Girls Trip: St. George

the girls and i have been counting down to this trip for months! we haven't done a trip like this with so many girls! we had an absolute blast. we ate, talked, hiked, talked, watched movies, shopped, ate, talked... you get the idea. these are our awesome iPhone pictures from the weekend of fun!

josie.jen.lindsey.lopie.sarah.anya.annie

smoothies at orange peel.

whoever we asked to take this picture, needs a lesson. bluuurrryyy.

elephant rock hike!

making the letters J I M to send to my dad for letting us stay in my parents house for the weekend.

the hike was hot, long, and fun.

i forgot how much you chat when you get this many girls together. it was so great to catch up with everyone... especially Annie who flew in from Denver to join us! it seriously made the trip to have her there!

hello deliciousness from SWIG.

dirty diet coke and sugar cookie! yes please!

the sugar cookies were delicious... but the dcc was my favorite part.

now if i could only re-create it at home!

our last night we ate at ANASAZI Steak House. such a treat!

fondue. steak. potatoes. dessert fondue.

i am 100% sure i gained 5 pounds that weekend.

had the BEST time in St. George with these amazing ladies!

it wasn't long enough! even Scotty said we should have stayed an extra day.

lets do it again next year!

Shooting Range

Jamin and Scott go to the shooting range occationally.

Jamin and Katrina go to the shooting range occationaly.

We have been talking about taking me to the shooting range for a few months.

Yesterday was the day.

I got instructions from Jamin... and then more detailed instructions when I told him I had never shot a gun before. Let alone shooting a shotgun at clays.

I had a good time. Let's say my arms hurt... and my shoulders are sore.

But it was fun!

I'll be anxious to go again with Katrina's new smaller gun.

{translate: won't kill my arm because it's lighter and has less kick!}

Jamin & Katrina

Scott was like an old pro...

Me not so much!

Scott & Katrina watching the action unfold!

Target Practice with hand guns.

Thanks J and K!

Let's go again soon!

Anya's Birthday

The quality of these pictures are quite bad... but they were too funny not to share. 

These are of me and the kids on my actual birthday...

(I was headed to work in a few short minutes)

Scott captured some great moments of blowing out the candles!

.30.30.30.

Last week I turned 30. Yup. THIRTY.

I didn't want to do anything extravagant or too costly for the big day...

Scotty had the idea of spending the day at City Creek shopping and eating.

I thought it was a brillant idea!

We at at the Red Iguana in the food court.

Shopped. Shopped. Shopped.

Even Scotty got a new outfit!

Ate at Cheesecake.

Hit a late movie.

It was such a fun day!

This is how Scotty looks after shopping for 5 hours!

Red Velvet Cheesecake for dessert.

One of their best for sure...

Thanks Scotty for taking off a day of work to play!

Thanks to Nana and Papa for taking the kids all day and overnight so we could celebrate!

goodbye, hello!

The morning before our tenants moved in, 

I went to the old house to take photos for documentation purposes. 

This was our first home. 

The home we brought our babies home to.

This was still home for a while after we moved...

There are two things I think I'll miss the most about this house...

1. The brand new kitchen

2. Millie's room

Scott spend so many hours on Millie's room and I loved it so much!

He did a great job!

Here's me saying goodbye to Hazelwood...

and Hello to Stone Ridge...

We are excited for our new adventures here! 

Diabetes Clubhouse

Every summer I am involved with Diabetes Clubhouse. 

It's a two day, day camp for kids with diabetes ages 4-8.

I am on the planning committee.... in charge of education for these little buggers!

Not to mention the medical staff (testing and dosing) for 12 kids!

It's always a lot of work and a lot of time... but so worth it. 

These kids are one of a kind. 

They are brave and strong... I admire them and relate to them.

Props to the American Diabetes Association for putting this on!

(oh, and our awesome sponsors, and committee members!)

Having diabetes at Clubhouse is cool. These kids were feeling pretty cool and so was I.

This year the kids got to make a diabeastie!

A monster that represented their diabetes.

I loved the insulin syringes as ski poles!

Aren't these boys adorable?

The one in the middle is my favorite.

this is what i look like

at 3am.

this is 3am at work. the lull before the craziness starts up at 4am.
dang J Pod kicked my butt again.

world diabetes day

this year marks 16 years of having diabetes.

that's a long time folks.

here's to the millions of people that have diabetes...

happy world diabetes day

november 14

letters to aaron

every sunday night i write a letter to my brother aaron. almost every week i try to attach some new pictures of the kids for him to see. he has never met millie and the first time that he does she will be almost 2 years old. this breaks my heart, so i try to keep him updated via pictures and emails weekly. 

this week we had a little fun with photobooth on my macbook. 

we had some good laughs. i am thinking we might make this a weekly tradition.

back to work

This past weekend I went back to work. I couldn't believe that it had already been 12 weeks... and at the same time it felt like I hadn't worked in forever.

I'll admit, it was hard leaving that first night. I cried while kissing the kids and Scotty goodbye... and a few tears were shed on the drive. Once I got there... it was like I never left. Everyone was so awesome! I got 'welcome backs' all night... questions about how the new babe was... and how I was feeling. 

CSU staff is the best! Thanks guys!

In between by two night shifts I needed to sleep. I woke up to shower on Saturday before going back for round two, and found Scott and Millie sound asleep on the couch. Good thing I have an awesome husband that can take over for the weekend while I work my life away.

Eclipse at Midnight!

Oh yes we did.

Eclipse was a BLAST! It was so fun to see all of the Twilight fans in their element. What a variety of folks. I simply enjoyed being with the girls, eating popcorn, and doing some serious people watching. Oh, the movie was fab too! 

