Reunion Fun!!!

We had a fun two day reunion with Scott's Mom's side of the family. I really can't say enough good things about how awesome Scott's family is. His 4 brothers and sister are amazing, my 4 sister in-laws have become my dearest friends and Scott's Mom & Dad are absolutely the best in-laws you could ever ask for. Then you add all of Scott's Aunts & Uncles and their amazing kids and children, put it all together and you have an amazing and fun bunch of people at an amazing and fun Family Reunion!!!

Brother & Sister.. doesn't get much better than this!!!

This is Tommy (Scott's brother) & his 3 year old son Tyty. Don't you love Tyler's hair!!!

Grandma Margaret, Jake and 8 month old Emma waiting for the talent show to start.

The picture on the far right is of Jake and his Uncle Steve cooking a fish that Steve caught in the river! It was delicious!!

Courtney and Grandma Cole at the camp fire.

You can see how thrilled baby Emma is with being held by her Uncle Scott. It almost looks like she's on the verge of an anxiety attack, poor little girl. Scott doesn't look too thrilled either. Lol!!!

Courtney having fun!

My sister in-law, Elise, took this picture with her awesome camera. The kids had a blast playing in the river, even the ones that didn't have a bathing suit. Lol!!

Elise also took this picture of me holding my niece Emma whom I call my little monkey. Love her to death!!

This picture says it all... two days of fun equal dirty and tired but all worth it!!

More Summer Fun!!

I'm still trying to catch up on all our fun!! Here are a few more highlights of our summer. Enjoy!

You can't have a summer go by without visiting the Hogle Zoo.

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McDonalds & a movie..best party ever!!!
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Logan's 8th Birthday Party at his favorite restaurant, Texas Road House!

Happy Birthday Logan !!!!!

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Sunday dinner at Emily & Steve's house!

Courtney & her cousin, Jane, dressing up as Disney Princesses.

Jake & his cousin Josh getting ready to box.

I wish I had taken a better picture of this little house that is in Emily & Steve's back yard. Emily made it into a little girl play house for her 5 year old daughter Izzy. It's such an amazing little house with a play kitchen,table, vanity set etc... The entire room is painted pink and decorated all girly. You should of seen Courts face when she saw this amazing little play house.. pure excitement!!!

Here is Courtney playing in the play house. Completely in Heaven!!

Holy Crap I'm 30!!

Yes, it's true... I'm officially 30 years old. Super crazy because I honestly never thought I would ever be 30 and yet here I am. I won't lie and tell you I'm happy to be 30. It's taking some mental adjustment to fully accept this new age but I'm ok, no tears but no excitement either. Lol! Do you know what's so crazy, is how I used to perceive 30 year olds. When I heard someone was 30, I honestly thought they were ancient. Lol!! I also remember thinking that if the day ever came and I did turn 30 my life would all be put together, I would completely know who I was, I would have no insecurities, I would be wise, rich and mature. Seriously, I used to think all of this... too funny eh!!

So, here I am at age 30 and sadly my expectations were way too high. Lol!! I'm still the same me just a little older. I'm still living each day trying to be a good person, wife and mother but most days I seem to be on survival mode and I know it's crazy but somedays I feel like my biggest accomplishment in the day is just getting through the day. I'm still getting to know me and I'm learning to love me. Sometimes I discover strengths that I never knew I had but mostly I try to work on my many weaknesses. I'm still trying to figure out this whole motherhood thing as it constantly gives me different challenges and situations to fix, learn and get through. And, I'm still trying to figure out how to plant a money tree.

But, in all honesty, I have nothing to complain about. Although my expectations of 30 were crazy, I think I'm doing pretty darn good because I truly love my life. I'm healthy, I have two beautiful and healthy children, a husband who adores me, I live in a beautiful house with amazing neighbors. I have amazing friends, I have an incredible family and incredible in-laws and most of all I have the gospel. I'm truly blessed.

So, after all of my deep thoughts and preparation for this new stage in my life, I have come to conclusion that if this is what 30 means then bring it on!!!!

My sweet husband threw me a surprise party a week before my birthday. It was revenge for the surprise party I threw him last year but he did it so much better. Scott knows I hate being center of attention and would most likely die of embarassment if I walked into a huge crowd of people. So he ended up planning a small surprise party that was absolutely perfect for me.

He had my Mom and Dad invite me out for a birthday dinner at Olive Garden. In all honesty I didn't want to go as I was feeling kind of sick but my Mom kept insisting I had to. I walked into the restaurant and there sitting at a big table were my dear friends. Complete surprise!!! My parents, Scott and my kids took off and I ended up with a fun girls night out!! Again, the perfect surprise party!

Thank you Scott! I love you!!!

I still can't believe how much my friends spoiled me... dinner, gifts, and a movie (we saw Eclipse) ... seriously way too much but so fun!!! I can't tell them enough thank you's, not only for my fun surprise party but for being my friends.

Thank you gals!!! I love you!!!

More pictures from my Dad's Iphone!

This is Simone, Lindsey, Julie and Brandi. Don't I have the cutest friends ever?

Me, Tonya, Steph and Amy.

Celebrating my birthday with my family. Thanks fam!!!
I love you!!!

