMAZING plays at the Tuacahn. We went this last weekend but Shelby and Trevor had to fly home to California the day before we left so that Trevor could go to class, but then they totally surprized us and the day after they got home turned around and drove back up to St George so when we woke up Saturday morning they were in the living room of the condo sleeping on an air mattress!!

We had an awesome time we went to see the "Little Mermaid" the first night but after 20 minutes right during the thunderstorm in the play an awful thunderstorm really came and it starting pouring buckets of water on us so they had to cancel the play! Thanks a lot mother nature!! But Saturday even though the weather forcast was the same we went and saw "Grease" and luckily it didn't rain a drop and it was so good!

Other than going to Tuacahn we did some swimming, played games, ate out, shopped, the boys golfed...the usual....and Mr. One-track-mind Beck just wanted to play mini golf at the club house the whole time we were there and luckily Dane, Dayne, and my mom and dad all took their turn taking him so he was a happy camper.

Beck was so funny before we left we told him we were going to go to St. George and then he kept telling us he wanted to see a monkey and we were all so confused but then my mom figured out that he was getting St. George and Curious George confused haha.

I have to say the biggest highlight of the trip...and maybe my life;)...was Shelby brought "Saturdays Warrior" a childhood favorite of both of ours and come to find out Irene's too...and we all did a sing-along to the entire movie together. It was INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Utah

2011-06-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

Poor Dane is taking his boards in a couple weeks and so to prepare for them he has been studying seriously all day everyday for the last month. So instead of living my life as a single parent for a month me and the kids headed to Utah.

I feel like an awful wife that we are here in Utah having so much fun LOVING hanging out with family and friends, while Dane is home lonely and studying but we both know that it's best thing for all of us.

We were able to come just in time to see Dayne's highschool graduation, and I'm so glad that we get to spend a couple months with him before he leaves for his mission to Honduras!!

And even though sadly we missed it (very sadly) a big shout out to Shelby who had her graduation from California State University Northridge the same day as Dayne's graduation. So proud of you Shel!!! And how cute is she 7 months pregnant!?

Beck has LOVED going to Grandma Myrna and Grandpa Doug's house to feed the sheep, he follows them around with their bottles of milk saying "common baby just eat".

We got to spend a fun day at the zoo with Grandma Myrna, she the best Grandma she always plans so many fun things for us to do!

The Spanish Fork Dons baseball and softball teams took state so we went down and watched the parade on main street...3 times. Beck loved it so much the first time they went by that we had to rush a couple blocks down so we could watch them come by again. And then waited for them to turn around so we could see them AGAIN!

On memorial day we went to Heber to a Thomas the Train day. I would like to say that we got totally ripped off since they charged $20 a person for a 10 minute train ride that went 5mph but Beck was soooooo excited about going on Thomas the Train that it was so worth it...especially since I wasn't the one who paid haha. He was in heaven though he's still talking about it 2 weeks later.

We went to the circus last weekend. It was the first time I'd been to the circus and I loved it!! I can't believe the things those people can do, I was totally convinced that I was going to witness

somebody falling flat on their face but they didn't they are awesome! Beck loved the pony ride and train ride that he went on before the circus but was over it by the time we sat down to watch it, we kept telling him we had to stay to see the elephants...and they never brought in the elephants even though we saw some outside!

We had a fun picnic Sunday night at the park. Brandon and Irene tried to teach us all how to do double dutch but all of us tried and non of us could do it.

Quinn LOVES uncle Dayne. He is the only one that knows how to calm her down after Ammy upsets her everytime she holds her haha.

This girl loves attention, everytime you look at her you are going to get a big smile back from her, she is such a happy baby!

Beck has been cracking us up. The other day Quinn was crying and he said "Quinn you better stop crying or you are going to have to go to Time-out" but she kept crying so then he said "oh Quinn please don't go to time-out". He also put all of his golf balls down the vent at Ammy and Papa's...awesome.

We have been having a blast hanging out with the family and seeing all of our friends. I'm starting to think 2 months here might not be enough!

Goodbyes

2011-05-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned MANY times before I LOVE our ward and neighborhood in Virginia.

On almost a daily basis you will get a mass text about going to the park, pool, childrens museum, fountains, or picnic in the field. Every thursday night we meet at someones house around 9 and spend the whole night snacking and chatting. There are birthday parties, movie nights, tons of baby showers, bbq's, watching our favorite TV shows together, we even got together to play night games (a bunch of adult girls playing fugitive is very memorable). Needless to say we are all really really close! But when May rolls around so does graduation which means saying goodbye to these girls that I have spent almost everyday of my life with for the last 2 years.

It feels so bittersweet, I am grateful to have known these girls, some of whom have become some of the best friends I will ever have, but I tear up everytime I think of what life will be like next year without them!!! We are loosing our nextdoor neighbors AND backyard neighbors...don't get me started on how lonely I picture my life being without Rachel and Sara especially!!! They are both going to take a little piece of my heart with them - just kidding just kidding I'm not THAT dramatic...but close

When we moved to Virginia for medical school I assumed it would be 4 of the hardest years of my life, being across the country from all of my family and friends and knowing that Dane would be gone at school and studying long hours everyday. But now I am seriously DREADING the day he graduates when we have to be the ones that are moving on leaving all our friends behind.

I HATE goodbyes...

Easter

2011-05-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Holidays are getting more and more fun the older Beck gets. It still took him awhile to figure out the egg hunt, me and Dane finally started to pick up eggs for him and even then he would take it from us and then throw it back in the bush.

Beck and Lily
These two are so cute together!

Lets be honest though in the Church house Easter always going to be more exciting for me than the kids because every year since we have been married Dane heads to the store around 11:00 on Easter Eve (he procrastinates a bit when it comes to holidays) and then in the morning I wake up to a SWEEEEET egg hunt that he has put together for me. This year the first egg was on my nightstand so as soon as I woke up the hunt began, and if sending me on an egg hunt isn't impressive enough, Dane also writes all of the clues himself - he's a keeper!!!

Here's how it went:

1 - Jump for joy Easter is here at last and I hope your ready to have a blast. Your hunt has just started, oh what a thrill get this party started and light up the GRILL

2 - I hope that in finding this clue you didn't get a burn or a blister...but just in case you can cool that finger off cause the next clue is in the CRISPER

3 - This next clue is tough and could take till next winter but if you want a good hint look in the PRINTER

4 - Bend or crawl get low or just crouch cause this next clue is hiding under the COUCH

5 - You put food in front of Beck and he'll just sit and stare...it makes you wonder why we ever bought a HIGHCHAIR

6 - One day our kids will tell us how old we are, they wont believe we had to watch monsters inc or father of the bride on a VCR

7 - This clue is a gimmie it's easy no fib, you'll find this one lying in a CRIB

8 - Movies, music and game play that rocks anyone whose anyone would want a new XBOX

9 - If your starting to get tired don't fret the next ones not far but you might need to spend a little time in the CAR

10 - I know your exhausted so stop catch your breath...or get yourself a drink while your there though you might want to look under the SINK

After church we had a BBQ with all of our friends, we love having such great friends to spend holidays with

Quinn Shelby

2011-05-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

Royal Wedding

2011-05-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

Brityn, Ashlee, Me

Ruth and Brityn

My friend Brityn (longtime fan of the royal family) had such a great idea to throw a royal wedding party and let me and Ashlee help her. It was so much fun we all had to wear our best attempt of brittish attire and had herbal tea, crumpets, and wedding cake while we watched the royal wedding on a projector screen. I hadn't paid much attention to anything about the royal wedding but as soon as I started watching the actual wedding I was hooked and now I am addicted to any show or article the has anything to do with the royal family! I love Kate I think she is so pretty, and I LOOOVED her dress, and I loved seeing her and William together - oh so romantic!!

