Modern Love

A few I missed from our Sun Valley trip...

2012-02-07T12:41:00.001-07:00

These photos better represent the strange landscape of a burned-up forest..

Sun Valley October 2011 Part 2

2012-02-04T11:37:00.001-07:00

After staying the night in Stanley (instead of camping at Red Fish Lake) we biked a 17 mile trail through gorgeous fall colors, and miles of burnt tree forest. All the burned trees, bare ground, and silence (from the almost complete lack of any sort of animal) made it seem we were somewhere so foreign and almost un-earthly.

After the ride, we drove back up to the beginning of the trail to get some more fall color shots:

On our way home, we stopped by some ice caves. They were closed, so we didn't get to check em out.

We also stopped in Shoshone, ID at a little bowling alley mid-day for some lunch and a game. I totally beat Todd and yes, I had to take a photo of the score.

Sun Valley October 2011 Part 1

2012-01-31T23:56:00.001-07:00

Todd and I headed to Sun Valley, Idaho the first weekend of October. Such a fun weekend!--full of biking, camping, hot-pots, & good food. (and a very saddle-sore bum)

The fall colors were so perfectly on, and so stunning. It was the perfect weekend to go.

A bunch of photos from September 2011

2012-01-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

To finish off the photo journey of September, here is a marathon post...

I really love my iphone. And the Camera+ app that I use to edit the photos I take. I'd love to upgrade to the 4s, but for now I'll stick with the 3gs. A lot of the photos I take are from my phone now because it's what I end up always having with me. At least i'm still taking photos right?

Remy and I had a blast this fall cruising around in our Scout. Love that thing. Can't wait to get it back out in the Spring.

Remy absolutely loves horses. We had to visit a horse almost daily. These were a few across the street from us.

We had some fun BBQ's this fall

We had so many raspberries this year!

Rem and I cruised up the canyon one day to enjoy the fall colors

We also went up with the Erickson's to see the Kokanee Salmon run up the stream from Porcupine Reservoir. Love that tradition. And how on earth did I not know about this until just a few years ago??? It's such a fun thing to go and see.

Fire roasted dogs, fresh salsa, chips and a Pepsi afterwards

A fuzzy fuzzy caterpillar

This girl loves her babies

Phew~ Made it. Now on to October... I have sooooooo many photos from October. Wish me luck.

RIP Sammy

2012-01-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, our trusty lab Sam passed away. She was 14. I got her when I was a junior in high school. She's been with me for so long. We will miss her! She was such a loyal dog, following me anywhere and everywhere, even criss-crossing the lawn 20 times while I pushed the lawn mower around. She climbed rocks, crossed rickety bridges with me and loved jumping up onto the trampoline. She would only swim if I swam. Even at her old arthritic age, she would come trotting out to see us whenever we pulled into the driveway, happy to see us. Love you Sam!

Here are a few photos of her in her younger years, and then a few from this past September:

TOU Marathon

2012-01-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

Remy and I got up early the day of the Top of Utah Marathon to go cheer on my brother, sister, and bro-in-law. It was freezing cold, rainy, hailing at times and crazy watching all the runners go by searching for familiar faces. We found em, and snapped photos of them! It ended up being a fun adventure.

Catch Up

2012-01-15T19:32:00.001-07:00

Wow, welcome to the new year! I have months to catch up on... a few of my silly girl back in September...

Top o' the Wellsies Labor Day 2011

2011-12-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, not to the very top, but at least to the saddle... My sister Suzanne and I woke up bright and early to hike Coldwater trail in the Wellsville range on Labor Day. We had a great time together, and made it up and back in about 3 hours.

August 2011 Macro Flowers

2011-11-29T21:19:00.001-07:00

I must be a bit obsessed about taking macro shots of my garden/flowers. I took a bunch, and rather than take the time to put them on this post, I'll instead post a link to see them on flickr if you so wish to view them. There are some good ones, and probably some that look just like some I took last year, but I think my favorite is the grasshopper on the Russian Sage. (Albeit, I hate hate hate grasshoppers...) Check the photos out here!

Oregon Trip Day 4 - August 2011

2011-11-22T21:46:00.001-07:00

OK, huge post, but at least this is the last day...

I wish I could remember all the different beaches we went to, but I can't. So this will just be mainly non-narrated photos. Hope that's not too boring.

Ha ha. I love that I caught the boys runnin' from the crashing wave...

The 'Sister' peaks:

We climbed up to an old lookout to see all the different peaks around us. There were little windows framing each mountain's view. Totally cool, and definitely Todd's highlight of the trip was seeing this part of Oregon!

Oregon Trip Day 3 - August 2011

2011-11-21T22:52:00.001-07:00

What a great view to wake up to! Our RV spot was the best. I took a nice run on this beach...

My sister has such a cute family...

Two blondies..

Went on a whale watching tour, didn't see a whole lot...just a few sea lions (or seals?).

The boat rocked Remy right to sleep

Hit up the Oregon Coast Aquarium and had fun seeing the various sea life exhibited.

This girl cracks me up on a daily basis...for real. She. is. funny.

This should be in a Patagonia ad...

Lovin' the smores!

From the phone...

Oregon Trip Day 2 -- August 2011

2011-11-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

We stayed at an RV park that was close to where the Columbia River meets the ocean. This is that beach near there.

At the RV park, modeling...

The starfish were one of the highlights of the trip. Remy loved em!

Most of the beaches we went to were not good shell beaches. These were the three that we managed to find:

So many beautiful overlooks along the whole coast drive...

Seaside Beach

It was apparantly too windy for Rem..

Watchin' movies in the RV

My phone photos:

Day 1 : Oregon Coast Trip August 2011

2011-11-03T21:04:00.000-06:00

I'm going to have to break this up into days because there are too many photos I want to share!

Goldfish, Grasshoppers, Cache Valley Fair and Cabin

2011-11-01T14:05:00.002-06:00

Still posting from August....

I absolutely HATE grasshoppers. They eat and ruin anything that I love. And we had an infestation of them this year (again). Stupid things.

After living here for 9.5 years, Todd finally went to the Cache Valley Fair! We saw the animals, I ate some cotton candy, and we people watched (more like gawked at the people the fair brings).

And lastly, us girls in my family stayed at a cabin near Kamas and had a good time playing games, going for a gorgeous run, a killer breakfast, and shopping at Park City.

At the cabin, I found some old magazines and we were dying over the ads. Here are some of my favorites:

Her face!

Blondes DO have more fun! She caught her husband actually looking at her!

He was probably looking at her like this, and wearing anti-perspirant from 4 days ago!

