The Stratton's

Designing

2012-01-30T22:36:00.002-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time designing stuff lately (just today I whipped up some wedding announcements). I have so much more I'd love to learn... someday... but for now I've had fun with the little projects like this.

Our Young Women room at church was in need of new bulletin boards. Two years ago our ward did them. Last year it was somehow our turn to do them again. Somehow 2012 made it here before the new bulletin boards did... so we volunteered to actually do them this year. Haha. I didn't want to spend the time helping with something we would hand craft and then staple all over the board so I suggested maybe we just have something done on the computer and printed at our local copy store. I'm so glad I did. It was easy peasy. I left a lot of room at the top of the Arise & Shine Forth poster to allow for a little pendant banner we made using all of the value colors. The theme poster was made almost exactly like the previous board had been done... only this time it wasn't using vinyl letters that would mysteriously disappear from time to time.

If you are interested in using these same posters, I'm happy to share them. Don't copy them from here though because the resolution is horrible. Email me at astrattonphoto@gmail.com and let me know if you are interested in one or both of the poster files. They will fit the standard LDS church bulletin boards that are beside the chalk board (23x46, roughly). It cost us right around $50 to have them both printed in full color.

Fun, Vintage Wedding

2012-01-26T14:59:00.002-07:00

Camie, my sister in law, got married last weekend and put together a darling reception that just portrayed her so well. I'm am the biggest fan of all things wedding, but I didn't have much of a hand in this... my sisters in law rocked it! The ceiling was my favorite part! See...

They had the lights dimmed for the actual party, but I snapped a couple of pics before we had it all ready for guests. Their backdrop was super cute... there's a much better picture of it if you scroll way down... This way you can kind of see a little bit of everything. Yes... our brother Chase (who is on a mission in Malaysia) was even able to be there. You'll notice him on the right :)

Camie put together these centerpieces and they ended up perfectly "Camie."

I loved the way there was a touch of Camie in everything. It was all so cute.

Cass put together this tribute to the parents and grandparents. Loved it!

Pretty, pretty.

I loved all of the lanterns, but loved these doily ones the most!

Here's a glimpse at the food! This is just the candy table.

I probably shouldn't have put away the camera until after the "real food" came out on the other table.

Camie was recently diagnosed with Celiac's and so there was a gluten free table of food for her and the guests that would appreciate it.

Yes... those are temples you can see on these chocolates.

The rest are pictures I took once the lights were dimmed. It just made it all a little more special.

The cake and some details. Most all of the antiques that were around that night were from our Great and Great-Great Grandparents. How cool!

There's Chase again! Twice his life size posters have given me the heebie jeebies. Love that kid... They had a slideshow of pictures going in the reception and out by those waiting in the receiving line.

I love how it was all a little casual and a little fancy all at once.

This was at the sign in table. Gotta love Grandma's antiques!

See how special it all looked once the lights were out? I loved the lanterns and backdrop the most!

It was a beautiful day and we couldn't be happier for our sweet sis.

Awkward.

2012-01-25T21:45:00.005-07:00

Awkward moment on the phone today:

But first, a little back story. My sisters were over and we were just hanging out. Lauren's boyfriend calls her, finds out that we are having a "pow wow" and asks why he wasn't invited. I decide to be funny and text him while he is talking to her and ask my sisters for his # (I didn't have it for some reason...) and this is how it went.

Me: There is a way that you could get invited to my pow wows. Meg and I have a serious question for you, btw.

Him: OK, who is this?

Me: Haha. Me.

Me: Andrea

Him: Andrea who?

I'm beginning to think he is pulling my leg, so I throw in a little insult.

Me: Now you're a queer.

Him: I think you have the wrong #.

"Him": This is Precious. (I changed her name to protect her identity -haha- and referenced a little Friends."

Me: Sorry :)

"Him": It's ok haha. :)

I commence to ask a question or two in order to be sure I don't actually know this poor girl. Thankfully I didn't. Turns out my sister knows who she is... an acquaintance at work. Oh boy!

Me: Soooooo sorry. Haha. Have a nice night. You're not a queer.

"Him": Hahahahahaha thanks You have a good one too ;)

Oh jeeze!!! I was sooooo sooooo sooooo embarrassed! It's a good thing she has no idea who I was and that I now know where she works so I can know to NEVER show my face in there... ever.

It was just too funny not to share.

Playing With Glow Sticks

2012-01-23T20:58:00.002-07:00

The other night Colby pulled out some glow sticks for the boys to play with. Soon after that Aunt Lauren came over and showed them how to turn into stick figures. They thought that was the funniest thing ever and had to take their own turns at it. I'm embarrassed of these first pictures... all the ones of Marshall... I had been shooting video earlier the same night and had my lens set to manual focus. It just took me a while to realize and by that time Marshall's turn was all over. And I just had to keep these photos, even if they were out of focus.

Marshall was turning flips and then he took off his head and rolled it down his arms. Ahhh!

Here's Tyler. He had fun playing basketball with his own head.

Nummy Chocolate Cake

2012-01-23T16:06:00.002-07:00

A couple weeks ago I had a wicked craving for some chocolate cake. I remembered reading that adding sour cream to a cake mix makes it much better than just a plain box mix so I tried it. I used this recipe and thought the cake was good enough to eat without anything extra like frosting or whatever. But of course if I was going to make a chocolate cake I NEEDED the frosting. So I found this recipe on Pinterest and quickly whipped it up. I guess the butter was still a little firm or something because it was way stiff and totally unspreadable. And it was a small batch. So I decided it would be my filling for the layers and I'd make my trusty old whipped cream frosting for the rest. It was super delish! And super rich. I immediately offered three quarters of the cake to anyone that dared speak for it and delivered a few good sized pieces to some pals.

Here's Tyler being my little helper. He loves to lick the beaters!

Here is the finished product. The frosting is just a box of vanilla instant pudding with about a cup of milk mixed in. You let that sit in the fridge for a little bit, then fold in some Cool Whip. I decided I wanted chocolate whipped cream frosting so I melted down some extra dark chocolate chips and stirred it into the pudding before folding in the whipped cream. It had little specks of chocolate and I liked it like that :)

We honestly could only get about a quarter of the cake down before all five of us (Me, the boys, Meg, & Colby) were on a chocolate overload. Notice the ooey-gooey chocolate middle layer... once between the layers of cake and sitting at room temp for a little while it softened right up and became a nice moistening element. It was probably also the part that made the cake so rich... and yummy.

The boys loved their little afternoon snack.

I love my kids.

2012-01-13T23:13:00.002-07:00

I am so lucky. I had a bunch of leftover fruit that had been cut up for Bunco on Wednesday. It was starting to get a little old so I decided to whip together my first green smoothie. I've been a lover of green lemonade since summer, but that's just juice. And it has lemon in in which makes most things yummy. So today I got the guts to throw a banana in the blender with some pears, strawberries, a little mango, and a ton of spinach. I added a little water to get the consistency right and guess what? It was good! So good that my kids drank it down so fast and Tyler (who doesn't eat ANYTHING unless he "loves it") was begging for more. Marshall was cute. Right before his second gulp he said, "I will take another drink so it can go to my brain and make it like this even more! This is so good." I consider myself ultra lucky that my kids will devour a green smoothie and never complain that it might look a little weird. Even beyond that... they love their fruits and vegetables. Sometimes they will even order broccoli instead of french fries at restaurants. Crazy weird, isn't it? Like I said. I'm so lucky.

Some Highlights & A Few Things I Learned

2012-01-06T15:11:00.003-07:00

Some of the highlights from our trip to San Francisco include:

Andrea's first time on the Subway and in a taxi
The clam chowder at Neptune's on Pier 39 is the yummiest we found. Seriously amazing. Most everything else about the restaurant was over rated, but I would go back for the chowder in a heartbeat.
Hot chocolate from Ghiradelli Square honestly is the best ever!
Watching Mission Impossible 4 in the state of the art IMAX theater
The shopping at Union Square! I still can't get over the two huge Forever 21 stores on the same street.
Boudin. That was such a great restaurant. You could be satisfied at any meal with anything on their menu.
Joanie's Diner! It is a tiny little place in the Wharf just a block up from The Cannery. Hands down the best belgian waffle I've ever eaten. I ordered the banana nut waffle and was so satisfied. But even just a plain waffle would have been fantastic. And the other food was seriously delish! I've never enjoyed an omelet before and I wanted to eat all of Colby's.
If you eat at Alioto's at Pier 45 enter to the left for the waterfront cafe. The fine dining restaurant upstairs was sort of lame and overpriced.
Walking from Fisherman's Wharf to Union Square. I know that sounds insane, but it was pretty dang fun. The orange line in the map below roughly shows our route and I scoured the internet for an elevation map, but couldn't find any good ones... just know that walking this meant a whole lot of incline. Which meant a 2 mile walk that took the same amount of time as a flat 4-5 mile walk. Also know that I tried to suggest going over a block or two and catching a bus, but the men kept saying, "let's just walk" even after I showed them the map a few times. So regardless of what they say, they wanted to walk. I merely wanted to catch a cable car because they went directly to where we wanted to go, but they were super full and would never stop for us.

Had we not walked that insane walk that night, we would not have another of our fondest memories. We were in the Nob Hill neighborhood (which kind of borders Chinatown) and Colby was walking on the east side of the street and we other three were on the west side of the street. It just so happened that the three of us all turned at the same time to totally see Colby get hit by a car. Now don't worry, the guy wasn't blazing through the intersection or anything, so Colby wasn't hurt, and it was hilarious!!! A car was stopped at the stop sign then turned left. After that car drove away, Colby began to cross the street followed by some other pedestrians. The next car never saw the pedestrians and never thought to actually stop at the stop sign. So the little Asian man rolled through the stop sign and once he saw the road was clear of cars he stepped on the gas and failed to notice Colby in the crosswalk, directly in front of the passenger seat. The car pushed Colby's legs out from under him so he reached down to brace his fall on the hood of the car then sort of rolled up and off the side of the hood. The poor old man kept saying sorry and asking Colby if he was OK. Colby was fine, the rest of us were laughing our heads off, and the car drove away with a good sized dent in the hood from Colby's incredible strength. Hahahahahahaha! I realize that I sound awfully insensitive to laugh at Colby getting hit by a car, but if you were there, you would have realized he was really in no danger and it was just plain funny. We still get a good chuckle out of it.

A few things I learned:

The F line (street car) was probably my favorite means of transportation. They are old, but seemed cleaner than the buses and they went most everywhere we wanted/needed to go.
The top three money makers for the city of San Francisco are 1) Hotels, 2) Banking, and 3) Parking Tickets.
It is completely legal in the city of San Francisco to walk around butt naked as long as you have one article of "clothing" on. So zero clothes plus a hat, or glove, or sock, etc is completely OK. Oh boy...
Boudin is pronounced boo-deen. Yeah, I asked. We were originally way off :)
There is an architectural walking tour that I am totally going on when we go back. It spans four blocks of the Financial District and highlights all kinds of historical and architectural details of the city.
I love that charming city. I truly am a city girl at heart.

Our Last Day :(

2012-01-06T13:53:00.001-07:00

On our last day in San Francisco we were able to extend our bus tour passes an extra day on account of the fog that kept us from really seeing the sights. City Sightseeing Tours seriously rock! We rode across the Golden Gate Bridge again so we could actually see it.

This picture was taken maybe a block or two away from our hotel.

Having fun on our bus tour. Betsy (our driver) had us laughing our heads off!

Ghiradelli Square

Some of the fantastic architecture.

A temple of some sort. I can't remember a lot of the details. I do remember the story about it being bombed after their religious leader talked about regardless who we all pray to, the prayers all go in the same direction. Some people didn't like that very much so they bombed the building and killed the man who said that.

I love this city!

Palace of Fine Arts

A good glance at the Golden Gate Bridge.

The bridge is so majestic. We heard a lot of cool facts and stories about the bridge while on our tour. Like how Mr. Strauss that built the bridge was the first to require his workers to wear hard hats and how there are undercover police officers patrolling the bridge at all times in an effort to stop people from jumping off.

Views of the Marin Headlands

Alcatraz

Colby & I at Vista Point on the northern end of the bridge.

The San Francisco skyline

The four of us.

