Happy Father's Day!

It's a bit late but I still wanted to post this. For Father's Day the kids made a special tie for their daddy and grandpa's to wear to church. They personalized it with their hand prints and were so excited to give them. Actually, Vanessa was so excited that she blew the surprise when daddy got home from work and told him what they made that day. Oops!!!

The kids also gave him some A&Wesome Root Beer to tell him how awesome he is. We are so grateful to have such a wonderful daddy! Mark is so much fun and the kids love playing with him. We have been truly blessed to have such amazing fathers in our lives and are so grateful for what they have taught us and for loving us!

Happy Father's Day! We love you!

Gondola Ride

We were able to go up to Snow Basin to a wedding and ride the Gondola up to the reception. The kids loved the ride. Owen was preoccupied with looking for moose. He would get excited and point and shout "MOOSE!!" every few minutes. I am sad to say that we didn't even see a moose but Owen still had fun looking for them. Vanessa enjoyed looking out the windows and so did I. The view was breathtaking! We couldn't believe the amount of snow still left on the mountain. It was an amazing site to see and such a fun adventure!

Manti Miracle Pageant

A few weeks ago we were able to meet my family in Manti and go to the Miracle Pageant. We met up and ate some yummy pizza at Roy's Pizza (we still call it Fat Jack's) then headed over to Mark's aunt and uncles' house to set up our tents before the pageant began. While doing this we were immediately surrounded by swarms of misquotes. After that we weren't too thrilled to be camping but went with it anyway. Luckily we brought lots of misquote spray.

We headed off the get some seats on the temple grounds. We ended up getting some great seats and the view of the temple was spectacular! We really enjoyed watching the pageant and the kids loved looking at the big temple.

We made it back to our tents and spent the night praying for it not to rain. When we got up in the morning we quickly packed things up to avoid the rain storm. As soon as we got in the car, down came the rain! It poured all the way home and we were very grateful that the storm held off until we got in our cars.

It was so much fun being able to spend the weekend with my family and do some thing fun and memorable. Thanks for the great weekend!

Boxes, Boxes, and More Boxes!!!

Last week was quite the week! We spent the entire week working on our home to get it move in ready. We ripped out the carpet, and nail boards (not an easy job!), took off wallpaper in 3 rooms (not an easy job either...I HATE wallpaper!!) cleaned walls, baseboards, doors, and floors, and finally painted. We didn't think we could get it all done in time but with long days, late nights, and lots of help from family we were able to accomplish it all! And we are now all exhausted but the house looks AMAZING!

We were able to move our boxes into the garage Saturday. I was amazed with how many boxes we have and a bit overwhelmed when we started unpacking and trying to find a place for it. I wish I had a magic wand to just point at the stuff and have it magically appear where I need it to. I know we will get the task of unpacking done but it might take us a bit! Things are moving along and I even have put up some pictures and wall hangings. Hopefully in the next two weeks we will get done. (Pictures to come soon!)

We love our home! It feels so good to finally be settled and have a home of our own. Vanessa loves her pink room. When we showed it to her for the first time her jaw dropped open and she squealed with delight and said "I love it!" Owen when he saw his room he pointed to the walls and excitedly said "Blue!" I know that we will really enjoy living here!

Thank you to all the people that helped make this happen. We couldn't have done it with out you and we really appreciate your love and support!

We have a HOME!!!

Today is a great day that Mark and I have been dreaming about since we were first married! We are now officially homeowner's! We signed the papers this morning and will get the keys tomorrow to our first home!

We are so excited! This week is going to be quite busy with cleaning, painting, and carpeting. This might seem not quite so fun to some but I am itching to get started with all of the projects. My mind might change at the end of the week but for now I am stoked!!! We were very blessed to have worked with some great people, James and Wendy Martin, our real estate agents, Veritas Funding, and Founder's Title. They are the ones that helped us make our dream a reality! Thank You! If anyone is looking to buy and sell, check out the Martin's website www.everyutahlisting.com. They are amazing to work with and will help you find a great home for a great price!

Pictures to come of before and afters so stay tuned!

We Love Summer!

It was a warm sunny day yesterday and after playing hard outside, we decided to cool down by sitting in the shade and eating a cold Popsicle! Oh how we love summer and the warm sunny days! They are great for making wonderful memories!

Princess Bike!

We found this princess bike on ksl.com for only $15.00! What a deal. I love when I can save us some money! It was very gently used so we snatched up the deal and surprised Vanessa with it! We rode around the block yesterday and she was getting so good and fast. I had to jog to keep up! Bike riding will be a great activity this summer.

Happy 30th Birthday Michelle...

and WELCOME HOME!

We were so darn excited to be able to celebrate Michelle's 30th birthday with them! They are officially moved back from Virginia! YEA!!!!!!!!!! We have really missed them so much and are so excited to be able to play with the girls and to see them more often. This now means play dates for the kids!Anyway, back to Michelle's birthday party. They came over to the Sorensen's house and we had a yummy meal of Chicken and Broccoli. We had so much fun just being able to talk to them and finally get to meet our sweet new niece Hailey and play with Aliyah. Vanessa was so excited to have Aliyah here. I just know that they will be great friends! They were playing outside with the Badmitton raquets and pretending to be the Seven Drawfs by singing "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go." It was just too cute!

