A Day in the Life of the Garlick's

The Power of Thank you!

2011-09-23T13:33:00.002-06:00

I have been working with Kenna for quite a while on being polite, I obviously want her to say please and thank you. She is usually pretty good about saying please, but she forgets to say thank you. So when she does say thank you, especially when I don't have to remind her to say it, I make a pretty big deal of it. I also usually tell her that it makes me so happy when she says thank you.

A couple of nights ago I was not having a good night, I was really stressed out. I was getting both of my girls ready for bed and they both had been crying. I was doing my best to get Kenna into her pajamas but she was really hyper and jumping on her bed. I had finally had it and I told Kenna that I was not happy and she needed to stop jumping right now! She stopped jumping and asked me if I was happy, I told her no, I wasn't. Then she looked at me and said, Thank you Mom. Now are you happy? I couldn't help but smile, it really did make me happy, how could it not?

I'm Back!!

2011-09-23T12:47:00.002-06:00

I feel like pretty much the biggest slacker ever! I have a valid reason for not posting, at least for the beginning of the summer, my computer caught a nasty virus and got completely wiped. After much effort, I got everything back on my computer again, and for the last month and a half I just have been really busy. So that is why I have not done anything with my blog for a long time!
We have had a fun and very eventful summer, I can't wait to post all about it!

Playing with my Iphone

2011-06-03T12:34:00.003-06:00

I finally got a new phone! This has been a long time in coming, so now I am having a blast playing with all of its new features. It is so fun to take pictures and record movies of my little girls, I love it! This is what I have taken so far:

Ainsley smiles all of the time, while she is sleeping!

Uncle Mike and Ainsley taking a nap together

Little sleeping Angel

Kenna got my old phone, here she is calling Aunt Ash

My adorable girls

Introducing Ainsley

2011-05-13T18:03:00.003-06:00

Ainsley is here! I had a mild case of pre eclampsia so my doctor opted to induce me last Thursday. The induction was 100% better than my experience with McKenna, and it didn't last nearly as long either, which I was very grateful for! I went in at 9:30 and I had her at 7:35 that evening, so not too bad. She was 6 pounds 6oz and 18.5 inches long, so the same length that McKenna was, but almost two pounds lighter. She is our little peanut! One thing that I am thrilled about is she has dimples! I was really hoping that one of my kids would get them, and she did, on both sides.
We are all doing good, a little sleep deprived, but good. The adjustment is still on-going, McKenna is doing pretty good with it. She loves Ainsley, she wants to touch and hold her all of the time. Ainsley is pretty easy going, she is sleeping 90% of the time, so it is making the adjustment that much easier. We are all happy that she is here safe and healthy!

My Little Party Girl!

2011-05-10T14:02:00.007-06:00

Last weekend was absolutely crazy!! We hosted two birthday barbeque's for McKenna, it was so much fun, but so much work! It was so worth it to see how excited she was to see that everyone had come to help celebrate her birthday. All day she would walk around the house singing Happy Birthday, and at the end of it she would even practice blowing out the candles! It was adorable! She absolutely loved blowing out the candles and opening the presents! Thank you to everyone who came and made it so special for my little girl!

Happy 2nd Birthday McKenna!

2011-05-04T21:07:00.006-06:00

I can't believe that it has been two years since McKenna was born! I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday, but then again it feels like she has always been here! She has brought so much joy and happiness to our home. I feel so blessed to be her mother.

Happy Easter

2011-04-28T21:11:00.004-06:00

I know Easter was a few days ago, but Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a wonderful and fun Easter! We were able to spend time with both my family and Dave's this Easter and it was really nice. Even though you wouldn't know it by looking at the pictures below, McKenna had a blast this Easter! She absolutely loved hunting for Easter Eggs, and she was lucky enough to participate in four Easter Egg hunts, so she definitely got her fill. It was so sweet, all Easter day McKenna wanted to see the Easter Bunny. She kept on saying "Pet Him", she wanted to pet the Easter Bunny so bad!

So I think I am officially a bad Mom because I didn't get a picture of Kenna in her Easter outfit, especially since it was a skirt I made her! I feel really bad about that now that I look at all of the other pictures I got of her on Easter and they turned out pretty bad! I know that Dave took some pictures on his phone, so I am hoping some of those turned out better!

Kenna and her best friend Hudson at the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt (she was staring at Hudson's Dad with the funniest expression on her face!)

McKenna about to collect eggs at the Garlick Easter Egg Hunt

I could not get her to look at me!

Here she is hunting for eggs

Here are the five 2 year olds on the Garlick side of the family
(Kenna and Gracie are almost 2. Don't you love how not one of the is looking at the camera?)

Fun at the Zoo!

2011-04-17T14:59:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Dave, McKenna, and I went to Hogle Zoo! We had such a great time because despite a little bit of rain the weather was good and it was not too crowded. To anyone out there thinking about a zoo trip, I highly recommend going in the morning. When we got there there were only a few cars in the parking lot, when we left it was completely full!
It was also a blast because yesterday was the first time that McKenna was actually old enough to appreciate the animals! She loved seeing the animals and when we would leave one animal she would say, "more animals!" She couldn't get enough!

McKenna and I with the prairie dogs

Dave and McKenna on the carousel (she didn't want to get off!)

Elephants!!!

Rhinos!!

My Two Apes seeing how they measure up!

Kenna and I with the giraffes (check out my big belly!)

Giraffes!!

Wolves!!

McKenna on the Train
(she REALLY didn't want to get off, this was probably her favorite part of the whole day!)

This one is for Julianne!

2011-04-17T14:49:00.003-06:00

Since my sister in law Julianne is in the hospital due to some complications with her pregnancy, she unfortunately isn't getting to spend anytime with her beautiful daughter Gracie. I got to watch Gracie a couple of days ago and while these little cuties were in the tub I decided that this was an adorable photo op that I just couldn't miss!

I Made it!

2011-03-16T11:05:00.004-06:00

Ever since I found out I was having a girl, (McKenna) I have wanted to make her a dress or a skirt. Well, after almost two years I have finally done it, and it even turned out really cute! The best part about it is Kenna absolutely loves the skirt! She came with me to pick out the fabrics and ever since she saw the picture on the outside of the pattern she was so excited that I was making her a skirt. Every time she saw the fabric she would say "Nenna's skirt." Now whenever she sees her skirt she takes off whatever she is wearing and puts it on. What can I say, I am a proud Mama. Now I am totally motivated to make more of them. I am thinking of making one for an Easter outfit! This is pretty much as crafty as I get!

Sledding Fun!

2011-02-22T11:35:00.004-07:00

Dave and Gauge waiting for Kenna and I to hike back up the hill

Kenna waiting patiently for Dave to finish shoveling the driveway so we could go sledding!

This was Kenna's favorite kind of sledding (no scary hills to go down!)

Ella with her awesome sled

Dallin eating snow

I am feeling a little bit like a slacker lately seeing as how it has been a while since I have posted, but you know when you are so busy with day-to-day life, and nothing is interesting enough to post about? That is pretty much how things have been around here.
Yesterday was President's Day, and Dave had the day off so we decided to make it a fun one. It had snowed the night before, and even though we all seriously have spring fever, we decided to take advantage of the snow while it lasts. We went sledding!
Our neighborhood really is awesome, not only do we have hiking and mountain biking right out of our neighborhood, but we have a sledding hill too. It was so funny because McKenna enjoyed sledding but she was also scared of it. Each time we were at the top of the hill McKenna would shake her head and say no she didn't want to go down. But then she would go down and have fun! McKenna isn't exactly brave when it comes to things like this. This activity really was a whole family event because Gauge would chase us as we sled down the hill. After we had sledded for a while Dallin and Ella, my nephew and niece came out to sled too. McKenna was inspired by her cousins because after she watched them go down the hill a couple of times she wanted to do it more too! I think she figured they looked like they were having fun and weren't too scared so it must not be too bad after all.

My Little Home-body

2011-01-25T11:00:00.002-07:00

McKenna is absolutely a home-body!
No fail, if we go on a trip she will get sick and not sleep! She has proved this time and time again. The latest example was a week ago we went to St. George with some friends for the long weekend. When we left our house McKenna was feeling just fine, she was acting normal, no complaints. She slept for a little while in the car, not nearly as long as I was hoping, but it was still okay. As soon as we got to the condo in St. George and set up the pack-n-play she grabbed my hand and said go while leading me to the door. All she wanted to do was go home!
That night she got really sick, came down with a very high fever and only slept for about two hours. Needless to say Dave and I didn't get anymore sleep than she did. The next day the only time she would act even remotely normal is if we had just given her ibprofen and all she wanted was Dave. That night she slept 4 hours, better, but still not great. Oh, and she wouldn't eat anything, she would drink water, but she absolutely refused to eat! The last night we were there she slept about 5 hours, but as soon as the medicine wore off her fever was back!
As soon as we got home she slept like a dream and her fever disappeared! I don't know what to do about this little trip problem, any suggestions?

Blessings

2011-01-11T15:30:00.004-07:00

I don't know if it is just me being pregnant, but sometimes I need to just step back and be grateful for what I have. I have been so blessed in my life, and regardless of the trials I am going through at the time, if I try, I can come up with limitless things that I have been blessed with. So, I am bad and don't really have a journal of my own, so I am going to list some of my blessing here. That way when things just seem too much to handle, I can pull up my old blog and realize how blessed I really am.

Dave
- A wonderful husband who I love so much! He is such a driven, hard-working person, who is such a goof-ball, I am so blessed to be married to him!

McKenna
- Just writing her name makes me happy and cry at the same time. She is the sweetest, funniest, little tease that ever existed. She makes me so happy. I love her hugs and her kisses, and I love being her mom.

Ainsley
-Our new baby girl, I feel so humbled that Heavenly Father is blessing us with another sweet baby girl! I can't wait to meet her!

Gospel
-It is such a comfort to have the Gospel in my life. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the knowledge of Gospel. I have the opportunity to teach Sunday School to the youth and I am so excited to teach them about the New Testament. I can't wait to learn more and study more in-depth about the life of our Savior.

