As Usual . . .

...there are new pictures to look at on my photography blog from 2 recent family sessions. I'm really excited with how they turned out! I feel like I'm improving, and that makes me happy! Here's a quick sample of the cute faces there are to see over there:



I also took some new ones of my kids last night that I'm looking forward to sharing in the next few days. (I'll probably post them on both blogs.)

Thanks for all the kind words when it comes to this new passion of mine! I really appreciate having such great friends who support me in this. :)

Roommate Reunion

I was blessed each year of college to have awesome roommates. My freshman year I lived with Sandi, Danica, and Rachel, 3 wonderful ladies who I dearly love! We had so much fun together that year and made some hilarious memories! Thanks to blogging, we all reconnected in the last few years and decided it was high time for a reunion.

We all met at Danica's house this past Saturday with our families. Our adopted roommate Keri (who had lived a few doors down) was thankfully able to come, too!

Sandi, Keri, Danica, Myself, Rachel

10 adults and 11 kids was certainly a full house!

I'm so thankful for the year I had with these woman. They helped me get through my first year away from home and taught me so much! Thanks all for being such wonderful friends!

Fireman Elmo

Fireman Elmo is a sprinkler attachment kept in our garage. Jossy found it recently and wanted it attached to the hose. How she even knew it went on the hose, I don't know.

It didn't take long for her and Matty to get stripped down and have some fun on the side lawn!

Indiana Jones vs. the sprinkler

Jossy's Birthday Party

I wasn't going to give Jossy a birthday party this year since she couldn't care less that it was her birthday, but after feeling guilty about doing one for Matty when he was 2, a little nudging from my sister was all it took to make me do one. We held it the Saturday after her birthday. Neither of my parents could make it, but my sister Dawn and sister Ardice and her family came.

Jossy was sooooooooo excited when she saw the cupcakes. We could barely keep her out of them as she waited for everyone to come!


Unfortunately, my sisters were an hour late! So Jossy had to wait quite a while. She watched some episodes of Curious George, but didn't want to leave her post near the birthday supplies.


That is until the call of the swing outside distracted her.


Finally everyone was here. We did the cupcakes and ice cream first since Jossy had been waiting as patiently as she could all morning. She hasn't quite figured out yet that to blow out a candle you can't just blow, you have to actually have your mouth open more than a milimeter while doing it.

Yummy yummy!!

We let her at her presents and the smart girl went straight for the biggest. :) It was a new cabbage patch doll from Dan and I.


She also got some clothes (which she loves), books, a new George movie, and bubbles. She was a happy girl.



She immediately stripped down and wanted to try on her new clothes. What a girl!



I just had to point this one out. Nothing changes a guy like fatherhood. He wouldn't carry a doll for just anyone. :) Well . . .maybe he would, but that's just because I have such a great guy. :)

Night At the Zoo

On June 4th we got to attend a special night at the zoo for children with disabilities and their families. My niece Emi had gotten tickets but they were unable to go so they gave them to us. We were grateful to have Aunt Dawn come along with us since we always have so much fun with her.

Jossy had only been to the zoo once when she was 5 months old, so this was like her first time. It was so fun seeing her watch the animals, (though I think she had more fun playing with Aunt Dawn than anything else.) Her favorite thing was the monkeys.

We all enjoyed seeing the elephants, especially the new baby and his mommy.

Jossy loved the "kitties."

It was kind of weird watching my little ones walk under a bridge with a live tiger on top watching them. That net sure didn't look very thick.

Matty had his face painted for the very first time. They asked what animal he wanted, and when he said Spiderman someone was kind enough to oblige. He was THRILLED! It was quite the task to convince him to wash it off that night.


We left the zoo late, around 9 PM. Our kids normally go to bed around 7:30, so we were anxious to get them home. But unfortunately, UDOT (Utah Dept of Transportation) doesn't care about our needs and shut down a bunch of lanes for nothing making it so that our 40 minute drive became over TWO HOURS!! And of course the kids stayed awake the whole ride home. They got to bed after 11 but only slept in one hour til 8 AM. Hate how that happens.

A Milestone

I started my latest weight loss journey 12 weeks ago when we bought our elliptical. I've only mentioned it here once in passing. I had said I lost 6 lbs in the first week but haven't said a word since. Things obviously didn't continue at that pace, nor did I expect them to. I had several weeks of being sick and unable to work out, weeks of vacationing, birthday parties and other distractions. So things have been up and down, but thankfully mostly down. The last month has been especially slow since I haven't been nearly as motivated to work out or eat well. (With the weather being nicer, we're often out working in the yard and I just don't have the energy to work out after that!)

Despite things moving at an inchworm pace, I finally hit a major milestone this week:

20 LBS DOWN!!!

Yay for me! I can even fit back into my wedding dress now (though it takes a good, strong hand to zip the thing up for me.) But given that I hadn't been even CLOSE to zipping that thing up since well before having kids, I think it's pretty good. I actually weigh less now than when we got married, but having kids definitely changes your body shape which is why the dress is still tight on me.

So even though things are moving slowly, at least they're moving in the right direction!

Jocelyn Turns 2!!

Hard to believe this little girl is now 2!!


We're having a little family party for her on Saturday so we didn't have a cake or presents today, but I still wanted it to be a fun day for her . . . despite the fact that she has no idea what a birthday is.

So this morning I took the kids to Costco for a churro (one of J's favorites,) then we went over to the local park so that she could throw rocks in the stream which is another favorite activity of both kids.

After nap time Dan got home from work and we all headed over to the local splash pad. Jossy took a while to warm up to it (much like last year) but then she had a GREAT time!!









After a bath and dinner, we let the kids have a little ice cream and put a candle in Jossy's. She was happy that it was HER turn to blow out a candle.



Jossy is such a wonderful addition to our family, and we can't wait to celebrate her birthday more on Saturday!