Since January

 Hallie turned 6 in January, and of course, she requested a kitty cake for her birthday.  We went with Marie from Aristocats, and I think it turned out cute (and definitely perfect for Hallie).

 I haven't made nearly as many cakes since moving here, mostly just for birthdays, my sister's wedding, and the occasional cake for a community event at my dad's business.  It's better this way, all the mess was driving me nuts :)
Hallie wanted to do crafts and games for her birthday, we had tons of fun making snowglobes and coloring and playing games in the basement.  Hallie's favorite part was the presents, naturally.

 

Tax season hits us hard and fast after Hallie's birthday every year, so we pretty much go into hibernation for 2.5 months.  I had to stay down a lot with this baby, so I started teaching myself how to sew.  I'm not perfect, but I'm getting better.  I made this blanket into a car seat cover for Azy, and I loved how it turned out.  I ended up making a ton of hair bands, shoes and blankets to pass the time while watching Friends every night.  Good times :)

We decided we would let our cat have a litter or two of kittens before we get her fixed for the kids.  They LOVED having kitties around.  They were both pretty sad when we had to give them away, but we think the cat might already be pregnant again, so they'll have one more go-around of kitties soon.

Tax season finally ended in April (yay) and Azy came 2 weeks later.  For Mother's Day, we tried to take our first family pictures together.  We didn't have a whole lot of good ones, but they still turned out fun.

 A few weeks after Azy was born, we went up to the cabin with my family just to hang out.  We stopped at Mesa Falls on the way home.  It still amazes me every time I see it.  I love summertime in Idaho.  There really is a lot to see and do close by.  The winter is long and freezing, but we really enjoy those 4 months of nice weather we do get :)

I've still got more from Azy's blessing and some other things, so I'll update soon!

Baby baby!... and other news

I've been a failure about the blog, I know. But I figured since we had a baby a couple of months ago, I should document it.  Besides, I sit around nursing all day, so I really have no excuse to not keep things updated now :)

Since I last REALLY  posted, a ton has happened!  We bought a great house in an awesome neighborhood.  There's plenty of room for our growing family (it's like 2.5 times bigger than our Vegas house, so there's more rooms (and cleaning) than I know what to do with) and we even have a real lawn!  It's very exciting.  Hallie and Ashton have lots of neighborhood friends and are basically living the childhood dream of getting to play whenever they want.
My awesome sister moved into the same neighborhood right after we did, and we love it.  We're not in the same ward (weird), but we hang out nearly every day and my kids love having cousins their age.   We also love to mooch off their boat in the summer and spend most Saturdays at the lake.  Hallie and Ashton are fearless and love getting thrown off the tube.  Adam's become a decent wakeboarder and I can at least get up :)  We love it, so many fun times and memories.

Hal with cousins and friends selling hot chocolate 

Our third addition came almost 2 months ago.  We named her Azy Faith.  We've had a lot of people ask where her name came from.  I wish I could say we came up with it on our own or that it's Greek for some exotic flower that only grows when you sing to it or something crazy.  But really, I just had a friend in Vegas whose name was Azy and I loved it, so I asked her if she wouldn't mind if I used it.  It was very nice of her to let us, we think it's perfect :)  I gave Adam full control over her middle name, and he chose Faith.  He did good, right? I should have let him do the other 2 kids' middle names, too.

Azy has been a joy.  She was born on May 1, the day after my birthday and 3 weeks early.  I had to be really careful during my pregnancy and stay down a lot, since I don't hold my babies in very well :/  We were so happy she went full term, although we did have a few scares along the way. I went into labor in the middle of the night, and I wanted to be really sure I was in labor before I went in, but by the time we got there I was already dilated to a 6, so I was ready to go.  She came about 3 hours after we checked in, holding true to my fast delivery history.  Everything went really well, and Azy was born at 6:02 am, weighing in at 6lbs 14oz, my biggest baby yet!

First bath

Hanging out with Uncle Stu

Meeting Grandma (you'll love her Azy, I do!)

World's greatest Grandpa

3 kids!  We're old (and crazy)!

I'll post later about Azy's blessing and other fun things we've been doing, here's to Keeping up with the Blog (you thought I was going to say Kardashians, didn't you? :)). 

P.S. We're going to be in Vegas July 18 and 19, hope to see some of you then!!

μαραθώνιο

There she is folks, my HAWT wife ran an entire marathon this last weekend. Despite waking up at 3 AM, driving for an hour and a half to reach the starting line, waiting in line for 30 minutes to used the port-a-potty on the top of the mountain, getting rained (a lot) & hailed on, having a hurt knee before she even started, she still did it. 26.2 ridiculous miles.

I'm really proud of her. Watching someone prepare for a marathon is a pretty inspiring thing to witness.

I love you hot wife!