Health
-We are all healthy! Which is really saying something because I have already had the flu twice this year.

Family
-Dave and I both have wonderful families. Despite the fact that sometimes I seriously think they are dysfunctional (mine not his), I love them all. We are so blessed to live so close to them. I love that they are part of our lives!

Home
-We have a beautiful home in an amazing place! We love our neighborhood and ward.

Friends
-We have such kind supportive friends that are there for us when we need them! They are also so much fun to be around!

Food
(I guess this makes my list because I am pregnant and always hungry) But we have healthy food to eat! We don't go to bed hungry!

Freedom
This one encompasses so much, but we have the freedom to do and think what we want! We have the freedom to pursue our dreams and make the a reality, that is huge!

Hobbies/Interests
If you know Dave and I you know that we love to do stuff, especially outdoors. We have the opportunity and means to do our hobbies and pursue our interests.

This is such a small list, but it covers some of the most important things in my life. It is nice to get some of the more important things down, and see despite the fact that we are going through a rough patch, we are still so incredibly blessed.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011-01-04T09:37:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone, I know it is a little late, but I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Bott Family Pictures

2010-12-22T10:10:00.015-07:00

You wouldn't know it but to get family pictures this year was a huge accomplishment for me. Trying to find a time that fit into everyone's schedule was next to impossible. We ended up having to reschedule two different times, and by the time we actually did get everyone there for the pictures it was literally about 20 degrees, so we were all pretty much freezing! I don't know, if we opt to do them next year I think we are going to do them VERY early in the fall or in the summer, that way we don't have to deal with the freezing temps and everyone's crazy schedules!

Dallin, Landon, and Ella

Dave, McKenna, and I

Kenna and I

Dave, McKenna, and I
(Apparently I can't stand up straight!)

Ashley and I
(Isn't Ash a babe!)

McKenna

My Whole Family

Shayla and Jocelyn

Ryan, Dallin, Ella, Callie, and Landon

Temple Christmas Lights

2010-12-22T09:52:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday we were able to go and checkout the lights at the Salt Lake Temple with Stephanie and Derek and their kids and Tiffany and John and their kids. It was fun, but the crowds were absolutely crazy because of the Tabernacle Choir Concert. Also, the kids liked the lights, but they could only handle so much, so by the time we left all of the kids were really ready to go.

Regan, Miri, Kenna, and Brynn are all in the choo choo
(the coolest thing ever)

Kenna and I with the lights

Stephanie, Tiffany, and I in front of the temple

Dave, Kenna and I in front of the reflection pool

It's a................GIRL!

2010-12-03T22:04:00.003-07:00

We found out unexpectedly today that we are having another baby girl! I had a checkup and out of the blue my doctor asked if we wanted to know the sex if he could tell. Dave and I both said yes! Our new little baby was a good sport about it and yep, there was nothing there!
McKenna is going to have a baby sister! I am so excited to have two little girls so close!

McKenna is going to be a Big Sister!

2010-12-02T15:31:00.003-07:00

Yep, we are working on number 2! I can't even imagine having two of my own, but come next May, it is going to be the case. I am currently 14 weeks along, and due on May 31st. I don't know if this is common, but with McKenna I didn't start showing for a long time, but with this one I am already showing! I am at the unfortunate chubby stage where you just look like you are putting on weight, but thank goodness it doesn't last too long! We are a absolutely thrilled that our family is growing!

Locked Out!

2010-11-29T12:03:00.002-07:00

I had quite the scary experience last Saturday, right now McKenna is going through a phase where she loves closing doors and locking them. Our bathrooms doors are all more often than not locked, same thing with my bedroom door.

So on Saturday McKenna and I ran to the grocery store, when we got home I was unloading the groceries, I put my purse in the house along with McKenna. I had one more bag and a gallon of milk to grab, I had them both and was walking into my house when McKenna closed the door and locked it! I had no idea what to do, my purse, my phone, along with my keys and Daves' were all in the house! I totally panicked, I ran around to all of the doors, but I knew they would all be locked, I am much too anal about that kind of thing. Then I ran back to the garage door and spent the next five minutes trying to convince McKenna to open the door for me. I could hear her playing with the doorknob, but no such luck on actually unlocking it.

I then ran as fast as I could over to Stephanie and Derek's house! I crying pretty hard by this time because I had to idea how we were going to get into my house! Derek and Stephanie were wonderful, they dropped what they were doing (getting ready for Miri's 4th birthday party) and Derek ran back to my house and Stephanie gave me her phone so I could call Dave. Dave was amazing, he game up with a fabulous solution to get into our house that didn't involve breaking any windows or doors,and was so calm! Derek was able to get into our house and unlock the door in just a minute or two! When he got into the house McKenna was totally fine, she had gone through the groceries and had gotten out the cookies and was walking around the house with them.

I can't tell you how hard I prayed that McKenna would be okay until we were able to get to her. I know it wasn't that big of an emergency looking back now, but I can't tell you how helpless I felt when my baby was in the house getting into who knows what, and I couldn't do a thing to get to her. I feel so blessed that we have family that lives so close, it was such a wonderful comfort knowing that I could run to Stephanie and Derek and know that they would do whatever they could to help me. I am so blessed!

Snow Bunny!

2010-11-23T09:46:00.004-07:00

Kenna all ready to go out and play in the snow!

Sunday was the first time we dressed Kenna in her snowsuit and taken her outside to play in the snow. It was so cute because she didn't really know what to think of it. Her snowsuit is great because it makes her as wide as she is tall, but at least it keeps her warm! I am sure you have noticed, but we don't have gloves that actually fit her yet, so the whole time she was trying to take them off! Her favorite part of it was helping Dave shovel the driveway and sidewalk. Next time we will have to make a snowman!

Check out McKenna on Babysteals.com tomorrow!

2010-11-16T19:05:00.004-07:00

Today I had to run to Babysteals to pick up a gift I purchased for my niece, I took McKenna with me because she is my little buddy, and she always comes with me. Anyway, when I walked in the showroom a lady yells "A baby, not only that, but a cute baby!" When I take Kenna places I am used to people commenting on how cute she is, (what can I say, my baby is cute), but this was a little over the top! Then the lady comes over and explains that she is the photographer for Babysteals and needs a cute kid to model the shoes that they are selling tomorrow. They couldn't have picked a more perfect product for McKenna to model, because she LOVES shoes. I have to say at that point I was feeling a little embarrassed because I just grabbed Kenna after her nap, and she wasn't exactly looking her best, but what can I say, the lady still thought she was cute! The shoes will be posted tomorrow morning at 9am, and they will be up on the website until 9pm. Needless to say, McKenna is making her modeling debut tomorrow on Babysteals.com! Check her out!

Halloween Pictures!

2010-11-05T10:09:00.004-06:00

I know that Halloween was last weekend, but I have some great pictures that I couldn't resist sharing! Kenna's 2nd Halloween wasn't a great success, unfortunately. It was raining so hard on Saturday night that we ended up only going to 5 houses and by that point she was crying, cold, wet, and pretty much miserable. In her defense, I do have to say that we have all been sick on and off for the last month, so when we left to go trick or treating she wasn't feeling too great to start with. So she went took her home and put her to bed, which she was completely happy with. Maybe we will have better luck next year.

On Sunday, Halloween, we ate dinner at the Garlicks and were able to see all of McKenna' s cousins in their great costumes, and then we went over to my families and saw everyone. Overall it was a pretty good Halloween!

McKenna saying "cheese" right before trick or treating

McKenna was pretty much done with pictures by this point

Here we are trekking through the rain to trick or treat.
This is Regan, Vance, Lia, and Brynn

Kenna, Tiffany and I trying to stay dry while trick or treating

Kenna and her little pumpkin

Julianne and Gracie (as an Asian Princess)

Grandpa Garlick wearing Kenna's Witch Hat

Kylee, Kenna, Me, and Abi
(I was trying to get this shot without me in it but Kenna would not hold still long enough)

All of the Garlick Grandkids intheir costumes
You will notice that all you can see is Kenna's bum? Yes, that is because she was determined to go back into the house! This gets harder and harder with the more Grandkids!

Snow!!

2010-10-29T19:24:00.001-06:00

Here Jess, this picture is just for you! This was my back yard the morning after I did my last post on snow! We had a little over a foot, enjoy the warm weather!

Halloween Party

2010-10-29T15:23:00.004-06:00

Kenna and Brynn are running with all of the other kids

Kylee, Jake, and Abi are watching all of the chaos

Kenna thrilled that she got her scary eye glasses

Here are all of the younger girl cousins
Miriam, Lia, Brynn, Kenna, and Claire along with Jakey

Yesterday we went to a fun little Halloween Party with Kenna's cousins on the Garlick side. I have to give serious props to Tiffany, the girl who hosted the party, she is amazing! She had food, crafts, and games and gift bags for I think for around 35. She was doing a fabulous job entertaining the kids, I know that Kenna had a blast. I think she liked watching the older kids playing more than anything else. Kenna is a little witch for Halloween this year, and she absolutely loves wearing her costume. I didn't even know she knew the word hat until she wanted her witch hat back on and kept on saying hat and pointing to her head. She loves her witch hat so much that the day we bought it she didn't want to take it off. She was wearing it in the car and ended up falling asleep with it on! I can't wait to go trick-or-treating with her this year, I think she will have so much fun.

First Snow of this Winter!

2010-10-25T21:09:00.003-06:00

I woke up this morning and what did I see, oh yeah, that's right, SNOW!!!!! I didn't get outside and take a picture like I should have, apparently that is going to have to be the next storm as most of the snow has already melted, but I had about an inch and a half covering everything! I don't know if I am ready for this, I could use about another month of fall if at all possible. Winter is coming......

Busy Month, Big Slacker

2010-10-23T13:58:00.002-06:00

It seems that as soon as things start getting cooler they start getting busier too. I don't know if it just me but we have had the busiest month. Another aspect that added to the chaos of this month is McKenna, Dave and I have all been sick, never fun.
I don't know about you, but I love October! I know I am bias since my birthday is this month, but that is not all of it. It is such a fun transition month, it goes from being warm outside to getting really chilly, it also gets dark so much sooner. Isn't it so much fun to go through your closet and get out all of your sweaters and scarves? I love it, it is like having an all new wardrobe!
Even those who don't enjoy the fall have to admit that the leaves are amazing! I love our gorgeous mountains! They are the most amazing colors this time of year!
I have to admit that I am not quite ready for winter, but I LOVE the FALL!

