Fun Summer

Well, it's officially over, for us anyway. Here are some of the fun things we got to do this summer..

We went camping with our friends, the Butterfield's. The girls made, I mean FOUND, dinosaur bones. Call in the paleantologists!

Went to the County Fair! (..yes, I AM a hick!)

Ashlynn was TERRIFIED in the petting zoo. This is her gripping me, there was NO putting her down! Those baby goats were almost touching her! How rude. The kids made some "yarn yappers" and ladybug bookmarks. It was some good, clean, cheap fun.

Went to the farm and the pretty garden at Thanksgiving Point with the Ashcraft's.
OK, so one thing I learned this summer... Ashlynn and animals DO NOT mix.

Went to Grandma and Grandpa's St. George house and played.

And just last weekend, we went camping at Jordanelle with my parents. It was lots of fun, but I didn't have my camera.. lucky for all of you, the Ashcraft's came up with their waverunners and took pic's. THANKS TRISH! We had a blast! Here is Trisha and our girls.

..... So, now back to the grind.. the girls are starting school this week and Ash starts preschool in two weeks. It'll be good to get back to a schedule, but we sure did have a fun time this summer!

The things I couldn't do if I didn't have kids

A lot of times I am stressed out and thinking of all of the bad things I have to do since I have kids, i.e., get yelled at for everything, clean up messes, cook meals constantly (some days it feels that way), do 5 billion loads of laundry a week, be a chauffer, etc. Well, there are also many good things about having kids, and so the other day I was thinking about the things that I would look silly doing if I, a 32 year old woman, didn't have kids.
1. Jump Rope and play Hopscotch.
2. Sing songs like 5 little monkeys and the itsy bitsy spider
3. Dance around my house singing Miley Cyrus songs at the top of my lungs (you should try it- very theraputic)
4. Say things like booger, poop, cutie patootie, crazyhead, etc.
5. Read AWESOME books like Goodnight Moon, There's no such thing as a Dragon, and Junie B. Jones goes to first grade.
6. Go to every Disney movie that comes out (and love them).
7. Sit in during story time at the library.
8. Have slip 'n slide, sprinkler parties.
9. Buy a box of otter pops a week.
10. Get excited about what toys are in McDonald's Happy Meals.
11. Be really, truly happy even though I complain a lot about the other stuff.

My Music Men

Ok, so this is my tribute to beautiful male country singers. I am a huge fan of country music, and here are some reasons..
1.Tim McGraw's sexy, sing-me-to-sleep voice, not to mention his beautiful face, etc.. ( oh ladies, you know what I'm talkin' about! :) ).

2. Eric Church's total country boy, good lyric writing music, not to mention his super scruffy cute look.

3. Jason Aldean's country/rock-out singing and cute as can be face.

4. Gary Allen's under-appreciated musical talent.. beautiful voice, deep, emotional lyrics. He is also quite sexy...

Now, if you're not sure who's who, I'll tell ya....

Tim is my favorite, so he deserves two pics... the "ooh, baby" black country hat & shirt (yes, he knows that he's hot) and also one from his concert in 2007 with his lovely wife Faith. We had really good floor seats, so it's a pretty good pic. Kristi's daughter touched his hand.. so, totally, completely not fair. I love him more! Just Kidding, it was super-cool!

Eric is mostly unknown except in country music, but he is the one with the light brown jacket leaning against a wall looking, well, like I said.. country, cute, scruffy.. mmmmmm..

Jason is sooo cute! His pic is the smaller long one where he is looking into my eyes.. you know I love you, too.. I recently saw him in concert with Tim (yes, that's 3 times in 3 years to see Tim.. yea!) and he is a very sexy boy, oh yes he is. Oh, and he's a really good singer, too. Awesome concert!

Last but not least, Sexy Gary Allen, that's his new name, is the one with the guitar and tattoos on the bed.....