The view from Sausalito.

We didn't get off the bus here on Saturday although grabbing a burger from Hamburgers was oh, so tempting.

Our awesome driver Betsy was kind enough to drop us off near Lombard Street so we could just walk a few blocks to the "crookedest street in the world." It was only about three or four blocks to the peak, but it was a long walk. Like I mentioned before, I need to practice photographing hills. There was a one block portion that was SO SO steep.

This whole area was full of well manicured homes that I just loved.

A look back towards the west. The funniest thing happened right here. There was a couple walking down the hill as we reached the top. (You can kind of see them here on the sidewalk.) The woman was wearing some pretty high heeled boots and she was struggling to walk down the steep hill, so she started walking switchbacks down the sidewalk. It was so funny to watch her slowly make her way down the hill and her man had to patiently walk extra slowly so he didn't leave her in the dust.

Colby at Lombard St. on Russian Hill. Something neat about this area is the residents of the neighborhood were the ones to landscape the area. The city built the road and then left it kind of barren. It's a shame we weren't there when all of the hydrangeas were blooming.

Looking east towards Fisherman's Wharf, North Beach (Little Italy), and Telegraph Hill. Chinatown and the Financial District are just out of the picture on the right.

More of San Francisco's fantastic color and character.

Aww. We're so cute.

Looking up Lombard Street. I thought it was funny why this road became so crooked. It runs all the way across the city and used to be a main thoroughfare and was quite dangerous as cars would scream down this hill. It was decided they were going to eliminate all the crazy traffic through this neighborhood by putting in all of those switchbacks to discourage travelers. Well now it is a major tourist attraction and cars will wait in a ridiculous line just to drive down it. It was fun to see, but I would never wait in line to drive down it.

Shopping!!!

2012-01-06T12:42:00.002-07:00

We had a lot of fun shopping in San Francisco. While in the big city we basically shopped, ate, and toured like professional tourists. As far as time spent, I'm pretty sure it went in that order, and I loved every second of it. I honestly think all four of us did.

Everything was still festive and that made it fun to see the big shops doing it in style.

This is a shot in the mall in Union Square. Do you see how huge it is? And we went to a total of 2 stores. I suppose if we had a week to only shop this mall we could have seen the whole thing. And outside this mall you could find blocks and blocks of more fantastic shopping! (I'm telling you... I'm going back.)

The first night we went shopping we honestly went to one store and that was all. A brand new THREE story Forever 21. The boys bailed on this adventure and headed to the movies (couldn't blame them) and Tara and I just enjoyed every second of kid free shopping in that beautiful place. This picture is actually of the other Forever 21 that was just a couple blocks away. Isn't it fantastic? They were both huge. And beautiful.

Oh yeah... I do have one picture of the brand new one we spent all of our time in. Don't look at me... Colby had been trying to get me to buy hats all week, so I was modeling this totally impractical, albeit cute one for him. Just notice the beautiful store in the background, ok. It was huge! And did I mention beautiful?

This was our ending to our second night in Union Square. Still foggy and beautiful as ever. The first night we shopped there we had to call a cab to take us home because we had stayed out so incredibly late (watching Mission Impossible 4- good flick) that most of the public transportation was shut down. We were going to take a bus but a guy at the stop told us we were waiting for the wrong bus and we would end up going far far away from our hotel. Don't worry, it took us a good four days to figure out the transit system.

This could quite possibly be my greatest find in all of San Francisco. Onitsuka Tigers. Not that they could only be found there, but I picked them up on our second day in the city and they are honestly the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned (even compared to the $$$ pricey ones I bought when I was pregnant with Marshall and worked on my feet all day every day). I walked and walked and walked in these beauties and never once had any kind of foot, leg, hip, back pain at all. That is seriously rare for me.

My first choice were a fantastic shade of pink, but they were out of my size. I'm seriously considering ordering them online... I found some for a great price and I think I need them. Doesn't every girl need comfortable, functional shoes? Purple and pink ones are a necessity, I'm sure.

Friday Afternoon

2012-01-06T11:35:00.001-07:00

After our morning at Alcatraz we headed to the other end of town to see Golden Gate Park. We had read that there was some fun shopping in that district. We also read that most of the "hippies" lived in that area. That was no joke. By the time we got on the bus that went to the park we were in completely different company than we had been so far in San Francisco. As far as I'm concerned, I'm kind of glad we got a late start towards the park and we didn't end up with a lot of time to shop. I would much rather shop in Union Square (where we ended up later that night) than in that crazy part of town. There were a couple cool looking consignment/antique stores that would have been fun to look through though.

While at lunch we got on the topic of celebrity crushes and at one point of our ride towards the park Colby and I gave Tara a good chuckle. We were totally engrossed in narrowing down our "Top 5." Certain details of this conversation are not to be shared... I'm sure they'd be taken out of context :)

Here we are at Golden Gate Park. The park was really cool and had a lot of neat destinations. If we lived in San Fran, I'm sure we'd spend a lot of time there. It was that cool. And we only saw a tiny portion of it.

We really only had time to see one sight and we chose the California Academy of Sciences. It was pretty cool. They had some great exhibits of different parts of the world. We were sad to have missed the last show at the Planetarium though. We took a bunch of pictures to show the kids... they would have loved it. Probably as much as we did. I think the four of us are a bunch of big kids.

Look at this huge moose.

They had a cool pendulum clock. I had never seen one before.

Their aquarium was really cool.

They also had a neat rain forest exhibit.

And, what the heck?! An albino alligator. It was freaking me out!!!

It is definite, we will bring our kids back here for sure.

Alcatraz :: The Beauty

2012-01-05T15:03:00.001-07:00

I felt like I saw a lot of beautiful things during our tour of Alcatraz. Partly from the actual structures on the island and partly because of the perspective you had of the city while on the island. It was all so cool to me.

More of that moss I was so in love with...

I love the word free in the middle here.

The views were fantastic.

So was the company.

All week long I would gaze at all the variety and beauty that filled the city and wish I could be a portrait photographer in this charming city. Even while there on Alcatraz I was seeing inspiration all around me. So I lined Colby out and had him take a few shots of me. I love these, thanks Babe.

I love my hubby.

If he were blogging this right now, he'd be sure to mention how much he loves me. I'm sure of it.

More shots of the San Francisco skyline.

Our hotel was just a couple blocks from the water... just right of center in this picture.

A shot of Coit Tower from the ferry ride back.

Coit Tower is where they used to watch for shipments coming into the city.

Alcatraz :: The Experience

2012-01-05T14:44:00.002-07:00

Alcatraz turned out to me one of my favorite parts of this trip. It was so interesting.

Cold, dark, lonely, and strangely beautiful. Of course it was another foggy day, but I think that added to the whole experience. This is our view of the Bay Bridge when we headed out on the ferry.

(I'm pretty sure Colby was in the middle of doing something goofy. I've never seen him like this before.)

Approaching the island. I just thought the buildings were so beautiful... all weathered and cold.

This building was housing for the guards and their families.

The showers.

A standard cell.

Isolation.

We heard the story of this escape attempt from the son of one of the hostages.

The old library.

This is a shot of the floor in the dining hall. I was totally enchanted by the worn layers of everything to be found. The walls, rust, furniture, floors, etc.

The rec yard.

It didn't seem very big to me until I saw it in relation to the people standing down near the grass.

This was the Warden's house. It was destroyed in a fire after the jail was no longer used as a jail.

There were gardens around the grounds that must have been a nice distraction for the inmates to work on.

And then we were back to the city.

Sausalito

2012-01-05T13:30:00.002-07:00

This is Sausalito. The most expensive place to live in California, and I'm pretty sure we were told the most expensive in the US. It was pretty there, but I'm not sure this is where I'd choose to spend my millions...

If I remember correctly, there are 2.1 sailboats/yachts per resident of Sausilito.

That includes the babies and elderly that live there. Wow!

It really is fascinating to me to see everything built up the face of these hills and mountains. The blue building on the left of this picture was a hotel. Colter and Colby kept admiring its design. It really was cool. I should have gotten a better picture of it.

I was going to say we are the most attractive couple in the world, but I think I'll save that comment for a different picture. At least we're happy... :)

Now I'm not really sure why we ended up taking a picture including this bathroom sign, but once it was done we all laughed about it. There were a number of potty stops taken throughout the week. You know that rule you had growing up that before you left anywhere every kid needed to take a turn at the toilet whether they needed to go or not. Well... we should have reinstated that rule during our trip. Haha.

We were however standing near the nicest "outhouse" I have ever used.

Perhaps I'm easily impressed.

This was us before our bus headed back to the city. We were told that one of the things we had to do was go on a bus tour... even though it was such a touristy thing to do. I'm so glad we did. It was a lot of fun and super informative. There was another company that had double decker buses (Colby really wanted to ride on the top of a double decker bus), but we purchased our tour through this company because they were the only ones with a tour going to Muir Woods during the winter. If anyone ever purchases a bus tour while in San Fran, go through CitySightseeing Tours and make sure you get Betsy as your driver. She is hilarious!!!!

It was pretty foggy Thursday and Friday. Sausalito was a little more clear, but we could really only see the tippy top of the bridge peeking through the clouds. As bummed as we were not to see the entire bridge in all of its glory, it was cool to see it poking out of the clouds.

By the time we were back on the bridge the fog was so thick you could only see what was exactly next to you. Cool looking, huh?

Now, I really should have used my better judgement and not shared this photo with you, but it was an amusing part of the trip. We were in an open bus, and my hair was down. It was flying all over the place so I wrapped my scarf around the ends of my hair. Then I remembered all those movies with the glamorous women of old riding around in their convertibles with their scarf wrapped over their hair. So I did it and we laughed our heads off the rest of the way. Colby was possibly even embarrassed to be seen with me at that moment.

Muir Woods

2012-01-05T12:54:00.001-07:00

We woke up Thursday morning and headed out to Muir Woods and Sausalito. Muir Woods is part of the Redwood Forest and is just 12 miles from San Francisco. It is not where you can find the really wide trees you could drive through, but it is where you can find some of the tallest trees.

This was cool. It documented the history/life of the tree based on events in the world.

Everything was so beautiful and green!

I love Colby.

This is one of the only pictures of Tara and I together.

What we really should have documented was the epic shopping trip to Forever 21 later this same night!

I was totally impressed by the amount of moss that covered everything.

Moss is not something we see much of here in the desert of Southern Utah. I wish it was.

I'm so glad we made the time to come here.

It was nice to walk around in the green forest and enjoy the quiet, calm feeling.

We'll Start From the Very Beginning

2012-01-05T11:49:00.005-07:00

I couldn't figure out how to start blogging about our trip because, let's face it, flash on a camera is not the most flattering thing and the first picture taken on our trip was this beauty. Haha. Yet, I commence...

Our trip officially kicked off with a night spent in Las Vegas. Our flight was leaving at 6am, so we decided a night's stay in LV was a need, not a want. We ate at The Cheesecake Factory (LOVE those lettuce wraps) and walked around on the Strip for a while, and "when in Rome"... you gotta watch the Bellagio water show.
Vacationing with Colter & Tara Criddle proved to be so much fun. I did miss some of our other buddies though. Wouldn't it be fun to plan a mega road trip with as many friends as we could?

Our early morning sunrise while on the plane.

Somehow we figured out how to get to our hotel. I seriously do not remember anything besides the guy at Starbucks saying to take the F line that has a stop about a block away in the middle of the street.
(Whatever that was supposed to mean...)

We stayed in Fishermans Wharf so we got there, unloaded our bags, and took a walk.

We stopped in at Boudin for breakfast. The sourdough french toast was delish. Probably only my family knows how I really don't like french toast, but anything made with sourdough bread is infinitely better and I was happy to eat it! (We ate at Boudin every day we were there, I think... thanks for the recommendation Ballard's!) Check out that loaf of bread shaped like a crab.

Once we were properly nourished, we headed to Chinatown.

We just wandered the streets for hours, bought a few things and had a great time.

I couldn't get enough of the colors and textures that could be found everywhere.

For some reason I found the "Quiet Through Tunnel" sign to be amusing.

This is where we ate lunch. The yummiest Chinese food I've eaten in my whole life (so far)...

Except for pot stickers ala Ronnie. Those were delish.

