Doug, Tricia, B & B

Happy Birthday to You!

2012-02-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Well Doug and I did it! We have kept this little sweetheart alive and well for an entire year! We love Beckham and can't believe how lucky we are to be his parents. He turned one on Thursday so we had a little party for him.

I saw this cute idea on pinterest and thought it was a must. I love all of Beckham's little faces and I am so glad that I did it. It is now hanging in his room for me to enjoy daily!

I made a little soccer smash-cake because I found some cute soccer cupcake cups for sale, so soccer it was. Also everyone always asks us if we named Beckham after the soccer player. The answer is always no, and I am especially happy that we didn't name him after David Beckham after seeing his super-bowl commercial. I don't want a man covered in tatoos and modeling underwear being the guy who we named our child after.

He loved eating his cake and didn't even get sick from all the cake and icing he consumed. That is most likely due to the fact that he gets a lot of sweets around our house and the grandparents house.

Happy Birthday Beckham! We love you!

2012-01-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

I keep hearing that the weather around here is one month behind...so I am going to pretend that it is the middle of December and post all about Christmas! I must admit that I am not complaining about the weather...I have really enjoyed going on walks and being outside in January.

We went to the live nativity for our first time and had a great time. Beckham wasn't too thrilled to be placed in a corner hay bin for a picture...he really will appreciate all the great pictures we got of him when he is older.

We had a fun play date with some of Beckham's friends: Maggie and Zoe. It is so fun to see all the babies growing up and learning new things.

He HATED santa. I kept trying to get a good picture, but there was just something about that red suit or beard that he was terrified of.

This is Beckham's little cousin Brian and he looked adorable Christmas morning with his little santa suit on.

On the other side of the family Beckham has two boy cousins pretty close in age. Isaac, Camden, and Beckham are going to be the best of friends... I hope!

It took a lot of effort to get all the boys to look at the camera.

We had a really wonderful Christmas season this year. We loved spending time with our family and friends that were in town. Doug started school last week and is really excited for all his classes this semester. My sister Aly is having a baby any day now and Doug's sister Amanda is due next month so we are really excited to welcome two new girls into our family! Beckham is now taking a few steps and already has some bruises on his face to prove he is a walker!

2011-11-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

While I get ready for the day I let Beckham rummage through the bathroom cupboards to keep busy. He really enjoys cotton balls apparently...

Here are some pictures of Beckham's last personal photo shoot. He just loves picking up the camera and taking pictures of himself.

I Pitty the fool!

2011-11-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Halloween, we sure did! My sister Shannon gave me the idea for Beckham to be Mr. T and we had a great time dressing up.

Bow wasn't thrilled being experimented on... we tried a few different things for our masks and pantyhose didn't work. But they did make for a few good laughs.

2011-11-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

We finally got Beckham to sleep through the night, all he needed was a little company in his crib. We started having Bow sleep with him and he does so well now. OK, just kidding...we just thought this was a good photo opportunity.

On a VERY cold day last week I went to Cornbelly's with some girls from work. It was fun, but probably better with a little older kids. Beckham and I still had a good time though.

He really does like slides, so he slid down this one about 100+ times. (I counted that as my workout for the day)

Doug and I are just loving this little boy so much. He is getting quite the personality and becoming a lot more interactive. He crawls around like it's going out of style and loves pulling himself up onto things. He recently developed the love of biting his mother on the shoulder/arm...but never bites anybody else. I must admit I flicked him really good yesterday and he cried and cried, but I have not been bitten since. He is now 9 months old and we just can't get enough of him!

Abuse? I think not!

2011-10-23T20:02:00.000-07:00

We got some large pumpkins this year, so naturally I wanted to stick Beckham in it for some pictures. He started out being really helpful and taking the seeds out with me.

He decided to try them and found the insides of a pumpkin to be quite delicious. So he continued to munch on it for a while.

He wasn't the biggest fan of being placed in slimy pumpkin. Doug kept telling me I was an abusive mother and we should just take him out. I think that Beckham will one day thank me for the awesome first Halloween pictures he has...

He finally escaped!

But only to be placed right back in once the pumpkin was carved. I did have some compassion this time and only snapped a couple pictures.

Does this look like the face of a child that is abused? I don't think so! He loved it! Or maybe it's the bath that he loves? Either way, he is happy now.

This last week I went to the zoo with my cousins Julie and Sara and my neighbor Kristin. It was a great break from the normal day and a fun time with the girls. Beckham wasn't sure what to think of the carousel.

He was happy the entire time just munching on cheerios.

Nice mini vacation

2011-10-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

For conference weekend Doug, Beckham and I went down to Duck Creek and spent a few days at the cabin. We really enjoyed listening to conference and having some time together. Elizabeth and Eric came along and we loved spending time with them.

We posed Beckham on some construction equipment and he was quite happy to be in the dirt.

We went on a gorgeous hike to cascade springs that overlooks cedar breaks. Doug was a saint and carried Beckham the entire time.

And here is our attempt at a family picture while up Provo Canyon looking at the wonderful fall colors. This is one of my favorite things to do in the fall and one of Doug's least favorite. Luckily he is willing to drive up with me and not complain. Don't judge that Beckham only has one sock on and no jacket...we are new to the parenting thing.

Things Beckham loves:

2011-10-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

He loves to stand up and look outside our kitchen window. While looking, he enjoys chewing on the cords to the curtains, who wouldn't?

Anytime we open the dishwasher, he bolts towards it. He enjoys climbing on it and pulling the silverware out onto the floor.

Crawling around the clothing racks while at the store is always a fun time.

He enjoys climbing around the toilet (not the most sanitary... i know) and flushing it time and time again.

His first time in the hot tub

climbing on just about anything he can

Whenever I try to take a picture he crawls ferociously towards the camera and tries to grab it from me. We have a lot of up close shots of this sweet little boy because of this.

He really likes climbing tall walls. He is quite the dare devil already.

When he visits me at work he passes the time by swinging on the IV poles.

The XD theater at trafalga is especially entertaining for his young eyes.

A few more home improvements:

2011-09-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

These past two weeks we have made some improvements to our kitchen. We first cut out part of a cabinet and put a real dishwasher in its place...it is amazing! I love not having our portable one in the corner of our kitchen and our sink is usually not full of dirty dishes any more. We also got a new sink, faucet, and garbage disposal. Not very exciting things to some people, but fabulous to me!

Then we tore out our old counter tops and replaced them. For the last project Doug and I tiled our back splash last night. We are now completely done and it feels great!

For your enjoyment, some of Beckham's "fish" faces as he eats

This is a picture of our kitchen when we first moved into our house two years ago....

He spent a lot of time in the high chair and bouncy chair. He is such a good boy to still be happy while he was slightly ignored at times.

This is our new counter top...it was hard for me to like it with the ugly wall behind. Solution? Quickly do a back splash!

And here is the final project. We are pretty happy with it and excited to have our house put back together.

2011-09-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

I just got some pictures that my siblings had taken during our 4th of July weekend in Duck Creek. Here are some of my favorites:

Beckham started doing this funny lip-tuck thing.

The paint ball crew

2011-08-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

Some people I know always have really creative blog titles (MC)...creativity is not my strength, hence the reason I have no title. Here's a little update for you all:

Doug and Beckham are still just as cute as ever. Beckham is getting to a really fun stage. He rolls all around, sits up on his own, loves to make noise and is smiling lots.

He had his 6 month check up yesterday and is now a whopping 16 pounds. We tried to pose him for some good "Doctor Beckham" pictures, but he kept putting our props in his mouth...which I thought was disgusting. Plus we kept getting stressed that the doctor would walk in on us while we are rummaging through the room.

