Catching up

So July is usually a very busy month for our family and this year was no exception. I've fallen behind in my blogging but have made up for last time this morning. I've posted 5 new posts below (but dated them accordingly for journaling purposes so they are a bit mixed in). Enjoy!

Snowbird

For our anniversary, Trent suprised me with a trip to Snowbird. At first I wasn't too sure about it--afterall, Snowbird is a ski resort and it is July. But man did we have a blast! We stopped for dinner at the Cheesecake factory on our way up the canyon and had an awesome meal. The most entertaining part of dinner was the busser--this guy was amazing! As soon as a party left thier chairs to go, he'd pounce on the table, clear it, wipe it down, and set it in seriously less than 30 seconds and then 10 seconds later the table would be sat with a whole new party. It was incredible!
After our very entertaining dinner, we headed up the canyon and checked into our room. Our room was less like a hotel room and more like a studio apartment complete with kitchenette and a bed that pulled down from the wall. We also had a little balcony we could sit on that overlooked the slopes. It was so beautiful!
In the morning we had vouchers for a free breakfast buffet. It was an open restaraunt (complete with a rogue wild squirrel running around) and the food was great. After breakfast and checing out of our room, we went and got our all day activity pass. We were able to ride the zip-line and the alpine slides numerous times, walk the ropes course, jump on the bungee trampolines, and ride the Peruvian ski lift to almost the top of the mountain, walk through a tunnel to Mineral Basin, hike up the rest of the mountain to the tram and ride the tram down. It was quite the day! Thank you Trent for our best anniversary yet!

The view from our room
The Zip rider
The Bungee-trampolines
The Alpine slide
The tunnel to Mineral Basin
Is Baldy this way or that?
The Tram ride down
The ropes course

Happy 5 years!

5 years ago today I got to marry my best friend. It was a crazy day but it couldn't have been more perfect! We had a fairytale day.
Now, 5 years later, so much has changed. We have had our ups and downs. We've made it through school and the birth of our two beautiful children. We have lived in the slums of student housing (and loved it) and had the opportunity to buy a house. but while everything seems to have changed in the last 5 years, one thing remains the same: I love you Trent!!! Thank you for making me the happiest girl in the world! I got the best one!

Bee's Game

For my dad's birthday this year we got him tickets to a Salt Lake Bee's game. To be honest, my expectations weren't that high (I'm not really a sporting-events kind of girl) but my dad loves baseball and so we went. It was such a BLAST!!! We had good seats, we got to see "Bumble" the bee, and to top it off--the Bee's won! I even understood what was going on! What a night!

Jane and Grandpa finding our seats
Grandpa and Bubba watching the game
"Bumble" the bee! Jane was in love with him! She'd ask every few minutes, "Where did the bee go? Is he taking a bath? Where is he?"
Our little family
(don't mind the blue mouths, we had to get some cotton candy)

Pioneer Day

I love that Utah has two major holidays in July. It makes the summer so festive! This Pioneer day we hung around home harvesting the garden (see below), watching the parade, swimming at the pool, BBQing, and lighting fireworks with family and neighbors. We even got a "Pioneer Day Miracle"--Trent was supposed to work the night shift but his work called him off at the last minute because his unit was fairly empty!!!! So he got to spend the whole night with us! Wonderful! Thank you, pioneers, for sacrificing so much so that we can celebrate you every year!

The Sparkler Princess
Popsicles for all! The neighbor kids enjoying a cool treat.
Grandpa Larsen was the fire-man! He lit most of the fireworks for us. Here he is with the kids watching the snakes grow! (classic firework, btw)

First Harvest

I read in the paper that if you want your plants to keep producing, you need to harvest regularly. So This morning I went out, with the help of Jane, and harvested most of what we could from our vegetable garden. I couldn't believe how much lettuce we had! (3 gallon sized bags stuffed full!). Our peas are quite fruitful as well! Jane's favorite were the carrots (probably because they are the only vegetable she will eat). They weren't very big and we only picked them to thin them out but they made for some nice bite-sized treats! It is so fun having our own garden!

Lava Hot Springs

This weekend we got to go to Lava Hot Springs with our dear friends the Kinghorns and the DePolas. It was a hot weekend but so much fun! We camped just outside of town at Smith's Trout Haven. It was a nice camping spot but not much shade. Trent got to use his new tent he got for his birthday and it was much bigger than we thought it would be. It was awesome! The kids loved playing in it (especially Grant and Seppi. They went nuts in there!) and they each had their own "room" at night to sleep in. We got to camp Friday evening and the boys went golfing. They had fun while the ladies visited and put the kids down. A group of what seemed to be LDS singles moved into the camp spots next to us and decided to be loud and annoying until 3 am. I'll forever love them for that (NOT) so the next morning when the kids woke up at the crack of dawn, we returned the favor :) We spent all of Saturday in our swimsuits going back and forth between the swimming pool and the river run. It was a stinkin' hot day but staying wet helped. We ran the river while the kids slept in the cars with the AC running. It looked like a calm little run but so many people were getting hurt. One guy had his whole back missing patches of skin, one guy in front of Corie visibly broke his finger on a rock, Trent dumped and his leg got all torn up, and I did just fine until a rock sneaked up on me and slammed into my bum cheek. (still kinda hurts to sit). That night the boys took the kids back to camp to put them down and the ladies got to go sit in the hot pools. Man, they were HOT!!! Scalding almost. . .but so relaxing. And the water felt so good on our skin--no harsh chemicals just pure, unfiltered water. When we got back to camp, it was hard to stay awake.
Sunday we were sad to have to pack up camp and part ways but we were so happy to have had such a fun and safe trip. Now back to real life. . .

