Happy Pioneer's Day

Today I couldn't wake up for the life of me so I didn't get to run my favorite race of the year. I love running the Salt Lake race because random people cheer for you and it’s very motivational to me. Last time I ran it someone stood in the road and tried to convince the runners to take a cinnamon roll. I thought I should ration my breath to finish the race rather than take a roll, as tempting as it was.

I spent the day with some of my favorite “goo factories” (what my husband calls children). My sister-in-law and my nephews went to the parade. I got a great work out charring Audric on my shoulders. It was such a hot day and the floats were entertaining for the boys for about a ½ hour. We later went to the Tracy Aviary and looked at the birds, it’s more fun with kids around, and they say and do the funniest things. Braxton didn’t hesitate to say “Mom it stinks in here, lets go now!” On the way out we randomly ran into my dad and Christina. They had been at the park the whole day as well. Audric is so attached to his grandpa







We spent the rest of the day in my nice air-conditioned apartment. I babysat my friend’s daughter Hazel, she is a calm, quiet little girl. She had so much fun playing with my nephews and Skofeild.

mm...mmm GOOD!

My husband loved my cake!

Baking fun! July 17th, 2008

Since my sisters were young, we've always enjoyed baking. I have a home video of Nia and Kura pretending to be professional cooks on T.V. We were at the library one day and we spotted a Martha Stewart wedding cake book. We decided to make mini cakes so that we could each be creative with our own cakes. Of course the books make things look easy but now I have a better understanding why we pay people so much to make beautiful wedding cakes.

We had a lot of fun, we're excited to bake cakes again next summer.

Our Dog Skofeild

So far Skofeild likes to eat sleep and discharge. He's fun to cuddle with and cute to look at. I've decided that the world is a friendlier place with a dog, I've never had so many random strangers come up to me to complement me on our dog. Derek says that he loves us more than anyone in the world because he runs to us when he's scared. Skofeild is so young, we think that we got him a little to soon but we're o.k with that, I especially enjoy his company when Derek is at work. I'm excited and anxious to train him to be obedient and a motivating running partner.

Hasta Luego mis hermanas

Nia went back home to Georgia yesterday, we had a family dinner and played a few games. I have a ton of pics to recap the summer but I didn't realize that I could only upload a few photos at a time...and it takes forever so I'll upload some more later. We kicked off the summer by going to my friends wedding, sisters are great to take along. We had lots of fun at the family camp trip and lots of time to bond. Nia wants to be a chef one day so this year we experimented with fondant (another post/pics to come). I already miss them, it's not everyday I get to hear Kura describe something cool as "off da chain" and Nia act out a belly dancer (you just had to be there to see the 6'0 105 lbs girl try to shake it) when we play the game Hoopla. See ya next summer girls!

...And his name shall be Skofeild

Last night my husband and I drove all the way to Westpoint to see a litter of puppies. We have been planning to purchase a dog for a while now so we found an add on KSL. I’d opt for a baby any day over a puppy but I’m learning to compromise. My husband says that I wouldn’t pay any attention to him if we had a baby…that just might be partially true based on how much I pay attention to him when were visiting with our niece and nephews.
After what seemed like we drove in circles for hours, we found the house. My husband
is so funny; he was literally jumping up and down in excitement. His voice changes when he sees puppies, he talks in a kiddie voice. The seller asked us if it the puppy was going to be our “first family dog” then she compared it to being our “baby”. I’m still getting used to the whole idea of the dog being an actual part of our family so her comment kind of left me with an awkward feeling. In my family we never had animals in our house let alone in a bed! Derek gave me a prep talk about what the expectations of the puppy will be, he even made the sound effects of what it will sound like if we don’t give it enough attention. I warned him and said “the moment you pay more attention to the dog than me, he’s out!” I know it’s harsh, but I didn’t grow up with pets. I have survival stories as a missionary having to run away from dogs (…and those memories are still vivid in my mind.)
We put a deposit down and we will be bringing our puppy home on Monday! We’ve named our puppy Skofeild after the character Micheal Schofeild from the series on Prisonbreak, explanation of the reasoning behind it is another post in itself.

Below is a pic from the KSL add, we will be purchasing the dark brown male in the back row!

Hiking @ Big Cottenwood Canyon

My little sister will be returning to Georgia after her brief visit for the summer. Kura left earlier and Nia will be on her way this comming Sunday.One of the things she really wanted to do was go hiking so Derek and I took her this past weekend. I guess she didn't know what she was in for because she was out of breath in the first 10 minutes. We made it half way up when we decided 2 hours was enough. It was fun quick hike.

Rewind June 8, 2008 Happy Birthday Andrew Villiami Stewart!

My cousin Mele and I grew up as "best cousins". She is a year younger than me and she's had her third child. I joked with her and told her that her children will be graduated from Highschool by the time I have children. Andrew is a big boy, 9lbs and his mommy didn't take any drugs either!
I made an attempt to be creative...didn't turn out quiet like I expected. It was so hot outside that the frosting melted.

We MOVED!

The moving crew!



These our pics from another day, I need to get a wire for my camera so I can upload pictures from the actual event.

We moved out of our 1920’s built 300 sq foot apartment. It was a tiny cozy apartment BUT we realized that we didn’t want to swelter in the heat in the summer and freeze in the winter again! The manager’s lack of professionalism didn’t help either.
We still live in Salt Lake, we love the area. Our new apartment is a lot bigger and we have a porch for our future puppy! I get to do my aerobics and run on my treadmill without hearing the neighbors below me pound on the ceiling.
Thanks to my family we were out of our apartment in 1.5 days. My hubby had to work during the transition but we still got our stuff out. Now we need to make our new place a home. Suggestions anyone? I’ve been looking at Martha Stewart’s websites to get some ideas. We have our old decorations, but now that we have a lot more space I need to figure out what to do with it.

It's been a YEAR!

I finally returned home from what seemed like the longest week ever. I came home just on time to celebrate our first anniversary! Since paper gifts are traditional, I decided to get Derek Spanish Grammar books so that he could learn Spanish. I know it’s an unromantic gift but inside the book, I printed out fake tickets to the Dominican Republic, redeemable upon completion of the books. Derek has talked about learning Spanish since we first started dating, so a trip to the native land should be great motivation. We plan to go with my brother and his family, he has all the connections on the island and the hotel prices are pretty inexpensive. I wanted to go on a trip before medical school and before we have children (Derek reefer’s to children as ‘goo factories’).
Later that day, Derek took me back to the Bountiful temple where he proposed and where we were married and told me all the things he that he loves about me. Afterwards we went to the Roof Restaurant, it was quiet romantic. I felt so loved. My husband is so cute. Just the day before he had eye surgery but he still managed to make sure we celebrated our anniversary. When we returned home we watched our wedding video even though Derek says I’ve watched it way too much this year…I guess it’s a girl thing, I love reliving our day!
I’m sorry but I’m computer illiterate and for some reason my photo bucket slide shows of our wedding will not show up. Check out my wedding album on shutterfly, I have it listed on the left column under Check out my Albums.