Yes, I started writting this on the 7th of Aug...

I've been so busy. You all know the feeling, so busy that you don't have time to blog and when you actually do have some time you definately don't feel like running your fingers across the keyboard at 60 wpm. You'd rather be laying on the couch either sleeping or watching mindless television. So yeah, that's me. Only we don't have a tv. So I fill my time crafting, hanging out with my hubby, playing with my children, finally finishing project that need to be finished (minus this blog that I started a month and a 1/2 ago.), cleaning, organizing playing board games, surfing the internet and watching movies on our lap top. So here's the past and present of what's been happening. I'll try to keep it short but just so you know, it won't be. :)


In the middle of July we went on a delightful trip to St. Louis for some sightseeing, Carmedic meeting and then made our way down up to Nauvoo, IL to celebrate our 5 year anniversary early(Love you baby!), to meet up with my best friend from high school and her family, and Joseph's sister and her family. I'll get to those pictures later. I don't want to bombard anyone. We flew back into Las Vegas to pick our girls up from Nonie and Pop's house (Yes...that's what that means....we were alone for a WHOLE week...just me and my sweetheart!) and met up with our old friends in Las Vegas and the Cox family from St. George. We came home to AZ, Joseph stayed to work and the girls and I went back out 2 days later on a 16 hour drive up to Island Park, Idaho for a family reunion near Yellowstone National Park. On our way there we stoped and stayed the night with the McQuistons, the family I nannied for. On our way back home, we got to stop in Provo to see my sister 'n law and their kids. Ella was in heaven b/c Lindsey has a 5 yr old girl and 3 yr. old tripplets, she had a TON of friends. When we go on vacation we don't mess around. :)

So here's a rundown (part one)of our summer in picture form:


My brother Lincoln graciously made the 16 hour drive from Mesa, AZ up to Island Park, ID with me. (He's sitting like a mile away from us due to a really nasty burn on his leg, not b/c we stink)


We stopped in SLC to spend the night and some quality time with the McQuiston Family who I nannied for when I was 19. I love them like my own family.


Ella absolutely adored McKinley and wouldn't leave her side. McKinley was about 6 months older than Ella when I started nannying for them. Crazy!


Ella and I at the begining of the trip. Carly stayed at the cabin with my parents. Probably the best idea. This float trip was super long!



My brother Noah in the back, my brother Adam and his cute wife Ashley.


Our float trip was so long Noah peed himself. He seemed pretty proud of himself.


...And Ella was fully disgusted.



I was bored so I started a river grass fight. So gross to have slimey river grass and algea flung at you but it was fun and we were laughing so hard our mouths AND stomachs hurt.

Ella even got in on it. (about 5 min after the fight died down we soon found gross worms all over us from the rivergrass and even a leach! EEEEEeeeewwwww! Good call Morgan, great idea.


My two crazy brothers. Noah and Adam. We kept hitting low spots in the river and Noah found a stick to pull us out.


Longest float trip ever. It seriously was like 4 hours long! Just slowly floating down the river. Ella was totally knocked out the last hour of the trip.


My sibs minus Lincoln and of course Joseph isn't in it. From left to right...Brother Noah, Sister Ashley, Ashley's BF Sam, Ella in Sam's lap, Me and Carly, Sis 'n law Ashley, Brother Adam and Trudy.


Back at the cabin, my big sis Ashley and little bro. No-No and their perfect Chandler Bing smiles.


Clinging on to the girls at an awesome waterfall in Yellowstone. Right off this ledge was a freaky drop off.



Me and Carly. (if you couldn't tell)


Ella and Ashley. (Ella is posing. ha ha. She's going through this posing stage so be sure to watch for it in all the pictures of her.)


Carly chill'n at Old Faithful.

Ella and Trudy (Adam and Ashley's dog). They were fast friends.


Carly and Ella hiking. They were so good the whole trip. Probably from so much to see. (Another pose for Ella)





hiking some more.



Another one of Ella's poses.

Big News From Joseph

Well, I think some of you already know this, but Me and Morgan have some big news, that I'm sure you're all dying to know. About a month and a half ago, I got a call from A guy in Dallas, TX who is with The Carmedic, asking me if I was interested in coming back to the company. After alot of thoughts, prayers, phone calls and long talks we made our decision and told him Yes. So To make a really long story short, We went to a meeting with The Carmedic Board of Directors, to tell them our story, and for them to ask us questions about why we want back in, and how it will be different, etc. It went really well, and a couple of a days ago we got the call from the CEO of the company saying we were being allowed back into the company. So... We are moving to Dallas in the coming weeks and making our permanant home in Texas for the unforseeable future. We are all really excited and can't wait to get started. We feel blessed for being allowed back in and will make the best of this opportunity. And we don't want to hear any crap from anyone about it either...just joking...but not really. So anyway, We hope to see many of you in Dallas and come visit us during tornado season, cuz heck, who doesn't like life threatning storms?

The Home Of The Free!

I just love everything about the 4th of July! Summer is my favorite season and what's better than an awesome holiday right smack in the middle of summer. It's like the only holiday you can celebrate with a Barbeque, swimming, family, friends, fireworks, good carny food, glow sticks and tons and tons of smiles. I love it. We had our own little family indoor bbq but it was still a lot of fun. Ella loved that she got to pick out what we will have at our bbq. She made some pretty good choices. Nathan's Hotdogs, baked beans, corn on the cob, watermelon, chips, pop and cookies! She might just take after her momma in the summer love'n department. She's been waiting like 3 months for the 4th of July.

