Loving this crazy ride called life

Is this Heaven or am I still on Earth??

2011-09-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

I feel myself floating through every single day and I don't even know what is going on! I am truly walking on clouds all of the time and not seeing any signs of a storm. (knock on wood) My only sadness is that I have not blogged about it!! Oh well that is the only moment I will give to that because my life is sooooo happy! I know you are all vomiting in your mouths right about now but there is nothing else to be said, it is what it is. :)

I have to just start of with the fact that I have THE BEST baby on the planet! I am not sure if Ty was just such an extra demanding baby or maybe I am just used to this parenting thing but seriously Jax has been an angel. I could do nothing else all day except to just sit and play with him! He is always so willing to give me the biggest grins and loves to laugh at anything I, or especially big brother, do. He is just so busy figuring out life and what things are. Especially how to get them in his mouth at any cost! He is scooting everywhere and will get up on his knees and rock but no crawling yet thank goodness. I love to watch as he experiences everything for the first time. :) He and Ty play sooooo well together, they just occupy each other all day long so I have more time to myself than ever before. Ty is the best big brother and helps me so much. He is in such a fun age right now. He talks my ear off all day long and if I happen to be talking to someone else he will grab my chin and make me look at him so I don't miss one single word! I know I said this in my last post but I am saying it all the time, I couldn't be happier!

My little thumb sucker! He just makes me smile. :)

Ok enough making you all sick. ;) This summer has been my best one yet. We spent so much time playing with water in our backyard, drawing with lots of sidewalk chalk, riding bikes around our circle, taking walks to our park, and that was just in our neighborhood! We did so many fun outings as well, two awesome camping trips in our new tent trailer; trips to the zoo, lagoon, and seven peaks; fishing trips with grandpa on his boat and lots of playing with cousins. I would definitely say that we have been running our heads off! I am soooo sad that summer is coming to an end and that we are probably going to be slowing down quite a bit. However Fall is my FAVORITE time of year and so I will not be let down to much. ;)

The icing on this overwhelming cake though, would have to be our most recent adventure. We were so fortunate to have an awesome family vacation to California and to DISNEYLAND!! I will spare you the ravings of how amazing it was but lets just say that it was without a doubt our best family vacation to date. It had something of all my favorite things on earth. A little sand, a little ocean, a little tide pools, a little family, a little Ruby's Diner, a little Holbrook house, and a lot of the happiest place on earth! I have not met many people who truly appreciate Disney as much as myself so when we decided to go with Joe's family I could not have been happier! I was so lucky to marry into a family of Disneyland fanatics.

This is about half of us on Heimlich's chew chew train. We had such a great time being in such a big group with all the cousins and running around trying to get it all in. I could spend six months here and never get enough!

Meeting Lightening McQueen and Mator! Ty doesn't look like it here but he was in heaven! He did not want to talk to any of the characters but every time he saw one he would get all excited. (As long as they did not get close to him) Now when someone asks him who he saw at Disneyland he says Mickey Mouse and Daisy Duck! :)

This is more like the face we got the whole time we were there. :) He loved all the kid rides and even went on Thunder Mountain Railroad! After that we had to clarify which train we were going on, the slow train or the fast train, because he did not want the fast train again! :) He was soooo good the whole time and Jax did amazing! He never cried the whole time we were there.

We spent a couple days at the beach of course because my babies are going to have to love the ocean as much as their momma. That is not an option! We spent one day at Huntington walking on the pier and boogie boarding in the water. It was a perfect day! Then we spent one night at Newport and Joe jumped in the water with my nephew in their clothes in the pitch dark!! :) And then this pic was at a beautiful beach called Little Corona where they had great tide pools. There were thousands of little crabs all over in them and Joe was feeding them to the enenomes. (sp?) I thought Ty would be freaked by the crabs but he was pretty enamored with the whole thing.