I think I need to practice taking hill shots. This image does NOT give the incline of this hill justice. It was steep. As was most of the city. That was one thing I loved about San Francisco. You could see the entire city... all of its charm... in one glance because it all went up, up, up. (Colby had to book it up and down a few of these huge hills in search of a bathroom. That was pretty funny.)

I really loved the sea of color that was in Chinatown, and the hustle and bustle of it all.

I could have done without the smells though. Some of those sidewalk markets were stinky!

When we were done there we caught a cable car and headed home.

This would be our only time riding one.

Funny story on that topic to come later...

Wednesday night we went over to Ghiradelli Square as we were instructed to do by anyone that has ever been to San Francisco. It was only a couple blocks from our hotel and I'm wondering now why we didn't go there more! The hot chocolate there was honestly the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Mmm, mmm, mmmm....

Christmas Part 3

2012-01-04T23:41:00.001-07:00

This post is about all of our stops we made. I should mention that a couple of our usual stops were done before Christmas day actually came because none of my side of the family would be in town on the actual holiday. For some reason I didn't remember to take pictures at those places. Of course they were a lot of fun and we were totally spoiled. Like I had mentioned in Part 1, we rushed over to Colby's parents' house once we woke up.

The boys breaking into their goodies.

Grandma made each of them these adorable blankets that were each a different animal. I'm going to have to take some pictures of the boys with their blankets since I never got a good one on Christmas morning. Marshall's is a turtle and Tyler's is a fish. They love their blankets and sleep with them every night.

It's kind of fun adding a new person to the family. Mike will fit in just fine with all of us weirdos.

Marshall and Brigham were playing a game.

Marshall would yell and scream and Brigham would copy him.

So fun...

Cassadee and I put our heads together for a good surprise for her parents this year and our "presentation" of the whole thing went almost as planned. Good thing Marshall was there to help carry it out.

We recreated a picture that we had given her a past Mother's Day. We took the pictures back in August and the boys did a great job of never leaking any info. Cass put all the pictures into a book and we gave Mom the book first thinking she would see the pictures and say, "That's like the picture that hangs over there..." while looking towards the photo on the wall then suddenly noticing that it wasn't just a painting of some cute little boys, but a photograph of her actual grandsons. Well... it went almost like that. She said what we thought she'd say and she looked where we thought she would look, but she really only looked in the general direction and didn't really look. So this is how it went down.

1. "Oh... cute. You boys are so cute... this looks just like that picture over there..."

2. "Uh... Grandma... I was thinking to tell you to look over there..." and he repeated that a couple times and then the whole room had to prod her to really look.

3. "Oh yeah! I see it now!"

4. Then we all had a good laugh.

(I'll have to do a whole post just on that fun little photo session we had back in August. I'll do that right after I blog about our recent vacation.)

This photo was taken at Great Grandma Stratton's. These teenagers are too funny. They all took a little afternoon nap in the middle of all the noise and chaos at Grandma's house.

Then we went to Grandma & Grandpa Tom's house.

The boys got some fun Play-Doh toys that they love so much!

I have to post this pic for posterity. First of all, notice the wooden rocking chairs. Grandma & Grandpa have made these for most all of their grandkids and great grandkids. Brigham was loving his. And secondly, take note of all the decorations. I am sure there are only a few special people in this world that decorate for Christmas the way Grandma Tom does. And this is just a tiny portion... just what was in the background of this photo. I'm pretty sure this picture shows more decorations than I have in my whole house for every holiday of the year. This is something we love about Grandma. She really goes all out.

Christmas Part 2

2012-01-04T23:10:00.002-07:00

Once we got home from church on Christmas we got some time to open the rest of our gifts.

I love sitting back and watching all of their reactions and capturing some of them on camera.

Kids bring so much magic to the holidays. I love it.

Marshall got a new backpack!!! (His other one was falling apart it had been so well loved.)

Looks like he approved of the characters on the front...

And Tyler got a backpack too! He was so excited about it.

He immediately put it on and wore it the rest of the morning.

He asked right away if he was going to go to school now. We remind him on an almost daily basis that his birthday needs to come before he can go to school. It's fun that my kids love school like I used to.

Daddy picked out these awesome Transformers masks. They match the costumes we have too!

I'm sensing Halloween costume inspiration...

The boys helped Daddy buy all of my gifts in one night from one single store found here in Hurricane. We know that because they were all wrapped and delivered under the tree the same night I was hosting Bunco. My pals thought it was funny that Colby got all the shopping done the way he did. But I was surprisingly pleased! I got a food processor and some other cool kitchen things that I've been wanting.

That race track was played with non stop that day. Tyler was racing a dinosaur down it right here.

The boys and their loot. We sure love them.

Christmas Morning Part 1

2012-01-04T16:55:00.001-07:00

I cannot think of a day that is busier for us than Christmas Day. We love it that way... don't think I'm complaining... but I figured since it is so packed with stuff I would break up the blogging into sections. As so we start with part 1.

Technically, these pictures in our PJs are from Christmas Eve, but it is what starts off the magic! I get a big kick out of the funny face photo that Marshall requested. I love that Tyler is smiling so nicely in that one. The rest of that picture is just kind of disturbing. The kids picked out my jammies this year all by themselves. I'm so glad they love me so much.

Here's Tyler wiping the sleep from his eyes as we drug the kids out of their beds on Christmas morning.

(Funny story: We set our alarms for 5:30am so we could get the kids up to enjoy all the presents and stuff before we needed to be to Gma & Gpa Stratton's by 7. We had church at 9 that morning, so we were trying to fit a lot in before the day really got going. Well... at 7:20 Colby's phone rings and we wake up to, "are you guys on your way?" We both sat straight up perplexed by our situation. We were supposed to be there 20 minutes ago, the kids weren't awake yet, and there was no way to get out of our house without at least getting excited about what Santa had brought!!! So we pulled the kids out of bed, let them dump out their stockings and play with the things Santa brought them and immediately whisked them out the door to Gma's house. I'm pretty sure we were there by 7:40. We felt so lame!!!)

This was Marshall's reaction to what he saw once he woke up...

A huge race track!!! Just like he had asked for.

Santa also surprised all four of us with our very own guitars! We are a rockin' family now.

Santa must have noticed that Marshall is in love with all things ROCK nowadays.

The race track is 8 feet long and races 6 cars at a time!

It is still set up in our family room (a week and a half later) and has been played with a lot.

Tyler took the job of emptying his stocking very seriously.

Marshall was just thrilled all morning.

We let him jam out for just a second than took off to Gma & Gpa's house.

The guitars definitely came with us!

Santa Visits Again!

2012-01-04T16:06:00.002-07:00

We must be the luckiest people in Hurricane! We got a special visit from Santa again this year. We figure that his reindeer must get tired right around here each year because he has stopped by Grandma & Grandpa's house the last few years and there are even pictures from when our Daddy was a little boy and Santa would stop by and say hello.

My little brother Tyler was quick to greet him with a hug. He was so excited to see Santa.

My mom was tricky and got a picture of me smiling ear to ear when I realized who had stopped by.

I sure love Santa.

Check out my cousin Karter. Even he was so excited!!!

Santa gave us each a special surprise... coloring books!

I guess my baby cousin Brigham was nervous or something because anytime Santa would look at him

he would scream and scream.

I almost forgot. We each got PEZ dispensers too. Those are the coolest candies. Santa could only stay for a second... so we wished him a Merry Christmas and told him thank you and he was on his way.

Here's a picture of all of us on the mantle. I think we take this same picture every year.

Look at Brigham. He is so funny eating his box of crayons.

There. I got my piece of candy and I was ready to smile.

Remembering Jesus

2012-01-04T15:30:00.003-07:00

On Christmas Eve, Cassadee helped do something special for the little boys. She had done this little production for Sharing Time in Primary and organized it one more time for the boys to do at Grandma & Grandpa's house. They started out dressed like Samuel the Lamanite declaring the coming of the Savior. Notice that Tyler wanted to wear his head piece on his neck. I just had to let him be an individual :)

The boys got to choose "presents" out of a bag that all went together and each piece had a song or a story to go with it. They really enjoyed taking turns and unwrapping the little surprises.

They were unwrapping pieces of the nativity and learning all about the birth of Christ.

Here's proof that Brigham and the older "kids" were there.

Grandma played the piano for us to sing to.

Brigham was so cute... just playing with all the pieces of the nativity while the other kids were paying attention to everything else that was going on.

Look how sweet these little boys are... listening so closely to Grandpa reading them a story.

Notice Tyler is slowly losing interest...

(So was Colby, haha.)

Soon Tyler found his way across the room... getting distracted by who knows what.

He made it back to all the action and made sure to turn on a little music on his way. He loved that it was his job to press the angel and start the song.

This was too funny. While Cassadee read the boys a story, Marshall got right up next to her and played with her hair. It was cute until she started getting tired of it falling in her eyes.

And then Marshall had fun flicking her bangs back down into her face. Little goober...

Carly even got in on the action and finished reading the story to the boys.

When it was all over, the boys got plenty of time to play with the nativity and take turns pressing the angel and starting the music.

A super cute moment from this night was when there were only a couple pieces left in the bag and Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus were still unaccounted for. The boys started talking about how they hoped they chose whichever piece they were hoping for. It was Tyler's turn to choose and everyone was talking about wanting to pick Mary. He unwrapped Joseph and in the sweetest, most excited voice announced, "It's Ma-wy!" Even though it wasn't, his sweet little voice was so darling. I loved that and remember it more than most everything that took place that night. It was a great way to calm the growing excitement of what was coming later that night and remember what Christmas is all about. I loved how often during this Christmas season that I heard Marshall say that Christmas was about baby Jesus. I'm glad to know Marshall understands the importance of the season, rather than getting totally caught up in all the commercial stuff.

Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-22T08:51:00.002-07:00

I've gotten most of our cards in the mail and only have a small stack on my desk that still need addresses. (They are all the ones that I didn't have current addresses for and they haven't gotten back to me.) So hopefully this isn't a big spoiler to anyone that is just waiting by the mailbox for our Christmas card. Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

I did it!

2011-12-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

I am seriously so proud of myself right now!!! I successfully created a bridal shower invitation, from scratch, on my own. I was feeling all confident and spoke invitation duty for Camie's shower and after about an hour of working on it I was having second thoughts because I was not creating something I was happy with and I knew I would never be able to explain myself if I ordered some that we over $2 per invitation. (They were SOOOO cute and if I only needed to buy a few, I would have in a heartbeat!) But as the clock passed midnight the inspiration started flowing... and I ended up with something I am seriously proud of. The others in charge haven't given their final say on it, but I will be happy even if it needs to change. I'm going to share a sneak peek right now since I'm feeling so accomplished.

Isn't it so fun?! I love it!

Once I laid in bed around 3 am I remembered how much I really loved creating things when I was working on my graphic design degree in college. Then I started feeling bummed that I changed my major, changed my plans, then never really learned all the cool stuff I could have learned. I'm feeling inspired to learn now though!!! Look out...

Always Running Behind

2011-12-17T13:04:00.002-07:00

Now don't worry! Just because we got our Christmas tree up just two weeks before Christmas does not mean I'm feeling like the grinch this year. It's just par for the course this year, I guess. The tree is now up, letters to Santa have been sent, and I swear I will wrap presents and deliver neighbor gifts before long. I'm feeling good that I'm even blogging at all.

This is the branch that Tyler decorated. After he had finished I spread the love around the tree a little.

Marshall is Mommy's biggest helper lately and he loved the job of helping decorate the tree.
Just this week Marshall took the garbage out himself for the first time!
He is really taking some duties upon himself and it makes me so proud.

I've been thinking lately about how much I'm not accomplishing in the time I would like to and it makes me smile a little. The first part of this year I felt like I had such a handle on things. I never got really behind on chores and I always felt like I had time to do the things I needed and wanted to do. A few times earlier this year I was hearing words I'd heard before... "You know... once you feel like you are back in control of life again it is time to have another baby." It would always make me smile and give me a little more to appreciate only having my two that were acting like such big boys. Well now I'm looking at my state of life and feeling so out of control and that advice is coming at me a little differently now. In the words of my head... "If life is so out of control, a new baby is not quite right yet. Wait until you feel in control again." Haha! Look at "me" trying to look out for myself. Now don't anyone rush out thinking I'm announcing anything (Megan!) I'm just saying it's been on my mind. I'm watching my friends add new babes into their families and I am realizing that every day that goes by without a new baby at our house is another day I am getting less comfortable with all things baby. Diapers, spit up, no sleep, being late everywhere, distracted church meetings, etc. Heaven help us, I tell you!

