Celebrating 8 Years Together

Eight years ago today, Mark and I were married in the Logan LDS Temple. We got married on a Wednesday, of all days. I wanted August 1st. Sorry, to everyone that had to take off work in the middle of the week. It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the blue Utah skies. After 7 months of planning a wedding without my mother, who was in Australia serving with my dad who was over the missionaries for our church in that area, all the details flawlessly came together. I think we ran out of desserts at the reception but I didn't even notice. Come to think of it, I didn't even get any refreshments at my own wedding. I have no idea if they were good or not. All I know is that we served lots of different cakes. I remember not wanting to take my wedding dress off after the reception knowing that I would never wear it again or have a day quite like this one. Then there was the midnight run through Wendy's drive thru because we both were STARVING after the reception. It was the perfect wedding day I had always dreamed about as a little girl. The prince wasn't bad looking either ;-)

Now, looking back, we look so young and innocent in this picture. My hair is actually done and if you look close enough, we're actually holding hands. Holy smokes! I can't remember the last time we did that! J

A lot has happened in our eight short years together (12 if you're counting when we first met the summer before our Freshman year at Utah State); dating, Mark's mission, breaking up, getting back together, an engagement, a wedding, graduations, new jobs, three moves, three kids, new friends, and lots of laughs and cries, big decisions and surprises along the way. I am so glad that I've had Mark to experience all of these many little adventures with. He is my very best friend and the one I rely on to get me through the day. We are perfect for each other and I couldn't imagine my life with anyone but him. Love ya, Babe! Thanks for making life so sweet! I'm so glad we have forever!

Lady Antebellum

Last night, we took Macy to the see Lady Antebellum in concert at the Benton County Fair right up the road from us. Macy and I can sing all of their songs. It was so AWESOME! We were eight rows from the front and right in the middle. The crowd was huge. People came from all over Oregon and California to hear them and they put on such a great concert. I kept thinking how awesome it was for them to perform at such a small venue like the county fair when they are in the middle of touring with headliner Kenny Chesney. To me, it just shows how grounded they are and that they haven't forgotten where they started. I'm a serious fan for life now.

Afterwards, we waited around to meet them and to get their autographs. They took a little extra time with us, I think because we had Macy go first to meet them and they thought she was just beautiful. I shook all of their hands and blabbered on about how much I loved their concert and their music. What can I say....I'm a BIG, BIG fan!

Umm...yes, that is me holloring in the background! I'm like a teenage girl at her first concert. I just got so excited.

Macy was completely exhausted after the concert but she was so good. She wouldn't let us leave until she got to meet the singers. Now their autographed picture is hanging in her room.

Fourth of July Fun!

We had such a great time in Utah with my family. Here are some pictures of all of the Fourth of July Festivities.

The Hyrum Parade

My sister-in-law and good-looking brothers.

The sweet water slide my parents bought for all the grandkids. It was a blast!

Us girls saying good-bye. We always cry. Thanks for a great week even though it got a little crazy with all of our kids running around. It's always so good to come home and be together!

This picture is priceless. Another successful roadtrip
Summer 2009!

Something for Baby!

I had so much fun making this diaper cake for my sister-in-law's baby shower. I can't even believe how cute it turned out. I did a search on YouTube for instructions on how to make one and came up with this. I almost hated giving it away!


We had a great turn out for Heather's shower. It was so good to see so much family! Heather looked beautiful and received some great gifts. Now comes the hard part. Figuring out what to do with all that baby stuff and how it all works. Good Luck, Heather and Jason! You're going to be great parents!

Family Vacation....Cancun!

We've been a little spoiled this year taking two big vacations, first Hawaii and then Cancun, but apparently, our families have been waiting for us to get out of school so we could start playing. We are certainly not complaining. If there has ever been a year that we've needed two vacations...this has been it! This last trip to Cancun with Mark's family was the GREATEST vacation EVER! It was absolutely perfect. We left all the kids at home and did nothing but eat, sleep, and seriously laugh out loud. Mark's family is hilarious and they love nothing more than being together and telling funny, funny stories. We had a great, great time!

All of us hanging out on the beach! There were 13 of us total!

View from our hotel room at the Barcelo Maya Colonial Resort.

This is one of the restaurants we ate at every day. The resort was all-inclusive and yes...we ate...A LOT! I could not leave the soft-serve ice cream alone. It was DELICIOUS!

The food

Me, loving life on the beach! Everyone else read like 5 books. I read 100 pages. I seriously just vegged!

The entire family, plus Breanne, whom we love!

Phil and Dana, Mark's parents, who put this whole thing together.

The restaurants had a strict dress code for the men: NO SHORTS OR SANDALS but the women could wear whatever they wanted. Jason and Mark didn't pack any pants for the trip and had to taxi in to the city to buy some. They came back with these workout pants and wore them every night to dinner. It was the laughing joke. Apparently, you can look like a scrounge and eat at the restaurants as long as you are wearing pants and shoes.

The "Kids Table" as we called it. Mark's parents and the older sibling were next to us at the big table.

Cute Breanne and Syd.

The day at Tulum.

It was pouring rain the day we left which made it a little easier to leave.

Our last day in Cancun! Tan, happy and very much rested. Thanks, Mom & Dad, for watching our kids. I know they were loved to pieces!

Family Pictures

This pretty much sums up our family picture photo shoot! Don't all my children look so happy and cooperative? I think Macy is plugging her ears in this picture. How funny! It was complete chaos but also a lot of fun! I can't believe the shots our photographer was able to get with our children running all over the place. Half the time we were chasing Nicholas and trying to keep him out of the streets of downtown Corvallis. He was determined to get away! I was so worried that none of his pictures would turn out but now I think his are the cutest! Wouldn't you know, he fell asleep the minute we got back in the car.


I have to laugh at Mark. He was such a great help to pack the diaper bag and the only treats he stuck in there were M&M's and chocolate Teddy Grahams. Are you kidding me? Our kids looked like they had dirt all over their faces by the time we were done taking pictures from all of our bribery! I don't think you can edit that out! I love the pictures though! They totally capture our real life! I'll post more when I get all of them back! This is just a sneek peak! You can see more pictures here. Kim Greenfield took our pictures and she did a beautiful job. She was so relaxed and cute with our family! We loved her! Thanks, Kim! They are perfect!

Good Southern Cookin'

We hosted dinner club at our house Saturday night and wanted to expose these Northwesterners to some good southern BBQ. We had pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and some homemade sauces (compliments of Al & Alyssa Mackelprang) that were all the rave! I made cornbread and banana pudding and freshly squeezed lemonade. Others in the group contributed baked beans, homemade Macaroni & Cheese and fried Okra. It was all so delicious and took us back to our days in South Carolina. We miss you guys... and the food!

Mark's co-worker at the children's clinic in South Carolina shared her famous banana pudding recipe with us! Thanks, Donna! It was my personal favorite dish of the night!

Banana Pudding Recipe:
1 (8 oz) container of Cool Whip thawed
2 cups milk
1 (5 oz) pkg of Instant Vanilla pudding
1 (8oz) container of Sour Cream
1 box Vanilla Wafers
4-6 Bananas
1 Hershey bar

Stir milk and pudding mix together. Add your sour cream and cool whip. Alternate layers of vanilla wafers, bananas and pudding mix in a 9 by 13 glass dish. End with pudding on top. Add chocolate shavings. Chill. Delicious!

A little, red "spicey" BBQ sauce and Al's original Maple Mustard Sauce. They both turned out just perfect and were oh, soooo good!