Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent in St. George at my parents house this year. It was great being all together playing games, making dinner, and being outside in the beautiful weather.

Sammy with his green smoothie face.

A hot air balloon that landed right in our neighborhood. It was so cool that I bought a gift certificate for Dustin and I to take a hot air balloon ride in Park City!

Cute kids waiting for their turkey dinner.

Beautiful table setting.

Pumpkin Carving

Our family pumpkin carving night was complete with soup in pumpkin bread bowls.

Ian chose to paint his pumpkin.

Dane carved his own masterpiece.

Dustin consolted Google to get just the pattern he wanted.

Finished products!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Taylor

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Grandpa Taylor!

October 16 was my favorite father's birthday. We surprised him by showing up at Stein Erikson's in Deer Valley (where he and my mom were staying) for breakfast. My dad is great and I love him so much. And regardless of what he thinks, I did listen to at least 83% of what lectured me on while growing up.

Dane and Ian love to wrestle with him. Dane enjoys golfing (or just driving the cart) with him.

After the birthday breakfast we hit the Park City dirt jump park for some fun. The kids LOVE this place! It is pretty entertaining to watch Ian ride his scoot bike with no brakes and feet up down the jumps.

Dane is a good little rider and LOVES catching big air.

One Beautiful Sunday

We have enjoyed the most beautiful Autumn this year and we have spent as much time as possible outside. One beautiful Sunday we hiked to Cecret Lake with Grandma Sherrie and Grandpa Taylor. It is a really nice, easy hike with a beautiful reward at the end, Water!

After the hike, Dustin, the boys and I went to the last day of the October Fest at Snowbird for lunch and activities. The kids begged to do the alpine slide and bounce house and we all had a wonderful time. I love this weather.

Five Mile to Delta

On a beautiful sunny, summer day our family, the Dawson's, and Don, Courtney and Brittney went for a fun pre-runner ride. We drove from 5 Mile (by Eagle Mountain) to Delta Utah taking the back roads. Round trip was 200 miles and our top speed was 115 mph! Can you believe it?! When we hit top speed it was on a long, straight and fairly smooth dirt road and the kids were asleep in the back seat. The ride was so smooth and didn't feel that fast! The kids really enjoyed the ride out and back except for the grasshoppers that flew in through the windows and the open holes in the floor. Dane was hysterical! It was pretty gross but I didn't want to freak out and have Dane freak out even worse.

We stopped for lunch in Delta and then went to Stephanie Dawson's parents house to play in their huge back yard before heading back to the trailers.

Lake Powell

We took a trip to Lake Powell in May with Ellerbeck's, Shupe's and Epperson's. We had fantastic weather and great company. I didn't take any pictures but luckily Steph snapped this one of the family as we headed out on a Lake tour.

The trip was wonderful and injury free until Jared fell doing a sick wakeboard trick and broke his tibia. They had to leave early to get Jared to a hospital. Poor Bud!

Happy Father's Day

Today we celebrated the WoNdErFuL and AmAzInG Father of our family. This guy does it all. He works HARD to provide us with a fantastic life, he has PLAYING down to a fine science, he puts his FAMILY first. We are so proud to call this Father and Husband ours.

We Love You Dustin!

Dustin made me these beautiful planter boxes for our back patio and today we planted some starts that will hopefully produce some yummy veggies this summer.

Dane was able to take a spin around the Miller Paving parking lot in his go-kart today. He was in heaven! Dane even pushed Ian around a little bit too.

The kids disappeared for a while in the morning and this is what Dustin and I found. They had set up a lemonade stand. Dane painstakingly spelled out lemonade in modeling clay. They were trying to sell Capri-Sun's for $5. Since we live on a deserted circle Dustin and I were their only customers and we were able to negotiate a more reasonable price of $1 each. They were so proud of themselves and even made flyers to take to neighbors that said "Come to our Lemonade Stand, at Dane and Ian's House".

Happy Birthday Grandpa A

My Grandpa Allred's birthday was on June 11. I forget how old he is.....very young though. Isn't he a cutie?

Megan and I took the kids over for breakfast to celebrate. I brought fruit and Megan made her yummy whole grain berry muffins that are delicious AND nutritious.

We had a great time visiting. The kids like to sneak downstairs and jump on the small trampoline and turn on the treadmill to a slow speed and use it as a slide. If this high energy behavior bother's my grandparents they sure do hide it well!

We LOVE you Grandpa! Happy Birthday!

Five Mile

Isn't she a beauty?

This is Dustin and Brandon's Class One race car.

Dustin needed to test it before a race so we joined him at a place called Five Mile. We all took turns as "co-pilot". It was so fun.

We also brought out Dad's Rhino and Dane's dirt bike and had fun messing around while waiting for our turns in the race car.

