Texas

My mom, dad, and I went down to Texas to visit Michelle, Dave, Audrey, and Joshua. They moved down last month because Dave started his Endodontics program and we have missed seeing them. It was so fun to see them and spend some time with them, I love this family.

A little background: When Audrey use to come visit she would sleep in my bed with me, which was perfect because I have a king size bed. She is such a little cuddle bug and I loved every second of it. When she found out that I was going to come to Texas to visit her, she told me that we could share her bed- which is a twin size. Needless to say, we were very cozy all night long :)

The next morning: Good morning beautiful.

cute Joshua came to join the party

love those cheeks

Joshua, Shelb, me, and Audrey walking around the harbor

Swinging

After we had lunch at Taco Bueno, we headed to the swimming pool. Since I teach swimming lessons I had always try to help Audrey swim but she never wanted to go under the water. So when she called me from Texas saying she went all the way under the water I was so proud.

Look at the little fish :)

Shelb, Audrey, and me

While the kids took a nap- Shelb, my mom, and I went to Sam Moons. It is this cute shopping area where they have everything from purses, belts, hats, jewelry, and then a separate home decor store.

Of course we had to take a picture sitting in the zebra chairs.

After the naps we went to my dad's favorite store- The Bass Pro Shop. It is kinda like Cabelas, with all the outdoors equipment, and animals on display. The kids loved it and we had a blast.

Grande and the kids.

Joshua with the bear

They had a shooting area where you could shoot animals which moved

Action shot with GrandD and Grande

Love this cute little boy

On our way home we stopped at Bahama Bucks for some shaved ice- delicious.

My mom gave Audrey a set of scriptures and a book that you draw pictures in that tell about the stories that Audrey loves. When we got home that's all she wanted to do.

sweet Audrey and her D

playing some cards

Shelb taking a hand

as Audrey kept saying:

"my mom is killing us"

Friday was Pioneer Day so we told Audrey about the pioneers and all day long she kept asking when the pioneers were coming. We had to explain that this was in the past so we decided in remembrance of the pioneers, we would walk to the pool instead of drive :)

We told Audrey that if she would work with me a little on her swimming than we would get her a surprise at the store. She did so well and even swam all by herself:

needless to say, she definitely deserved her surprise :)

Not quite her typical 'princess cosmetics' but shin guards instead.
Audrey is signed up to be on a soccer team in the fall so I wanted her to get a head start.

She only agreed to put them on when I told her it was like soccer jewelry :)

Grande was showing Audrey that if she was wearing her shin guards, then it would not hurt if someone kicked her shins. I love the trusting look on her face.

Practicing some dribbling

It was a soccer practice for everyone

Action shot of Audrey's throw in

My little soccer star- with the pink ball that I gave her for her 2nd birthday

After dinner walked around the cute town

adorable.

love this girl.

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the airport to leave for Mexico. We were sad they weren't coming with us but were so glad we got to see them before we left.

Sitting on the porch before we left:

such cute kids

Thank you Dave, Michelle, Audrey, and Joshua for letting us come stay at your cute house, eat your food, and even share your bed :) We love you sooo much.

Family. Fun. Utah.

I am starting to love my dad taking his dental implant classes in Utah. I loved it before because it meant that my parents were coming up to visit, and now that it is summer time, it means that I get to visit Utah with them. I love Utah in the summer. First, there is no school, the weather is beautiful, and I get to see my family.

We got to Utah late Wednesday night, drove to my grandparents house, and found a container of bran muffins with a note from my grandma on the counter. She is the best. Thursday afternoon we met up with lots of friends and family at Cafe Rio. LOVE this place.

me, my mom, Grandma, Kade, Ellen, Maria, and January

Mark Sanders and me
he has lived two houses down from me since I was born- practically an older brother to me

Preston, me and Kade
My cousin Sara's adorable boys

After lunch my mom, Maria, and I drove to my Grandma's grave.

It is so pretty up there and I was so glad that I could go with my mom.

