TTA- Hometown Favorites!!

My very FAVORITE thing that my home town has to offer is our beautiful American Fork Canyon. This canyon holds such a special place in my heart. I have countless memories as a young child going up there for picnics, hiking Timp Cave, and hanging out. Memories of high school days climbing with Jake, (the canyon is one of the top places to climb in the nation), campfires with friends, hikes and camping. And now with my own family, Jake and I love to take our kids up there and only wish that we did more often. We live not even one mile from the entrance of American Fork Canyon and actually that was one of the reasons that Jake wanted to build our home here. Not only is it absolutely beautiful and amazing, but each and every time we are there we fill at peace. I know that nature has a way of doing that, but because I am so proud of where I come from, this canyon will always be one of my very favorite places! I love the mountains!



Honestly one of my very favorite home town things is American Forks Steel Days! This always happens in July (and sometimes even on or around my birthday) and as a little kid was one of the summers highlights. It's just like any other hometown event I'm sure with parades and carnivals but growing up in American Fork this one will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart. I love seeing people I know and having the community together celebrating and being proud of where we live. Here's to good ol' American Fork!!

Last year at the annual Steel Days parade. Honestly one of the best parades there is, lots of awesome floats, candy, and fun! We love seeing American Fork Band play, (they are national champions and my sister designed there logo over 25 years ago) so it's always exciting to see them coming down the street marching away. Woo Hoo American Fork Cavemen!





Steel Days carnival! Dallin, Taylor, Chipper, and Atti all ready for a good time at the hometown carny! Scary carny workers and all!



My mom's pool is definitely one of our hometown favs. My mom lives in a condo that has a pool and every summer we spend hours and hours playing in the water and hanging out. The kids LOVE our weekly outings to Grandma Sis's pool. Good memories!


Parker's Drive-Inn, American Fork, UT : reviews: "Parker's Drive-Inn
(801) 756-2181
496 E State Rd, American Fork, UT 84003 Map it | Get directions
Cross Streets: Near the intersection of E State Rd and UT-180"
Ever since I was a little girl it was such a treat to go get a yummy burger from Parker's Drive In, still to this day we love Parkers and there yummy pink sauce. It's a close tie with JCW's, another way yummy burger joint, but Parkers is less expensive. HHHMMM, now I am feeling hungry, anybody want a burger?

Our favorite little face!

I know I post a ton about my little Mya, but if you check out Dallin and Taylor's blogs, see Dally's blog and Tay Tay's on our list of family, they have tons of cool stuff posted on theirs. I would have to say that Jake and I just laugh when Mya makes this funny little face, it's kind of when she knows she's done something naughty. We seriously sit and laugh everytime she makes it. What a funny and did I say beautiful little baby girl we have.

I really do give in too easy!

So I know most of the population doesn't have a problem with this, and I wouldn't really call it a problem because Jake and I have loved having each of our babies sleep in our beds with us, (I am of the opinion that you do whatever works for both you and your spouse), but I thought I would try to get Mya in her crib. My boys were not this hard, of course we had MANY nights of back and forth between beds, but now they do just great.
I wanted to start slow, maybe just nap time, so I got her a sippy cup, her little piggy and bunny, and all snuggly in bed. I even sang my little heart out and Mya actually did fall asleep, woo hoo, UNTIL my sweet and very loud Dallin yells, "Mom, I'm done!" This was referring to him being done in the bathroom and ready for me to wipe, lucky me! So with his screaming Mya woke up bawling and my little heart just couldn't take it so I picked her up and back to my bed! And to her very favorite boo boo! I know I know isn't she just a little old for that? I don't know, does anyone have some suggestions?

TTA- What's make you laugh!

More than anything in this world the one thing that makes me laugh no matter what kind of a mood I am in is when my husband dances, especially when he just busts out his moves in front of people. These pictures were actually taken when we were walking into Disneyland and with lots of people around. If you ask anyone in his family they will all tell you how hysterical it really is. You should just see the concentration on his face as he tries to figure out the beat. He knows if I am mad at him all he needs to do is bust out some moves and it makes everything all better. What a little performer he is!