Last week we went to a Real Salt Lake game with our friends TJ and Tara. It was a lot of fun, especially because we got club seats that gave us unlimited food and drinks. We will definately be going to more.

Doug starts school in two weeks...so the end of our summer close. One thing that will be fun is Doug has nursing clinicals on Labor and Delivery this semester so he will get to come and work with me! I am really excited for him to see what I do all day.

A wonderful Pioneer Weekend

2011-07-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

For the 24th of July we went down to Duck Creek to enjoy the mountain air and cabin. Doug's brother Shane came as well and we had a great time fishing and four wheeling. The weather was great and it was a very relaxing weekend.

My nephew Kade was enjoying finding all the little dead fish on the shore line. Sadly, none of us were even skilled enough to catch a fish that small.

My sister Shannon was kind enough to take Beckham on a nice hike in the woods, but I forgot his sunscreen so one of my dad's had to work. I stuffed a burp cloth inside to make it stay on his head. He looked so funny, but still pretty dang cute.

Doug and Shane patched up a canoe my dad had found and we took it and and a kayak to Navajo lake. The canoe kept tipping if more than one person was in it, so Doug and Shane played battle boats (aka tip each other over) while my nephew Preston and I fished some more.

This is the place park

2011-07-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

All my family went up a few weeks ago to the "This is the Place" state park. It is full of Pioneer houses, a school house, horses, and a lot of other pioneer buildings. We had a great time, even though it felt like 115 degrees (they wanted to keep it real authentic by having no AC in any of the buildings while you walked around).

This is a very important picture of Bow for two reasons. First, it shows just how hot it was because Bow is actually walking in water...a first in his two years of life. He avoids getting into water at all costs. Second it is important to document that I was able to sneak him into the park and have him walking around with us all day without anyone kicking him out.

I assumed you could have pets there because it's all outside, but when I got there I found out no pets allowed. So I tried having my nephew Preston act like he was autistic so we could say he was a service animal...Preston just couldn't quite pull it off. Then I figured we could just say he was a service animal in training. But I still haven't made the fake service animal jacket for him, so I knew that wouldn't fly. I also got a few integrity and honesty lessons from various nieces and nephews..."You will be held accountable for your lying Aunt Tricia"... that doesn't feel very good to hear. :) So I told them we would just walk right through the entrance with him and if they said anything to me I would take him out. The girl at the gate was cleverly distracted by myself, while my dad slipped right by with the Bow Dizzle. Mission accomplished!

Already at a young age Beckham was being disruptive in class...what will do when he really has to go to school....

Doug and I love getting funny pictures of Beckham doing every day things. I thought washing clothes would be a great one for the collection! It was going well until Beckham took a nose-dive for the washer. He wasn't very happy with me for a few seconds after.

And as you can see by his face, he was even more angry with me when I actually made him finish his work and hang the cloth up to dry. I just really believe in teaching him to finish a job no matter what! :) It's never too young to teach a kid to work!

We also did a nice hike up Ensign Peak where Brigham Young hiked up to plot where the temple was going to be. There was really neat stories and history my dad was able to tell us at the top of the hike that I had never heard before. I really have a lot of respect and admiration for the Pioneers and all that they did in their lives for the church to move forward. I also love hearing my dad spout off stories, facts, and timeline of the Pioneers. It is fascinating to me all that he knows. My mom was a trooper and made it up the mountain. Beckham absolutely loved the hike.

2011-07-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

This morning I was trying to get ready and I came up with genius idea...which Beckham loved. He kept trying to eat the faucet and he enjoyed being up high, right next to me. It worked great for about 5 whole minutes until he discovered the cold water nozzle. He turned it on full blast, right onto himself. That was the end of my great idea.

Doug and I are just loving this little boy. He is in a really fun stage and we love seeing all the new things he is learning.

Happenings...

2011-06-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

We have been loving summer so much! Doug and I are both working full-time and enjoying our one day off a week together. Beckham is growing so fast and is such a happy baby. He has been sick the past week with a cold, but is still as smiley as ever.

Last week we went to the zoo and had a good time taking pictures with Beckham and the animals. Here he is almost being eaten by a alligator...He started crying and then I felt like a bad mom.

Beckham enjoying his time with the prairie dogs

I have attempted to go running a few mornings and I think that Beckham looks so cute all bundled up in the jogging stroller.

Doug's sister Brooke and her kids have been in town the past month and we have loved getting to see them! Shaun and Beckham have matching Sunday outfits.

Austin sure loves Bow and is really good at washing him

Aly and I welcomed the warm weather by longboarding down Provo canyon. I had Bow run down it with us and he was actually able to keep up really well. Also, we started playing wallyball every Wednesday night at 7 pm...so if you ever want to play, let me know! It's a lot of fun and Beckham is getting really good!

Wonderful AZ

2011-04-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

We got back last night from a great trip to Arizona for my sister Alyson's wedding. I am so excited that she and Brett finally tied the knot! He is a great guy and I am excited to have him in our family. Here is Beckham all ready to go on the trip...

After this trip Beckham has now been to Illinois, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona! All before 3 months old...what a traveler!

We spent a few days baking and cooking for the wedding. My talented sister Shannon made the wedding cake and it looked awesome. She even gave me a lesson on cake decorating, which I will hopefully put to use some time soon.

The weather in Phoenix was great...85-90 degrees...so we took advantage of the sun and went swimming. Beckham really enjoyed the water and looked so cute in his swimming suit. (Thanks to my sister-in-law Candice for letting us use the swim trunks and for letting us overwhelm her house with all the family in town.)

I went down a week before with my mom and two nieces to spend some time with my Grandpa Hall. I love him and get a kick out of hearing all his stories. He is a lot of fun to visit with.

We also got to visit with Doug's great grandmother. She is so sweet and I really enjoyed meeting her for the first time. I also got to meet his great aunt Linda and her kids. They are all so nice.

I didn't take any pictures of the wedding because I was too busy visiting, dancing, and eating delicious food, but here is one I was able to get my hands on. It was such a fun night and everything went perfectly. Aly looked great and the weather couldn't have been better.

2011-03-31T15:49:00.000-07:00

This past week I have really started to see how much bigger Beckham is. He fits into clothes that once drowned him. Here is a progression of his growth, next to his trusty monkey for reference of size.

at a few days old

One month old

and now at two months old

After feeding Beckham at 2 am I came back to bed to find Doug like this. He often falls asleep in bed with his DS in hand. He has been working really hard these past few weeks with school and somehow stays optimistic and happy all the time.

In preparation for the day of doom (when I have to go back to work) we started introducing the bottle. I thought it was going to be this huge struggle and ordeal, but it was quite to opposite. He drank it right up and didn't seem to mind at all. What a great little boy we have!

We went to color-me-mine and did this plate a few weeks back. Doug and I are not the most creative and artistic, but we really like how it turned out. It was surprising how difficult it was to get his hand prints to work. Every time we tried to put them on the plate Beckham would clench his hand into a fist that was near impossible to open. Eventually we got it after his hands, feet, and head were covered with paint (we were not the best at keeping his hands away from his face/head while trying to get the handprint).

And last, but certainly not least...Doug started his new job last week and is loving it. He has caught on really fast and enjoys the people he works with. What I am surprised about is how happy he is at 5:30 in the morning!

2011-03-24T20:30:00.001-07:00

Chicago

2011-03-24T20:07:00.001-07:00

The three of us had a wonderful trip to Chicago last week to visit our dear friends Ali and Vance. I was a little worried to go with a 6 week old, but it was the only time that Doug and I both had work off and it was Doug's spring break. The trip ended up working out perfectly and we had a great time.

