Great Play!

Here's a quick clip of one of Tom's softball games.

Happy 1st Birthday, Emma!

Our niece, Emma, had her first birthday today! There was a little party for her at Laurin and Mark's house. We had a yummy dinner and cake and ice cream. Emma opened presents and was really pretty good at it! Here are a few shots of the cute birthday girl:

Happy Birthday, Emma Boo! We hope it's a happy year for you! :] Love you!

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July--although it was totally different than what we usually do. When I was growing up, we always did the whole pancake breakfast/parade/swimming/bbq charade--which I loved! But living in Provo in an apartment forces you to do things a little differently. My family was in town so we definitely had a much more exciting time than we would have alone! In the late morning, we hiked the Y...I'm still confused why I've done this hike four times now. It is SO hard! I thought I wasn't going to make it this time. But I did. Here's me and the sisters at the top:

We're in order of oldest to youngest. L-R: Laurin, Marci, Kelli, Jamie

After the exhausting hike, we went out to eat at Chadder's (an imitation In N Out). Although I hate to frequent those copy-cat places, I really like burgers that taste similar to In N Out's and there's no real thing here for me to eat (yet!). After Chadder's everyone took a nap for a couple hours (really, that hike was tough!).

In the late afternoon we went miniature golfing. It was so fun! Thomas won (he was like 10 under par) and I came in second place at even par!! I'm so proud...I've never done that well! After miniature golf most of the family went out to eat for dinner and Jai and I went to the grocery store to buy ice cream and toppings for banana splits. YUM. We went to watch the fireworks late at night and they actually were pretty lame. Not as good as Rancho Cordova fireworks. Oh...and it started to rain. Of course. It rains almost every day here. IT'S JULY. Utah is no good.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Softball!

Tonight, Kelli and I went to watch Tom play softball in a BYU co-ed league. The rules are all really different than the real thing so we were pretty confused but we were both pleasantly surprised at what a STAR Thomas is. We didn't know he was so good! I took lots of pictures of him playing but none of them are really good action shots. Here are a few anyway.

They won the game! YAY.

Kelli and I went to Bon Lossee today...Kelli re-did her hi-lights (more blonde this time--it's so cute) and I...FINALLY CUT MY HAIR! It's probaby like 2-3 inches shorter than what I requested but I had a feeling that would happen (even though I told him the most important thing was for it to be the same length as the picture--or longer!) But that always happens to me so I wasn't too disappointed. I go back and forth between liking it and missing my long hair. I think I will always have days that I miss my long hair but I do like the new cut. It's fun. :]

Oh and I think this is funny...when Thomas and I dropped Kelli off at her dorm tonight after going out to dinner I could not find my flip-flop. I was so confused where it could be! I KNEW I wore it into the car! Tom found it for me. Here it was (in the door of the car):


Also exciting...as an early anniversary present Thomas got me a new cell phone--the new EnV Touch! It is so fun! I'm really in love with it and usually I don't care very much about having up-to-date electronics. But I really, really love my touch phone!

My family is coming this weekend (again!) so we are looking forward to a fun, family-filled 4th of July! :]

PS My 4th of July korker bows are oh-so-cute and really inexpensive at only $2 per bow. Let me know if you want some for your sweet girls! (except if I had to ship them they probably would not arrive on time...)

FHE

For our Family Home Evening activity tonight, Thomas and I went on a hike through Rock Canyon. I wasn't really in the mood for hiking so I didn't really go thinking it would be fun but we had a really good time! [and it really was more of a walk than a hike.]

Here's some (a lot of) pictures!


We saw this little hole from down on the paved path and thought it looked like a cave and wanted to check it out--so we did!

And it was a cave! [it's much bigger than it looks in the picture]


We found another little cave and I could totally stand under it without bending my head (even though i'm bending my head in this picture--don't know what i did that...it totally defeats the whole reason for the picture). And Thomas did not fit under it :]

He was making me nervous going so far up there! But no matter how much I pleaded with him to come down he would not. He swore it was safer up there than down where I was. Don't know about that but he did finally come down once I was near tears (except I think he was just ready to come down).

Katie's Wedding

Yesterday, one of my friends, Katie Shepherd, got married! :] Tom and I went to the reception of the new Mr. and Mrs. Mikey Harmon in Highland yesterday. Their colors were really pretty-white and tangerine-ish. And they had delish food too-chicken salad sandwiches, fruit kabobs and cheesecake (our favorite dessert)!

Oh, and does everyone know when you buy a gift from Bed, Bath, and Beyond when someone has registered there, the gift wrapping is free? So nice! :]

Today, Tom and I had the yummiest dinner! Italian chicken, salad (made with spinach leaves, of course!), sliced strawberries with whipped cream, and strawberry-banana smoothies! YUM. I was planning to make apple pie tonight for dinner but I think we might be full for a long time!

The one bummer thing about having a really delicious dinner is that usually there are a lot of dishes to do. Rice cooker, plates, multiple bowls, blender, crockpot, plates, etc. So we hate doing dishes (especially since we have no dishwasher) and so I was saying I wished there were elves that came to do your chores for you if you didn't finish them before you went to bed just like the Elves and the Shoemaker. Tom had no idea what I was talking about and I was like "you've never heard of that story?" and he said no so I told it to him and he's really never heard of it before! Isn't that weird? I think it's weird.