And heaven help me get ready for Christmas! I have one week. One week, people!

Good Thing We Got That Done

2011-12-17T00:33:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness! It is December 16th and we just barely wrote our letters to Santa!

We have been pretty busy around here and ever since Thanksgiving we have been meaning to get this done. Today was finally the day.

Marshall's said:
Dear Santa,
I am trying to be good. For Christmas I would like a BIG racetrack. I will try to be nice to my brother and Mommy. I would also like a little, little cool car that the engine cover (the hood) goes up. I don't know if your elves can make that. Thank you. I really like Christmas. I like when you come. That's my favorite part of Christmas. I love you so much.
Marshall

Tyler was funny. I honestly just asked him a couple questions (and tried really hard not to make them leading questions) and his letter is word for word what he said.

Dear Santa,
I have been a nice boy. I try to be a nice boy. I want a truck and toys for Christmas. I want you to bring me a present please. Thank you!
Love, Tyler

As seems to be the recent trend... no photo op is complete without some silly ones of Marshall. Haha.

I hope we all can keep a handle on the Christmas season!

I know I've nearly lost mine a couple times so far...

2011-12-13T12:49:00.002-07:00

A couple weeks ago, as I was pulling out Christmas decorations, my boys found themselves some Santa hats. They wore them that whole day and off and on since then. That morning I rushed them out of the house for my beloved TurboKick class and they were so cute sporting their santa hats in their jammies. By the time we got home Marshall was pretty much done with his hat so I only got some pics of Tyler.

My little Tyler is a silly one. The gym I go to provides babysitting, but Ty doesn't like that set up too well. Each time I go to Zumba or TurboKick, he asks to come with me. He has to sit on the side of the class for an hour and not get up (sounds awful!!!) but he would rather "watch me dance" than play with all the kids. He usually will color in a coloring book or play with his trucks... so it's not like he just sits there in time out or something. Even though Marshall is out there with the kids, it is not Tyler's thing. This particular day he was just extra sleepy so every time I'd look over at him he had a somewhat sad, puppy dog look on his face. It was just precious with his santa hat on.

Christmas Bulb Trees

2011-12-13T11:00:00.001-07:00

I've gotten a ton of compliments and questions about the Christmas bulb trees I made for our ward party decor. It was a genius idea I got from Pinterest and it was so easy. The process was simple.

It went from this...

...to this...

... to this...

... to this.

I started with a good variety of colors and sizes of unbreakable (plastic) bulbs from Taipan Trading and some small wooden dowels. My young women would be making these at our activity Tuesday night so I had to do a little prep work so we could get everything done. I made my selection of bulbs for each tree and put each "tree" in it's own bag. (I almost wrote on each bulb so they would know the order I intended the bulbs to go in, but I tried my best to allow them some creative freedom. I'm not always the best at letting go of control.) Then I removed all the "hanger" things from the one end of the bulb and drilled a hole the same size as the dowel I was using. Two holes per bulb except for the top one. Once each tree's bulbs were drilled I put them all back into their bags and tied the dowel to it so the girls would have a nice little kit and it could all go quickly and smoothly. At that point you just slide the bulbs onto the dowel in the order you want them. Some fit super snug so we had to twist them down the dowel into place. After that you just tie a ribbon between the bulbs and place them in their holder. Colby made me little wood blocks that they could stand in. I would have loved to have the gorgeous metal stands I saw in the inspiration photo on Pinterest, but I had a rapidly approaching deadline and little money. For the sake of time I did not paint the bases, but would like to in the future.

It was such an easy little project and it added a fun touch of color and whimsy to the decor. I now have a little colorful forest in my house too.

P.S. This project got my house covered in glitter! I only used a few glittered bulbs, but that was enough to get that stuff everywhere. A couple days later I was still finding it on all of our faces. Haha.

Something Special for Christmas

2011-12-12T09:57:00.003-07:00

Yep! We are crazy. My pal Jessica and I pulled off a crazy, insane ward Christmas party this last weekend. We couldn't have done it without Molly, Christian, Randy, and Colby... that's for dang sure. And there were a lot of others that made Saturday go off without a hitch and I'm so grateful for their help.

Jess had been working on some grand ideas and apparently I was her "Yes Man." I'd always end up smiling and say OK! She'd call me or text me and ask what I thought of this or that and it was fun, fun, fun. We had almost given up on doing a lighted ceiling, but then our dear friend Jen came to the rescue. Jessica and Jen were talking at the gym and we learned that Jen was going to do something similar for their ward party and told us we could borrow anything we wanted from them. Their party was gorgeous... all white, cream, brown... so elegant. I loved it. We got all of the their stuff and then added some color (and even more tulle and lights). I wish we had brought in even more color, but it wasn't necessary. It all ended up fantastic.

-Here are a few photos from the night-

The center is a giant hoop Colby constructed for me that we wrapped with a straight strand of lights and some icicle lights. This photo from Pinterest was our inpiration.

It sat right over our dessert table. Then we had tulle and lights and garlands coming off of that creating that tented effect. It took a while to figure out our system, but once we had it figured out we just got it up. I couldn't stop giggling the whole night. It was making me so happy to see it coming together.

A couple more views before anyone got there.

I wish I had taken a picture directly below that center ring so you could see how pretty it was from below.

I'm still kicking myself for not remembering to do that Saturday night.

The dessert table was my next favorite. We made a bunch of random treats and then people brought cakes that we added to the mix. There was a ton of sweet stuff to eat and it was a big hit.

We got treat bags too so everyone could take some home with them.

A few members of the YW presidency made all the random treats.

The little snow backdrop was behind the musicians. We had a little trio come... piano, violin, and voice.

It was beautiful.

I loved all the banners and garlands we had around...

These tomato cage trees were inspired by Pinterest.

(I still need to get my cages out of my garden and clean them up so I can have some at home.)

The rest of these are various table decorations we made/borrowed.

It was a grand party. We all ate like kings, enjoyed a little nativity by the primary children, some other great musical entertainment, and a special night to celebrate the season. Something else that made it fun was we had the young women serve everyone their dinner, which ended up pretty great too. We weren't trying to out-do anyone or win any competitions. We just wanted to make it feel special. We decided since the YW of our ward were only in charge of one party and it was the Christmas one, we would make it fantastic and festive.

"We've got a first timer right here."

2011-12-09T12:25:00.002-07:00

As I tried to decide what to title this post I could hear these words from Big Daddy. So conjure up your best Adam Sandler voice and say it again. "We've got a first timer right here." Tyler went to his first day of preschool on Wednesday. The child development class at my mom's high school puts on a preschool twice a year. It is just for an hour and a half and the students get to entertain the kids in all kinds of ways and teach them a thing or two. Tyler was so excited to go to school with Marshall.

I only stuck around for a minute (I headed out to run errands solo, yes!!!) and snapped a couple pictures. It was cute to see Tyler so eager to participate and Marshall was good at making sure Tyler kept up and didn't get lost or anything. I told Marshall before we got there that he might have to help Tyler feel comfortable there and might have to help them understand what Tyler was saying. You could tell that Marshall was happy to help his little brother and felt some real responsibility with that job.

I love my big boys. They are changing so much every day.

So Real.

2011-12-08T15:55:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I suffer from anxiety. I get a tightness in my chest that makes me feel like I can't completely breathe and my stomach gets all yucky feeling. Like I'm going to toss my cookies if I don't get some good deep breaths. I started noticing in within the last year I think and it was usually during stressful moments. Notice I said moments. Like the end of a nail biting soccer/basketball game or when I am oh so close to winning a prize at Bunco. (Yes... I know... I have real problems.)

Well, in the last few months I've noticed it progress to actual moments of stress, and I think I've identified a few triggers. For me it is not worrying about the future, or whether my kids or I will be safe at any given moment. It is not when I am busier than busy. And it is not when I feel like I am spiraling out of control (as I'm sure all of us mothers do from time to time). For me it all seems to be related to one or more of these three things:

Being asked to do something that seems clearly impossible.
Worrying about money.
The risk of a confrontation.

It is so weird to me because things I could completely understand others getting anxious over (you know... like real problems) don't always phase me. I have a fairly carefree attitude and I can go with just about any flow. Unless it's a stupid one. Stupid people just bug. I'm beginning to realize I am not the only one that has these feelings and I'm wondering if there is some magic spell to help alleviate these attacks. Like a nap, or some ice cream, or a good fit of laughter.

Anyway... I'm beginning to feel like a big whiner, but that's not what I'm trying to do at all. I'm just keeping it real. And reaching out to anyone that needs to know I feel their pain -or their chest tightening, tummy twisting symptoms.

December 3rd

2011-12-03T10:07:00.001-07:00

It is windy outside again today and I woke up feeling kind of bitter about it. Until I remembered that 6 years ago today it was also kind of windy. I remember being outside the temple in my short sleeved wedding dress. I remember refusing to buy a dress with long sleeves or some kind of coat to keep me warm, even though it was December. I also remember being a little cold on account of the wind, but it was bearable. So today I'm going to be a little less hateful of the wind and just enjoy the trip down memory lane that it gave me.

I love you Colby.

So Thankful

2011-11-24T12:45:00.001-07:00

We headed up to the cabin last night for a little early celebration with the Stratton family. We have our schedules packed full this weekend so we got a jump on the festivities with our giant feast the night before. There was a fair amount of snow on the ground, so we made sure to get up there early enough to play in the cold stuff. The kids loved it!

Giving each other hugs...

The boys and I built ourselves a little snowman.

I'm so glad Colby's sister Cierra showed up and grabbed my camera to take a few pictures.

The snowman borrowed Daddy's hat.

The boys (mainly Marshall, I guess) spent a good 10 minutes posing for pictures around the snowman.

Tyler snacked on a giant carrot... the one that was not chosen for the snowman's nose.

The snow was a fantastic distraction from our growling bellies and napless afternoon.

There's our handsome Daddy. He kept busy stacking wood and frying a turkey.

Marshall kept face planting in the snow. He thought it was great that you could just fall right over and it didn't really hurt. When I took this picture he had been laying there for a while and I asked him if his face was getting cold. He told me no and informed me that you could even breathe with your face in the snow.

We are so thankful for so many things. Thankful for our family, our legacy, our love. Basically everything.

Happy thanksgiving!

Family Portraits :: Unveiled

2011-11-21T17:49:00.002-07:00

I'm so excited to share our family pictures from a few weeks ago! I had my sweet sweet friend Dallas take them and I'm so grateful for the moments she captured. There were entirely too many to narrow down, but somehow I cut my favorites down to these 25. Haha! Twenty five photos of yours truly and my favorite people. (Narcissistic much?) I'm just hoping this is less annoying and more enjoyable for those that don't see us too often.

Here's some of the whole fam.

My handsome, semi-grown man Marshall. This kid is just growing up so quickly!

Daddy was his favorite person that morning, so we got tons of precious images of the two of them.

And then comes Tyler. Such a impish little one.

He is often up to trouble, but he's too lovable for me to be very bothered by it.

It was funny the way he gravitated to me. (I didn't complain... I love when he wants me.)

He can sometimes get a little shy, and I guess this morning was one of those times.

The kiddos and I. All I've ever wanted to be is a mommy and they make me so happy.

We played a lot during our session. I think that's why the kids were smiling in practically every photo.

Marshall's turn!

(This was the only photo he wanted to see from the whole thing. He couldn't wait...)

I'm the biggest fan of candid shots... the way they feel so real and genuine.

Nothing posed or "fake" just real life... my favorite.

Before our session Marshall was most concerned whether Dallas would let them make funny faces or not.

He had no idea they'd have so much fun. Thanks so much Dall for making it a fun time.

Even when Colby was away getting solo shots done, Marshall ended up right there the be with his favorite guy in the world.

I love my handsome hubby.

One of me...

I like this next one more for Colby and I. Who knows what the kids were doing... haha.