Kuna ID : @ the farm August 2011

2011-10-15T00:06:00.000-06:00

I took nearly 400 photos during the weekend I spent with Todd's family up in Idaho. The farm (and cute little Remy + cousins) happened to be ever so photogenic, and I just couldn't help myself. Remy and I had cruised up there for her cousin's baptism, and left Todd in Utah working at the Outdoor Retail Show in SLC. She did way better than expected on the drive, which made for a happy me! Enjoy a long post...

On the first morning, Remy happened to dump her cereal milk literally right on top of her head, drenching her. It also happened to be a VERY traumatic event for some reason. The bath following, heightened the wailing, so a visit to the chicken coop was a perfect remedy.

I think I've mentioned this before... I love her.

Love little Mia's bum cheeks...

Of course, it's my child that has to be crying.

I'm pretty sure this is Todd's whole family minus Todd, Paul & Steffen.

Remy helped Grandma water all the outside pots. So cute to watch those two together.

Remy was in heaven on the farm! Seriously. She kept saying (in an almost English accent) 'I like this place.' You do? 'Yes, I like this place.'

I don't know who wouldn't 'like this place'...

Tony Grove August 2011

2011-10-09T23:01:00.001-06:00

Our little spontaneous drive to Tony Grove for wet toes, beautiful wildflowers, big fluffy clouds, sandwiches, fun photos, cheeto fingers, and good memories...

Remy was all ready to model. She went to every rock and posed, saying,'Take a picture!'

Those 'I just gotta get out and into the mountains' moments that I have quite often always turn out to be so fun. So glad Remy is a little adventure bug with me.

The wildflowers were incredible. With the late Spring, I was so lucky to catch them at their peak in August!

Scrub

2011-10-07T23:31:00.000-06:00

Love bath time with this girl...

I have so many August photos, it's ridiculous. I'll get to them. Someday... But at least here's a few to start with.

The rest of July 2011

2011-09-26T11:35:00.001-06:00

in pictures...

The girl LOVES her daddy

Remy has a few chores. She gives the dogs water, feeds them every morning, and is the poop detective. Once she spots poop, she grabs a small shovel, scoops it up, and throws it into the bushes.

Tug of War...Marley's favorite game

Remy and Gavin ran around the yard for almost an hour straight one night.

Their faces are all flushed from running so much.

This is how Remy hides

For the 24th weekend, we had both grandmas and both grandpas over for dinner. Remy loved it!

My little sassy-pants and mama-pants girl

Sweet Remy

2011-09-14T22:53:00.001-06:00

I'm so in love with this girl...

Some of my favorite shots of her back in July.

Salsa recipe

2011-09-14T15:03:00.000-06:00

Some people have asked me for the canned salsa recipe I used, and I can't remember who all did, but I put it on a shared recipe blog. You can see it here.

Bear World!

2011-09-12T23:20:00.001-06:00

In July, Todd's sister Meredith and her boys picked us up and we headed to Rexburg, where we stayed with Todd's aunt and went to Bear World. Remy love love loved it. We even went on the curator tour and fed the bears bread and donuts. They have a petting zoo that the kids loved.

Around the yard in July

2011-09-07T10:25:00.003-06:00

Our yard, sunsets, flowers, full moon, etc...

Super Dog

2011-09-06T10:34:00.000-06:00

'Marley is a Super Dog!' Remy says.

I just love this photo of him passed out in the sandbox...

The adventures of Mousey

2011-09-05T22:11:00.000-06:00

Shots of Remy and Mousey back in July... you should see her snuggle with Mousey at night. She loves him.

Fourth of July Weekend!

2011-08-30T17:34:00.001-06:00

Long post...

Logan's fireworks

A hike up Leatham Hollow with the fam

I don't even know...

Cooling off in the creek

My sister is so tough...

The Hyrum 4th of July parade

All of us sisters happened to be there together!

BBQ at our house after the parade

Remy and Lauren watching the boys jump over the water

These were some wierd snaps. I've only ever gotten the little white papery ones. These were purple and pellet like.

I'm lucky to have gotten a photo of Remy holding the sparkler. She only held it for a couple seconds, then it scared her too much to hold it again.

Watching the Hyrum firework show in our field behind our house

It was a busy and super fun weekend. My nephew got married July 1st, so most of my family was together for that, as well as our planned activities that we did together on July 2. Pancake b-fast at my dad's, a hike, lunch up the canyon, and a Maddox dinner. Sunday was great--spent up the canyon with my sister's family, and Monday was the parade and BBQ and more fireworks.

Red Tomatoes

2011-08-22T22:34:00.003-06:00

We picked our first red tomatoes tonight! Remy was very excited. Time for salsa!

We've been very busy playing lately. I hope to update this blog soon... I've got some fun photos to share!

Great Summer

2011-08-15T08:40:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone is having a great summer! We are! Next up--Oregon Coast. Yahoo!

June AZ trip

2011-08-02T00:05:00.002-06:00

So June was a super busy month for me. I photographed 3 weddings in 2 weeks and apparently, that burnt me out of taking personal photos, because I have hardly any in my June 2011 folder. But I at least happened to take a few.

A huge high-light of the month was Remy pretty much potty-trained herself. She was amazing. After the epic fail a few months ago, I had little hope for her. However, she got a really bad diaper rash that wouldn't go away, so I threw some underwear on her one day. She still peed all over my house that day, but the next day, she didn't want anything to do with diapers (and I really wanted to put a diaper on her). She only had 1 accident that day. I was in complete shock. Way to go Remikins! I was really nervous that our trip to Arizona, just a week after the first day of dry undies, would really set back the progress. Nope. She kept dry! And I even had her in a pull-up because I didn't want an accident in her car seat for the 12 hour drive. What I did get as a lovely surprise in her car seat was puke. All over. So bad. Luckily, it happened 2 hours into the drive and we were 5 minutes away from my brother's house. After a major scrubbing of both car seat and Remy, 45 minutes later we were back on the road. Towels, cleaners and cool-whip containers ready at will for any other stomach churning threat. (Those towels, cleaners and containers proved themselves worthy on our way back home, no less than 2 hours into the drive again. Poor girl.)

Another high-light--full sentences. Remy has exploded her vocabulary and speaks in full sentences. She counts to 10, knows the ABC's by heart, Knows all her colors, can recognize R's, O's, S's, and B's, and then other random letters she surprises me with when she tells her baby what letter it is. She sings, and sings and sings. Loves mary had a little lamb, twinkle twinkle little star, I am a child of God, ABC's, row row row your boat, and a bunch more. Consider yourself very lucky if you don't get one of those songs stuck in your head after being near her for more than 5 minutes.