PS If anyone knows of good places to rent in the Provo area, let us know! We're thinking we should try to move before August since our new ward meeting time will be from 2pm-5pm. How awful!! Plus...we want 2 bedrooms.

Californ-i-a

Finally I am posting about our vacation!

Thomas and I took a short (4-day) trip to California for two of my little sisters' graduations. Jamie was promoted from the 8th grade to HIGH SCHOOL (so old!) and Kelli graduated high school. Here's a short (or maybe it will be long) synopsis of our trip.


Wednesday 05/27-We arrived in Sacramento at about 10pm...the plane ride was GREAT! I love plane rides and I think Thomas is pretty fond of them too. After arriving, we picked up my brother's car that we got to borrow during our trip (thanks, Ryan, for going on a mission and leaving your car behind!) and then went through the drive-thru of what other than IN N OUT. Mmmm. My taste buds have been craving In N Out for quite awhile! Wednesday night we stayed with Thomas's family (and we were up laaate--or later than usual).

Thursday 05/28-Thomas and I got to see our neice, Brittney's, play at school. It was so cute! Later, Kelli and I met up with Laura and Tarah Campbell and kids (we didn't get a picture!) at In N Out (twice in twelve hours)! We had so much fun! Kelli and I pretty much worship Laura and Tarah...you two are our idols. Not even kidding. After this, Tom played nintendo for awhile and I got quite bored watching him so I went to my parent's house and went swimming with Strider, Rosie (dogs), Chris, and Emma! We had a lot of fun! After nintendo, Thomas took some time to go golfing with his dad (he doesn't get to golf much out here since he has nobody to go with so he always looks forward to this part of our trips to CA). Thursday night we had dinner with Thomas's family (yummy stacked enchiladas!)

Friday 05/29-BUSY BUSY BUSY day! Jamie's graduation was in the morning (9am! Too early!). It was nice and short...only about 45 minutes! Jai looked so cute in her new dress and her nails to match! Here's the gorgeous graduate:

After Jai's graduation, we went to lunch at Leatherby's with my family (grandparents included) and had such a fabulous time! We loveeee Leatherby's. Tom's ice cream sundae was HUGE. I wish I would have taken a picture. I don't even think he finished half of it. Kelli's graduation started at 7 that night. Here she is marching to the graduation song:

Kelli was ASB president this year and also was Valedictorian! She got to lead the pledge and also give a speech. Her speech was so good! This graduation didn't last too long either...only about an hour and twenty minutes! So nice! It seemed like a long time to me though...poor Emma (Laurin's baby) was so tired from a long day and so little naptime and was screaming during the graduation (or should we just admit it was all day?) I was okay with missing Kelli walk up to grab her diploma since I got to see the speech and offered to take Emma out behind the stadium to try to get her to fall asleep. Here I am...way out there...walking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

She did eventually fall asleep after about twenty minutes but then Thomas came to get me when the graduation was over and as I was walking to meet the rest of the family someone blew an air horn RIGHT in Emma's ear (not on purpose but it might as well have been)! She woke up right away (all that work gone to waste!) and didn't get to sleep again until we got home an hour later.



Here's the happy graduate:

After Kelli's graduation, my parents took Thomas and I out to a late, late dinner at Chili's. Yummy yummy!

Saturday 05/30-In the morning, I went to the salon to get my hair cut (short!) but had a mental/emotional breakdown and couldn't do it. I let them cut one inch. I hope one of these days I'm brave enough to just DO IT. I cried for about a half hour after they cut off the one inch (what a baby I am)! Thomas's good friend, Sean, came to hang out with Thomas for awhile. They played the wii and went out to lunch at In N Out. Meanwhile, I went to lunch and the outlets with my good friends, Haley and Kallie. We're glad we were able to squeeze in some friend time with our busy schedule! Saturday night, Tom's whole family (or at least those who live in Sacramento) got together for dinner. It was so fun to get to see everyone! We can't wait until we can move back to Sacramento and get to do things like this more often than once every six months! It was so fun to watch all the little cousins playing outside with each other. I can't believe it but I didn't get even ONE picture of Tom's family. Nothing at all. I'm so bummed! After the get-together, Thomas and I went to Cory and Aly's house and got a chance to play Wii Fit! We LOVED it. In fact, I'm so addicted that I made the Savage's get theirs out today and I taught them how to play and we played for quite awhile! I'm so glad I'll get to play it over the summer! Thanks, Cory and Aly for introducing us to the FUN. Thomas was so funny hula-hooping that I had to get a video. You don't have to watch the whole video...a few seconds should give you the idea. SO FUNNY.

Sunday 05/31-Church in the afternoon then Laurin made a yummy dinner-mashed potatoes, citrus fried chicken, cheese rolls, and a salad with strawberries and nuts in it. Thanks, Laurin! We had to head back to the airport at about 4 :[ We were sad to leave but were glad we had such a fun time while we were in California! We were even more sad when we got to the Salt Lake City airport to find out that our ride forgot all about us!--nobody was there to pick us up. Yikes. We called our brother-in-law Mark and he so kindly came to get us so late (thank you, Mark). Thank goodness since we really didn't like being stranded at the airport...especially on a Sunday when we couldn't even buy anything...like food. :[ We had to wait about an hour to be picked up but we are so grateful that we were rescued! :]

We can't wait until December when we'll get to go back to our home sweet home!

My siblings (minus Ryan)

We miss you, Ryan!