My New Favorite Treat

A small spoonful of this:Topped with a few of these:

equals complete satisfaction to my taste buds!
(careful, it's easy to over-indulge)

24 hours of Paradise

What can I say? There are no words to describe how FABULOUS our surprise 10 yr. anniversary was!
Although we were just in our "back yard" , so to speak, I felt worlds away from cares, responsibilities and chores. Our hectic life was put on hold.
All I have to say is a huge THANK YOU to my wonderful husband. The time has gone by so quickly. We are more busy now than ever before, and loving life. But to pause and have this time together was priceless (well, it did have a slight cost$$$).

Thank you for the surprises, and for treating better than I deserve to be treated.

Also, fellow bloggers, thank you for having a part in making the video presentation that much more exciting. It was like I was sharing our happy moments with all of you. Thanks for your fun comments on our anniversary!


Ryan , you are the greatest!
I love you.

Our 10 Year Anniversary

Shhh! As this post goes live I am driving Kelly away to a nice hotel as a surprise.
So here's the deal... We'll go and check in, hang out at the pool, dress up for a nice dinner, then head back to the room for another surprise (easy ladies). This is 10 years we're talking about here, and it is so ironic that half of my business comes in from wedding videography and we don't even have a video ourselves....

... until now.

MIRACULOUSLY, I have two VHS tapes to pull from that have reserved a good portion of our wedding memories. You know "that guy" who walks around at weddings with the camera non-stop getting in everyone's face? Well, that guy is my hero! Without him, I couldn't remember all these memories, nor would I have had the opportunity to discover a NEW editing style that I am starting to like. It's edgy, non-congruent... it's raw. And it's all I had to work with. Those heroes are Jay Sessions and my Dad.

So tonight I will surprise her as we watch this (full version) for the first time on our hotel room LCD and then hopefully check back here to see if our family and friends have had a chance to reflect, especially those who were there (or not). To Kelly, thanks for not running away when the first thing I could ever think of to say to you for the first time was "Will you marry me?" Thanks for being an awesome wife and mom to our 4 kids. Thanks for being so beautiful (lucky me), even more than the day we were married. I love you... so much.

(special thanks to: my videographers Jay Sessions & Bill Southwell, Apple, motion stabilizers, color correction, Photoshop, Cold Play, Van Morrison, our photographer Massey Studio from Provo [if you know where I can contact anyone since he died let me know], consultants/providers/friends Judd Rackham and John Stephens, and most of all my Hot Wife.)

Happy Birthday Ezra!

We didn't really have a party this year, just cake and presents. But here's our 2 year old. He loves all his toys and his new John Deere, he's just afraid to drive it, so he'd rather ride in the trailer.

Watch video in the archive (but shrink it down).

Questions about mom

Emily was tagged by our friend Lily. Here are her answers to these cute questions.


1. what is something mom always says to you? I love you (true)
2. what makes mom happy? When I am obedient (very true)
3. what makes mom sad? When me and my brothers fight (more than sad...crazy!)
4. how does mom make you laugh? by tickling me (love our tickle wars)
5. what was mom like as a child?just like me! (yes?)
6. how old is your mom? that's easy, 30 ! (put that) (yup!)
7. how tall is your mom? 5'4'' (I can't believe she remembered)
8. what is her favorite thing to do? Color and draw (one reason to be sooo happy to have children...an excuse to color for fun)
9. what does your mom do when you're not around? surprise me by cleaning my bedroom (on occasion)
10. if your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?being an artist (maybe in a kids' contest)
11. what is your mom really good at? help stop fights, and drawing and coloring (wow, fighting and coloring seem to be the theme here)
12. what is your mom not very good at? Piano (sad and very true)
13. what does your mom do for her job? She doesn't HAVE a job! (I guess being a MOM doesn't qualify as a "job" for her)
14. what is your mom's favorite food? Now that's a hard question...miso soup (too many things to choose from)
15. what makes you proud of your mom?That she won a coloring contest ( I don't recall winning...or even a contest for that matter)
16. if your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Minnie Mouse (hhmmmmm)
17. what do you and your mom do together?Clean the Hide Out (summer project...more on that later)
18. how are you and your mom the same? We looked alike when we were little
19. how are you and your mom different? I have straight hair, she has curly hair
20. how do you know your mom loves you?Because she takes care of me.