This is Ty with his cousins in "Bugs Land" I LOVE how he is holding Faisal's hand! He could not have had a better time being with all the kids. :) I feel terrible because we spent a few days at my sisters house and did not take one picture! Ty also had a blast getting to know her kids and when we pulled into our hotel on the way home he screamed and cried that he wanted to go back to Aunt Shelly's house! We LOVED spending time at their house and are so glad that we got to squeeze some time in with them. We love the Holbrooks!

So needless to say we had a great trip and an incredible summer. I am so grateful for all the wonderful friends and family in my life. We are so blessed! I hope everyone else had just as awesome of a summer and that Fall is going to be great too! Thank you everyone for everything that you add to our life. It would not be the same without you!

Happy is what happens when your dreams come true...

2011-04-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

If I had to choose one passion in my life, the thing I enjoy the very most in the world, it would undoubtedly be music. It has been a major part of my life and I have not been able to live without it since I was two. Although I do not like to perform anymore, in the privacy of my own home you will find me belting out tunes at the top of my lungs. Sometimes I feel very sorry for my neighbors, and not to mention my poor family. ;) There is nothing that can lift my spirits or calm me down from a stressed out rage more than being in my bathroom singing. Musicals in particular are a favorite for me because they give you characters and stories to relate to through the music. When I was seven my parents took me to see the Phantom of the Opera in San Francisco. I had the CD for months before and would listen to nothing else. I dug my fingernails into my moms arm the entire performance and when we left I felt like I truely was Christine. In fact I insisted that I was going to change my name and that everyone should call me that from then on. Luckily it didn't stick. ;) But I love how for just that moment you can be whoever you want to be and experience anything.

Lately I feel like my whole life is one big compilation of all the music I have stored away and that I am singing my way through it, like some lucky movie star. I have been a little consumed with a particular album lately so if this post is a little "Wicked" you will have to forgive me. ;) I seriously feel so blessed lately. Having two kids has filled a huge hole I didn't even know was there. I cannot believe how it has completed me. I couldn't be happier... And not like Glinda, I feel like this all came at very little cost to me. I never really wanted kids. I was scared and liked my life the way it was, and so when Ty was born I was very overwhelmed and had some large adjustments to make. This time around I feel like it has been a breeze (aside from recovery and sickness of course)! But really the adjustment has been zero. From the second little Jax was brought into my life two kids just fit. Sure it is a little more hectic but it gives me so much more purpose as a mother. I think I could have about 10 more! ;)

I mean seriously how can you not smile when you see this darling little angel?! And he was only an hour old here. He is such a perfect little baby and has such a sweet temperment.

My two precious babes and their first looks at each other. From the very first second they have had nothing but love, not an ounce of jealousy. How did I get so lucky?

My three boys. :) This is pretty much my favorite picture in the whole wide world! Man I love having boys! It may be dirty and chaotic but it is the sweetest thing ever and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

He loves being a big brother. I could not have gotten a sweeter boy first. He is so tender and just wants to help ALL the time! He gets so concerned when his little brother cries and will not go anywhere without him. They're already best friends.

Our first family photo. This picture seriously just makes me rejoicify! I feel soooo incredibly blessed! This past Mothers Day I was faced with several trials for other people and my heart just ached for them. I came home that night and looked at my life and wondered why things are so good for us right now. I know we each have times of good and times of hardship and that the bad times are what make us appreciate the good. So heres to appreciating my life, for the good and the bad, cause while we are in the good now I could be trying to sing the world away in my bathroom tomorrow. For now I am enjoying singing my way through happily. I am so grateful for my wonderful hubby and for the great Mothers Day he gave me. I would not be a Mom if it weren't for him! So kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity!

Birth story in pictures...

