tradition

i hope your easter was a wonderful as ours. 

when it comes to holidays and traditions i'm pretty low key. there a few things that i try to do with each holiday, but there is little fanfare. i get stressed out when there are plans and parties and expectations. i like my holidays to be easy and flexible. 

i had planned a few things for easter. we woke up in the morning and did easter baskets. then we got ready for the day and went to church. when we came out of the chapel three hours later it was warm and bright and all the trees were blooming. 

i stood under a tree and look a picture of those blossoms and thought "there's no way we're staying inside today." 

is my time better spent in the kitchen fixing a big holiday meal, or outside enjoying the day with my family? 

we put tradition to the side and enjoyed the beautiful day together. outside. as a family.

easter photo shoot

they were power rangers

belated 4th

we had a belated 4th of july this year. we had our fireworks and everything, but my hunk of a husband went and hurt his back at the gym just hours before we were going to head out for the planned festivities. utah changed its fireworks laws so people have been setting off fireworks late into the night for the past month. we joined them a couple nights ago and finally set off ours.

can you believe that my boys have never seen sparklers before?? jackson was all over them, but i couldn't get payton to hold one. he was convinced it would light him on fire. hopefully i can convince him next year that he won't combust from holding a sparkler.

birthday

i asked these two turds for something very important for my birthday.

i wanted quiet.

i knew that was a lot to ask of these guys. so instead of telling them to be quiet all day long i just asked them not to fight. i also asked them to speak kindly to each other and keep a smile on their face all day long. 

guess what they did....

they found a way to fight, with smiles on their faces, and with kind voices.

don't let these pictures fool you. they are legitimately fighting.

and i was legitimately pissed.

yellowstone

we took a day trip to yellowstone. that place is a-may-zing. one day just doesn't do it justice. next time i want to camp out for a week. i couldn't pick just a few of the random pictures that i took, so prepare for "operation yellowstone picture overload"

most of the pictures are small so feel free to click on them to get a better look if you so desire :)

{Christmas}

Nate was able to come home for Christmas!  We were so busy having fun that the only time I got the camera out was when we went to the temple for the Christmas lights.  

We had a great time, and now he's back "over there". 

We miss you babe!