ZOO TIME

So of course we had to go to the zoo this year. Jenn, Katie, Katie's sister, and I decided to head up to the zoo, Braden (Katie's little boy), and Kennedy (Katie's neice) were really the only ones who understood what was going on, but Jenn and I had fun taking pictures of Beckham and Addy! Beckham did like the monkeys and the lemur. He was watching them like crazy, not so much the other animals that didn't move though. Addy J. just mostly slept. What a day!

Beckham on the Rhino

Just a cute picture



Sleeping Babes
(a quick cat nap to re-energize)



What a cute little couple!
(his arm is around her too!)



Addy, Beckham, & Braden



Cute Friends



The 4 Kids watching the Jaguar



LOVE this picture!!



How does Beckham measure up?



Mom's and their little ones on the train

WOW 5 POSTS!!

So I have been slacking, but wanted you all to see what I have been up to. There are 5 posts in a row that I did tonight, I hope you have a chance to read them all!

SWIMMING

I had a chance to swim with some of my students, I love hanging out with them! This picture is really cute, it has a student from my first year (Kelsie), a student from my second year (Kate), a student I have this year, (Braeden), and a student I hope to have the year after (Ellie). Thanks for inviting me to come and swim with you guys, I loved it!

Braeden, Ellie, Kelsie, & Kate

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

So this is a little late, I really have been busy, but my mom's birthday was last week and I wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday! She is such an awesome mom, she is one of my best friends and I don't know what I would do without her. We have so much fun together, we enjoy exercising together, scrapbooking together, shopping together, watching lifetime movies together, and so much more. She would do anything for anyone! She has such a sweet heart that she drops anything to help out a friend. Hope you had a great birthday mom!

HAPPY 50th

Tami had her 50th Birthday this year. We all planned a surprise party for her, and it turned out really well. She says she had no idea (YAY!). Here are some pictures of the dinner before, and some of us at the party.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMI!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Isn't he such a little STUD



Beckham and Jodi



Me & Kylee



Beckham & Daddy



Tami opening her presents



Tami and Halle blowing out candles

SMILES!

I just had to share some of my little guys smiles! I just love how his smile takes up his whole face! SO CUTE!! We took this picture down at Palisades, he absolutely loved it down there. I think he is going to be a camper, he loves to just hang out and relax when we are camping.

BOATING

We have been boating a few times this summer. It has been tonz of fun! We went to Hyrum and Pine View with family and friends. Brody went tubing for the first time ever and he did awesome! Weston beat the crap out of him and he never fell off, totally impressed! Jenn and I tubed, too. After playing on the boat and wave runners Jenn, Shannon and I floated in the water for ever, what a great way to hang out and chit chat. What a fun time, thanks Tami and Weston!

Wes & Halle on the wave runner

Beckham in his life jacket

(He only likes it cause he can get it in his mouth)



Addy J. in her summer outfit
(Isn't she just adorable)



Beckham and Addy J. hanging
out at the lake together



Jenn, Me, & Shan

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

This weeks flashback is going to be on SNOW COLLEGE!

Every year for about the past 8 or 9 years my dad's whole side of the family goes to Palisades. It's a little lake where you can use paddle boats and canoes, and there is also a golf coarse. To get to Palisades you have to drive through Ephraim, so I had my own little flashback week. One of the days while the boys all golfed my mom and I went for a walk around Ephraim. So weird! It is totally different now. Fat Jacks (a pizza place) is gone, there is another pizza place there now. Pepperbellies (one of our favorite places to eat, they had the best chips and salsa ever) is now gone. The dance building was torn down, the sociology building was torn down. There is a new city hall. It was just so strange to see all the changes from only 6 or 7 years ago when I was there. I walked past my old apartment. My first year we had 6 girls living in this tiny place, my second year it was just Jenn and I (actually Nicole technically lived there too, but she was never there). Here are a few quick memories I have of that fun 2 years.

* "Oh NO! They fell asleep!"

* Western Swing: Every Wednesday we went to Western Swing above Fat Jacks. We always had such a good time.

* Snow day: there was a day it snowed so much that none of us went to class. Jenn and I ordered pizza from Fat Jacks and had them deliver it to us and Fat Jacks was only a half a block away. Then a bunch of us went out exploring in the snow that was up to our knees, we had such a fun time.

* Dance and Friends: We had dance every Tuesday and Thursday, but every Thursday we went back to our place with a bunch of us to watch Friends (how funny is it that we actually had to record it with a VCR, how nice would it have been to have DVR)

* Bathrooms: My first year I swear whenever we had "girl talk" we would all end up in the bathroom to talk, most times with at least 5 of us in there. My second year Jenn and I became "true friends" because we could use the toilet at the same time (I know college life will bring out the weird in anyone)

* Slippers: I wore slippers to class like every day! Most of us would wake up, go to class in our pj's, and then shower and get ready at the end of the day. I know, we were a little mixed up. I wish I could have worn slippers at the U, but it is like a mile between every class.

* Black Ski Suit Night: Seriously one of the funniest nights ever. Jenn put on a black ski suit and a ski mask and we drove around at 2 in the morning scaring the crap out of everyone! Hilarious to hear grown boys scream like girls!

* Olympics: When the Olympics were in town the torch came through Ephraim. We all went out to watch the runner run through. It was cool to see!