So there you have it. June in a nut-shell. Full of weddings and lots of other bodily functions...

I shot this wedding while in Arizona. If you haven't checked it out, you should. It was amazing and very well done. Fun vintage theme.
We had a great time with a bunch of my family that drove down with us, and just enjoyed the warmth and sunshine!

A few shots from the AZ trip. We did not get enough pool time in and I'm wishing I was at this pool right now... ( this is my bro's pool. lucky kids.)

And I just love this shot of Remy and I. She is such a little lover and will give me lots of hugs through-out the day and tell me she loves me. *melt*

Oh, and a few phone shots of the AZ trip as well:

PS- Can I just tell you how much I love the Camera+ app on my iphone? It's so fun to edit photos with it. A dollar well spent!

June flowers, sunsets, and rainbows

2011-07-29T23:32:00.000-06:00

And a girl with some sweet style...

I ♥ Cache Valley!

2011-07-26T22:27:00.000-06:00

8 years!

2011-07-23T00:34:00.001-06:00

A few photos to commemorate our 8th year anniversary. (it was on July 12th) I love you Todd!

Hahaha, the floating veil! Man, I wish I had known my cool photographer friends that I know now....

Woohoo! Lots of leg for just being married in the temple! :)

I love cheesy pictures...kissing behind the haystack at the farm!

And lastly, our honeymoon:

Todd spent his birthday and our anniversary at scout camp. Fun, huh? Maybe sometime when we get a chance, we might just go celebrate!

A few family photos

2011-07-14T08:58:00.000-06:00

At my nephew's wedding reception July 1st, my brother snapped a few photos of our little family. Remy wasn't really dressed or 'done up' for pictures, but she is a cutie anyway. (Todd was in charge of bringing her since I was taking photos at the reception. :) )

This one makes me laugh every time I see it...

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-07-12T23:48:00.000-06:00

On our annual Sunday night walk to the cemetery.

It was a cold evening, so we ended it right by 'cheers'-ing with hot chocolate.

A snowy Memorial Day.

A July Saturday

2011-07-09T22:28:00.000-06:00

I decided to document today in photos taken with my phone.

The day included:

Chatting with Remy on the back porch.
Going to a park.
Driving around in the Scout.
Somersaults. In her undies.
Swinging. In her undies.
Jumping with the sprinkler under the 'jumpy'. In her undies.
Orange Dreamsicles. Messy face.
A drive in the truck. A happy dog.
A big cold Pepsi. A happy Camille.
Big white fluffy clouds.
Weeding the garden. Enjoying the blooming flowers and lavender fragrance.
Thunder, wind and dark clouds.
Rain. Running around in the rain.
A Warren Miller ski movie. In July, Camille? Really? Yep.
A beautiful sunset.
And a bedtime lullaby of 'Skip to my Lou', requested by Remy.

More photos of a rainy May

2011-07-07T23:37:00.001-06:00

Some of my most favorite shots right now. The rain let up to a light mist, so Remy and I ventured out for a photoshoot of all the wet plants. Enjoy!

And to end, a funny photo of the dogs. They rarely lie by each other, so I had to capture this:

May Play

2011-07-04T21:24:00.001-06:00

May was full of fun play dates at the park and working in the yard.

Remy and Gavin still love each other.

Idaho

2011-06-30T16:46:00.001-06:00

Crazy June

2011-06-26T23:39:00.002-06:00

What a busy crazy month June has been for me. Here is a cute clip of Remy a couple days ago. She is quite the singing girl lately. Enjoy some singing, and dancing.

Wet

2011-06-04T22:07:00.000-06:00

It's been very wet this May, to say the least.

(Todd's new project, behind Remy, an International Scout)

Flag banner

2011-06-03T15:06:00.000-06:00

I finally made something out of the cute material I got at Suppose in Preston:

Purple Asparagus

2011-06-01T14:03:00.002-06:00

We didn't eat it this year, but next year we will. I guess with asparagus, you have to let it get good roots for a few years before you start eating it. But I love the color of it!

Dandy Dandelions

2011-05-31T23:05:00.001-06:00

This year, we decided not to have the burros come feed in our pasture. We took down part of the fence and now have the field open for the dogs and Remy to roam about in. The grass is getting so tall and the weeds are coming in strong. Perfect for a little girl's flower picking delight!

That evening, there was the most beautiful, soft lit sky making every thing seem to glow.

Springy fun

2011-05-30T23:02:00.000-06:00

This post is pretty random, just FYI.

Todd's nephew served here in Cache Valley for a few months before he was able to go down to Bolivia to serve. We had him and his companion over for dinner one night.

Remy's friend Sam

Remy and Gavin at the Whittier Center park. Such a fun park!

Remy had a front row seat while I tilled the garden and Marley was loving the soft dirt afterwards.

A new scooter! She loves this thing. And is a little cruiser on it.

Lovin' the late night sunsets.

I gots me some bangs again...

May Sister's Day

2011-05-25T23:03:00.000-06:00

The first monday of May we all got together for another sister's day. We met in Honeyville at a house/greenhouse and planted flower pots. We could bring however many pots we wanted and fill them with dirt and flowers, then pay for whatever we used. We had so much fun!

All four of us sisters were together!

Look at Remy's little freckles. They are the best! I was so happy when I realized they were freckles and not dirt!

things to come...

2011-05-23T22:13:00.000-06:00

spring flowers are some of the things to come, and lots more. I have taken 780 photos (personal photos, that number doesn't include the photos for my business) for the month of May and it's not even over yet. So hopefully I can get it together and share much of them. Here's a couple from the beginning of the month to get started...

potty training: FAIL, warm spring weather: FAIL,

2011-05-17T15:55:00.001-06:00

having fun in spite of it all...SUCCESS

We attempted potty training a few weeks ago...and we'll try again in a couple months...

I'm so sick of Remy having a jacket on in every photo, but it's been so cold!

My little outdoor girl. I told Remy that we might go camping soon, and she keeps asking when we get to go sleep in a tent. I hope it's soon!

Maddox for lunch:

Our swimming days at the dam have begun!

Easter Weekend 2011

2011-05-14T15:13:00.001-06:00

HUGE post... I took a ton of photos. Big surprise.

This Easter weekend, I had a bunch of family up for lunch, a craft, a nostalgic walk, and Easter activities.

Our nostalgic walk was actually just next door, where we all grew up.

Since I live next door, it was just another day of going to visit the Newhall's. But for the rest of the crew, it was a walk down memory lane. Lots of memories of our mom flooded in as we walked around the yard and in the house. (Thank you so much Newhall's!!!) They were so so kind to let us invade their house for a few minutes.

