scottsdale with jocelyn

a few weeks ago i met up with jocelyn in scottsdale. the first night, we got straight to work.

the next morning we hiked around the resort grounds then sunned at the pool with our piña coladas! not too shabby.

the montelucia. so pretty.

for lunch we had tasty cafe rio.

after lunch we checked into the royal palms (another hotel in scottsdale). the grounds were so beautiful.

royal palms.

that evening we shopped then had dinner at culinary dropout. 

friends.

the next morning we laid by the pool then got ready for the day and found some poor soul to take our 5727289229th picture. 

we had lunch at grimaldis pizza then had our makeup done at bobbi brown. smokey eyes!

we had a late dinner at blanco tacos. the best mexican food ever. we sat under the mist machines. love those misters!

when we got back to the hotel we felt like getting in the hot tub. but we couldn't find towels anywhere. we had to trek across the entire property to ask for towels. we were just a little happy with our fresh, hot towels!

on our last morning we got massages then hogged the pool floaties and soaked up the last bit of sun. it was heaven.

heaven.

honestly one of the best weekends of my life. im so lucky to have jocelyn.

a concert at the gorge

last weekend craig and i went with our friends to a concert at the gorge. it was a perfect night and the views at the gorge are breathtaking.

the place was paaaaaaacked. and even tho it was just the zac brown band (a relatively clean country band) the patrons were (hmmm. how do i put this nicely) not the classiest of souls.

kaitlin and me. and my country garb!

a great night with great friends.

back to school 2013

the boys started school last week. tagg kindergarten and sully preschool. they were very excited.

a few nights before the first day of school tagg had his meet-and-greet. his dang name tag and desk were so cute! he loved every second of it.

finally, it was the first day of school and it was the first time i saw tagg be a little nervous. it made my heart hurt. but he boarded the bus like a brave guy.

a few hours after tagg left, i took sully to his first day of preschool. before we walked inside he got a little sad and said, "but mom, i dont know my letters." again, i got a little lump in my throat. my boys know how to do it to me! but as soon as we walked in the classroom sully was as courageous as can be and never looked back.

the second day of school wasnt such a blur, so i got a chance to take a few pictures of tagg getting on the bus. walking tagg down to the bus stop, with sully, on our fantastic brick road is one of the coolest things i have ever done. 

ward campout

a few months ago craig and i were asked to be in charge of this year's ward campout. we had never been to a ward campout so i felt a little out of my comfort zone. but that didnt mean it wasnt going to happen! so a month before the campout i made these posters to put in the church hallways to get people excited.

then, the week before the campout we passed around little reminder fliers.

finally! it was time to head up to ensign ranch. my boys were in complete heaven.

im not thaaaaaat into camping but this fantastic river was right behind where we pitched our tent. beautiful.

such a sweet little guy!

after scouting out the area around our tent we made our beds. when we first got there i thought "holy crap. we are going to burn up during the night. there are 500 million blankets." didnt matter. i still froze that night. :)

before it got dark the kids played hide and seek. i loved watching tagg & sully play with the big kids.

i borrowed some kid's bike so i could go around the campground and tell everyone when to meet for smores.

there was a state wide fire ban. so we werent able to do a normal big campfire. but this propane firepit did the job. not 100 percent sure THAT was even legal. oh well!

setting up for smores.

when ensign ranch emailed me a week before the campout and informed me that there was a fire ban i freaked out. it was hard enough to get people to come camping but camping without smores?! i was sure craig, the boys and i would be the only ones up there. so i put together these little smores mix bags to lure my friends up there.

it turned out the propane firepits worked out wonderfully and even had the added bonus of not making me smell like sick smoke. loved it!

wouldnt want to plan a campout for 130 people with anyone else!

after smores, songs and a devotional we passed out glow sticks and the kids had a blast. this picture doesnt do it justice, but it looked so cool to have the neon colors running around in the pitch black.

i put it off for as long as i could but at some point we had to "go to bed".

even though craig and i didnt sleep for more than three hours or so that night it was still totally worth it. tagg & sully had such a great time.

the following morning craig and i woke up and served breakfast (not pictured: a hot chocolate bar!) to everyone. who doesnt love a good old costco muffin (really, its basically cake)?

i still cant say i love camping but we had a great time. we loved spending time with our friends and family out in the sticks!

sully's ORANGE birthday party

sully turned three on august 15th and he requested an "orange" (his favorite color) birthday party. 

right before his friends showed up he sang 'happy birthday' to himself. i seriously could eat him.

we had all of sully's favorties: orange tic-tacs, vanilla/vanilla cupcakes, orange izze drinks, tangerine jelly bellys, megan's famous sugar cookies and......

my mom's INSANE baked caramel corn. this stuff is crack.

sully's little crown. do you think he'll wear one when he's 17?

as his friends arrived, we had crafts ready to go. beaded name bracelets and decorated mini picture frames. all orange of course!

hard little worker bees.

before lunch, the kids played around on the waterslide.

but then JIMMY JOHNS arrived and not even a waterslide can keep people away from that goodness.

my boys and i might have a slight addiction.

lunchtime!

after lunch the kids took turns whacking the pinata. (i learned my lesson this year and used the least amount of tape possible to put the pinata together. lets just put it this way: last year, tagg's number '4' was freaking fort knox)

then sully opened presents, we sang 'happy birthay' to him and he blew out his candle.

before each friend left, i took a polaroid picture of them with sully. then they washi taped the picture to fit in their personalized frames. it was so cute.

grandma cheri and great grandma joan got a picture with the birthday boy too!

sully picked out his favorite little orange treats/toys to pack up in the favor boxes.

i love that orange is sully's (and tagg's!) favorite color. its so odd/cute.

family shot after the party was over.

honestly, the cutest human. ever. how did i get so lucky?