My prayer for today

Ethan eating ice cream

Here's a cute little video of Ethan eating ice cream, and you can actually hear him say "cheese". I'm sure it's a lot cuter to me than anyone else, since he's mine, but I thought I'd share anyway.

Get us in the boat now!!!

The kids and I went to Flaming Gorge this weekend with my fun family. Troy wasn't able to go since he was on a business trip. We really missed him. It was so much fun, and thanks to Mindy for organizing everything. You did wonderful, and I appreciate all your work in making such a good time for all of us!

My favorite parts of the trip were:

• Sitting around the campfire.
• Crying until we laughed. (Mindy's version of laughing till we cried)
• Jason's willingness to sacrifice himself so that I could get in the raft. "Tell Dallas I love her . . ." Ha ha ha!
• Brandon's amazing unplanned backflip from the raft into the water.
• Getting to talk with Dad on the drive home about his favorite childhood memories.

And now for some pictures:

We had a little birthday party for Ethan, since it was his birthday. And since I am always planning ahead, we had gourmet ding dongs and cupcakes.

Here's the happy birthday boy.
Adam serenaded us around the campfire with his guitar. Kevin is sitting on Shannon's lap (you can't see her here, obviously), who we met for the first time. She was very nice, and we were glad she was able to come so we could get to know her. Brandon also played his guitar for a little bit, but I didn't get a picture of that.

Ethan loved playing with the door of Mindy and Brandon's camper. I think that may have been his favorite part of the experience. Although he did like the raft, too.
I didn't get very many pictures, because Jason had his camera, and I figured I could be lazy and just get pictures from him. So if he sends me some really good pictures, I'll post more. Even though I'm sure he'll post some, and most of the people who read my blog read his, too.

Price Family Reunion

We drove out to Middleofnowhere, Utah for a Price family reunion. It was nice to see . . . lots of people I've never seen before in my life, along with Troy's parents and siblings.

They had a bouncing thing there, and Ethan tried going in there, but there were so many crazy bigger kids that it was nearly impossible for the little kids to bounce in it. If I were in charge, things would have run differently there.Escape! Someone signed Troy up to sing karaoke, and I went up there for moral support (otherwise he wouldn't have gone). Unfortunately, it was a song he had never heard, which makes it very hard to sing---I don't care if the words are on the screen, if you don't know the tune, you still can't sing. Here's Trudy and Kaitlyn singing Before He Cheats, which Kaitlyn has a lot of life experience with, therefore she was really able to sing the words and mean it.

I want one!

I just read on George R.R. Martin's blog, here, about a calendar based on his Song of Ice and Fire series. The artwork is amazing! I would put the pictures here, but I'm thinking that might violate some type of copyright thingy. Or not, I'm no expert on the blog universe. Anyway, go to the link, and look at some of the pictures (click on them to make them bigger).

If you're thinking, what can I get Brenda for a Christmas present? Or just, I don't know, a November 13th present, or whenever you felt like giving it to me (and when it's actually on sale, of course), that would be fine too.

Some Pictures

Troy's cousin, Chantel, sent me some pictures today. I have no idea when these were taken, because I can't remember. I have a very bad short and long term memory. I do remember it was cold outside, so that might indicate winter. Or fall. Possibly spring sometime. Maybe Chantel will read this and have pity on me.

*Editing to add: It's not winter, you fool! Look at the t-shirts and shorts and the lack of snow! They're going to cart me away to a place for the mentally ill soon. Help me!

Here's Ethan and Grandpa Price in matching hats. Me and my Kaitlyn.
Kisses for Grandma. Juicy, juicy kisses.
Here's Kevin and Drake playing in a car.

Eating ice cream

Just a little note here: Every time Ethan sees the camera, he says "cheeeee", and this is the resulting look. I don't want this kid to ever grow up!

At the park

I went over to the park near our house with my friends Christy and Sandy the other day. We had a good time, except for the kid's thinking they were starving the whole time. I had Ashley and Olivia, too, and it made me realize I don't think I could have any more than 3 kids. Not that we were thinking about it, or anything, but 3 is plenty for me!

Ethan is getting big enough where he can climb up and go down the slide by himself. He's growing up way too fast.

But sometimes he still gets a little help from his big brother.

Mine!

