Pictures from Scott's Birthday

This is the cake that Scott specifically requested. It is yellow cake with about 1 1/2 cups raspberry yogurt added to it(makes it really moist!)and blue food coloring, different colors of cream cheese frosting and tiers that were made from oval casserol dishes. I'm not the best baker or cake decorater but I was able to make it work I think. It tasted really good!

David was very fascinated with the candles. He kept saying "wow" for like 10 minutes afterwards. I tried to get a picture of Scott blowing out the candles but he decided to step inbetween me and the cake right when he did it. Oh well. If you're wondering what he's wearing from the waist down, they are SHORTS with an egyptian pattern on them that one of his companions gave him. He loves how comfortable they are.

Those who joined us for cake and a game of settlers. Scott's brother Russ and his wife Hilary, and our friends Derick and Tristen from our ward. Thanks guys, it was fun!

Tristen and I. She's the one who cut my hair. =)

My Wonderful Husband

So today is Scott's birthday!! I just wanted to take a minute and say how much he means to me. I love him so much. I love that he always makes me laugh. I love how loved he makes me feel. He's always lifting me up. I love that he's a great father. I love how he is so creative and likes to try new things. I love how in tune with the spirit he is, and how he's always teaching me. I love how easy going he is and how he doesn't worry about what people think of him. I love how hard working he is and how he never gives up. I could go on and on! I am so grateful that we will be together forever. He is such a blessing to me.

Here are a couple pictures that I found in our October 2006 folder.


And this one was taken I believe about a week after we got engaged in July 2004. We are in McCall Idaho where we have my family reunion every year.

I'll post some pictures of Scott's birthday tomorrow.

Sneak Peak

So today I took my sister's engagement photos! It was so much fun. When she asked me to do it she said she wanted to do fun photos with cross processing(xpro). For those of you who don't know what that means, it's when you take pictures with slide film and then process them in C-41 chemicals as if they were regular negative(print) film. As a result it creates crazy fun colors and contrasts. I love it!! This is my favorite way to take pictures. These particular ones were taken just with my digital camera and then I used my editing program to make them look almost like they were cross processed pictures. I used both my SLR and digital camera for this. Because I live in the middle of no where I couldn't buy the film myself(Annalise did in SLC) and now she's taking the film back with her to be processed. I couldn't wait until she got the pictures to me(which will hopefully be sometime next week! So hopefully I can post even better ones then. Look for them! Anyways, we had a lot of fun! Thanks Annalise for the opportunity!

My Dad came to visit!

This weekened my Dad came up to take my brother David home from school and it was also a good excuse to see his new granddaughter. We had a lot of fun even though he was only here for a day and a half. On Friday he went with us to the dinner at our ward campout out near the Tetons. We only wanted to go for that because we didn't want to camp with 2 young kids. It turned out to be a way better dinner than we had planned on! Last year it was burgers and hotdogs. This year they did barbeque chicken in dutch ovens, baked potatoes, and apple crumble also cooked in the dutch ovens. It was sooooooooo good! And we ended up staying out til about 9:30. Way past davids bedtime, but we were having a really good time chatting with people in our ward. On Saturday we attempted playing at the Spray park, but it was pretty windy and David was too cold after about a minute. We had more success with the playground and David had a lot of fun swinging and running across a bouncy bridge. We also played Settlers(which Dad won) and a new card game while the kids slept, then visited my 2nd cousins family who live in town, and then went to Applebees later that night. We really enjoyed having my Dad in town. Scott and I miss being around our families in Washington and look forward to when we can see them again.

There was a cool barn there that we hung around for just a little bit with the Spence's before dinner started.


Sydney and her future boyfriend Dallin. =)

Dad enjoyed spending time with his only grandson and following him around for most of the time we were there. It was very nice! Thanx Dad! At first David was very unsure about his footing with the uneven and hilly ground and tall grass, but it didn't take long before he was running around like a pro!

There was this spicket thing there that David and his friend were enthrawled with, and I have to say I thought it was pretty cool too. Very old fashoned!


David absolutely LOVES to swing.


Dad with Sydney.