Sleeping is what Beckham did the most on the flights. Doug and I realized that flying with a baby gives you VIP treatment. We went to the front of all lines and got great seats on the plane.

We went to the museum of science and industry and it had some awesome things to see and do. I think it could entertain any age for quite some time.

Our first night we decided to eat at hot doug's to get the true taste of the Chicago hot dog. Well after traveling for a while we arrived only to find it closed at 7 pm. That led us onward to a delicious little corner shop that had amazing roast beef sandwiches...good enough to be on the food network.

We took a chilling walk down Michigan avenue to the giant silver bean... Doug and I had never heard/seen it before, but it was quite the tourist attraction. It was pretty cool to see the reflection of all the tall buildings in it.

Vance doing a great job pushing Beckham. Beckham was a very good traveler. I just realized that we don't have any pictures of him outside of his car seat because he was always to content we didn't want to ruin a good thing. Also, it was pretty cold outside and we wanted to keep him as bundled as possible.

On our way home we had a pit stop in California for the night to visit Doug's family. We loved seeing his two aunts, cousins, and grandma and grandpa. I really wish we could have spent a few days visiting, but it was only a grand total of 12 hours in CA before our flight left for UT.

Photo shoot

2011-03-11T04:47:00.000-08:00

My talented cousin Sara came over last week and took some great pictures of Beckham. He tolerated all that we did...even though I am sure he was tired of being posed and moved all around. Here's a sample of the great shots that she got...

This was the last picture that we took. He started to tell us that he was done!

Beckham sure loves Doug.

Sara's son Henry is 6 months old and he was so well behaved the entire time. We got some fun pictures with them together. I LOVE this picture.

This is Bow's " I am sick of pictures face"

And here is Henry handling life so well, even with our dog sitting right on top of him.

We love this little boy and feel so blessed to have him in our lives.

Fun with Daddy

2011-03-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

Doug here posting on the blog. I know it is a surprise, but i could not pass the opportunity to post about this cute baby.

the other day i was sitting on the couch playing my DS, and Beckham make a noise(one of those baby noises) and i looked at him and said, "yes what can i do for you?" and he said, "grunt-grunt." but as the great dad that i am, i understood that to be, "Daddy what i really need is one of those gummy-bears that you have." and i replied, "but Beckham what would your Mommy say?" and with a few more grunts he told me, "mommy is asleep and she will never know." needless to say Tricia found out.

but before Tricia woke up Beckham and I decided to go on a ride around the house. but i will say that it was his idea to go out to Macey's for ice cream, and i did warn him not to get the KONG cone, but did he listen? no. but i got him home in time for Tricia to wake up and not suspect anything.

A great two weeks...

2011-02-17T12:45:00.001-08:00

The last two weeks have been a whole new world for Doug and I. Somehow Beckham is completely in charge of our schedule and we love it. I have loved spending all day, every day with him. He had his two week check yesterday and everything looks great. He has grown from 6 lbs 11 oz to 7 lb 5 oz. I am hoping he doesn't grow too fast because I love how little he still is.

here is doug happy as could be...he is a great baby carrier.

he has already learned to fold his arms, quite the religious boy.

Beckham Ray Sommers

2011-02-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

We finally decided on a name, all credit given to Doug. He took charge and made us decide. We got home yesterday afternoon and survived our first night at home with no hospital nursery. They took some cute pictures at the hospital, so here they are...

2011-02-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, February 2nd our little boy was born at 4:12 pm. We don't have a name for him yet, so my apoligies...it is harder than I thought it would be. He was 6 pounds 11 ounces and 19 inches long. We love him and have had a great first 24 hours with him. I'll post some more fun pictures when I get some more time.

da baby room

2011-01-04T16:29:00.001-08:00

We have most of the baby room put together and here is the finished project. I love my rocking chair and can't wait to put it to good use!

My wonderful mother in law made this amazing quilt. It is just too nicely done I am afraid to really use it.

We had a family baby shower last week and my sister Aly made this diaper cake. I think it is so cute and I don't know if I can't break it apart to really use the diapers. I am sure when we are going through diapers so quickly I will change my mind...

Doug is practicing changing diapers and strapping our child down.

The bedding is simple, but I love it.

2 Year Anniversary

2011-01-04T15:58:00.000-08:00

On January 2nd Doug and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Because of the fact that our time alone is quickly coming to a close...only one more month until this little boy is due...we took a little trip. Doug was in charge this year and he planned the perfect weekend getaway.

We stayed at the Zermatt in Midway, UT. It was only 30-40 minutes away but I had never been there. The hotel was really nice. They had nice robes which we enjoyed wearing down the pool and feeling fancy. Their pool was half inside and half outside. Doug kept wanting to go swim outside and it was freezing! I only ventured outside twice and quickly made my way back to warmth inside.

On Friday night we went the Zermatt's New Year's party and it was a lot of fun. Neither of us had ever been to a nice New Year's party and so we definitely enjoyed ourselves. There was delicious food, a 2011 ice sculpture (the true sign of a nice party), a big brass band and lots of dancing. There were all ages there, which made it lots of fun.

We watched the ball drop in NYC and they had a big balloon drop as well.

I sadly only made it until 1100 pm and just wasn't feeling very good. Doug was very kind and understanding and so we made our way back to the room. I promised I wouldn't fall asleep until 12:00, but that didn't happen. I was woken up at 11:58 by Doug holding sparkling cider to welcome in the new year.

The next morning we went snow shoeing by the Provo River up in Midway and it was beautiful. Doug informed me that he LOVES doing these kind of activities while I am pregnant because he can always out-last me. I kept having to stop and catch my breath and he was just full of energy!

After snowshoeing we went swimming/snorkeling at the homestead crater. Neither of us had ever been there. I had a good time, but it wasn't my favorite activity. Because the water was so warm and it was so cold outside, inside the crater was full of steam/fog. You could barely see in front of you. I didn't like not knowing my surroundings. Doug loved it and I think we were both jealous that we couldn't go scuba diving instead.

That evening we drove to Park City and did some shopping at the outlets and then made our way to SLC. We ate at Bucca de Beppo and it was delicious! If you have never been there, we both would highly recommend it. We were going to go see the lights at Temple Square, but it was so cold outside that we just did a slow loop around in our car and called it good.

This is not the best quality photo....but we wanted to show off our new track suits. We got them in Park City and enjoyed matching on our last day. Doug's brother Shane and his wife Becca love track suits and this has worn off on Doug. He was very happy to find a good one at the addidas store just before it closed. We had such a great weekend and I think I am pretty lucky to have such a kind and loving husband. It has been a good 2 years of marriage!

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-01-04T15:24:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years. Doug and I both got the wonderful opportunity to work on Christmas day from 12-6 pm, so we filled our morning with lots of family gatherings and gift opening. After we woke up and opened our gifts to each other we made our way over to Doug's parents house. There was delicious food and lots of gifts to open...we were very spoiled. We then made our way over to my family and had a good brunch and visiting. Sadly we both had to work, but it was a great morning and evening with family.

Doug got some hair thickening shampoo and conditioner because he is very worried about his thinning hair. This is a before picture so we can compare after using it for a while.

I was very excited to find this large box, all completely wrapped by Doug. He used up a lot of wrapping paper and it was fun to open. He got me a rocking chair for our baby room and it is so comfortable. I will have to post some photos of the room and the chair. It looks great!

Our Happenings...