Nine years ago, I married the love of my life. So much has changed since then, but one thing will always stay the same. I love Troy more than anything on this earth. He's my very favoritest person!

Now we'll have some pictures from that special day. The quality isn't great, since they're scanned in. This first picture you might think I made a mistake on. Like maybe it's from a funeral or something. Not so, my friends. It's my wedding day. I have never claimed to be a normal person. I think my face during this bouquet toss is evidence of that. And my sweet man married me anyway. Of course, it could be that I hid my craziness very well until after we were married. But in all fairness, I never heard him fart once until our wedding night, and he's been doing it ever since. So I think we're even.

I don't wanna close my eyes . . .
The happy couple. Still bringing the happy 9 years later.

Pictures from Jason

Jason took some pictures of Ethan at a family get-together. He's an awesome photographer---these are great!

New swimsuit bottoms

I ordered some swimsuit bottoms from Athleta, and they came yesterday. They fit perfect, and I love them! If you are in need of a new swimsuit (or just bottoms), I would encourage you to act now while they're on sale. This style is awesome. I took a picture of me in them, but as you might imagine, it's very hard to take a picture of that area of yourself by yourself. So if it looks like I'm standing weird, it's because I am.

Monster Bus

We were over at Jordan Landing, buying me an mp3 player, and we saw this really cool monster bus in one of the store parking lots. They were offering rides inside for $5 a person. At first that seemed a little bit much, but it was for March of Dimes, so we figured why not? We kind of thought the bus would just go around in a big circle in the roped off area of the parking lot.

Boy, were we wrong. When the driver told us to buckle up and hold onto the railing in front of us, we thought he was going a bit overboard, but then we soon found out why. It was like a roller coaster ride. Troy and I were sure that the bus was going to roll, but I guess those big tires aren't just for looks. It was so much fun, although I was afraid that I was going to re-visit my dinner. Luckily the ride ended before that happened.

Cheese!

The Boys

featuring Kevin's feet

Kaitlyn wanted in on the action.

Swimsuits!

I found a website with really cute swimsuits : athleta.com. But what I loved most was the swim shorts. They have a swim brief inside, so you can wear these without having to wear shorts over your swimsuit. And they're not like the boyshort swimsuit bottoms that always like to ride up. I'm thinking of getting one, but I'm having a hard time deciding. These are my options (you can click on the picture for a bigger view).

Option 1: Option 2:
Option 3:
Option 4:
Option 5:
Option 6:
Option 7:

Option 8 (This one would probably just be the two pieces on the left, and if I was feeling extra rich, I'd also buy the bottoms on the right, and have two bottoms to go with the top):

Gardening

The weather was beautiful outside today, the sky was overcast, so it wasn't hot at all, and I was able to get a bunch of gardening in. I have these red things growing in my "flower garden", and I wonder if they're the same as the plant Kevin pulled out last year. Anybody know? (Picture of plant is at the end of this post) Here's the half of my front area that I'm not embarrassed about. It could use more flowers and stuff, but for right now, I'm just happy that it's not full of weeds. I'm thinking of putting window boxes in the front. I'm not sure if it would look good or not.Here's Troy's half. I don't know what his problem is.
Here's the plant Kevin pulled out last year. Is it the same as the ones above? I can't tell yet.

School!

Kevin started Kindergarten today. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. He's not big enough to be in school already! Since I hadn't taken a picture of Kaitlyn already, here she is. She started 6th grade this year. She started last week, though.
Ethan didn't want to be left out. He went over and stood by the door, so I figured I better take a picture of him too. He just had breakfast, which means milk all over the pajamas.

Good things

I've discovered two new authors recently. It's funny, because they are pretty much opposite in style, but I love them both. First is Karen Kingsbury. I don't know exactly how you'd classify her books. Probably just general fiction, but I really think they're geared more toward women. There's a little bit of romance in them, but they aren't romance novels, really. She is an excellent author, though, and she has a way of writing that makes her books really interesting, even when there is not a whole lot going on in the books.

The second author is Ted Dekker. I've only read one of his books so far, Saint, but it's pretty darn good. It's hard to put down, and I've stayed up way too late for two nights reading it. I would classify his books as suspense/thriller.

In other news, Babylon A.D. comes out August 29th. Go visit my movie blog to see the official trailer. I've been waiting a long time for this one to come to theaters!