17 Months Today!

2010-10-04T15:57:00.009-06:00

I can not believe that McKenna is actually 17 months old! It seems like yesterday was her first birthday, and last week she was born. This may not be all that exciting to anyone else, but I wanted to make a list of all of the things she is saying now, that way I would have a record. It seems every day she is picking up new words, for example today she finally started saying thank you. Kenna is such a Daddy's Girl, the only words that she will string together are "Hi Dada," or "Bye Dada."

Kenna's Words:
Whoa (her first word)
Ball
Mama
Dada
Baba
Kenna
Pants
More
Shoes
Socks
Button
Balloon
Bubble
Light
Eye
Please
Yes
No
Thank you
Snack
Pasta
Cheese
Yum-Yum
Spoon
Hi
Bye
Push
Up
Gaugey
Jakey
Gas
Ash (as in Aunt)
Grandma

Also, I have to include the animal sounds she can make: Monkey, Lion, Tiger, Bear, Owl, Cow, Dog, Fish, Goat, Sheep, Snake, Crocodile, and Rabbit
I am sure that a missed a few of them, I will have to update this as I think of them, but I think this is pretty accurate

Bathing Beauty

2010-09-21T19:35:00.003-06:00

I feel really guilty, it has been such a long time since I have posted! We have had so much going on for the last couple of months that I haven't taken the time to write it all down. I am going to do a big update post soon, but as you can see, this is obviously not it!
McKenna is such a little character, ( I know I have mentioned it before), she can be such a little ham if she wants to. It is funny because lately whenever we try to take her picture she looks away, but when I got it out when she was in the tub tonight she was so excited. Actually every time I stopped taking her picture she would say more!
I haven't taken a ton of pictures of my little baby in the tub, I know some parents are big into that, I am just not, but the other night she climbed up onto the little area with the built in soap dish and hung onto the little bar there and just stayed there! I was laughing so hard but when I called Dave in so he could see she got down and wouldn't get back up! So Dave, these pictures are for you!

Our Guest

2010-08-15T09:16:00.003-06:00

I don't know if I have mentioned it before, or nearly enough, but Dave is truly amazing! He is so motivated when it comes to household projects! For quite some time he has wanted to put an epoxy coating down on our garage floor, so last week he decided to take the time to do it. The only major drawback of installing it is that it has to dry for 24 hours before you could walk on it, so we had to leave the garage door up just a little bit. This is what came into our garage when we left the door up! I have no idea what kind of spider this is, but it is absolutely disgusting! It makes me very paranoid to just let McKenna go outside and play because thus far we have had two black widows and now this spider! I love where we live, but the spiders are really freaking me out!

Happy 7th Anniversary!

2010-08-01T08:44:00.003-06:00

We made it! Seven years! I feel so blessed to be married to my wonderful husband Dave, he really is the greatest! He is the most driven, hard-working man that I have ever met!
This year to celebrate our anniversary we bought kayaks. It is something that we have always wanted to take up, so we decided that this was the year we were going to do it. My Mom and Ashley were kind enough to watch McKenna so Dave and I could kayak down the Provo River. Seeing as how this was pretty much the first time that either of us had even kayaked it was a lot of fun and the Provo was about the perfect speed for us. We just need to work on our Eskimo rolls so we can handle something a little more intense. We have so much fun together! I can't wait to see what the next seven hold for us!

My Silly Baby

2010-07-20T09:43:00.004-06:00

I feel like the luckiest person in the world! I happen to be the Mother of the sweetest, funniest little girl! I know that everyone thinks that, but I really think my baby is! McKenna has the funniest little personality! She is such a tease, and she is such a little sweetheart! She loves to be chased around the house, so she will grab Hudson's binkie out of his mouth and then run off with it, hoping that he will follow her. She is such a blessing in my life! I am so happy that I get to be her Mom.

Kenna in Vintage

2010-07-17T18:59:00.003-06:00

It is so much fun to have a little girl! My Mom is so wonderful, she kept quite a few pieces of clothing of mine, and gave them to me. It is so much fun to dress Kenna in them! I don't really remember wearing any of them, but I do have pictures of me in them! Here is a cute little jumpsuit!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-06T19:46:00.007-06:00

Happy Fourth of July! I thought for sure that it would be nice to have it spread out over the weekend instead of just one day, but I think I was wrong. We had the busiest weekend and I was actually glad to start the new week so we could get back to normal life! We started off on Saturday morning with a neighborhood parade and block pancake party. It was fun but cold, can you believe it? It was July 3rd and it was freezing. I actually had to run home to get a jacket and a blanket for McKenna! Other than the temperature it was a lot of fun! Then that evening Dave and I went to the Stadium of Fire! Carrie Underwood was performing, and it was so awesome! I have been to quite a few Stadium of Fire's and this was by far the best one. They have finally figured out how to do it. There are were a few acts before Carrie and they kept them short and sweet. Then Carrie preformed for about an hour, and I have to say sheis so good in concert. The fireworks were good, but at one point they shot into the crowd and some people got hurt. I think one lady was actually on fire! Security came and took them away, it was pretty crazy.
Then on Sunday we went to church and then that evening we went up the canyon and had a picnic with my family. It was so much fun, and McKenna had a blast! She was running around with all of her cousins, and had the time of her life.
Monday morning we went to the Provo Fourth of July Parade with Dave's family. It is always so much fun! This was McKenna's first parade and she did really good. As long as she was sitting on either Dave or I she wasn't scared with all of the loud noises. I think she didn't really know what to think with all of the chaos. After the parade we went to my parents and had a BBQ and went swimming. McKenna is getting more and more comfortable in the water. After swimming we went to Dave's parents and had another BBQ. Then all of the little cousins swam in a wading pool. It was out of control! There were 7 kids ranging from ages 8 down to 1 trying to play in the water! I think McKenna had fun, but she came away with some war wounds. That evening we did fireworks with the Garlicks. Every year Dave gets really into the fireworks, it is so funny, he likes to put on a show. He ended up with a couple of little burns, nothing to serious, thank goodness.
It was a great weekend! I am just glad that it is over!

Stadium of Fire Fireworks

Carrie Underwood

Dave, McKenna, and Gauge playing in the park

Ella and Kenna at the park

Dave and Kenna at the Provo Parade

Kenna and I at the parade with Gracie and Abi

My cute little family at the parade

Kenna playing in the pool at the Garlicks

All of the Garlick Grandkids playing in the kiddie pool

Dave playing with the fireworks

Zoo Fun!

2010-07-01T20:58:00.007-06:00

Ash and Kenna with the elephants
(you can see the baby elephant if you look close)
Kenna and I in the prairie dog enclosure

Ash and Kenna in an egg

Kenna and Ash with a wolf

Kenna and I seriously sweating in the giraffe house

McKenna lounging in the heat

Ashley, McKenna and I went to the zoo a couple of days ago! It was so much fun! The first couple of times that we took McKenna to the zoo she wasn't aware of the animals, so we enjoyed it, but she was a little oblivious. This time McKenna thought the animals were so great! Aside from being ridiculously hot, it was a great day.

Grand Canyon Trip

2010-06-30T10:54:00.010-06:00

We spent last weekend at the Grand Canyon, wow, what a trip! Neither Dave nor I had been to the Grand Canyon before, so we decided to take a road trip. One thing can be said for sure about Dave and I traveling, we always have adventures! We left at about 10:00 last Wednesday morning driving Dave's work car, we got to Filmore about an hour and a half later and the car broke down. The mechanics in Filmore couldn't fix the car, so we ended up driving back to Provo, we spent about an hour and a half there until we were able to get a rental car. We ended up leaving Provo at 5:30, starting a little later than we had hoped.
We drove to Page, Arizona and spent the night there. The next day we drove to the Grand Canyon and set up camp. We spent the next couple of days enjoying the views and having a great time.
After that first little incident everything else went pretty smoothly. It was a lot of fun, but I have to say, that if McKenna was a little older I would not have wanted to take her there. I know it is a huge canyon, obviously, but it is fenced off in very few places. I admit that since I am afraid of heights I am more than a little biased, but I can't imagine how scary it would be to take a child who liked to wander off! They could easy walk off the trail and over the edge! Other than that minor detail the Grand Canyon is absolutely amazing! It was a fun trip!

Kenna and I playing in the pool

Dave and Kenna in the freezing pool

Kenna playing in the pack and play in the tent

Kenna enjoying the warm weather and a snack

Dave and Kenna at the Grand Canyon

Kenna and I at the Canyon
(Notice Kenna's finger? Yep, on this trip she learned how to pick her nose, major milestone!)

My Family

My little girl is so grown up!

Me looking off into the canyon! (cheesy!)

Dave and Kenna playing in the tree

There were so many elk here! They are so used to people that this giant elk was walking right along the road.

Yep Folks, She's Walking!

2010-06-16T10:00:00.004-06:00

It is official as of last week, Kenna is walking! It is amazing, each day she takes more and more steps!

She is also talking! She says Whoa, Mom, Dad, Ball, Bird, and Tap.
My little girl is growing up!

We Did it!

2010-06-12T14:32:00.002-06:00

We did it! This morning we ran the Utah Valley Marathon! After 18 weeks of training, it is all finally over! It has been quite a time consuming adventure! At one point I didn't even think I would be able to run because I pulled a muscle in my leg. But after taking about a month off my leg is feeling better, so I decided I would go for it.
The race started at 5:30am in Wallsburg, so Dave and I got up at 2:45 this morning after getting about 4 hours of sleep. We rode a bus up there and stood around in the cold and dark for about an hour. As soon as the race started it started raining. It rained for about the first two hours and was about 40 degrees, not exactly ideal running conditions.
Dave is absolutely my hero! He ran 26.2 miles in 3 hours and a half hours! He is amazing, he was on track to run it in about 3 hours and 20 minutes but he ended up getting a really bad cramp in his hamstring, so he had to take the last three miles significantly slower.
I ran the race in 4 hours 25 minutes, which I am pretty happy with. Next time I will definitely shoot to beat that time, but for my first time, I don't think it was too shabby.