Dear Tooth Fairy,

The tooth is under my Mom's pillow.

I don't want you to
come in my room.

Thank you
for leaving my money
for my Mom.

Joel

I'm Beginning to Feel like THIS:

Heading up a three-ring-circus!

Happy Father's Day...in the E.R.

Our tradition for special occasions is to serve the celebrity-for-the-day breakfast in bed. So, as a family, we got up and made Daddy's favorite...waffles. As I was pouring the batter to make the next steamy batch, Emily was stirring the orange juice. The next thing I heard was, "Uh, Mom, can you help me...quick!" (but in a surprisingly calm voice). I turned around to find blood flowing quite freely down Emily's raised arm (over the kitchen sink). My brain began to race...I didn't know what to do first. As my head was scrambling to find the answer, my hands just quickly started moving without a conscience thought. I grabbed some paper towels to clean her up, rinsed off some of the blood (only for it to return seconds later) and I tried to see how deep, and where, the cut was. (And, yes, by this time, I was wondering HOW on earth do you cut your hand by stirring orange juice??!!) I had her squeeze the towels and I ran up stairs (waffles burning..and I was trying to brown the roast for dinner) to wake up Ryan. "Emily cut herself and I don't know what to do!!" Happy Father's Day!

Well, long story longer, Ryan ended up taking her to the E.R. for 4 1/2 hours! She ended up NOT getting stitches...phew...but butterfly bandages to close up the wound and had her hand wrapped, like a boxing glove. After talking to her, I found out that she was trying to cut the wrapper off the o.j. container WITH A HUGE KITCHEN KNIFE!! It slipped and cut her left hand right at the thumb joint.
Who would have thought that all of this would happen just by "stirring the orange juice"?

So, Ryan, being the fabulous Dad that he is, sacrificed his day to be the ultimate father once again. Thanks for taking care of our family! We love you and we're glad Em's O.K.

A tribute to DADS

These are a few of the best DADs I know
don't they look tough? I do have to say that watching my brothers be fathers now is such a treat. They are all such great dads! They have great examples to look to as well. My dad was such a good example to us and continues to teach us well.
G'pa...well, the things we've learned from him are priceless.
As for the BEST dad...(the outlaw in the back), I find more joy when watching Ryan interact and play with our kids. He's so fun, he's a hard worker and teaches the kids something new every day, by his example. Thanks for being such a good father.
Happy Father's Day!

LOVE this

Oh to be dancing again! This West Coast Swing routine is choreographed so well! Dancer or not, I think you'll enjoy watching this. (thanks E.P)

fun

I love this tag from CARA
I am not very computer savvy, but I figured it out.
You should give it a try!

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

1.Kelly- That's me, eating a delicious cupcake. The rest were like scantily-clad models that made me want to barf.

2.grilled salmon...yum!

3.Del Oro (gold)

4.green

5.I know, I'm old

6. water with lemon...nothing better!

7.I can't wait to go back to New Zealand some day

8.chocolate molten cake - chocolatey, melty, goodness!

9.I couldn't decide between dance teacher or nurse...

10.my family, aren't we cute (square boobs?)

11.I asked Ryan - "bubbly"

12.southwell

just one thing...

We're busy

my mom's wise advice..."just keep breathing"...

Oh What Do You Do In the Summer Time?

With only 4 days left of school, I'm on the hunt...
I'm looking for some fun, cheap (free) activities to do with the kids
during the summer. We have vacations planned, but I'm talking about
daily things to do...projects, things to make, you know - keep ' em busy!
Please share!

opinion

I've been watching the auditions, when I can. I have to say, I think these judges are cold and rude and annoying. They hardly even show excitement when they love a performance. And if they don't love it, they are seriously jerks about it! What do you think?

catch-up...photo style. (revised)

We've been creating family-room-sized rail road tracks
We've had CRAZY weather (from 103 heat to hail & tornadoes!!)

We've been creating art on a tummy canvas

We've been working on disastrous bedrooms
(rearranging and cleaning)

We've been running...
and running...

And finally... we've been climbing,

sliding,

bouncing,

and partying at
PUMP-IT-UP!!!

tons of fun!!