Warm Weather

2011-05-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

We have been LOVING the warm weather. Since the pool isn't open yet we've spent a lot of time at the splash pad at the mall. Beck doesn't actually go in the water he just runs around it in circles and then lays out and works on his tan

Yorktown Beach

2011-05-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

Beck and Parker

Sarah, Emily, me, Marci, Sara, Paige, Danielle, Kayli, Brittany

I love living in Virginia there are so many fun things to do, and lucky for me I have so many fun people to do them with! Last week some of us girls decided to go spend a day at the beach. It was supposed to be a girls trip, but Dane couldn't stand to see us have all the fun without him so he tagged along. He told me that if I felt embarrassed by being the only one that brought my husband that I could just drop him off at a different area of the beach and not tell any of the girls that he was there hahaha I of course didn't mind his company especially since I had him to carry everything to and from the car. It was so fun, I hope that we have many more beach days in store for us this summer!

2011-04-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud -

It looks like Beck has been blessed with his daddy's voice and his papa's dance moves

1 month

2011-04-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Quinn is a month old now, she is the sweetest baby!!

And Beck is still obsessed with her, he wants her to sleep next to him everytime he takes a nap, and whenever she is on the couch or in her bouncer he just lays next to her and pets her head haha. These are only a few of the hundreds of pictures I've taken of them together, I just can't get enough of watching how cute he is with her!!

2011-04-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

Quinn and her buddy Asher - only 5 days apart can you believe it!?

Love this girl!

2011-04-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest fears before we had Quinn was that Beck would have some major jealousy issues, but it's been 2 weeks and I have yet to see even a hint of jealousy from him, he is so in love with her and it melts my heart how cute he is with his little sis!

We are all completely smitten by this baby girl. I just want to hold her and snuggle her all day. She has been an awesome baby so far, she sleeps really well and just wakes up a couple times at night to eat but then goes straight back to sleep...I'm really crossing my fingers that this lasts.

I think that she looks a lot like Dane but a really really pretty girl version of him. We didnt think she looked anythink like Beck did the first couple days after she was born but now we are thinking they look a little more alike.

Beck can't pass by her without stopping to kiss her and hold her hand, we are working hard at keeping him from attacking her face with kisses, so he pulls down her headband so he can get the top of her head

And a huge thankyou to my parents for flying out to help us the first week. We are definitely missing not just their help but also their company this week. While they were here I started thinking that having 2 kids was going to be a breeze, and then it hit me that I hadn't been cooking, cleaning, getting my kids ready for the day, entertaining Beck, putting my kids to bed, or changing even half the diapers cause they were doing it all while I sat on the couch doing nothing but enjoying my baby girl!!

Quinn Shelby Church

2011-03-16T16:40:00.001-07:00

2011-03-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

Uh oh he's already reverting back to being a baby and the baby isn't even here yet! But then 10 minutes later he's walking around the house in Dane's shoes thinking he owns the place so maybe he's just trying to figure out which role he wants to play.

P.S. I can't not mention how DARLING that purple blanket is that my friend Alyson made for me for the new baby...I hope Beck will give it up though!

Winter Ball

2011-03-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

I cannot begin to say how much I absolutely LOVE the winter ball!!

When else do you have an excuse as an adult to get all dressed up and go dance (and eat) your heart out all night with all your best friends, and the most smokin hot date ever!?!
Winter ball is kind of like highschool prom only 20 million times cooler...and I'm happy to say I wasn't 9 months pregnant at prom unlike this year at the ball. I felt a little out of place waddling around all night in the only dress I own that will fit over my massive belly. I was not about to go spend money on a fancy dress that I will hopefully never be able to fit into again.

Oh I love these girls!!

3 of my besties!!

Danielle, Lara, me, and Sara

Even though the pictures don't show it I did in fact hang out with Dane some of the night, but for the most part the boys were busy doing some serious gambling while we all went to dance. I think Dane felt torn because the boy loves to gamble but he's also quite the dancer.

I thought he put me to shame on the dance floor last year...imagine my embarrassment this year!! I was actually really grateful to be able to blame my totally awkward uncoordinated dancing on being pregnant this year...last year I had no excuses I just had to own it!

Boo-yah!

I know, I know, it looks like I have crazy eyes in almost all of these pictures...this picture I'm pretty sure it's just because we are at the candy table.

Anyways it was such a fun night I'm so glad I have a husband who likes to go to the ball as much as I do, and great friends who make it even more of a blast!!

Baltimore Aquarium

2011-02-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went up and stayed overnight in DC with some of our favorite friends EVER Derek, Lara, and Jack and we had a total blast!

Friday night we drove to Baltimore to go to the National Aquarium, I didn't know what to expect and didn't have very high expectations but it was AWESOME we loved it, and the part that made it the best was how much Beck loved it!
Beck and his buddy Jack ran around like crazy men from exibit to exibit and went nuts with excitement at everyone of them. Beck would look at the fish, then turn around to me and Dane and point at the fish and go "ROAR!!! SCARY!!!"

We also went to the dolphin show which again I didn't expect much and was very pleasantly surprised at how sweet it was!! It was so fun!
After the aquarium we all drove to our hotel in DC thinking we would have a game night after the boys went to sleep - hah yeah right - but we had fun just hanging out together. And it's probably for the best anyway that me and Lara didn't spend the night dominating the boys (as usual) at marble wars cause that really would have put a damper on our temple trip the next day since I'm sure neither of the boys would have been over it yet.

Saturday morning Derek and Lara watched Beck while me and Dane went to the temple and then we watched Jack while they went. I love the DC temple and it was really nice and fun to be able to go together. Such a fun weekend!!

2011-02-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

Bring on the warm weather!! We are finally having park days again!! YAY!!!

2011-02-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

I just love walking into the living room to witness moments like this. This is totally one of those moments I pictured when I pictured having a little boy, Beck and Dane watching golf together on a Sunday afternoon. And it really did have Becks attention for a good long time, until now I've never in my life seen someone get so excited over golf.

LOVE

2011-02-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

I FAILED as a wife this Valentines Day. I came home from shopping with my friend Ashlee all day to a spotless house, a cleaned car, a dozen red roses, and a new shirt from my favorite store...this was a HUGE deal because every b-day, anniversary, Christmas, and Valentines day I tell Dane that the only thing I want is clothes and he has always claimed that he can't buy me clothes because he thinks he would waste money buying something that I wouldn't like, but unfortunately for him Feb 14, 2011 is going to go down in history as the day he proved to me that he knows exactly what he's doing when he buys womens clothing because I absolutely LOVE the shirt he picked out!!

And guess what I got Dane this year...oh I am so humiliated to say this...nothing!! He got me the perfect gift and I thought I would have time during my shopping trip that day to get him something, I even purposely waited to do it because I knew we would be going to a couple stores that we don't have around here, but Beck was not cooperating and I gave up! Then when I got home from shopping I wanted to hurry and make little Valentines treats for a few of Beck's little buddys and I totally ran out of time!!

It was really fun to take Beck to drop of his Valentines though. We went to his friend Jack's house first and I walked to the door with him and told him that when they opened the door to hand the treat to Jack and say "Happy Valentines Day" but when Jack's dad opened the door he panicked and chucked the treat inside their house and then took off running, leaving me high and dry at the door to wish them a happy Valentines by myself. He caught on after that though.