A few of just the two of us...

And one more of the whole clan. I LOVE this image.

This Isn't My First Rodeo

2011-11-18T15:51:00.001-07:00

I decided to be a part of another quiet book group. I love the idea of only having to perfect one design and getting a bunch of other great creations at the same time. This time around I decided to do a page that would be a little more time consuming than my last time around. Probably 10x's as time consuming if I remember right. I actually loved my last page, but wanted some variety. I browsed all kinds of blogs for inspiration for my page then finally landed on this one. I was going to make a "Build a Chain" page. I knew it would be kind of a hassle, but the idea just seemed so fun for the kids. This first picture is all of the strips before they were sewn. (I really had my work cut out for me this time around.) I think I spent a total of maybe 30 hours total... granted, there were plenty of breaks for tending to the needs of the children and occasional sessions on Pinterest.

All along I just figured I'd sit down at a serger and zip through these puppies, but I wanted the edges to look finished and the thought of turning 150 strips of fabric back to right side out was sickening. (Probably the one time I wished I only had to make one of this page.) So I took a little extra time to iron the fabric in the direction I wanted it then just sewed all the edges together. Oh boy. Then I had to put snaps on all of the strips, two per strip of course. I bought a handy little tool called snap pliers that work kind of like a hole punch to apply the snaps. (I got it from Kamsnaps. I definitely recommend this company. Ultra fast FREE shipping and an endless selection of colors for the snaps.)

This next photo shows the basic idea of my page. It has a huge pocket that holds all the pieces when not being played with. There are two strips sewn to the page which keeps the built chain attached to the book.

Here you can see the objective of the page. To build a fun chain. I'm so glad I'm done with this project :)

Let it be known, I finished this project 10 days before it was "due." I honestly think this is the only thing I've ever done without procrastinating. Oh wait, besides Christmas cards. I LOVE to be ahead of the game with Christmas cards. Which reminds me... Colby needs to look ours over today so I can get them printed!

Words of Wisdom

2011-11-16T10:51:00.002-07:00

I thought it would be fun to share some sweet thoughts from my big boy Marshall. I read him an email from his Uncle Chase that is serving a mission in Malaysia. When I was responding (to the email) I asked Marshall if there was anything he wanted to say. I copied what he told me word for word and have just copied and pasted from my email. Enjoy.

This photo is from our recent family pictures!!! There will be more coming soon...

'Marshall says,

"I really love you and I hope you're here soon. I hope your trips are fun and that you love the things you do. When you get home from your mission we will give you a surprise. I hope you don't get hurt on your mission and I hope you have a good time doing your mission, all your homework, and all the stuff that makes God happy. Well, I hope you have a fun time and I hope you are making friends. And I hope you have a surprise to bring to us when you come home. I hope you have a fun and safe time. I hope God is happy with the things and people you are teaching."

Now he said he is hoping you write back and say "I will and thank you." He makes me smile.

Marshall just remembered more...

"I really love you and I hope your plans are good for teaching people all the things you know about God. Can you please make me your favorite and I hope you have a good time. Do the things God tells you in your prayers. Bless the people that don't know about God. Please can you text them and teach more."

This kid cracks me up. He is watching me "text" this email on my phone... That must be why he wants you to text people. Haha.'

There were some profound thoughts from my little man. Too cute not to share.

FYI

2011-11-12T11:12:00.001-07:00

I'm offering a special for photography sessions booked before Thanksgiving!

Share this with your friends and I'll enter you in a drawing for 50% off a session of your choice.

Mention this on Facebook or blog about it and let me know you did.

Playing Catch Up

2011-11-07T10:05:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks I've been going through my photo archives and finding all kinds of things I meant to blog but never did. So I've been catching up and thought there may be even just one or two people that would be entertained to take a walk down memory lane through the past year. Just click on the title of the post that I've linked below.

Telegraph Job Visit 1 . Telegraph Visit 2 . Telegraph Visit 3.

It's Getting Warm . Memorial Day on Kolob . Christmas . Christmas Eve .

We Are Weird . Attack of the Balls . Backyard Fun . Tyler the Candy Monster .

Blue Springs Reservoir . Wont' Be Stopped . Easter Fun .

Changes . Party Time . Love These Boys . Presents With Daddy

My Little Ninjas

2011-11-01T01:20:00.003-06:00

Here's a few shots from tonight before we headed out to get our year's supply of candy.

I just love these kids!

Tyler was busy pulling his mask down ALL night long. (I guess Tyler wasn't the only one, Marshall did too.)

And it goes back on...

I let them choose which color of ninja they would be and I thought it was cute that Marshall declared his belt would be red and Tyler's would be green. Ty wasn't anywhere near our conversation and when I asked him which color he wanted he chose green. That is likely a coincidence, but I thought it was cute.

They did such a great job performing their ninja moves before accepting candy from all of the generous people we visited tonight. It was unreal the first time Tyler saw himself in his costume and instantly knew how to behave. Unreal and scary. How do they know these things?

Me and my boys. They didn't care about being in a picture with me and all I could really do was laugh.
Love them.

Halloween at Our House

2011-10-31T14:59:00.001-06:00

Halloween at our house is getting a little cooler each year. I'm actually a moderate fan of the holiday, but don't have much to show for it because I'm cheap. Haha. I'm slowly building my collection of Halloween decor and hopefully someday Marshall will finally approve. He is a real fan of this holiday and considers any house without Halloween lights outside to not be ready for the big day. The last couple years there has been a family that lived down the road that put giant spiders on the exterior of their house and he wants some bad! The closest we got was we hung some bats over our porch (which I thought turned out adorable... thank you Pinterest.)

We also added some spider webs around the house.

These little pumpkin people are still my favorite Halloween decorations I have. I got them on clearance after Halloween a few years ago at TJ Maxx. You can't see it here, but the "groom" is holding a diamond ring for his sweetie. How cute.

Some more clearance decor, from the same store. I love TJ Maxx.

It is also not officially Halloween until we eat Pumpkin Casserole. It's basically a hamburger and rice casserole cooked in a pumpkin. Marshall talks about it from the moment Halloween stuff starts to appear at the store. He doesn't even like to eat the pumpkin part, but he loves Pumpkin Casserole!

I know it looks kinda nasty here, but it really is pretty good. Last year I made it with chopped bell peppers in it, but Marshall doesn't really like cooked peppers, so I used chopped celery instead this year.

I found the recipe here.

This year I put a little more effort into the treats Marshall took to preschool. Last year I can't remember what I sent him with, but I remember feeling uber lame when some moms had handcrafted adorable little treats for all the kids. So I stepped up my game this year with these spiders. Again, thank you Pinterest. Haha.

And... the boys in their costumes. They have had multiple occasions to wear these costumes this year and have loved every second of it. And one more time, thank you Pinterest. I knew I could find a homemade version of a ninja costume and Pinterest delivered when Google did not. (I love that website, I tell you...) There's just something about a clever, homemade costume that is so much cuter than a generic store bought one. At least when it comes to ninjas. I'm cooking up some big plans for next year's costumes that will definitely not be homemade. :)

I thought Tyler's little "flavor saver" here was sooo funny.

It was frosting from a cupcake in the perfect shape. Haha.

Here are a few quick shots of Marshall when he was headed to his Preschool Halloween party.

These last two are my favorites!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun

2011-10-29T23:07:00.002-06:00

A few days ago we threw a Halloween Party at our house. Marshall and Tyler invited all of their friends from their little play group. When all the kids are running around a playground you don't realize how many munchkins there actually are... but it was a mad house around here! We all ate a spooky lunch with everything from bones, and fingers, to mummies!

All the kids had such cute costumes!

This is Max. He was a bat.

We had Ironman and Little Red Riding Hood's wolf.

(He ditched his snout for lunch and because it was really creeping out some of the kids.)

Luigi & Mario

Princesses, clowns & Little Red Riding Hood herself.

And ninjas, witches, ghosts, Spiderman and others.

We went bowling for ghosts,

and played "Stick the Eye on the Monster" followed by a couple Halloween stories.

Here is a fair amount of the kids. Not all of them would gather for a photo and pretty much none of them would stay still. Haha. It was truly so funny! I ended up with a whole series of pictures with various kids crying, fighting, hiding & smiling. Too funny. What do you expect out of a bunch of kids 5 and younger?

We've been having a great Halloween week. Hopefully you have too.

Deer Hunt :: Opening Day

2011-10-27T22:21:00.001-06:00

These three sure make me smile. They were right there in the meadow, with their guns, ready to help their daddies get a big deer. Next year Brigham will be big enough to be "hunting" too.

We had a little mishap and the keys to the truck were lost for a bit and the boys' guns were stuck inside of it. Once we got over to the meadow to meet the hunters Colby and I ran back to the cabin (in someone else's vehicle) to try to find them so the kids could have their guns. Hello! It's not hunting without a gun. We made it back about 10 minutes before everyone headed back out hunting or back to the cabin.

Doesn't this picture remind you of Peter Pan when the boys are playing "Follow the Leader"?

I sure love my boys. I hope our family gets blessed with at least a couple more.

Stratton Family October 2011

-funny story about Mom's hat-

Colby had the boys in WalMart the morning I was running the marathon and they each got a hat and Marshall picked out this pink camo one for me. Colby, being the good husband he is, understands the real problem I have with pink camo. He tried and tried to convince Marshall that I did not need this hat and tried to put it back multiple times. But Marshall (being the product of Colby and I) wouldn't back down and remained persistent until he got what he wanted. And so, I finished my marathon, climbed into the truck and found this "beautiful" hat on the seat. I gave Colby a questioning look and he quickly informed me it was all Marshall. Well, one day I was going to return it to WalMart, but Marshall started getting really excited about my hat and talking all about how I would be wearing it during the hunt. So... of course... I couldn't return it. And I wore it for two whole days for Opening Weekend.

I just love the hat Tyler got. So does he.

Marshall has been wearing his hat for a good three weeks straight now... even sleeping in it.

It's his "hunting hat."

When Uncle Brady came back into the meadow he caught the boys a horny toad and my boys got quite good at holding it, dropping it while transferring it to each other, then catching it again. Both of them have actually gotten quite good at catching critters lately. Marshall chased a huge grasshopper around my mom's yard until he was able to catch it (I still don't know how he did it) and Tyler had a lot of practice catching lizards this same morning.

Thankfully Tyler understands not to hold it too tightly.

I can't believe I almost forgot this... Tyler couldn't remember that it is called a horny toad. He kept calling it a daddy toad, which seemed like a fitting substitute. Haha!

This photo needs to be framed in their room! I love it.

Marshall having his turn with the horny toad.

And what do you know, he finally remembered how to smile for the camera instead of doing his typical ugly tongue sticking out face. I'm so happy.

We didn't come home with a deer opening weekend (and there's still a couple days to get lucky), but the boys did get to watch some cousins try their hand at slaying a deer. The girls shooting never quite got it, but my boys thought it was super cool to watch the whole scene go down. And I'm happy to report my deer spotting skills are getting better and better.

Carmel Apples :: First Attempt

2011-10-21T14:18:00.025-06:00

The other night Ronnie & Sam LeBaron came over for a little fun. We made carmel apples (since Sam & I LOVE them) for Family Home Evening. I had never tried to make them before and was glad Sam got me excited about trying it. I'm a huge fan of buying them from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, even if they do cost more than the price of 4-5 pounds of apples.

We were all excited to get domestic and had a lot of fun doing it.

We were able to incorporate a variety of toppings and were quite pleased with how simple the process turned out to be. We learned a few things along the way, but felt generally accomplished.

We had mentioned getting a picture of all of us with our apples, but perhaps the fact that I didn't put any makeup on that day made me forget that idea before the night was over.

My boys were all about posing. Yikes.

Here's the apples that stayed at our house. They all looked delish, but the carmel got cooked a little too hot so it was pretty much rock hard and inedible. Haha.

We're going to give it another try though, that's for sure.

Pleasant Surprise

2011-10-20T15:18:00.001-06:00

Marshall and Tyler tagged along with me while I had a photo shoot yesterday. I only had to remind them to stay out of the way a couple of times and even had a couple chances to snap some shots of them as well. It truly is Murphy's Law that the times you are not intending/planning to take pictures of your kids is when they are their cutest. I've tried just about everything to get cute portraits of them but I usually end up giving up because they like to try my patience... Even when they are being so adorable in candid moments, if I take a second to pick up the camera they turn off the adorable and turn into aliens or something. I was happy to come away with these photos of them from yesterday's shoot.