Mya's little "Cheeze" face. I'm afraid that this is going to be the look we will have in all pictures from now on because she has figured out how to say "Cheeze!"



My boys always have a way of making me laugh when they wrestle. For now no one has gotten seriously hurt so it's funny to see them try to beat the crap out of each other, obviously Taylor let's Dallin get away with quite a bit at this point, but give him a few years and he will be all over Tay.




Ok so these two photos combine two things that really make me laugh. First of all I love when my kids make crazy faces. Taylor seems to be really good at this, especially in front of the camera. He loves to be goofy, oh no, have I already hit the goofy stage with him?? He seems too young! But then another thing that I am just hysterical on is the Tower of Terror at Disneyland. Honestly Jake thought I was a crazy lady the last time we went on it, I just couldn't stop laughing. I think that it was some sort of defense mechanism for being WAY scared, I just laughed and laughed and laughed and surprisingly I loved it. If you haven't tried this ride, I highly recommend it.



The Office is hilarious. Jake and I love to watch this. I haven't seen any of this season yet, but we are hoping to catch up when it comes out on DVD. You've got to love Jim and Pam!

Spring Break!!

Out little family at Sand Hollow, what an awesome sunset it was by the lake!



The kids with their 91 year old Great Grandma "Duck"! Long story, but to sum it up she had some ducks that lived in a pond in her back yard and it was just easier to say that because they knew exactly who we were talking about.



This is where we stayed and camped!

We had a lot of fun on our little spring break trip. Besides being totally stuck inside a tent for most of the day on Saturday because of a crazy wind storm that blew in the kids had a blast. We went down to Sand Hollow with my awesome sis Ange and her family. We hiked a day in Zion, rode 4-wheelers, the kids attempted to swim, played in the dirt, and visited with family. It was so nice to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law Angie who live down in St. George and who we don't get to see very often. The kids loved playing and just hanging out. It was great to just get away for a few days and be with family. I know I have a lot of pictures posted, but this is just a handful of the many I could have put, so hope you enjoy.



A little rest on our hike up to Emerald Pools in Zion!


Yes this is my little Mya sitting all the way in the freezing water. She wanted to be like the big boys and play in the dirt, honestly it didn't even phase her that it was so cold. What a little toughy!


The boys playing in the dirt at Emerald Pools in Zion!


4-wheelin with Aunt Ange!


Me and my baby girl!


Dallin playing "little guys" with daddy!


Mya with her little cuz Kasen, (isn't he just adorable!)


Daxton and Taylor ready for a swim! (Don't let them fool you, the water was freezing!)


My little beauty in her swimming suit!


Mya all snuggly in a warm sweatshirt after playing in the freezing cold water!


I just thought that this picture was precious of Dallin talking to our cuddly friend Nick telling him stories about turning different colors if you don't do certain things, like turning red if you don't sleep, yellow if you don't eat, pretty funny!


Mya and daddy reading in the tent while we waited the crazy sand storm to go through!


I just had to throw in this one of Dallin on my nephew Daxton's back, "Hey Dally, nice crack!"

Bros

I just love this picture of my boys, you would actually think they get along wouldn't you?:) Actually they do get along and honestly Dallin just adores his big bro and Taylor loves to protect his little bro!

Tuesday Tell All- Professional Help

For what activity would you want professional help:



I do feel that I know just a little bit about taking pictures, but not enough. My dad is a photographer and has taught some important things to know, but I would love a more in depth class on photography. Also my big sis Jennifer is a great photographer, check out her blog at www.garrigasgazette.blogspot.com to see some of her "Wordless Wednesday's" and awesome photos she has taken. I would love to be known as a great picture taker, just like my dad and sister. I have grown up with a camera in our face or just a camera taken everywhere we go, I now do the same with my kids. There's something magical about capturing every little special moment isn't there? I just wish I could get Jake on board with the idea of taking pictures all the time, frankly I think he's getting sick of it. I tell him that when he is older he will appreciate all the wonderful pictures that captured all our fun memories, he just rolls his eyes!



I have always wanted to learn how to snowboard. I have to say that I am a pretty good skiier, honestly the only sport I even feel somewhat good at, but there's just something very cool about snowboarding. Taylor has tried it and loves it and Dallin says he wants to try it as well. Maybe I can live through my kids with this one.