After we put Beck to bed me and Dane celebrated Valentines with a candle lit dinner of frozen Digiorno pizza and heart shaped cinnamon rolls while we watched the bachelor and then 27 dresses. What a guy, I probably would have pouted if I had been on his end of things getting totally jipped on Valentines but he was really sweet about it and tried to not let me feel one bit guilty about it. Oh well I guess I make up for it for being such the bomb of a wife every other day of the year, jk.

Cars: all day everyday

2011-02-16T17:34:00.000-08:00

If you are ever wondering what Beck is up to at any given moment this is most likely what you will find him doing. The boy loves his cars

33 weeks

2011-02-16T17:18:00.001-08:00

There is a quote from the movie Juno that goes through my head every morning when I get dressed, it's when she walks in the room and her dad says:

"Wow! That shirts workin hard"

Other than the fact that I'm the size of an elephant I'm feeling great and can't wait for this baby to get here!!

Movie Night

2011-02-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

Last night we decided to have a little family movie night. Dane made us a hut to watch it in, which of course was not just your average blanket hanging from a chair like I would have done if I made it, when Dane makes a hut he goes all out, he used every pillow, blanket, and couch cushion in the house.

We introduced Beck to Peter Pan for the first time and his reaction to it was PRICELESS!! At first we thought he just had a mean case of the giggles but after a couple minutes he was full on belly laughing and he laughed like that through the ENTIRE movie and it was at all the appropriate times that were meant to be funny so he wasn't just slap happy, a few times he was laughing so hard a few times I don't think he could even breath. So then me and Dane both got the giggles just watching Beck watch the movie, it was awesome and now Peter Pan will forever be one of my favorite movies!!

Joy School

2011-02-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

Beck, Eva, Lily, Jack

Me and 3 of my good friends decided to start doing a "Joy School" for an hour once a week for our 2-year-olds. Today was my first day to teach and it was hilarious! All we do is go over a different letter, color, and number everyweek and then sing a few songs. That lasted about 5 minutes (which I actually felt really good about) and then we did a play date for the other 55 minutes haha. At least they are learning social skills!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

This year we were soooooo excited we got to go home to Utah to spend Christmas with our family!

I felt grateful not only that we were able to go home but just the fact that we actually made it home was a miracle! Me and Beck flew out a few days before Dane, and I was a little worried about making our connection flight in Chicago because we only had a 40 min layover but luckily we were on the same flight from Chicago to Salt Lake as one of our friends so he said he would wait for us outside the terminal so he could help us rush to the next flight, so I felt totally relieved until after we boarded our flight in Virginia and it ended up leaving 30 min late! So obviously we were 30 min late getting into Chicago, so as soon as we landed I checked my phone and our poor friend knew we were going to miss our flight so after waiting for us as long as he could he had to board the flight but he told me that the flight still hadn't taken off and I had a message from my dad saying that he had called the airline and they would probably wait for us knowing we were so close. So I grabbed both my what-seemed-like 80 pound carry on bags with one arm and carried Beck in the other and with my awesome completely out-of-shape 6 month pregnant body booked it through the gigantic O'Hare airport to try to make my connection, oh and don't worry my connection gate was literally the farthest gate away from the gate we flew into. I felt like everytime I made eye contact with anyone they would mouth something like "bless your heart" or "I am so sorry", after I had been running for quite awhile I knew I had no other choice than to either put Beck down for awhile or just pass out in the middle of the airport so I decided to put Beck down for a sec and I just said "buddy I am so sorry but you gotta run with mom!" and that little angel grabbed onto my hand and took of running beside me and didn't stop until I felt too bad for him and picked him up again. Anyways, I finally made it to the gate and low and behold the flight had left! So I went to customer service and they had no flights to Salt Lake until the next morning at 11!! I had no idea what to do, I thought I was going to have to sleep at the airport, but luckily I met the nicest people in the world who had also missed the flight to SLC and as I was talking to customer service they jumped in and let me know that the airline would pay to put us up in a hotel...so the guy booked me and Beck in a hotel and gave us a meal voucher and those nice nice people helped me find the shuttle to the airport AND carried my bags for me. Then when I got to the hotel a lady that had been riding on the shuttle with me ran up to me and told me that she saw I was alone with a 2 year old and she was going to be my right hand man. She asked me if me and Beck had eaten dinner and had money for breakfast (I hope I didn't look like a homeless girl at that point haha) and helped me watch Beck while I checked in. And then offered to go to the grociery store for me when I told her that I only had 2 diapers left for Beck...don't worry I did not send her on any errands for me but I could not believe all the incredibly nice people that helped me out that night!! It was kind of fun to stay in a hotel just me and Beck and by that point my only fear was the diaper situation, it ended up that the gift shop at the hotel sold diapers for $7 for ONE diaper and it wasn't even close to his size to being the cheapo that I am I risked it and actually made it with only 2 diapers! Because of lack of sleep Beck had a rough flight to Salt Lake and when we landed and I saw my family I almost broke down in tears I was so happy to FINALLY be there!

Anyways...on to the good part!!

Bet you can't guess who built this ginormous Frosty the first day he got to Utah
I had nothing to do with it I just like to take credit by posing for the pictures in front of it.
Dane and Dayne get all the credit!

Getting ready to go build his snowman...scary sight, these snowpants barely fit me when I'm not pregnant!

Too cute - This was only Beck suited up to play in the front yard, he looked so funny when we bundled him up to go tubing at Soldier Hollow...everytime you would look at him all you could think was A Christmas Story "Ralphie, I can't put my arms down"

Beck and uncle Brandon

My brothers (and Trevor) are the cutest uncles ever to Beck it's so fun and cute to watch them play with him and try to trick him into letting them hold him.

Beck loved Shelby this trip

He preferred either Shelby or my mom and dad way over me and Dane...Dane was quite offended by it

Christmas Eve we built gingerbread houses and went to see a movie, then we went to the cemetery which may sound a bit wierd haha but Spanish Fork has an awesome tradition that everyone goes and lights candles next to their family and friend's headstones every Christmas Eve and it looks beautiful! Then my mom made us a big Christmas Eve feast and we all watched the "Joy to the World" movie and read Christmas stories I really loved that we spent a lot of time on Christmas Eve focusing on Christ.

My dad rocking my mom's reading glasses

Christmas Morning!!

It was so fun to watch Beck get so excited over presents this year!

LOVE this snow hat my mom got Beck

We also did a lot of fun activities with the Church side of the family while we were there.

Dane's sister Ashlee, her husband Joel and their 6 kids were able to come from Nebraska for Christmas. It was so fun to see and spend time with them and we loved watching Beck hang out with his cousins Ty is a year older and Bennett is a few months younger than Beck and it was fun to watch them all interact together

We went to Kangaroo Zoo (twice cause we loved it so much). They had some enormous inflatable slides that Beck LOVED he wanted to go upside down and backwards down all of the biggest ones.

He also was introduced to Chuck-E-Cheese for the first time

We went bowling...Beck loved the attention he got everytime he took a turn

Beck with Abby and Briton

We had a really fun New Years Eve, Dane's mom got us all rooms at a hotel so that the kids could go swimming and then we played games and watched a movie.

I was so sad to see our trip come to an end...I was crying before me and my dad even left for the airport. 3 weeks with our family didn't feel nearly long enough for me I so wish they lived closer so I could see them as much as I wanted because a couple times a year is not cuttin it!! Also it was SO SO good to get to spend time with some of our best friends while we were there, I wish we could have spent a lot more time hanging out with friends too but gosh, like I said 3 weeks is just not long enough! I don't feel like I got to spend half has much time as I wanted to with ANYBODY. And as always I can't thank our parents enough for everything they did to make our Christmas so memorable and special!!

