Last stop...

Our last stop in Utah was in Logan, on our way home, to visit Hermana Harper. I didn't care how much I had to drive out of the way to see her, she was a MUST see while in Utah! :) Well, technically she's not Hermana Harper anymore, but to me, that's who she'll always be. Sorry, Tara! :) We were MTC companions and companions again in Chicago and she will ALWAYS hold a special place right in the middle of my heart because I couldn't have asked for a better friend to be with during that time in my life! :)

This is her little one, Taylor Grace. She got her mamas red hot hair and red hot personality! I loved finally getting to meet her! We obviously hit it off right off the bat! :) (even though she broke my glasses!) :) (don't worry, I forgave her!) :)

Tucker...

Does anyone else feel like they are always just saying 'No! No! NO!' to their two and a half year old--like constantly!?! It makes me so sad to think that our relationship has come to this. Please tell me they grow out of this stage. I want to enjoy my son again! :)

(He still has some of his sweetness, but it is definitely hiding under a stubborn two year old right now who wants to do everything his way and everything on his terms!!!)

Utah for springbreak part I

I know, I know, its been almost a month now that I went to Utah for spring break and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it...I've been a slacker these days and I have no real reason. Just because.

So... I decided to turn around the very next day after we got home from our trip to Seattle and drive to Utah. By myself. With a toddler. Crazy? Yes. We had a great time though. :) Tucker was a dream on the way down. It's a 12 hour drive from Spokane. I knew it wouldn't be the easiest driving with a toddler, so I allowed myself some time to just enjoy the trip and stop when we needed to stop. He slept the majority of the time on the way down. I couldn't have asked for a better travelling partner, that Tucker! :)

I really wanted to go to Utah for a few different reasons. Kayla and Jason are moving to Wisconsin this summer for Medical School after Jason graduates from BYU. And after they leave, I will have no real 'reason' to visit Utah anymore. I love Utah, I have a lot of great memories there and a lot of great friends there. I thought I should probably take advantage of that while I can. Conference was another reason. Ben and I had a mission reunion we could go to. We hadn't seen our mission president or his wife in a while. We really wanted to see them. So I thought it might be one nice last hurrah to Utah for a while. I am so glad we went. The first few nights we stayed with Cookie and Rosie and Toni! Great friends from WAY back in the day. (Jr. High) We had a blast with them. Cookie has a little girl close to Tuckers age. They had a blast playing. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves as to what we did. We did a lot! And ate a lot! And stayed up way to late a lot! :) And looked at a whole lot of awful pictures from Jr. High! :)

Beautiful Olivia

Don't let the face fool ya, he was in love...

If you don't believe me, just watch this little clip, so cute...

Tucker doing his best Rocky Balboa impression...

My beautiful friends...

We also got to meet up with an old roommate of mine, Anjerie and her two adorable little girls. It was SO good to see her.

The gorgeous Coox & Olivia :)

We were at a place full of trampolines and big jumpy castles. Tucker was in heaven.

OK, we were all in heaven... :)

Aunt Kayla got to hang out with us on this day, too. Tucker was very happy about that! :)

Tucker and his new friend, Avery. (Anjeries daughter) They were jumping together the whole time!

Auntie Kayla was a big hit with these two.

Luckily for Tucker, Cookies husband, Jason was there too. So he wasn't surrounded by too many women all the time. :)

Early morning for a Nordstrom Rack opening...we were so there. Too bad it was too dang crowded to want to buy anything!

Top Models in Action...

Rosie is my ANTM friend. (I think that she may be the ONLY one!):)

Carousel ride...for some reason Tucker wanted to sit on the bench and not on a horse.

Rosie with her wild horse...

Cookie & Olivia...

This is how we felt by the end of our Stay with Jason, Cookie, Olivia & Rosie:

All Tuckered out!

Thanks guys for letting us crash with you for a few days! We had a great time. Lets do it again, soon! And next time, we'll perfect our April Fools joke and get Jason for sure! :)

Jessy...

Happy Birthday Jessy!!!

To my beautiful self-portrait taking partern in crime--I love you!! Can you believe that it has been 18 years since that day at Horizon Jr. High when I was wearing my purple flower overalls with one strap down and you were wearing your teal v-neck sweater with matching scrunchy socks and golf shoes??? I love you and am greatful for the past 18 years! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Seattle in a nutshell...

Besides the party, there were a ton of things we packed into our weekend in Seattle. We got there and Sadie had a little Easter egg hunt (start the counters, that's #1 for the season...there are many more too come.) set up for Tucker. He sure is one lucky little guy! He had a great time roaming their condo for eggs. Thanks auntie Sadie!

We went downtown to the Aquarium and some good ol' fashion foot races and playing on the pier.

Sadie and I made the boys a delicious crab and shrimp dinner one night thanks to my papa! :) Doug's favorite just for his b-day.

And we can't forget the family breakfast the next morning with Doug's family! Good times! :)

And we just did a lot of snuggling and hanging out with our favorite people! Thanks guys for the great weekend! We love you! Let's do it again soon, huh!?

Dirty 30...

First things first...I'm baaaaaack!!! :)

Secondly, I have a ton of catching up to do! We left two weeks ago for a quick weekend trip to Seattle for our friend Doug's 30th b-day bash! We got home that Sunday and the very next day, I drove to Utah with Tucker for the week. Ben flew down a few days later to join us and to drive back with me-but it was a whirlwind trip and SO much fun. I feel like I have been gone forever and am still trying to recover from driving for 12 hours alone with a toddler. Just today, I finally had the nerve to start organizing/editing the 500+ pictures I've taken in the past few weeks. Anyway....here's a start...

Seattle was great. We always love spending time with Doug and Sadie. And a reason to celebrate makes it even better. Doug's party was a surprise to him, and SO much fun! We are so glad we went over for it, even though it was a quick trip. Our weekends together always go by way too fast!

Doug & Sadie's friend, Joy, who has become our friend through them made this amazing cake for him!!! The brewery where the b-day party was held wouldn't let homemade cakes be brought in, only store bought. But they totally bought that this was a store bought cake--she is THAT good! :) It was delicious too!

The theme of the party was like retro/vintage athletic wear. Sadie had a special jersey made just for him on his big day and we all sported his old b-ball jerseys from back in the day! :)

Good times!!!

It's hard being the mom of the coolest kid on the planet!!! :)

The guys took a tour of the brewery! Ben was really into it, can ya tell??? :)

Doug even got a hug from a rollerskating Marilyn Monroe!?!

Of course, Tucker has to help out with every candle blowing event there is!

Then Doug got his 30 spankings from the kiddos there.

Eric & Joy (the creator of that beautiful cake!)

Tucker loves him some Emily!

Emily & Dave...we were so lucky that all of our good friends were there...

Lovely ladies: Sadie, Emily & Meredith...

Happy B-day Doug!!! We love you and are so happy that you've made it this far!!! :) ha ha

We crammed a lot more into the weekend than just the party, but I'm just beginning this organizing of the picture process...so more will have to come later! I just really didn't want to see that dang fish anymore!!! :)

Tuckers first fish...

My dad took Tucker (and I tagged along, too) to a big hunting/fishing show here in Spokane last week. Tucker had a good time, there were lots of animals there and things to do. What was really cool about the day was that Tucker got to catch his first fish! Granted, it was in a swimming pool and he was barely holding on to the pole...it was his first fish!

It was really funny because the whole time he had a look on his face like he wasn't sure what he was doing. But since then, he has talked about it non-stop.

And here's his proud papa:

I think my dad has high-hopes for Tucker following in his footsteps!!! :)