I would love love love to know how to play the guitar! Now I haven't really even given it a shot, but I know that I have a hard time reading music so I'm not sure how I would do. I can tell you this, I have gotten lots of practice from guitar hero and honestly it has made me want to maybe give it a try. We'll see!



I hate to say this, but we do not have any singing talent in my family. I wish that I could get professional singing lessons, something, anything to make it so my kids don't look at me when I am belting out in the car like, "wow, help this woman!"



When I was little I took piano lessons and actually did learn quite a bit. What I would give to have kept with it, (isn't there a lot of us that say that?) I would love to be able to sit down at the piano and play play play!


I would love to know how to swim. I mean not only be able to save my life if I was drowning, but to do some serious laps at the pool.

Mya loves her daddy!

Big Kiss for Daaaa

One of my favorite things ever is to see how much Mya loves her daddy. It's funny because whenever our garage door opens Mya will go running and say Daaaaa, even if it's not him. When it is Jake, she runs right up for him to pick her up and give her a great big squeeze. I can tell even at such a young age that she adores her dad, little does she know she's got him wrapped all the way around her cute little finger.


Mya loves to look at books, look how she crosses her little legs, so cute!

It's Spring Time!

Well almost, if it wasn't only 45 degrees it might just be close to Spring outside. Taylor and Dallin think they found the first sign of spring because they caught this cute little moth and they asked if we could keep "her!" Of course I said yes so here is our little pet moth, named Sally nice and snug in her little bug cage with all her plastic little bug friends to keep her company. Until I let her out tonight and tell the kids some story about how Sally got out on her own so she could go be with her family, that story always works:)

Tuesday Tell All- Livin on the Edge!

This weeks TTA is about going and doing something without any risk. I have always wanted to go on some sort of a health mission to a far away third world country. Now that I have my own family I would LOVE to bring my children along for the learning experience of it. If I knew that I could bring them and there would be NO RISK at all of them getting sick, hurt, or emotionally scarred I would do it in a heart beat. If I could afford this kind of excursion I would love the opportunity to help and for my children to see what really goes on in our world. How cool would it be for my kids to be a part of making a difference for some very sick child or just being there to help everyone that would be in need. Who knows, maybe one day me and Jake could at least go, what an amazing experience it would be.

A potion for a BAD man!

Dallin being so proud of his secret potion he made.

The other day while Dallin was in the tub I heard him opening drawers looking for things. When I went in to ask him what he was doing I saw this cup filled with an orange liquid and a smell that was some what familiar. Dallin told me he had put an orange marker in, gel, hairspray, soap, lotion, and daddy's cologne. I asked him what this little potion was and he plainly said, "This is for Satan." He said I will just tell him it is orange juice so that he will drink it. "Mommy he is a bad man so this will take care of that!" I kind of laughed that my little Dallin understood that. He told me that he would never give this to Jesus because he loved Jesus. I love their imagination and their creativity. He spent honestly over an hour in the tub making this little potion and getting the bad guys! What a little superhero he really is.

Tuesday (Thursday) Tell All- Handmade!

My very favorite Picture that Taylor has drawn of all our favorite superheroes.


The topic for this weeks TTA is something handmade. Now I have never claimed to be a "crafty" person, I guess you could say I was "crafty" in the scrapbook department, but I didn't really think that fit into this category. I do wish I was a little crafty, but I thought it would be cute to post some things that are handmade from my very artistic child Taylor (who is barley 6). Taylor loves loves loves Art and loves to color and draw. We recently just enrolled him into an Art Class. We figured why not run with something when he is absolutely 100% interested. He looks forward to his next class the second he comes home from his lesson. I am proud that my child is going to take after my dad who is also an Artist-photographer. Taylor loves to talk with Grandpa Tom about his pictures and Art work. What a great talent to pass on. Who knows, maybe we have the next Picasso on our hands? What do you think?


Taylor loves to draw our family!


This is a painting he did in his Art Class about an artist named Bev Doolittle.
He loves that it reminds him of Canyonlands!


This is another picture he drew in Art Class when he learned about an artist named Hiro Cige.