From there we headed to the Park City outlets. One of my really good friends Amy Adams met my mom, Maria, and me up there which was a blast. It was so good to see her and catch up a little. We hung out all the time last summer and had SO much fun. I miss that girl. Sadly- no pictures.

Friday afternoon we had lunch with my grandpa at P.F. Changs. We always go there with him and I love it. We even had Cold Stone after- it was quite the meal.

my cute grandpa.

After lunch I met up with my friend Ashley. We have known each other since we were little but she moved away and we were pleasantly reunited at BYU. We went the Nordstroms sale, and have to say we were pretty successful. It was so fun to just sit and talk, she is getting married in August and I am so excited for her.

Friday night we celebrated my grandma and grandpa Toolson's birthdays. They are close together so we had a birthday party for both of them :)

I am in love with this picture of them.
They are the cutest.

We had a theme of an '80 plus' birthday party so for part of their present, we all told things that we love and remember about grandma and grandpa. My mom put them all together, and stopped counting when she reached 160. Needless to say, there were definitely 80 plus things.

the pages&pages of things that we LOVE about them

Happy Birthday Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Saturday my mom, Andrew, Carrie, and I went to Seven Peaks. I love this place. I feel like I'm 12 again when I go. We use to go all the time as kids and I feel like it is just as much fun now. We rode tons of rides, relaxed, and loved Andrew and Carrie's new waterproof digital camera.

my mom, me, Carrie, and Andrew in line

Carrie and Andrew

me and my mom after Boomerang- my favorite ride

cheesin' on one of the rides with Andrew

this picture might capture how much fun I had :)

the lazy river

Andrew underwater

the lily pads.
I use to love jumping from one to the next when I was a kid.

We also took some videos going down the slides at the park, which are pretty entertaining. I'll post them soon :)

I was planning on flying home Sunday night but because of a last minute change of plans, I ended up catching a ride home with Ellen and LaNell. It was so much fun to drive with them- thank you so much! Love you guys.

Smile.

You might think that the only thing that could make a
bad week worse is going to work..
but it proved to be the opposite for me this week.

These kids put a smile on my face everyday

classic jumping picture

otter-pop break

bingo!

The kids, Madi, and me

the important things...

Yesterday in church there was a talk that I felt was meant just for me- about the important things in life. I feel like I've been so caught up with relatively small things in my life, when in reality I need to take a step back and figure out the important things. I have so many things for which I am grateful and even if some things are rough, it doesn't mean I shouldn't or can't be happy. My family is such a blessing to me and I don't know what I would do without them, especially right now. They have always been there for me- from times of just having fun together or coming to my soccer games, to phone calls to cheer me up and put a smile on my face. So thank you to my Mom, my Dad, Sara, Ben, Dave, Michelle, Audrey, Joshua, Melissa, Luke, Savannah, Rachel, Ryan, Andrew, and Carrie for being such an important part of my life.

I love you all

mom&me

This weekend my dad and one of his golf friends took a boys golf trip to Oregon, which left my mom and I at home all by ourselves. On Thursday I actually had the day off, so my mom and I decided to make a day out of it. We woke up and headed to the pool to go to the water aerobics class (which I always see while I am teaching lessons) then laid out at the pool after. We came home, got ready, then headed to Napa. We first went to the outlets and did a little shopping which was a blast. When we had worked up quite the appetite from all the shopping we went to Rutherford's Grill. I haven't been since my 8th grade graduation with my best friend Megan and the food was that good that I still remember it. They are famous for their ribs and the cute setting. We sat outisde and enjoyed delicious cornbread and ribs that you could eat with a knife and fork.

Yes, the cornbread was that good, it was photographed

The famous ribs

After we were suffiently stuffed with the delicious ribs we headed to Dean&Deluca. This place is another one of our family's favorites because of their apricot bars. We shared one while we were there and then of course had to get one for the road :)

love the vineyards

After Dean&Deluca we drove straight to the movie theater to see The Proposal, which was cute. I sadly cant remember the last time I have been to see a movie.

By the time we got home we were ready for our late night snack of another apricot bar..

Which was quickly devoured

Thank you mom for a fabulous day. You are truely one of my best friends. I love you.