ELI

My brother Eli came her on Saturday and plans to stay through the rest of this week. It has already been so much fun ! My favorite thing to do with him is SHOP! He loves it as much as I do! Plus, I know if I ask him about something I try on, I will get an honest opinion. (added bonus).


(I think we really shopped til' we dropped)

We dropped the kids off to school and spend the day shopping away in St. George. He bought me a FAB pair of new sunglasses, (totally my style) and some fabulous jewelry. What a sweetheart!!


I am so glad to have this time to spend with him. He sends in his papers in a month. So this will be the last large amount of time we get to spend with him before he leaves! We are so excited for him to experience this opportunity to serve the Lord. He is such a great kid and we will miss him so much!

I am sure we will post more soon! We have a lot planned!!

Lots of Fun

I had so much fun with Han while she was here. The second day she was here I treated us to facials and deep conditioning treatments. I am sure we scared the girls who took care of us. We made them ramble off there celebrity crush's and made them play a fun game of "Which would you rather". I couldn't stop giggling!!

Some of the other fun things we did were....go out on a date night with our hubby's to Winger's without all the kiddos. It was a BLAST!!! I have missed Banaan..(our nickname for Hanna) so much!! I miss hanging out with them and being able to do stuff like that!

We also bought necklace stuff and made some Fab and trendy necklaces and earrings, watched movies, had yummy homemade Jamba juices (courtesy of Chris), shopped in St. George, caught up on some series (heehee), Hanna treated me to YUMMY Sushi, took pictures, went site-seeing, stayed up way to late and loved it, talked about life, and of course laughed, laughed, and laughed!!

We also got to go to Kolob Canyon and show them how beautiful this place is! It has so much to offer. I wish we could have shown them more sites, but it seems no matter who comes to visit there is never enough time!

Of course the guys got to go dirtbikin' almost every day and go piant balling twice! Beau had so much fun with Chris! It was nice for him to be able to do some of the things he loves with somebody who like it too!

Thank you so much for coming guys! We miss you so much already and hope you plan another trip soon...Vegas here we come baby!!(wink wink)

Also, check out their couple session too, by clicking here!
These two are seriously too GORGEOUS for their own good!!

Birthdays, Birthdays, and Birthdays

September is such a wonderful month! It is packed with all three of mine and the girls birthdays, all in the same week! Poor Caleb has it rough watching both the girls celebrate and getting nothing. But we explain to him that his "special" day will come and then it is ALL about him. I also get to tell him that just like Savanah and Kenny get to celebrate close together, when the new baby comes, he gets to be close in birthdays with the new baby too!

First of all, I wasn't going to mention anything about my birthday, but feel like I really need to because I got soooo spoiled. Seriously my sister kept saying "Is the doorbell ever going to stop ringing." So a huge thanks to my friends for spoiling me rotten and my family! I love you guys! Also to all the thoughtful phone calls, gifts, emails, and cards that were dropped by. And a HUGE thanks to my sweet and thoughtful husband who surprised me a week earlier with a four wheeler! I am super excited about it! Then on my birthday he surprised me and ordered the lens I have been eyeballing for sometime! And of course my sister who surprised me and came on my birthday! It was the best surprise of all! I enjoyed every minute of her and her families company!!

Savanah celebrated her birthday on Saturday and had a huge party. She had a pizza party, with face paintings (thanks Hanna), games, and a Pinata. She was so excited to have her cousins there too! I don't know what I would have done without Hanna here to help me!! I feel so sick most the time that her help was so greatly appreciated and needed!!

Then on Monday we had a small little celebration for Kennedy! She opened her presents and we sang to her too! She thought that was soooo special! I can't believe she is ALREADY three! Time is moving too quickly!!

I had to also show you our favorite "adopted" grandparents in the ward. Their names are Fred and Betty Jo Dunnell and we love them to pieces. Betty Jo and I have always shared such a special bond from the first time we met! She is the one who taught me how to bake bread ad use my wheat grinder. They stopped by to give the kids a little gift for their birthdays. Kenny loves Fred, asks for Fred all the time, and asked to invite him to her birthday party. She sits by them at church and they are so sweet to our children! WE LOVE THEM!!!