In one of the bedrooms there is a laundry shoot with unfinished sheetrock. Most of us siblings and a lot of my neices and nephews have 'tagged' the walls with signatures, shout-outs to who is hot, drawings, wishes, etc., and a big blacked-out area, courtesy of yours truly, covering up angry words I wrote about my brother after he farted in my face.

It was so fun to read through all the things written on those walls. My niece Lauren found what she wrote, and it was something like ' I hope that the next time I come back to this house, I am married.' Ha! She is married, and it was the first time she's been back since my dad moved out!

Following that, we had an Easter egg hunt.

These are called Ranunculus flowers. Todd bought them for me and they are beautiful.

Here are a bunch more photos of the rest of the day.

Remy loves babies! This baby goes everywhere with her.

I shot these next two one right after the other. Couldn't have been more perfect! I love it.

Easter jammies! Thanks Suzanne!

So this was the craft that we made. I built a bunch of boxes, bought letters at Hobby Lobby, and let everyone create a framed monogram. I built three for me so I could put up EAT in my kitchen.

Easter morning

And of course her Easter outfit was the skirt I got to keep from JustBe skirts and purses.

What a great weekend and what a long post. Thanks for sticking til the end!

Mothers Day

2011-05-08T22:09:00.001-06:00

Today, was a good day.

A kiss on the cheek and a whispered 'happy mamas day' from sweet little lips woke me up. Promptly followed by 'mama I want cereal!' Todd took care of that, and whipped up some french toast and eggs. Mmmm. Todd surprised me with some sweet new kicks and a Nike dry-fit top.

We played and wrestled on the bed. Remy asked for multiple hugs and knew the exact right moments of when to say, 'I wluv you'. Somehow she really did know it was mother's day. We sat on the bathroom floor and did mani's and pedi's. Purple was the choice color of the day. Then we got ready and dressed for church. I laughed at Todd when he came into the bedroom and pronounced, 'it's a mother's day mustache!' Just what I've always wanted...

We snapped a few photos pre-church, making us a bit late, but worth it. I look a bit love drunk and maybe I was. I was also really happy! Yahoo for celebrating motherhood! :)

Following church, we had dinner at Jane and Towel's (Lyle's new name thanks to Remy who has a hard time with L's). Amazing food, great company. Then off to my dad's to wish Gaye a happy mother's day. Remy was so worn out by this point, she fell asleep on the way home. With Remy in bed, I took the chance to take a few flowers to my mother's grave. On the 19th this month it will be 8 years that she has been gone. Crazy.

I miss her.

I love cemeteries. I think I've shared this before, but I really do enjoy going to cemeteries. Oddly enough, they remind me of my mom. We took walks there often to see the owls that used to live in the big pines.

There is a certain calmness and peace in a cemetery. Especially in a very familiar cemetery. I've spent numerous evenings there, watching the sunset, or a lightening storm, even fireworks. It's become a contemplating haven for me. I always turn on some emotional and thought provoking music. For a long time, it was disc 2 of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds live at Luther College. Good stuff... Tonight it was a new song I just got, and hadn't listened to the lyrics much yet. I played it 3 times and fell in love with it. Some of the lyrics somehow fit perfectly into what I was feeling.

Belief in the breeze,
The smoky morning haze...

The pain that comes today,
Is here, then goes away.

And we are homeward bound,
And I,
I want this more than life...

To touch something real,
Will help your wounds heal,
Like the sun on your face,
The dreams of starry nights.

And we are homeward bound,
And I,
I want this more than life...

I put the song at the bottom of the blog if you want to listen to it. It's good. So you should. Oh, and it's called More than Life, by Whitley.

So, it's been a great Mother's day. I hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful day as well. Someone at church asked me today if I felt guilt. It was an odd question and I said, why would I feel guilt today? She replied, oh, just because a lot of mothers have feelings of inadequacy after hearing talks about motherhood, thus feeling guilty for being a 'bad mom'. My reply was that today, I have thoughts of my mom and I miss her, and that I am incredibly blessed to be a mother myself. No sense in beating myself up about my mothering mistakes when really, it's just a blessing that God trusts me enough to raise one of his children. But then again I'm not raising a teenager just yet. I hope by then I'll have taught Remy enough to make good choices and I'll have no mothering regrets to make me feel guilt or inadequate. My goal from here on out will be to look back each Mother's Day at the past year and have no regrets. I'll see a million mistakes and a ton of days dealing with scared inexperience, but hopefully no regrets.

Happy Mother's Day!

Flood photos

2011-05-05T15:00:00.000-06:00

I happened to get asked to take some photos of the Cache Valley flooding affecting our agriculture. I already posted about how they were published, but I wanted to put the photos on here anyway. So here they are!

Night at the Emmies!

2011-05-04T15:41:00.011-06:00

My calling right now is Relief Society Meeting Coordinator. In April we had our RS birthday dinner and themed it 'Night at the Emmies'. We handed out Emmy awards to the 18 year old girls coming into RS and to the over 80 ladies of our ward. We learned about each spot-lighted sister's favorite things, unique interests, and fun personalities. We had a fresh salad and pasta bar for the dinner and it was such a light and refreshing meal. I snapped a few quick photos before we got started. My friend Jane who is in the RS presidency and oversees the meetings had this amazing vision of this 'night at the emmies'. She also has great friends that have so many decorations. Otherwise there is no way I could have pulled this off. So I'm giving Jane all the credit, and I just helped her when needed!

Popcorn buckets, film, stars, balloons and mini microphones adorned each table.

And the Emmy goes to..... (Root Beer bottles wrapped in celophane)

The red carpet. Each sister in our ward had their name in a star up on the 'wall of fame'.

Happy life

2011-05-03T22:31:00.000-06:00

I love our happy daily life.

I think Remy looks oddly just like the frog she is holding in this photo on the left:

Such a little mommy...

She had to go get a hat on so she could be just like her babies.

~

2011-05-01T23:46:00.000-06:00

A few pre-Easter shots of my little sassy-pants...

Just Be skirts

2011-04-27T15:58:00.002-06:00

Remy modeled these cute skirts for me awhile back. See other photos and links here and here.

I just wanted to post a few more of her in the skirts on this blog.

Signs of spring...

2011-04-26T16:03:00.000-06:00

...or maybe it might just be bypassed and we'll jump into summer when June hits.

At least the flowers will still show up, even if the sun doesn't all that much.

A slight increase in temperature means campfire time! Yee-haw!

