Antelope Island 2010

Last weekend we went to Antelope Island to camp. We had fun there the last time we went (and I was pregnant with Reese) so we decided it'd be a fun place to go again (this time pregnant with baby boy) - maybe we'll make a tradition of it :)

First off we drove to see all the buffalo. They were really close to the road and there were TONS of them. They were cool to watch, I can't believe how HUGE some of them are.


We then drove to our camping spot and found that it was occupied by an older couple sipping wine watching the sunset. We visited with them for a few minutes and then enjoyed the sunset ourselves - minus the wine.


One thing I had forgotten about Antelope Island is its immense population of spiders. They are HUGE spiders and come in every shape and color. We read the sign about them - they are orb spiders (meaning they spin spiral webs)but aren't poisonous and won't bite...unless provoked. I HATE spiders, but luckily these ones leave you alone, you just have to watch your every move so you don't run into one of their massive webs (which are pretty much everywhere).


Look at all those spiders hanging from the gazebo. There are signs saying to stay on the road/trails. They don't even need those signs, the spiders do the job of keeping you from wanting to wander anywhere but open spaces where they haven't spun webs.


After a restful night of sleep we had some granola bars and capri suns and then headed down to the beach. Reese loved playing in the sand but wasn't too fond of the water except when we were holding her. I guess having sand between your toes while walking unsteadily and being swarmed by brine shrimp isn't Reese's idea of enjoyable time in the water?


Reese is a dirt/sand/rock LOVER. She'd play with these elements all day long if allowed. On our way back she licked her hands and started giggling/smiling and then repeatedly licked them. I licked mine to see what was so exciting and found that it was the saltiness she was enjoying so much.




My hunk of a husband carried Reese on the way back from the beach. I was ever so grateful for him and his muscles because I was sweating like a pig trying to make it back through the sand in the sun. If I were alone we would've taken 15 minute breaks every 2 minutes - because although that girl is little, I'm already overloaded with weight I'm not used to and she just adds an extra 20:)


We played following the leader and sang the "We're following the leader, the leader, the leader..." song from Peter Pan. Reese thought it was fun for a couple of minutes....


But then those little legs just gave out! It's just so hard having short legs :)


Here is a picture of our campspot, for memory's sake. I always love camping with my little crew. This weekend - Bearlake, posts to come...

Last of the days at my parents

Eric and I are quick to act when we make a decision. We knew we were going to need to find a place before September but 1/2 way through July decided that we should look for a place to move by the beginning of August before all the students come back for fall and before I'm more pregnant (and less able to help lift things) and he is in school and working full time (meaning I'd be pretty much in charge of the move). The day we decided, we looked for places on line and then drove up to SLC to look at them. Well, the first one we looked at ended up being "the one". We got everything signed, the utilities switched over to our names and then moved everything in. It has been a whirlwind of constant moving, finding furniture, painting furniture, decorating, organizing, etc and we still aren't done. The last week definitely has been fulfilling as we've gotten everything (other than the few things we forgot) moved in, got the place furnished, got flooring taken care of, and most things organized into place. There is still a lot to do, all the nitty gritty details, but it's a lot of fun now.

We love the area, the yard, the close vicinity to any store you can think of (more on that later)but I am definitely missing the constant friends (my family)the dirt pit and pond for Reese to play in, the naked summer days (Reese, not me) in a fairly secluded backyard, and only making dinner 2 or 3 times a week :)





Camla celebrated her 14th birthday the last week we were living with them. Can I just say my dad is such a good dad. My mom was out of town for work (she was devastated about missing Camla's birthday) but my dad filled in perfectly. He made sure her day was full of fun and then took her camping/fishing/kayaking just the two of them. He's such a gem of a father!



