The Evil Cookie

Why do I have zero will power when it comes to sugar?! It was Monday night so of course I had to come up with something for Family Home Evening right? I was so strong all day not to eat unhealthy and to control my portion control. I really thought I had the day in the bag. Then came along the sugar cookie :)

Who even knows many many of this delicious circles I downed. Oh well, maybe today's the day (wish me luck).

I am not ready to be entering into toddlerhood with miss Kate!

Yesterday I took the girls to Hobby Lobby to stock up on a few needed craft items. I even planned well and went in the morning before Kate would even think about being tired. Who knows what happened, but half way through our browsing she outright started screaming and throwing a huge fit! I hurried and headed to the checkout which thankfully there weren't any lines. I couldn't believe that she pretty much cried the whole way home. She really tired herself out by the time we got home thankfully :) Oy. Maybe I'll have to give up shopping with her for awhile.

Grace and Abby both decided that they needed a change with their hair. I'm always up for changing up styles so on Saturday we headed to the beauty school and let a couple students practice their skills. They were really cute with them and did a pretty good job too. Now Grace looks older to me which I'm not sure that I like a whole lot.



Hope you all have a wonderful day! Btw, between the beginning and end of this post I ate two buttery pieces of toast. I'm off to a bad start (it was bran bread though, hehe) :( xoxo until next time.

Life in the slow lane.

I have to admit that I've really loved not having to run kids around to dance, soccer, or piano (actually Grace walked to piano. I just watched her from the window until she was safely to her piano teacher's house). That's one of the great things about summer, but I can already tell that I'll be ready when school does start again.

A few weekends ago we finally got to have our pictures taken! It was so much fun. Today Emilie posted some on her blog! Take a look :)


Yesterday Grace to spend most of the day at a friends house so I broke out the pool for Abby to keep her mind off of missing Grace (and the fact that neither of her friends could play). I was amazed at how much fun she had just by herself.



That's about all that going on around here. A house that needs a good cleaning, two daughters that discovered how fun showers are, a few baby teeth peaking through gums, and lots of swimming. Abby is FINALLY (she asks how much longer everyday) turning five in a few weeks:

If you have any fun ideas for a water/fish party please send it my way! xoxo until next time.

Gotta Love Dads

As this day is now ending I want to take a moment to introduce you to the dads in my life.

First up I'd like to say how much I love my husband Corey. Our three girls are so blessed to have him as their dad. He is the best snuggler, wrestler, monster, and dead horse (Abby likes the horses to be alive when she rides them, but that's okay).


Second, is my dad. He really is the coolest. He really is someone that I look up to in so many ways. I've loved more than anything seeing him as a grandpa. My girls couldn't love him any more than they do. He is so great with them and always makes sure to make time just for them.


Third, is my father-in-law Shawn. I've known him for a little over nine years now and he's always made me feel at home. He is a great with the girls and would do anything for them.


and finally my other father-in-law, Gordon. He's my load, crazy, ZZ Top singing father-in-law. He just recently moved closer which has been a lot of fun. The girls have a great time with him and he's always making us laugh.


I'm very blessed to have these men in my life. They're all completely different from each other and I love them all in such different ways. I hope that they know how much I love and appreciate them for who they are in my life. Yeah for dads!

I'm in Love!

Ever since I got my camera I've been searching for a fun camera bag. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to track something fun and funky down, but it is. I just found this site and I'm so excited to start saving my pennies for one of these beauties. You even pick out your own fabric! What's even cooler is that they're giving one away right here. Go and sign up in my name, or I guess sign up yourself, lol. Have a happy Tuesday!

Princesses Galore!

Yesterday, Ginger, and I loaded up our girls and headed to Lindon for the Princess Festival. Thank goodness for Corey's GPS system that told every turn to take along the way (not too familiar with Lindon). The girls were SO excited when we finally got there. I don't even know where to begin. It really was so cute. There were princesses, princes, and many more fun characters walking around. The girls had a great time jumping on a trampoline with Peter Pan and blowing pixie dust with Tinker Bell. The Blue Fairy took the group of girls around and they helped save the princesses. The girls had a great time and I was seriously impressed. I think that next year we'll make it a "mother daughter sleepover." Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day. Hope you had a great day!

