::date night at the drive-in::

{my date is SO handsome}
Last night my honey took me on a date. We went to the drive-in at Rock Canyon Park and saw No Reservations. The drive-in on a hill was a first for us. We give it a rating of ***** {5 stars}. We had a wonderful time. Karaoke was the pre-show and it was a hoot. I'm going to sign up to do it next time.

This summer night was one of my favorites.

The temperature was just right, not too cold but enough to snuggle in a blanket. The sunset was gorgeous. My pictures don't do justice. It was very romantic and relaxing.

I love dating my husband.

:: MY LONI WEEKEND ::

Oh how I love this girl.

For those of you who don't know my friend Loni, you are missing out. We have been best friends for 12 years, and we get mistaken for sisters all the time. She was my other half until I married Brock. Now, we are more like twin sisters. While Brock was gone to his interview, Loni was nice enough to come have a girls weekend and stay with me. We had A BLAST! It was just like old times,which we both have been longing for. We ate Rio, watched a chick flick every night, shopped til our bodies ached, and we spent a day in Salt Lake City. We went downtown and took a tour of the Conference Center, roamed Temple Square, and ate at the Nauvoo Cafe {highly recommended} and went to the capitol building. We reminisced about old times, and we predicted our lives in ten years.

Loni is great. She is perfect in my eyes. She knows me like most people don't, and she knows ALL my secrets.

 This is a wall of a building where an artist sand blasted this portrait. All the white is raised like little bumps. I liked it.

 Our friend Jessie came and visited us.
{I am the shortest...always have been. Bummer}


When I think of how much I miss Loni it hurts. I went from seeing her everyday to now seeing her 5 times a year or so.

I don't like it. I keep dreaming...the same dream I always have...us living next door to each other with our sweet husbands and our houses full of babies that are best friends.

ONE DAY....

I LOVE YOU LON!

Thanks for being my best friend.

:: In loving Memory ::

of

Jon Todd Larson

 This past February my sweet uncle passed away unexpectedly. He is survived by his sweet wife Cathy, and two beautiful daughters, Chelsea and Emily, along with many other family members that will miss him dearly.

Uncle Todd was from Dallas, Texas. He and his family would come to Utah every now and then to visit and to go hunting with the boys. They would go to the very top of Manti each time to "their spot". A couple of weekends ago all my family did just that. We went and camped at the very tip top of Manti and had a lovely memorial for Uncle Todd. My heart was touched by the words that were said, but also hurt as I watched his family grieve so badly. I thought of my testimony of the plan of salvation. 

And that gave me peace.

 Brock and I went on a romantic four wheeling ride.

Cohen absolutely loved being on the wheelers. His eyes lit up immediately and his hands went wild, trying to touch every button as fast as he possibly could.

This was Cohen's 1st camping trip. It went fairly well. It poured rain so much that we had to head home a day early {broke my heart}. Cohen was a little stir crazy not being able to get down and run around like normally. Cohen went to sleep well, but woke very frightened and ended up in my sleeping bag, waking up every ten mins. We were tired the next day, but still LOVED being in the mountains with loved ones.

We had Chef Ricky {my dad} there to cook every meal for us. Out-of-this world food. He needs to open a dutch oven restaurant in my opinion.

 Everyone had mud from their toes to their noses.

It feels good to get dirty every now and then. Especially while in nature.

 After heading down the mountain early to beat the next storm, we had our final BBQ at a park and played Grandma Sheryl's games to win prizes. {pics above: playing Minute to Win It}

 

 Cohen tried his 1st OREO cookies. {Yes, he always eats cookies, I guess we just don't buy Oreo's that much}

 My Uncle Todd's parents are divorced. I was very impressed by them for being such great sports while stranded together for a weekend. These pics above are them and their kids and grandkids.

 Our drive home was peaceful. Cohen slept the whole 1.5 hours and Brock and I held hands and talked. We passed the energy windmills at the perfect time....sunset. 

It was beautiful.

The weekend was great. Somber, but filled with much love and laughter. I just LOVED seeing with my sweet family from Texas. I didn't want to go home. I guess we all have to go back to reality at some point. Bummer.

I LOVE YA'LL!

::CHECK THIS OUT!::

 Mrs. Tracy Layne is one of a kind.

She is an amazing photographer and I would 

LOVE for you to check out her new

 photography website out.

Just click HERE and enjoy!

 

::the man of my dreams::

That's right. I dream about this man.

He is so perfect for me, it's incredible.

He is Cohen's hero, and my lover.
He works however hard he needs to for our family. 

He watches Gilmore Girls with me.

He lets me snuggle as long as I want.

When I'm unhappy he knows it and he fixes it. ALWAYS.

I dropped him off at the airport this morning so he could 
fly to Texas for a med school interview. {Wow...is that day really here?}

I was tough and didn't cry. Miracle.
GOOD LUCK SWEETIE! 
Can't wait to see you in a few days.

::pull my finger::

 After we stuffed our bellies full with Ranch Chicken Bake on Rice for dinner {YUM!} Cohen and Daddy made me laugh til I cried. Brock is HILARIOUS for one, {the sounds and faces he makes can't be beat} and for two, my little boy's laugh is the best sound in this world. So very contagious and real. He even had tears in his eyes he was laughing so hard.

It was a great way to end a good day.

:: mouse in the house ::

Have you ever had a mouse in your house?

YUCK.