Camla is one of my very best friends. You wouldn't know we were 10 years apart by the way we can chat it up and hang out. She is extremely thoughtful and is always concerned more with how other people are feeling than her own feelings, definitely WAY more selfless than I ever would have thought of being at her age. She loves on her nieces and nephew like there is no tomorrow and is such a good person. She gives me hope that even though my kids will be growing up in a world where sin is so acceptable, they can still be faithful and righteous people and rise above the filth.

The new place

An update:

We found a place we love in SLC. We've been moving stuff in for the past week and still have quite a bit more to move in. We should be living there by the beginning of next week but we'll see. We LOVE it. It is cute and little but oh so fun! It is funny going from a house with tilted walls (our home in Heber is a modified a-frame so the walls are slanted inside) to a house with straight walls, it makes it seem so much bigger! I'm SO excited to decorate, I've got all sorts of ideas in mind but need to make sure I chose colors that work with the existing paint color, our new couches, etc. It is kind of fun starting from scratch (since we left our furniture for our renters and our rustic decor doesn't fit too well with the new place) and getting to be creative in making things look cute. Now, if I only had unlimited resources (time, money, energy), that would be awesome.

I've done more manual labor these last couple of weeks than I've done in a LONG time. So I am SORE, but thankfully staying strong and in shape (as much as you can when you're pregnant), and I have a nice tan. So for those things I am thankful.

Eric is working all kinds of hard but is luckily free in the evenings to hang out with me. I love living with this guy, it makes for a whole lot of wonderful moments and thought provoking conversations.

Reese is going through a stage. I don't know if it has to do with the 3+ teeth she has breaking through her gums or what but she has been way grumpier than her typical self (miss happy carefree girl). I need to get creative and think of ways to entertain her throughout the day, maybe she is just bored. Plus, this age is hard for me. She is now in nursury and is now becoming even more independent. She notices when someone takes something from her and in turn yells "no" at them. She doesn't get sharing (despite my efforts) so it is hard when she is playing with other kids. She isn't a bully, but she is also no pushover. Good in the long run, but hard right now, before she learns how to act kosherly. All in all though, she is still fantastic. She is talking a ton more and it is so fun to hear her new words and listen to her jabber nonstop. She is very observant with whatever we are doing and tries to help. She always wants to sit at the sink while I'm doing dishes, pull the laundry out of the baskets as I fold, help weed, etc. It really is endearing.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

A friend posted this on their blog and it was just what I needed to hear. Being a mom can be hard and it's easy to feel like a failure multiple times a day.

"Mothers, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones. Yours is the work of salvation and therefore you will be magnified....made more than you are."

It's a....

We finally got our ultrasound done this morning. I've been dying with anticipation! It was great to see that the baby is developing correctly! And, we found out that the baby is a BOY! We are very excited about this!

He had his arms in front of his face the whole time. In this picture he is grasping his left wrist with his right hand.

So pretty much we're stoked! I've craved meat this time around - hated it with Reese, and although I know every pregnancy is different regardless of gender, there seemed to be enough differences and enough dreams/thoughts on my part that I really thought it'd be a boy. Over the last couple of weeks I've gotten myself excited about the thought of it being either a girl or a boy, but I won't lie - when the ultrasound guy said "it's definitely a boy" my heart burst with excitement. I'm excited for us to have a son and for Reese to have a brother.

Final installation of the 4th weekend

Sunday afternoon we headed to Fremont Indian State Park in Sevier, UT. We had read some info about it online and it seemed like it might be a fun place to camp. We got there and went on a hike to see some Indian hieroglyphs. It was cool and all, but we decided it didn't sound that fun to spend the rest of the evening and the next day hiking in the dry hot weather to see more of the same, so.... we headed further south and found a pretty canyon (Cottonwood canyon) between Marysvale and Junction, UT. It was gorgeous! Definitely a great place to camp! We had a huge area all to ourselves. There was tons of firewood everywhere so we gathered a bunch and had a ginormous fire all evening. We roasted hot dogs once again for dinner. They're always so yummy over a fire!