Published!

2011-04-25T15:20:00.000-06:00

I was asked to take some photos of the flooding here in Cache Valley for an article a girl was writing for the Deseret News. They loved my photos and used them with the article. Check it out!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705371190/Spring-rains-drench-hopes-for-high-Cache-Valley-crop-yields.html

Memory books

2011-04-24T11:07:00.001-06:00

The easiest scrapbooking I've ever done! Thanks to some awesome deals at Snapfish, I put Remy's year 1 and year 2 photos together to make some fun memory books.

Cling-on

2011-04-20T22:36:00.000-06:00

This little cutie is being very much a momma's girl right now. As flattering as it might be, it's still kinda hard. It's the whining that's getting to me. BUT, this girl makes me laugh all the time. Case in point, last night Todd was trying to convince her that he should put her to bed. She turned to him, pointed her little finger at him and said, 'No, you go to couch, and watch TV.' Haha. (She knows her dad! :) )

She also has good manners. She says, 'no thanks' when I told her it was time to go to nursery on Sunday. She cried when I left (she never does) and that was the beginning of our cling-on girl. I'm hoping it's a little phase and we'll pass through it quickly.

Her developing language is so fun to watch as she instructs her babies on how to do everything that she is doing. It's so so cute to hear her asking them questions and telling them ,'be right back, I be right back'.

So, I've been loving my clingy little one right now, and helping with our Relief Society birthday dinner for the past week. The dinner was tonight, and it turned out really really good. I'll share photos later I hope.

Maybe, just maybe I'll update this blog more often. I have such good intentions and fun photos. So we'll see!

Spring!

2011-04-12T23:35:00.001-06:00

Even if it's not Springy outside, I sure as heck made it Springy inside! I jumped the gun on the Easter decor (I put it all out the second week in March) not knowing that Easter wasn't for 5-6 more weeks. I don't mind the late Easter. Hopefully it'll be nice and sunny and warm. I created and bought us some new Spring accents that has definitely cheered me up through the on-going slaught of storms that keep rolling in.

First I made a wreath. I'm not going to lie--I love it. That little chick just does me in.

Remy loves these 'Peep Peeps' too.

A few of the purchased items:

And some lilac bush cuts as an Easter egg tree! With some 'vintage' eggs.

Lastly, a couple of photos of my new photo wall and shelf decor.

Pupuseria

2011-04-11T22:38:00.001-06:00

My good friends Mandy and Amber decided they needed some girl time, and invited me along for some thrift shopping and fabric shopping a couple of weeks ago. I'm not much of a fabric consumer, but the place we went to in Preston was so, so awesome. I pretty much wanted everything there. I bought some fabric for a flag banner I'm going to make to hang in Remy's room. I'm sure there will be pictures when it's done. Anyway, we also went to dinner. I convinced them to try a new (to them) place. Ever eaten El Salvadorian food? It's amazing. I've frequented our local Pupuseria often since it was introduced to me back in 2007. We took a few photos, loved the food, and on the way home, captured an incredible sunset on the Wellsvilles.

So sweet...

2011-04-06T22:46:00.001-06:00

I just thought this was a really sweet picture between Mason and Remy. Check out Mason's photoshoot on my photography blog!

Also, I would love it if you'd 'like' my photography facebook page if you are a facebooker! I've been really quite busy the last couple of weeks and I'll be posting a lot in the next week, so keep checking back!

Doh Seep!

2011-03-31T21:44:00.000-06:00

Remy loves to pretend to be sleeping. She also likes to tell me to 'doh seep mom'. I found her in my bed the other day, with blue baby and mousy all tucked in, pretending to take a nap.

She's pretty convincing...I'm not sure whether she's awake or asleep in this photo :)

Curlers

2011-03-27T22:23:00.000-06:00

Doesn't every girl have memories of sleeping on wet hair rolled in sponge curlers as a little one? I know I slept in sponge curlers on Saturday nights, so as to have cute curly hair for church on Sunday. I had to buy some for Remy to try out on her. I didn't make her sleep on them though. I lightly sprayed her hair with water, put them in, and let them dry for 45 minutes.

I took photos of the curlers, but never took photos of the end result! It actually looked pretty cute, but her fine hair didn't hold the curl for too long.

I have to share a couple of fun things that happened yesterday. As I was putting Remy's hair into piggy tails, she wrapped her arms around me and said, 'I wuv you!' See how she melts me? Sweetheart. She also counted 1-10 totally out of the blue. She's never done that before. And then during her bath, she picked up an 'R' and said 'R!'. How is she growing up so fast?

I bought a potty training book today on my iphone. We are getting ready! I'm going to read the book, then we'll be having a potty party day soon. She has been asking if she can go potty. I hope it'll go well!

My photos

2011-03-27T22:02:00.001-06:00

My brother's company bought some of my photos! I love how they turned out.

The arch photo is my brother's

Baby Muppets

2011-03-23T22:00:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, I took photos of one of my most favorite childhood toys. Fozzie Bear was my very fav, and I've kept him all this time. Todd knew that I loved this toy so much, and so for a Christmas gift a few years ago, he surprised me with a few more of the Muppet babies set from McDonalds. He had found someone selling them on E-bay. It was such a thoughtful gift to me. I even got teary-eyed when I opened them. Good job, Todd. Now Remy even likes to play with them.

When I hold this little bear, the wierdest feeling of nostalgia washes over me. I must have held onto this little guy a lot during my childhood.

She melts me...

2011-03-22T09:56:00.002-06:00

She loves her new little 'jumpy'. We take advantage of it at any given 'warm' moment this spring is offering. (Which is not very many moments yet!)

And look! Beautiful green lily shoots pushing their way out of the ground. Hooray for tulips and blossoms to come soon. They will be a welcomed sight.

Enjoying the Small Things

2011-03-21T09:52:00.002-06:00

Ever heard of Kelle Hampton? I was introduced to her blog by a friend, and have been reading it for about a year now. It's inspiring, funny, blunt, and motivating at times. Kelle is an exceptional writer and can put feelings and emotions into words and beautiful sentences like you wouldn't believe. You can imagine and feel everything that she writes passionately about.

Anyway, the point of me bringing her up is that she uses a quote that I just love. I also just saw the same quote in the new Prana catalog:

'Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?' -Mary Oliver

Isn't it so good? I love it. And while I secretly envy the writing skills of Kelle and wish that I could offer that type of inspiration here on my blog, I'll just leave it as it is, and let you take what you want from it. I'll be putting this quote somewhere in my home to hopefully keep me living and loving, bigger and better everyday.

dish towels & a remy look-a-like

2011-03-20T15:11:00.002-06:00

Each month my sisters and sisters-in-law get together and do a little project. For January, we made cute framed menu lists or to do lists that you write on with a dry-erase marker. I didn't take any photos of them, but I should have. I did take photos of these cute dishtowels we made this past month (February).

