My birthday festivities.

I'm 25!

Although I am still trying to decide how excited I am about this. I feel like I am getting old or something. I mean I am officially in my mid twenties...

As always, my birthday was fabulous.

It was also on a Sunday, (a fast sunday) so it started off with church and then pictures with Sophia.

We have sort of started a tradition of taking pictures together on my birthday.

Pictures were followed by dinner. Steak, caesar salad, carrots with horseradish sauce and breadcrumbs, potatoes, and grilled pineapple. My dad also made a strawberry lemonade slushy.

Yummy!

My cake of course was the Costco cheesecake and I did manage to blow out all 25 candles in one breath! I hope my wish comes true :)

My family all chipped in and got me a set of pots and pans and new silverware.

This is my first actual set of pans so I am extremely excited!

I also got a new purse, I'll have to post a picture of that beauty.  Emerson sent me a card which means so much to me, Michael's family also sent me a card and money which was so sweet, and then Sophia gave me 3 Mac lipsticks! Yay!

I think the best part of my birthday though was spending it with my family. No matter what we are doing there is always constant laughter and good times.

I am so grateful for this.

A couple days later Michael took me out to celebrate.

We went to dinner at the Brio tuscan grille up at Fashion Place.

It was a little on the expensive side but oh my goodness the food was to die for!

After we went shopping and I was able to grab a few beauties for the girls and then score on a couple pairs of jeans for myself!

It was a perfect romantic birthday date.

I am so blessed.

 Thankfully Michael held my hair back while I was blowing out the candles.

Believe it or not I have lit my hair on fire from candles before!

 My raspberry lemonade at dinner.

 Our appetizer of bruschetta.

 For dinner I had grilled salmon with grilled asparagus, sweet potatoes, spinach, roasted peppers, pesto vinaigrette, feta, diced tomatoes with a balsamic glaze.

(I copied this off the menu because seriously how good does this sound.)

 Dessert was creme brulee. A favorite of Michael and I's.

Here's to my 25th year! I hope it's a good one!

Olivia's first haircut.

As much as I wanted to keep growing Olivia's hair out it was starting to get a little stringy on the ends because of the baby hair so I decided that it would be good for her to have a little haircut!

Thankfully Jill just graduated from hair school and was more than happy to cut it for us.

Olivia held so still on grandma's lap.

I still would love her to have long hair but her hair looks so much thicker and healhier.

It could not be any cuter!

My mom's 52!

This year my mom's birthday was on a Sunday.

We had a yummy dinner that we made for her (she wasn't allowed to help) and of course enjoyed the 4 layer homemade chocolate cake I made for her.

This cake is quickly becoming a family favorite!

And to finish off the night we played some games. Our favorite was the giant game of duck duck goose. It was a complete blast with a big family like ours!

Instead of just running as fast as you can when you bop someone on the head we came up with different things to do such as skipping, crawling, hopping on one foot, running backwards ect.

I really struggled with those and several times had to quickly crouch down in fetal position so as not to pee my pants because I was laughing so hard.

That's what having two kids will do to ya :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

 You are the most incredible mom and person.

You are constantly serving your family and others. I have no idea where I would be with out you. I look up to you and am so grateful that you were born and that you are my mother. I love you so much!

Happy Pioneer Day!

As you know July 24th is a holiday mostly celebrated in Utah, but I think no matter where I live our family will always celebrate.

It is a day where we spend a lot of time thinking about our ancestors and the sacrifices they made to cross the plains and finally settle in the Salt Lake Valley. I love hearing stories of my family members and the faith that they had as they endured trials that I can't even imagine having to go through.  

There is a quote that I have on my fridge that I absolutely love.

"Therefore, though we have applauded our ancestors for their spiritual achievements (and do not and must not discount them now),those of us who prevail today will have done no small thing. The special spirits who have been reserved to live in this time of challenges and who overcome, will one day be praised by those who pulled handcarts."

-Neal A. Maxwell.

During hard times and trials in my own life, I look to this quote for strength and comfort. I have so much love and respect for the pioneers and all that they endured. I believe that some of those angels helping them push their handcarts were us. And I can't help but think that they are doing the same for us.

We spent the day swimming at Uncle Danny's pool.

Olivia was very brave and jumped off the diving board and ended up thinking it was the funnest thing ever!