2 Years Old!

2010-12-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

Beck just turned 2!!

For his birthday he got a kitchen set and if you think I had to talk Dane into it, then you would be wrong, Dane was the one that had his heart set on making sure Beck got a kitchen and he does love it! (I'm talking about Beck not Dane)

His latest obsession: CARS

We watch cars everyday and usually more than once a day, so of course he got a bunch of cars and he plays with them pretty much every waking moment. He likes to line them up in a perfect row which I've heard is something Dane used to do...we may have a mini perfectionist on our hands

We had a few friends over for cupcakes and treats. It brought joy to my heart to have a table full of junk and let Beck go to town pigging out on anything he wanted and as much as he wanted (not that he doesn't live off sugar normally haha but we do try to set SOME limits to his sugar intake) and let me tell you he definitely enjoyed himself he was on such a sugar high that he didn't go to bed until 10 that night.

Happy Birthday Beckett we have loved every minute of these last 2 years with you we love you SOOOO much!

2010-12-14T06:48:00.000-08:00

The other day I was upstairs and I kept hearing Beck say "mmm good!" from the kitchen downstairs, so I figured he was just really enjoying the cup of cereal I filled up for him, but when I kept hearing it over and over I decided to check on him and he had somehow got the plate of cinnamon rolls that I had made down from the cupboard...I don't know how he did it but he was definitely enjoying it, he had 3 in his hands and I think one entire roll in his mouth...I wish I didn't relate so much to having that kind of a sweet tooth...I was just proud that I actually had leftover cinnamon rolls because things like that usually don't last very long in my house!!

What a diva

2010-12-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

I had nothing to do with this, it was all him!

Not a Fan

2010-12-04T20:51:00.001-08:00

Today we had our ward party and Santa was there so we took Beck to see him...he wasn't too thrilled this year! I know thats really typical but I wish he would have at least sat on his lap for a picture because the poor thing doesn't know what he's in for since I am just going to keep taking him to see Santa over and over this month until I get a good picture!

Amish Thanksgiving

2010-12-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was AWESOME! We drove up to Pennsylvania and stayed in a farmhouse on a dairy farm in a little amish town with 4 of our favorite familys in the whole world!
Beck, Lydia, Preston, and Parker - 4 of the 9 little kiddos

The kids got to take a little tour of the farm that we stayed on and see all of the cows. Beck loved talking to the cows and from this picture it looks like they were pretty interested in whatever he was saying to them.

We drove up Wednesday night and when we got there we played games and ate pizza. We decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner at an amish buffet on Friday night so on Thanksgiving day we spent most of the day playing games and just hanging out at the house, the kids were good at entertaining eachother and the boys watched some football and that night we all went to the Hershey factory aka HEAVEN! Except for the fact that you still have to pay for the chocolate the factory just gets you good and hungry for it.

We decided to do some black friday shopping at the outlet malls since they opened at midnight. No surprise it was totally insane and the lines were out of control but we all got a few things so at least we didn't shop until 3 am for nothing!

Friday before we had our "Thanksgiving Dinner" we went on some amish buggy tours. They stuffed us all in the back of a buggy and took us around their farms and told us a little more about the amish culture. I loved it!

I don't know what the deal is but lately Beck has been making this face where he looks like he is totally disgusted in something like 300 times a day he does it all the time not just when he's mad or disgusted...I hope its just a stage haha.

Our cute little tour guide!

We are so blessed to have the greatest friends ever to spend our Thanksgiving with during these years when we can't spend it with our family. What a blast!

2010-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

We are having a baby GIRL!!!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

This year I was SO SO SOOOO excited my parents came out the week of Halloween so we were able to do all of the fun Halloween things with them!

We went to the apple orchard at Carter Mountain so we could see all the leaves and ate at Michie Tavern which is a little log cabin restaurant that has an awesome view of the mountain

We took Beck to feed the ducks at the park

We took a day trip to Gettysburg. Me and Dane watched the Gettysburg movie a couple months ago so I was really excited to go again and see where everything took place.

Beck helping Dane carve pumpkins

Hollywood cemetery

My dad rocked the afro (but wouldn't wear it to the ward party, shame on you) and I LOVE my mom's witch's costume...she had a fun idea to use the same costume every year but add to it every year, so imagine how great it's going to be 5 years from now!

These pictures were all taken before the ward party...when Beck woke up from his nap we were all already dressed for the party and he didn't quite know what to think about our transformation, the poor thing was so confused, this is the look that was on his face 90% of the night

Yikes Dane definitely was one SCARY witch!! My favorite part was when he came downstairs after he was all dressed up and asked my mom if his chest was too perky...or maybe that he wore my bra so that his stuffing wouldn't fall out...or maybe it was after we got home when he took off his tutu in the kitchen and lounged around the house in his tights in front of all of us...once again YIKES!!!

Dane showing off his nice legs

Dane and Beck both LOVE my friend Emily's darling little girl Claire

Beck and one of his best buds Jack right before Trick-or-Treating...there is nothing cuter than watching these two run around the neighborhood together in their little costumes. It didn't take long for their sugar high to kick in and it was very entertaining.

Beck had no problem at all figuring out how the whole Trick-or-Treating thing works. I just hope he realizes that it only happens once a year...I'm worried that now everytime I knock on someones door he's going to say "Trick-or-Treat" when they open it. My favorite was at the ward party when some of the girls gave him an extra piece of candy and told him that it was for his mom since they knew that me and him would battle for the candy when we got home.

Me and my girls - how cute are they!?

The Ugly Duckling Party

2010-11-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Me and Sara guarding the treat table before the party

Every thursday night all of the girls in the ward get together for "scraps" we don't scrapbook we just get together to talk all night it's awesome! A while ago Sara had a brilliant idea to do a themed scraps and called the it the "ugly ducking party" everybody that came had to bring the most hideous picture of themselves that they could find from the ugliest stage of their life and then Sara put them all in a slideshow, it was SO FUNNY. Everybody's pictures were of course from middle school or junior high - the ugliest years of pretty much everyone's life - and we played a game where we had to guess who everyone was during the slideshow which I thought would be simple but it wasn't! There were some miraculous transformations haha. Before the party I called my mom and dad to have them send me an "ugly duckling" picture and they said they couldn't choose just one so they sent several...should I be offended? Just kidding

Love This Little Man

2010-10-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

There is nothing I would rather do than spend my days with this little guy

Boys Weekend

2010-10-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

While I was in New York I got quite a kick out of calling home to see what Dane and Beck were up to while I was gone. After this weekend Dane wins dad-0f-the-year in my book. Let me just give you a play by play of what when on.

Friday night all of our husband's that we left behind took the kids to Mcdonalds, Dane and Beck didn't get to stay and play for long because Dane didn't realize that you need to bring a diaper bag EVERYWHERE you go when you have a kid in diapers. He thought they would tough it out and just keep playing but pretty soon he didn't just need a clean diaper but also a clean change of clothes for Beck. Sorry gross I know.

Saturday all of the husbands took the kids to the pool together and then that night they all got together for a BBQ and this is the best part....a sleepover! The pool and BBQ went just fine as far as I know but by 2:00 a.m. they changed their minds about having a sleepover and decided it might not be a good idea and packed up all the kids and headed home.

Sunday at church Dane substituted for me in nursery. I heard from one of my friends who had to go in and sit with her son that it was pretty entertaining to watch Dane lead singing time for ten little 2-year-olds.