Hiking in Alpine

2010-06-08T11:21:00.003-06:00

Dave and Kenna starting out our hikeDave and Kenna at that top

Kenna and I hiking down

Kenna excited for the hike

Dave and Kenna sporting their sunglassesLast night we went on our long-awaited hike in Alpine. We have been wanting to do this hike for a couple of weeks now, but every time we had it planned something came up. Last night we finally got out and did it. It was awesome! We haven't taken Kenna out on a hike for quite a while, and she had a blast. She also got to try out her new sunglasses, which she was a huge fan of. Dave said that the little canyon we were in was Dry Canyon, even though there are quite a few Dry Canyons in Utah. It was so green and beautiful, I love spring and early summer in Utah!
Dave is such a good sport, he hiked up with Kenna on his back. I felt so bad because it was really hot! By the time we got to the top and we switched so I could hike down with her it had cooled down considerably, I was really lucky.
I am so lucky to have a family that loves the outdoors so much!

Sick Baby

2010-06-07T11:40:00.002-06:00

Coming from a mother, there is nothing worse than a sick baby. McKenna came down with a fever last Friday afternoon and I felt so bad! It is so hard when your child is sick, and they can't tell you what is wrong. Everyone keeps asking me if she is teething, well, that is a good question, I really don't know. I don't see any teeth coming in, and when she got her first four teeth she didn't get a fever, but maybe?
I have to admit there is a small, selfish part of me that was a little frustrated with her timing, Dave and I had all of these fun plans for the weekend, and they pretty much all went up in smoke. As soon as I think this I remember that it is not me who is sick, it is my little baby girl, and I stop thinking that.
With all of this being said I have to say I am so grateful for modern medicine. I am not even talking about the serious prescriptions right now, if we didn't have motrin and tylenol this last weekend I don't know what we would have done. I guess I can be thankful that I live in these modern times and not 50 years ago.

My Addiction

2010-06-04T11:30:00.004-06:00

So as addictions go, this one isn't that bad, I really can stop anytime I want to, but it is just too much fun! I LOVE babysteals.com, if you haven't checked it out already, you need to! Every day at 9:00am they post a new deal for babies. I have gotten some really fun stuff off of this website. Another cool feature is it is a local company so if you live close enough you can go and pick up your purchase and save on shipping. I know this sounds like a plug, and I guess it is, but they have some really fun stuff on this website, and did I mention that everything is discounted? Usually it is at least 50% off! It is my justification to buy Kenna things that she doesn't really need! Anyway, I am done ranting, but check it out!

Kenna's 12 Month Stats

2010-05-14T09:17:00.003-06:00

My Little Angel and me

Seeing as how McKenna just turned one, we had her 12 month checkup. She is in the 50th percentile for height and head circumference, and 25th for weight. She is 19 1/2 pounds, so we haven't turned her around quite yet in her car seat.

She is growing up so fast, she is so much fun, but it makes me sad that my little baby isn't a tiny little baby anymore. She isn't walking by her self quite yet, we are close though. A small part of me wants her to crawl a little longer, that way she still feels like a baby. But regardless she is getting into everything, she crawls over to something and then stands up so she can reach, so I guess that theory doesn't really work.
This Mommy thing really is the most amazing thing in the world. I feel so blessed to be McKenna's mom. I didn't do a post for Mother's Day, we had so much going on, but it is such an blessing to have the opportunity to have such a sweet spirit in my life. I am also blessed to have a wonderful Mother, Mother-in-law, and Grandmother.
It is so hard for me to watch the news lately, you hear all of the evil awful things going on, especially concerning children. I always had a hard time when someone hurt a child, but after becoming a Mother, it is unthinkable. When I hear about a parent hurting their child, I can't comprehend it, it breaks my heart.
Sorry, I will get off my soapbox, my point was being a Mother truly is the greatest.

Kenna's Birthday Pictures

2010-05-12T09:58:00.007-06:00

Kenna has changed so much in the last year, I wanted to get some pictures taken of her for her first birthday, and I love how these turned out! Stephanie and Derek used this same photographer last fall and I thought their pictures were great. I was so thrilled she was free to take them. We also took some family shots, I figured we might as well.

My Baby's 1!!!

2010-05-04T21:07:00.003-06:00

I can't believe my baby is 1 today! Time really does fly, especially when it comes to your kids growing up. Kenna is this sweetest and funniest little girl, I feel so blessed to be her Mother. She adds so much to our home, I wonder what we did without her! It truly is a pleasure to be her Mom. Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Easter, Way Late

2010-04-28T15:43:00.002-06:00

I know this post is way after the fact, but some of the pictures were too cute not to post! As I mentioned in an earlier post, we did Easter in stages this year. The Sunday before Easter we celebrated Easter with Dave's family, and on Easter Sunday we had a Easter Egg hunt at our house, and then we watched conference with Dave's family, and then went to my parent's house for an Easter dinner and an Easter Egg hunt.
Kenna did an awesome job of finding the eggs at our house. The Easter bunny didn't hide the eggs really hard considering Kenna was only 11 months, but still. After finding the first egg, and Dave having to pry it out of her hands, she caught on to the fact that she finds the eggs and then puts them in her basket. It was so much fun to watch her crawling around and finding them! I know it is only going to get better, but it was pretty awesome! We had a great holiday!

Kenna's First Taste of Easter!

2010-03-29T21:19:00.004-06:00

This was Kenna's favorite part, sucking on the eggs!

Kenna is proud of her two teeth!

My adorable nieces,
Claire, Lia, Miriam, and Brynn in their Easter Dresses!

Kenna and I looking for Easter Eggs!

Gauge and his Easter Pail

Kenna went to her first Easter Egg hunt yesterday. My in-laws are great, they figured that everyone would have very busy Easters' so we celebrated Easter with Dave's family yesterday. We had an awesome dinner and then we had a great Easter Egg hunt.
It was a lot of fun because there were a ton of eggs, so all of the kids found some, also there were a lot that we laying around perfect for babies to find.
Kenna did really well, she had a lot of fun picking up the eggs, the problem was getting her to put them into her little pail. Every egg she picked up she had to suck on for a while before she was willing to give it up. The other funny thing was Kenna is afraid of grass, she will sit on it but she doesn't like to touch it and she will NOT crawl on it. So getting her to crawl around and pick up eggs was not going to happen. It was a fun time, we are so lucky to have such wonderful family that live so close!

St. George

2010-03-29T12:10:00.006-06:00

We just got back from a weekend in St. George! We found out early last week that the little boy I babysat on Fridays was going out of town, so I had the Friday off; and Dave's contract is up and his new one doesn't start until the 1st of April (hence the beard), so we decided to get out of town. It was so fun to go on a little road trip just the three of us! The weather wasn't really warm but we were still able to play in the pool and the hot tub! It was a really relaxing time where we had no real plans other than shop, run, and relax. We took our camcorder, but forgot our camera, so all of these pictures are from our camcorder, that's why they all turned out a little dark.

Training for a Marathon!

2010-02-18T10:03:00.006-07:00

Dave and McKenna after our Run
McKenna with her weather shield (I promise, she is in there!)

I have had a goal for some time now to run a marathon before I am thirty. Not that I am knocking on 30's door, because I am NOT, but I decided that now is the time to do it. I just happened to be married to an amazing supportive man who is willing to train and run it with me. So Dave and I are training to run the Utah Valley Marathon! We are into our second week of training, and things are going well. Every day our whole family is out there running, it is awesome! We even have our dog Gauge out there, so he is losing his winter weight!
McKenna is such a good sport, she loves the outdoors and going on walks/runs, but it is still a little cold for her. So we bought a weather shield for the Bob and now she is all warm and toasty for our
runs! I have to say that it is so fun to do this as a family.

McKenna's friend Hudson

2010-02-11T10:53:00.003-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I started watching a couple of adorable kids from my neighborhood, McKenna absolutely loves playing with them. Today I was watching Hudson, he is about 18 months and the biggest sweetheart, I was giving him his snack after he woke up from his nap and he wanted to share his snack with McKenna! It was the sweetest thing!

9 Months Old Already!

2010-02-05T09:57:00.005-07:00

Yesterday one of my neighbors asked me how old McKenna was, I am used to saying 8 1/2 months, but it hit me, yesterday McKenna turned 9 months old! I can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast! She is becoming more and more independent too.

Her 9 Month Achievements Thus Far:

She is army crawling all over the house now, and going from laying down to sitting up all by herself. She is so close to crawling on her hands and knees, but once she gets up there she doesn't really know what to do yet. She also pulls herself up to standing at our coffee table. She is finally cutting teeth! Her bottom two front teeth are coming in now. In the last couple of days she has started throwing little temper tantrums. She will get frustrated and scrunch up her face and yell really loud. I can't help but laugh when she does this! She also claps, waves goodbye, and gives kisses, but only when she wants to, most of the time she won't perform!

Snow Fun!

2010-02-04T22:13:00.003-07:00

Our Family Dave and McKenna

McKenna modeling the Kelty Kids Backpack

On Monday we went hiking up American Fork Canyon! We were planning on going snowshoeing, but there wasn't a lot of powder, so we ended up just hiking. It was also very exciting because we tried our Kelty Kid backpack for the first time, that is why we took the adorable picture of McKenna modeling it.
The hike was great, it was a gorgeous day! The only drawback was it was freezing, so it didn't last as long as we would have liked. We all dressed really warm but we didn't know how to keep McKenna's little cheeks warm.

Hawaii Part 2

2010-01-20T11:41:00.006-07:00

I thought it was finally time I posted about the rest of our Hawaii trip! By the way, Happy New Year!

Here is my hot husband holding my sick baby

My family

Here we are at Pearl Harbor
in the background is the USS Bowfinn, a submarine

My beautiful little girl

Dave on top of the USS Bowfinn

Dave pretending he is firing the guns on the USS Bowfinn

Dave at the USS Arizona Memorial

Me inside the USS Bowfinn

Dave going through a door on the Bowfinn

Me going through a door on the bowfinn

Dave and I on the Bowfinn (Don't you love our little headsets?)