Yeah, I finally got to hold Hailey! She is such a doll!

Just after dinner, we tried to get the kids to all sit on the red chairs and smile. Let me tell ya, that was not an easy task!
This is the only way Owen will swing! He hates sitting on them!
The kids had a lot of fun swinging together and laughing!

(In the Sorensen's back yard there is an open lot that has tall grass and Owen was running in it and all of the sudden he was gone. I guess there was a little hole that he fell into and the tall grass was covered him up. Just his little head was poking out!)

When it was time to blow out the birthday candles, Michelle had a lot of little helpers. It was hilarious watching the kids. Owen was so determined to blow out the candles that he jumped and crawled on the table to reach them before Vanessa and Aliyah. He sure does love those candles.

Vanessa wasn't very happy when the Thomson's had to leave for bedtime. She started crying because she didn't want Aliyah to leave. They were having so much fun playing together. The nice thing about having them back in Utah and living close is that they can play pretty much anytime they want!

We love you Michelle and hope you had a wonderful birthday!

Repurposing Clothing

I found some shirts that were discounted to $2.00 at Wal-mart the other day so I bought a few. They were plain and I wanted to add some cuteness to them. So I took some old T-shirt fabric and ironed on some double sided web to the back of it. I then cut out a fun pattern. I found the dinosaur on line by just googling dinosaur applique pattern and I just sketched the guitar and shark pattern. I then ironed them straight on the shirt. To add some dimension, I sewed around the edges which gave it just want it needed. Now I have some super cute boy shirts for my little monster to wear. This also would work great if there was a stain on the shirt. You can just applique on a cute pattern to cover the ugly stain or hole. I love the idea because it is going to save me some money!!

Now for Vanessa's shirts, I just added some fabric flowers to them to give them a little flare. I had a hard time getting her to wear them pre-flowers. I no longer have to fight her to wear them. She loves the flowers on them and looks so cute wearing them!

Satin Flowers

Knit Fabric Flower

Satin Flower and Cotton Fabric Flower

These are the kids' 4th of July shirts. I found a tutorial here and decided to make them myself. I made them the same way using an some T-shirt fabric and web. They turn out adorable and I can't wait for the kids to wear them!

Back to Japan

On Friday, Maimi, a Japan foreign exchange student who was staying with Mark's parents, went back to Japan. It was a lot of fun getting to know her. It is so nice to be able to learn some of her customs, try some food, and become a bit more knowledgeable about Japan. Maimi is a cute girl and we will miss seeing her. I know the kids are missing her. She loved playing with them and the kids loved playing with her. It was an adventure having her life with us and we are grateful for the experience!

We went to a Castle Park in Fruit Height to a dinner for Maimi. It was fun to see her one last time. While there, we couldn't resist from playing on the Castle Jungle Gym. The kids were in heaven. They both loved climbing and crawling through all the holes and sliding down the slides. It was super fun. I love being able to play with them outside and see them have so much fun.

Summer Fun!

The weather has been quite nice lately. FINALLY!!! We have been enjoying this beautiful weather we are having with lots of outdoor playing time. We went down to South Jordan this past Sunday to celebrate Callie and Kaylor's graduation. The kids had so much fun jumping on the tramp and playing on the slide and swings. Vanessa and Owen also love to go outside and blow bubbles. We enjoy blowing, chasing and popping them. Owen will say "pop, pop" as he is popping them. Too cute!

Owen has recently started to say cheese when we are taking a picture of him. He also will cheese it. He is so silly and so cute! I can't get enough of him. We just love summer and all of the fun things we get to do together!

Goggles

The kids put on some goggles and thought it was so much fun! They looked so darn cute with them on. They just laughed and laughed! I love how kids can have so much fun with just the simplest things! Who couldn't love those cute faces!

6 Years and Two Kids Later!

Today Mark and I celebrated our six year anniversary! Wow, it doesn't seem that we have been married for that long. We have had so many wonderful experiences and memories these past six years. I am so grateful that I was able to marry my best friend and get to spend the rest of my life and beyond with him. I love him so much and everyday that I get to spend with him I love him more!

This year it was my turn to be in charge of our anniversary getaway. I decided to book a room at the Alaskan Inn in Ogden Canyon. We went there for our honeymoon and loved it. I was excited to be able to take Mark back there. I booked the Eagle's Nest room. The bedroom decor is just awesome! The bed is made to look like an eagle's nest and the wall are painted with eagles and trees. I didn't tell Mark where we were going until dinner. We ate at the Brick Oven and then went over to a new cupcake bake shop in Layton to pick out our dessert. I got a coconut mango and Mark got a chocolate marble one. Let's just say they were pure deliciousness!

It was so nice and rejuvenating to be able to spend the day together as a couple. Being up in the mountains and surrounded by all of the beautiful scenery was so relaxing. Just what we needed!
The river was just behind the inn and it was amazing to see how full the river is. We could hear the roar of the river inside our room. It is crazy to see how much water is coming down the mountain.

Mark surprised me with a beautiful teardrop necklace and the sweetest card. My goodness, how I love that man! It has been such a fun day and I am so thankful that I got to spend it with my handsome husband! Happy 6th Anniversary!!!!