Monday there was a ward Labor day picnic and Dane was in charge of games so he went out and bought a bunch of prizes for the winners and then made a homemade slingshot and filled up dozens of waterballoons for his games. I got home Monday night and came home to a completely spotless home and on top of that Dane sat and intently listened to me talk nonstop about my trip for like 2 hours!!

What a guy!

I LOOOVE New York

2010-09-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend me and 6 of the most fun girls I know left our husbands and kids at home and headed to New York!! Sorry but this post is going to sound like a big love letter but I can't even tell you how much I love these girls and I also don't think I can explain what a total blast we had on this trip! It was everything you hope for when you take a girls trip - constant chatting, laughing, acting like 12-year-olds, eating (for me and Sara at least), telling deep dark secrets, and so much more!

One of my favorite things we did was we ate at a place called "Cafe Lalo", they filmed a scene from "You've Got Mail" there and it was just an adorable little place with awesome food and desserts. All the girls loved the fancy fresh salads and sandwiches they ordered...me and Sara loved our waffles and cinnamon whipped cream.

I think the girls would have known where to find me and Sara if we came up missing:
FAO Schwartz candy bar

Emily, Brittany, Sara, Me, Alyson, Kim, Heather

On Sunday we took the subway to church which was downtown near central park so after church we walked to the park and had a picnic next to a castle!

We did have one scary experience (in my opinion at least!). We stayed at Kim's brother's house in Queens and one night on the way home Kim accidentally had us get off the bus at the wrong gas station. I was already feeling like a big scaredy cat just cause we didn't know where we were but then we looked behind us and realized that this creepy guy that had gotten off the bus at the same time as us was following us!! So we all took off running for what seemed to me like a mile (I am a little out of shape so it was really probably only a couple blocks) and at one point while running my shoe flew off so I bent over to pick it up forgetting that Alyson was running full speed right behind me, pretty sure she almost did a front flip right over my back! But we did eventually make it home safe and sound thanks to Heather and her i-phone.

(Thanks a lot Sunoco - jk)

Another huge highlight was going to Mary Poppins on Broadway!! We all wanted to go to a broadway show while we were there but we went to a booth where they sell Broadway tickets 1/2 off but the tickets were still $75 and we are poor students!! So we were heartbroken but decided not to go, but then when we were at Times Square Brittany and Emily decided to run into the ticket office just for the heck of it and they got us all tickets for $30!!

Eating pizza on the bleachers in the middle of Times Square

We wanted a picture with all of us jumping but our photographer had some timing issues...I thought this one turned out pretty good though, I can't decide which looks cuter - all of us jumping or all of us squatting

We didn't want to stand in line for the ferry so this is as close to the Statue of Liberty as we got

I think that the only fight we got in the whole trip was during a conversation where we were trying to decide what which Disney princess everyone was. It got mostly heated between Snow-Freakin-White and Belle, I was pretty happy with being princess Jasmine after I was so sweetly informed by Alyson that I would NEVER be Tinkerbell!! But then they didn't even have a Jasmine doll in the biggest Toys-R-Us in America so I still felt ripped off.

Our sleeping arangements were awesome we all rotated between the bed, the airmattress, and the single-person-midget-sized-pull-out couch, me and Sara's friendship reached a new level after we slept on the pull-out together. There was nowhere to even take a step when all the beds were set up and there was still not enough room for all 7 of us so apparently Alyson drew the short straw because she ended up sleeping on a mat in the kitchen.

We missed our husbands and kids but I think were all still heartbroken to have to bring our trip to an end. The 6 hour car ride home didn't seem long enough we wanted to spend more time singing things like Celine Dion Songs and Total Eclipse of the Heart together at the top of our lungs. I'll just have to hold out for the 5 year plastics reunion to do it all again I guess!!!

Love ya - Ice Queen, Bibs, Pumpage, Safety, Flow, and Sunoco

Sincerely - Anna

Family of Four

2010-09-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

We are THRILLED to announce that sometime around March 27th our family of three will become a family of four......

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!

Hangin with the guys

2010-09-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Are these not some of the most handsome boys you've ever seen!?! Beck has some of the cutest little friends in the world and I love watching them hang out together. Parker is a full year older so Beck is still hard for him to play with but sometimes when they're playing we'll look over and they'll just be cracking up over who knows what together it's so cute. And Jack is Beck's little bodyguard (which is exactly what our little Beck needs) when we go to the pool together Jack makes sure that nobody touches Beck haha it is so funny I love it. They have a love-hate relationship, they are always so excited to see eachother and so sad when they have to leave but when they are actually together there is a lot of yelling and of course no sharing haha.

Pool Party!!

2010-08-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is the perfect picture to show how we spend our summer days. This is where you will find us every sunny day May - September. And pretty much all the other girls in the neighborhood are the same way so every day is a pool party - I LOVE IT!

Utah

2010-08-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

We just got back from another WONDERFUL 2 1/2 week trip to Utah! As usual it only made us miss our families even more but we made some really fun memories while we were there!

Me and Beck flew a few days before Dane so that I could spend a little extra time with my family, then the weekend that Dane got there we all headed to St. George and Shelby and Trevor were able to come up from California to meet us there.

We did our yearly trip to the Tuacahn and saw Tarzan - the Tuacahn never lets us down, it was awesome!!

Here's Trevor doing Beck's hair for church - what a cute uncle huh and Beck looked dang good

I can't decide if my favorite part of this picture is Dane rockin the goggles or my dad backfloating behind him with the tube necklace.

In St. Georege we played Farkle and Ticket To Ride. The girls did some shopping while the boys went golfing and played basketball in the 110 degree weather. And we spent a lot of time in the sweet pools. The highlight of the entire trip was the chicken fights - me and Dane vs my mom and dad - take a wild guess who won! Unfortunately my mom banned me from posting pictures. But it was good times!!

When we got back we were able to spend time with Grandma Myrna and Papa Doug. Beck loved riding the go-cart at their house and playing in the water table that Grandma bought

We went golfing one morning while we were there - it was pretty scary on my part, I think I've only been 2 other times and I think I would need to go a couple hundred more just to be able to hit the ball on my first swing but I did have a lot of fun. My father-in-law Rob taught me a few tricks for next time - I just need to remember "It's all in the hips" I think that if I can get that down Dane will be in big trouble playing against me next time.

We spent a night with Myrna in Doug in Park City we stayed at a place that had some sweet pools that we totally enjoyed and then we played dominos and ate junk food until all hours of the night. Then the next morning we all went down the Alpine Slide except for Beck was too young to go so Grandma made it up to him with a Merry-Go-Round ride

Shelby and Trevor - miss you guys!!

Me and "little" Dayne who now taller than "big" Dane - isn't he cute!

The night after Park City we all went back to SF for the big rodeo!! Summer would not feel complete without going to the rodeo - I love it!

Beck loved riding around the neighborhood standing up on the scooter

Summer would also not be summer without the "Fiesta Days" parade

Whenever Beck came up missing I knew he would be in one of these 2 places - the piano or playing with the bathtub tap

Beck and GG love eachother - she is the only one that can rock him to sleep in her arms. We went and watched fireworks together and he just layed in her arms the whole time - that is very rare for Beck

When we got to Utah Beck could only say maybe 10 words but while we were there he started talking up a storm our favorite was one night my cousin Lauren was showing him pictures of anmials on her camera and he started saying "Oh my gosh!" at first we weren't sure if that's what he was really saying but then we showed him the moon and he said it again and it was clear as day. It was really cute - he puts a lot of expression into it

Anyways, I can't say it enough - we love our family and we miss them so much. Thanks for all the fun!!