Beau and Chris Dirtbikin'

Part of the fun of having Hanna, Chris, and their kids here was the fact that Chris and Beau got to go motorbike riding every day! With the hours Beau has worked lately there hasn't been much time for him to ride, so it was nice for him to be able to go and also have someone to go with!!

They went to the Parowan Gap, Three Peaks, and Warner Valley in St. George. Here are a few clips from their excursions!

This is Beau jumping Chris at the Parowan Gap.





This is Chris jumping Beau at the Parowan Gap



I have more footage for another post!

This is the jump in Parowan. (This is Beau)




Chris's turn.......

Gorgeous Family Photos!!!

I have lots of new pictures and posts to catch up on. My sister Hanna and her family came last Wednesday to surprise me for my birthday and stayed for a week. It was so much fun and I cried after they left. I miss having my sisters close! It was hard to see her go!!

While I am trying to organize my pictures and get recent events in order to post....enjoy this new photography session with her beautiful family!! They are my new favorites! And wait until I post more from their couples session too! Seriously breathtaking!!

To view the rest of their family session click here!!

FINALLY!!!!

I have dreamt and thought about nothing else for over a year now. I am not like other women who hate being pregnant. I REALLY enjoy it! And trust me I could get into a whole long blog about how HARD and HORRIBLE my last pregnancy, delivery, etc. was. But STILL, even as hard as it was, I still enjoy being pregnant!

I LOVE the feel of a child moving and growing inside of me. I love having a belly. I love the closeness I feel to the Lord. I love the vivid spiritual dreams and experience that I have while pregnant. I love the closeness of the spirit and that feeling once the baby is delivered that is in the room, well you all know, is indescribable!! Many of you know that with my last baby I was robbed of all of that. I had a "natural" c-section, in the sense the T-blocker didn't take, so I felt everything but the incision. SO I crave to have a GOOD experience again! I even crave this:


This is me at almost 9 months pregnant with Kennedy. I had three days until my c-section. So one week before I was due! So if any of you haven't caught on yet.....

YES!! WE ARE FINALLY PREGNANT!!! It feels so surreal because for so long now it hasn't happened for us. But we are so excited and have been feeling for so long that our family has been missing somebody!!

So in my own defense, to all those I have flaked out on recently and been unreliable too, I am sorry! I know that many know it isn't like me, but I have been really sick. And as luck always has had it for me, I will continue to be. But I wouldn't trade any loss of meals, lack of appetite, or exhaustion, for this experience once again!!! I hopefully can reschedule the many appointments I have canceled and get back to feeling OK soon!

I have another post I will try to get to soon. I filmed the kids when we told them! They have been so excited and soooooo SWEET to me! Hopefully I am not jumping the gun by telling everyone so soon, but I am too excited and to sick to try to hide it!!!

Another Session

Check this session out too!! What a little CUTIE!!! Click HERE!!

BALLOONS dot the SKY

One thing I LOVE about living here is "Sky Fest." Hot air balloons temporarily take over the skies for three days! It is a beautiful site to see and something our family loves!! The first year we moved here we saw this happen right across from our house~

That's right! This balloon came straight down into the tree across the street . Lots of people ran over to help...but of course...I grabbed my camera! (HA..sad..but true)

The next year it was canceled because of wind. But this year was perfect weather!! Total Balloon worthy!! Here is what we saw!!

And of course, as luck would once again have it, here comes a balloon down to the ground, exactly where we were. It didn't crash this year like the the one in the tree. But something must have gone wrong because they put it up. But the kids got to be UP CLOSE and see the inside of the balloon too!!

It is funny how many people have lived here their whole life and don't enjoy the many festivals, nature, Utah Summer Games, Jeep National rock crawling, and many more things this city has to offer!! I LOVE all of it! We just can't get enough!!