2010-12-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

My sister Shannon gave me a fun idea to paint our baby crib a bright color as an accent in the room. So we sanded down the crib we got and painted it a bright green. It was very cold outside as we painted, but we got it all done and I think it looks great. Now I am just waiting for the crib bedding to come so it will all come together.

Our FHE activity was putting the crib together and luckily it wasn't too complicated.

And here is the finished product!

This is how indecisive I am when it comes to colors. I couldn't decide what color the crib should be and Doug thought it was so funny how long I toiled over the decision.

Here are my cute nieces and nephews at the Parkers annual gingerbread making workshop. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving my sister Lana's in-laws host a huge party, filling the church gym. There are long tables lining the entire length of the gym filled with different candy. It's a kids dream.

Doug had to work so in memory of him I made my gingerbread house into Ridley's and dropped it by the store on my way home. He loved it.

Doug did a chance to make his own gingerbread house at the parents this last Sunday. He had such fine detailed work that he had to use his mom's tweezers to finish it off.

Over Thanksgiving my sister Shannon and her family were in town. My niece Riley and I went to visit Doug one evening and Riley really wanted to help him work around the store. So Doug put here work stocking the freezer section, bagging groceries, and other fun things. She LOVED it. Doug wanted to show Riley his skills at the claw machine and won her two stuffed animals. That was also a big highlight of her night. He is a great uncle!

McD's Thanksgiving

2010-12-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

My Aunt Barbara was in charge of Thanksgiving this year for my dad's side of the family. When she is in charge, it means that we have Thanksgiving dinner at McDonalds. Yes, I wrote it correctly, at McDonalds. Lucky for me, it doesn't mean having to eat McDonald's food. It means that everyone still brings all the delicious traditional Thanksgiving foods like turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, salads, rolls and much more. But in addition to that good food there is unlimited fountain drinks, ice cream cones and mcflurries.

There is also a great play place for the younger kids to play. This was Doug's first experience with a McDonald's Thanksgiving and he was very excited about all the free ice cream he wanted. He became the expert at the mcflurry machine and helped many with their creations. All the nieces and nephews were also locked in the -10 degree freezer by Doug. He even helped them put on the drive thru headsets, until my Uncle Clark came and informed them that each headset was $1,000 and they were not toys. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving full of good food, fun, and visiting with family.

My mom is always in charge of pies because her pies are the best. So the night before all my sisters gathered at my parents house and we made over 15 pies... they were delicious.

Happy Halloween to All

2010-10-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

We made another quick trip down to the new cabin in Duck Creek this weekend. My brother David and his wife Candice and their two adorable kids Addie and Cole came up from AZ. All the UT family went down as well. On our way up the canyon we stopped for a scenic picture...this was the best of many taken with the camera timer. Soon our family of 3 will be 4...only 3 more months. That is if you count Bow.
Bow had to wear these funny booties if he was allowed in the house. They are made for a much bigger dog than him and he had quite a hard time walking in them.

My sister Lana and her husband Steve relaxing by the fire. My parents got these rockers from an Amish town in the east and I love them. I think they look cool and they are really comfortable.

Cute Cole and Bow. Best of buddies.

Friday we had a little Halloween party and Doug tried to scare everyone with his gorilla costume. He first appeared outside the big windows and we tried to scare the kids by telling them it was a bear. Sadly, no one but Addison got scared, but it was worth a try.

Bow got dressed up for the party...I have no idea what he was, possibly an alien. It was on clearance at Petsmart, so that's what he got. I think he looks like he really hates me for dressing him up in this picture.

Addie was a pretty witch and this was her "scary face". Pretty cute if you ask me. Cole was such a cute little chicken.

Little ghost cups of deliciousness and excellent carmel apples with great toppings.

The witch pinata was the best part of the night. It was so funny to see this little witch on a broom hitting all the older boys in the head. It was very entertaining.

Doug and I took a nap in the back of the car on the way home while Bow drove us safely back to Provo. He is such a well trained dog.

Beck Haven

2010-10-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

My parents just finished building a cabin in Duck Creek, Utah. Its' up the canyon from Cedar City and very beautiful. 6 of the siblings gathered there this past weekend to help move in and enjoy eachothers company.

Doug worked very hard on removing a large rock from a path we were making up to the water turn off. My dad joked that we might find the golden plates hiden beneath it, but we were not so lucky. What a man Doug!

I loved seeing all my nieces and nephews. This is my adorable niece Callie that loved Bow. She wanted to ride him like a horse, so she did.

Sunday was my dad's birthday, so we celebrated with the family that was there.

The fall colors were amazing, even though I didn't get any pictures of them. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend. I can't wait to go back for years to come and enjoy the time in Duck Creek.

Escuela de nursing

2010-09-07T22:21:00.001-07:00

Doug started school a couple weeks ago and it is going great so far.

This was his first day of school, a must needed photo moment. He was very embarrased because our neighbors were outside and he felt a little child-ish. That's his awesome new scooter.

He wears green scrubs to his labs and clinicals and looks great in this outfit. Doug is getting really good at taking blood pressures, so if you are concerned with your BP or just curious, then stop on by for a free reading!

FYI, next week is bed baths in his lab, so if he asks you to come and be a practice person for him...I would think twice.

A New Basement

2010-09-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Our dear cousins and friends Kira, Jeff, and their cute baby Luke moved away to Arizona and our basement was left vacant...for an entire week. During that week Doug and I kept very busy doing a lot of improvements (sorry that we waited until you moved out Kira...didn't want to bother you too much!)

We got the door replaced and it actually opens and closes very easily now. Plus it looks much nicer.

We replaced the kitchen floor with the help of Doug's dad. It took Doug, his dad, and myself a Saturday morning/afternoon to complete it and it made a big difference.

We painted the bedroom and bathroom and repaired a big hole in the wall. A funny side note about picking paint colors. I am not the best at making decisions and paint is not an exception. I pick up a million sample colors, then compare, then buy a few different sample cans to try on the wall. It is a big ordeal. Well I was working and Doug informed me that he was going to be 100% in charge of the bedroom paint color. I really didn't care because I don't have to live down there, so even if he chose a horrible color, I never had to see it. Well he went to Lowe's and this was the first color he saw, he liked it, he bought it and he came home and painted it. I really like the color and think he did an excellent job. He is much better at paint picking than myself.

Doug cleaned the carpets with my parents carpet cleaner. It is very handy to have a free carpet cleaner on hand whenever needed. I tried a few lines and felt that Doug enjoyed the job much more than I did, so he took it over for the rest of the time.

When we replaced our floor upstairs we found some funny things hidden between layers of flooring (and old dried cucumber and a bandaid). Well downstairs was no exception. I took a vent off to clean it and I found a very old record hidden away. It was "The Night Before Christmas" and very dusty. We cleaned it off really good and then decided to put it back where we found it, for someone else to enjoy finding.

The Many Faces of Doug

2010-09-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

After our river trip Doug decided to continue to grow out his beard until school started. This gave him a good three weeks worth of growth. When it was time for the beard to go, Doug had an idea...try a few different looks before going back to a clean-shaven man.

The fu manchu. Doug got a scooter from his brother in law Ben and that's why the helmet and glasses. We drove his scooter around to show a few people his new look and everybody seemed to get a good laugh.

My least favorite. I call this "the rapist" if you are familiar with SNL celebrity jeopardy. Or if you are not, then I call it just plain creepy.

And my good clean shaven man is back! Just the way I like him.

Coming in Feb 2011...

2010-08-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

Doug the dad.and

Tricia the mom.

..........

if you can believe it.

it has taken me 10 weeks to fully believe it myself.

and then to actually announce it, because then it's really real.

..........

