Wonderful Produce

I have to say that I love living in a house where most of your yard is edible! Our garden has done really well this year (not without much laboring of course), and now the fruit trees are starting to give ripe fruit. We have thoroughly enjoyed eating all of this fresh produce, as it tastes so much better than what we get at the store.

I am so happy that all the dried fruit, fruit leathers, homemade jams, fresh vegetable sides and snacks are back! I've loved all the new ways of eating vegetables (especially the ever abundant summer squash) that we have discovered. Any way you look at it, fresh produce just can't be beat.

Race Car Party

This blog is a little belated, but Derek's 4th birthday was so much fun I had to blog a little about it. First of all, thank you so much to everyone for coming...Derek was so happy to have all his family and friends at his long awaited birthday party! Thank you also for the awesome birthday gifts. I never got individual thank you notes out, but Derek loves all of the gifts (he even shares with his sister and friends so everyone gets to play).



First off is the cake! It was picked out to be "the cake" months in advance, and had to meet all the specifications found in the cookbook picture (even down to the placement of the correct color race cars in the correct spots on the cake)...I'm glad I got it right.
Since it was a race car theme Derek had to wear the Piston Cup for a crown. Which, amazingly enough, he kept on the whole day.

His party had tattoos, races, lots of "pit stop" snacks and...

...was complete with a Lightning McQueen pinata (full of candy and suckers...which Audrey was particularly fond of!)


It was a great party that made for a very happy 4-year-old.

Portraits of My Kiddos

I usually wait until the fall to do a nice photo/portrait session of my kids (so each session really is a year apart), but for some reason I felt the need to do it in the crazy-busy summer time this year. I love the way they turned out though. Here are a few of my favorites.


On the way to our local Target there is this little old rock shed in someone's yard (right along the street). I always look at it and think, "what a cute photo spot that would be," so I finally did it. I pulled over and took my kids portraits in front of it, and I love them.


He looks so grown up in this one!


My little boy just chillin' at a car show....which was so much fun seeing all the vintage cars restored. Below is one of the cool cars there.



This one is so sweet to me. Audrey loves to swing, and our neighbors have a huge (maybe 20 feet tall) swing in their yard; so naturally, she loves to go over there and play.




I love this picture. It reminds me of an Abercrombie ad.

May & June Update

Two words, Busy! Fun!
Our trip to Japan in May was what started off our summer extravaganza of trips and fun events. It really would take me forever to describe all the cool fun things about Tokyo, and since I just want to get a new post on here, I'll sum it up by saying it was nothing short of amazing. I posted all our pictures at our new photo website (just for posting lots of pictures at once) http://theadventuresofce.shutterfly.com/.

After coming home from Japan I did lots of weeding and gardening. Our poor soil was completely void of nutrients and consequently our vegetable garden was not growing very well. So I added a whole lot of fertilizer/vegetable food, and voila, the garden has begun to grow.

Next was a step forward for my mini photography business. I did my first set of bridals followed by their wedding. This kept me busy trying to finish up all the wedding photos before leaving one week later for Colorado.

On to Colorado, for another wedding. Christian's long-time friend got married in one of the most beautiful areas. It was about an hour north of Denver, and the views created the perfect backdrop for a wedding. We had a lot of fun seeing all of Christian's childhood buddies, and of course the kiddos love playing with all their cousins at Grandma and Papous.

Sand Box Volcano--Awesome!

Next came Derek's long awaited 4th birthday. He had been planning his race car birthday party for months. for two weeks prior to his actual birthday he would wake up and say, "is it my birthday today?" When race day came and all our family came into town (for my cousin's wedding) Derek was elated. With wide eyes he kept saying, "I'm 4 now!"

(I'll post some pictures when we are back in Utah)

Only a week after the "big party", my cousin's wedding, and some intense house hunting (which we really hope will turn out to be fruitful) we headed off to summer camp (two weeks of non-stop fun in California). We have already done lots of swimming and BBQ-ing, and we are headed to Knotts Berry Farm today. It is really getting to be so much fun with the ages that Derek and Audrey are. They are loving it, and are so cute. One quick summer camp story:

It was time for our 4th of July craft and someone told Audrey and her cousin Myah to go outside for the "craft". They both misunderstood and went on a "crab" hunt. They searched the house and yard asking everyone they could find where crabs were (they thought we were going to cook crabs). After a long fruitless search they came to me and we figured out where the miscommunication was and they headed to the craft table. So adorable!

Lastly, Christian just gave me the update that our garden is finally doing well and starting to produce! Hooray...maybe it is lack of faith, or poor past experience, but I didn't really believe anything would grow out of that garden. So we are very excited to say that we have sugar snap peas, strawberries, yellow squash, soy beans, and pumpkins growing!

Well that is our May and June so far. There is much more to come this summer so hopefully I can keep up on this long neglected blog and not post huge posts that nobody really takes the time to read to the end.

A Moment From My 13 yr Old 2.5 yr Old

Me: Don't talk back to me...you need to respect grown ups

Audrey: It's my life!

Me: What!?

(I am wondering not only where a 2.5 year old is hearing this, but how she knows what it means and when to appropriately use it!?)

One week later:

Audrey: Mommy, I love you sooooo much... and I respect people like Jesus does, but if we don't then we go to our room!

what a smarty!

What Really Goes on While I am in the Shower

Thank goodness they are still alive!

A New Addition to Our Family

... a dining room table and chairs!



Table: Made of solid wood, has a butcher block top, and is the perfect shade of white.

Chairs: Took a few months longer to decide on but are beautiful, sturdy, and have huge seats for when we get fat after eating a big Sunday dinner.

What? Did you think when we said "New Addition" we meant we were having a third baby? Well, you are right! (Due September)