Treasure Hunting and Farmland

Since the snow all melted in April, I've really come to enjoy the quaint and run-down places that are everywhere in Idaho.  I find it all very charming.  Just in my little 30 minute drive from here to Rexburg, there are all kinds of deteriorating barns, adorable white farmhouses, tons of rolled up hay bales, ginormous tractors rolling around on the street like it's nothing out of the norm, and even some cute antique shops.  I've been taking a few pictures, but it would be so very fun to get a nice camera and take a day to photograph it all.

When we moved to my grandma's old house, I decided to go through the pasture (picture above) and the sheds to see if I could find any hidden treasures.  I started at this shed...

and I ripped off the door... which, if turned sideways (and cleaned up a bit), I think would be a really fun headboard. 

I also just really like the wood on the shed...

It would be fun to cover a wall in a house with it, just to add some character, similar to this...

photo via The Lettered Cottage

Then I went and looked through this old shed...

and found my mom's old saddle and stirrups, fun!  It made me wish I had a horse.

I like chestnuts, like this one.

She's beautiful.  Being in Idaho has always made me want to have a horse.  I've never really wanted one anywhere else I've lived.  Maybe that's because I grew up associating Idaho with my grandma's horses.

Anyway, I digress.   I looked a little deeper in the shed, and I found some vintage skis.

Cleaned and stained, I think they could be fun.

I finished up looking through some other old sheds and places I used to play as a little girl.  I didn't find much else, just lots of fun memories. 

It's been fun to re-visit some of my fondest childhood memories.  We like living here, although we're aching to feel settled again (we'll only be in this house until January).  We're trying to decide whether to build or buy, stay in a neighborhood or go a little more rural.  Save for a nice house, or buy a fixer-upper and go all DIY on it.  Any suggestions??

I'll be back soon-ish with family pictures, we've been doing so much that it's hard to get it all in one post :) 

Potato is to Idaho as Summer is to Sunshine

Ok, so obviously, a little time has past since my last posting.  But the blog is still looking better than the time gaps between my journal entries, so I'm feeling pretty good about things.
In the past couple of months, we've moved, put together a huge dessert table for a wedding, finished a tax season, adopted a cat, watched a ton of basketball, started marathon training, taught the kids how to swim, and celebrated a birthday.
First up, my family's cat decided to start a family, and in early April, the little rat-like looking things were born.

Fortunately, it only took a couple of weeks for them to start looking like cats, and the kids loved every second of it.

If you want to see the most hilarious video ever about cats go here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTwcCVajAc&feature=player_embedded
 Hilarious... and pathetic.  I truly hope she finds her soul mate.

Over Easter we went down to Vegas.  The weather was great and the people were better.  We had a blast.   So did our bank account.

Ashton's favorite part was the ride home.

 

The whole thing just wore Hallie out (sweet keyboard, yeah?).

At the end of May, we made the move to Idaho Falls.  I miss being so close to my sisters, but it's reeeeaally nice to be able to be any place I want to be in about 5 minutes (as opposed to 40).  We took one of the kitties with us, and she loves the new pad.  She sleeps with Hallie at night and likes to snuggle right in.

Then in June we decided to go up to my grandpa's cabin with Stu's family.  The weather was surprisingly good up there.  We fed the fish, tried to catch the fish, played games, shot some soda cans, rode the four wheelers and ate a lot of food. And we slept in a warm room on a bed... my kinda camping.

Since then, we've just been trying to get settled in, figuring out what we want to do with the rest of our summer, and just enjoying Adam being home (this is the first time in our six years that he's come home and hasn't had to study for something).  

We hope everyone else is enjoying their summer!  We miss all of you that are far away.  Hopefully you'll hear from us again sooner than later next time around :)

Since January

Ok I got all my pictures!
So in January, I got to make a cake for my cousin's wedding...

 

 

Everything was pink at the wedding, super feminine and therefore super fun.  I like girly  :)

Then it was Hallie's 4th birthday.  Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Jake came into town and we had a great day together.  Hallie was definitely princess for the day.

Oh yes... and Ashton knocked out his front tooth.  He looks a little homeless, but I find it kind of endearing too.  Here he is on his first tie-wearing Sunday ever.

Then in February, my brother turned 12, so for his birthday present, I made him a basketball cake and jerseys with all his teammates name and numbers.  It was a big hit with the boys :)

And Hallie and Tate hammed it up at the party.

I haven't really taken any pictures since then, but we're doing well.  We joined a gym and the kids ask to go swim there like 12 times a day.  I've started running again and plan on running either the St. George or Santa Barbara marathon this year (I would prefer the SB marathon, although the timing isn't superb... but a marathon along the coast?? How amazing would that be?!).The weather is kinda sorta starting to warm up, so maybe the snow will be gone by the end of April :)

Adam keeps working like crazy, we miss him, but I'm just grateful I have lots of family to keep me company.  And a job.  Definitely grateful for a job. 

We'll be moving to Idaho Falls next month, which is warmer and not so windy.  Better for us thin-skinned folk :)