2011-03-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

So my sister in law has been taking a TON of pictures of us lately! I am sure she is just sick of it but I TOTALLY appreciate it! She is sooo great! So... She does this thing called a birth story with all sorts of pics at the hospital. She put them in a slide show at the link below. The program made them a little grainy but you can still see what a great job she did. Plus you get a whole ton of me and Joe and Jax! :) Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kizoa.com%2Fslideshow%2Fd1557372k3406267o1%2Fa-birth-story&h=ed7ab

Introducing baby

2011-03-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

Jaxton Emery Seely

I am finally recovering from all of the chaos of the last two months and I need to blog about it before I forget that it even happened. Man the time has flown! It is crazy how when you are pregnant you think that it is never going to end and that you will always remember how it feels to carry such precious cargo. Right about now I am sort of wishing that was the case. :) But just as soon as the baby is here it feels like this has always been your life and you never experienced any of it, almost like a dream. I am in a little bit of a dream world all the time right now. I can't remember not having my sweet little addition in our family, and at the same time the adjustment is so different and surreal. I supposed getting 3 hours of sleep every night doesn't help the situation much either. ;) This tiny guy has given me a run for my money! He was five weeks yesterday and has not had one good night yet! I think Ty was probably the same but I didn't have a crazy two year old running me ragged then.

I hate how pregnancy is such an awesome and magical time and yet you are to miserable to even know it! I had a pretty decent pregnancy, much better than with Ty, but even still you just want to be done 100% of the time. You dont realize how fun it is to have everyone constantly asking about the baby and all the obnoxious "advice" is actually kind of enjoyable. The ultra sounds, awful doctors appointments and feeling the baby kick (even if it does wake you every night). Everything is all about you for 10 months! I have to put this all down so that I remember next time that it really is one of the most exciting times of life, miserable or not. :) I feel so grateful that I get to be a woman and experience it!

With Ty I went over my due date and didn't try anything to "self induce" my labor. I just patiently waited until they induced me in the hospital. I was miserable but I am not sure if I was nervous for the labor or what but I didn't feel much like rushing it. If I had known what was coming I probably would have postponed it even longer! ;) It was 26 hours in the hospital and 3 LONG hours of pushing before he finally came. So needless to say I had no idea what to expect this time around, but I had hopes for a much better experience... In the last month of my pregnancy I was soooo antsy I just wanted him here! I tried several ways of "self inducing" my labor but I was nervous to do anything extreme. My due date was February 9th and at my doctors appointment on Jan. 24th she told me I was dialated to 5 centimeters and my cervix was 80% effaced, he was head down and right where he needed to be. I was extatic I just knew I was going to have him that day! Ha! I wish we really could see the future. I had contractions the rest of the day and the whole next day. By the time I woke up on Wed. the 26th I just knew that I had to be more dialated and decided to go in to the hospital to see if they would keep me.

We arrived at the hospital, bags and everything at 9:30 AM. They put us in a small room and when the nurse checked me I was still at a 5! I could not believe it. All those contractions and two days and still NO change?? But something had changed...She couldn't feel the baby's head and decided to get an ultrasound. The ultrasound proved what she had thought. He had turned completely breach! This is not very common because that close to the end they are so large that it is not very easy for them to move around, especially all the way around. So they decided not to send me home because if I did progress past a 5 he could come very quickly and I might not make it to a hospital. Well since I did not want to deliver a breach baby by myself at home we agreed to be induced that day. They got us all checked in and hooked up to all the moniters, and then they tried to turn him. I had heard alot of scary things about this and so I was pretty nervous. My doctor got on one side of my belly and the nurse on the other and they both grabbed one side of baby and just pushed him around. It is amazing how hard they can push on your belly and not have it hurt the baby. Next time around I will not be so worried about kids jumping on me. It was VERY painful for me though and I was so glad when it was over and they were successful!

They took an ultrasound to make sure he was where they wanted him and another problem... He was head down but there was something between his head and the outside world. His cord! If the cord gets delivered before the baby he will die because he will loose the only source of oxygen he has. Lucky for us my water had not broken yet so we decided to wait and see if he could move around it. They put some restraints on both sides of my belly to make it harder for him to flip back the way he was and started the pitocin. After waiting awhile they were able to get the cord out of the way and so I got my epidural and it appeared that we were on our way for a normal delivery. As the contractions increased he started to loose oxygen and was having heart decels. They said that the cord was being pinched with the contractions so they stopped the pitocin and watched us very closely. I finally got dialated to a 7 and they decided to break my water. I didn't realize at the time how nervous they were about it. They all came into the room in their operating gear and started a very slow leak to see how he handled it. Things seemed to be going fine and then all of a sudden my doctor was up yelling we need to get to the OR now and they were wheeling me out of the room and throwing clothes at Joe. We were literally running down the hallways running into walls and knocking stuff of my bed. I was terrified! His heart had stopped.

