What's It Like in Your World?

Wow, time sure goes by fast! Jaxson and Aynsley are growing up so quickly. I absolutely love being their mom and I truly can't imagine having it any other way. I just love being a part of their worlds. Here is a glimpse at what is going on with each of the kids:

My sweet Jaxson:

Jaxson loves to run around outside. I could tell that he was feeling a little stir-crazy one day, so we went out into the backyard to run around. He loved being able to chase Faline around the yard and thought it was so funny that she was running away from him.

Jaxson loves to play on the playground. One of our favorite things to do right now is take a walk to one of the playgrounds in our neighborhood. He especially loves to play in the sand and go down the slide. Recently, we met up with some friends for a picnic lunch/play date at the park. Jaxson was in heaven! He is so social...he loves to play with other kids and was loving being able to go down the slide over and over.

Jaxson is slowly starting to get more vocal, and it seems like he has so much that he is trying to say. Some of his most commonly used words are hi, hi ___ (guys, sis, dad, mom-ma), no, owe-ie (I think he uses this as stop), go, and uh-oh. He also can say cookie, wa-wa (for water), hello, bye-bye, and a few others.

Jaxson still loves music and he loves to dance. He was always start moving around if he hears music that he likes.

One of his newest fascinations is that he has learned to turn light switches on and off. He loves to climb onto our sofa and turn the ceiling fan on. Once he sees the fan start to move, he points to it and has the biggest smile on his face.

My dear Aynsley:

Aynsley's personality is coming out more and more all the time. It is so fun to see her grow and learn. I love to hear her giggle and laugh...it is so precious!

Aynsley has finally started eating solids within the past week. She was so resistant to it...it kind of seemed like she just didn't know what to do with it. When I mentioned it to our pediatrician at her six month check-up, he told us to keep offering food at every meal, including offering table foods, just in case it was the baby food texture she didn't like. We still weren't seeing any progress until last week. My mom put a little bit of ice cream up to her lips, and she was hooked! Since then, she has successfully been eating any baby food that she has been given! :)

Aynsley is getting curly hair, and I love it! She looks so much like Mike, so it has been fun for me to see a trait that she inherited from me. It seems like her hair is becoming curlier the longer it gets, so we'll see what happens.

Aynsley is a girl after my own heart, and seems to love all things Disney. Although she still loves Mickey Mouse the most, she also seems to really enjoy whenever any Disney movie is on. I am so excited for when she and Jaxson are older, and I can take them to Disneyland to meet Mickey Mouse in real life!

Aynsley is sleeping through the night! She consistently will sleep 10-11 hours at night before waking up...so nice!

Like I said, Aynsley is growing up fast! She weighs almost as much as Jaxson, although he is still a lot taller than she is. She is wearing all of the clothes that I had planned for her to wear this summer, so we definitely like these warm days.

St. George Getaway

Last weekend, we were able to get away to St. George with some friends. The Knaubs had won a free stay at a villa for the weekend, and we were so excited when the invited us to come along.

There were five couples that headed down: us, the Jaques, Olsens, Sandersons, and the Knaubs. This is the villa that we stayed in while we were there.

The girls: Ashley, Lori, me, Camille, and Barbara

While we were down there, we spent time relaxing at the pool, went to the movies, shopping, played games, ate a ton of delicious food, and headed down to Vegas for the night. It was such a fun and relaxing getaway! Thanks again for inviting us to come along, Knaubs!

Independence Day Weekend Fun

Mike and I had a lot of fun during Independence Day weekend - we both had Monday off of work, so it was fun to spend some extra time together.

On Saturday, we went 4-wheeling on Skyline Drive with the Jaques. The weather was beautiful! We brought a picnic dinner and ate at the top of the mountain. Our view spanned from Utah County in the South to at least Layton in the North.

After dinner, we kept going and the trail led us back by this peaceful pond. There was a huge beaver dam in the middle. The air was so crisp and I loved being able to smell the pine.

As we continued on the trail, we found this out-of-the-way, but pretty nice, campground. We totally want to check it out this summer! After 4-wheeling, we went back to our house for some fireworks. Camille's snakes were the best!

