Necia's Married!!!

Yeah! Necia got married on Friday at the Snowflake Temple. I now have a new brother-in-law, Tyson. The wedding was so nice and special for them. So many family members from out of town and out of state came to support them. I loved getting to see everyone again.

My dad taking a break after rushing around all morning.


My little sister Emily and I with Necia and Tyson.


My brother Jeffrey and Ty.


Luke and my little cousins getting into trouble in the flowerbed at the luncheon.

The reception was that night in Tyson's parent's back yard and it was so beautiful. My mom got Luke a suit for the occassion and he looked SOOOOOO CUTE!!!! I couldn't help taking a billion pictures of him in it. I'm so glad everything turned out so perfect for Necia. Now she's off in Cancun somewhere having a blast, I'm sure.


Definitely has the potential to be a baby supermodel. Well, at least that's what mom thinks!


My brother Devin and Luke.


My sister Emily and I in our matching outfits that we loved!



Luke was the only other person out on the dancefloor dancing away during the newlywed's first dance.

Missions and Marriage

For all of you that know him, my little brother Jeffrey got his mission call a couple of weeks ago to Frankfurt, Germany. I'm so excited for him. He'll be my first sibling to serve a mission. I think we were all hoping that he would get to go to Germany, but didn't dare say it out loud. Our family has had numerous German exchange students over the years, some for only a couple of weeks and 2 stayed the whole year. In 2006 Ty and I chaperoned Jeffrey's high school German Club trip to Europe for 1 month.
My little sister Necia is getting married on Friday, and she'll be my first sibling to get married. I've been the lone married sibling for 4 years and I am more than ready for her to join me! This past weekend I went up to Snowflake to be there with Necia and Jeffrey as they went to the temple for the first time. I am so proud of both of them. On Saturday we also threw Necia one of the best bridal showers ever.

Necia and Jeffrey at the Snowflake Temple

Jeffrey, Ty and one of our exchange students Heidi at the Frankfurt, Germany Temple in 2006

Ty, Jeffrey, and Heidi in Frankfurt watching a world cup game on the river.

Ahoy Matey!

Ty and I have been meaning to do something special just the two of us for quite some time now, and we finally did it. On Thursday we set sail from San Diego on the Carnival Elation cruise ship for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We left Luke with my mom. I cried when I left him, and I was really worried that he would have a really hard time being away from us and make things really hard for my mom. Turns out he had a great time being spoiled rotten by his grandparents and aunts and uncles. Ty and I had a great time.
The view from our room. We were quite pleasently suprised when we got aboard that we got a room with two port hole windows. We had signed up for an inside room with no windows, because they are a lot cheaper. It was so cool being on this gigantic ship with ocean being the only thing you can see from all sides. We saw a lot of great shows and just relaxed and ate (they had good food all you can eat 24/7)a lot. Can I just say that all the drunk people were really entertaining too! The best part though was the day we spent on shore in Cabo. Ty and I signed up for an excursion that took us on a boat ride for 45 min. to this place called Chinleo Bay where we went snorkeling. The water was perfect and the fish were amazing. To quote my husband: "This is one of the coolest things I've ever done in my whole life!" Later we went by boat to see Lover's Beach. On one side of the beach is the Pacific Ocean and on the other is the Sea of Cortez. The beaches were just so perfect. Definitely a vacation to remember!

Every evening the housekeepers left us these towel animal creations on our bed. Cool!

Ty mini glofing on the ship in the middle of the ocean.

Every evening we went to a nice dining room where we got to order as many of the deliscious apitizers, entrees, and desserts as we wanted!



The seals basking on the rocks. We got a kick out of hearing them bark, and they sure are smelly creatures!

Us in front of the Lover's Beach.

Two very good looking snorkelers! j/k
Below- Ty snorkeling at Chinleo Bay


A seagul on our ship in the San Diego Bay with the U.S.S. Midway in the background.

Adventures in Mothering

So... As I was giving Luke a bath tonight the grossest thing happened. He pooped in the tub!!! Disgusting!!! This is something he has never done before. He was quite suprised by it too. Right after it happened, he saw it floating next to him and he started to cry. (I probally would have cried too had this happened to me!) I got him out and gave him to Ty to clean him off, then I set out to clean and steralize the tub and toys. First off, I called my mom. In all the stories she had recounted over the years from raising all 5 of us kids I remembered her talking about how my little sister used to poop in the tub when she was a baby "all the time". What's really gross was that I was usually in the same tub with her when she would do it. She explained the best way from her experience how to clean it, and it was a very disgusting process. At least now I have a very clean and sterile tub! This was the worst clean-up I've had to do since he was a newborn. When he was about 1 1/2 weeks old at about 2 a.m. I was changing his diaper and lifted up his legs to wipe him. All of a sudden poop shot out 4 feet out of this little tiny baby. No lie. No exaggeration. It was all over the floor and walls, at 2 a.m.. Anyways, I'm sure many more disgusting messes to be cleaned up lie in my future.

Tagged - from Luke's perspective

This might be really dumb, but just for fun I'm going to try to fill this out from Luke's perspective.
If I were to ask Luke and he could answer he would say...

