September 1st

August 31st is like Christmas Eve to my husband. He gets so excited he can't sleep, just like a little boy. Every year on this night he is full of anticipation.

September 1st starts the hunting season.

More specifically he is a bird hunter. I went with him today. He went yesterday and got a few so he was alright with the fact that I am more of a 'nature walker' and take my time. I need constant breaks and a little pushing and pulling along, some carrying even. He went slow, held my hand, and bushwacked for me. It's fun to get out once in a while, even if we did not see one bird.


I felt pretty safe following this guy and his large gun.


If you look close you can see Justin's Brittany Spaniel, Autumn. Named for her favorite time of the year she is an excellent bird dog.


Ruger: our biggest dumb dog who gallops when he runs.


Below: Bushwacking necessary.



Even though we didn't seen one bird we did catch a fish.

At this cute little creek, called Bennie Creek up Payson Canyon. Justin pulled out his fly fishing gear and we had a 9 incher within two minutes. He was still a little guy so we didn't keep him. Instead we went out for seafood ;)

And She's Off!

Pigtails

You have no idea how happy this makes me.

Stef's Wedding

My sister Stefani got married yesterday in the Mt Timpanogos temple at noon. She was beautiful and they looked so happy. The sealer gave some great advice and it was so fun to be there to hear it. They had the luncheon catered by Carabbas, which was delicious! They had their reception at the Highland Gardens, and that too was beautiful. The bridesmaids dresses and tuxes turned out so well. Overall, it was a great day and I am so happy for her.









Cute Dextin in his suspenders and Bow Tie.



My mom found a camera that prints tiny polaroids. So my cousin took pics of everyone that came through and used them for the book. It turned out soooo cute!!





Such a fun day :)

A Something Blue BBQ

My sisters and I were in charge of Stefani's Bridal Shower. We decided on the theme 'A Something Blue BBQ' because it's summertime, and stef's colors are a bright blue and green.

Here's how the invites turned out:



I used my cricut for the outer shape and to cut the ribbon holes. The inside had this:



Obviously some info was omitted for the blog :).

We learned a couple of important lessons. If you plan a lot of stuff, you need more than one day to pull everything off. Kali came home on Friday, so we were rushing to say the least.

I couldn't get a great pic of this but it says "Here comes the Bride"


Adorable tissue flowers done by Kasi



I put together the fabric garland and centerpieces.





Kali did an awesome job with the food! (my mom helped quite a bit too). It was a nicer version of a BBQ with rolls for buns and tiny hamburgers, wieners with toothpicks, green salad, and fruit salad using the watermelon as the bowl. Blue punch as well. Above you can see the dessert, a version of s'mores with chocolate pudding, graham cracker crumbs, and marshmallows. Along with a brownie version.

Stef & Kambri, with my Grandma in the background.


Dextin succeeded in getting some of that pudding, yum!



Aunt Kasi and Kambri



I also made these flower clips for anyone who came. I think they turned out cute!



They're clipped to a paper that says "Here is your something blue. Thanks for coming to our Barbeque. Feel free to wear them to the wedding too!"

Overall, it turned out cute, the food was good, and Stefani was happy, so I think it was a success.

While we were Out

Look what our baby girl decided to do while we were on the below mentioned date. And I haven't been able to persuade her to try again since.

A Birthday

It was some hot guy's birthday yesterday. He turned 26 years old.



Because he is the love of my life, and because he decided he wanted nothing more than to spend the day with me (rather than the big party we usually do) I got to plan some fun stuff.

Currently we are low on funds so I tried to be creative.

I got up and made him a nice healthy breakfast in the morning and then he headed off to work.

He was due to come home just after five. I had been running errands and instead of going home afterward I parked around the corner and waited for him.

I saw him pull up, get out, get the mail, and go in.

I pulled into the driveway of our next door neighbors empty home and hopped out.

Knocked on our door and ran around the corner.

When he opened it up he saw this:


Found on my favorite dating site. Here.

I came around the corner with these:



Cuffed him to me and took him to my car.

On a box marked "Choose Your Destiny" he had three gift certificates for three food places: Thai, Italian, and Chinese. BTW I got these off of Restaurants.com when they were having an 80% off promo code. Two $25 ($50) gift certificates and one $10 cost me a whopping $8 total.

He chose Italian.

So we had a 45 min drive to Parleys way in which we were forced to hold hands the entire time and talk. It was very nice.

We got to eat outside at the restaurant. They had a patio area completely enclosed in grape vines. Absolutely awesome!



And very charming. The food was pretty good. It was a little more authentic which is a good and bad thing I think. We ended up paying about $30 which I think is what it was worth. Though they did bring his strawberry cheesecake out with a candle on top. Nice.

We got back in the car and I told Justin I was going to take him to my 'hideout'. I had him drive up to Suncrest and told him to find a secluded spot where we could see the sunset. He laughed at what a bad kidnapper I am. We found a bike trail head that was perfect.