On Sunday, we went to my parent's house for dinner. After dinner, we headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon for some family pictures. These are a few of my favorites:

When we came home, we ended up doing a few more fireworks with our neighbors from across the street. We haven't gotten to know them very well, so it was cool to get to know them better. One of the neighbors accidentally set his grass on fire, but fortunately it wasn't too big of a deal. :)

On Monday, we went out for our traditional "Fourth of July" breakfast. Later in the day, we went down to Mike's mom's house for a BBQ with his family. Some of his cousins and his grandparents were able to come, so it was fun to see people. When we got home, our other neighbors were doing fireworks, so we did a few more.

All in all, it was a really nice weekend. I am so grateful that we could enjoy the time that we spent with each other, our families, and our friends. I am grateful that I live in a country that allows me to enjoy these freedoms and so many others.

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Mike!!!

Earlier this month, Mike turned the big 3-0! We had some friends over to BBQ and celebrate the occasion. Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate, but we still had a good time. We had some friends come that we hadn't seen for a while, so it was great to be able to catch up with everyone. Besides the food, we also enjoyed a few card games and a sweet game of Pictionary Man...I will never be able to play that game again without laughing.

Thank you so much to everyone who brought food and celebrated Mike's big day with us. I know it really meant a lot to him!

The CrAzY Corn Maze

On Friday, we went with some friends to a corn maze. This is one of my favorite autumn activities, so I was so glad that we were able to go. I think that the last time Mike and I went to a corn maze was before we started dating, so it had definately been a while.

Mike and I made it out of the maze!

The girls: Barbara, Lori, Ashley, and me

Everyone!

After we found our way out of the maze, we headed over to 7-11 for some hot chocolate and Dunford doughnuts. Thanks for the fun time!

We Braved the Rain

Last Thursday, Ashley, Barbara, Lori, and I braved the rain to check out the Kelly Clarkson concert at the Brent Brown field at UVU. Even though the weather wasn't ideal, we had such a great time! She sang all of her hits and it was so much fun to have a ladies night.

We had general admission seats and we ended up being on the very top of the grass, which was perfect. We were able to have some concrete so that we didn't have to entirely sit on the wet grass and we had plenty of room to dance around, plus we had an unobstructed view of the stage.
Yes...we had to wear our rain coats. We did get a little bit of rain, but it wasn't too bad and it didn't last for long. Who knew that we would be worried about being wet and cold in the middle of June???
One nice thing about the rain is that we had two sweet rainbows that were behind the stage. The rainbow on the right is a little harder to see on my picture, but they were both full rainbows.

Weekend Getaway

Last weekend, we went up to the Zermatt and stayed in a condo with some friends. We had so much fun! Some of the weekend highlights included:

Attempting to make breakfast with our "value" bacon and bread

Our tech center - three laptops, lots of You-tube

Relaxing in the pool, hot tub, and steam room

Shopping

Lori listening to Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent over and over

Playing games

Eating tasty gelato

Good food in general...can you ever have too much?

Unfortunately, I never remembered to get out our camera, so I don't have any pictures to share. Thanks for the fun times!

The Auto Show

A week ago, Mike and I went with the Olsen's and Sanderson's to the auto show. This has become somewhat of a tradition for us, as we have gone the past three years. It is always fun to be able to look at your "dream" cars in a no-pressure environment, plus they usually have some pretty sweet concept cars. This year, Mike and I were especially interested in checking out some of the cars because we have been in a constant debate over what type of car we should get to replace the Yukon. To be honest, we have not even seriously been considering getting a new car, but it something we still talk about. I decided that I want our next SUV to be smaller than the Yukon. I prefer to drive a sedan over an SUV, but since the driving distance to my work is a lot shorter than to Mike's, it makes sense that I drive the car that gets the worst gas mileage. Mike, however, really wants a big manly truck so that he can haul stuff. I don't see the point of us owning a truck, since when do we ever haul anything? Never. Anyway, we had fun looking at all of the cars. I think that we came to the conclusion that if we were to buy another car, we would probably get another Yukon. Yes, it is bigger than what I prefer, but it is a good compromise and they are good vehicles.

It is hard to see, but this picture shows all six of us seated comfortable in the Dodge Ram 2500. We couldn't believe how much room it had! All three guys were even able to sit in the back seat comfortably.

This is a Dodge Charger that Mike thought was pretty sweet. We did look at and like more cars besides the Dodges...I promise!