Thanks for listening and enjoying my oogling over these boys. I honestly love their music too... no, REALLY! That is why, for a few short days (or weeks, whenever I get around to changing back) I am going to be showcasing their talents on my playlist. These are all some of my faves from these fabulous men of country music.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't give an honorable mention to the following Gods of Country..

Brad Paisley, oh you are so talented. No one can match your guitar playing, song writing. Without songs like "Alcohol, Online, Ticks, and Mr. Policeman" I would not have laughed nearly enough in the past few years. You have also made my young, innocent children believe that it is OK to run from the police if you want to go really fast in your car- they love that song!

Keith Urban, oh that Australian accent is probably my favorite thing of his, but he is also super cute and I love his upbeat songs and his love songs. Great music. He is also quite the guitar player. And now he's a daddy to Sunday Rose.. oh, how sweet!

Blake Shelton, you are very hot. I hope Miranda appreciates those long legs and blue eyes. You cut your hair (the mullet..) and I went, WHOA! Seriously, the clouds parted and angels sang. Much better, I have to say. I also love your song "Home". You do have a beautiful voice.

.....and last but not least, for Kristi,

Kenny Chesney, I am not physically attracted to you, much, but nice pecs (is that how you spell it? oh well, you know what I'm talking about). You also have great song writing talents and confuse my daughter because, silly boy, it doesn't get hotter when the sun goes down. What were you thinking??


One more thing before I end my longest post by far (I could go on longer too, believe me).. a shout out to MY very own, non-country singing, non-cowboy, very supportive and sexy hubby. You know you are my favorite man of them all and thanks for letting me have my silly celebrity crushes. You know, if you had a pretty country voice on top of all of your other attributes, you wouldn't be able to keep me away, and yes, you might get sick of it after time.. or maybe not. ??

Fourth of July.. woohoo

Here are some pics of our July 4th fun. We had a BBQ and swimming at my folks and then had our friends over for some fireworks. The boys managed to not start any fires, although they did almost melt the neighbor kid's bike tire. Woops! Oh well, we still had a good time. Happy Birthday America!

Dance Recital (finally)

These are the much anticipated (haha) pictures from the girls' dance recital at the end of May. I took my video camera to the recital, so the only still shots I got were after.
My girls really enjoy taking dance. Ashlynn gets to start next year, and is going to love it. She already practices the big girls' dances with them. Ms. Liz is a wonderful teacher and we've been very blessed to be able to go to her since Rylee was 3. I am so proud of them.. they did a great job at their recital. Cute costumes!!!

Camping Fun

These pics are from our first camping trip this summer. We hope to find time to go lots more, but in reality we will probably make it 2 or 3 more and be happy with that. We had lots of fun hiking and playing and lounging. Jeff explored the mountain on his bike and found it to be VERY muddy! Just ask the back of our Trailblazer.. his bike was back there caked in mud when he got back.. grrr.

We love to enjoy the beautiful land we live in and explore nature. The kids don't get opportunities to do the things they can in the mountains very often. I even don't mind them getting a little (or a lot) dirty! Jeff and I love trying new dutch oven recipes (lasagna is way good, and of course fruit cobblers) and breaking off different parts of the trailer.. this time it was the hose to the outdoor shower.. we couldn't get it to come off, so we ended up cutting it so we could close the little door/latch thingy. Oh well! Just one more thing to replace.

All in all, we had a lot of fun and can't wait 'til the next trip!

I'm still here

I haven't posted for awhile for a few reasons. First of all, I have been very busy- the kids are out of school and we've been camping and traveling and just playing. Second, my hubby tells me that my blog looks boring and not like me (I guess that's a compliment that I'm not boring.. ? ), so I want to change the background, etc., but I'm not sure how. Third, I did try to post some pics of the girls' dance recital May 30th, but it would not upload my pics, so I gave up. So, once I figure out what I'm doing a little better (Jess, Trish, Sally, Shelly, some help?), I will have to be more current.
-Amy