Firth!

This past weekend we ventured up to Logan to stay with some good friends, Tommy and Jen. We, along with Tommy and Jen and their cute baby Mason continued on to Firth Idaho. Where is that, you may ask??? It's between Blackfoot, and Idaho Falls. Our friends, Jacob and Anna Newman, have a beautiful piece of land, cute house, and lots of chicks, oh and a cute Ava and baby Emma. We had 4 couples up there, which meant 5 kids. We met these couples in Logan while we attended Utah State. We have continued visiting each other through the years. Before kids, we would play games and talk and laugh. This visit was a bit different. With all of the kiddos, no games were played. But, there was a lot of talking and laughing! We ate YUMMY Cafe Rio Burritos, homemade style, and took a tour of Jacobs cool Taxidermy shop (Daron loved it so much he wanted to take a fish fin with him....sorry Jacob!).
Austin even got to ride an elk (That's an elk, right Jacob???)

Daron and I stayed in Idaho Falls in a hotel. Austin did soooo well! We slept in a nice king size bed. I'm still trying to convince Daron that a king size bed is an essential part of life, he hasn't agreed yet. We swam in the cold pool, and then went to church, in Firth, to the Newmans ward. Very good, they even talked about potato harvesting. Ava also gave her first primary talk, which of course we all went to hear. She is a natural! After church we walked around by the Idaho Falls temple and took pictures, attempted to feed the ducks, and ate yummy sandwiches and chips and salsa. We had so much fun with these wonderful friends. It was a much needed getaway!! Thanks guys and yes we will definitely be back!
The Newmans


The Drapers

Cute Jack

Tommy and Mason


Family Photo


P.S. Another New Post Below

Randomness!!

Okay, since it's been awhile here is the update on our lives...
No More Chili!!
Daron is very innovative. He made us a new pantry with a lot more room for cans. Before I would stack all of my cans and then I wouldn't know where they were. I would keep buying things since I didn't know if I had them or not. Hence the title. We have A LOT of chili now. I can put a new can in the top and they will roll down. Totally amazing!
Before


After


Austin is teething... can you tell???

Yummy toes


Yummy table


Sad baby

Another one!!
Austin received his 3rd haircut. This one was professionally done by Aunt Katie.
Before


After


I received a haircut as well!

Kezzie Anne

I know it's been FOREVER since my last post. The big news lately is I have a new NIECE!! Kimber and Kyle have a baby girl, Kezzie Anne. She is such a cutie pie.

Look at these long, skinny legs!


What a doll


I forget how small babies are!


Kezzie was born on April 30th. We went to the University hospital to see her and while we took turns watching Austin we had to take pictures of him on the very cool couch...

My Mom

I have the greatest mom. Yesterday was her birthday. I remember growing up and making the most bizarre cakes for her (since it's April fools day). We would put water balloons in a cake pan and then frost them with chocolate frosting. As you can imagine it was very lumpy and rolly. But no, we thought were were the coolest people ever for thinking of such an idea. Mom would never find out right? How about when we put cardboard in the cake and then made it seem like this was definitely a normal cake. And finally, when we made a cake that tasted disgusting and served it to her and everything, just waiting for her to say something....but no she was too sweet. I think we had to keep asking her if it tasted okay. Oh mom, what we put you through on your birthday!
My mom is definitely the coolest. She loved it when we had friends over. When I was dating Daron, he would call my mom just to talk. My mom has a way with people. I think she get's it from her dad. My grandpa would stop and talk to anyone, where ever we were. She is kind of like that. She is very easy to get a long with.
As you can see she LOVES her grandchildren. She spoils them so much. There are always smiles when grandma is around.



Lastly, my mom and dad go on a vacation every year, just the two of them. I love that. My parents love to spend time together and just talk. My mom tells me many times that my dad is her best friend. What a good example she is to me and Daron.
We love you lots mom!!

Just because...Here are recent pictures of Austin. He is 7 months old and I can see crawling in the near future.

He sits up really well.


Smiles in his cute sunday outfit

Caucus 2010

Last night our little family ventured out to the Republican Caucus. As we were nearing closer to Centerville Junior High we noticed there were a TON of cars, which equals NO parking. We found a nice street to park on and then walked up to the school. This was the first sign that this Caucus was going to be very different than the last Caucus we attended.