They pumped me full of meds and got me strapped to the operating table and she said his heart had started. So we decided to wait and see what happened. I was really scared of a c-section and I didn't want to be bound to that for the rest of my kids. So we all sat in the OR waiting... Finally after a little over an hour there was no change. Still at a 7... He was sitting really high up from all the turning fiasco and did not appear to be dropping anytime soon. So now came decision time. I seriously have the best doctor on the planet. I trust her as much as I trust myself. So she says to me "how are you feeling? Do you think you can hold up for awhile because this is probably going to be a long process, just like with Ty, and with all the problems we dont know how it will turn out." I just wasn't sure, I felt completely stressed and exhausted, plus they had numbed me for a ceserean and so I was really nervous about trying to push when I could not feel anything from my chest down. She reasured me that she would sit with me as long as it took for whatever I decided to do. So after a few minutes of thinking it over I decided to let them just take him now instead of waiting and doing the same thing at two in the morning. Had I known what I was getting into I might have opted to wait. ;)

They set everything up and got him out at 5:59 PM and at 7lbs 6oz. I hated the whole thing and have delt with a lot of things from it that have surprised me. I dont know anyone who has had babies both ways except my mother and her's were 26+ years ago. Everyone else I know has had one or the other and told me that c-sections were no big deal so I wasn't to worried. Well I am not sure if I am just a baby or if everyones bodies just handle these things differently but let me tell you I will not opt for this one again unless there is no other choice! I know that VBAC's are not all that successful but I am sure hoping I will be one of the lucky ones. So enough complaining, we have a beautiful baby boy who is healthy and that is ALL that matters! :)

So if any of you have made it this far I totally applaud you! :) This was mostly for me to record my experience so that I can relive it because it only comes a few times in a lifetime. I have lots and lots of pictures from maternity to labor to newborn. However they were mostly taken by other people so as soon as I get some I will put them on. I still think pics are the best part of blogging so I am sorry! The ones on here my sweet sister inlaw took for me but they have her logo on them because she has just posted them on the intenet. She runs an AWESOME business and if any of you ever need pictures done you should contact her because she is great! Here is her website... http://www.clarissastaggphotography.com/ I hope she doesn't mind that I am posting my teaser pics on here before I have my CD I just cant wait! :) And as soon as I get more pics I will post I promise!

"Summ" catch up!

2010-12-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

So I know this post is from forever ago but I FINALLY got my pictures on here. :) They go clear back to February so I debated even doing some from back then but for now we will start here. Luckily I didn't take alot of pictures this summer so I will just post about the ones I do have pics of since I already told about everything we did a few months ago. :) I had to put Ty's birthday on here even though it was clear back in June. We just had a little party with our families. It was nothing fancy just presents, cake and ice cream but Ty loved it! It was so fun to watch him get the concept of opening presents. Now that Christmas is almost here and there are presents everywhere he wants to open them all. I keep telling him that Santa will bring him some on Christmas and I think he is starting to get the idea. :) I am very excited for Christmas morning.

So here is his cake... He did not understand all the singing and blowing out the candle but he loved the Dinosaur on it. However in August his cousin turned three and after her party he walked around singing happy birthday for several weeks and pretending to blow out anything that remotely resembled a candle. It was very cute. :)

This was the first gift he opened so I had to help at first but once he realized there were toys inside he jumped right in and ripped all the wrapping paper off.

I was afraid that once he got one toy he would just want to play with it and forget about all the others he had to open. No way! He was more into the opening than the toys themselves. :) Once they were all opened he looked around and said "mess" and started cleaning up all the paper before he started to play. He is very into having things organized (something he got from me poor guy) But he still makes his share of chaos and messes. Especially lately!