The finished product hanging off my dishwasher:

Remy look-a-like...need I say more? Todd saw this in an outdoor brochure and did a major double take.

sigh, quiet time...

2011-03-19T14:31:00.000-06:00

I love video monitors. And I love nap-time.

Sista Snowshoeing

2011-03-15T23:11:00.000-06:00

Limber Pine trail in Logan Canyon is one of my favorite trails to snowshoe in the winter. Todd and I actually had our first date (I asked him!) one lovely night, snowshoeing around this area. So I have lots of great memories attached to this trail. I made a short little video of us daredevils, doing flips, jumping, cartwheeling, and having a blast together. I love my sisters. I really wish my oldest sister could have been there with us. We send our love to Virginia from the top of Logan Canyon~
(A big thanks to Suzanne, my sister for letting me have her photos. I forgot my camera. *gasp!)

Sista Snowshoeing 2011 from Camille Stewart on Vimeo.

A few more photos of the weekend:

We saw some 'mushing' down in the sinks area.

Limber Pine!

(It's wierd to see photos of me on here...I obviously like it, because I put plenty featuring yours truly on this post!)

Africa

2011-03-10T20:48:00.002-07:00

While organizing some photo folders, I came across some of the digital photos Todd and I took while we were in Beira, Mozambique, Africa. They are super low quality (like 1 megapixel) but I loved them anyway and wanted to share. It's been almost 5 and a half years since we went, and it seems like a dream that we actually lived there and went through the experiences we did. I don't normally narrate all of my photos, but I am going to with this post.
We lived in Beira, as seen with the red dot on the coast, middle of the country:

Our apartment for the first two weeks. We lived with 2 other boys that were there doing a different project.

Right across the road from this apartment was this beach. We spent almost every single evening here watching people and fishermen and chasing crabs.

These girls saw we had a camera and begged us to take thier picture. So cute.

I love the little boy peeking out of the boat.

Just some goats going to travel on top of a bus. It's not a big deal.

I loved seeing all the old bikes everywhere.

Like the brown hair? I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb with my blonde hair, so I went brown. It didn't last very long. I think I was back to blonde within a couple of months. If that.

We visited a small, extremely poor village and met some wonderful people.

Getting (most likely fairly dirty) water from a small well. Think about this photo next time you turn on your faucet:

The last 2 weeks of our visit, we stayed in a city called Manga. Here Todd is playing soccer with the kids at the ASEM orphanage in Manga. Love those kids.

We lived next door to an awesome bakery. We practically lived off of these bread rolls and bottles of Coke. Well, Coke for me (it tasted just like Pepsi!) and orange Fanta for Todd. You can see a few rolls peeking out from under the cloth in the basket behind Joao.

Little kids would come in and pay for these huge bags full of rolls, then go out and sell them on the street to make a tiny bit of money. These are some of the bakery workers with the bags of rolls.

I'm assuming this guy was a brick mason. He was in one of the bakery's ovens fixing it and just sweating to death.

We went to a sort of 'resort' that was up the coast from where we were living. It was a gorgeous spot.

These last two photos were taken from a bus ride we took.

We have many more photos that we took on film that are a lot of fun, but I just wanted to at least share these.

Spring in Winter

2011-03-03T14:23:00.004-07:00

What a crazy month February was. Wonderfully warm weather, and then a week later, an awesome dumping of snow.

We went from this:

to this:

and then to this:

We have such awesome neighbors that have snow-plowing tractors. They plow our drive every time it snows. It was so nice to go out and see these giant piles of snow and thankfully acknowledge that my back was spared yet again because of someone else's kindness!

Marley looks exceptionally huge in this photo. It weirds me out.

It's almost like this, but with snow:

Marley, the big black dog vs. Clifford, the big red dog

We've had another interesting week this past week. Remy got so so sick again. I feared pneumonia, so we saw the doctor yesterday and he said it was a really bad double ear infection. Today, after taking 2 doses of antibiotics, she is feeling so much better. This is actually her first time ever having an ear infection. So glad it wasn't pneumonia coming back.

And I have to add that I am so, so sick of puked on laundry, cleaning puked on couches and floors, and wiping a sore little nose every 30 seconds. But I'm so glad she is on the mend, and we can get past this little sickness again. (and get out of the house!) We have a fun weekend planned of snow-shoeing with my sisters and thier kids. Yahoo!

The Living Planet Aquarium

2011-02-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, we (Remy and I) went to The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy with my sister Suzanne, her kids Kyson & Kennedi, and Kennedi's friend Kayla. Kennedi and Kayla loved taking Remy around to show her all the animals and fish. So, I just followed them around and took a bazillion pictures, like usual. And I even petted this manta ray.

This is my favorite photo of the day:

I was apparantly very happy to be there... cheese!

And an icecream cone on the way home made for a fantastic day!

Diaper Head

2011-02-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

I'll have you all know that I am actually posting photos from February, in February. Although it was a couple weeks ago, these are photos from February! I am getting caught up! Yipee.

Favorite things that Remy says to me:

'Be right back, be right back.' and usually points at me and says it quite sternly. Apparently, that's how I say it to her...But I love it when she says it to me.
'Wanna wessle? Bed?' We wrestle on the bed. A lot.
'Tink two' Thank you. She says this all the time. It kills me. What 2 year old has manners like that, to know when to say thank you all the time?
'Excuse you!' when I'm in her way, or the dogs are in her way.
I'll eat something and she'll ask, 'Good? Yeah? Good? Mmm good.'
Crinkles her nose and says, 'Mama toot? Ew! No, I toot! Hehehe' Little stinker.

Sew Big

2011-02-24T15:29:00.001-07:00

Kind of a dumb title, but this is a random post.

Look what I got! :) :) Yay! I'm not a big sewer by any means, but it's so nice to have a machine around to do little projects.

My baby is no longer a baby. She is getting so big. Talking all the time and surprising me with new words and sentences everyday.

Have I mentioned how much this girl loves to clean? She does a very good job of rinsing off dishes for me and wiping down the counters.

'Say cheese' grin:

Booty Shaker

2011-02-23T22:22:00.003-07:00

This video is sure to make you laugh. I laughed the whole time making it.

Untitled from Camille Stewart on Vimeo.

Remy likes the spotlight, as you can tell by her finger pointing 'no' to daddy for dancing with her. What a crack-up.