4th of July

2010-07-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

This was our first 4th of July away from home, it was wierd not going to BYU to watch the fireworks from Stadium of Fire with our family. But Virginia definitely knows how to celebrate the 4th!

Saturday we went to Virginia Beach and spent the day with our good friends Ken and Lindsay. We all went to the beach and then went to Lindsay's parents house and swam in their pool and had a bbq and that night they ordered the UFC fights - FUN DAY!!

Sunday night we went to Yorktown to watch fireworks. But right before they started I was shocked that Dane decided we should all pack up our blankets and watch them from the parking lot so that we wouldn't be stuck in traffic for 3 hours....Dane of all people not wanting a front row seat for the fireworks?!?!? I don't know what came over him he's usually die hard about fireworks.

I love Yorktown it was the perfect place to celebrate the 4th, it's just a super cute little town with fun houses and restaurants and a nice little beach and they've restored most of it to look like it did during the revolutionary war. They had a little parade where boys dressed up like soldiers from that period marched around and played in a band. I loved it, it was so cute!

Boston - New York City

2010-06-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

This summer has already been one of the most fun summers of my life! For the first time since we've been married (and probably the only time until retirement) me and Dane are both free from work and school at the same time so aside from a little bit of research that Dane's doing we've been spend all day every day together...it's been so wierd but so fun!! So last week we decided we better take advantage of this time and take a little vacation (one of the only vacations we've ever taken that didn't include Disneyland haha)

First we drove up to Boston to with our good friends Kimball and Briana who live in a super cute apartment downtown. Aside from the fact that Beck woke us all up at 6 am everyday and was determined to break anything they owned worth over $100 it was awesome! The first day we went to Boston Commons (the first public park in America) and walked the Freedom Trail, which is a walking tour of several American Landmarks (including the cemetery where Paul Revere and John Hancock are buried).

The next day we drove to Salem where all the Salem Witch Trials took place and took a fun little trolley tour around the town and found some crazy little shops, I wish we had gotten pictures of everything we saw that day but we didn't.

Friday we got up early (thanks to Beckett) and drove to NYC!! When we got there we had a list of places that we heard were good to eat but we were too hungry and ended up eating at Subway!

We took the train into town which took us right next to ground zero. Then we walked down Broadway and Wall Street to Battery Park to see the Statue Of Liberty

If you look REALLY close you can see the Statue of Liberty behind us in these pics

Saturday we took the train downtown to Times Square we could have spent all day in all of the fun stores they had there!

I know this is wierd but one my favorite places we went was the Toys R Us in Times Square, mostly because of the giant indoor ferris wheel, it was SWEET!! I wanted to ride in the barbie car, it would have been a childhood dream come true, but we had so much we wanted to see that we didn't want to wait an hour to get on

Check out these giant gummy bears! If they weren't $45 dollars I would have bought a couple for myself and one for all my sugar lovin girl friends back in Virginia

The highlight of the trip for Beck was probably hangin with his new girlfriend Briana, he made her hold his hand for like an hour in the car on the drive from Boston to New York

The piano from the Tom Hanks movie "Big", it was so fun, they let the kids play on it for awhile and then the some of the workers at the toy store came and played the song that Tom Hanks played on Big

I'm telling you these toy stores were sweet!

Another huge highlight that I had planned on going to was this awesome candy shop called Dylans Candy Bar that is 3 levels of candy!! Aside from the fact that I couldn't bring myself to spend $13 for a candy bar I was in HEAVEN!!

We went to serendipity but didn't want to wait for 2 hours to eat there, it was nothing like I pictured but I'm sure I would have loved the food!

We had the best time in Boston and NYC and LOVED hanging out with Kimball and Briana. They are such a fun couple and we had a blast staying with them exploring NYC together. This trip we made some good good memories!

Memorial Day BBQ

2010-06-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

For memorial day we had a BBQ in our backyard with our great friends, and set up a slip-n-slide, not just for kids but for anyone that wanted to cover themselves in dishsoap and take a slide down the hill. We were a little worried that the slip-n-slide wouldn't turn out after we had told all the kids that there was going to be one, but we'll never doubt Dane and Tommy again and their very impressive slip-n-slide making skills
Brian, Emily, Josh (and darling little Will)

Me, Nichole, and Emily

An extremely attractive picture of me and Sara haha

The lovely Alicia

Jackie, Katie, and Brittany

Danielle and Sara

We couldn't ask for a better group of friends to be able to spend holidays with!! It's always so much fun!!

Swimming

2010-06-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

Kings Dominion

2010-06-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

We've been loving spending some of our summer days with friends at Kings Dominion. Beck acts the same way on these rides as he did when he went on the rides in Disneyworld, he looks like a deer in the headlights the entire time totally expressionless, and then as soon as I go to get him off he gets really upset because he wants to go again. Usually me and Dane stand to the side and wave to him everytime he comes by and we get nothing in return, but the other day we were busy talking and when we glanced over at him he was staring at us waving like crazy and blowing us kisses. I guess we just have to play "hard to get" with him if we want him to give us the time of day

This should probably embarrass me

2010-06-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm posting this picture for 2 reasons:

#1 - Because I'm showing everyone that looks at this blog how lovely I look after spending the day at the waterpark - no make-up, wet ponytail, and wearing sweat pants!

#2 - Maybe because I'm just standing around chillin with ROZLYN FROM THE BACHELOR!!!

Holy smokes!! This was even more exciting to me than river rafting with Harrison Ford in Jackson Hole. I have no shame admitting that I LOVE and look forward to the bachelor every Monday night I think I'm even in an extra good mood on Sunday just because it's the day before bachelor Monday jk.

So anyways - we were hanging out at Kings Dominion with some of our friends in the ward, and the boys were watching the kids while us girls went on one of the rollercoasters, so as me and Sara were getting off the rollercoaster I noticed a beautiful blonde girl standing there and thought "hmm I know her from somewhere". Well as soon as I saw the look on Brittany and Emily's faces (who had just got off the rollercoaster before us) it clicked in my mind pretty quick where I knew that girl from IT WAS ROZLYN!! So all 4 of us sat there in a little huddle trying to figure out how we were going to go about meeting her. Finally Emily (the only one of us who doesn't watch the bachelor) all the sudden just marched off and walked up to her and said something to the effect of "I've never seen the bachelor but are you Rozlyn?". So then we all trailed up single file behind her and talked to her AHHH!! Wait let me clarify...Sara, Emily, and Brittany talked to her while I sat there star struck and silent! Sara asked her all kinds of questions about the show (we were all wishing we could have at least had a little time to brainstorm all the questions we had) but she was super nice to us and shared a few secrets from the show. So after talking to her for a few minutes we walked away and acted like giddy little 12 year old girls and ran to tell our husbands who were just thrilled to hear every detail jk. But unfortunately none of us had our camera's with us so we didn't get a pic, but then later while the boys were on a ride and we were watching the kids we spotted her again!! So Emily was kind enough to sit with some of the kids while me, Sara, and Brittany grabbed whichever kid just happened to be standing closest to us (to help lighten Emily's load) and took off running after Rozlyn. It took a little bit of strategy to figure out which way we should run so we could just "happen to run into her" and we finally tracked her down sitting on a bench waiting for her son on a ride. So even though we were SOOO embarrassed (for good reason I know) we walked up to her again and asked for a picture and then chatted with her awhile longer (this time I actually even talked), and found out that her ex-husband went to the same school that our husband's go to for dental school and she used to hang out at our apartment complex with couples that her and her husband knew from school!!! CRAZY!!! If you saw her on the bachelor I'm sure you didn't like her but she was really super nice when we talked to her so I am now I am a Rozlyn fan, and I am standing behind her!! Cause that what you do for your friends which is exactly what we are now, best friends! jk

My little servant

2010-05-31T06:32:00.000-07:00

Beck is the greatest kid ever, if I have a couple more just like him my house will always be spotless and I won't have to lift a finger!