We went back and forth between this car and a bike but finally settled on this thinking that he was to little for a bike. Yeah right! He likes this car but it totally obsessed with bikes so we now know what is coming for him this June!

I found this little weed whacker and thought he would love to cut the grass like Dad. It makes really cute sounds. Instead he thinks it is a vacuum and walks around the house "cleaning" I guess he does spend quite a bit more time with Mom so he would want to clean. He loved the glasses though and would just wear them everywhere.
I already told about our trip to Cali in August but I had to put some pics on. We stayed with my sister for part of it but we also went beach camping which was a first for us. It was so awesome! This is our camp and yes that is the ocean in the background. :) There is a private beach just below those cliffs that we spent every day on. It was so nice to have all your stuff and food right there so you just go back to camp for lunch and then have your campfire at night. Much better than camping in the freezing mountains! Plus the sound of the waves all night wasn't to bad either. :)

Ty went crazy on the beach. He really never wanted to leave. He loved running away from the waves and chasing seagulls. He explored everything. We even caught a lobster and a huge crab in the water. Makes you think twice about what else you are swimming with. ;)

This is one of our favorite beaches in Newport. These rocks are fun to walk out on and find things in and they make the waves come in just perfect. Ty approved as well.
It was pretty breezy this day so I was laying by the warm sand. Ty stopped playing and brought his towel over to lay next to me. He thought he was pretty cool doing what I was doing.

Then he ended up laying on me. :) It was such a fun day!

Our fam on the jetty.

So Joe turned the big 30 this year! I know I am married to an old man... ;) haha I threw him a surprise party and then we went and played laser tag. I dont believe it but I have no pictures of the party! :( I am horrible at taking pictures... Anyways for his gift I gave him Brad Paisley tickets. We have never done the grass seats so I thought it would be fun to try. We loved it! They were much cheaper and you have all the space in the world to lay down.

My brother and his wife had never been to a country concert so we talked them into trying it. I am still not sure what they thought of it but we were so glad they were there with us. It was a great concert. We love Mr. Paisley! :)

So that was a little late but nice to have some sun from summer in this FREEZING weather we are having! I love the snow until after Christmas so we are trying to enjoy it for now. I hope everyone is doing great getting ready for the holidays. We got our tree up extra early this year because I am doubling in size everyday... I am just hoping I last all the way to February! We are going crazy doing the Christmas thing and trying to move things around for this little one on the way. I hope we can get it all done before I am glued to the couch. Anyone want to take a crazy two year old for the next few months???? I would sure get alot more done!

The best time of year!

2010-10-04T09:43:00.002-07:00

I know I say this all the time but isn't Fall the best? The weather is perfect to be outside and the holidays are coming up ahead, PLUS I do not get hayfever like in Spring and Summer!!! :) I love the smells and the feelings, there is just something magical about it. I am totally a sucker for "magical" maybe thats why Disneyland is my favorite place on earth! :)So I wanted to post some pics of our fall but they are not on our computer yet and I am kind of an idiot and have to wait for my hubby to download them... Its funny how being married can really handicap you in certain areas. Or maybe its just that I am lazy! Hahaha.... Either way I did get some pics off of our phones. I already uploaded them to facebook (thats the easiest way to get them on my computer) so you may have seen them all already, BUT I will do more explainin and stories with them here of course. And as soon as I get the real pics on here I will post them.

This was Ty's Halloween costume, obviously. He picked it out because first of all he loves monkey's but he really loved the banana in the pocket. He kept trying to take it out and eat it. He would look at me and say "bite" and then try to pull it out. Luckily it was sewn in so he couldn't.

Here is a front shot but kind of blurry. That little pumkin bag Joe's mom bought at Disneyland so all here grandkids could have "trick-or-treat" bags. :) Isn't it awesome? Ty loved it and would hold it open so cute at every door we went to. He was really afraid of his cousin Faisal's spiderman mask so he wouldn't let us put him down if he was anywhere near, but as long as we were far away he loved getting all the candy. Afterwards we came home and he had the idea down. Everytime the doorbell would ring he would grab our big bucket of candy and haul it to the door and hand each kid a piece. He thought that was pretty awesome.

