golfing with daddy

(and mommy)

avenue and i went to pick up daddy from golfing and got to tag along the last two holes. avenue wanted to hold all the clubs, which he called hockey sticks. he wanted to run all over the place. he was in love. it was pretty cute to watch!

Happy 28th Birthday Aaron!

aaron turned 28 on july 15th! we celebrated by going out on a date night that weekend. on his birthday tho i made him his favorite cake: FUNFETTI !! this used to be my favorite but i havent been excited about it so i decided to try and add some extra ingredients to make it a little better...

1 box funfetti cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup water
1 small box vanilla pudding
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup oil

it takes longer to bake, about 40 or so min, just whenever you can put a knife in the middle and it comes out clean. this cake was so good and made me fall back in love with funfetti. avenue loved it too, so much he asked for it for breakfast the next morning by pointing at it and saying "baaaayte!"

early mornings

every morning when avenue wakes up he gets a cup of milk and usually watches a little elmo or he cuddles in bed with us for a little bit til were ready to get up. hes super cuddly in the morning. he usually eats some of our breakfast better than anything we try to feed him, i guess it tastes better from our bowl:) then he usually does his dishes, and by this i mean he goes thru all the cabinets that are within his reach and takes the dishes out and sometimes they make it back and sometimes not. he usually ends up climbing into the cabinet to make sure he can get them all! i thought i would share what he has been into lately... after were both awake he likes to go on the back porch and i figured out that he loves ice cubes. i gave him bowl of ice cubes and it entertained him for at least an hour. i tried it again the next day and it was still fun for him. pretty random, but if he likes it!

so blessed...

i cant believe how blessed i am. this past year has been everything: fun, hard, emotional, rewarding, busy, special, and everything in between. i am so grateful for so many things and lately i have been thinking about them a lot. mostly im grateful that i am here on this earth and am able to experience everything heavenly father has put in my path. after high school i lost a good friend of mine and i thought how awful it was that she wouldnt get to be married, be a mom, and so many other things. i often think of her, especially when i reach a big milestone in my life. i thought of her when i got married, how blessed i was to experience being sealed to someone special in a temple of the Lord. i thought of her when i had avenue, my sweet little angel that i got to carry for 9 months and then hold in my arms. and now i get to spend every day with both of my special boys. its not always easy, but im so grateful heavenly father let me stay here long enough to at least try my hardest to be a good wife, a good mommy, and a good daughter. im so blessed...

to come from a wonderful family that is always there for me
to have had an innocent childhood
to have a nurturing mother who taught me how to be a mom
to have a wonderful dad that taught me hard work and dedication
to have amazing brothers and sisters
to have married someone who loves and takes care of me
to have an adorable healthy baby boy
(who loves me)
to live in a country where i have freedom
to have the gospel in my life
to have a camera to capture all of the beautiful memories in
my life that i want to remember forever

the petting zoo with mommy

i took avenue to the thanksgiving point petting zoo and he loved it so much. he liked climbing on all the fences and sticking the quarters in the food dispensers. he didnt want to feed the animals yet but liked watching me feed them.




i had to unclench his legs to get him on the horse. once he was on he started looking around but didnt want to go for a ride, maybe next time.


we saw the geese and when i fed them the corn with my fingers they snapped at my fingers so i squeaked and avenue thought it was the funniest thing ever! then they started making grunting noises so he just started growling! it was hilarious!

happy 4th of JULY!

we had an amazing independence day grilling with family!

nana joanna and brad came over to eat with us. when we pulled out the apple pie and ice cream for dessert, they had a quick buddy lol.

this corn bread is my favorite! the recipe is on my other blog homecookednightout.blogspot.com

grilled some pineapple, yummy

i made ribs for the first time and they were so good! i used my friend nancy's recipe and simmered them in water and 2 cups brown sugar for about 2 hours, then i grilled them while covering in bbq sauce. so good!

i saw this apple pie on a magazine cover at the grocery store and thought, i could totally do that. so i did! the apple pie and homemade crust recipes are on my blog popcornanddaughters.blogspot.com!

farmers market

last saturday aaron and i went to the farmers market in downtown salt lake, something i wanted to do all last summer but never got around to. i love it because it reminds me of the saturday market back home in alaska. this saturday while aaron was golfing (surprise lol) avenue and i took aunt kari. avenue loved seeing all the dogs, he likes to pet them and let them lick his face off. as ave would say, YUCK!

we ate yummy pulled pork sandwiches, soo good

our new favorite picture

avenue loves the pool. he also likes to laugh when you laugh, he acts like he knows whats so funny. its pretty cute cause we are usually laughing about something he did! me and his aunt kari had to fake laugh a little while to get him to laugh and capture this!