He vacuumes
He cooks

He sweeps

And he empties the dishwasher

He also helps with the laundry and loves to dust

I couldn't be any more proud-JK!

"quack quack"

2010-05-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

Poor Dane has wanted a pet of any kind since we have been married but there's 2 problems with that #1 - I'm not much of an animal person #2 - Unfortunately there are no pets allowed in our apartments (which is luckily the only excuse I need to use). If Dane had it his way we would have a ferret, chipmunk, and a yorkie (which I will admit are VERY cute little dogs). But since a pet isn't a possiblity right now I'm glad that we have these little ducks that practially live in our backyard to hold him over for now. I should have got Dane's picture with them instead of Beck's but Beck looks a little cuter chasing them around than Dane would haha. He chases them around yelling "quack quack". I've tried bringing bread out for Beck to feed them but as soon as he throws a little piece to them he turns around and snatches it right back up and eats it before they even have a chance.

Boat Tours

2010-05-31T05:53:00.000-07:00

We love living in Virginia, we are always finding new fun things to do around here. This week we went on these fun little boat tours that they do downtown of the canal. It was just a short 40 min tour and our guide told us a lot about the history of the city, which was probably really interesting but it was a little hard to hear him over all our crazy kids haha.

Family Pictures

2010-05-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

While we were in Florida for spring break one my of very best friends Danielle took our pictures for us. She is an AMAZING photographer, I love everything she does she is so talented!! We woke Beck up from a nap right before she took them so he was not in the mood to even crack a smile, I can't believe she got any good ones of him at all. Anything we got was thanks to Nichole who was quite the trooper, while Danielle took the pictures she tried anything we could think of to make him smile - jumping jacks, karate, scaring him, making animal noises but nothing worked...it for sure made me laugh though!

If you want to check out Danielles photography website (which believe me you do!) its:

daniellehonephotography.squarespace.com

Our latest visitors

2010-05-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

Grandma Myrna and Doug came out for a visit this last week! I'm so glad that our families have both been able to come out even though it just makes us miss them more when they have to go home.
We went up to Washington DC thursday night to meet up with them at Union Station and from there we all went on a twilight tour to see the memorials. In my opinion that's definitely the way to go to see the memorials, it's fun to have a tour guide to give a little more background and you don't have to worry about parking and it saves you a ton of walking.

We stayed over thursday and went to Arlington cemetery Friday morning with Myrna while Doug went to meetings and then we met up with Dane's aunt and uncle Larry and Linda (two of the most fun people in the world) and we went and toured Mount Vernon. And one of the best parts was after our tour we ate at the restaurant at Mount Vernon, I am a fan of any restaurant where the waiters wear costumes and they had it all decked out like you were in the 18th century, and we loved those Ho Cakes. Very fun!
Myrna and Doug came home with us friday night and saturday we spent the day in Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg. Even though we've been there a few times before we got to see a lot of new things this time and I'm sure there's a lot more still to see. And once again one of my favorite parts was eating at one of the cute little cafes in Williamsburg, followed by icecream. I'm glad me and Myrna both have the same problem of having a sweet tooth we can't resist.

Sunday was mother's day (love you so much mom!!) it was fun to actually have one of our mom's here to celebrate with. Myrna helped me in nursery at church and then some of the teenage boys in our ward came to take over so that all the girls in the ward could meet in the cultural hall and be served cake by the men the last hour, we kind of wanted to stay in nursery but just so we could watch how the teenage boys would like it in there. After church we just relaxed around the house and then Myrna and Doug for a little tour around our beautiful city. Other than the fact that this little man was trying to play hard to get with his grandma and would never let her hold him, I know that he still had a great time showing off for her and getting all of her attention

Monday we drove to Monticello so Myrna and Doug could take the tour and then once again big surprise my favorite part...eating at the old tavern by Monticello. It was so fun eating at all these cute little places. Then Myrna and Doug flew out Monday afternoon, we were very sad to see them go but had such a fun time with them.

Shelby and Trevor visit

2010-04-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

My little sis and bro-in-law came out to visit last week, it was soooo good to see them and we had soooo much fun hanging out with them all week! The first day they were here we went to Williamsburg, then we spent 2 days in DC, then Trevor had to go to meetings in Baltimore for 2 days so Shelby came to stay with us.

It was a bummer Trevor had to go to his meetings, but it was so fun having some girl time with Shelby, not to mention if he hadn't gone he wouldn't have been able to buy us these super cute matching beanies, don't I have a great brother in law!? While he was gone we did all the fun things that sisters do together like shopping, eating, a little cooking, nonstop chatting, and went to rent movies that we haven't seen in years that we used to love to watch together when we were little.

I wish SO SO SO bad that we lived close to eachother so that would could have fun like this everyday together, hopefully someday!!

Family

2010-04-13T18:53:00.000-07:00

Family reunion!! Yay!! My mom, dad and Dayne came out to visit this last week and of course we had a BLAST!

Saturday morning we all went to our big ward egg hunt in the field by our house. Unfortunately Beck still doesn't get the concept of an egg hunt, I was a little disappointed in the amount of candy he brought home. I tried to help him as much as I could without looking like a total idiot pushing all the kids away so he could get to the eggs.

We went to Maymont park to see all of the gardens and took a tour through the old mansion they have there.

Poor Beck was a little under the weather all week, but he still managed to enjoy and take full advantage of all the attention he got while they were here...the best part was probably when he danced to "she'll be comin round the mountain" about 800 times

We all decided that instead of jam packing a bunch of activities to do while they were here we just wanted to relax and hang out most of the time like we would if we lived close to eachother like the good old days. But we still did a lot of fun things, we went to botanical gardens, drove through the country side of Virginia to Appomattox courthouse (very fun and cute little drive), ate out (had some "homeade" biscuits), did some shopping, played a lot of Ticket to Ride, watched movies, and lots more.

Thursday we went to Virginia Beach for the day and while we were there we rented one of these fun bike things...LOVED it!! We almost took out a few pedestrians and just claimed we didn't know how to stop but really we had a time limit and just didn't want to be slowed down.

The best part was when a man in a wheelchair offered to take our picture and somehow while giving the camera back coaxed Dayne to stand on the back of his wheelchair so he could give him a ride down the boardwalk, and they totally disappeared into the sunset together. I'm pretty sure you had to be there to understand how hilarious it was to see my little brother being kidnapped by some old random stranger in a wheelchair. Luckily after a few minutes he did bring Dayne back though.

Papa and Beck are so cute together.

Is it appropriate to post pictures of my shirtless husband all over my blog??

Friday we went up to Washington DC and did a temple session (beautiful temple!) and then stayed the night because we got to go on a white house tour early Saturday morning, too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures, because it was awesome. Then we went to some Smithsonian museums and caught some of DC's Cherry Blossom parade which Dayne obviously enjoyed.

It was such a fun week and it's so so sad to have to say goodbye, nothing makes me happier than spending time with them. I'm still trying to get them to move to Virginia but even after all of the fun things we did they still aren't convinced!

Florida - Spring Break

2010-03-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

For Dane's spring break we headed down to Florida for one heck of a vacation! We went down with 3 of the most fun couples ever and had a blast staying together in a condo right on the beach.