Hurray for summer!

It's finally here! That thing called summer vacation!! Abby's been asking for about a month when it's going to be summer. She's actually asking when her birthday is with that question (in the winter I told her that her birthday wasn't until summer), but that's okay. I think we're going to make a countdown chain to her birthday because she really can't wait until the middle of July and I'm really getting tired of telling her when her birthday is.

I have been really trying to play around with my camera in the manual settings lately. When I first got home from the workshop, I snapped a few pictures and they turned out completely black, lol. I've actually gotten better since then, though I still am not sure what I'm doing. Here are a few from the other day:


Grace's party was yesterday and it was pretty fun. I hope the girls thought so too. I gave the girls some flip flops and a spa robe (white t-shirts cut up the middle and a tie cut from the bottom hem) when they walked through the door. They first had facials which Corey's mom did. After a quick game we headed outside to the different stations. There was the manicure station, the body glitter creating station, and a table to decorate sleeping eye masks. As the girls were doing that (Corey's mom and sisters kept the girls busy) I worked on getting lunch ready and outside onto another table. As soon as lunch was all set up, it started to rain! So I grabbed the food and brought it inside. Grace had a great time so I guess it was a success. Now I get to plan a water party for Abby!






Since we didn't get to eat outside at the party, I thought we should eat outside for dinner. The girls and I grabbed subway sandwiches and had the picnic table all set up as Corey pulled in the driveway. He's not a huge fan of eating outside, but I really love it (even if it's just in our front yard), so I hope that he starts to enjoy it one of these days, lol.


The one thing with photography that I don't know if I've figured out or just gotten luck with is finally being able to freeze time! Whenever I tried to take an "action" shot before it would be completely blurred. I told Abby to twirl last night and this is what I snapped.


Have a wonderful weekend. xoxo until next time.

ps. If you have any fun summer activities ideas that are super cheap or free please send them my way!

Presents & Pancakes

The last few days have been crazy! As many of you might or might not know, I turned 30 on Friday. It was a pretty low key day with a few fun surprises along the way :) A sweet friend in my ward made me her carrot cake that is seriously "to die for." That in itself made me smile just looking at it all day, lol. I probably gained 5 pounds eating that yummy cake.

My mother-in-law surprised me with this owl that is now keeping watch over my kitchen!

On Saturday I went to Emilie's photography workshop which was a lot of fun. It really made me even more excited about photography. I am so completely clueless about ISO, shutterspeed, and Aperature though, ugh. Need to figure those out. Then I hit Tai Pan and bought some fun things.

This week I'm in party mode gearing up for Grace's bash. I decided to change gears with the invites since she's having a pampering party. This is the picture that I ended up using (thanks so much for your ideas though):


While we were delivering a few last minutes invites on Monday the girls were noticing how many kids were running around in their smimsuits. So we finally broke out the suits and the sprinkler for a little (very little) water fun. Kaylee joined them and they had a great time splashing and they said they were having a cheese and water party :)



Yesterday Grace officially turned 7! When Corey was growing up they opened all of their presents in the morning and when I was a kid we waited until that night (before cake and icecream). I gave Grace the option and of course she chose morning. I don't mind, but all of our birthday pics are going to feature bed head.

I can't believe she's 7 already. That's probably why I'm 30 already, lol.


I hope to have some fun party pics here in a few days to show. Summer vacation starts tomorrow and I'm realizing that I'm not quite ready, but still excited. Before I go, here's a picture of Kate doing something that she really enjoys. I take one finger out and the next one goes in. Have a great day!


ps. I realized that I didn't even mention pancakes in my post, lol! When I was a kid, we would have ice cream on our pancakes when it was a special day. I still like the thought, but Corey thinks it's weird. So yesterday for Grace's bday we had pancakes, but with cool whip (still good, and not at wierd I guess).