Animal House

We are in LOVE with this girl! Her name is Skadi and is our neighbors dog. She stayed with us while her owner's were in Vancouver for the Olympics and we had a hard time giving her back! She is the sweetest and most well behaved dog and she brings such joy to our house. And even thought we didn't get to keep her for good she does get to come over on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We go on a lot of walks, hikes and car rides. Ian loves her and is sad on the days she doesn't come over. Yesterday he brushed her for like 10 minutes and Skadi just sat there patiently and then they shared a graham cracker. It feels good to have a dog in the house again. With Skadi around it feels like what I can imagine being a grandparent is like. Have fun, fun, fun, sugar them up, and send them home!

These little chickies visited for a weekend from Ian's preschool class. Dane loved to hold them and I caught him taking one on a ride in Ian's play Jeep down to the sand box. I was worried all weekend that we would loose one but they all returned on Monday morning unscathed. Phew! I did learn that chicken's require some work and are really messy.

All Because Two People Fell in Love.....

Have you seen a more beautiful couple?!

I Love, loVe, LOVE this picture! It looks like an airline advertisement.

My Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Martin celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary this April. My parent's hosted a wonderful celebration at their newly remodeled house, which used to be my grandparent's house. It was a great turn-out with friends and family coming from out of town. I love my grandparent's so much.

*They are great cooks (I appreciate it much more now than when I was 8 and they made eggplant lasagna. Although, I still don't like eggplant).

* My grandma would help us sew Barbie clothes out of scraps of fabric she had laying around.

* They always had Apple Jack's, Cracklin' Oat Bran, Top Ramen, Tang, and a bag of hard marshmallows in their cupboards.

* My grandpa knows a lot. I feel I can ask him his opinion on most any subject.

My grandparents are a wonderful example of a loving, successful marriage and family life. They have created a legacy for their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

The after-party was at 'The Mansion' my mom and her siblings rented for everyone to hang out at. It was a great and fit everyone. We had fun in the hot tub, playing pool, card games, eating, and watching movies in the theatre room.

A Dane Update

"Insane Dane"

My-oh-my how our first born has grown! Dane will be 7 this summer. It seems like only yesterday I was surprised to find out I was pregnant with him. Having Dane caused our lives to change immensely for the better. Dane taught Dustin and I how to be parents. Luckily he was an easy child and didn't give us too much trouble and he was forgiving when we made the many mistakes new parents make.

Dane has been enjoying Kindergarten this year and he has really blossomed. He has fantastic teachers that make learning exciting and fun. This year Dane has become a good little reader and enjoys choosing chapter books from the library. His favorite one to read is "Ricky Ricotta and his Mighty Robot". He also likes to make his own books. He wrote and illustrated one about "a yak in the dezurt, a katis (cactus) and a valkano". I love his kid writing!

Even at his young age Dane thinks that going to school is just something to do when you can't ski, dirt bike, dune buggy, BMX, or go to the skate park. Dane lacks no confidence or self-esteem in these areas and is quick to tell you that he is "the best at.......". He did have a great time skiing at Snowbird and his skills on the mountain did improve. He loves his dirt bike and figured out how to shift so now he can go really fast. BMX has started and we will be heading out to the track a couple of days a week for practices and races. I think even Dustin (and maybe me) are going to get out on the track this year too. Dane played on a coach pitch baseball team this spring with Daniel. Nancy and I were the coaches. It was fun to see the team's improvement from the first game to last.

The one thing I love about Dane is his absolute love and admiration for Dustin. Dustin is definitely a SuperHero in Dane's eyes. Dane rushes to our room each morning in hopes of cuddling with Dustin before he gets up for work. They talk about dune buggy's, snowmobiling, and anything else. Dane is so proud that his dad is a Desert Racer and is Dustin's #1 Fan!

Dane is also a very good big brother to Ian. They definitely have their fights but for the most part they get along well and enjoy each other.

We love Dane so much and are so glad to have him in our family!

Ian's 3rd Birthday!

Our sweet, little Ian turned 3 on May 2. He chose a Super Hero birthday party theme and it turned out "Super" Fun!

We did Super Hero themed games. Dustin played the evil villain that was trying to ruin the birthday party and steal the cupcakes. The kids had to defend 'Justice and the Pursuit of a Happy Birthday'.

Games:

*Bean Bag toss into bins with villains faces

*Pin the super hero symbol on the cape

*Destroy the Bombs (black balloons)

*Get rid of the kryptonite

(green balloons, balls, and pompoms)

by picking it up with salad tongs

and putting it in a lead (tin foil) box

*Attack the Villain with Spider-Man web (silly string)

Food:

*Ninja Turtle Pizza

*Incredible Hulk Punch

*Spiderman Cupcakes

Each kid that came to the party got their own personalized Super Hero Cape. Grandma Janene helped me make them. I had the idea and she had the brains to make it happen. The kids loved them.

Ian was spoiled with gifts from family and friends. Dustin and I got him this ramp for bikes, and skateboards. Uncle Adam and Aunt Heidi got him the skateboard.

(*A BIG thanks to Adam who was the photographer)