You can bet I'll be taking my little family back to this second location!

We Got Our Flu Shots Today

2011-10-14T11:37:00.001-06:00

The kids got to eat popsicles for breakfast today. Popsicles... and a sucker from the doctor.

It was their reward for getting a flu shot.

I got mine first, to show them it wasn't a big deal. Then it was Tyler's turn and we laid him on the table and I held his arms for a second and it was done. He did his fair share of crying, but nothing like his big brother. Marshall was hiding behind the table and when I grabbed him and put him on the table, he was kicking like mad and would not let us do it. So I held him on my lap, holding his arms as tight as I could and the doctor came in to hold his legs so the nurse could just get it done quickly. Poor Marshall screamed BLOODY MURDER until we were all done and had let go. I have never heard him scream like that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone scream like that. Poor little dude. It reminded me of a time that my dad took me and my baby brother in to get shots and I flipped out! I remember just fighting like crazy, bouncing off the walls, and screaming and crying before they gave me my shot. I clearly remember thinking my dad was going to spank me because he NEVER let us behave that way, but I didn't care. I did not want that nurse to touch me with that needle. Then when it was baby brother's turn, he just gave a little grunt and it was done. No tears or anything. My poor dad.

Well today, as we left, Marshall kept telling me how much he didn't like getting shots and that his leg still hurt. So I took a moment to explain why we get our flu shots. It's more than just to keep us from getting sick. I explained to him that a long time ago his Aunt Lauren was in a car accident and wasn't wearing her seatbelt and she got a lot of bad owies. One of those owies (her ruptured spleen that had to be removed) makes it so she gets very sick very easily. If she gets just a little sick it is easy for her to get really sick and when others are sick she has to stay away from them. So we get this shot so that we don't get sick so Aunt Lauren can always play with us. After a few minutes of thinking about that, he called her on the phone and left her a message that went a little like this...

in the saddest, slowest voice you can imagine

"Hi Lauren. We got our flu shots today so we can play with you all winter. I love you. Bye."

Lauren called me after she had heard it to tell me even though it was the saddest thing she had ever heard, it made her laugh so hard she was crying. It was pretty classic.

Carving Pumpkins at the Johnson's

2011-10-13T11:24:00.001-06:00

This last Monday the Johnson's invited us over for Family Home Evening and we had dinner and carved pumpkins. It was super fun and we were glad to spend some time with our buddies. The boys were less into carving pumpkins than I thought they would be. Marshall didn't like the messy part one bit... his hands were getting dirty and it all felt slimy and all that jazz... and Tyler just wasn't entertained by it much. You can see that Tyler was a little concerned with the mess too. So I did a majority of the work, but it was still fun. I tried my best to follow Marshall's instructions and the only thing Tyler cared about was that he chose the green pumpkin and he wanted it to have "pokey eyes". Here are way too many pictures of our evening. :)

Once we were done with the pumpkins the kids "decorated" cookies.

Marshall did a good job, but Ty just wanted to eat the frosting off of the knife. Haha. Silly kid.

Here are all of the masterpieces carved that night.

Marshall's is on the very left (with the hair) and Tyler's is the little green one.

So Funny

2011-10-12T18:23:00.010-06:00

Today we got the chance to play chauffeur to Papa Perry. He had a doctor's appointment in St. George then we were going to drive him to the airport so he could go back to work in California. After we dropped him off at his doctor appointment, Marshall asked me if we had taken him to the chiropractor. I told him no, we took him to a Podiatrist, which is a foot doctor. (Perry had a bone spur on his heel that had broken off during the marathon... ouch!) Marshall asked if it was for something from the marathon and I said yes. So Marshall concluded, "Oh... so a head doctor too."

Ahahaha! That child.

Grateful

2011-10-11T17:22:00.001-06:00

I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of excited for the colder weather that is sitting just around the corner, but I didn't want to let this day go by without being grateful for the warm sun that let me wear my flip flops around town.

I've been feeling a little down today. Sad news swirls around us, but it's all gonna be OK.

I took this picture up on Kolob during the summer, and today its reminding me to enjoy this sunny day and all it has to offer me and my family. God bless...

I love this morning.

2011-10-10T10:15:00.003-06:00

I'm having such a lovely morning. I'm washing clothes in a washing machine that actually works without me having to manually switch every phase of the cycle. I washed the shirt I wore for the marathon- somehow it snuck to the bottom of the pile and got awfully stinky! I've posted a few over due blog posts (like from last Christmas!!!) that I've been wanting to do for a while now. I added some Justin Bieber along the way. And while I was wiping Tyler's bum he told me, "you're so nice."

Yay for today!

What I've been up to...

2011-10-07T12:22:00.001-06:00

Since the marathon I've had to take it kind of easy. The doctor thinks I may have a slight tear in my quadricep tendon... how lame. So I get a little bit done around the house then sit and put my leg up for a bit until the pain goes away. And I repeat this cycle many times a day. Even slowly walking causes discomfort, but we think with rest it will heal up OK.

How nice that my love affair with Pinterest began before the race. Now I have something to keep my mind and hands busy. It's lovely. Today I got on a gardening kick. There are so many things cooking up in my head that I want to do in my yard now. Funny how this cold weather has me thinking about flowers and vegetables. I'm not sure what to make of it, really. It's good timing though because I have a ton of bulbs I need to put in the ground now that its Fall!

Do you want to see what else I've been pinning? Click HERE.

Labor Day

2011-10-03T15:07:00.003-06:00

On Labor Day we were up at the cabin. I actually can't imagine a Labor Day that we would not be at the cabin, but anyway... On Monday Grandma & Grandpa wanted to take the boys fishing. It was a beautiful day, but not for fishing. It was pretty overcast and the fish were not in the mood to indulge us. It was still a lot of fun. The boys caught one fish (not sure why we never got a picture with it...) with Grandma & Grandpa when they were out on a far away rock. The boys thought that was pretty cool.

Their fishing time was filled with moments for pictures and other fun.

Tyler was the only one brave enough to try the rope swing, and he loved it. He's kind of a crazy child.

Here Colby was teaching Tyler and Karter all about baiting a hook.

I was proud of Marshall's attitude while everything was moving so slowly.

He just sat (mostly) still and watched and waited. I never heard him complain.

He was just happy to be there with all the family and wait to see what kind of fish we would end up with.

Colby and I headed out on a canoe to take a few pictures of the boys with Gma & Gpa in their lucky spot. They had already caught their fish by this point. And the kids were ready to get off that tiny rock and come adventuring with us out on the water.

We grabbed a couple cat tails for the kids to play with... they were sword fighting.

I gotta say, I was kind of a basket case out there on that boat. I really didn't want to end up in the water and apparently my nerves were getting kind of out of hand. (I can't imagine that even being possible, but we'll let Colby have that one...) I was later informed that the only reason I wasn't turned out into the water was because I had my camera with me and Colby didn't want to replace it. Funny... because I snapped this next picture in the middle of his internal debate of whether or not I would return to the shore wet or dry. I'm so lucky he loves me.

After we made it back to solid ground we were able to take a turn or two on Uncle Layne & Aunt Shauna's horses. Do you think the boys liked that? It's hard to tell through those smiles...

They thought they were pretty funny when Daddy jumped on and they started to doing tricks that would make me "nervous." Why is it that we encourage young ones to "scare" Mommy and think its funny? I knew what they were up to and laughed along with them, but now I'm thinking this pattern is going to give me gray hairs in the coming years.

Marshall had a chance to ride solo before we left and he loved every second of it. The only way he would get off was by me suggesting that maybe we could go to Layne & Shauna's house sometime for Family Home Evening and ride horses again. Since then our neighbors have also offered to take the boys out riding. We've got to get that done!

(I just love how happy they look in these horseback photos! I can't help but look over them time and again.)

St. George Marathon 2011

2011-10-02T13:42:00.003-06:00

This year I ran the marathon with my "Bonus Mom," Realaine. Last year when she watched us finish she was totally inspired and wanted someone to run it with her so I happily agreed. Not sure why I agreed so happily, but I did. So this year I looked forward to training better than I had last year since I now knew how to manage my shin splints, however my training was not as intense as I thought it might be but I did find out how to completely eliminate my shin pain. I was nervous for this year because I knew I was not in the same shape I had been in last year, even though I had run more this time around. Everyone reassured me that my increase in running would be a help to me and I think it was, but only a little. I ended up with some pain and injuries during the race that I'm sure were related to my softer muscles of this year. But it was still fun (as fun as 5 1/2 hours of torture can be) and I'm still glad I did it. Official finishing time: 5:36:35.

Here we are still feeling pretty good around mile 16! (Pretty good is a relative term, haha.) We're right in the middle of the picture. I'm in a purple shirt and blue shorts and Realaine is to my left in the blue shirt.

Right here we're waving to my siblings and mom. Yes, I like to full on "cheese it" in most pictures.

It's always fun to see people you know and love as you're in the middle of something like a marathon. It's just a small thing, but even just a little bit of help is lovely.

This picture makes me laugh. I was trying to show enthusiasm, but now that I see the picture it looks like I have to pee. Which makes me smile, because every marathon photographer I passed was flashed a smile and a thumbs up from me. And if every smiling, thumbs up picture looks like I have to pee there are a lot of "urgent moments" of me captured forever. :) One thing for sure from yesterday's race is that we had far too many potty breaks. They were all needed, not always successful, and all of them were a waste of time. We were running a great pace that had us pretty happy about what we were doing, but all of those stops became at least 20 minutes added to our time. So we should really claim a time of 5:16 or so... but I'm still pleased that I ran it faster than last year.

I loved this poster my sister made. Thanks Lauren!

It made me smile, as well as a lot of others that took the time to touch that star.

(I even hear it made the news. My sister's a celebrity!)

You want to know why we were smiling so much? (This was mile 24 and we were MISERABLE!!!)

We could suddenly see this:

It was so cool to see it and then everyone around was cheering for me, which really made a difference. When I saw it I thought, "All the other official marathon signs don't really look like that. That must not be a marathon sign. Oh, that has my name on it. Oh. It's for me. Cool!" I just love these boys. They are my world.

Here I am at the finish. And I'm still smiling, which means I am likely to repeat the experience... just not for the next 5-10 years. It's too hard for me with young kids. My hubby works too hard which leaves me relying on too many others to babysit. But if my body isn't strong enough to do it then, I'll be OK. Promise.

I know this is not the most glamorous photo, but it was a milestone, for sure. I was so glad to sit down and rest my legs. In the first part of the race I was having slight IT band issues in my right leg and I spent a lot of time rubbing from my hip to my knee while I ran. About the time I took my second dose of ibuprofen that pain let up a bit but my left knee started to really hurt. I'd never had a pain like that in my knee before and it felt like it was something with my MCL, which made me nervous. That made the last 8 miles really hard. But I could not finish slower than last year. I just couldn't. And the moral of that story is that it felt good to sit a while.

Here I am with some of my greatest supporters. Marshall had already run off to the nearest playground and there were many other family members and friends that helped me through this day. I honestly could list off at least a hundred people that helped me in my journey... thanks everyone.

I gotta tell you a little more about all those potty stops. After the second stop (around mile 10) I came out of the out house and Realaine told me the 5:30 pacer had passed us. I was so ticked! We got back on our pace and passed him and his group again fairly quickly. Around mile 19 we both had to go again, so we stopped, even though there was a line. We waited for a handful of minutes when suddenly I could see that dang pacer again and there was no way I was going to let him pass me!!! So I said, "forget it!" and took off up that baby hill. I kept saying that if he passed me again I might swear. Haha. I think it was mile 21 or 22 when I couldn't wait another second and I stopped at the porta-potty just to come out watching that guy pass me again. At that point I would have loved to swear, but couldn't find the right words. Probably because swear words are so ineffective. :) I just kept hoping and praying that he was a little ahead of his pace and that I was going to still finish sooner than 5:30. But this was when my knee was really giving me fits and I just couldn't push it any harder than I was. At this point, all I can say is oh well. I didn't finish around 5:15 like I thought I would have but I ran that pace the whole time, so I couldn't be too discouraged.