And, I don't know where she got those moves from... I certainly don't crank up the tunes and do wild and crazy dances. Nope. Not me. Ever.

Hospital Stay

2011-02-23T00:02:00.001-07:00

A week after celebrating Remy's birthday, our poor little girl was hit hard with croup. She was having a really hard time breathing and a fever that wouldn't break, so I took her to instacare, only to wait for an hour, have Remy puke on me, pay $40, and the doctor to tell me to hurry to the ER. At the ER she recieved 2 breathing treatments, a steroid shot to the leg, a popsicle, medicine, a chest x-ray revealing pneumonia in one lung, an IV needle in both hands, and the doctor's order to stay the night at the hospital. As I looked at her hooked up to the machines and the IV in her hand, I realized we were in a similar situation with her exactly 2 years prior when she had to spend the first week of her life in the NICU. I hope this doesn't become a trend...it's too expensive!

After a long night snuggled up to my baby in the hospital bed, she improved dramatically and we got to go home the next morning. This is what we did for the next several days:

Slept. A lot.

Watched movies.

Drank juice.

And more sleep, snuggling her new 'blue baby' from a kind nurse at the hospital.

After a few days of scariness, a few more of laying around the house, and a weeks worth of antibiotics, she was back to herself. Thank goodness, I couldn't stand to see her so sick. It's incredible to feel, as a parent, how much you'd be willing to give up, do, or take on yourself, just to see your child in a healthier or better state. I wished so badly that I could have had her sicknes, instead of her. But we're good now, and healthy. And I like that I now have that scary 'life is fragile, don't waste a minute of it' feeling fresh in my soul. It makes me a better person I think, to be reminded that things can change in an instant, and I need to live my life to it's fullest potential with no regrets. I realize Remy wasn't near death or anything, but it was still scary enough to put me back into perspective of what's really important. After just recently having two miscarriages back to back, I am more than crazy grateful to have my sweet little girl in my life right now. She is the best blessing ever.

Remy's Birthday Number Two!

2011-02-21T20:46:00.001-07:00

Todd was at the Outdoor Retail show on Remy's actual birthday, so we ended up celebrating the next day.

We made red velvet cupcakes (again):

I wrapped birthday presents while Remy napped, and she was very excited to see them when she woke up:

We cleaned and got ready for our little party:

Party Time!

Look, I'm in a picture!

I was the most excited about giving her her first Calico Critters. I love these little things so much. Probably more than her...

We had some of Remy's favorite people over to share cupcakes with us. The Newhalls and the Wards.

Birthday jammies!

It was such a fun night. I couldn't interest Remy in a cupcake whatsoever. She loved all of her presents. Her biggest present, she hasn't even seen yet. It was kind of a Christmas and birthday gift--a trampoline! I can't wait to set it up. She's gonna love it.

I Two!

2011-02-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Ask Remy how old she is. She'll say, 'I two.'
Ask Remy how she is doing. She'll say, 'I two.' Oh ok, got it.

Those two fingers are hard to keep up at the same time.

A fair warning: there are way too many pictures of Remy in the bath in this post, but I don't even care. They're too cute to not share.

A few weeks ago, I came across an article in Parenting Magazine Sept. 2009 that I had ripped out and saved. I'm so glad I saved it. It's 39 things every mom should know. The one that I've taken to heart and liked the best is, 'Do your chores while kids are awake. Using up naptime to wash dishes or clean the bathroom is truly soul-crushing.' Love it. And have used that advice since I read it. After Remy was born, for several months when she only took 30 min naps, I felt I had 30 min to clean whatever I could. And it was a little soul crushing not giving myself that time to do something I really wanted to do... Now I enjoy nap-time, and Remy and I can have fun cleaning and doing laundry together.

Another one : 'Just throw away the poopy underwear.' Might be using that advice in a few weeks!

'Answer this question: What is the worst thing that can happen if your kids sleep in their clothes?'

'Use duvet covers on your comforters and forget about a top sheet. Not only will you thank me for this advice, but your kids will thank me as well when they are learning to make their bed.'

'Teach them to like cool music. Why suffer through The Wiggles when you could be enjoying Wilco or counting along with Feist?'

Visiting baby Wywy

2011-02-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

My good friends Bryn and Quin's little Wyatt. Remy loved him.

She got a little jealous of his photoshoot and tried a few poses herself.

Our Snowman

2011-02-16T18:42:00.002-07:00

Back in January, we took advantage of a warm day and sticky snow and made a little snowman. That night, it rained, making our snowman skinny and lopsided. Remy just kept saying, 'Uh-oh!' and was so concerned about the terrible night our snowman had to go through. Finally, when I was sick of the uh-oh's, I told her to go kick the snowman and knock him over. She looked at me like, really? She finally decided I was for real, went and pushed and kicked him over, and thought it was the funniest thing ever.

This girl loves her dogs...

And her swings

Gavin + Remy

2011-02-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

We love when Gavin comes to play!

January 3, 2011

2011-02-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

Magazine Love

2011-02-07T15:44:00.002-07:00

I have a confession: I'm a magazine hoarder.

I have been for a long time. I also married a magazine hoarder.

But what good comes from hoarding magazines? You'll have lots of options if you ever want to make a MAGAZINE CLIP VALENTINE! And this is what I did when I was dating Todd. We weren't engaged, but we knew we were going to get married. I found this today when I was going through some things and it made me want to make another valentine like it this year. (Though I'm not sure I can top this one!) I thought I'd share this to give you all some ideas if you want to make a super cheap, fun, and thoughtful Valentine card this year for your loved ones.

I put the pages into plastic sleeves then fastened them together with a nut and bolt!

PS- About the magazine hoarding, please don't call TLC. It's really not that bad. We go through our magazines periodically now and recycle them. :) And that TLC 'I'm a hoarder' show makes me physically ill to watch. Especially the animal hoarding...wow. You only have to watch 2 minutes of it before you're switching the channel and running to the bathroom...or running around your house organizing clutter and throwing out everything you can.

Christmas in February!

2011-02-03T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is mainly going to entertain my family, but anyone is welcome to watch our Olsen Family happenings on Christmas Eve!

New blog look!

2011-02-02T16:21:00.003-07:00

Whataya think?

Still need to put my own pictures into the slideshow at the top, but someone is calling, 'Mere momma' from her crib. So I'll work on it later tonight!
-

The Beav 2011

2011-01-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

So this is my first attempt at making a video. What a sad little video it is. So only watch it if you're totally bored...or you really like the Beav and it'll make you want to go on a Wednesday powder day and ski with the other 10 people that decided to go as well. If you end up watching, you'll see that I pretty much felt like I owned the mountain. Almost every run I had all to myself. I don't think it gets any better than that.