Mesa didn't have the budget for fireworks this year so we went to Tempe Town Lake and spent about twice as much to get in. It was fun though. On the lake fireworks, a live band, tons of vendors and an awesome fireworks show. We went to the store whilest anxiously awating nightfall and bought glowstick necklaces and light up tiaras (clearanced out for 75 cents!!) so that we didn't have to throw down 5 bucks for 1 necklace at the show. Anyway, these pictures are gonna say a lot more than I have time or patience to write so enjoy...



The day started with a big messy oatmeal clean up.



I had the girls go in their room to play while I cleaned up. When I went to get them I found this cute picture perfect moment. Notice the crazy messy room?? They dummped out all the close from the hamper and were playing in the hamper. Yay! another mess to clean up. :)



Joseph waiting...



Me waiting....



Ella waiting...





And Carly freaking out about her "safety bracelet" (our info on it incase she gets lost). She ended up gnawing it off. I do have to cut her a break though, it was wicked hot and I'm sure that was uncomfortable. She was MUCH happier once she got it off.



My cute little family. And yes, I made everyone dress in patirotic colors.




My cute hubby.




Cute little Shirley Temple curls and cute little sweat marks. (like I said, it was HOT!)




Carly's first time seeing fireworks and watching in awe.




The rest of the fam watching the colorful explosions. Carly was quickly unimpressed.




The Girls.




The ones who made those girls.





And....our quiet ride home.

Happy 4th Of July everyone and thanks to all the troops out there who are still fighting for our country and their families. We love you and keep you in our prayers.

Carly Jane

"There was a little girl, who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good she was VERY VERY good and when she was bad she was HORRID!"




This little nursery rhyme sums up Carly pretty nicely. She has always been a sweet content little baby. She was always a delight to be around. She has such a delicate personality and could get her feelings hurt pretty bad if you speak too harshly to her or raise your voice (even if it's towards someone else) she's also pretty independent and willing to trying things on her own but ask for help when she needs it. She loves to cuddle, give kisses and hugs. Even to strangers. She just loves everyone and is your new best friend if you read to her. Once she was about 1 year old though, another side of Carly developed. She rarely ever gets mad but when she does it's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She goes absolutely insane with furry. She opens her mouth as wide as she can get it to bite you, she scratches, growls, hits, pulls your hair, kicks and flops all over the place like a fish out of water. She'll even go as far as to grab your clothes and pull you into her so she can bite you. If it wasn't so insanely naughty I would laugh really hard b/c she seriously goes crazy. On one occasion, I was trying to put her down for a nap. She was happy to hold my hand and run to the room, with a little girly giggle, to pick out a book to read. She sat and read a book with me, clapped at the pictures and said/signed all the words she knew in the book with a sweet little toothy grin on her sweet baby face. But when it was time to put the book down....Ohhhhh Noooo! She flopped over like a dead fish, started screaming this ear piercing scream (it's seriously so loud and high pitched that when she's done you feel like you have water in your ears for about 20 seconds), then she starts the kicking. When that didn't work she pulled herself up with her mouth wide open and cannibalism in her eyes, grabbed hold of my shirt and went to bite my collar bone. All I could do was grab the hair on the back of her head and pull her off of me. It was madness I tell you! When she gets like that she's like a little gremlin! It's pretty scary. Nobody but Momma and Daddy ever really see this side of her b/c she is a little delicate flower around everyone else.









Carly turned 18 months on June 22nd. The pictures are from her first (official) day of nursery. (I work in the nursery so she's actually been going with me since Jan. but we still took a picture for the record books.) I took her to get her 18 month shots and she got quite the surprise. Because her mommy didn't think to ask, she missed her 15 month check up and therefore had to have 4 shots (actually 6 but combined two of them). (when Ella was 15 months they told me she didn't need shots till 18 months! I guess they changed the rules) She did alright with the first one. But 2, 3 and 4 had her crying, sceaming, and screaming to all high heaven. Bless her heart. It was a little hard on me. I don't think I'll ever get used to having to hold my child down while people jab needles in their legs. It was a toss up for me though...Joseph was home and it was either have him take her so I didn't have to hear her crying or me take her so she could have her mommy. I obviously chose the latter.
Here are her stats:
28 pounds 90th %
33.5 inches long 90th %
19.25 in head 95th %

Summer

It's kind of backwards that summer is here and we try and stay indoors as much as possible. It's so we don't melt. Last night at 10:00 pm it was 101 degrees! But the other day we ventured out to the pool and had some fun. I'd like to do this everyday but it's a little taxing if I'm by myself. Carly loves the water but she doesn't want floaties, a swim raft OR anyone to hold her. She is so independent that she wants to do it all herself but doesn't get the fact that she'll drown. Then there's Ella. She can swim but not like a pro. She uses her floaties as a crutch but I can't spend time on Ella b/c I've got Carly to watch out for aswell. It's nice when Joseph is home and can help out. Anyway, here's some fun summer pictures of our swimming adventure.




Ella loves wearing her floaties b/c she can do WHATEVER she wants as long as she's wearing them. She swims like a little fish and runs and jumps into the pool as much as she can. Toward the end of the summer last year she could swim a little by herself. She's regressed a little b/c of how long it took to get back into a pool but I've made it a goal to go out at Carly's nap time and work with Ella on swimming without the floaties.


Carly finally let us put her in the float but she didn't like it for long. She lasts about 10 min in that and then wants to get out and play like everyone else. She is SO independent!



Daddy and the girls.





Teaching Carly to swim. She's really good at putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles. The water in the face does't phase her a bit and she likes blowing bubbles. Still learing about kicking.






Carly cheesing it.


Ella's new trick. (hopping on 1 foot in the water. SO cool)


Me and Ella.