The Zoo!

We love the zoo. We really do. A couple of weekends ago we all went to the zoo and it was a blast! The weather was perfect. Bella is really into animals right now and loves making the animal sounds. Baby Zuri (the elephant) is getting bigger & not as much fun as last year. She is still cute though! It has been such a fun summer, I'm really sad that it's almost over. But on to my favorite season.. FALL!

Drinking out of the iconic lion fountain for the first time!

Jaden, Ty, Emma, Tayzhia, Bella & Gretchen

Toby Toby Toby..

That's ALL I ever hear from my mama. She looovvveeessss him so much. So when she won another meet & greet through her fan club (that she totally deserved after being in the fan club for 10 years!) we were totally excited for her. This time she had to meet him all alone but she was happy because she was the only one who got to be in the picture with him. :)


Above is the picture from when they got to meet him in 2008. Read that post here. She had just finished her cancer treatments & her hair was just starting to grow back. I'm so glad she got to meet him again now that she feels better. Yay mom!

365 to Greatness Project

Those who know me, know that I AM a positive person. I look for the bright side in things, always & everywhere. If something bad happens it only affects me for awhile and then I know that it will pass. I've always been this way. But in the last couple of years I have changed. I'm not as happy go lucky as I used to be. I let things worry me and I worry until I make myself sick. I had a rough couple of years. My life started in a downward spiral, from having a miscarriage, working & going to school full time, my dad passing away, my mom being diagnosed with cancer.. The rain was pouring and pouring hard. I think during those years, I changed.

Things started to turn around when I had Bella. I stressed so much during my pregnancy that something would go wrong and when it didn't I was SO grateful. I needed that. But I know that I'm not the same that I used to be and I miss that. Since I've been working from home I have really been trying to turn things around so when I saw this project called 365 To Greatness, I knew that I had to do it. All that you need to do, is try something new everyday for a year. And the beauty of it all is that you don't need to do something fancy every day. How about trying out that restaurant that you've always wanted to or taking your kids to that new park? I started a new tab along the top of my blog. I will post in this tab everyday with what I did that day.

I'm so excited about this and I hope some of you will join too!

We love summertime!

Museum of Ancient Life

Last week I took my little brother Ty and Bella to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. It was my 2nd time going and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time. I think dinosaurs are AMAZING! If you have never been, August is a great time to go. All through August Thanksgiving Point is doing $2 Tuesdays and you can use it to get into the dinosaur museum, gardens or farm. I wish I would have known that before I went down because we would have waited a couple of days and went on a Tuesday (and saved ($16) but oh well! Maybe we will go down again and do something else.

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Digging for fossils

A replica of the Megalodon, the biggest prehistoric shark

Little Miss Utah

Each month that passes, I'm just as surprised how fast time is moving. Especially now that I'm not "working". My life finally feels like it is settling right where it needs to be. Things are good with the vinyl business and I am grateful everyday that I get to be right home with Bella. We have made sacrifices money wise but we have gained so much.

Bella is still growing like a weed. I don't feel like I take enough pictures lately because she is changing so much. She is talking up a storm and can say full sentences like, "no, I don't" when her dad tells her to do something :) She is so funny and SO much trouble. She can complete simple tasks, such as putting things in the garbage, picking up her toys and understands when it's bath time by standing by the bathroom door and banging on it until I open the door. She could live in the bathtub if I'd let her.

"Only as high as I reach can I grow,
only as far as I seek can I go,
only as deep as I look can I see,
only as much as I dream can I be."

Camping

Last weekend Bella and I went camping with my parents and my sister's family. We only went for one night because Justin was working and because it was the Bella's first time camping. I honestly thought it was going to be a nightmare but it ended up being just fine! My sister and her husband have property in Sourdough and we met everyone up there on Saturday around 4 PM. We walked down to the pond and played by the water for awhile. Then we had dinner and s'mores. Bella fell asleep in my lap by the camp fire and only woke up once during the night. We had so much fun!

Bella's Favorites

Bella is definitely at an age where she knows what she likes and what she doesn't like. Here are some of her favorites recently.

Favorite foods: Mac & Cheese, quesadillas, crackers, french fries, black berries & cookies
Favorite drinks: Milk, strawberry milk, soda (bad daddy!), water
Favorite Songs (none of which are on my play list, don't know where she picks them up at!):
Baby-Justin Bieber, Ridin Solo-Jason Derulo, Carry Out-Justin Timberlake, Hicktown-Jason Aldean
Favorite show: Blue's Clues
Favorite things to do: Play outside, go to grandma's house
Favorite places to go: Gateway Discovery, Carver's Cove, Living Planet Aquarium



Favorite movie: Alvin and the chipmunks - the squeakquel. I've seen this movie more than any other movie in my life!

I'm a little bit country..

Friday we took Bella to Carver's Cove in Eden. It was seriously one of the coolest things we have done so far. Bella is just learning all of her animal sounds so it was fun to see the animals up close and personal.

Kids 12 and under (or 13 if you are cute like Ty) can ride the horse. There are goats, chickens, llamas, cows, sheep, donkeys, bunnies, kittens, dogs, ducks, turkeys, pigs, & horses.
This is probably the most pictures I've ever uploaded. I had a hard time choosing!

I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to chase the chickens..

Look a that face. Dirt.. oats..

Baby pigs! Born the night before. Their mommy weighs about 450 lbs!

Piper the potbelly pig. Love him! So much personality in such a chubby little pig.

She really wasn't sure about riding the horse but decided she wanted to try it after she saw her uncle Ty do it. She lasted for about 10 steps. I was one proud mama!

Oh and then yesterday we went to the Famer's Market on 25th street. Of course I can't go without wandering into the antique store. And I found this! A silver Tiffany necklace. I really don't know how old it is but it was the best find ever for me. Love love love it!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I'm putting away the groceries today and my little one is being really good. I keep putting the groceries away while thinking what a good little sweet heart I have. I get down to the last few bags and she is still just sitting on the floor playing. I think she is being too quite so I decide to see what she is up to.. and find this..


Prepare yourself..















AHHHH!! Man down!!!

Luckily 9 survived out of the dozen but one was a total loss. There were two eggs that just had cracks. They needed to be used up. And quick!

So what's a girl to do?

I made these Pillow Cookies that were recently featured on Bakerella. Recipe here. Mine didn't turn out nearly as pretty as hers but they were so good! They have brownies in the inside. How could they not turn out to be delicious?

We have too much fun. Bella is such a handful and I promise she already knows how to push my buttons but I wouldn't have it any other way. She is such a blast!