Dave by the large guns on the top of the Bowfinn

McKenna eating her lunch

Looking up on the USS Arizona Memorial

Dave and McKenna at the Waikiki Boardwalk

Kenna and I being beach babes!

Chris and Rebecca just coming in from body surfing

Dave and McKenna hiking Diamond Head Crater

Chris, Rebecca, Dave, McKenna and I hiking Diamond Head

Here I am at the top of Diamond Head

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T18:51:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday Dave!

2009-12-22T11:28:00.004-07:00

Today is Dave's 28th Birthday! Wow, we are getting old! I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful, thoughtful, kind person who is a amazing Dad. He makes me so happy! Happy Birthday Dave!

Hawaii Part 1

2009-12-20T12:11:00.009-07:00

Aloha! We have actually been home for over a week now, but we have had so much going on that I haven't taken the time to post about our amazing trip! Dave, McKenna and I went to Hawaii with some of our friends, Chris and Rebecca Nagel. We spent ten days on the beautiful island of Oahu. I was planning on just one Hawaii post, but we have an insane number of pictures, so I am going to do at least two posts on this one.
McKenna was a champ on the trip, she not only had to deal with a 3 hour time change, and her schedule completely being thrown off, but she ended up getting an ear infection on the plane ride over. She was such a good sport, in spite of everything.

Here we are at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Chris and Dave in the Tahiti village learning to do the "chicken" dance

During the canoe show

The New Zealand Canoe

The Tahiti Canoe (Dave and Chris' favorite)

On Easter Island (Dave is trying make the same face as the statues!)

At the Luau

Again at the Luau

McKenna wearing our Lei

While we were here Oahu had one of the largest swells they have had in about 40 years. The ways on the north shore got up to 50 feet! Most of the beaches were closed down on that part of the island. The good thing about this was there were a few surf competitions while we were there. Here we are at the Billabong Pipeline Masters. The prize for the winner of this competition was a million dollars!

Dave and McKenna at the competition

The huge waves! I am sad that you can't really see how big they are in the pictures!

My little beach babe!

Dave and McKenna just chillin

Dave heading out to boogie board

McKenna getting her daily sunblock (I am proud to say that McKenna was just as white coming home as she was going to Hawaii! I was so militant about her sunblock)

My cute husband and daughter

Dave and I boogie boarding

McKenna and I at the Hawaii temple

Our Family at the Hawaii temple

My little Hawaiian Babe

McKenna at Hanauma Bay

Dave and Chris at Hanauma Bay Snorkeling

Dave's favorite Hawaii outfit for McKenna

McKenna at Waikiki Beach

McKenna and I at Waikiki Beach

Our Family

Halloween

2009-11-02T13:03:00.006-07:00

Wow, Halloween really changes when you have kids! For the last couple of years Dave and I have had pretty low key Halloweens, but as soon as we had McKenna, we all of the sudden have so much going on. We couldn't really decide what to dress McKenna as, so she had two costumes, a cabbage patch kid and a leopard.

On the Friday before Halloween we dressed McKenna up in her leopard costume and took her to see all of the Great Grandparents, that way we could just go to the Grandparents on Halloween. We took so many pictures and so many of them turned out really good, so I am going to share them all with you!

McKenna and I at Gardner Village

Our pumpkins on our porch

(Dave's, McKenna's, Mine)

Dave and Our Little Cabbage Patch

Great Grandpa Stokes and our little Leopard

Great Grandma and Grandpa Stokes with Kenna

Great Grandpa Behling and Kenna

Great Grandma Garlick and Kenna

Kenna and her Grandpa Bott

She didn't want to sit in the leaves all by herself

All of the "Bott Grandkids"

(Jocelyn, Dallin, McKenna, Landon, Ella)

Our Happy Little Cabbage Patch

Kenna and I

Steve, Gracie, Kenna, and Dave

The Lloyd Family

Miriam, Stephanie, Lia, Claire, Derek, and Brynn

The Darais Family

Abi, Jenette, Danny, Kylee, and Jacob

The Garlick Family

Breanne, McKenna, and Dave

The Delgado Family

Julianne, Gracie, and Steve

Starting Solids!

2009-10-28T11:36:00.005-06:00

McKenna is now almost 6 months old!! I can't believe how fast she is growing! A couple of weeks ago we started feeding her solids. It has been a funny experience thus far. She is getting better and better with rice cereal, as you can see with the video below. A couple of days ago we decided to feed McKenna avocado, that is when we got these two great pictures. She had a hard time with the texture, it was so funny because she doesn't want to swallow it when it is in her mouth. It is like she doesn't know what to do with it. We are going to keep working on it.

Wow, It has been a while!

2009-10-20T11:40:00.006-06:00

We have had so much going on lately, at least that is my excuse for not posting in a while. I was looking through the pictures on my camera this morning, and I decided that the best way to show what we have been up to in the last month is just to post a ton of pictures and then tell about them. Originally I was doing so good and had all of the pictures in order by what came first. Unfortunately that didn't last long!

These are pictures from our annual Murder Mystery Party. This year was a medieval theme, it turned out to be a lot of fun! I have to say every year the costumes just get better and better.

Ashley, Callie and I

Ryan and Callie

Dave (in a great wig) and I

Here is almost our whole group

Okay, so here is one place where I jumped out of order. This is the day of the first BYU football game. The one where they played Oklahoma, and won! Dave and McKenna are showing their BYU pride!

This is the first year that I have been to Swiss Days. McKenna and I went of Friday with my family and then Dave, McKenna and I went again on Saturday with his family. It was a lot of fun, just so crowded! I am modeling my new sling on got there. I wanted one since McKenna was born and I have to say that both she and I like it a lot!

My little sleeping Angel!

Here is McKenna with her
Great Grandpa Behling

A couple of weeks ago McKenna and I went up with Ashley and Ryan and Callie and their family to the Sundance Harvest Market and then after we hiked Stewart Falls. The leaves were amazing! I haven't done that hike in a couple of years, it was a lot of fun. McKenna is a great sport when it comes to the outdoors!

Callie, McKenna and I

The Fall Leaves (they never turn out as good in a picture)

Ashley, McKenna and I

So these next pictures are way out of order. For Dallin's birthday, which was in August we went to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. We had never been there before and I was really impressed. It was a lot of fun because Dallin knew all about each of the Dinosaurs and he told us about all of them.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Las Vegas for a few days. It was a fun little trip to just get away. I have to say, Vegas is a totally different experience once you have kids. It is not nearly as fun when you have to be back in your room by 7:30. Not that Dave and I were ever out there partying or anything, but it is fun to walk around Vegas when it is actually dark.

Here are Dave and McKenna at the Forum Shops

McKenna and I at Cheeseburgers at the Miracle Mile (while we were waiting for our food Dave taught McKenna to blow a really good raspberry, so if when you are holding her you get spit on you can thank Dave for that!)

Dave and McKenna in front of the fish tank at the Forum Shops

This last weekend we went to St. George with Dave's family. It was our annual Garlick Family Vacation, and it was a lot of fun. We rented one big house and each family got their own room. Initially I was a little worried with all of the babies that we have in the family, but it worked surprisingly well. I also got to celebrate my birthday while we were in St. George, which was a lot of fun. We were able to go swimming, shopping, and to dinner and a movie for my birthday! I know that Dave made a special effort to make it a great day, my husband is so wonderful!

The sad thing is the only time we brought out our camera was at the pool, but we did get some cute swimming pictures.

Kylee and Brynn at the pool

Steve and Gracie

McKenna (we didn't buy McKenna a swim suit at the beginning of the summer; and then when we tried to get her one at a couple of months ago all of the stores were sold out of them!Hence the topless baby)

This is the first time that McKenna actually enjoyed swimming!

My Baby and I

McKenna's Happy Faces!

2009-09-08T12:38:00.004-06:00

McKenna is such a happy baby! She is becoming such a little flirt when it comes to her Daddy! She loves Dave so much! It is so cute because she just has to see him and she gets this huge toothless grin! These are pictures we took in Jackson Hole while we were waiting to check into our hotel. McKenna was thrilled to be out of her car seat, and she was smiling and laughing at Dave.

Idaho Falls and Jackson Hole

2009-09-06T12:22:00.011-06:00

We have gone on a lot of fun weekend trips lately! Last weekend we went up to the Idaho Falls Zoo, and then onto Jackson Hole. The wife of one of the doctors Dave visits in Idaho Falls volunteers at the Zoo there and she offered to take us on a tour! We met her last Friday morning and she took us around and told us about all of the different animals, it was so much fun!! She was wearing her Zoo uniform and all of the animals really responded to her, especially the monkeys! I think McKenna had a little more fun on this zoo trip because she is much more aware than she was before, but Dave and I both had a blast

This gorgeous lion sat there and posed for our pictures!

Here we are with the lion (kind of)

McKenna and I with the camel

This is an Asian Sloth Bear, he was one of my favorites because he was so playful the entire time we were there!

After we left the zoo we drove to Jackson Hole for the rest of the weekend. We shopped and did all of the fun touristy things while we were there. We also checked out Teton Village for the first time, it was pretty cool. They were having an Art and Antique fair while we were there so we went to that too. I don't think a lot of people travel with their little babies because everywhere we went in Jackson Hole everyone was stopping us to look at McKenna. In Utah everyone has babies, so we weren't used to all of the extra attention we received!

It was a really fun weekend for our little family. By the time we got home on Saturday night McKenna was so sick of her car seat. She didn't exactly love it before, but now if we are in the car for longer than half an hour she starts crying. Hopefully we didn't traumatize her too much!

Dave and McKenna in Teton Village

Dave and McKenna showing off their new hats in the Mangy Moose!

Our happy little girl, ever since she can face forward in the baby bjorn she likes it so much more!

My little family at the elk antler arches

McKenna, I and a Bison (doesn't he look happy?)

Here McKenna and I are at the arches again, (Dave really liked this arch because there were fresh antlers on it)

Anniversary and the Zoo!