A couple months ago a huge surprise happened. I wasn't feeling great and you will never guess what the cause was? I was pregnant. Definitely not planned. Doug was woken up very abruptly at 4:00 am to a very distraught wife.

...........

But we are so happy and feel blessed to be so lucky. I was reading in a maternity/obstetrics book at work tonight and I came upon this quote talking about finding out that you are pregnant: "No other life experience can evoke such absolute joy or else such pains of profound despair." Sadly I have to admit that each of those emotions were felt when we found out. The first was felt by Doug. He is such a happy, optimistic, and smart boy. He knew this would be a wonderful thing and he was excited and immediately happy.

............

The second by me. I was so sad at first. It wasn't the right timing, it wasn't what we had planned for, and on and on. Slowly I have come to see that this will be great and I am excited now and very happy. I feel so lucky in my life right now. I have a great husband who is doing good in school. I have a good job, a wonderful family, and we are going to really be starting our family now. Life is good.

Happy Birthday Nate

2010-08-10T01:58:00.000-07:00

I am working tonight so I am taking this time to update all that I have been slacking on...hence the large amount of blogging after such a drought. Today my nephew Nate had a birthday party for his 16th birthday...if you can believe that I have nephews that old. It is crazy for me to think of Nate dating and driving, but the ladies in Salem, UT sure are lucky to have a handsome boy like him around. Anyway, for his party they had a giant slip and slide and it was so fun. Here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

Doug and I decided that Bow needed a little more excitement in his life, so Doug gave him some fun. We don't know if he enjoyed it or hated it. The boy gave us no reaction.

Doug, RN

2010-08-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

Great news! Doug got accepted into UVU's nursing program, starting this fall! He has worked so hard to get good grades because their program is pretty competitive and I so proud that he got in. Doug will make the 3rd nurse in my family (me, my sister Aly, then Doug). I know he will be a great nurse for the time that he does nursing. After he works a year or two as a registered nurse, then we will head off to school for nurse anesthetist or CRNA for short. A CRNA does basically the same thing that an anesthesiologist does. It's like a PA compared to a MD.

So watch out all you female nurses, the male nurse is coming!

Salmon River 2010

2010-08-10T00:57:00.000-07:00

Doug and I had the most wonderful vacation ever last week. We went on a whitewater rafting trip for 5 days on the Salmon River, in the great state of Idaho. My friend Alison and her husband Vance worked a few trips this summer as guides, so we decided to join them for the fun and good company. I have been down the river two times before, but this was Doug's first time and he had a great time. We spent each day floating down the river and at night we camped on beaches along the river. Ali and Vance have some serious skills. They knew all the rapids and were legit river guides. It was fun to see them in action. Ali must have some serious arm muscles from rowing each day down the river. We traveled around 80-90 miles total and went through some pretty fun rapids.

These wonderfully dressed men washed all the guests hair. They spoke in great Russian accents and were pretty funny to listen to. After a few days on the river it really feels nice to get your hair washed.

There is a great activity called body womping that we tried out...well Doug tried it out. You run from the beach and jump on the upside down raft into the water. As you jump on the raft, the people on the side pull it up so you are launched into the river. I attempted my very first video on the blog, so if it works you can view one of Doug's runs.

The last night we all dressed up for dinner and then had a variety show. Doug surprisingly enough picked this outfit out all by himself and proudly wore it all night long. Below is our tent that Vance so kindly wrote our name in cursive on...making us feel oh so special.

The group that went was pretty fun. There were only 8 official guests and the rest included friends like Doug and I, other guides, guides in training and so on. A good group for sure.

The last day on the river was a shorter day, so I thought it would be fun to go on the 2 person inflatable kayak with Doug. We got going down the river and I soon realized that we had 3 big rapids to get through. Doug was thrilled and I was too, but a little nervous as well. So we got through #1 perfectly, but #2 and #3 were another story. On rapid #2, "chittum" we went over the rapid and Doug fell out of the kayak. I had no idea he had fallen out and no idea he was below the kayak getting recirculated by the rapid. Once I realized that I was the lone person in the kayak and started paddling out of the rapids trying to see him and then he popped right up! That was a big relief. I thought of a good shirt idea to sell after the rapid "chittum". It would say " I shit 'em in chittum" Doug thinks he did actually do that.

Then rapid #3 came along and we went a little too far right and hit a good set of rapid that knocked us both out the kayak. Doug kept coming up right under me and then he would try and push me out of the way to he could get some air. This was all while we are going through a bunch of other smaller whitewater. It was pretty exciting, cold, and enough for me for the day!

Some fun home remodeling

2010-06-23T18:12:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Doug and I tore up our house. It was fun, kind of. But now that we are done, I love the end result. We got our windows replaced, our outside doors replaced, painted our kitchen and living room and the biggest improvement was our new flooring.

Doug being as thoughtful as ever...

These were a few gross things we found while pulling up our linoleum floor. A dried cucumber and disgusting band aid. I want to know who just lays linoleum over things like this.

We had ugly linoleum already in our kitchen and to our surprise there was another layer below of even uglier flooring! It was a lot of work getting it up, but definitely worth it.

2010-05-14T20:02:00.001-07:00

I am so happy that summer is here and vacations are lining up! My sweet sister Alyson graduated from nursing school last week, so our family traveled down to Arizona for her graduation. I must state that I am quite impressed with all that she has done the past couple years. She has gone through a lot and done a wonderful job.

All the kids fell asleep while playing Risk, I thought Gavin's sleeping arrangement was the best.

For Mother's Day we gave all the mom's the day off. So my brother Steven, his kids, Aly and I made a delicious dinner. Eliza loved helping with the brownies, mainly the cleanup.

Aly and my sister-in-law Kristy did a triathlon on Saturday and both did a great job. It was really fun to watch them transition from swimming to biking to running. They made me realize that it is time to get back into exercising. Doug and I both have not run at all since our half marathon. We will be changing that soon though.

Before getting to Mesa I stopped by my sister Shannon's house in Eager, AZ. She lives 30 min. away from my Grandpa Hall and it was so nice to visit with her and my grandpa. Her son Kade is such a boy and we caught him playing in the mud one day. He was so pleased with himself, until Shannon stripped him down and hosed him off.

Of course, we had to stop by the famous El Camino in St. Johns, AZ. St. Johns is a small town and just about every time I have gone to visit my grandpa we have stopped by to eat at this Mexican restaurant. My Aunt Laura also lives there and it was so nice to visit with her.

Here are some pictures from our first Sommers girls retreat. Doug's mom, sister Brooke, sister-in-law Becca, and I all went down to St. George for the weekend. We hiked in Zion's, went shopping, ate delicious food, and watched the iron man competition. The iron man triathlon was amazing to see. What a motivation and inspiration these people were.

As many of you may know, my dear husband does in fact like Pokemon. You may wonder why...I have asked myself the same question. But he does enjoy it quite a lot. A few weeks ago he had a Pokemon party at our house, so I decided to support his cause with poke-cake. I am taking a cake decorating class in June, so this was my first attempt without proper schooling. Bow sure wanted a bite of it, but he didn't get it.

Well that's about all the excitement going on in our lives. Our next bit of excitement is some home remodeling. So look forward to pictures of the newly improved house. We are getting new doors, windows, floors, and of course painting. Oh the fun that lies ahead!

All the children that we need

2010-04-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

When Doug and I are gone for extended hours in the day, we just barricade Bow in the kitchen because there isn't much he can ruin. Plus, he loves to sit on the window seal and watch people walk or drive by. After Easter I made the mistake off leaving a grocery bag full of eggs on the kitchen floor while bow was being held captive. Despite it being tied, he managed to get all the eggs out and spread amongst the kitchen. I guess it was his way of celebrating Easter with us.