A. Attached or single? very attached to mama
B. Best friend? my dada or my cousin Cambree
C. Cake or Pie? Even though mommy doubts that any of it gets into my mouth, cake is my favorite.
D. Day of Choice? Saturday, because dada is home all day
E. Essential item? blanket
F. Favorite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? Worms, I love dirt!
H. Hometown? Thatcher, Az
I. Indulgence? Otter pops
J. January or July? July, I don't really remember January
K. Kids? My favorite kind of people!
L. Life isn't complete without? Grandma and Nana
M. Marriage date? I'm thinking sometime around 2030
N. Number of brothers and sisters? 0 - so far. I don't know if I'd like to share mama and dada or my toys.
O. Oranges or apples? Orange peels are oh so yummy!
P. Phobias? Mommy being in another room, running out of popsicles
Q. Quotes? "No-No" - Mom
R. Reasons to smile? screwdrivers, shoes, dogs, etc.
S. Season of Choice? It's probally going to be Fall, because Mom will let me play outside more
T. Tag some peeps: None of my peeps can read, but whoever reads this and thinks it might be fun to do it go ahead!

U. Unknown fact about me? I like to play with tampons
V. Vegetable? Mom tries, but the only ones I'll eat are carrots and corn
W. Worst habit? I eat food off the floor
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound- it took my first pictures!
Y. Your favorite food? Otter pops and flaming hot cheetos
Z. Zodiac sign? No clue!

Camping Fun

This past weekend Luke, Ty and I went up to Mt. Graham and stayed at Ty's grandma's cabin. It was so nice! I can't even describe it. We pulled up and it just felt good. It did take a lot of work to get everything ready to go for our 24 hour trip, but it was worth it. Ty grilled. We read. Luke explored. Saturday morning we went on this really nice hike near the top of Mt. Graham by Treasure Park to see a waterfall that Ty remembered hiking to as a Boy Scout. We stopped and let Luke play in the water and he loved it, once he got used to it.
On my own little tangent, can I just say that this summer is way better than last summer. Luke was just a newborn, and I had such a hard time adjusting to being a new mom. To go from being a student and then working full-time with people I loved to being at home full time with a new, very demanding baby was really difficult for me. It was opressively hot outside all the time in Scottsdale, and I just felt trapped in our dim apartment. I didn't know any other young moms that lived nearby. Is it just me, or does no one ever tell people how hard and 24/7 demanding it is being a mom? The hardest part was realizing that a lot of my hopes and dreams would have to be put on hold for a whild and maybe forever in order to be the best mother to my son. Have any of you ever felt the same way? Not to say that last summer was all bad and hard, because it did have it's high points and I was blessed with a healthy baby that was happy most of the time. Also,I love my son more than anything, it's just that this summer has been better. I'm loving living in Thatcher. I'm making friends with other moms in our ward. I enjoy living close to Ty's family and being able to visit with them a lot more. I LOVE having a house of our own and a yard. Luke is not nearly as dependant as last year, and I've been able to do more things for myself. For example, taking a tennis class with Chantel really cool because I learned something new. I've loved taking Luke swimming, outside to play, and on little vacations. I also understand now that being a mother is the most important thing that I could every do in this life. I love my job, and I have fully embraced it now. This perspective has helped me a lot too. The best news is that the summer still isn't quite over yet!

A look at the last couple weeks

These last few weeks have been busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Here's some pics of the last 2 weeks. Starting with tonight.

Luke walked around tonight for an entire hour with his last mouth-full of dinner in his right cheek! He just went about doing what he normally does and it didn't slow him down. Ty finally made him spit it out so that we could brush his teeth before bed.



I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time Monday and Tuesday with my friend Savannah and her little girl Rhylan before they moved to Mississippi today. Luke and Rhylan are just a month apart. Savvy and I already had their futures planned out together before they were born. Anyways, we had fun at the park in Pinetop. We fed the ducks a burnt waffle. Luke loved throwing the bits of waffle at the ducks. Rhylan just ate the waffle. For some strange reason known only to one-year-olds, they both wanted to drink out of the other one's sippy cup over their own. I will definitely miss them, but I'm really excited for their big adventure move to the South.

Also while I was in Lakeside I went wedding dress shopping with my little sister Necia. We went to the shop in Show Low where I rented my dress from, and they had the exact same dress that I wore on my Wedding still there. I had to put it on again just one last time.

A little over a week ago, I took Luke to the swimming pool. He was playing on one of those lounging beach chairs and fell. Two of his bottom teeth poked through the skin just below his lip. He started screaming and I was scared to see blood coming from both the inside and outside of his mouth. (It might be hard to see from the picture.) I'd heard stories of teeth going through kid's skin before and it always ended with scars and the kid needing stiches. I was suprised when it was all cleaned up that it was only a tiny little cut. Once the lifegaurd gave him a popsicle Luke was fine.

My cousin Lauren got married on our 4th anniversery, August 7th. Ty and I got to eat breakfast together, but that was it. I went down to Mesa that night for her wedding with Luke. It was so much fun to see all my family again at the wedding. The next night in Pima she had a reception, and I had so much fun danceing like I hadn't since I was in college.

We also had lots of fun just being at home too. This is Luke trying on his dad's work boots. He loves shoes!

Rhino Ride

On Saturday Ty and I took his parent's Rhino out for a couple of hours at 6am. We went up to Fry Mesa and the Pot Holes. When we went to EAC we went up there in a truck and it was miserably slow going, but on that Rhino the road was a piece of cake. We had so much fun! Special thanks to Ty's mom for watching Luke for us, and letting us have a little adult fun! Here's a few pics.

Water fall at Fry Mesa

My new favorite picture of Ty!

We hiked a little bit to get to the pot holes water falls. Then a little bit of spontaneity took over and we decided to climb up to the slide and go down! It was so fun and soooo cold!