2009-08-19T10:53:00.005-06:00

So I have honestly been trying to keep up with my blogging, updating it as things happen, but lately, I have just had too much going on!

The first really exciting event of this month was our 6th Anniversary! I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. Someone who not only makes me happy, but is kind, handsome, wonderful and supportive! We have so much fun together! Even though we both have hobbies that the other doesn't really understand, (Dave- hunting; Me-Reading) we still can respect and support each other. I know that I have been so blessed with such a wonderful husband! So to celebrate this wondrous occasion my Mom was wonderful and babysat McKenna for a few hours so Dave and I could go mountain biking up at Sundance!

I actually wanted to blog these pictures awhile ago, but like a mentioned above, I have had a lot going on lately. Ashley came up with the brilliant idea to take McKenna to the zoo. To be honest, McKenna slept for most of it, and I don't know if she really saw any animals, but Ashley and I had fun! I guess we will have to take Kenna back when she is a little older and can appreciate the experience.

Pete's Hole!

2009-07-29T21:44:00.005-06:00

This year to celebrate the 24th of July Dave and I decided to go camping at Pete's Hole. We have come to this pretty little lake at least every other year since we got married. We thought it would be the perfect place for McKenna's first camping trip. Pretty impressive, don't you think, she went camping before she hit twelve weeks old! Actually, I think we may have been just a little crazy to have taken her so young, if we didn't have our tent trailer there is no way we could have done it. It was so nice to get outdoors and enjoy the cooler weather!

Gauge, McKenna, and I holding the fish that Dave is catching in the picture below!(Yes I am holding the fish pretty tight, it had already gotten away twice and Dave was determined to get this picture)

Dave catching a fish for our picture
Dave and McKenna cuddling on our bed

McKenna and I getting ready for our hike

After the first sleepless night we decided to try something different, so we bundled McKenna up and put her in her car seat, it worked great! She slept so well in it, which was a huge relief!

McKenna enjoying the Great Outdoors

McKenna and I playing

Dave and McKenna about to go on a walk

McKenna and I at our campsite

Nothing Says Romance Like a stroller

2009-07-20T15:39:00.002-06:00

Dave and I have been wanting a running stroller since we had McKenna, so we decided we would splurge and buy one for our sixth anniversary. So romantic, don't you think?

The night we bought it we were planning on hiking up Little Cottonwood Canyon so we thought we would try it out and see how really tough it is. I was impressed, we took it through some pretty rough stuff and it handled it with no problem. The best part about it was McKenna really liked the stroller and had a good time on our hike.

McKenna in the parking lot, just starting out Dave and McKenna

McKenna and I

McKenna at the Top

McKenna's Blessing

2009-07-18T15:56:00.004-06:00

I have to confess that we actually blessed McKenna on July 5th, I am just really slow posting this! It was a perfect day, thank you so much to all you family and friends who came! Dave gave McKenna a beautiful blessing, and afterward we went to my parent's for an open house.

The only way that that day could have gone any better is if these pictures turned out better. Do you ever take a ton of pictures, and it is just a bad "picture day"? I have to say that I do like a couple of them, but we really took a lot of pictures, and for the most part they turned out really bad! I think we are going to have to dress McKenna back up in her dress and take some more pictures, that way we make sure we get some good ones.

McKenna and her DaddyMy Little Princess

A close-up of McKenna
(maybe a little too close?)

Our Family

McKenna and I

Ella, McKenna, and I

McKenna's First 5-Miler!

2009-07-01T17:18:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday Dave and I took Kenna on her first hike! We went up Mill Creek, one of my favorite canyons because it is gorgeous and Gauge is allowed in it. We did the Terrace hike, it is a fun one that we have done many times in the summer and winter. McKenna did a great job, she just hung out in her baby bjorn and slept most of the way. We traded off with her, but Dave was much tougher, he hiked up with her and I hiked back. I was a little worried going into the hike, but it went so well I can't wait to go again!

7 Weeks Already!

2009-06-25T20:13:00.005-06:00

McKenna is already 7 weeks! I can't believe how time is flying! On Tuesday we had her two month check up! I clearly have not toughened up yet, because she got 5 shots and we both ended up crying! I told Dave that there was no way that I could handle it alone, so he was there trying to make both McKenna and I feel better.

I didn't think about it while we were at the doctor's office, but taking off the band-aids are almost as bad as the shots! I have managed to get them off of her, but if anyone has any advice on getting band-aids off without it hurting I would love it!

McKenna starting smiling about a week and a half ago, and now she is doing it all of the time! I can't tell you how much I love it when she sees me and just lights up with a huge smile! I haven't been able to take a picture of it yet, but I did manage to record it! I love being a Mom!

You can see her band-aids, she had Belle on one thigh and Cinderella on the other!

My Sweet Little Girl is Getting so Big!

A Rodeo, a Sick Dog, and a Bucket of Water!

2009-06-21T14:30:00.006-06:00

What a weekend! I have to say that I am glad that it is almost over! It started out good enough, on Thursday night Dave and I went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo with my Dad, Ryan and Callie and their adorable kids! It was a good rodeo, it was just hard for me because it was the first time I have left McKenna for an extended period of time, so I was a little stressed out all evening. The good news is McKenna was fabulous for Stephanie and Derek (thank you guys so much for watching her)!

Friday was a pretty good day until Dave and Dallin went on a 4-wheeler ride and decided to have Gauge run along behind. This is something that Dave does all of the time and Gauge loves it and gets exercise. They were going along and all of the sudden Gauge gave up and laid down and wouldn't get back up! He got heat exhaustion! We ended up taking him to two vets and he spent the night at one of them! The poor puppy is so sick! He is doing better today, he is keeping down food and water, which is huge progress.

On Saturday I was carrying a bunch of things out to the car, among them were my purse and a bucket of water so we could clean Gauge's throw-up out of the back. When I was switching the bucket from my left hand to my right I ended up dumping the whole thing in my purse! Dave managed to get my ipod out before it was damaged, but my phone wasn't so lucky. Our phones are about a month old! It kind of works, so if you call me and my phone drops the call, or it just doesn't work at all now you will know why!

Callie, Ella and Landon at the Rodeo

Dave and I at the Rodeo

Ryan, Ella, my Dad, and Dallin

My Poor sick puppy! (I don't know if you can see it, but they shaved a little square patch on his arm for an IV.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T14:18:00.002-06:00

Happy Father's Day to all of you Dad's out there. Dave and I are so blessed because we both have amazing Dad's and Grandpa's!

I have to say that McKenna is one of the luckiest girls I know because her Dad loves her so much! I love to see them together. Dave uses the funniest voices, and he has gotten her so close to laughing! This whole parenting thing has been quite the adventure, but Dave has been so wonderful and supportive, so I guess both McKenna and I are the two luckiest girls! I love you honey!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

2009-06-18T10:20:00.004-06:00

Hawaii? Yes, Please!

2009-06-14T11:14:00.003-06:00

We are going to Hawaii! Some of our friends invited us to go with them in December! We are going to Oahu, an island I haven't been to since I was about ten, and Dave has never been to. I am so excited! Dave and I haven't been on a real vacation (that wasn't a family trip) since our honeymoon! Now I have extra motivation and a definite time limit to get the baby weight off!

5 Weeks Already!

2009-06-10T14:32:00.004-06:00

My little McKenna is 5 weeks already! I can't believe it! She is getting so much bigger and it makes me sad! I am excited for her to get bigger and be more interactive, but I want her to stay my tiny cuddly baby! I am afraid we have hit a little awkward stage where her hair is falling out and she has a little baby acne, but she is still absolutely adorable!

Sleeping Baby!

McKenna's receding hairline from the side!

So forever ago I promised that I was going to post some pregnant pictures of me, and now that I no longer look like this I think I can bring myself to do it! I guess this is one of the better late than never circumstances!

Here I am in McKenna's room!
The classic "Big Belly" shot

Here we are in the hospital waiting for McKenna to come!

Photo Shoot Fiasco!

2009-05-31T13:22:00.005-06:00

I have to say that I am absolutely thrilled with the way that these photos turned out! The actual photo shoot was a mess! The photographer, Alan Hancock was awesome, he was so patient with McKenna! She was an absolute horror! She did not want to cooperate at all with anything that we wanted to do!

Before we did these pictures I looked at a few different photo websites and had picked out the shots that I wanted, but that flew out the window as soon as the shoot started. Not only was McKenna moving the whole time, but she decided that seeing as how she was naked she needed to pee on the black drop cloth, not once, but three times! Once when I was holding her!

I look at the pictures of the babies that are sleeping peacefully and wonder how did that happen? At one point Alan told us that she was by far the most active three week old that he had ever seen! I guess that is some kind of distinction, right? Oh well, she is ours and we couldn't love her more! These are just three of some of the awesome photos he took.

My Bathing Beauty!

2009-05-22T12:12:00.006-06:00

I was talking to Ashley a couple of days ago and she was like, you aren't even working, I don't know what you do all day, why are you posting pictures of McKenna? So here is what we have done thus far today.

Gave McKenna a Bath

And here is what she is doing right now...

It has been a busy day, what can I say?

It's not easy being a Mom!

2009-05-22T11:54:00.003-06:00

I never knew how difficult it was to be a Mom until I became one, I am not referring to the middle of the night feedings or the screaming for no apparent reason.

Earlier this week we had McKenna's 2 week check up where they did her second PKU test. For those of you who don't know what this is they prick your babies foot and then drip blood onto eight rather large circles on a piece of paper. I know that this sounds like no big deal, and I am know in the grand scheme of things it isn't. But, for a first time mother to sit there holding her screaming child while the nurse tells you that your baby is the best bleeder she has ever had, it is kind of traumatic.

I was telling my Mom about how I was almost in tears while this was happening and she told me I am definitely going to need to toughen up. Not exactly the sympathy I was looking for, but it made me think. The more I thought about this the more I realized that this is true.

It kind of hit me hard that this was the first time in McKenna's life that someone was hurting her and she was turning to me to make them stop and for comfort. It kind of scared me because I would do anything in the world to stop her from experiencing pain and being hurt, but I won't be able to shield her from so much. The world is such a big scary place, and you love your kids so much, how do you protect them from all of the bad stuff out there?

