Ashly's Baby Shower

I had the privilege of throwing my best friend a baby shower last Thursday. She is having her 1st little girl so I thought she definitely needs something special. I was a little nervous because one, I've never thrown a baby shower before and I was afraid people would think it was dumb and two, I am not creative in the least bit so coming up with ideas for colors, center pieces, food, games, etc., was scary. However, I must say that with A LOT of help from my mom, Ashly's mom and sisters, and countless others I was able to pull off a pretty fun shower.

We had yummy homemade cakes and cookies. You can see one of the centerpieces there in the middle of the table.

This was one of the other centerpieces. I had 2 with brown ribbon and 3 with pink ribbon. I also included a little toy on top of each one.

The food was delicious thanks to Costco, Ashly's mom and sisters. Everything was great!

Ashly received a lot of wonderful gifts. I wasn't able to see them because i was cleaning up but I'm sure she loved them all!!

Thank you everyone who helped me. I really appreciated all of it. And thank you Ash for being pregnant and giving me the opportunity to throw my first baby shower. You're the best.

What the future holds...

I think that our future holds an Olympic swimmer. My mom sent me some of my old swimming gear (caps, goggles, suit, etc.) so that I could start swimming again. Well, when Rhaegan got her hands on it this is what happened. She thought she was hilarious in this little number. I have to agree with her. She liked the goggles but then realized that they kind of hurt if you're not use to them.
She decided for a much more comfortable look without the goggles.

Girl's Camp 2008

Well, here they are. The much anticipated camp pictures. I was able to finally round up some photos from my friend and assistant camp director Crystal (bottom row, last one on the right). I didn't take me camera to camp so now I'm relying on other for the pictures. I just had too much to remember that my camera didn't make the VIP list. Anyway, I ended up having a great time. I love all the girls in our ward. They are all so special and unique. I loved getting to know them. Of course we did have some tiffs along the way but that's to be expected with a bunch on teenage girls. Day one: group photo after the opening ceremony. The girl in front (Zoe) was one of my favorite girls. She was the one who complained the most but her personality was one you will never forget. She was awesome.
The girls had to perform a skit at other Day One evening ceremony. I had tried to get all the girls together to learn it before camp arrived but it never happen. There were only 3 on the 8 girls who even knew anything about the skit when we got to camp. Luckily they all worked together and made it happen. I was hilarious.
Day two: We had canoeing first thing this morning. The girls of course were saying they didn't want to go but once they got out there I think they enjoyed it. Here are all the leaders from our ward (Bart, Shae, Lymon, Crystal, Me, Stephanie, JoyAnn).
Hilarious photo: For those of you who know Shae you know how clean and particular he is. Well, getting the canoes into the water was a little "dirty" and this picture captured the major leg extension Shae took in order to keep his already dirty shoes from touching the mud. I love my husband.
Confidence Course: By far my favorite day of camp. The girls were amazing during this activity. They worked together and helped each other up and over this wall. There was no complaining, no name calling, it was great.

Camp was definitely a success. I really enjoyed myself. I just hope the girls had fun. There are more pictures so there might just have to be another entry to come.

Here we go.....

So after a lot of hard work and time spent preparing and attending Girl's Camp I decided I needed a major break. I needed to go some place relaxing and worry free. So what better place then the.......Caldwell Night Rodeo!!!! We drove up to Idaho to see Shae's family and I guess my luck was at it's peek because it turned out the Caldwell Rodeo was going on that same week. You all can imagine my excitement when I hear the news. I couldn't contain myself. Just think, watching burly cowboys riding around on a horse or a bull who is clearly in pain because his private area is being squeezed beyond the point of recognition. Plus, don't forget the joy of having thousands of people witnessing your agony. I honestly can't think of a more rewarding night out. Ok, it wasn't that bad. Rhaegan absolutely loved it. I think the major highlight for her though, was being able to stay up until midnight!!! She was screaming and clapping her hands, dancing to the honkie-tonk music being played through the loud speakers. It was fun watching her have so much fun. (I'm just the biggest animal lover on the planet so I'm not a huge fan but at least Rhaegan loved it)

The smile tells it all...she is loving it!
Here is a little bit of cow roping
"Guys, I love my mom and dad for bring me here."
Of course after our exciting night at the rodeo, the rest of the week was filled with other exciting activities. Here is Rhaegan's favorite activity of all...Popsicle licking. She cannot eat one without having half of it end up on her hands, feet, forehead, etc.
And of course the real reason we went up was to see the horses one last time. Grandma and Grandpa are giving them away in a couple of weeks. Rhaegan loves those horses. She always wanted to help Papa feed them and pet them. The horses were the first thing she mentioned each morning. She is really going to miss them.

Thanks Reed and Jackie for a great week. It was very relaxing and worry-free.

Why such the long break?

Again I have taken a long break from blogging and I am sorry. As most of you know I was a Girl's Camp this last week for four days and then Shae, Rhaegan and I decided to make a quick trip up to Idaho to see Shae's parents and family and some friends who have recently had a new baby. We are currently still here and since I haven't been able to round up any pictures from Girl's Camp yet the big, excited blog will have to wait until I return to Utah. Just wanted to let you all know that there will be a great blog coming soon so please stand by.

Look to the Right!

As you can see Shae, Rhaegan and I have some news to share with everyone. We are expecting our second little bundle of joy in March. We are really excited and Rhaegan is hoping that it's a boy. Shae on the other hand only wants girls so we'll see who gets their way this time. Everything is going well. I have been pretty sick but I know it will eventually end. I'm just wishing I didn't have Girl's Camp to go to on Tuesday. How are I going to survive?

Since I'm not in North Carolina......

Technically I should be enjoying some major beach fun right now, but since I'm not I better keep up with the normal blogging. Last week, Shae's parents were in town to help welcome their newest granddaughter (Shae's brothers newest daughter) so we got to spend some time with them. We ended up doing so many fun things even though it was 100 degrees pretty much everyday. I've come to realize that I HATE the heat unless I'm at the beach. Anyway, we decided to try out this new amusement park thing called Liberty Land. It is in Lehi right off of

I-15. It was a blast. There was nobody there and Rhaegan was even able to ride the big roller coaster (with me sitting next to her of course). I wasn't really expecting it to go so fast but it did and Rhaegan loved it. She even had her hands in the air like a true roller coaster pro.

The bumper boats were a huge hit. We got wet which helped us all cool off a little. Rhaegan thought they were "so cool" as she put it.

You can't see Rhaegan but we are in the front car coming around one of the big turns, Shae was trying to catch at least one good picture of Rhaegan on the ride but she was too small to be seen over the front car.

We also enjoyed some time is good old "Farm Country" at Thanksgiving Point. Rhaegan decided to be a little cowgirl. I couldn't resist a picture.

As you all know Rhaegan loves animals and was in heaven with all the different breeds at the farm. She wanted to touch and feed them all. She even got to ride a pony all by herself. Of course my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get any pictures of it. We really had a lot of fun. Thank you, Reed and Jackie.