Don't judge what I am wearing, it was early in the morning and a bit cold outside. This picture shows that Doug and I have found our perfect child. I didn't even have to strap him in the stroller, he was so obedient.

running and more running

2010-04-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well today was the Salt Lake City marathon and half marathon race. A few months ago Doug's sister Brooke suggested that the three of us train for the half marathon. Every week we would increase our mileage by 1 mile and today was the final run...13.1 miles! Doug, Brooke and I ran the entire way, except for Doug's potty break at mile 5. There were many a times during the past three months where we didn't feel like running and would rather stay at home and relax, but I must say that it did feel very good to accomplish this today and it was all worth it. So I guess it was worth all the hard work and training.

Here we were a little chilly before the race got started. They had everyone take trax to the starting line by the U of U... It was a packed full trax.

In case you are wondering, Doug did get the fastest time because he sprinting at the end. But I was happy to see that he only beat us by seconds. His time was 2:09:15 and Brook and I tied for 2:09:51. Happy exercising to all!

Sarah's a Married Women!

2010-03-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

Our past weekend was pretty fun, my friend Sarah got married to Jordan Gillespie. She had a beautiful wedding, with lots of good food. We went up to SLC for her wedding in the SLC temple, but weather was horrible...so we took all the pictures in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Here is Doug and I, passing the time between all the pictures.

It really was so cold and snowy...this picture gives you a little idea. Also, if you look close at the picture, you will notice that Doug has a green cast on his right hand. This is a funny story. Three or more months ago Doug fell while longboarding and hurt his wrist. It got a lot better in a few days, so neither of us thought it was broken, just a sprain. Although, over the past three months it has continued to always bother Doug a little. So we finally got it xray'd and he did in fact break his wrist. The doctor said it was the worst bone to break because it is known for not healing. We were so lucky because Doug ended up not needing surgery, just a cast for 6 wks. He is getting really good at writing with it and he has recruited everyone to sign it. Only two more weeks and its off!

It was fun to see friends at the reception. I love Doug's face in this picture, he looks quite excited.

A little update...

2010-02-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

It has been forever since we have updated our blog...Doug is still doing school this semester and will be applying for the nursing program this spring. We both really hope he gets in for the fall semester. He is working as the night manager at Ridleys...the grocery store that took Albertsons place. Sadly, his brother Shane and his cousin Davey are not working there any more, so I'm sure he isn't having half the fun.

We got to watch my sister Kristene's daughter last week and I thought this was such a cute picture. We have the best dog ever, he loves to cuddle up and sleep next to anyone.

A not so fluffy Bow, during his first bath at home.

Bow got neutered and he now has to wear the "cone of shame" for 7 days. It is actually really funny to watch his try and squeeze under our coffee table, time and time again, not realizing that he can't fit with the large cone. We may be mean to laugh at him running into furniture, but I think if you could see him, you would fully understand.

The Wild Side

2009-12-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

You better believe it...we are owners of a snuggie. Doug got it for me, mainly as a joke because I am always cold. But now he enjoys more than anyone. If you have that yearning for the snuggie, feel free to stop on by and try it out!

We have loved the snow this past week. Doug was kind enough to do the snow shoveling...along with his little wolf hat. I hate this hat, but he loves it and claims it keeps his head very warm.

Our Christmas lights were the first ones up on our street because we were a little too excited for Christmas to come this year. Doug did a great job putting them up.

We have been dehydrating apples lately and Doug is so great to help with the work. Doug, Shane and Davey LOVE the apples, but they don't know when to stop eating them. I think they learned their lesson last time they ate too much...apples make the bowels move a little quicker if you know what I mean.

New Addition to the Family

2009-12-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received an early Christmas present from Doug, a bichon frise puppy! He is 3 months old and we LOVE him. His name is Bow... a simplified way of spelling beau.

His favorite treat is cheerios and his favorite spot is underneath our coffee table...hiding from us.

He is still a little shy around us, but he is definitely warming up. He loves to jump through the snow, but he blends in a little too well. A good thing about Bow is that he has gotten Doug and I excited enough to actually blog about something!

Some Halloween Fun

2009-10-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Ali and Vance introduced us to this and it's so funny, check it out here:

http://www.monstermashup.com/0a9ea0

The stars of the show are Doug, Tricia, and a little dog named Vance

One Quick AZ Trip

2009-10-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

We had a Hall family reunion (my mom's side of the family) in Arizona last weekend. 13 of us went down to AZ from UT and it was quite the drive. The weather was hot...and when we got back to UT it was freezing. I actually thought for a brief moment that living in AZ could possibly be a possibility.

We went to an AZ Diamondbacks game and they played the Padres. It was a great game and a lot of fun with Aly and all the nieces and nephews. I have such a wonderful sister Aly and it was great to see her for a couple of days.

We only wish our seats were this close to the field. After the game was over and we were able to make it down from our top row seats and get a good look at the field. My brother Steven was so kind to treat us all to the game, what a great brother!

I think I have a wonderful and very handsome husband...

My cousin Andy roasted a real pig for the reunion food...this picture looks horrible, but the meat was really good. My sister Kristene just loves picking at things, and this pig was no exception. Doug just loved getting pictures of her picking away at the animal. I was to grossed out.

I was able to take a quick picture by the head (I am still wondering why they had to bring this part) It was really gross. That cute baby I am holding is my niece Joelle who is now 2 months old. She was blessed on the Sunday that we were all down there and it was great to be there for that.

My wonderful Grandpa Hall came to the reunion and I loved being able to see him. He definitely doesn't know who Doug is because Doug came into the picture after my Grandpa lost his short term memory. I think it's really funny to get questioned by my grandpa about this strange man who I am with.

Fall is here....

2009-10-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

I am trying to embrace fall this year, instead of dread the cold weather and the loss of summer. Here are some things that we have been up to lately:
To kick off October Doug and I decided to carve pumpkins.

If you can guess what Doug's pumpkin is, there is a prize for you (Davey and Shane are excluded because they know). By the time I was done cleaning out my pumpkin I had no desire to carve it. So I decided to take the easy way out and try poking holes all over it. I think it will look good in the dark all lit up.

Now our crazy cat is not so lonely on the porch...This wonderful and odd cat was placed on our porch by Ali and Vance as a joke. Doug and I just can't find it in us to get rid of it.

Sarah is home! She is finally back from her mission to Oregon and I am so pleased to have her back in Provo. It is great to see her, talk to her, and have a friend to play with!

My sister Lana gave us a 5 gallon bucket full of peaches and this is the result. It was my first time trying to can anything alone..and it worked out great. Doug and I tried them and they are delicious.

I am pretty sure that I have a wonderful and helpful husband. He was more than willing to help me can peaches and it went twice as fast.

One Brave Husband

2009-09-10T09:02:00.001-07:00

Doug was very brave and let me cut/buzz his hair about a month ago (yes, it does take me this long to post about it). We had to get creative with a garbage bag to keep the hair off him...but it didn't really do the trick, he was still covered in hair.

I of course had to have a little fun, since I knew all the hair would be coming off anyway. I think Doug looks quite funny and he was such a good sport!

And here is his new hair cut! The best part was once we had his whole head buzzed he could show me all his scars that I have never seen. Brooke denies it, but Doug blames all the scars on her, and he does have some quite convincing stories to go along with them!

The fun of Rock Band!!!