In the days leading up to the race when I started thinking about what my expectations were I realized that if my body would hold up there was a small chance I could break 5 hours, which I would have loved to do. Which is why I fear I'll attempt this torture maybe one more time. Dang pride. It's going to be the death of me...

80's Zumba in the Park

2011-09-29T23:14:00.002-06:00

It is not too often that I am in a picture here in Blog Land. So eat your hearts out, haha. Tonight there was a Zumba party in the park and it was a blast. (I LOVE Zumba!!!) It's always fun to have an excuse to get dressed up, and I got a lot of use out of this costume. It was the last home soccer game, so Carly was being honored and I was feeling bad about missing it, but it was at the same time as Zumba and I had committed to go all decked out. I just couldn't figure out how I could do both... and Colby tried his best to convince me to show up to the soccer game and it almost worked. Then Carly told me she would be honored to see me all dressed up at her game, so I had to make an appearance. I only got a few weird looks. There's something wrong in the world when my outfit isn't all that unspeakable. Yikes. (I'm just hoping the hat kept my identity in question enough that it wasn't that big of a deal.) I'm not gonna lie- I felt hot! (All that spandex makes a girl sweat... so no, I wasn't only admitting to how attractive I looked.) But it was fun to get so many compliments on my attire and so many amazed comments on where I rounded up the whole get up. I borrowed half of it and the rest came from the DI (a local thrift store). Now I'm totally in the dressing up mood. I'm feeling all excited for Halloween.

Little Treasures

2011-09-28T17:39:00.003-06:00

Last month, I was driving around with my cousin Kassara looking for a location to take the Snow Canyon High School drill team photos. We were looking for something grungy and harsh... and this cool little place was near Kassara's house. I'm so glad she was helping me out! I just love her. Anyway... I thought this little bit of graffiti was kind of cool. (I'm actually just waiting for someone to inform me of how terrible that little bit on the top is or something, but since I'm naive, I think it looked cool.)

This was another little gem of a place we found. (Thanks again, K!)

Aren't those two kiddle-ee-didlets cute?! I love 'em.

Last night Marshall told me, "You always work so hard. We always make you." It was a sweet little acknowledgment of something that is pretty true. It made me smile, and I told him thank you.

I like it when this one strokes my hair and says, "I love your hair, Mom."

It is just sweeter than the usual, "pretty" that is sometimes uttered in amazement. :)

Life is good, my friends. Life is good.

Brady & Cassadee's Family Photos (sneak peek)

2011-09-26T18:05:00.001-06:00

More of this fun family session will be hitting my photography blog tomorrow morning!

Can't Help Myself

2011-09-25T21:40:00.001-06:00

Today we (Colby and I) were in a meeting with some youth and at one point Colby started talking about Satan and how he is miserable and wants everyone else to be miserable just like him. Then a 15 year old kid pipes up and said something to the effect that Satan must have created the "left wing" since they do all kinds of things to make everyone so miserable. Haha. It was pretty funny! I couldn't stop laughing and just knew I had to share. From the mouths of babes...

What's Wrong With This Picture?

2011-09-20T11:02:00.001-06:00

What's wrong with this picture?

Yes... that is some clothing he is holding...

...and he doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong

with removing the clothes from your lower half while playing at the park.

What a little goober.

(He thought he was so funny.)

Colby's 10 Year Reunion

2011-09-19T13:12:00.001-06:00

2011 marks 10 years past high school for Colby.

Their reunion was one of the many things we had going on Labor Day weekend. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm complaining. I really, really love it when we fit all kinds of things into one little chunk of time. Like Sundays and Christmas morning, when we go from house to house, sometimes making five or six stops in just a handful of hours. It makes me feel productive. Haha.

Here's the group of HHS 2001 graduates that were able to make it to the dinner (all of us spouses didn't find it necessary to be in this picture). It was super low key, no games or random activities. Just quick introductions and dinner. It was seriously perfect! Everyone was able to just sit around and chat.

I just noticed something funny about this picture... yes, we believe in segregation; and no, we don't believe in married couples sitting by each other. I guess I may be wrong, but I think there's only one couple in this group (meaning those that attended) that is married to a classmate, but they're not sitting by each other. Haha. And as far as segregation goes, I'm just glad Colby is sitting in the middle and not in that top left corner on the girl side.

Here you can see some of the spouses.

Candid shots are always the most flattering. You're welcome everyone.

Random Peach Days Moments

2011-09-19T12:51:00.001-06:00

Here's a few more pictures from Peach Days.

The boys got cotton candy after dinner and thoroughly enjoyed it.

(Dinner at Peach Days is my favorite part!!!)

This was Friday night when Grandma (and the others) were honored as the Grand Marshals.

It was a hard thing to have Grandpa honored almost exactly a year after he passed.

I think it made us all miss him a little more.

These are photos of the display that was put together for the Grand Marshals- Grandpa and his brothers, along with their wives. It was a bunch of little things that helped represent who they were and what they've done for the Hurricane Valley. I think its always fun to see old photos... they are such a treasure.

I thought it was really cool that Grandma put together a map and marked where all of the jobs were that have been done by the family business. I thought it was a great tribute.

Tired Much?

2011-09-19T11:56:00.001-06:00

This picture was taken a couple weeks ago. I walked into the family room and thought it was so funny that Tyler just fell asleep sitting straight up. (I really think it was earlier than naptime, or else it wouldn't have seemed so funny to take a picture...) Usually when I find him conked out on the couch, he's curled up in the corner or laying on his belly watching a movie. I love this boy.

Peach Days Parade

2011-09-18T17:55:00.004-06:00

Every year I look forward to Labor Day because of the Peach Days celebration here in Hurricane.

This year was an especially big deal because Grandpa Stratton and his two brothers (along with the three wives) were honored as the Grand Marshals of the parade. We decided, as a family, to put a float in the parade in honor of the... honor. (That was a funny sounding sentence.)

Below is the whole group, although there were probably at least 30 family members that were not there that day.

Our float was titled, "Building Our Heritage One Generation at a Time." All of our fluorescent green shirts had that saying on it along with some construction equipment. The photo below is from the "front of the float" and I don't think you can even really see the end of it.

Here is the most adorable family to be featured in the Interstate Rock Products float.

Probably in the whole parade...

These three girls were in charge of lowering the candy down the shoot of the cement truck which emptied into wheelbarrows. They also had the job of spraying anyone that looked too hot that morning or those that ran too close to the mixer truck in an effort to get extra candy.

The float started with a truck pulling this trailer which had a sandbox on it. There were so many family members involved (yep, that whole mass of people was strictly family) that when they sat along the sides of the trailer it was hard to see the sandbox in the middle filled with kids playing with their trucks.

Behind the sandbox was a bunch more family as well as a tiny loader that had it's bucket filled with ice and water bottles. We were also throwing out little hard hat key chains, frisbees, and little stress balls that were the shape of dump trucks. It was fun to have extra little things that the kids (& adults) got excited about.
I loved the trucks and equipment that was made to go on the sides of the strollers and wagons that were carting even more Stratton children.

Don't mind us in the next picture... actually, don't mind me at all. I had run 13 miles with my good buddy Amanda right before the parade and I don't think I really had my wits about me. That's my excuse for leaving my camera battery at home in the charger. I was so ticked when I realized I couldn't snap any photos of my adorable/hilarious family. (Big thanks to our cousin Christy that had her's there.)

Here's the only picture I could find of Colby and his job. He had one of the candy wheelbarrows and he and Tyler ran all over the place passing out candy. Most people throw candy, but not Colby. He'd weave all through all of us walking, would pause at a group of unsuspecting parade viewers and would sweep out a whole pile of candy with his arm. He was especially good at that when he'd spot families that we knew.

I got so many ungrateful comments from the moms of these families.

They all went home with far too much candy.

Here's the cute little candy thrower, Tyler.

He had such a blast riding around with Daddy, the insane wheelbarrow driver. They only had one close call when they jumped a curb and Ty wasn't quite ready and he almost launched out ahead of the wheelbarrow.

I guess after that he did a great job of holding on when warned by Daddy and they "flew" all over the place.

It was really fun and a great production.

I think I heard by the end that we could do that once every ten years or so... it was a whole lot of work.

A Good Read

2011-09-15T08:35:00.001-06:00

I just read something so fantastic on one of my favorite blogs today.

The post was very out of the ordinary in relationship to her normal topics... and I wanted to share.

Head on over to The Daybook, would ya?

New Found Love

2011-09-06T11:12:00.001-06:00

I am such a big fan of Pinterest! I'd like to think I have style and creativity, but I've found that I really do best when I can see ideas and bounce them around in my head for a while. I'm not a big fan of "copying" but I love to see something great and then make it my own. I also love trying new things. It's just kind of hard for me to formulate the entire concept on my own sometime. When trying to put something together, I often don't know where to start because I'm not entirely sure what I really love. I'm totally sure of what I don't like, but I think there's so much out there that I do love, that it's a little overwhelming.

Enter Pinterest.

It's the greatest resource for inspiration and sharing. I've actually had an account for quite a while now, but have been way too busy to get to know what it was all about. Last week I caved in to the temptation and just can't stop. (I'm actually too busy now, too, but anyway...) I've found a bunch of great ideas I'm excited to try. Granted... I probably will find way more than I can complete in a lifetime, but I'm excited to give it a go. A friend of mine saw me in Wal-Mart with a stack of laundry baskets and asked me what they were for. When I answered that they were for a Pinterest project she complimented me on my ambition to actually accomplish something I had pinned. It made me feel all happy and proud of myself.

One of my favorite boards I have is my Casa one. For years I've clipped photos from magazines and put them into a binder in order to organize all the clever aspects of home and decor that I have found. It has taken a lot of time and when I really get going, it gets kind of messy. Now I can do it all online, which I am so excited about. It's quick, mess free, and convenient! Love it!!!

I also love that it can take you right to the source too. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone shares a great idea or recipe, but doesn't give credit where credit is due. Thank you Pinterest.

All Good Things

2011-08-29T14:47:00.013-06:00

The good things from today so far:

1. Starting the day with a 60 minute massage. Ahhhh...

2. Followed that up with a chiropractic adjustment. Again, ahhhh...

3. Stopped at the Dr.'s office and he assured me that the bug bite on my left bicep (which has a giant patch of red around it... like my whole bicep) is nothing to be too worried about. A little anti-histamine ought to get my arm looking normal again.

4. Got some kale so I can keep making my green lemonade that I love so much. Gonna have some for a PM snack.

5. The one and only semi-soft avocado I found at the store which made my lunch oh so yummy.

It's a Tom & Ava sandwich (found in last month's issue of Taste of Home magazine).

Avocado, tomato, red onion & sprouts. Yum. I had two.

6. Tzatziki sauce from Costco that made above sandwich just a little better. (I substituted tzatziki for the
suggested cream cheese.)

7. The carrot I pulled from my garden just barely that was almost a foot long and so pretty and straight.

8. Speaking of the garden, how about the fact that it isn't all dead by now and we are getting so many yummy tomatoes from it. Just planted some various lettuce and will soon be planting a fall crop of beans.

9. 7:30 tonight we get to hang out with a handful of our best friends. Should be fun, even if we are just
finalizing plans for a class reunion.

10. The second half of the September issue of House Beautiful that is calling my name.

Hope you're having a lovely day as well.

I thought I'd share...

2011-08-24T12:00:00.002-06:00

This summer is finally over and I am more than relieved.

Sadly, there are so many things I would have done differently.
Not that I regret any of it, I just am looking back and seeing certain things that kept me from doing what I really would have loved to do. Maybe in the future I'll share some of those thoughts.

Bottom line: Summer in the Stratton house is out of control and I will no longer look for/agree to things that make it any more complicated.

In the last week or so I've been able to refuel and recharge a little bit and it has me feeling so much better. Maybe I'll share more about that too, in the future.

One of my most needed things this summer was a return to creativity and beauty.

Tonya, of Tonya Joy Photography, sure came to my rescue with a perfectly timed workshop. I went down last weekend with a friend and came back totally refreshed and ready to "go back to work."