Cohen was sleeping peacefully {thank heavens} when I saw the little bugger run across my living room floor. The minute I saw it I was up on my kitchen table, calling Brock. "Brock, what do I do?". He was nervous for me but told me to call our maintenance guy to help me. So I did. No good. He couldn't come til the next day. That was NOT going to work for me. {How in the world did he get in my house??} SO....I called my girlfriend Laura and she brought me a couple of her mouse traps to add to my two I had, and she made me feel better by telling me that the mouse won't come out if it hears you. From then on I was stomping when walking and keeping noise on at all times. I set the traps (pic above) but couldn't bring myself to put them under the couches and places I had seen the mouse. SO....I put towels under all my doors so I knew that the mouse had to be in the living room kitchen area. And I waiting for Mr. Kitchen, my hero, to come save the day. Brock came home and set the traps. We waited a few hours and NOTHING. I knew I couldn't sleep that night until I got to the end of this. SO....we tore the house apart. Mostly Brock did, but after awhile I got brave and we looked in every crack it could possibly fit. After we cleaned up, we figured it had to have gone back out where it came from. Sure enough, less than two minutes a trap by the window snapped! 

And then we saw this:

Graphic picture, I'm sorry.

Poor guy.

I hated him, then felt so bad that I killed him.

YUCKY.

:: Shelly 'Poole' Messerly ::

I love and admire this girl, and when I say that I mean it. She is half way done with PA school in Arizona, so we have not been seeing enough of each other. I was lucky enough to get to see her and have her in my apartment while her and her husband were in town for a quick trip. I know they were in a big hurry trying to accomplish much in a short period of time, but they were kind enough to take some time to stop by and MAKE MY DAY. 

Shelly and I lived in the same neighborhood while in junior high and high school. Shelly is loved by EVERYONE that comes in contact with her. She has this way of making you feel like a million bucks. Shelly is the person that I've always wanted to be like and will continue wanting that forever. Shelly is the person I think of when asked "who is someone in your life that is steadfast and immovable, who is always happy and positive, and who is true to herself and everyone around her?" SHELLY. So...

Here's to you Shell! For giving me such a wonderful example to always look up to, that makes me want to progress and become better.

I LOVE YOU.

:: BBQ with Boyers ::

There are not too many things better than a Sunday BBQ on a cool summer evening, up the canyon with good friends. The weather was ideal, and the scenery was beautiful. Our picnic was top-notch for just throwing what we had in the car. Sometimes I think spontaneous get-togethers are the best. The food was divine, thanks to chef Braden. 

Cohen and Brightyn are little buds. They did some good bonding this evening. It made me glance into the future and see how Cohen will treat his little baby sister or brother. {melts my heart}

THANK YOU BOYERS! 

The meat was great, and the company was even better.

{Secretly, I wanted to take her home with me}

Us mamas are buds. 

Mandy is beautiful and influences my life more than she'll ever know.

Give a boy a stick, and he'll be in his own little world for hours.

:: a PERFECT day ::

August 4, 2010, was a perfect day in my eyes. Nothing too special happened. It was stormy, cooler outside than all the other hot summer days. And I loved it. Cohen and I had our usual morning: breakfast, playing with toys and pots and pans, getting the mail, helping mommy clean and VACUUM {his favorite} and then it was lunchtime. Brock came home early from work {what a good surprise!} and we, as a family, went and ran errands. Cohen was great, I was the chauffeur while Brock rode in back with Co to get in a little more playing time. I love that man. We got home at the perfect time--Co's nap time. He went right to sleep without a peep....perfect. Naturally, my sweetheart and I then snuggled up in our bed, with our window open, listening to the storm....PERFECT. Brock loving the sound of a good thunder storm. Me, not so much, but the smell of rain is to die for if you ask me. I was in heaven. All my worries went away {not that there are many} and I didn't want to think, I just wanted to be with my sweetheart, talk with him, and kiss him. I cherish our alone time. Cohen then wakes up and is happier than ever. He wrestles with Dad while I make dinner. To end our perfect day after Cohen was sleeping sound, we cuddled up on our couch with a bowl of popcorn, and watched a show.

I slept extra good that night.

Knowing that I am so blessed, and was reminded 

to not let time pass by so quickly that you forget about the

small things in life....the perfect things.

What a perfect, perfect day.

{Cohen's favorite part of this perfect day} 

:: Rub a Dub Dub ::

TWO BABIES IN THE TUB!

The other night we babysat Abigail. These two are such cute friends, they just love each other, and copy each others every move. They had their first tubby together and LOVED IT!

 

They both LOVE playing in the water coming out the tap.

Not much better than two cute CLEAN babies in jammies!

:: happy ALWAYS ::

Cohen has had a fever the pass few days, due to two more bottom teeth coming in, and he is still SO HAPPY. He ALWAYS has that cute smile on his face. NOTE TO SELF: be more like Cohen.

  In this picture, notice how his feet are crossed. 
Whenever he is sitting and holding still, they cross.

And I love it.

:: ATTENTION EVERYONE ::

 My honda accord now has 200,000 miles on it.

Woo! And it still runs like a champ.

Thank You Honda!

INTRODUCING....

:: Jaden & Tiffany Willard ::

 These two lovebirds were sealed this weekend in the St. George Temple. As you can tell they are so in love, and as we speak they are on their honeymoon to the Dominican Republic. Lucky!

Here's the most handsome boy ever. (tied with daddy)

Cute Aunt Jenna played with Co while we were in the temple. As you can see they had much fun. We love her and her spunk.

As for now, this is the only picture I got at the reception and luncheon. I decided to just enjoy the whole day without worrying about pictures. It turned out perfect in my opinion.

**more pictures to come**

We love Jade and Tiff and can't wait for them to come live by us in a few weeks. They are perfect for each other, and are going to make VERY cute babies.