This was one of the good rainstorms we got. Joe and I were loading up the car to leave and Ty was standing in the garage just watching the rain and laughing, so Joe took him out and ran around with him. He went crazy. I wish we had a pic of him laughing in it but this was all we got. :)

This was at Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. This was the first year we have gone to it but it will definitely be a tradition from now on. It was soooo fun. They have tons of activities for little ones and everything is done up so cute.

This is why I love living where we do. There are horses everywhere! Everytime we drive anywhere Ty has to point them out and so one day we thought we would stop and let him pet one. He wasn't even nervous. I love both my boys faces in this pic! Its probably one of my favorite pictures ever. I cant look at it without smiling. :)

We went down to St. George for Joe's cousin's wedding a few weeks ago and it was pretty stinkin warm. Whenever it gets hot Ty loves to wear my sunglasses. I guess we should probably get him his own pair.

And just for me to remember... This was our invite to our Halloween party. I dont do things like this very often so when I do I have to record it somewhere! :)

Support

2010-10-04T09:43:00.001-07:00

I had a really interesting experience this weekend that made me think about the way that I am and the way I come across to other people. We all (well most of us) want to be good people. The kind of people that are nice and do things to help others out, people who would never want to make anyone feel as badly as we have felt. Are we really accomplishing this??? I think that most of the time I am in my own little bubble and I truly think that I am being a kind person. I really do try to please people, I usually keep my mean feelings and opinions to myself (or my poor husband) ;) and if you ask me to do something, I like to think I would try to help you out. So here I live in my own little happy place.... then all of a sudden I am knocked over by the amazing things I witness all the time!

I am going to get a little side tracked for a minute to tell you about our weekend... We had an AWESOME weekend! I hope the rest of you enjoyed your holiday as much as we did. :) We started off the weekend Friday night with a costume party. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I thought what better way to celebrate than to throw a totally spooky party??? It turned out sooooo good! Pics will be coming when I get them on my computer. :) I hardly ever do anything without Ty and when I do I always leave him with Joe, so it was great to have a real couples night to just play and be with good friends. After everyone left I felt so grateful for the people in my life and especially to those that helped make it such a great night.

So now back to my question of what kind of person am I? I know so many people that would do anything for somebody else. They would literally give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. It doesn't matter if they would be freezing because they truly are more concerned about others than themselves. Can I put myself in their category??? I always want to help people when it puts as little inconvenience on me as possible. Luckily for me I have an awesome husband who naturally wants to do things to help out all the time. He is one of the best people I know (as long as I am not rubbing off on him) :) I want to spend more of my time in the company of people like this so that maybe I can get out of my bubble and realize that there is ALWAYS something you can do to help someone else, no matter what situation you are in yourself. It is always easier to think of excuses and justify them in your own mind, but I think when we push through the excuses and look at someone else's needs our own needs and even our wants get met as well. I am going to really try to be one of these people because the selfless people I know are my very favorite to be around!! :)

Its funny how a little support from a few people, at a dumb event can make you think! But really what side do I want to be on, the side that helps and supports people and has a great time doing it, :) or the side that just lets excuses get in the way and may not have the support when they need it? I am choosing to be on the support side! Here I put these questions and resolutions out into the blogging world again. Oh how I love to do that! Thanks again to everyone who came and participated in the festivities it was the perfect way to start a great weekend. And it made a perfect scenario for me to hopefully learn a few things and change the way I am a little bit! I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!! :)

Words of the prophets

2010-10-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

After my last post I thought I had better do an update... I was having such a bad day and it felt so good to just vent it all out, but... That was all. Life is sooooo good for us right now and after the wonderful General Conference the past two days I thought I better not leave the focus of my blog on the negative. :)

Saturday morning Joe was gone duck hunting and Ty was being crazy as usual. I was trying to get the house in order as I turned conference on so I was not paying much attention. It seems like even though I never expect it, conference always brings the best feeling into the house. Pretty soon I could not help myself I was sitting and taking notes. There were so many good talks and messages! I felt so grateful that we have such great church leaders to guide us. Life is just to tough to handle alone and it was great to have the reminders they gave. I watch a lot of different TV shows and reality stuff, and it is amazing the crazy things people do! There are so many different shows that can really make you depressed about the world we live in. They really scare me to death for my kids, but I cant quit watching them! :) My favorites are the ones that go into the minds of serial killers or other psycho criminals. Its like you cant tear yourself away from the TV no matter how bad it scares you!