And for the traditional barbecue that night my dad grilled up some cinnamon pineapple that was absolutely delicious!

Winston made sure to make sure we had a good little firework show.

Some of the fireworks that he picked were extremely loud as you can tell by this picture!

Olivia was very hesitant to do the sparklers but after a little convincing from me she tried one and wanted to do more.

Happy Pioneer Day!

I am so grateful for all those who have gone before me and I'm grateful for my family now and the blessing and strength that they are to me.

Thanksgiving Point farm country.

One of our favorite places to visit while we are in Utah is Thanksgiving Point.

We love the movie theatre, deli, and the shops especially the candy shop. But I think Olivia's favorite thing to do here is visit farm country. 

She is obsessed with all the animals and the one thing she could do all day every day is ride the ponies.

She gets so excited and talks to the ponies and will make that kissing noise with her mouth to keep them going.

It's beyond cute.

Watch Olivia especially at the end and you will see her making those kissing sounds that I talked about!

She was really interested in the geese this year since grandma reminded her that these geese were just like Abigail and Amelia from the Aristocats!

I'm grateful for little fun outings with my mom and sweet girls.

My girls.

 I am in love with Clara's little curls in the back! 

 Olivia tries to be so nice and give lots of hugs but Clara tends to be a bit claustrophobic, therefore she screams until Olivia lets go!

 I mean seriously!

Those two bottom teeth kill me!

"Both within the family and without, our sisters hold up our mirrors: our images of who we are and of who we can dare to be." --Elizabeth Fishel

I have been thinking a lot about sisters and what my own sisters mean to me. I can't help but feel blessed that my girls have each other and that they always will.

Cabin work (and play) trip.

Just a few weeks after our 4th of July weekend up at the cabin we had the opportunity to go back.

This time just Michael and me, Winston and Jill, and Mckay and Mara. (Good friends of our family)

The purpose of this trip was to stain both the little cabin and the big cabin.

Of course this job was mostly reserved for the boys, although us girls did help a lot with the taping.

But mostly we tanned on the dock, went tubing, and on bike and 4 wheeler rides while our men worked :)

I didn't get any pictures of us tubing but oh my goodness was that a hoot.

We only had the jetsky so we had to take turns. One person would pull and the other two would be on the tubes. Jill was by far the craziest driver:)  We definitely had some wipeouts and some good laughs!

Michael went out on the 4 wheeler by himself one afternoon while I was sun bathing. All of a sudden I hear him screaming my name as he is running through the forest and down onto the dock. He was beyond excited. Apparently on his ride he had come to a fork in the rode and right in the middle of the road was a black bear!! He said when the bear saw him it ran off into the forest and that he was so scared he immediately turned around and rode as fast as he could back to the cabin. Although I was definitely excited for him I do have to admit I was a bit jealous I have always dreamed of seeing a bear in the wild and even though I have spent nearly every summer of my life up in that very forest I have yet to see one. Crossing my fingers that one of these summers my dream will come true!

Another one of our favorite things to do was ride down to the boathouse and get icecream treats and cold drinks.

We went on several long 4 wheeler rides. I can not even explain how amazing it is riding through the gorgeous forests. We went to several lookouts and of course the views of Hebgan Lake were nothing less than stunning. 

On the last night we were there we went in to West Yellowstone and had dinner at a little barbecue place, walked up and down the streets looking at all the cute little shops, ate icecream, and bought way too much candy at the candy shop to enjoy while watching a movie later that night.

We had such a fabulous weekend and although I missed my littles like crazy it was nice to get a little break and soak up the gorgeousness of the cabin. Goodness, I have the best mom. The girls had an absolute blast with her. 

On a lovely bike ride one morning.

This is a funny picture. If you look close you will see my hands in Michael's armpits.

If you want to know where he is ticklish thats it!

Me and Jill loving all the little stores!

Oh and I'm loving our matching shirts! 

I asked Jill to take a picture of Michael and I and while she was waiting for us to get situated she decided to take a few selfies. This one was too good not to share.

Since I completely spaced getting an "end of the dock" photo with Michael over the 4th we had to make up for that!

The hard working crew!

We were lucky enough to have grandpa up there with us as well.

He is honestly such an incredible man and always goes above and beyond in regards to making his children and grandchildren happy. I sure love him!

And here is my little worker bee on the way home completely zonked. 

Next year's cabin adventures can't come soon enough!