TEAM EDWARD

You'll see the only TEAM JACOB fan in the back... Lindsay Mack.

I do have to say that I think Jacob is better looking... but a fan of the love story of Edward and Bella more than Jacob and Bella. 

Pictures stolen from Jo's blog. Thanks Jo.

Scotty and Anya {Our Story}

It's been quite the week. I haven't been home in the evenings for 6 out of 7 days. Scotty thinks we are divorced and my baby may forget that I am his mom. Scotty was also feeling a little left out considering this is basically a blog about Luke and the last post was dedicated to my love of steamers instead of him. I am of course working tonight... and so I decided to actually do a tag {which I don't do. just for the record) So, here's our story in a nutshell:

1. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE?
We met in high school. I knew some of his friends through choir {Jamin and Evan} and that's how we really met. Scotty was also dating one of my friends his Senior Year. (He dated LOTS of my friends before he dated me.)
2. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DATE?
We doubled with Kyle and Dana and went to China Lily's at Jordan Commons and then we went back to Scotty's house for a movie. He tried to put the moves on! ;)
3. HOW LONG DID YOU DATE BEFORE YOU GOT ENGAGED?
Our first date was the week before Valentine's Day 2004 and we were engaged by the end of April 2004. Almost 4 months.
4. HOW DID YOUR FIANCE PROPOSE?
I got TWO proposals!
(1)Scotty wanted to be engaged before I went to Europe with Sarah and Erin. A few days before I left, Scotty planned for us to go out. I thought that we were going out with his parents, but he had other plans. We ate at Olive Garden and went to the Joseph Smith movie downtown. After the movie, we went on the temple grounds to walk around. Even though it was late April, it was cold. Scotty was trying to carry on a conversation with me, but I was freezing and kept asking to go home! Little did I know that his friend Jared had left a rose for me behind a bench for Scotty to give to me as he proposed. I was actually really surprised!
(2)I warned Scotty that when I got home from Europe that there better NOT be an embarrassing poster or anything at the airport. Well, he brought a poster, flowers, and my ring! It was so funny coming down the escalator and seeing Scotty hold a poster over his head that said "Marry Me" with an arrow pointing to his head. Our flight was late and so he had gathered quite the crowd to see this "proposal" happen. Let's just say it was super embarrassing, but it was totally worth it! Our families were there to witness as well as a friend or two. It's even on video.
5. WHAT JOBS DID YOU TWO HAVE WHILE YOU WERE ENGAGED?
Scotty was working for Great Mountain West Supply (GMWS) and going to SLCC. I was working at Intermountain Health Care in their Float Pool as an LPN. I was also studying for my RN boards and taking classes for my BSN.
6. HOW LONG WERE YOU ENGAGED?
Almost 4 months. One of those months I was gone in Europe with 2 girlfriends!
7. HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU GOT MARRIED?
Scotty was 23 and I was 22.
8. WHEN DID YOU GET MARRIED?
August 17, 2004
9. WHAT WERE YOUR COLORS?
Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink and Lime Green. It was a garden wedding.
10. HOW MANY BRIDESMAIDS DID YOU HAVE?
Four (Shannon, Emily, Ali, and Sarah)
11. WHO WAS YOUR MAID OF HONOR?
I didn't have one.
12. WHERE WAS THE CEREMONY?
Salt Lake Temple
13. DID YOU HAVE A DJ OR BAND?
We had a CD of piano music playing.
14. DID YOU HAVE A SONG YOU DANCED TO AND WHAT WAS IT?
Kalai: Wedding Song
15. DID ANYTHING GO WRONG AT THE WEDDING OR RECEPTION?
It was a beautiful day all day long, but it POURED rain for about 2 hours before. It was a bit stressful considering that my reception was outside with NO option for inside (we had large tents though) and that my parents were stuck in traffic with my dress. So, instead of getting ready I pinned flowers on people. The wedding planner was totally freaking out!
16. WHAT CAR DID YOU LEAVE IN AND WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE?
Scotty's White Honda Accord. It was a mess. Thanks Jamin and friends!
17. WHERE DID YOU GO FOR YOUR HONEYMOON?
San Diego California
18. WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT?
There were lots and lots... a funny memory was that our power went out in our hotel and so the folks there handed out glow sticks for us to use that night. Hilarious.
19. WOULD YOU HAVE CHANGED ANYTHING IF YOU COULD?
Nope. It was the perfect day! We had a BLAST and I would do it again in a heartbeat!
20. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED?
Five Years

Vanilla Steamer

In 2004, Scotty and I went to visit his sister Shannon in San Fransisco. It was a trip of a lifetime. Probably my favorite trip EVER. San Fran was where I fell in love. I fell in love with Scotty and I fell in love with steamers. Obviously one love is more important than another, but we'll leave Scotty and I's story for another day on another post.

After a fun ride over the bridge, Shannon insisted that we stop at Starbucks for a steamer. Let's be honest. I was skeptical. Very skeptical. I think that first time Scotty and I shared a hazelnut steamer. Now, for those of you that don't know what a steamer is...let me tell you. It's basically hot milk with flavoring. Now, before you start dry heaving... let me assure you it's GOOD. Really good!! I promise.

(San Fran March 2004)

Starbucks costs a pretty penny... so I started making my own. Introducing my very own steamer. I have perfected it to the following:

12 oz. skim milk or 2% for a splurge

2 Tb sugar free vanilla flavoring

(you know the flavoring they use at starbucks, not the flavoring for cooking)

whip up in a coco latte or some hot chocolate maker machine

top off with a shake of cinnamon.

Delish.

Thank Shan for my obsession.