Between that and where our government is taking our poor country it is really easy to get down and loose hope for anything happy in the future... But as I watched our sweet prophet and apostles speak the last two days it gave me 100% the opposite feelings. It was such a relief to watch something that gives you hope for the future and a purpose in life! Pres. Monson spoke about having an "attitude of gratitude" and all the good things that are still happening. It is really good for me to be reminded that there is positive to focus on. I tend to get way to stressed out over little things and then I get in a fog and cant see clearly. I love how the spirit takes that cloud away and just leaves you feeling better.

I wish that I could feel this clear all the time! :) Every time I watch conference I feel this enormous desire to share my feelings about God and this awesome church that I am so blessed to belong to. I think that as Latter Day Saints, living in Utah especially, we tend to be afraid of offending someone when it comes to religion. At least that's how it is with me. I like to keep one hand on the iron rod and the other in the world... But while I am keeping quiet there are plenty of others who are not afraid to stand up for there beliefs. One way or the other. I think that everyone is entitled to live and think the way they want to, but when I have found something that pulls me out of my dark place and gives me so much purpose and happiness, isn't it selfish to keep it to myself??? I am certainly not going to start shoving my opinions in anyone's face but I am just making a resolve to be a better example, if for no one else, my kids. One of my biggest worries is how they are ever going to make it with all the awful things that are out there, and my second little boy isn't even here yet! The best thing I can do as a parent is to work constantly to show them what brings true happiness.

Now to get off my pedestal... :) I know that everyone is here to learn the things they need to and I am just here learning along with everyone else. I just like to record my thoughts so that I can go back and remember the good things I have felt and where I want to be. It is so easy to get caught up in the rush of life and forget what happens along the way. That is why I love to have a blog, even if I don't post very often. It is nice to have an outlet that you can go back and read again and again. :) I hope that everyone had a great weekend and is looking forward to a great fall! I am loving the cooler weather today. This is my favorite time of year before the snow comes and we are going to be enjoying every moment of it! Hopefully I will keep you posted on the fun activities. (assuming we do the things we have planned) We will see...

Seriously????

2010-09-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

***Disclaimer... This is a very venting post and you should not read if you need something uplifting!

So I have gone back and forth about writing this or not for the last hour... I got on my computer to just have a HUGE explosion of feelings and emotions! Luckily I did get on facebook first and someones status said "Dear Lord, please keep your arm over my shoulder and your hand over my mouth... Amen." :) I had to laugh and then realize that I would have regretted all the emotional vomit I would have put on everyone. BUT... I just cant walk away without getting something out!

I know that blogs are in general a happy bubbly place where only good feelings and thoughts are shared. But who made that rule anyway??? I cant keep a journal worth crap and I just can't overload my poor mother with any more of my "venting". Sooooo here comes a very dulled down version of my constant frustration. No one even needs to read this but some how it makes me feel better to put it all out there for the cosmic world to take away...

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you feel like you are quite literally running around in a circle and every time you get to where you started you run full force into a brick wall??? You knew it was there, you knew that you would inevitably run into it, but here you lay, knocked back from the force, no air in your lungs and tears in your eyes (or streaming down your face) only to get up and repeat the same circle over again! Its like you are one of those lab rats running around in a maze, completely lost, and when you think you have found a new route to try you find yourself running into the very same wall you started at! All you can do is look around all shaken up and say "SERIOUSLY???????"