Oh and also check out the new session on my photography blog by clicking here! This handsome guy was so much fun!!

I possess "THE POWER OF THE SECRET"

(look at this messy faced girl!)

I have been wanting to learn to make hats for awhile now. I finally woke up on Saturday, last week, and decided that this would be the day I would go to Roberts to buy a knitting loom and try it out. Well, Beau and I had to run to St. George to do a little shopping. Of course while we were there I had to stop at the DI (my fav) and browse. And guess what I found? A pack of three knitting looms for the total whopping price of $1.50!! I was so excited.

The funniest part of finding the looms, is every time I have gone to the DI with my dad or by myself, I say something out loud that I wish or hope I will find. And every time I have been with him I find exactly what I was looking for. (The whole set of Anne of Green Gables, The complete work of Jane Austen, My Kitchenaid, etc. ) If any of you have read the book "The Secret", you will laugh because my dad always tells me I possess the "Power of the Secret" hahaha. (I am laughing while I am typing because I read the book, and believed the basic principle behind the book, but found NO BIG secret about it. Plus my sister Hanna would say over and over to us sisters, when the book became popular, "The secret's out" which makes me laugh hysterically every time! Ha!)

So dad if you are reading this, I REALLY do possess the "power of the secret." HAHAHA (yeah right!)Maybe next time I am out and about I should hope to find a bag of millions of dollars, ya think? HA!!

Here are a few pictures of some of the hats I have already made. I am so excited to make a variety of colors and clip all sorts of flowers and bows to them for the girls to wear!!





I already ran out and bought lots more yarn! I guess I know what I will be doing on those cold winter days. The best part is once I figured it out it was fairly simple. I think Savanah might be able to learn as well. So now I know what we will be making for her friends Christmas gifts and Caleb's as well.

BuSy BuSy BuSy

Life here has been so busy for us! So many things are going on !

One of the guys that works with Beau is retiring so this means more "On -Call" for Beau. He is on his third week in a row of being "on-call". I am starting to feel the strain and can't wait until I get him at nights! He is such a great guy! He never complains about his job. He loves it and loves providing for us!! I am so lucky and so very blessed!!

Savanah and Caleb have been loving school. They like to pick their clothes out the night before, and have everything ready! I will start helping out in each of their classes soon too! It has been fun to have free time with just Kennedy. Kennedy has been loving the time she gets with me and asks to go "shop" everyday. (oh, a girl after my on heart.)

We have had so much Zucchini, tomato's, squash, and other veggies. I have been keeping busy baking, freezing, and canning. I shredded all of the Zucchini and packaged them in freezer bags so we could make Zucchini dishes all year round. We have made fresh salsa every night and down it before we have a chance to save it!

I made Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread last night and man was it good!! (click on the title, for the recipe). I have also cut up all of my banana squash and have gotten them ready for freezing as well. I am excited to have healthy options even through winter!

We have also been trying to finish some of our outside projects before it is to late. Our sandbox is almost finished. We got new trees planted, and our fire pit is ready to be finished. We also finally got the kids a trampoline. I don't know why it took me forever to get one. I am so glad we have one now.

With that fresh, crisp, cool, feeling in the air. My heart gets excited with anticipation for Fall and all it has to offer. My favorite time of year!! I love the colors. I love wearing sweaters, hoodies, and jeans. I love the feel of the cool air against my cheeks. I love the crackling sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet. Everything about Fall makes me feel connected to the earth .(Silly, I know, but true) I love the Holidays associated with Fall. Fall makes me grateful to live on this beautiful earth. It reminds me of family, of picture taking, and parties. Oh I can already smell fresh mulled cider and apples thinking of Fall and I am ready!!

~BriNg on tHe LeaVes!!~

Oh and check out this bad boy tutu I won on a blogger contest! I never win anything! I can't wait to do a photography session using this!!

This site is so cute! Thanks Devyn for telling me about it! I owe you a free session with that new baby for helping me win this!!