Oh My Goodness!

We had our family pictures done a couple weeks ago... by a girl I knew in high school. And let me just tell you how much I LOVE THEM!!!!! I am obsessed, and she is amazingly talented! (check out her very creative shoots Here) Jaxon was not in a super smiley mood, but she had soooo much patience with him (and us) and got some great pictures! So because I can't pick just a few favorites, this will be a long post full of pictures from our shoot! :)Told ya there would be a lot of pictures! And I have SOOOOO many more that are just amazing!! Maybe I will add more to FB or something! :) Thanks again Janika!!

Update!

I feel like our blog is pretty boring... and I don't know how to make it more exciting! But... regardless, it's time for an update! We stay busy. And we love it! Jaxon and I made a little trip to the zoo with our besties!! It was a perfect day!
This tiger was pacing up and down the fence.... the kids were fascinated with him!

I really wanted a picture of us... he was thrilled!

This last Sunday, in our typical "we can't sit a home for too long" style... we headed up the canyon to walk around the reservoir.He could have spent all day throwing rock, after rock, after rock into the little stream. The simple pleasures of a toddler.

Date Night!

Last weekend Joel and I got to go on a date.... a concert. Now before I go further let me explain how excited Joel was about this! A little over 2 years ago, while we lived in Missouri, we got Joel Blink182 tickets. They are one of his fav's and they were finally coming to an area near us. Well a few weeks before the concert, one of the band members had a family emergency (a death, I think), and they cancelled the concert. We got our money back, but Joel was pretty bummed. So a few months ago he heard they were back on tour... and coming to SLC! He about died! So of course we got tickets and went! I have to say the concert was much more fun then I thought! Plus.... I had roasted almonds and a great date to keep me happy! :)Tomorrow night.... guess where I will be??? With my sister?? RASCAL FLATTS concert! Could I be more excited?? Well maybe... cuz Taylor Swift is in 3 weeks! :) Yeah I'm spoiled! :) AND our family pictures are next week.... pray for good weather and a cooperative/smiley child {and hubby}! :)

A Little Story

I got to babysit this little birthday boy today! He turned 1 on Saturday! Him and Jaxon had fun playing today! It's fun to see the older Garrett gets the more interested Jaxon is in playing with him. Today he taught Garrett how to fill up the grocery cart, then dump the toys everywhere... they did that for about a half hour straight! Gathering new toys for each load! You should have seen my living room!
After Garrett went home I decided to go into Jaxon's room to play with him. In my mind I'm thinking I'm sure he missed playing with just me today. As soon as I walk in Jaxon screams "Noooooo I play!!" Then he leads me to the couch. Tells me to "sit", walks away, closes his bedroom door behind him, and goes back to driving his cars in his room.
Since when is he old enough to be too cool to play with mom?

LAKE POWELL!

Last week we were in Lake Powell with my Dad and his family! We had sooooo much fun, and spent the majority of our time swimming with Jaxon. He could not get enough of the water. As soon as he woke up in the morning he would ask "I swim? Please?"
We did a lot of boating, wake boarding, hanging out, and tubing!
I have tried twice to upload the pictures and think of a creative way to blog them, but I just can't. So whenever my computer decides to act normal I may add more.
But maybe not! :)

C-ya!

We are off..... off to Lake Powell!
We will come home tan, tired and with sore legs from wake boarding! :)

Our Last Day!

Finally.... we are at Day 4! This was a busyyyyy day! But probably one of my favorites! It was also the day we took the MOST pictures! We were up and out of camp earlier then usual. In fact, we were still in hoodies on our first stop!

Tower Falls.Sulpher CauldronMy personal FAVORITE....
Lower FallsJaxon with his Grandma and Grandpa
Towards the end of the day we ALMOST decided to skip Black Sand Basin. We were tired, and hungry! But I am soooo glad we didn't! It was another beautiful place, and we got some good pictures!

Emerald Pool

Check out those colors!I thought by now, Jaxon would be tired of looking at the pools of water. But he LOVED it! He especially liked when there were railings to climb up on to see better.

Sunset Lake

The wind was blowing pretty hard, so all the steam is covering up the pretty "lake".

After that we headed back to camp for dinner. It was earlier then usual, so Jaxon got to do a lot of playing and exploring the camp site. At one point he was playing in some really fine, soft dirt. I said to him, Jaxon... your so dirty!! With a big ol' grin he took both {dirty/muddy} hands, and rubbed them down his face, followed with "Uh oh, I dirty"! I about died from laughter!!

Can you see the streaks of dirt all over his face? :)

Well against my better judgement, I wiped off his hands and face, put him in jammies and put him to bed. First thing in the morning we woke up, packed up, and started the long drive home! It was such a fun vacation! I was surprised how much I enjoyed it!

Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa Brown!

Yellowstone - Day 3

Day 3 was filled with a lot more driving then usual. We drove all the way up to Mammoth, and made a few stops on the way up and back. On the way up we saw Black Bears! A mama bear with 2 "bigger" cubs, like from last year. And then 1 BABY!! It was tiny and soooo cute! I wish I would have had my camera ready! Anyway, one of the bigger cubs climbed a tree so we walked over and took some pictures! I have a really cute video of Jaxon on Grandpas shoulders trying to find the little bear, but I am too lazy to upload the video. The pics will have to do!
It was so strange to me that these Elk just stroll around through the "city". They walk around wherever and lay down under the trees. Jaxon does not know "Elk", so he just called them "Deers". Look at the little baby one!

Just exploring around after lunch
Jaxon fell asleep shortly after lunch, so Joels dad and I went on a few more trails while he slept.
This was AMAZING!!!! One of my favs!
He took a long nap that day, so we drove out of the park to a little surrounding city to get some cheaper gas, snacks, and stuff. This it was welcomed us back into Yellowstone.
"For the benefit and enjoyment of the People."
Yes it is.
On the drive back to our campsite we came across an area where a TON of cars were pulled over and people were rushing into a field taking pictures of something. Apparently this is a common practice there, when people see buffalo, elk, bears, etc. Well we ALMOST just drove by the commotion thinking everyone was getting excited over something lame... cuz we couldn't see a dang thing! Well Joel and his dad decided to pull over and get out to see what was there. And sure enough, a big ol' grizzly bear was in a field across the river from us! We saw it for a minute, and right as Joel and his dad walked down to get closer for a picture, the dang thing hid behind a bush! And stayed there till we finally gave up and left!
Our last day is next... and was probably my favorite day!!