2009-09-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Shane introduced us to guitar hero and we loved it! Doug and I decided to buy rock band so that we could rock out at our house and not disturb his parents late at night while playing shane's. Well Doug has gotten quite good at the drums and I am not really excelling at any of it, but I sure do enjoy playing it. Everyone feel free to come and play any time! We love the company...

As you can see, I am not quite as "into" it as Doug is...

Park City Getaway

2009-08-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

A month ago I realized that my dear husband needed a break from life. He has been quite busy with school and work...non-stop. I brainstormed a lot of different ideas and realized that a little weekend getaway would be perfect, during his short week break between summer and fall semester. I didn't tell Doug I was planning anything, which made it really fun. My dear Aunt Barbara and Uncle Clark were quite generous and let us stay in their condo in Park City for three nights.

The day that we left I thought Doug would figure I was up to something. I had packed all his stuff the night before while he was at work, so a lot of his things were missing that morning. He was talking to me at work and he said, "I can't find my shoes, do you know where they are?" and "I have no idea where I put my razor..." I thought it was so funny and I tried to act as dumb as possible as to where all his stuff had gone.

I had to kidnap Doug Tuesday night, with the car completely packed and we were off. He was very suprised and had no idea what I was up to or where we going. As we started up provo canyon he suspected we were going to Colorado...but he soon realized our final destination.

We had a such a fun and relaxing time. We slept in every morning, went shopping at the outlet mall, toured the olympic park and saw the amazing ski jumpers. We went and saw the movie "500 days of summer" which we both enjoyed. We also went and did a session at the SLC temple, which was really great because Doug and I have never been inside the SLC temple before. It is beautiful.

Shane and Becca joined us on our last night, which was wonderful. We went out to eat, strolled down main street, and went swimming. In the morning we rode down the alpine slides. If you have never done that, you should! You get a beautiful ride up the mountain on the ski lift and a very fun and fast ride down. Sadly, I forgot my camera, so there isn't one picture. I will work on that next time!

Fun Times with the DS-i

2009-08-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Doug loves playing with his new Nintendo DS-i and here some of the funny pictures you can take with it. We haven't been doing much more than school and work lately, so there hasn't been much to post on...so this is making me feel a little better about keeping current on the blog.

Doug and I have now been married for over 7 months...it doesn't seem that long at all. But don't they say that you start to look like your spouse? I guess this picture is living truth.

Austin loves taking pictures on the DS-i...even when it makes her a pig.

Doug has been in school at UVU since we were married. This summer has been especially crazy for him. He took an anatomy class during a block, so it was extremely condensed. I have been amazed at the amount of time and effort he has had to put towards that class. I am so impressed with how much he can do each day and still be happy when he comes home. And it seems as though his brain is actually growing in size! What a great man I was able to marry!

He is so happy that in only one more week this summer semester will be over and he will have a 10 day break before the fall semester starts. Another exciting thing is that Doug officially applied for UVU's nursing program and we should find out if he got in by December. It seems like way too long to wait...but we will be patient. If he does get into their program, he would start in January.

The many colored faces of Shane...

Katrina trying out the different things you can do with the DS-i while

we were visiting family in California.

The first thing that attracted Doug to me was definitely his luscious lips!

I guess it's not true that you grow to resemble your spouse because Doug's parents have been married over 25 years and they were less related than Doug and I were. :)

New Homeowners!

2009-06-18T16:19:00.001-07:00

During the end of May and first of June, Doug and I moved into our new house. Doug's parent's had owned it and rented out the top and bottom. Now we live in the top and Doug's cousin Kira and her husband Jeff live in the bottom. It is a lot of fun to live right above them. We are also just a block away from Doug's parents house now and we love it. We see a lot more of the family now and that is always fun. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to...

I know Shane was SO happy to be helping us move. Your the best!

We recrutied our family to help us move and they were great. The couches were quite tricky to get outside. We had to go through our kitchen and it barely fit!

My dad, the expert lawn man, felt we needed to put insecticide down. So here is Doug, so happy to be spraying bug killer around our lawn.

We cleaned out the garage and it was quite the adventure. Growing up our garage was always a disaster...some of you know exactly what I am talking about. So Doug and I have vowed to keep a clean garage. We found 75 gallon and 2 liter bottles of water hiding up in the rafter from the people that owned the house many years ago. That was fun to dispose of. Doug definitely got the dirtiest because he was the one willing to clean all the really dusty stuff up high.

My sister Aly had the great idea to paint our kitchen cabinets before we moved all our food into them. So, we undertook the large project and now that we are done, I am so glad that we did it.

We used oil-based paint and I had no idea how much harder it was to clean off yourself and off the brushes. I hate it!

A few of our drawers will not fit back in, so we still have to work on them. But all the cabinents are working great.

Here is the finished project...

I was lucky enough to find the paint to the kitchen in our garage (thank you Brooke and Ben). So I painted two of the walls that were wood and I think it looks great.

This is the Kitchen before the painting...

Before we moved in the roof was replaced. Doug's uncle Danny is a mater constructioner and did a great job. Doug, Shane, Danny, and this other boy did all the work. I went on my days off and had a great time working with the boys. Danny put me in charge of the nail gun and it was fantastic. It was a good thing we re-roofed, because why they were working, both Doug and Shane had the roof break on them and they fell up to their waist. Too scary for me.

Working hard up on the roof.

2009-06-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

The weekend of May 30th (my birthday!) we took a trip down to Calf Creek. Aly was in town and we have all wanted to hike down and see it, so we finally did. My dad, Alyson, her friend Pearl, my nephews Nate and Caleb, and Doug and I went. It was a great group and we all had a wonderful time.

We couldn't quite find the right place to drop down into the canyon at...so we improvised and this was the place where we dropped down. Nate, my dad and Caleb did a great job of scouting out the right place, while the rest of us rested. We had to lower our packs down with rope, then lower ourselves down with the rope. It scared me, that's for sure.

Nate had slipped off the edge of the rock where we were lowering down with the rope, so we were all thankful that he was not hurt...he gave us a little scare though. Good thing he was holding on tight to the rope.

Our pillows consisted of a stuffed whale from Sea World and a orange dolphin...expert hikers!

Aly and Pearl hiking through the creek. It was so green and beautiful along the creek.

Once we found our camp, we dropped our packs and kept hiking to the lower falls. We were above the lower falls, so we could see all the campers down below. It was 140 feet high. This is Doug peaking over the edge, I was much too scared to get that close.

There were some technical parts along the way to the lower falls...All of us made it past this water hole without falling in except Doug, Pearl, and Caleb.

This is the edge of the lower falls--scary to think about falling off the edge of this.

To entertain ourselves at night we built this throne out of the sand and took funny pictures. These were the best two for sure!

I sure do love Aly and it was so great to see her. I wish she lived in Utah for good because I loved the daily contact with her. Aly is so fun, kind, and always to willing to help anyone. She is a great example to me and I sure do love her!

Primary and Steaks...

2009-06-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

Doug was the steak sampler at Albertsons for a week in May, so he wanted to bring some home and cook it up for me. I have never been a big meat fan, but I have to say, he did a very good job and it was delicious.

You may notice that our kitchen is very small...sometimes cooking is difficult

in such confined spaces.
Doug and I have moved, so we were released from our calling as the 7-8 year old primary teachers. We were sad to leave these kids because they were a lot of fun. We did a new calling though and we will be the 12 year-olds sunday school teachers, so it should be equally fun and exciting. I love teaching with Doug at church, he makes it a lot of fun.

All of the kids LOVED Doug. When we left, one of the Primary leaders came up to me and said she was sad to see us go because Doug was so good with the kids and it's hard to find guys like that. I love how much Doug loves children, he will be an excellent dad someday!