Princess Dance Class

Ever since Jane got to do an impromptu dance concert with her cousins, she's been asking to take a dance class. We found one that was doing a week-long camp called "Princess Dance Camp" (What could be better for our little princess?!) So this past week, Jane has gone o her class everyday dressed as a different princess each time. She's had such a blast, and even though she isn't able to really focus all that well (give her a break, she's barely 3) she actually learned a great deal! She'll randomly show me moves she learned at class. Our little girl is growing up

Farmington 5K

Yesterday I ran the Farmington city 5K. Around May of this year I had decided it was time I took up running. Then I broke my toe. So I've just started running in the past two weeks and what better way to celebrate than with a race! My friend Nic got me to run this same race 5 years ago and boy did I complain like I was going to die so I decided to take a fresh, positive approach this time and it was so fun! My time wasn't the best (39 mins) but I had fun and felt accomplished and that's all that matters! After the race there was a big breakfast and then my mom brought the kids over for the parade. I was surprisingly impressed with the Farmington parade! Almost every single float/car threw candy or coupons or shirts or toys. Jane was on cloud nine! Bubba was super tired and hot and ended up sleeping through half of it. What a fun Saturday!

Happy Birthday Grant!!!

One year ago today Little Grant joined our family.A lot has happened in a year, and it has flown by!

Here's a glimpse at our sweet one year old:

*Grant can crawl and stand unassisted (he's even taken a few steps!)
*He eats like a champ. Sometimes he'll eat more than Trent or me!
*He loves his sister. There is no doubt in my mind that they were meant to be siblings. He'll wait outside her door while she naps just waiting to play!
*He loves to make noise (yelling, banging toys together, pressing buttons on loud toys, etc)
*His favorite places are: the bath, sister's room, the dinner table, or in the dirt
*He has discovered the toilet, albeit not for the object it is intended to be but as a small swimming pool. yuck.
*He can steal your heart with one smile and it now has 3 teeth to make it that much cuter.
*He loves to climb and I will often find him at the top of the stairs, on the top of the table, or on top of chairs/benches/other people. Trent likes this and will get him his first climbing harness as soon as he weighs 30 lbs.
*He has a cute fascination with his ears. They are his comfort objects. He'll tug on them when tired, grab at them when he drinks his bottle, and hold them while he sleeps.

We love you, Bubba! Thank you for being a part of our family!

We spent his birthday today having a waffle breakfast, opening presents, taking a nap, swimming in the pool, having lunch at McDonalds, taking another nap, opening more presents, having dinner, eating cake ( and burning his little fingers on his candle-he just grabbed the flame while we were singing to him!), and lighting off some fireworks! What a day.

We had his birthday party this past weekend. It was a fun night filled with family, food, and fireworks. Here are some pic from the fun evening:

His cakes. Why have just one?

Blowing out his candle with the help of sister. (yes she's dressed like a princess. It's a 24-7 thing)

He destroyed the cake, then the cousins offered to help him eat it.
Opening presents.

Grant's First 4th

Today is Grant's first 4th of July! (He missed it last year by two days!) With the holiday landing on Sunday we decided to celebrate on the 3rd. To be honest, we spent most of the day sleeping to recover from the past few days of cake making(see post below) and Grant's first birthday party(post to come). But last night we went to Grandma and Grandpa Bassetts' house for dinner and to watch the neighbor's firework show. I was so proud of Jane--last year she was scared to even look at the fireworks and this year she held sparklers all by herself! The neighbors put on quite an impressive show, but close to the end Grant was so tired he fell asleep. Too much excitement I guess.

Grant watching the fireworks with Grandpa Bassett.

The cousins snuggled on a blanket to watch the show.

All Tuckered Out.

My First Wedding Cake

This past week I attemped my first ever wedding cake. I had been stressing abou it for weeks--scared about what could go wrong, how I would pull it off, how I would transport it, etc. On Thursday I got to work. 14 cakes mixes, 4 dozen eggs, one botttle of oil, 7 bags of powdered sugar, 2 tubs of shortening, 15 lbs of fondant, 4 tins of cookies, 1 spool of ribbon, 1 car wreck, and 16 hours later I had made the cake. Friday my mom helped me drive it up to Deer Creek (where the wedding was) and we got it all assembled. The bride had wanted the second tier surrounded with tube cookies so that it looked like a dock and then she had cake toppers--one was the groom sitting on the dock fishing for his bride with a ring on the end of his line, and the other was the bride reaching up for the ring. I think it turned out pretty good for my first BIG wedding cake. A huge thank you to my mom for watching the kids on Thursday and driving with me on Friday and to my loving husband for letting me do this, dealing with the kids on Friday, cleaning the house, and getting everything ready for Grant's birthday party while I was delivering cake.