Reese slept all night, which wouldn't typically be unusual, but it was pretty cold so I was hoping she'd be warm enough with a double layer of fleece and her blankies. She stayed under her blanket the whole night and didn't make a peep. In the morning, after eating some Cap'n Crunch, we walked over to the stream across the road.

Reese enjoyed throwing rocks with Eric.

We will for sure be coming back to this place to camp, it was BEAUTIFUL and such a fun place to camp if you want to be away from the crowds.

Reese was playing the mother Mary in her sleep ;)
On our way home we made lots of stops and found many beautiful places.

This is a fun little lake we found and want to go camping at soon. It is a good place for fishing and was surrounded by cute little campsites and little cabins that used to be rented out but are now completely run down.

We passed a lot of old mining towns on our trip back. There were old mine shafts all over and we stopped at some to check them out.

We drove to Old Frisco Mining Town which is an old town that has been abandoned since the early 1900's (1920 if I remember right). There are open mines all over the place and it's littered with all kinds of stuff that was just left when all the people left.

There were a couple of shafts that dropped WAY into the ground. Eric dropped a rock down one of the shafts and it took probably 5 seconds to hit the bottom.

On the drive home we stopped at this cool looking little gas station in Elberta, UT.

We had such a nice long weekend spending time together as a family.

Stadium of Fire 2010

This year we went with my family to Stadium of Fire. We had awesome seats so it made for a good AND comfortable time. I am a big fan of Carrie Underwood so it was a lot of fun to see her live. The 5 Browns (pianist siblings) were also quite entertaining - reminded me of quasimodo having seizures repeatedly. There was also a violist, Jenny Oaks Baker, who was amazing and actually put sexy into playing a violin - who would've guessed that could be possible. The fireworks were fun to watch. Reese layed in Eric's arms during them and almost fell asleep. On the walk home she did actually fall asleep. This is rare for her. I was a bit jealous that Eric got to hold the sleeping beauty, but realized my body wouldn't have felt so excited about it after about 3 minutes of walking while holding her dead weight.

Thanks mom and dad for such a good time!!!!

The 4th weekend

It was kind of nice having the 4th of July on a Sunday this year so that it would be celebrated on Monday and make for a long weekend. Friday we decided to go camping. We tried to find a free camping site up American Fork canyon so we could hike to Timp Caves Saturday morning but due to the long weekend, it was all booked. Early Friday, after I found out there were no spots up AF canyon, I drove down to Mona to see if I could find a spot at Burriston Ponds before evening hit and everything was sure to be gone. I did find one spot and set up our tent in a crazy wind storm, luckily the wind worked in my favor to help me get the rainfly over the tent all on my own. I was pretty proud of my pro tent setting up skills. Reese was good, like always, and just stuck around next to me and threw rocks into the pond while I set things up.

Friday evening once Eric got off work we headed back to Mona together and he was very happy with the spot. I was glad. I thought it might be a crappy spot because during the wind storm it seemed like it'd be really dusty, but once the wind had stopped it turned out to be probably the best spot of the whole place. We cooked hotdogs over the fire for dinner and marshmallows for dessert. Reese LOVED the campfire and was such a happy girl all evening - even with staying up until 11pm.

Once she was in bed, Eric and I got to just chill and enjoy good conversation. Always the best!

In the morning we played on the rope swings and kayaked around the pond. At lunch time we packed up camp and went to the local burger joint for lunch, then headed back to Provo to get things in order before the big "4th" celebration.

Payson Lakes

We always try to do something fun on the weekends to spend some quality time together and help us get energized for the next work week. A couple weekends ago we headed up on the Nebo loop and went to Payson lakes. I've lived in UT pretty much my whole life and I don't ever recall going there before. It was very pretty and there is a cute walkway all the way around one of the lakes.

Reese has been SUCH a daddy's girl lately. It is totally cute, but doesn't make for good mommy - Reese pictures.She was happy to get to go back to dad.

She loved the freedom of walking in and out of the water by herself.