4.0 California Trip

2009-06-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

I am behind on the blogging, so I was just going to skip this trip...but there were some great pictures and stories, so I couldn't. Doug got a 4.0 (his first ever) this last winter semester at UVU. Because he did so good, we took a celebration vacation to San Diego and Los Angeles area.

Part of Doug's family live in Yorba Linda, CA, so we visited them for a few days. It was very relaxing and wonderful to see everyone. His aunts, uncles, and grandparents and very welcoming and I sure do love them. Because we were in the LA area, I decided to fulfill my lifetime dream and go to the Price Is Right game show. Sadly, this picture is the best I could get because they take your cameras from you. It was so fun to see the filming, even though Doug and I didn't get called up on stage.

The San Diego temple was a wonderful experience. I was amazed at how large it was.

Doug loved the gorilla's... as you can see.

They had the most horrible reptile house that Doug made me go through. I have never seen so many snakes in my entire life and I finally had to run out because it was just too much for me.

Our favorite part of the zoo was this polar bear because he was so active. He was jumping off rocks into the water, swimming all around, and enjoying his femur bone snack!

I kept trying to lure the animals with my leafy greens. Some got really close to me because of it, but others, like this llama, didn't care at all.

A nice photo with one rhino sniffing another ones bottom...

The things they did with dolphins and seals at Sea World was amazing.

Doug, me, and Davey after going the Shamu show. Doug and Davey insisted that we sit in the "splash" zone. I didn't think we would get that wet, and I was 100% wrong. We were soaked.

This may look like an innocent animal...don't believe it. It was soak hundreds of people in seconds. My favorite part was when the trainer stood on the nose and it shot the trainer into the air. What a great job that would be.

Sea World was wonderful and very entertaining. As we were leaving a debate started about if Shamu is still alive or not. I hate to break it to all Shamu lovers, but Shamu is dead. This news was broken to us very matter-of-factly by the janitor at Sea World.

2009-05-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

well this is my 1st blog post so no one make fun of me(including grammar and punctuation). This is a picture of Tricia at work at primary children's hospital, i figured because there is nothing more important to me than this beautiful girl, i would blog about her. Tricia is right now working the night shift(that's from 7pm to 7am) and i have to sleep alone. i love Tricia so much, and when she is not here it reminds me how much enjoy her company. we have so much fun together, i think a perfect match. i think that i am the most lucky person in the world. Tricia and i are buying a house in Provo, we move in on the 1st of June. all this week I have been working on putting a new roof on it with Danny Sommers. i think i will make another post with those pictures. my favorite time working on the roof is when Tricia was up there working too. i love every minute i can spend with her. i think that Danny will agree with me when i say that Tricia is a very good roofer. she threw all the shingles on one side of the roof herself. we are just loving our life.

Reception Fun

2009-04-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

I can't figure out how to rearrange the pictures in order, so they are a little out of order and sequence. We had our reception at the White Willow Reception Center, it was wonderful!

My old roommate Kira caught the bouquet and she is now engaged to be married. Maybe it is true that whoever catches it will be the next to be married...

Before we cut the cake my dad told me to not stuff the cake in Doug's face...Sorry dad.

I love this picture so much. These are great friends from BYU-Idaho.
Wes, Megan, Griffith, and Catherine.

Doug's brother Shane kept putting his sparkler right in my face and I was so scared to pass him. Luckily we were able to escape.

My nephews Braden and Preston enjoying the sparklers.

They did a great job of decorating the outside and inside of our car. It was also snowing a lot when we left so after a mile of driving we had to pull over and scrape off the snow, toilet paper, and all the other decorations... sorry to the people who had to clean up that parking lot!

We loved having Doug's grandma and grandpa there. They drove all the

way from California for the wedding.

I feel so lucky to have such wonderful in-laws. They are so welcoming and loving.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the reception. All my nephews were gathered around my brother Russell checking out his beard. They love and admire his bachelor life.

All of our nieces and nephews...minus Kade because he was not very happy and didn't want his picture taken. I loved getting one picture with all the kids together.

My dear sister Aly. She came up from Arizona with all my other siblings. I loved having them here so much. Thanks!

Ben and Shawn enjoying the delicious cake!

Missy and Aubrey worked at Einsteins with Doug and I. We have known them from the beginning of our relationship and are still good friends.

I love this picture of my parents, they look pretty happy. They are probably pretty happy to finally have an empty house after 8 kids!

Wedding Day

2009-04-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Finally I have gotten around to posting some pictures of the wedding day. These are some of the temple and I will work on getting some posted of the reception. It was a great day and everything went so well.

It was so wonderful to have my old roommate Whitney come with her husband Jeff and son Cody.

Here is Doug's side of the family.

Doug thought he was pretty cool with all the boys...

This is my side of the family, it was great to have all the family there.

Megan, Alison, Me, Katie, and Beth. Some great friends through the years!

I love this picture of my dad and I.

It's finally official!

Honeymoon in the Caribean

2009-01-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here a few of the pictures from our adventures in the Western Caribbean. We had a such a fun and relaxing time, coming back to the freezing cold in Utah was definitely hard. Doug and I were on the "Love and Marriage" game show on the ship as the newlyweds. We were asked some pretty embarrassing questions, but we both had a great time. We won this bottle of champagne from it!
While waiting at the airport we had some fun with the African safari pictures...

There was always great food for dinner and it was to dress up and feel fancy.

While in Cozumel, Mexico Doug and I went scuba diving. We decided to dive once more, so that took all of our money. We didn't even have $1 between us by the time we were done. Because of this, we had to walk back to the ship instead of getting a taxi...we felt pretty poor. While we were walking back, there were these two dogs that followed us the entire way. That's Mexico for you, stray dogs everywhere!

This picture is of Doug and I after we got done scuba diving. It was fantastic! We saw some amazing fish, coral and the deep deep ocean. On our second dive Doug was doing so many twists and twirls in the water that his air ran out a long time before everybody else and so he had to share with our instructor...it was quite the adventure.

This is our fabulous ship, the Westerdam. This picture looks like Doug and I were photo shopped in, but it was just that perfect! We had such a great time.

"Bridals"

2009-01-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

My wonderful and very talented cousin Julie Martin took some "bridals" of Doug and I. I didn't want pictures of just me, so Doug came along and it was a lot of fun. Julie was a trooper and withstood the freezing temperatures. By the time we were done, she was soaked from waist down. We love you Julie!

I love this picture because Doug finally got what he deserved... This was after he had "dropped" me in the snow four times!

Segways!

2008-11-27T21:00:00.000-08:00

Before the gardens closed at Thanksgiving Point Doug and I went and rode around on their segways. They were SO fun. We tried playing tag on them, but I ran into a tree so we decided to stop for safety purposes. They are pretty easy to ride and very entertaining.

California

2008-11-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

Doug, Me, his cousing Davey and his friend Ashley went to California for the Halloween weekend. We went to six flags for the first day, and the beach the second day. One really fun thing was seeing all the places where Doug lived in California. It was great to meet his family and stay with his grandparents. They were so hospitable. One bad thing was that six flags has created a need for me to ride more rollar coasters...

Finally Engaged!

2008-11-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

Because we are now official, we are starting a blog together! Tonight Doug popped the big question...slipped the big sparkler on my finger! We were walking around the Riverwoods shopping center and he casually asked if I wanted to eat at Magelby's (he actually had reservations and all). While we were eating he got down on one knee, said a lot of really sweet and wonderful things and of course I said yes. A great plus was that his brother Shane and his girlfriend Becca were secretly there to video the great event. So, mark the date...January 2nd!