Guess Who?

We went for ice cream at

Culver's on Wednesday night,

trying to see Sarah as much as possible

before her & her family move in two weeks.

Then we came to my house to watch:

Modern Family,

the best show on T.V. right now.

Sarah was showing us her new house on the computer

when I turned on the camera

and we got carried away the

taking pictures.

Our version of "girls gone wild"

We are going to miss you Sarah!

Here are a few other

fun things

we did recently...

The day before Mother's Day

shopping trip to the outlet mall

& dinner at Olive Garden.

Family night at Sports Ohio

with the Walton family.

Walton family, thanks for some great memories!

Dan you will be a fantastic

Orthodontist in Reno.

We will miss you all!

The story of how we came to be...

The year was 1999

and I was a Cosmetology Student

at Fran Brown College of Beauty,

working nights for gas money, at the front desk

of Gold's Gym in Layton, Utah.

One night I got chatting with a gal named Angie,

who would come in regularly with her husband to work-out

but since she had hurt her ankle,

she was relaxing on the couch near the the front desk.

As we talked she went on to tell me about

a really cute return missionary,

her husband worked with,

she felt she needed to set me up with.

Since he was a member of Gold's Gym

I decided to look up his picture on the computer.

I thought he looked pretty cute

from what I could see of the tiny picture.

And went on with my night without a second thought.

Little did I know the next time I worked:

May 12th, 1999

I would meet my future husband.

He happened to come in

(though later I found out he came just to check me out)

while I was working and scanned his card.

I of coarse recognized his picture.

He came in regular clothing, which I thought was odd,

and said he was "looking for someone."

After he had walked around for a few minutes

I asked him if he was looking for Angie's husband, Tim.

He got a little smirk on his face

and asked how I knew that.

From there we talked for over an hour,

I know this because I looked at

what time he scanned his card when he left.

I gave him my number...

I know that sounds so tacky, huh.

But I guess it was meant to be.

That night when Spencer went home

he told his parents he had met the girl

he was going to marry.

We got married one year later to the date.

Here is a look back.

I chose one picture for every year

and learned that the more kids we have,

the less pictures

we have of us together.

{1999}

Las Vegas

He agreed to drive to Vegas with my Mom to see me, even though we had only been dating a few months.

(Please excuse the tooooo short of shorts)

{2000}

February 2000

Just Engaged

{2001}

Moab, Utah

biking slick rock trail

{2002}

Lake Powell

{2003}

Bolivia

{2004}

4th of July in Bountiful, Utah

(pregnant with Avery)

{2005}

Snowbasin Resort

Christmas break

{2006}

Tooth Ball

third year of dental school

{2007}

Trunk Bay

cruise with dental friends

{2008}

Colorado Springs, CO

Airforce vs BYU

{2009}

Mexico

An early celebration of ten years.

{2010}

Happy ten year Anniversary

Spencer!

Sadly I don't really have any pictures of just us,

for this year yet. I will have to take one this weekend when we

will go out to celebrate.

Thanks for ten great years!

I love you!

Happy May 3rd!

Well it is May 3rd again!

My favorite day of the year,

okay not really.

But today is a day I have to celebrate.

(Even if it is some weird day I decided to love as a child.)

I love May & started it off great this year!

I got to mark another thing

off my Bucket list.

I ran my 1st half marathon!

A long with 10,ooo people

at The Capital City

Half Marathon in Columbus, Ohio .

My official time was:

1:51:55.

And I didn't die.

A thing I was really worried about the whole week before!

My kids were troopers getting

up at 6:30am

to come support me.

(That is early for us on Saturdays)

I was surprised how much

fun it was and look forward to do it again...

But next time I am

making Spence do it too!

Collection of Pictures.. time to catch up!

Over a month of pictures have

collected in my two cameras,

and today I finally downloaded them.

Lately I have been feeling like

I am sitting on a merry-go-round,

watching my life fly by,

trying really hard to enjoy each moment.