(I also had a sudden realization that the St. George marathon is just about a month away and I'm hardly more trained than last year. Eeek!! But back to what I was saying...)

Here are a few pictures from that workshop.

If you'd like to see more, head over to my Photography Blog.

We Miss You Grandpa.

2011-08-23T09:37:00.002-06:00

It's been a year since Grandpa Stratton passed away. He's been on our minds for a few days now, and last night we had a big family get together. All the cousins (as many as could make it, at least) came to swim then we had a BBQ. It was fun to be all together, in memory of Grandpa. After we ate Cassadee had a tape of her interviewing Grandpa about his life and it was such a sweet thing to listen to. It's funny how just hearing his voice made him feel so close and real last night. I really miss his voice. And his jokes. After we listened to the interview for a few minutes we all shared a favorite memory of Grandpa. Many tears were shed, but it was a fun thing to do.

I shared my gratitude for his love for me. I was closer to Grandpa Stratton than any of my own grandfathers, so it meant a lot to me that I truly felt like he counted me as one of his own. He would always tell us girls as he hugged us that he had the prettiest girls in the whole world. And whenever he said it to me I knew he meant it. And that he loved me. I miss that hug.

Marshall was cute. He would only tell Colby, but he said he remembered Grandpa's big belly. That just makes me smile. He also told Colby that he used to think that Grandpa would never die and that he would live forever. Which is just what Colby thought. Colby said he always thought as Grandpa as invincible. I think that's why it has been such a hard thing for Colby to lose his grandpa. We know we'll see him again, but he was just so much a part of our lives and we really never could have imagined life without him.

It's been a year now. And as much as the time just flies by, when I think back to when I saw Grandpa last and when I hugged him... it feels like its been so long. We are very blessed to have all of our grandparents and are so grateful for the families they created that we could be a part of.

Me, a to z

2011-08-15T18:03:00.002-06:00

I borrowed this idea from this fun little blog I found.

I thought it was fitting for a birthday celebration.

A. age :: twenty five

B. bed size :: queen

C. chore you hate :: pretty much anything besides vacuuming

D. dogs :: maybe someday

E. essential start to your day :: sun coming through the windows

F. favorite color :: deep, bright pink!

G. gold or silver :: silver

H. height :: 5'3"

I. instruments you play :: piano (barely)

J. job title :: mama, photographer

K. kids :: Marshall & Tyler

L. live :: lovely small town Utah

M. maiden name :: Goettsche

N. nicknames :: Babe, Goettsche (getting married couldn't stop that one), Drayla (when I was a kid)

O. overnight hospital stays :: twice with babies!

P. pet peeve :: open cupboard doors

Q. quote :: I shared my favorite one before, so here's another that I like. "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

R. righty or lefty :: right

S. siblings :: two sisters, one brother

T. time you wake up :: usually... when the kids do.

U. university attended :: Southern Utah University

V. vegetables you dislike: mushrooms!

W. what makes you run late :: putting on my make up (I should probably just do that at the beginning of the day and play it safe)

X. x-rays you’ve had :: dental ones, wrist, shoulder, neck

Y. yummy food :: greek, italian & mexican food mmmm....

Z. zoo animal favorite :: monkeys (the little ones)

25

2011-08-10T17:52:00.002-06:00

I actually had this thought a couple days ago, when my birthday was one week away. I decided I would make a list of 25 things I wanted to do before I turned 25. My sister thought that was a lofty goal since I only had seven days to do it, but I think I can. First on the list is truly what inspired the whole thing... I got stung for the first time in my life on Monday. Some may think that's cheating, but I call it a jump start. Here it goes:

1. Get stung by a bee.
2. Write a thank you note.
3. Try something new.
4. Take a deep breath before I lose my cool.
5. Put away the laundry. Haha.
6. Eat dinner at the fair.
7. Give a hug (to someone other than family).
8. Do an anonymous good deed.
9. Give away some produce from my garden.
10. Deliver that thing to a friend that has been on my counter for months.
11. Hang the birthday banner.
12. Get to Marshall's school to pick him up BEFORE he is already out.
13. Finish swim lessons!!!
14. Pass off a goal in my Personal Progress book.
15. Win a game of WordFued.
16. Practice the piano (every day).
17. Learn a new song on the piano.
18. Run more than just 6 miles. (Which means running more than just the race on Sat. that I signed up for).
19. Take some pictures of my kids.
20. Tell my husband I love him.
21. Clean the blinds.
22. Take a nap.
23. Avoid ice cream.
24. Write another thank you note. (Why write just one?)
25. Work out before the kids wake up.

Now that I've finished writing this list I'm reflecting on the way others go about this type of goal. My sister, for one, creates a similar list on her birthday with plans to accomplish it within the coming year. I find it ironic, or perfectly appropriate, that I would make such a list just days before the coming deadline. I've always been very good at procrastinating... it is usually when I do my best work. Just five more days to go...

Feels So Good

2011-07-17T18:09:00.003-06:00

This past weekend Colby and I were involved with youth conference. It included all of the youth of the Hurricane Valley (tri-stake) and there were all kinds of activities from Thursday to Sunday. I think yesterday was such a fun day, the most fun... hands down! It was focused on providing service- which could never be a let down. The committee that planned it decided that each of the 36 wards in the valley would have a service project take place within it's boundaries. When Colby and I were asked to help be in charge of our ward, I knew, without a doubt what we would do. It took just a little convincing because it was such a huge task to undertake, but we were allowed to give it a shot and it totally worked out!

We wanted to do something that could help Sis. Hill. She lives down the street from us and is in a humbling situation. She is single and severely crippled from arthritis. She once had a nice yard, but since she is basically confined to a chair in her house she cannot care for it. It had become an immensely overgrown weed patch. After so much rain this past winter/spring, the weeds completely took over and were 2-3 feet high. One day I watched a man mow them down and as I remember, it took him a good 6 hours to mow that quarter acre lot. When we started, the weeds were not high, as you can see below. But it was just a matter of time before they all were back. So we helped eliminate the possibility.

We covered the entire surface with a weed barrier and covered it with at least two dump truck loads of gravel and rock. Half of it was done with shovels and wheelbarrows. By the end we were able to use some heavy equipment to quickly finish up. These are the kids from our group along with Sister Hill in the middle. She came out to see the work and meet the kids when we were all finished. The groups were made up of a combination of all the kids from the 36 wards, so we only had two kids that knew of her and her situation. I was so impressed by the youth and their willingness to get dirty and work so hard for someone they did not even know. I honestly was astounded by the lack of complaints and their drive and work ethic.

You can see a little better in this next photo the difference it made in the yard.

And here... another view. Maybe my favorite of all.

This is what many see as they drive up Main Street past her home.

I was brought to tears as I saw Sister Hill take it all in. She was so surprised and pleased with the outcome. She knew we were going to be cleaning up her yard, but she had no idea what it was going to look like in the end. In conversation, we learned that she hoped to someday replace the remains of a lawn with some zero maintenance rock and eventually add some native desert plants. We were unable to come up with a plan (or the time) for planting, but I'm sure the youth of our ward will be glad to show up sometime to put it in for her. She shared some thoughts with our bishop as the time for the project got closer. For a couple of weeks the load of rock sat across the street from her home and she could see it from where she sits in her chair inside. She told him, that when she saw the rock she prayed that she could one day afford rock like that to put in her yard. She had no idea it had been donated in her behalf.

I was touched as I listened to her talk about how yard work was one of her favorite things to do when she was younger and able because she grew up in a family where Mom and Dad both took great pride in their yard and taught the children to do the same. She was so sweet when she mentioned her joy of not needing to be embarrassed by her front yard any more. She was so excited for her kids to come visit because she hadn't told them about the project and couldn't wait to surprise them with the makeover. It was just so touching to help her get excited about her home again.

I know its been a long time since I've worked that hard and I heard some of the youth in our group mention how they've never worked like that in their whole lives. Yet I never heard them complain. It was amazing. The best day of all!!!

I have a few more pictures I may download on Facebook, but I spent the majority of my time trying to work instead of taking a ton of pictures. That may be a first for me... :)

Hurricane Splash Pad

2011-07-12T06:53:00.001-06:00

July 4th marked the opening of the first splash pad in Hurricane!!! We stopped by that afternoon to snap some pictures (the city asked me to photograph some of the city sponsored events that day) of opening day. I heard the official opening was out of control busy and I'm glad we missed it. I was able to get some fun shots later in the afternoon when most families had carried on with their plans for the day. Obviously I took some pictures of my own kids, but those are not what I've shared with the city. These are just for my enjoyment.

My kids love this splash pad. We've kind of been splash pad snobs and drive extra miles to go to the better ones in St. George. I'm pleased to say that this one in Hurricane ranks right up there near the top of the list. It's a lot of fun. Enough variety and not too cold. Perfect, according to my kids (and most all of the valley, haha). It's always busy, but that hasn't kept us away. We've been there three times this past week.

4th of July :: Backwards

2011-07-11T16:09:00.001-06:00

I'm gonna do this post backwards, with all the fun stuff first.

Look at these cute boys. I feel like 4th of July is one of those holidays I need to document for the sake of keeping track of how quickly these boys grow up. One day we'll be comparing pictures like this from throughout the years and I know we'll just crack up. Please ignore the fact that many of these pictures are super "off"... I was not on my A game that night. I'm not sure what was going on. Haha.

Tyler was loving the sparklers.

Same with Marshall.

We tried watching the fireworks from our house this year and I'm nearly sold on the idea. The neighboring trees block some of the lower fireworks, but you can basically see the majority of the show. I really love the way the sounds of the fireworks echo off the cliffs to the east of us. It is a loud, deep rumble that I just loved. It was also awesome that I could just run in the house and get the kids some food and grab some pillows to make our watching experience that much better.

This is what Marshall did the last half of the Hurricane vs. La Verkin softball game. He could care less about Daddy playing in the game. All he wanted (ALL DAY) was to see fireworks. So he spent some time gazing through the fence of the upper field watching families light off their fireworks. The whole rest of the time he was wrestling with his friend Bridger Johnson. They honestly were wrestling their guts out and I kept worrying that they would end up crying, but after each big fall/crash they'd get up laughing. That was pretty fun to watch.

This was a pretty hilarious part of the day... During the home run derby (which Colby took second in, on account of the few foul balls that went WAY over the fence) Colby hit this car and left a major dent. Now, for the record, we all felt pretty bad for the owner of the car, but seriously... who parks out past left-center field during a softball game and a home run derby. So, officially, SORRY TO THE OWNER OF THIS CAR. I HOPE MY NEXT FEW COMMENTS AREN'T TOO INSENSITIVE OR OFFENSIVE :) Well, Colby nailed this car and left this enormous dent. It was really big. After a while the police were called and pulled up beside the poor injured vehicle. I ran down to Colby as he was coaching 3rd base and told him we all decided he should hit another one over the fence at the cop's truck (since he was so smart to park in such a dangerous place). He chuckled and said he'd give it a try. Sure enough... he did. He smacked it over the fence, but it was foul and a little ahead of the truck. So he got to try again and the opposing team was all on board for the challenge and Colby was given the perfect pitch and he hit another one over the fence directly at the truck. It bounced exactly in front of the truck and bounced over it. After that, the police officer and the owner of this car moved their vehicles away from the "danger" and we all had a good laugh about it.

This is one of those "tradition pictures." We've taken one since our cousin Karter came along. Brigham (Karter's little brother) was missing from this picture... so we'll have to be better about it next year. It seems like he was not having the whole "let's take you kids' pictures right now" idea, if I remember right.

This is a photo we had snapped after the parade Monday morning. I cracked up when I looked at them... I'm the only one looking at the camera, but I'm not the hero or anything since I'm totally cheesing it and all. But seriously!!! The family of a photographer should not struggle this much at getting their pictures taken. Haha.

Marshall's spoils from the parade.

The three bigger boys with Aunt Carly getting ready to catch as much candy as they could.

And... best for last, right? The composition of this photo is obviously not the best, but I loved the way it documented the moment. I know one day I'll love the way we looked when we were 20 something and I'll laugh at the way the kids always had a mind of their own when the camera was on them. I love my little family and feel so blessed that I have them and we live where we do and have the freedoms we have.

Happy Independence Day!!!