Introducing McKenna Lanae Garlick

2009-05-07T17:36:00.005-06:00

Our New Little Family

McKenna's First Bath

McKenna at Home

She is here! Our little McKenna was born Monday, May 4th at 4:18am. She weighed in at 8lbs 1oz, and there is a little discrepancy on her length. The hospital told us she was 18 1/2 inches, but when they measured her they kind of guestimated, so Dave measured her last night and she is actually 20 inches. We are pretty sure she didn't gain a couple of inches over night, so she was most like 20 inches when she was born.

It was a long weekend of waiting, but she is here and we are all doing great! We are all a little sleep deprived, but other than that, things are good! I still owe everyone pictures of me huge and pregnant and pictures of my house, but this post is just for my little girl!

I have to tell you, it is a crazy and amazing experience, becoming a Mom! I would highly recommend it to anyone! You think you love your baby when they are in you, but there is nothing like the experience of meeting your baby for the first time and the love you feel at that moment. It is pretty staggering. We love our little girl so much, it is so fun just to watch and see what she will do next!

Just to clarify for everyone, I was the one who picked her name, Dave left if up to me, and I choose McKenna. I know that it wasn't my first choice before she was born, but it fit her better than any of the other names we had come up with.

I am back, Finally!

2009-05-02T18:35:00.005-06:00

I feel like pretty much the biggest slacker when it comes to this whole blog thing! In my defense, we have had so much going on lately! Since I last posted Dave and I have bought a home and have gotten ready for our baby.

Yes, I know that I should definitely be posting some pictures of our home, but currently I don't have access to our camera cord, so I am posting without the pics. We are thrilled to death about our new home! We have been renting a home from my family pretty much since we got married, and yes, it was wonderful, and such a blessing, but there is nothing like owning your own home! We are especially thrilled that we have been able to get moved in and settled before our baby comes!

I am a huge slacker because I have promised various people that I would post pictures of me and my big pregnant belly, sorry guys, not on this post. (See reason above). I am not one of those people who thinks they look wonderful pregnant, so in all honesty we have not taken a lot of pictures of me pregnant. Dave did take some of me a couple days ago, and I will post them, I promise.

So I am currently sitting here in the hospital getting induced, which is probably why I was finally able to find time to blog, I am bored. Unfortunately a week ago my blood pressure went up, and when it was checked a couple of days ago it was higher. Anyway, so long story short, my doctor didn't want to risk it turning into pre-eclampysia so he is inducing me a week early. My baby will most likely be born sometime tomorrow. It is pretty crazy, Dave and are really excited though. I will post pictures of our little girl as soon as I am able. Oh, and by the way, we still have not decided on a name yet!

Baby Product Overload!

2009-01-22T13:26:00.003-07:00

I need help! Dave and I are trying to be smart as we buy all of the things that we are going to need for our baby, but wow, it is so overwhelming! There are so many products out there! I would love any advice you can give me on items that you loved and couldn't live without, and also items that I should avoid.

I especially need help with a stroller/car seat. There are so many options out there, ranging from $150 - $800; if you have one that you love, would you please let me know?

We are planning on registering soon, and any help you could give me on this would really be appreciated.

Our Big News!

2008-12-28T14:59:00.002-07:00

So I figured it was finally time to share our exciting news with everyone. Dave and I are going to have a baby. I know that this is kind of late announcing it as I am 21 weeks along, but hey, better late than never, right?
We found out a few weeks ago that we are having a girl! We couldn't be more excited! The funny thing was, for some reason we were sure that we were having a boy, but nope, it is definitely a girl! We have some great ultrasound pictures from an ultrasound we had at sixteen weeks, but for some reason I am having a really hard time posting them. I have another ultrasound this week, I will post the pictures from that one, assuming that they will even be better as she will be bigger and more developed!

We couldn't be more thrilled about our baby!

Frizz-Ease

2008-11-27T20:55:00.002-07:00

Hey everyone out there, I need help! Every year about this time my hair gets really frizzy due to static, it drives me nuts! I am sure it is due to our dry Utah winters, but there has to be some solution because I see other people with great hair all year long. If you have something that you would recommend to tame my wild hair, I would really appreciate any suggestions! HELP!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T20:51:00.002-07:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Hope everyone had a great day spent eating great food with people you love!

Twilight Mania!

2008-11-20T13:09:00.005-07:00

I have to confess, I am so excited for this movie to come out! I am going to the midnight showing tonight, and no, I am not dressing up as a character! I may be a big enough nerd to lose out on a lot of sleep and go into work exhausted tomorrow, but I am not big enough to dress up like one of the characters. Sorry to all of you out there who are going dressed up, that is just not me!

I have to admit that I am a little worried that this movie will fall so short of the book that it will be a huge let-down, I guess we will see. Once you see it you will have to let me know what you think!

My Crazy October In Review

2008-11-02T19:16:00.008-07:00

October was such a crazy month for Dave and I, we had so much going on. Not only did we have lots of fun activies like our annual Murder Mystery Party, my birthday, and the Witches night out, we also were kept busy when Dave started his new job, and we were absolutely blown away when I was called the Relief Society President! Things have been pretty nuts! Here are some great pictures from our Murder Mystery Party!

One Fine Saturday

2008-09-22T19:58:00.008-06:00

Last Saturday was amazing. You know how there are just some days that are really great, and they stick out in your mind? Well, that was last Sat. for Dave and I. After sleeping in, we got up and went up to the University of Utah Hospital to see Stephanie, Derek, and the triplets. Steph looked good, just exhausted, and the babies were adorable, so tiny. They are all in the NICU, and will be there for at least the next month. They all were under the jaundice lights, hence the cool little shades they are all wearing.

Baby Claire

Baby Brynn

Baby Lia
After seeing the babies we went down down to Provo to the BYU Football game! The game was a total blowout, BYU won Wyoming 44 - 0 ! It was fun, I think this was the first BYU football game that Dave and I have gone to together.

When the game was over we went and picked up Gauge at Dave's parent's and ran over to my parent's to say hi. While we were there Dave got a very important phone call. (A little background on this one, Dave has been applying and interviewing to get into the pharmaceutical industry as a pharmaceutical rep) He was called and offered a job! We were so excited because they told us they were going to let us know the day before, and since they hadn't called, we didn't think it was going to work out. We are thrilled at this new opportunity. It is great, because it is a two year contract and the area he will cover will go from Provo to Idaho Falls. Needless to say we will be staying in Utah for at least the next two years! What an awesome day!

Labor Day Weekend!

2008-09-06T08:58:00.013-06:00

I know that averaging one post a month is not exactly good, but I am working on it. Dave and I had a blast on Labor Day Weekend, we went up to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. He actually had to go up for work, and I tagged along, and then we ended up making a weekend out of it. It was so nice to get away. I have found that Dave and I get along so much better when we actually are around each other, who would have thought?

On Sunday we spent the majority of the day in Yellowstone, which was absolutely beautiful. It was really nice because it wasn't too hot or crowded. Our goal, (actually my goal) was too see lots of animals, we did pretty good, we saw lots of bison, elk, geese, deer, coyote, bear, moose, and ducks.

On Sunday night we got back into Jackson later than we had planned and it was raining and we were running all around looking for a restaurant that was open that served veggie options, you would think that wouldn't have been that big of a challenge, but believe me it was! We ended up at Bubba's BBQ, I have to say, I wouldn't really recommend it. It was definitely an experience!

It was a great weekend, but kind of sad, it means summer is over! It was far too short, there were so many things that we wanted to do, but didn't end up doing!

Dave listening to the BYU game (the speakers on my computer aren't very loud)

Me and Old Faithful

Dave and I at Yellowstone Falls

Dave and I at Old Faithful

Dave at Old Faithful

I'm Back!

2008-07-14T08:06:00.013-06:00

I am officially back in the blogging world!!! I know that I took quite a break! Dave and I have had so much going on this last little while! Last week alone he had scout camp and I and girls rough camp! Before that we went to St. George for our annual Garlick family vacation, Mike graduated from Orem High, we have another niece and nephew, and we have managed to squeeze in fishing a time or two! All of that along with work is my excuse for not blogging for a long time! Enjoy the pictures of our adventures over the last couple of months!

Peggy and I at Girls Rough Camp (I was the camp director, it was pretty crazy!)

Mike's Graduation from Orem High!

The Garlick Boys at Mike's Graduation

The Largest fish I have ever caught!

Kylee, Abi, and I at Zions

Brent and Denice at Zions

Dave at Zions

Stephanie, Mike, Jenette, and Denice on the Bus at Zions

Dave and Mike at Zions

Doctor Search!

2008-05-27T21:48:00.002-06:00

I am throwing this out there to anyone who can help me in my search. I need to find a good "Girl" doctor. I really don't like the one that I have gone to in the past, and on top of that he practiced in American Fork. Where I live in Salt Lake I am about ten minutes from two hospitals! I guess if the doctor is amazing then I am willing to drive to Utah County, but you can't tell me that there aren't any good doctors in Salt Lake County. There has to be at least one! So, if anyone can recommend a great doctor in Salt Lake I would really appreciate it! I have been looking, and asking around but unfortunately I haven't come up with anything yet! Please help!

Ireland!

2008-05-19T23:13:00.016-06:00

Okay, I have to admit, I loved Ireland! It is the most beautiful country! Ireland is the kind of country where everyone is so incredibly nice and helpful, and you can't beat the accents! As I am sure you can tell, this was the highlight of the trip for me.

We landed in Dublin and spent our first night in Kilkenny. We headed down the coast and spent our next night in Kinsale. At night we would go to the local pubs, it was awesome because we had the chance to listen to traditional and some not so traditional music. We spent the next two days in Dingle where we saw and did so many awesome things. There is so much to see and do there. Some highlights of the Dingle area for me were: the fort on the ferry hill, going on the dolphin boat, dinner in the pubs, and walking around the town late at night.