I feel blessed how many great

moments I have had.

I got home from Utah on Sunday evening

and went crazy taking pictures

of all the beautiful trees on our street.

My neighbor thought I was a little crazy

and asked if I had gotten a new camera.

Maybe I am a little crazy,

but the blossoming trees this year

make me giddy with joy!!!!

My girls can't help but sing

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree,

every time we get in the car.

March 25th-28th our family went to

St. Louis!

It was Spring Break for my girls

and it perfect timing to visit cousins

and check out a job opportunity we are

very excited about... we will see what happens!

Then came...

Kayla's 8th birthday!!!!

And two days later...

Evan turned Two!!!

It was a week of....

party decorations & cupcakes!

THEN

Sunday was Easter!

After waking up to a house full of Easter candy,

we headed to the airport and said goodbye to Spencer.

We had one week to..

See both sets of Grandparents

& Grandma Mitton,

play with cousins as much as possible,

go to Classic Skating twice: in Layton & Sandy,

have a sleep-over with the

Morrill family!!!! (minus Brent),

have Cafe Rio for dinner at least four times,

hang-out with Karla & let the kids play,

& prepare for Kayla's baptism.

It was one great week!

Nothing like a day with my sis, Missy & Karla

& our 10 crazy kids having fun.

Spencer flew in late Friday night. Saturday morning

Kayla was baptized a member of

The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints.

It was such a special day

for her and our family.

I was overwhelmed

with the love

I had for each and every person

that was at her baptism.

I was grateful we were able to go to

Utah for this special day.

As I helped my little girl into her white dress,

after she was baptized, I felt my eyes start to water.

I couldn't help but think,

the next time I help her into a white dress,

it will be her wedding day.

I want to cherish each and everyday

I have with this sweet spirit in my home.

I love you Kayla!

THE SUN IS SHINING!

My boy....

As I sluggishly got out of bed today I was greeted by the kids board games scattered around the girls room.

Spencer had kindly gotten Evan out of bed while he was leaving to school. Evan then snuck into the girls room and pulled out the box, hiding under Avery's bed, containing all the games.

During breakfast Evan decided to pull the paper-shredder drawer out and scatter paper EVERYWHERE!!!! While I was cleaning up the paper, he found the new canister of oats and dumped it out all over the kitchen floor. Did I mention it wasn't even 8:30 in the morning yet!

But today is going to be a GREAT DAY, you know why?

Because the SUN IS SHINING!!!!!

I haven't seen blue skies like this in months!!!!

It is MARCH and spring is coming!!!!

I have been really lazy about posting pictures this last month

but it only takes a few to sum it up....

Our attempt to look festive for Valentine Sunday.

Kayla loved this month because she got to go to 5 Valentines parties!

One of these parties was a sugar cookie decorating party,

sooooo yummy!

After weeks and weeks of snow

the sun is shining!!!

Jim Gaffigan

Saturday night we went and saw Jim Gaffigan live!

My face hurt from smiling so hard.

He is hilarious!!!

So if you haven't smiled today

just watch the below clip on cake.

I had a clip on bacon but decided I

like this one even more.

My Little Shadow

In the almost eight years

of being a Mother,

I have had the best

moments of my life.

With that said,

I have had some of my

most frustrating moments as well.

Moments I have felt like

I am going to explode,

due to my frustration.

Many of those moments have come from

dealing with my spicy little Avery.

It seems every child comes

with their own personality

and some just need to push

a little harder than others.

Here is the thing....

during many of these HARD moments

in dealing with Avery,

I look at her,

and feel like I am looking

back at myself at her age.

I think to myself,

how would I want to be treated?

I found this picture of me

when I was going through all my old pictures

a few weeks ago.

I definitely see

some similarities in us.

I think Heavenly Father

sent me Avery

to teach me patience,

and to make sure I treat her

the way she should be treated.

The way I would want to be treated

even when I was being a stinker!