* 9/11: I was working at the day care when I heard the news about the twin towers. Watching the news was crazy (Jenn and I didn't even get cable so we had to go watch it at Melissa's). We had a candle light vigil at the fountain one night. It seems like just yesterday that it happened, and really it has been a long time already, crazy.

* Friends: Just a few friends that made those an awesome 2 years: Jenn (Sandoval) Rushton, Marci (Blackett) Rasch , Lindsay (Tucker) Corbett , Marci Christensen, Halley (Bailey) Seim, Melissa (Lambert) Bennett , Missy Watkins, Brooke (Matthews) Gordon, Britni Brown, just to name a few.

It was a fun two years!
Anyone from Snow who reads this, add a fun memory you have!

Let's Take a Walk . . .

Down memory Lane. I hope you will play along. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

So this weeks flashback is going to be on
TEACHING!

I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. I always thought it would be fun and that I would be good at it, but when it comes down to it, you just never know. I always heard these horror stories about the first year of teaching being just aweful, and I was told many times that for the first eight months I would want to quit, and by the last month I would want to teach again. Everyone was so wrong!! I absolutely LOVE teaching! (and I have to say I think I am pretty good at it - of course I am always getting better, and I still have lots to learn). My first year of teaching was one of the best years ever! My second year was a little harder (mostly cause I was pregnant), but I still loved it. I just love the children (and families) I get to meet and become friends with. I love my summer with Beckham, but I am getting excited to start a new year and meet a new classroom full of little students who love to learn! I do have to say that I am at the best school possible, and I am so lucky for the community at this school, they let me be a part of my students lives long after school is over. Here are some of my students I have played with this summer.

Tayven babysat Phoebe (the class pet turtle) for me for a few weeks after school got out so I could go to Snowbird and write my comps. This is Tayven and Beckham when I went to pick her up. I also went to lunch at the park with his family, and we are planning another lunch date coming up in the next week or so.

Later that week I met Bryson and his family to go swimming. There was a fun little group of us who all hung out at the pool to play. The cute picture of Beckham in the goggles was all thanks to Bryson! The goggles were his and it was his brilliant idea to put them on Beckham. I am looking forward to swimming again with the Zobell family!

At the end of the year I got a gift certificate to get a pedicure from Talia. I decided to call her up and invite her to go with me. This is the two of us getting all beautified! It was a lot of fun to hang out and talk with her, I hope we can do it again!

I also get to see Kelsie! She is a student from my first year teaching. I played with her and her family a lot last summer, as well as this summer. Her mom, Sherry, and I became great friends. I don't know what I would do without this awesome family! This is a picture of Kelsie and her little brother holding Beckham just after he was born. Hopefully Braeden will be in my class this next year! We are also going camping at the end of the summer together as well and I can't wait!

Stay at home moms have it the best, they get to be with their kids all the time. I guess if I have to leave my cute one home with his dad to go to work there is no other place I would rather be!

I know some of my students read my blog, if you want to play give me a call, I would love it!

My Little Beckham!

So being a mom is absolutely wonderful! I love everything about it. I just wanted to tell you all some of the cute things Beckham does that I just can't get enough of.

1. He smiles!
He almost never stops smiling and laughing. He started smiling when he was in the NICU and hasn't stopped (and no it was not gas!) His smile also takes up his whole face. It is the biggest, wide-open smile ever. What's funny, is that sometimes when he is grumping he is still smiling. I love that all I have to do when he is crying is start smiling and talking to him and he will smile and laugh between his cries (it's hilarious).

2. He talks like crazy!
This boy almost never shuts up (and I am not complaining, it is super cute). He talks to anyone and everyone around. He even talks to his toys (so cute). Most of the time when he is mad he won't cry, he just grumpy talks to anyone who will listen.

3. He loves food!
K, so I just started feeding him rice and sweet potatoes within the last few weeks, but he started really loving it this week. For his first bite of food he makes that face, like what are you putting in my mouth. Then after about three bites he starts saying "mmmmm" for every bite. I just laugh the whole time I feed him. He doesn't stop "mmmmm"ing. It just gets louder as I put the spoon in his mouth, but he doesn't stop until his food is gone. Here is a little video of it.
(Go to the bottom of my blog where my music is, find the pause button to stop the music you can hear it much better)

The list goes on forever, but those are just a few I thought I would share with you today.

Beckham and Addy J.

We had a little photo shoot of the two kidlets, and here are some of the cute pictures we got. (And NO we did not pose their hands that way, they just did it!)

The 4th of July

We have such a fun day on the fourth! I love being with family and friends and we have a whole day worth of playing. We started off with going to the parade with Russ' family. Jenn, Addy J. and Alex came too. Then we all go to my parents for a BBQ. (How wonderful that both my families get along so well and enjoy hanging out together). We usually hit up a movie after that, this year we saw Hancock, which I thought was a great show. Then we head over to the Sandoval's and BBQ again, play croquet (Russ won this year), and watch fireworks. What a GREAT day!

Beckham laughing at Grandpa Wes

Halle and Lexi having fun at the parade

Grandma Tami and her 3 grandkids



Michelle and Beckham

Beckham and Addy J.'s first parade!

Me and Shannon

Me and Addy J.
(Why didn't Beckham stay this little!)

Jenn and Alex

The Bayles Family



Beckham and Alex