Dance cutie

Ashley is loving her dance classes.

She is so excited for their first performance at the State fair in a few weeks.
She has been working hard on her flexibility and splits by stretching every day.
She is soooo close!
We had a little hair & makeup demo at the studio after class this day --
Ash was really excited to try out this really red lipstick that they get to wear on stage. :)
Wowie!

just stay little

Oh man.
This little boy had me from hello.
He completely melts my heart.
I keep trying to talk him into staying little because I never want to forget that:

He wants me to "nuggle" (snuggle) him all. the. time.

He gives me spontaneous bear hugs and kisses.

He so emphatically says "I LIKE chocolate milk!" and everything else that he likes.

He wants to be everywhere that I am, and if he doesn't see me he calls: "Mom! Where are you?"

He pronounces his "k" sounds like a "t" so his name is "Lute" but if you repeat it that way it makes him really mad.

He loves everything trains, Yo Gabba, and Buzz Lightyear.

He wants me to feel his muscles during dinner because he is growing so strong.

He loves chocolate as much as me.

He is so full of contagious JOY!

He loves to dance around in his undies and even has some awesome b-boy moves.

He wants to race me every time we climb the stairs.

He loves the color blue -- like a LOT!

He loves pb&j sandwiches and wants them cut in the shape of a Christmas tree all year long.



I love this boy!

SoCal Sunshine

We decided kind of last minute to head to California for the long
Labor Day weekend to spend some time with Mike and Pepper,
and Matt and Amber, and all their cuties of course. The weather was lovely and the company was even better. It was a wonderful weekend!

Click here to see the fun!
Thanks Mike and Pepper for being such wonderful hosts.
Thanks everyone for playing with us!
We love you!

Destin, Florida-Slideshow

This video is dedicated to Brian and Kerri -- We had THE BEST time!
Oh, and to my boyfriend Jason too (wink, wink :)

This link will take you to Shutterfly where you will need to enter your password. If you have trouble please let me know. I posted some of the pictures below in a separate post, but I like the slideshow best! You can also choose HQ (high quality/high def) on the right in shutterfly for the best picture.


Click here to view this video

Destin, Florida

I am posting out of order. (Stay tuned for a couple more installments of our Utah/Idaho trip, back-to-school pics, a California weekend, and a few more posts to get me up-to-date...)

Just too excited to share about our recent little get-away to Destin, FL. It was another fantastic trip with Brian and Kerri Sabey. It was the first time we returned to the beautiful sugar-sand since we moved to Arizona 7 years ago. Oh, how I have missed it, and I am remembering now why we almost never moved away. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Arizona for many, many reasons. I chose to raise my children here and am very happy with that decision. But... the southern, beach loving girl in me couldn't be happier absorbing the rays, white sand between my toes, eating gumbo, hush puppies, and shrimp (or Ben & Jerry's), with a little Jimmy Buffet in the background. Ahhhh. Maybe when our children are grown we will have to have homes in both places :)

I took pictures of a few that I liked :)

But back to the trip...

We went to the the Florida State/BYU game -- It was hotter than H-E-double hockey sticks - seriously - like crazy hot! And, Florida State pretty much kicked our fanny. It was not pretty. Yep - that is about all I have to say about that. But the company was fabulous, so it really didn't even matter.

(Loving this hot cowboy!!)

We visited our old ward and caught up with many dear friends. Went to Navarre Beach where we used to play, just two miles from our old home.

We drove by our first little house - so happy that the cute family that bought it from us are still there! I am very sentimental that way.

The boys took in a couple rounds of golf, while Kerri and I made the rounds at the outlet center. (after a little hike and making a new friend at the patio store :) Oh, and lunches at Panera's and visiting with Sierra too!

We took many walks on the beach.
We sat in the sand and ate Ben and Jerry's... lots of Ben and Jerry's.
We ate all kinds of delicious seafood and key lime pie.
We went snorkeling.
We went to the Destin shrimp festival and saw Jefferson Starship in concert at the beach.
("We Built This City", "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", "Sara")

(Brian, the pictures I took here did not turn out any better)

We went on a sunset dolphin cruise.








We met Jason Castro (from 2008 American Idol) and watched him perform a concert at the Destin Harbor Village Walk!!! Oh man, I was smitten, giddy, swooning... I totally love this guy! He was my fav' on Idol! :) I took... um.... just a few pics :) Wow! Still swooning...


Did I mention that I love this guy? :)
We rode jet skis all through the bay.

Best of all was time with my honey and fun and laughter, lots and lots of laughter, with Brian and Kerri.

THANK YOU Mom B.
- for taking care of our babes and holding down the fort so we could enjoy this get-away!!!!
(and thanks Dad B. too for being without your honey so she could be here!)
We love you!!!

Yellowstone

Utah/Idaho Summer Get-Away
Part 3:

We spent a beautiful day up at Yellowstone National Park with mom and dad B.
We had a wonderful time and saw lots of wildlife up CLOSE! It was really fun!

Throwing a pine cone into the water... 1...2...3... :)

Trying to catch water skeeters

Luke slipped and lost his shoe in the mud.

Grandpa to the rescue.

Old Faithful

This is one of my favorite memories of the day...
Ashley brought "Pinkie" her Zhu Zhu pet with us. It turns out "Pinkie" had
magic powers and could call the wild life to come out or closer so that we could see them! ;)