The condo we stayed at had a lakeside pool, oceanside pool, and the beach was beautiful. We learned quickly that Beck is definitely not afraid of the water, he had no problem bellyflopping in whenever he got the chance.

We spent our nights chatting, eating, watching Bryan Regan, and of course playing lots of games!

Beck spent his nights glued to baby einstein with Josh and Emily's darling little Lydia

Tuesday we went to DISNEYWORLD!!! The only proper way to describe a day at disney is MAGICAL!!!

Emily, Lydia, me, Beck, Danielle, Nichole (and Lucy)

This makes 3 trips to Disney for Beck, but this was the first time that he met any of the characters, he still doesn't get it of course but someday when he knows who Woody is he might think it's cool that he has a picture with him haha.

Still no reaction from Beck on any of the rides either. He doesn't have a clue what a great childhood we have given him so far. I just hope we make it back when he is old enough to really appreciate the joy of Disney.

Oh and don't worry my 27-year-old child Dane was able to get on almost all of the rides so he was a very happy boy. I still wouldn't have been surprised if he had come up missing one of the last days of the trip because he had snuck off for another day in Disney.

We were staying about 20 mins away from St Augustine (the nations oldest city) so we spent one of the days seeing some historical sites and doing a little shopping.

Yes we did!!

Erik, Brian, Beck, Dane, Josh

I'm not going to lie I was a little worried that after living together for a week we would all be sick of each other by the end, but not true (at least for me) I'm already brainstorming what our next group vacation could be!! I'm so glad these guys have to be our friends for at least 3 more years I'm sure this was only the beginning of many good times together!

2010-03-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

Some of our latest favorites from Beck are:

- He toddles around saying "uh oh" all day everyday and I'm pretty sure he drops and throws things on purpose just so he can use it appropriately

- He is quite the dancer, we watched "Momma Mia" together the other day and he danced around and shook his little booty through the entire movie

- He LOVES Goldfish crackers, the other night he woke up around 11 and wouldn't go back to sleep until we gave him the entire bag of Goldfish to sleep with. He hugged the bag like it was a little stuffed animal all night long.

Winter Ball

2010-03-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

Friday night was one of the most fun date nights me and Dane have ever had!! The medical campus at his school puts on a Winter Ball every year (for anyone lucky enough to get tickets within the 5 min. before they sell out). This year it was held at the Jefferson Hotel which is incredible, it's old, elegant, and absolutely beautiful. It was so much fun getting all dressed up and spending the night with all of our friends gambling (too bad it was fake money or we would be rich), eating, and dancing.

(Emily, Danielle, Nichole, Lauren, Me, Erin)
This is almost all of us first year wives. Good thing I love these girls cause we are stuck with eachother for the next 4 years!

(me and Emily)
Speaking of girls I love I can't tell you how much fun this cute girl is!
(Erik, Dane, Tommy)
I of course was not at all surprised that Dane wanted to spend most of the night gambling, he was glued to the roulette table, I stuck with blackjack and betting on horseraces. But there was one part of the night where Dane not only surprised me, he shocked me. We go onto the dance floor and it was just as I expected, all the other girls were looking so dang cute while they were dancing and then there was me, I was using any and every move I have ever learned from my good old dad who I think gets most of his moves from "The Chicken Dance Song". But then I look over at Dane and thats when I really felt stupid because to my dismay Dane Church can bust a move!! I can't believe that after almost 5 years of marriage I have never seen him dance before, and let me tell you he really can dance!! I guess his talents really are endless.

While Dane gambled me and my fellow sugar junkies attacked the treat table.

(me,Dane,Sara,Tommy)
Me and Dane love these two, they are a total blast to hang out with!

From the pictures it doesn't look like me and Dane spent any time together but we did and we had a ton of fun! One last highlight from the night is when me and Dane were dancing I was telling him how I was feeling a little embarrassed about my dancing and instead of saying something like "oh you look perfectly fine" Dane says "I'm sure we could find SOMEONE who looks stupider than you". hahaha I would hope so since we were dancing with a bunch of drunk people!

Valentines

2010-02-16T05:23:00.000-08:00

What a lucky girl I am to get to celebrate Love Day with this guy! I have the best, most fun and smokin hot husband in the world and I love him like crazy. We went out for Valentines on Saturday night and saw "Valentines Day" which we both thought was a cute movie. And on the real Valentines day Dane surprised me with tickets to WICKED when it's here in March!!!! Can't wait!!!!!

And don't worry the other little guy I love wasn't forgotten on Valentines he was treated well by his little neighbor girl friends who brought him some Valentines and candy which he was thrilled about.

Girls Night

2010-02-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

Me and Dane are so lucky to live in the greatest ward ever, even though we've only been here 6 months we've already made friends that I know we will be friends with forever! The group of girls in this ward are a blast to spend time with and we do so many fun things together. Every Thursday night after we put the kids to bed we all meet at someones house and just pig out and chat till all hours of the night. We also like to watch our girly shows together so we don't have to listen to our husbands make fun of them. And last weekend we all braved the storm for a movie night,we saw "Dear John", cute movie (and Channing Tatum wasn't so bad either). As much as I love hanging out with Dane, certain movies and shows arent the same as when you watch them with a big group of girls, I love it!

Snowed In - Again

2010-02-08T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here's how we spend our days when we are stranded inside:
(If you can't tell this post is going to be an exciting one)

I can't even tell you how much time I spend every day watching Beck play in the fridge, he LOVES it.

He wants to feed himself now, and as you can tell he's pretty good at it

The bottom drawer is another favorite, he usually just takes everything out but this time he decided he wanted in.

I spend a lot of time everyday chasing him in circles around the table

Dane made him a fort to play in, and Dane spent more time crawling through it than Beck did, haha big surprise, really I think Dane built the fort for himself not for Beck

And of course I saw a lot of these expressions on his little mug - who can blame him though, its hard being stuck inside all day

Snow Day

2010-01-31T21:12:00.001-08:00

Virginia snow days are awesome!! Everything shuts down when it snows, for the first time in my life church was cancelled because of snow and school is cancelled tomorrow. We've been snowed in for 2 days now and the only challenge has been trying to keep Dane entertained. Lucky for us some of our bffs, Rachel and Justin, live right next door so we've had a blast with them the last couple days playing games like Phase 10, Nerts, and Ticket to Ride. Today Dane and Justin built this beauty you see in the pictures above...it's an icecream sundae not a snowman, we've already had a lot of strangers drive by to take pictures.

The first day it snowed Dane and Justin were having Diet Coke withdrawals so those 2 crazies attempted for hours to get our car out so they could go to the grociery store, in the end our car had maybe moved a foot.

Before he went out in the snow Dane came downstairs rocking my highheeled cowboy boots because we don't have any snow boots so they were the next best thing he could find, I love being married to this guy, he keeps me entertained.

Childrens Museum

2010-01-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum with some friends. I can't believe all of the things they have for kids to do there they have a mini grociery store, school, dr's office, newsroom, ambulance they can play in, caves to walk through, a giant tree house, and art room, water tables, giant dinosaurs, sand boxes to dig for dinosaur bones, and TONS more I need to get a season pass when Beck is a little bit older because it would be a blast for any kid. With all the toys they had there to play with the broom is what entertained Beck the most, he carried it around the entire time.

Here's Beck milking the cow, I was so proud of him that he had caught on so quickly how to do it...then he pulled this:

After the museum we stopped at Mcdonalds and Beck experienced a big moment in a kids life...his first Happy Meal, which he enjoyed almost as much as the cows fresh milk.