We then headed to Galway for the next couple of days. Galway was a fun city, it had a very college town feel, it was much more touristy. After two days in Galway we headed back to Swords, where we stayed and flew home the next day. Ireland was absolutely beautiful, I can't wait to go back and do the northern half now! I have a lot of pictures below!

Ash and I at Ventry Bay

The Beautiful Irish Countryside

Ashford Castle

Me at the fort on the Fairy Hill

Ash and Mom at the Rock of Cashel

The Dingle Peninsula

Ash and I at the grounds of Ashford Castle

Fungi the Dolphin

Cliffs of Moher

Me by a standing stone at New Grange

Muckross House

Prague, Finally!

2008-05-15T23:10:00.012-06:00

I am feeling really guilty, I have been back for about a week and a half from my trip, and I am just finally getting to posting! My trip was awesome! We saw and did so many great things in both Prague and Ireland. My next post will be all about Ireland. (I won't wait another week and a half)
The Czech Republic is a beautiful country! We had some pretty interesting experiences there. The language barrier wasn't too bad, meaning that quite a few people spoke English, not that we could even begin to understand Czech. Occasionally it was a bit of struggle, but we made due for the most part. We found that the people in Prague are pretty indifferent to tourists. They aren't outwardly rude, but they weren't incredibly accommodating either. With the exception of the man who ran our bed and breakfast, he was amazing! The food in Prague is not anything spectacular, they are into lots of grease and mystery meats! They are really big into sausages, too which I can't really understand. Prague was a gorgeous city, there are so many different types of architecture, it was very impressive. Warning, there are a lot of pictures here!

Astronomical Clock

Cathedral in Kutna Hora

Ash in front of the Cathedral in Kutna Hora

Mom, Ash, and I in a pub in Prague, about to try out some local food

My Mom was not too impressed with her food choice

The Cathedral in Prague

Ash and I at the St. Charles Bridge

Ash and I in the Bone Church in Kutna Hora (check out that awesome chandler)

Cemetery in the Jewish Quarter

Old Town Square

Bone Church!

2008-04-25T13:24:00.002-06:00

Today we went to Kutna Hora, this little town about an hour out of Prague. The town is okay, but by far the coolest thing about it is there is a bone church. This half blind slightly crazy monk way back in the 11th century decided to take human bones that were piling up everywhere and decorate a church with them!! It is a little weird, and kind of freaky, but cool at the same time. This Chandler in the picture has every bone in the human body in it, kind of gross! I have a lot more pictures of this place, I will post them when I get home!

Hello From Prague!

2008-04-24T13:25:00.002-06:00

I feel like a big slacker this month as I have not yet even posted! There just happens to be internet access at the bed and breakfast we are staying at in Prague, so I figured I would take a second to post.

Unfortunately I don't have my camera cord, so I can't post any pictures, I will do that when I get home, but this place is beautiful.

We are having a little bit of a challenge with the language barrier, but thus far it has not been that big of a deal. The places we go during the day are mostly touristy places, so everyone there speaks some degree of english.

Thus far we have been to Prague Castle and Cathedral, a Classical Music concert, St. Charles Bridge, the Lennon Wall, Korlova Street, the astronomical clock, and many other places! We have had some definite adventures while we have been here and we have been busy!

Today my Mom and Grandma even got brave and tried out some of the local food, the verdict? They weren't really fans. It involved some mystery meat and a lot of grease. I have some great pictures that I will post later.

By the way, it is so great to see Ashley again, we are having so much fun catching up on the last few months!

I will try to post another couple of times with updates on what we are doing while we are here.
We love and miss everyone!

A Big Hairy Job!

2008-03-29T13:12:00.009-06:00

Today I finally broke down and gave in to Dave's request that we shave Gauge. Actually, I was a little bit manipulated into it seeing as how Dave shaved just Gauge's tail, and he looked so funny I felt bad for him, so I decided we needed to shave all of him. Gauge is not a little dog, so this was a huge project!My little boy with just a shaved tail

Check out those legs!

My two-toned dog

Here I am busy at work

Here is Gauge before Dave came out to finish his head and ears

Dave doing the finishing touches

Here is the final product, my naked dog!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T22:18:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter!

Playing Cowboy with My Dad

2008-03-23T21:31:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was an awesome day, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my Dad and go horseback riding. I haven't ridden our horses since last fall, so it was nice to get on them again(even though I am a little saddle sore.) The weather was beautiful, and it was a perfect afternoon to spend with my Dad. This is one of our favorite things to do together. I think it is safe to say that my love of horses came from him.

Gauge came along too, and you can tell from the picture below he had a good time. It is so funny when he comes along with us when we ride because he is nervous around the horses, so he is careful, but he also wants to be close to me. It is kind of a funny little line he walks.

Prague, London, Here I come!

2008-03-17T23:11:00.005-06:00

I am so excited! My Mom and Grandma are going to pick Ashley up in Paris, they are going to visit in France for five days, then they are headed to Prague, Czech Republic. I am going to meet up with them in Prague where we will be staying for five days. Then we are headed to England for another five days! It will be another great trip for the girls! The four of us are going to travel and see some great sites! It will definitely be another great adventure! The best part of it is we are going to pick Ashley up! It will be so much fun to have her home again.

My, How things have changed!

2008-03-06T23:18:00.004-07:00

I want to preface this post by saying that I fully believe in trying to be a "good wife", but I don't think I could have survived in the 50's. Stephanie, my sister-in-law sent me this article, and I thought it was hilarious! You may have to click on it to make it big enough to read, but believe me, it is worth it! Personally, my favorite parts are "don't complain if he stays out all night", "his topics of conversation are more important than yours" and the classic, "you have no right to question him." What are your favorites? I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

March Madness, Book of Mormon Style!

2008-03-02T22:52:00.002-07:00

This month my ward is doing something new, we are reading the Book of Mormon in a month and a half. To do this we have get to read either 11 pages or 5 chapters a day to get done in the time allotted.We have been given a reading list, so we can mark off our progress as we go.

I am so excited for this challenge! I am an avid reader of the Book of Mormon, but I have to confess that Dave and I are not as consistent as we should be at reading it together, so now with this new goal I think this will help us to develop some great new habits! This will also be the fastest that I have read it, so I know that I am a huge nerd, but I love challenges like this! Another motivating factor to get us reading every night is the thought that if we get behind, just one day, that is a whole lot of catching up to do, 22 pages sounds a lot more overwhelming then 11! So here we are on day two already, and we still going strong!

Tagged, I'm It!

2008-02-26T23:22:00.002-07:00

Jessica tagged me, I'm it.... Okay, here I go.

1. Ten Years Ago....... I was finally getting my drivers license, I was cheerleading at Timpanogos, I don't know, what was I doing?

2. Five Things on My To-Do List....... Run, Go to Work, Wash Gauge, Clean Kitchen, Finish Book Club Book

3. Things I Enjoy..... Reading, My Ipod, Traveling, Horse Back Riding, Hiking with My Boys, Spending Time With My Family, The Outdoors

4. What Would I Do if I Were a Billionaire...... Travel, Invest, Shopping, Make it Through Dental School Debt-Free

5. Three Bad Habits...... Reading Way Too Late at Night, Picking my Split Ends, Stressing Over Small Things

6. Places I Have Lived....... Orem, Utah; Salt Lake City, Utah

7. Five jobs I Have Had..... Grocery/Deli at Sundance; Assistant Manager at Victoria Secret; Dental Assistant; Marketing Assistant Manager at NAI Utah; Closing Coordinator/Office Manager at Cottonwood Capital

8. Five Things People Don't know About Me....... I Don't Like Fish, I Want To Run A Marathon in the Next Couple of Years, I am Scared to Death of Driving in Bad Weather, I am a Night Person Striving One Day to Be A Morning Person, I would Like to Enjoy Gardening and Yard Work (thus far, I don't)

5 People I am Tagging.... Julianne, Callie, Stephanie, Ashley, and Summer! (Come On, Play Along)

Twilight Cast

2008-02-22T19:57:00.004-07:00

As previously mentioned in other blogs, I love the Twilight Book series, and I really want to love the movie, but thus far with the cast, I am not really feeling it. I know that when you read a book and love it, and then they make a movie after it is never the same, but sometimes they do a better job than others. For example, the Lord of the Rings, I think they did a really good job with that movie. I know that these characters would be especially hard to cast as they are all described very well in the books, but still, I think they could have done better! What do you think of the casting? Edward?

Importance of Wearing Sunblock

2008-02-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

Poor Dave! Yesterday he went snowmobiling, and forgot to wear sunblock. He did however, remember to wear a hat and sunglasses, now he has some great tan lines to show for it!

One Fabulous Saturday!

2008-02-02T23:03:00.000-07:00

Today was awesome, Dave and I went skiing at Deer Valley. I have to give Dave some serious props, it was his second time skiing and he did wonderful, he only fell once. I think today was a huge step in converting him over to skiing. The snow was perfect, a little icy, but other than that, perfect!

Deer Valley was hosting the Visa International World Cup, it was the Ski Cross and Dual Moguls today. It was so fun, the Ski Cross was going on right beneath the ski lift that we spent the majority of the day on. After we finished skiing for the day we hiked up to watch the dual moguls, I have to say that this is one of my favorite events. We just stayed for the trials, so there weren't that many people there which was really cool because we got close and personal with all of the athletes. I thought that this was particularly great because most of the people we saw today are going to end up at the Olympics, and I got to see them ski here at Deer Valley. Dave took some awesome footage, but I don't know how to rotate it, so sorry it is sideways.

A-BAT?

2008-02-01T23:37:00.001-07:00

Dave is convinced that this will be our next car, it is the Toyota A-BAT. Technically right now it is just a concept car, so purchasing one really isn't an option, but Dave thinks that we need one. We kind of have a thing for Toyota's, but he doesn't quite have me convinced on this one. I do think that this car grows on you the more you look at it though. The first time Dave showed me it I thought it was just plain ugly, and now I am thinking it is kind of cool looking. It kind of looks like a cross between a truck and an El Camino? One thing I think is awesome about this funky looking car is that it is not only a hybrid, but it also has solar panels in the ceiling to convert solar energy. So what do you think of this funky, futuristic car?