Walking Buddies

Kelly and I have been walking almost every day together now for a year and a half. Every now and then it doesn't work out because of appointments or naps, but it's not very often. I thought it was time we had a picture of us two. For the first 6 months or so we also had another walking partner, Melanie, but she then moved away. We miss her! I just want to say that if it weren't for the daily exercise/social hour I would have gone crazy a long time ago. It is definitely a necessity for me. Thanks Kelly! It is also fun because her little boy is just 3 months older than David, and our second ones were born 5 days apart. It was nice that we were both slowing down at about the same rate while pregnant so neither was slowing down the other! Good times!

Worth Reading

My friend put this on her blog after getting it in an email and I thought I'd do the same.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday> Morning Commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful li t up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a cr猫che, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like thi s happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His> blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ' jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully, Ben Stein

Sydney at a Month

My sweet children. David was really at a loss of what to do with Sydney on his lap. We tried to get him to keep his hand down on her belly, but I don't think he understood us. And I realized also that he doesn't know the word smile, so he didn't understand me when I would ask him to do so. Bless his little heart. The picture still turned out way cute!







These next two pictures weren't planned, I just snapped them when Scott was moving Sydney around.


With this last one I really wanted a picture of her lying on her belly but she was having no part of that. We tried several attempts before I decided to settle for an above shot of her on her back.

I think I'm going to be doing another photo shoot soon so I can get the rest of the shots I wanted to get but didn't get this time.

Animal Sounds

Please ignore my quacking! David's is much cuter. It sounds like the sound you'd make for a crow doesn't it? So cute. And notice he's blowing out instead of sucking air in for the pig. When he has a cold this isn't very cool! =)

Our 4th of July Weekened

Friday
Scott went shotgun shooting with his brother Russ that morning out by R mountain. They had fun shooting up left over tile from Scott's work and old dishes. And as you can see they tried some interesting things...

After Scott got back he took David to the city parade with some friends from our ward and I stayed behind with Sydney. This picture was taken after they got back. David's shorts are too big in the waist so they sag big time, and he's trying to get a drink from the water filter. We thought it was pretty funny looking so we took a picture. Or rather my sister in law Hilary did. She had come over to our place during the parade.

David at our barbecue that evening with the Congers and Harrison's from our ward. It's pixilated because I cropped it down from a bigger group picture. He just looked too cute. He loved pushing the trike around, which ended up going in circles, since he's too short to ride it.

Group picture! Good times.

We then attempted to watch the firework display at the fairgrounds from in front of our apartment complex, and were joined by a few more couples from our ward. The only problem was that it never seemed to happen. Last year I did the same thing and we had a great view of a great display of fireworks that were really loud. This year we sat there for a good hour and nothing really ever happened. Oh well, we had fun chatting and getting attacked by sprinklers.

Scott and I waiting for the fireworks. I have to say that just previous he had made a couple of his "bombs" and set them off right behind the sign where everyone was sitting. Needless to say it was really funny to see everyone jump. I love those bombs! So fun. They're made with 2 liter bottles, gun powder, and wicks.


Saturday
We went to the spray park again. Surprise surprise. Sorry if pictures from the park are getting redundant. There is nothing else to do here in Rexburg with a young family.


I really like this picture for some reason. Just the way it shows little David along side his tall Daddy.

So Scott had fun getting David pretty wet. He didn't seem to mind but I guess after a while he got sick of it. So he ran behind the stroller to try to hide from Scott. Isn't it so funny the way he's standing there?

Daddy pushing his kids.

Random Pictures Again...

Sorry it's been a while! Our internet has been sketchy the last few days. About a week ago Sydney slept like this on Scott's lap for about 3 hours. We tried to get her head to sit in a more comfortable position but she just put it right back. On Sunday David and I were sick with another little flu. I don't know why we keep getting sick! But look at Scott. He's such a good Daddy. =) David slept on the couch for quite a while. Something he NEVER does. And then shortly after I took this picture he woke up and decided to try the floor... And of course I have to add some pictures of Sydney. She's still a doll! These were taken at the Spray park yesterday. David loves going there. I think it will be part of our daily routine since I'm walking there anyway, and because it's so hot! He had fun licking the water off his hand. All of us are enjoying our double stroller.
David is eating with a spoon all by himself now! Yay!