Happy Halloween!

Hope you all have a great Halloween!

Happy Birthday Drew!!

I can't believe that our little Drew Bear is 1. (Drew Bear is the nickname Addison gave Drew.) This year has flown by and we have loved every minute with our little Drew. Drew is the sweetest little baby and I love her easy going personality(she rarely gets upset). We feel so blessed to have her be a part of our family.

Here are some things about Drew at 1.

She army crawls everywhere. Just this week she finally has started to crawl and pull herself up to the furniture. She likes to stand and her favorite place to stand is by the stairs. She gets really excited for breakfast, lunch and dinner, she loves to eat, and will pretty much eat anything we are eating. She likes music and she will start to bounce to the beat. Whenever she thinks she is funny or does something funny she will put her hand over her mouth. She loves giving us hugs. Drew loves to wave. She still is a really good sleeper, she sleeps in until 9:00.

Here is how Drew is measuring up these days.

Height: 29 inches (50%)

Weight: 18.13 (15%)

I was a little surprised to see that she was still under 20 pounds.

Tim says with those checks how could she not weigh more.

Here are just a few pictures we took of Drew.

As you can see she is still not loving the bows.

Now on to her party.

This year since we were at Bear Lake on Drew's actually birthday I decided we would celebrate it with family when we got home that following Monday. Since my mom's birthday was Monday I had asked her if she would mind sharing her birthday with Drew. She was excited and thought it would be fun to share her birthday with her. I had set everything up at my parents for a little dessert for their birthdays.

Happy Birthday Mom and Drew!

One last summer trip to Bear Lake and the Fair...

I am a little late posting this, but a couple weeks ago we headed up to Bear Lake with some of our friends, the Konolds and the Mabeys. Between our three families, we had 9 girls and no boys! It was fun to see all of the girls play so well together, and we had a really good time. We enjoyed playing games, going to the beach, going to the pool, playing the wii, and just hanging out. We took an unintentional break from taking pictures for most the weekend, but here are the few that we did get of the kiddos at the lake:

While we were at Bear Lake Drew turned 1!! We bought a little cake and that was the first of many celebrations for her first birthday. Drew absolutely loved it when we sang Happy Birthday to her.

Saturday we packed up and headed to Tremonton to go to the Fair. Addison loved going on the carousel, and Tim had to pry her fingers from the bar to get her off. It was fun to walk around with Tim's family and to run into some of our friends. On Sunday Tim's mom made a yummy dinner and made some homemade cream puffs for Drew. Once again you can see she loved having us sing Happy Birthday to her.

Thanks to our family and friends for making this weekend trip so much fun!

Tim and Kim Photography

As we mentioned a few months ago on our blog, Tim and I have finally decided to start our own photography business. Most of you know that we have been taking pictures of our friends and family since we were first married seven years ago, and starting our own business has always been a dream of ours. Although it is a competitive and intimidating field to get into, with so many really great photographers out there, we are excited about jumping in and taking our photography to the next level. We know we still have a ways to go to becoming the photographers we dream of being, but it's been fun to immerse ourselves into learning all we can and taking this adventure together. We'd like to get a website up and running in the near future, but until then, we have started a blog to showcase some of our pictures and to provide our clients a sneak peak of their sessions. Check it out here, and let us know if you are interested. Also, be sure to check back, as we'll keep you posted on our business and let you know of some special events that we will be having. Thanks to all our friends and family that have been so supportive!

Mesa Falls

If you are sick of reading about our trip, then you will be happy to know this is our last post about our recent vacation. On our way home, we stopped by Mesa Falls. The falls were bigger than I thought, and this is one of my favorite pictures that Tim took.

One thing I forgot to mention about our trip was the fact that Addison loved pushing Drew around in the stroller. Addison was really showing her true colors of being a big sister. She wouldn't even let Tim or me help her. I thought these pictures where cute.

She always had to make sure she was buckled in.

Kisses and...


away we go.

This is just one set of pictures, but this was the scene everywhere we went. Bear World, Yellowstone, Big Springs, and Mesa Falls. Drew was good to put up with her.

We had a lot of fun on this year's Shirley Summer Vacation and we can't wait until next summer!

Yellowstone

While at Island Park, we took a day to go into Yellowstone. It had been around 20 years since Tim and I had been to Yellowstone with our families growing up, so we were both looking forward to going there again.

We stopped at Old Faithful. Looking through my pictures I had to laugh at this one of Drew. This is classic Drew, chillin with her leg in the air.

Old Faithful

Since we had spent a good couple hours at Old Faithful we thought that the kids were probably done and wouldn't last too much longer. So instead of continuing our loop through Yellowstone, we decided to turn around and head back to West Yellowstone to pick up some souvenirs. But within a few minutes of driving back, we decided to split up and let some of the guys continue on to see more of the park. So Tim went ahead to take some pictures, while I went back and spent the same amount of time finding a few souvenirs. After hearing about how long we were shopping , Tim didn't feel so bad for leaving me with the kids, and I was happy that he was able to go take pictures, since he enjoys that so much. Here are some of his pictures.