(i did not take this pic, though this is almost exactly what it looked like...with a few more bushes.)

I told him he had a chance to win his freedom. I had purchased This game:



If he won he could go free. We folded down the backseats. I already had pillows and blankets back there. We rolled down the windows and enjoyed the sunset. The game took a while to learn, but it ended up being really fun! We had a good time. I won though, so he is still my slave.

We headed back down to grab Kambri from my mom's. Thanks mom!

Put her to bed and afterward Justin found this on his pillow:


This adorable invitation can be found here.

I invited him to a late night party with all the icecream toppings he could ask for (which is basically vanilla and whipped cream. The caramel, oreos, and bananas were for myself), and his presents were all laid out there as well.

Such a fun day! and I think he had a pretty good time :)

A Day at the Pool

The perfect way to spend a summer afternoon with two babies.







Thanks Becca & Titan for a fun afternoon.



I can't get over this cute face :)

We took a Plane to Maui

Kali has been in Maui for the summer. What a great excuse to go visit!

Weds 7/13- Left for the airport. Had to say goodbye to Justin for a whole week! Not sure if we've been apart that long for the last four years.

Kambri did well on the plane and only ended up screaming once... when she was woken up from her deep sleep for the landing. It took a few minutes to calm her down, which did not make the people around us happy. We had dozens of small toys to keep her busy = good idea.

After what seemed like forever to get our rental car, headed to Kali's condo to stay the night.

Thurs 7/14-

Woke Kali up at 4 AM Hawaii time.

Headed to the beach. Oh yeah.

Well, actually we went to the ABC store first. My mom's favorite.



The Babies shared a stroller. They did pretty well this first time.





Then we headed to the beach. Oh yeah.













Where Kambri thoroughly enjoyed the sand.









And just to make sure we really were sunburned we went to the condo pool afterward. Yay!

Fri 7/15- Went to Lahaina. Walked around the shops. Ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Saw a ginormous Banyan Tree.









Sat 7/16- Bummed around all day. Played at the pool. Ate fish tacos, Yum. Went to the beach for the sunset. Helped Dextin chase his favorite thing. Birds.















Sun 7/17- Took the long windey road to Hana. Did a beautiful 2 mile hike through bamboo forests and waterfalls, where I thought I might die...I'm just not a true hiker. stumbled back to the car. Stopped at a fruitstand on the way to the black sand beach. Headed to the timeshare condo. Thanks again Kali for letting us stay with you those first few days!

Just a piece of the road to Hana.



The drive was beautiful! It was all coast and rainforest.







Yes, this was next to the road.



Started our hike. Justin tried to carry both babies, but Kambri would have none of it.





Took a second to look at the seven sacred pools.



Second giant banyan tree. Not sure why but the 'Circle of Life' started playing in my head here.



Pretending I carried Kambri. I could barely get myself up there. My mom and Kali carried her most of the way.



The bamboo forest.



They sounded like windchimes when they swayed.



Kambri was fascinated by the bamboo.



The beautiful end of the hike.



I got the little guy down there on purpose so you could see how big it was.



To the right of the black sand beach.



It was actually a black pebble beach.











There was a little cavern right off of the beach. You almost had to crawl to get in. So coooool!



The sunset on the drive back.





Mon 7/18- Went snorkeling! At Mckenna's Beach- It was perfect. We saw some beautiful fish. And guess what? Swam with my very first sea turtle!!! He was about four feet long. I followed him for quite a while. Best part of the trip.





Kambri chilled while waiting for me.



We stopped at one of the beaches off the hotel on the way home.



Where we proceeded to get very dirty.





I mean really dirty.



Worse than this.



But I didn't get a picture of it. Because the baby decided that looking like a sand monster with sand all over in the eyes was not as fun as she first imagined...and cleaning her up came first before a photo shoot. Though I really wanted that picture....

That night we stayed at the condo and made kokui bracelets and palm leave crafts down by the pool.

Tues 7/19- Went to Paia. Cute little town. We had the yummiest pizza there, and icecream too now that I think of it. The babies were tired of sharing a stroller, or sharing almost anything by this time. This resulted in several tantrums, a strong bite on Kambri's arm from Dextin, and a handful of soggy cookie in Dextin's hair from Kambri. There was also a condo bbq in the evening. Played in the condo's pool and watched movies inside after.



Waiting for the pizza. Kambri decided to try the lemon off of my mango lemonade. She actually didn't mind it. Made her daddy proud.







Kambri stuffing her mouth with fresh pineapple



Weds 7/20- Went to baby beach in the morning and bummed around for the rest of the day waiting for our plane which left at 8:00 that night. It's nice to do nothing once in a while.

The plane ride back was during the night. Kambri did well and slept for both plane rides. She was up for our layover and pretty kranky because it was technically 5:00 in the morning to about 8. Though, even at her krankiest people just loved her.



Such a fun trip!!! Sad to say goodbye, but Kali will be back in two weeks for Stef's wedding, so it's not too long.

We love Hawaii!