two.

our little lady is two. i am amazed how time flies. it seems like we were just bringing her home from the hospital. i love this blue eyed angel so much. she is constantly keeping us on toes. one minute sweet, the next fiesty, then crazy... she loves to give kisses, when she isn't being shy, she is TALKATIVE and learning new words everyday. she loves her brother and tries to do everything he does. she is the epitome of girl - loves jewelry, shoes, and baby dolls. she fluffs her hair when she knows she's dressed up and beautiful. and she is EMOTIONAL. watch out, she doesn't take crap from anyone and she is not afraid to tackle (thanks, loren). she loves to sing and watch out for her dance moves!

we got family and friends together to celebrate with us. loren was the master chef and, of course, made the best barbacoa burritos with all the fixin's. i was in charge of the baking and went a little overboard with all the sweets. we had the byu game going on (that's why eveyone was in blue!) and tons of kids running around! it was so much fun and lyla had a ball - especially when it came time for presents... this lady scored with 5 new dolls (one that is bigger than her - thanks, grandma!), a beautiful bracelet, a recorder (that now has a permant place on top of the fridge out of reach of both kids, thanks kelley fam - we are coming up with some great presents for your next party!) a pillow pet that she sleeps with every night and so many other great things. this girl was in heaven! thanks to everyone who came!

ice cream.

it's a miracle.

i know. when i first started this blog, my goal was to update it monthly. ummmm...to say i've been slacking is an understatement. so, now i have 4 months to catch up on. there has been so much change this summer! we made a big move to utah and we are loving it! our street is amazing with tons of kids to play with and great neighbors everywhere. at night, if we need to get the kids out, we just open the front door and see whats going on outside. i love the area we are in. i have never been a fan of living in utah and wasn't really sure how it would be. i grew up in texas where being a member of the church was fiercely frowned upon and i was one of the only few in my high school. i loved that and knew that I was setting an example and was definitely being watched. high school was such a memorable time for me because it challenged and helped strengthen my testimony. we actually threw out the idea of moving back to texas instead of utah because loren loves it so much. we both loved texas - the southern hospitality, the good family values, the conservative nature - it would be a great place to raise a family. BUT it is too far away from our west coast family. keeping all those things in mind that we liked about texas, we threw around around other places. nothing seemed to fit and feel right until we came to visit some good friends in utah and something about this area felt right to both us. i know we will have issues with utah like any place, but i feel like this is a great place for us and our children right now. it is different being surrounded by members, but also very refreshing in a way. we love our ward and the neighborhood. we get to see family a lot more - loren has been loving all that utah has to offer right now - fishing and shooting with kyle, byu football games, dinners with friends and family - now if we can get his business off the ground - it would be perfect.

it's football season and loren has wasted no time in teaching the kids how to tackle and who to cheer for...

noah's first day of preschool.

he was so excited! i teach a joy school with 6 other moms and it works out perfectly. i teach every sixth week and we rotate houses. they are such a cute group of kids and love to work together. noah loves it!

one of our favorite places here in lehi is right across the highway from us, thanksgiving point. it has a ton of fun places and activities for the family. the gardens hosts a family night each monday that includes many different activities for the family. and there is the dinosaur museum that noah and lya loved. we still haven't done everything over there. so much fun.

my family got together for a reunion in june at warms springs, nevada. we got see family that we haven't seen in a while. it was great! good food, good family, good times...

then warm springs burned down a week later :(