Hello World!

As my friend Maggie so lovingly reminded me, it has been way too long since I last posted! I will not give all the reasonings behind it all, but man has life gotten busy! Anywho, I am going to try to post a decent #100 blog post. YEA! 100 posts. This could have come and gone ages ago but I did not want to do an injustice to such a monumentous moment. Hence, this post might be kinda long and detailed and involving much of my past couple months, but it is going to happen! I have thought off and on about trying to do something cool like a give-away. But unless someone wants the contents of my DI bag, that just isn't going to happen. My sister-in-law just got married and has a reception in about a week and things are just crazy. Plus I have a two year old. Enough said. Therefore, my creative juices are being spent elsewhere and are pretty much dried out actually. My house is a pigsty however the dishes did get done. Laundry is in the process and will eventually be folded and put away. Cailen is being babysit by his great-grandmother while I hole away here at home pretending to be doing something useful (I told Mark I was going to clean. hehe) As I sat at my computer eating my delicious bagel sandwich for lunch and playing Solitaire (addicting!), I figured I should probably blog. It's been too long. No one has seen a new picture of Cailen! GASP! Plus, my anniversary came and went without being documented on the internet. Gastly I know. Kendal, I will publicly say that I need your secret. This woman has a two year old as well, works from home, has a husband in law school, is PREGO (yea!) and still manages to blog faithfully and adorably. I struggled with deciding if I was going to admit that Kendal. But I've done it. You're too awesome not to get the credit and I know it won't go to your head :) And you will still love me! So without another word, I will get to it! "What have you been doing for the last couple minutes?" you might ask. Well, blogging for me is not just rants and words. It is PICTURES! And most importantly, pictures of Cailen :) I'll throw some others in there too, for good measure and a little variety. So, here we go:

Muffin Tops

Cailen is a big helper. Sometimes that is good and sometimes that is not. In this case, it was pretty fun. I love looking at recipe blogs and this recipe seemed easy enough. Muffin tops! Here is the recipe (I forgot which blog I got it from, sorry!)

Wild Blueberry Muffin Tops

1 package Betty Crocker® wild blueberry muffin mix
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg

Preheat oven to 425ºF (or 400ºF for dark or nonstick pan). Drain Blueberries from muffin mix; rinse and set aside. Stir muffin mix, water, oil and egg in medium bowl just until blended (batter may be lumpy). Gently stir in blueberries.Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges and tops begin to brown. Cool 1 minute before removing from cookie sheet.
Try it, they're great. Everyone loves the muffin tops the best. Now you can have it!

1st Time using Potty SUCCESSFULLY!

As previously posted, Cailen got a potty for his birthday. He liked to sit on it and read books and sing songs, but would usually not be very "productive." Here is a shot of him after he was FINALLY able to put one of his airplane stickers on his poster! Yea! Update: He has since put about 10-15 stickers on his poster...however, he stopped liking the potty a few weeks ago and refuses to sit on it! He won't even try! Lame. Now I have to figure something else out.

Zoo

Cailen LOVED going to the zoo. We had a membership that expired end of June. Haven't gotten a new one yet. But I highly recommend it! It is totally worth the money (one day passes to ANYTHING these days is crazy expensive). We tried to use it as much as possible that last month and here are some fun pics of our adventures :)

4th of July

Oh July, how I love you. July is a lovely month. Great weather, holidays at the beginning and the end of the month. It's just great. Ultimate summer month. 4th of July is always spent at the Sugarhouse Park with Mark's family. It is actually his sisters birthday and so we always have cake and sing. It is a day filled with playing (and laying) around as well as food! Cailen was very excited about the fireworks. All month he was wanting to see more, so it's a good thing the 24th of July was coming up soon!

4th of July fair at Winegars. Cailen got his facepainted and an alligator toy!

Volleyball and other fun at the park!

Lagoon

I also really love Mark's Grandma Audra. For many reasons really, but the one I am showcasing today is her awesome Christmas present. She gave everyone, and I mean everyone, a season pass to Lagoon. So now all three of us get in for free! We usually borrow someones parking pass and have the ultimate free day at Lagoon. These are pics of the first trip that everyone took together to Lagoona Beach. Cailen loved the kiddie area and the Lazy River. We decided to make a quick stop at some of the rides in Lagoon on our way out and that ended up taking 1hr 30 min! Cailen couldn't get enough. He didn't want to leave! His cousins were awesome about taking him on the rides. He loved it! We have since gone about 3 or 4 times and he has a blast. We've ridden Puff, the train and the carousel together and Cailen has ridden the car ride about 36 times (ok, slight exaggeration, but not by much). He also has a love for the bumper cars and the "little" dragon (next to Puff for those in the know). I'm crossing my fingers that Grandma gives these presents again next year!

Bumper Cars and Helicopter with Landen

Boats with Logan

24th of July Weekend

Now for the final holiday in July. We made a whole weekend of it! It was great! On the 23rd, Bountiful had it's parade and fireworks. Cailen LOVED the fireworks of course. He also loved the fair at the park before the parade. He rode a pony! He actually rode it twice and had a blast. He really enjoyed all the kiddie rides too. Then we left for Bear Lake with my family to spend the rest of the weekend at Mark's family cabin. It was great! My family had never been before so it was a lot of fun. Just a relaxing weekend with family and friends.

Aunt Heather and Aunt Michelle, at the parade!