Pause...The last Caucus we went to was for Fruit Heights/Kaysville. There were 10 people from our precinct and it was really quick. We elected our leaders and were on our way.

Now back to this year. We get into the Junior High, meet together in the Gym to hear the platform, and then headed to our individual precincts. In our precinct alone there were about 75 people. I've always thought it would be fun to be a State Delegate one of these years, but definitely not this year. Not with this crowd. We had the co-founder of Franklin Covey, attorneys, Deputy director for Bob Bennett, a woman who had PRINTED out her speech to become a delegate, and many others who were very very knowledgeable about what was going on in our government. I was very impressed. We had each nominee make a speech and answer questions that we had. It was so entertaining and amazing to hear what they had to say. The basic question is, What do you think about Bob Bennett??? Should he stay? Should he go?
Most people there believed he had done an excellent job, but it was his time to go.

That's when Daron and I wanted to talk to our friend Clint who works in D.C. for Senator Bennett. After we got home from the Caucus we talked to him and he informed us what Senator Bennett was really up to. Something that Clint said was that Senator Bennett is one out of two Senators that has successfully carried out a filibuster. That is pretty impressive considering Republicans don't have much of a chance anymore in Congress. I can't see a brand, spanking new Senator doing that.

I feel that in this time of change in the White House, it's good to have a Senator that already has some power over the other Senators. Since Senator Bennett most likely will NOT be running after this next term (if he is re-elected) I feel he should stay in for one last term. This whole thing with the Health Care plan is crazy. Bennett of course did not vote for it, and so it would be interesting to see what he proposes if he were to stay.

Politics is crazy, but after studying it in college I love the debates and learning about what's going on. I could go on and on, but I will stop for now. I'm glad we went to the Caucus. It was fun to be a part of the democratic process.

Tradition Lives On! & 6 Months!!

First I have to start with our cute baby who turned 6 months old! He is so fun to have around. I love this age! I find myself so excited to play with him everyday. He is rolling all around the house, giggles a ton, and is sitting up really well. He LOVES real food, reading books, touching my face and pulling my hair. He also LOVES his daddy. He gets so excited when Daron comes home. Daron is so cute with him.

Here are the stats:
Height: 26 inches 33%
Weight: 18 lbs 8 oz 68%
Head: 69%

He's huge!


His silly pose!


Tradition lives on! Over President's Day we traveled with my family down to St. George. We started this tradition last year. I was teaching and antsy to get out of the snow, so we all went to St. George, rented a house and just played. This year was so nice since I wasn't pregnant (sorry Kimber) and we could enjoy little Austin.
We went biking


We swam in a nice heated pool. It was 65 degrees outside and 90 degrees in the pool! Austin LOVED the pool. He just kicked and kicked and smiled. We will definitely be doing some swimming this summer.


Austin loved being with his Grandpa


..and Grandma and Cousin Jaden


Has anyone heard of the game Hilarium?? It's hilarious! We played this one over and over. (Sarah I love the monkey gestures)

We stayed up late, ate lots of yummy food, got killer deals at the outlet stores, and enjoyed the SUN! I can't wait till next year!!

I'm Done!

I've played basketball my whole life. Jr. Jazz, comp teams, school teams, and yes, even church ball. Last year I was called by the stake presidency to serve as a stake young women's sports referee. I was pretty excited. I love playing sports and thought this would be fun to socialize with the youth while being active. Boy was I wrong. The socializing was great, but the refereeing was terrible!

If you could all think back on the days of church ball, you will remember how totally crazy it was. Parents were all up in arms if a foul wasn't called. If I called every foul that happened, they wouldn't be playing at all. It was literally like...foul, travel, foul, travel, slide..into a travel, travel, foul, foul, ....air ball. Daron took pictures of the scores.... 2-4 at half time. Welcome to Young Women's basketball! We had one team that was using the elbows, swearing, and denying everything. Wow.

I finally made it through the season. I learned a lot! If ever I am playing, or coaching, I will feel for the refs, and try not to argue with them. By the way, we went to the BYU basketball game on Saturday and I was watching the refs. Who would voluntarily want to be a ref? It seems like cruel punishment to me.