The Beav 2011 from Camille Stewart on Vimeo.

Terrific 2!

2011-01-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Remy! You are the sweetest and bestest 2 year old I know!

We took these photos a few days ago when it was fairly warm. It is definitely getting harder to photograph this little one. She is always on the go. But we had a fun 10 minute session followed by the promised reward--a happy meal. Woot woot!

We had a great day today (slept in 'til 9, went to lunch with friends, had a long nap, went to dinner at Thaiphoon with daddy and friends) on her birthday, but we will be celebrating it more officially tomorrow when Todd will be home with us. Presents, cupcakes, and finishing up a fabulous weekend still to come! Hooray!

This little girl...

2011-01-19T23:34:00.000-07:00

Is going to turn 2 on Saturday! Woo hoo!

December Play

2011-01-14T18:58:00.002-07:00

Todd's sister and family came to play and visit. We had a jam-packed weekend. First up, mani's of course!

Next was shopping with Shelley and picking up a craft for the kids. Remy's first time painting:

Sledding on 'my' old hill. (I grew up in the house next door, and sledded (is that a word?) on this hill every year of my life living there. For real. So I'm claiming it as 'my' hill.) No, but really, we were so glad that our neighbors didn't mind us tracking up their hill, because we had a blast speeding down the hill, narrowly missing trees and coming close to getting dumped into the small creek at the bottom.

And I'll end the post with this:

What a crack-up. Can you tell she likes to be pantless? She is so into taking her clothes off and putting different items of clothing on. She has a drawer of her own in our bedroom and switches socks, shoes, and pants multiple times a day. She comes up with some awesome outfits. Anyone have any dress-up clothes you might want to give her for her birthday? And yes, she will be 2!!! in about a week. I gotta get crackin' on some birthday plans...

My loves

2011-01-13T21:53:00.002-07:00

I love watching these two play together.

And I LOVE winter! I really do. I get so sick of reading everyone's complaints against winter on facebook. I say, take winter as it is, and learn to enjoy it. We all choose to live here where we get four very different seasons. It's beautiful how the seasons change our scenery, our moods, our clothing and our hearts. Before I know it, it's going to be spring. And I'll be stoked on that. I will love the greens coming out. I will love the flowers and new plant growth pushing it's way out of the ground. But before spring is here, I'm going to enjoy the snow storms, the frost covering everything it can from a dense fog (that's my favorite...it's so pretty) and wearing boots and coats and sweaters! Take that, all you winter whiners! :)

Our Holiday Home

2011-01-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed decorating for Christmas this year. I cranked the Sufjan while Remy was napping, and went to town setting up nativity sets, hanging ornaments on the trees, and getting the wreaths hung evenly in my three kitchen windows. Remy woke up from her nap and she helped me a little with the tree and she was in charge of setting up Humble Bumble, Rudolph, Santa & friends. Not sure why I didn't get a picture of them, but maybe you can remember them from past year's pictures.

Watching Remy play with her nativity set became the first of many favorite memories of this past Christmas season.

New Project

2011-01-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

Check out my latest photography project, Project 52, on my photo blog. I think it'll be a lot easier than trying to do a 365 day project!

Little Helper

2011-01-06T23:28:00.001-07:00

This past month, Remy has become quite the little helper. I've learned that she prefers to clean in the buff...

It's so cute to watch her clean with me in the bathroom. She scrubs little bits of the wall, the towels, the sink pedestal, her toes, and obviously the toilet.

We put up some snowflakes on our doors and she placed them all. I think she's got an eye for decorating!

She loves babies and is such a kind, loving person with them. She helped me while I watched my friend's little girl, Layni one night.

She also helps and loves on her other babies and animals.

It's funny how some little girls come to this earth with an instinctual motherly nature. Just the other day I was at lunch with girlfriends, and baby Rees, age 5-6 months, coughed a little in her car seat and Remy came to her and patted her chin and cheek and asked, 'you OK?' How sweet is that? I don't feel like I taught her that, that's just her motherly instincts kicking in.

Projects from the past 1-2 years

2011-01-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a random post, but I've been wanting to post these before and after photos for a long time and I'm finally doing it. I'll post some fun December photos soon!

I'll start with the bathroom remodel. We had to cut out most of the flooring because the toilet had been slowing leaking for 3-4 years and caused the floor to rot.

Now it looks like this. (on a good day!)

The old kitchen counter and bottom cabinets:

And the NEW! Complete with a DISHWASHER!

Todd built a pergola and a fence in the backyard after we cut down the giant pine tree.

And I built Remy a sandbox. I've already posted pictures of it, but I'm doing it again.

We cut out sod and put in rock and plants.

New Year's treats

2010-12-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

Need a quick yummy treat for a New Year party? Check out the easy caramels I just posted on Lovin' Good Grub. I took these to my Christmas Party and they were a hit!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Our dirty salty car after the drive

Playing at the park in fabulous weather

The Thanksgiving set-up

We enjoyed a bit of swimming and going to see Red Rocks

Road Trippin' to Denver

2010-12-14T21:35:00.002-07:00

This Thanksgiving, we headed to Denver to be with Todd's sister's family. The drive was long, a bit snowy/icy, but it wasn't too bad. Remy was actually a gem most of the way and I was quite snap-happy with the camera on the drive.

The wild Wyo winds....

Remy is in love with this baby. It goes everywhere with her and she has to have it to go to sleep. She has just started to pretend play with her, like smelling her bum and saying,' Ew, poopy!' and asking if baby wants to watch a show with her and things like that. It's so great to watch that type of play develop.

I loved seeing these wind turbines. You'll see that's obvious by scrolling down and seeing all the pictures I took of them.

All of these shots were taken behind our car's windows going 65 mph. I can't believe they turned out semi-decent.

A happy traveler. Thanks to a DVD player and 'Shrech'! (Shrek 2) She loves that movie.

Brrrrr......-8 was the coldest we saw it get on the car thermometer

Cookies & happiness

2010-12-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

My sister's youngest, and Remy's favorite 'dee', Kennedi has similar skeleton jammies. They look so cute together.

The 'Blizzard'. Anyone who lives in Utah, knew about this dreadful upcoming blizzard. (It wasn't even that bad...) But I got a few good pictures from it.

Ok, Marley maybe thought it was bad...

I let him be warm and dry in the house after this shot. He just sat there at the back door looking at me waiting for me to let him in out of the swirling snow.