Raspberry Days

Another big event of our summer is Raspberry Days at Bear Lake. It's been officially decided that it is the weekend of Mark's family's "reunion." All the brothers and sisters head up along with Mark's grandma, mother and stepfather. Friends are always welcome too and there are usually at least 3! We put up tents, sleep on floors, stay up all night and eat raspberry shakes! It's great! Plus there is a craft fair and rodeo! We missed the parade this year, woops. At the rodeo, we tried to convince Cailen to join the other kids in chasing the calf around. He would have none of it. I secretly think if his cousin Becca would have gone, he would have too. He LOOOVES Becca. It was an awesome weekend of fun, sun and water!

Barrel Train

Holding hands with his bf, cousin Becca

At the rodeo!

Always together :)

Hanging out w/Jill

My bff Jillybean visited for a little while from Indiana where she is living for grad school. Her family has moved to SLC from San Antonio so now there is a much bigger chance I will see her lots now! Yea! We went to a movie with Cailen and her sister Emma which was awesome and then she came and visited me in Bountiful where we just hung out, chatted and got Cold Stone. Yummy! THANKS FOR VISITING JILL!

Sonic w/Cailen

After seeing a movie with Jill, I treated Cailen to a night on the town. Ok, so it was dinner at Sonic, but it was fun to hang out just me and Cailen and to see the little man he is becoming! He had fun reinacting me ordering the food (he would yell out the window some gibberish) and then he kept wanting to sit on the console between the front seats and put his arm around me. It was sooo darling (I have no idea where he learned the arm thingy from). I love my little boy!

Christy's Wedding

August 7, 2009 - my dear friend Christy Marie Vineyard became Mrs. Eric Poole on the most gorgeous day! I was so happy for her and it was a great day also because I was able to see my friends Nissa and Keri as well! Ok, you too Jake :) Christy was a beautiful bride and she had a fantastic wedding, luncheon and reception. Hope you had fun in D.C. m'dear and loving life as newlyweds!

Christy and Eric

Keri, me, Christy and Nissa! Old roomies! :)

Keri caught the bouquet (ok, got handed the bouquet)

Our improv job of decorating the car...we used the centerpiece flowers. And it turned out GREAT thank you very much!

4th Anniversary

August 9, 2005 - I married my sweetheart! Fastforward to today (ok, 10 days ago) and we have been happily married for 4 years! It's amazing how time has flown by. Thinking back, it seems like so long ago that we moved into that crazy little duplex (that we rented last minute! Talk about stressful!). It seems like ages ago that I burnt my hand on the oven trying to make a frozen pizza for my dearest. It seems like ages ago that I took the bus to school and work while my honey commuted clear to SLC for his work and we'd come home exhausted but still find time to watch the O.C. until 1 in the morning! It seems like ages ago that I was soooo excited to buy our first vacuum because it would be "ours"! Now we have since lived in West Jordan, I've graduated, we've had a baby, moved to Bountiful, endured 2 funerals of family members, watched Cailen learn to walk (finally) and talk, deal with layoffs (grr), and generally just go through life together and enjoying every minute of it (ok, not the layoff minute). I am so happy and wouldn't change a minute of it. I love you Mark!!!!!!! Happy Anniversary babe!

Me and Mark celebrating our 4 year anniversary. This is us outside Ruby River Steakhouse, Mark's favorite steakhouse!

Trisha's Wedding

August is a month for weddings I guess. Not only did I go to my friend Christy's wedding and celebrate my own anniversary, but I was able to watch my awesome sister-in-law Trisha finally have her own beautiful wedding that she has so patiently waited for. She is a trooper, I tell you what. It was a wonderful day and I think she planned it perfectly. I am so excited for her. Craig is the perfect guy for her and their two families are merging into one adorable little bunch. I love 'em all! Congratulations Trisha and Craig!!! (And Braxton, Lysi and Kaden!)

Moster Zucchini

This summer has been an interesting one for me and my garden. I've decided I need a LITTLE garden. Otherwise what has happened to my garden happens. And that is that it is taken over by weeds!!! COMPLETELY taken over. I can't even see where my potatoes and onions were planted. Those are a lost cause now (I will shed tears for them later). My carrots are just pathetic. My radishes...well, I hate radishes (my sister in law Amy wanted to plant them). My peas were alright but then they died and we hardly ate any. My artichokes look like they are doing ok, but they aren't producing. My lettuce did alright until I forgot to pick it and snails ate it all. My spinach was just sad and again, I forgot about it. My corn seems to be doing alright, but I am not sure how many ears of corn are actually on it. My tomotoes are awesome though, both cherry and regular. We pick a bunch off those all the time. My raspberries will be good next year. Luckily they didn't die like my mom's did. My strawberries are doing pretty good, some get eaten by bugs and some get eaten by us. We have a random pumpkin plant that is growing from last years seeds and invading every other plant. However, we have like 3 pumpkins so that is pretty cool. My zucchini plant is doing awesome! We've had sooo many zucchinis come off the ONE plant, it's been great! However, as I have mentioned, I tend to forget about my little (um, big) garden and so sometimes things get eaten or overtaken by weeds. In the case of the zucchini plant...the zucchinis get HUGE! Case in point - one monster zucchini!!!

WHEW! I am done! I have to go eat dinner now :) Cailen woke up from his nap and now he and Mark are waiting for me to get in the car so we can go over to my cousin Zak's house. So, it's done. My 100th post is done. I'm semi back to the blogging world. Now maybe I won't be so scared to write a little here and there, share a pic here and there and generally be a part of this all again :) Here's to next time!! (Oh and there will be a next time, because I didn't blog about my 1/2 marathon in Hawaii because there were just too many pics to choose from. I'll tackle that next time!)