My real Birthday. Scott surprised me with a red velvet birthday cake that he made all by himself. I was seriously impressed and it even tasted good!! If you're wondering why I have a towel on my head, we had just gotten home from a family reunion which happened to land on my birthday. It was fun but a little embarrasing with everyone wishing me a happy birthday. Again, I hate being the center of attention. But, I survived and it turned out to be a really great Birthday!!

I read this quote somewhere... I think it's hilarious and fits me perfectly!

Turning thirty isn't all that bad
After all, they say it's the new twenty
So you're actually safe for ten more years
Until you turn the dreaded forty!

I guess I better enjoy my 30's before I hit the dreaded 40's!! Lol!!

Scott's Mancation

Scott and two of his friends, Miguel and Ered took off to California for what they call a "Mancation". They drove a total of 14 hours to Monterey California to watch the Moto GP races. In laymen's terms... Motorcycle Races. The races were 3 days and from what Scott has told me, he had a blast!

They camped at a campground near the races, everytime I talked to Scott on the phone I either heard loud engine noises or loud music in the background. A band was set up about 100 ft from Scott's tent so each night he fell asleep to really loud music.

The picture is of a guy doing motorcycle tricks. Scott shot a video of it to show me and it's really pretty cool!

Here are some cool shots of the races. Scott has made me watch a few races on TV and it really does amaze me how fast and low these racers get on their bikes. They average about 200 miles per hour.

Crazy eh!!

Scott's favorite racer is Ben Spies from America but sadly he didn't win and ended up coming in 5th place.

More crazy pictures!!

My favorite story of Scott's 'Mancation' were the trailer showers he took. Scott swears they weren't gross but I don't believe him at all. I guess it's a huge truck trailer that is set up with individual shower stalls for people to shower for free. Gross eh!! Lol!!

The last day they watched the final race then drove 9 hours to St. George. They arrived in St. George at 1am and woke up at 6am to drive the last 5 hours home for Scott to get to his family reunion which sadly entailed more camping. Poor guy eh! He was pretty exhausted when he got home but again he had a ton of fun and has already tried talking me into going with him next year. Let me think about it... NO!

Motorcycle Races + Guy friends = The Perfect Mancation!!!

Swimming

Like most kids, my kids love the water and with this love comes a lot of hot summer days spent at the pool. Here are a few pictures of some of our pool fun!!

Courtney at the Layton Surn N Swim. I love how blue her eyes look in this picture. She's our little California Beach Baby!!

I'm so grateful for my family and especially Heather & Justin who have spent so much time with Jake and Coco in the water this summer. Yes, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a big, big, big, wimp when it comes to water. I have a love hate relationship with it... I love to swim but I hate being cold. So, thankfully I have my family and hubby who seem to never get cold in the water and who are so willing to spend hours playing and swimming with my kids. They're all awesome!!!

We celebrated Logan and my cousin Paul's birthday at the Roy Pool. The Roy Aquatic center is my kids favorite pool!

Justin talked Jake into jumping off the high diving board. I was a little scared watching Jake jump the first time, I had my whole Life Guard mode on... ready to jump in and save him. But Jake did great and had absolutely no problem. Since then, he has probably jumped over 5o times!!

Here is my Canadian cousin Kamille and her little daughter Dawson!

Here's my little dare devil going on the 'fast slide'!!! Justin taught Jake how to go down extra fast and then taught him to skip on the water with his butt (kind of hard to explain). I wish I had taken a video of it as it's quite impressive...maybe next time!!!

Side note: Last night Scott told me that my blog has become really boring, the sad thing is, I couldn't argue with him.. I totally agree. So, I feel I need to apologize about this and tell you I'm sorry for boring you all. Lately I 've been feeling like I'm in a blog rut... I've almost been blogging for a year and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to share, how much I want to share, is my blog for my scrap book purpose only or am I ready to use it more as a journal and share more of me??? So many questions??? So.. in the mean time please bare with me as I continue to post all of my families summer adventures and hopefully by the end of this month I'll have figured out where I want to go with my blog and hopefully start making it more exciting, if not for you.. at least for my husband!! LOl!

Bountiful Fun!!

My cousins, Paul & Kamille and their 3 adorable daughters from Canada, came down for a visit. We had so much fun with them. One evening we went to Bountiful to a park where we built a camp fire and played in the river. A perfect evening!!

Here's the whole gang at the camp fire!
(Scott was in California and my Dad was sick at home with shingles, we missed them both).

Jake and Logan helping their Nana build a fire!

The beautiful river we played in.

Little Elliot!! I couldn't get enough of her cute little face.. She's a doll! Jake loved playing with Elliot, a few days after they had gone home, Jake came to me and said in a really sad voice... "Mom, I'm missing Elliot right now". Too cute eh!

Kamille and little Dawson. Dawson was Court's favorite as she loves babies!!

Trying to take a picture with my Coco.

The wiener roast was hialarious. It was such good experience for Jake and yet quite a funny one... Jake kept complaining about how hungry he was and then became frustrated with having to cook his own food let alone it taking longer than a minute to cook it. Made me realize that I need to have Jake help me in the kitchen more and not use my microwave as much. Spoiled little 20th century kid!!!

I love Court's dirty face and messy hair in this picture :)

To Paul & Kamille: We are totally going to take you up on the offer of staying in your home, most likely it will be next summer but can't wait to see you again. Thanks for the fun!!!