Island Park

Here is the cabin we rented. I have to say that our accommodations were quite nice. The cabin was really nice and had lots of room for the kids to play. Tim and I were especially pleased with our room as we were able to to stay in the big master bedroom. I guess having two kids in pack and plays has it's occasional perks. Honestly Tim and I felt a little weird having this huge room to ourselves, but we all slept great and that makes a big difference. We didn't spend a lot of time at the cabin during the day but when we were there we spent most of our time playing games. We played some board games, but the family favorite was playing Mario Kart against each other on the DS's. One of the funniest moments of the trip came while playing Imaginiff. There was a question about Marlene and which movie would be most representative of her life. Marlene had made the comment that everyone was sure to get this one right. Out of the four choices, everyone picked Love Story except Madison. She had picked the Godfather. We immediately all started laughing thinking about Marlene living a mobster lifestyle. Well Madison is 8 and doesn't know what that movie is about. She just saw the word God in the title and assumed that was the movie Tim's mom was talking about. If you know Tim's mom at all, you know she is a very spiritual person. It was really quite funny!

Friday morning we took a short drive over to Big Springs. We all had a good time there, and the kids especially had a good time feeding the fish.

Here are a few of the pictures that Tim took of the Lake that was right outside the cabin. Madison and Kayla had a blast playing around the water catching crawdads and frogs.

Bear World

We just got back from a our annual vacation with Tim's family. This summer we went to Island Park. On our way to Island Park we stopped at Bear World.


Here are some of the animals we saw.

After we drove around the animals, we stopped at the petting zoo.

The kids had a lot of fun petting and feeding the animals.

After feeding the animals we headed over the the kiddie rides, which Addison loved.

Afterwards, we were thinking that we could have held Drew on a few of the rides, especially the train, but Drew didn't seem to mind. Like always, she seemed quite content just sitting in her stroller.

Hopefully I will keep up on my blogging and post the rest of our trip soon.

Another Bear Lake Weekend

Over the 24th we headed to Bear Lake again to spend the weekend with Tim's family up at their cabin. We always have so much fun going to the Lake, playing games, going to the pool, playing at the park, playing bocee ball, throwing the aerobie, eating way to much food, and enjoying one another's company. Mary, Hudson, Marlon and Daniella all came into town so it was fun to have everyone in Tim's family at Bear Lake this time.

The kids, especially Addison, love going to the Park. It was fun to see all the cousins running around and playing together.

No more headbands

Don't you think Drew looks so cute with her flower headband?
Well. . .Drew seems to think differently now about wearing headbands.

Here is what Drew thinks.

Wait a second...What is this?

I'm taken this thing off

Don't even think about putting that thing back on, cause I'm not wearing it.

I know it isn't the end of the world, but where my girls don't have any hair until after they at least a year in a half, I feel like they need to have a bow or a flower on to help them look a little more girlie. Oh well what do ya do?

Bear Lake

We always love going to Bear Lake with Tim's family, but we also love it when our friends, Scotty and Jenn, invite us to go up to Bear Lake with them. We always have such a good time and our kids have a blast playing together. Addison loved the Lake, and couldn't get enough of the water. Here are some pictures.

Bad blogger

Just like the title states, I have been a bad blogger. Not that I think anyone really cares what we have been up to but since I use this as my family journal I think I better try and give a quick update. We have been having a great summer and have been taking a lot of pictures which has kept us pretty busy. We celebrated Father's Day up at Bear Lake with Tim's family. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures. We did however have a great time and a memorable night playing poker. We also went to our first Real game at the new stadium. Tim also had his 30th Birthday, which was a bust because the weekend before Tim's birthday we found out that Drew had an ear infection. Four days later, on Tim's birthday we were back to the doctor's office to find out the antibiotic wasn't working and that she had double ear infections. Friday Drew broke out in a rash, and then on the 4th of July we were back to the doctor's office to find out what the doctor thought she might have Roseola. So our 4th was pretty uneventful. We did enjoy the night having dinner with my parents. My dad had bought some fireworks but since Drew wasn't feeling to great we weren't able to stay for them. Then on the following Monday we were back to the doctor's to find out it was actually a allergic reaction. I am now happy to say that after four doctor visits, four antibiotics, and some sleepless nights Drew is finally feeling better. Well since we didn't take any pictures on Father's day, Tim's birthday, the fourth of July, the Real game will have to do. Because who wants to look at a post without pictures?!

I did it!! Those are the words that Addison says after she goes potty. A lot of you know that we attempted to try and potty train Addison right before Drew was born. By the end of that week she surprisingly did really well, until the UTI came. After a month of antibiotics and having to stop the potty training we were back in diapers. Then in December we had a few test done to make sure she didn't have reflux since it runs in Tim's family. So my original plan was to start the potty training the first of this year. Well...the first of the year came and went and the thought of going through the process again provided little motivation. Well months went by and it was now Memorial Day and we needed to head to the store for diapers. While we were there we decided to take Addison to the isle where they sell big girl undies. We told her she could pick three kinds of big girl underwear. She picked Princesses, Tinkerbell, and Minnie Mouse. She was so excited for her big girl underwear. Then came in the reverse psychology. We told her, "Oh wait, we can't get those. You don't go on the big girl potty." She really wanted them and so we asked her, "Are you going to start going potty on the big girl potty?" She told us yes. So when we got home she put on her big girl undies and we haven't looked back since. She has done a wonderful job. I think it had to do with the fact she was finally ready and she loved the potty chart, treats (Swedish fish), and all the excitement and encouragement we gave her. After a week of being potty trained she was waking up dry from her naps and in the mornings. Good job Addie, we are so proud of you!