I cant even recall where this situation came from and yet I am completely stuck in it! I feel like I have run this circle so many times that I know every inch of its walls, I know every speck in the flooring, I know the smells and the feelings and yet, for all my searching, I cannot find any sign of a way out. I am exhausted. I am to many feelings to even put in this post. So I say to the people in the white lab coats looking down on me... HELP!!!! I am ready to stop this run. So if someone in really good shape would like to come run for me for awhile... I will be in Hawaii on a beach! ;) I put this somewhere out into the blogging world and it feels better for now. Who knows this may just become a routine and you will all have to delete me from your lists! Here is hoping for a much more positive post the next time around...

Summer!

2010-08-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

Alright here it all comes.... I hope that everyone has had a great summer this year. As it comes to an end I am filled with very mixed emotions! First of all I absolutely LOVE summer time, its great to get out of your house and take awesome vacations, get a nice sun tan... BUT... this one totally one hundred percent kicked my trash!!! :) I am sooooo looking forward to fall and having very little on my calendar!
Our summer started out a little crazy... First off I swear spring allergy season lasted until the beginning of this month and was extra bad! I broke the first bone of my life, it was just my middle toe but took two months to heal because it was completely fractured in two different places! And to top it all off we got some fantastic news that we are adding another member to our family! :) I have awful first trimester's so that brought with it lots of throwing up and many other aches and pains! Needless to say that entering into this new season I was a little less than excited for all the big things we had planed.
As we got home from Ireland in the spring we hit the ground running. About six days later Joe put me and Ty on an airplane and we headed off for my favorite place on earth, DISNEYLAND!!! Our computer has been really retarded the last year so all of these following pictures are taken off of facebook and are not the best quality. But until we can get rich and buy a new one this is what you get. :)
I met my parents who were there staying in a beach house in Newport for a month, (very jealous) and my sister and her family who live in Huntington, (extra jealous) and we all had a very fun day in Disneyland. It was Ty's third time there (once in the womb and once when he was five months) but this was the first time he could really enjoy it. It was so fun to take him on all the rides and watch the parades. He did sooooo great the whole day and his favorite thing was definitely bugs land. (pictured above) He wore those glasses the whole show. I couldn't believe it. Cant wait to go back again... :)
We were only in California for two days before we flew back but we had to get some beach time while we were there. So the second day we just spent playing in the water and sand. It was pretty chilly but Ty loved to put his feet in and run from the waves. This was his first experience playing in the sand and I think we are going to have a beach buddy on our hands. He loved it!

We finished our basement in February and hadn't really used it much, so we decided to throw a Cinco de Mayo party. We made everyone wear these hats and do a mexican hat dance. (I have joes on video and it was pretty hilarious) :) It was so nice to have the extra space. I am very grateful that we were able to get it done.
To kick off the warm weather finally, (it seems like summer didn't come till forever this year) we got out this little blow up pool for the first time and Ty went crazy! He loves water and didn't even mind that it was FREEZING cold from the hose. He just hopped right in. The only problem was he wanted me to get in with him. I think he needs a sibling. ;) Good thing there is one on the way! We have used this waaaay to many times this summer, we will be sad to deflate it and put it away soon...
We also bought a season pass to Thanksgiving point. We went to the Dinosaur museum they have there with my niece and her little boy and Ty loved it so what could I do??? It is just right around the corner from us and its a good way to get out of the house during the day. Plus we can use it when it gets cold.

A tradition we have started doing is going to the Lehi rodeo every year. They put on a really good show and Ty loved to watch the horses and play with his cousin Cambria. (I am not sure which he enjoyed more...)

By far his favorite thing there was the halftime motocross show they put on. He was shouting, laughing and pointing at the motorcycles. It had his attention the whole time, he literally would not take his eyes off them. :)

We had two family reunions the same week this year which was, to say the least, CRAZY!! I was in charge of the one for my side of the family so we had to be there the whole time but we squeezed in a few days with Joe's at Bear Lake and it actually worked out really good. It was a lot of work and alot of camping but when it was all over we took lots of good memories home with us. :) The above pic is with my fam in Flaming gorge. Ty just loved being with all the cousins and crazy family.

The second day of mine we ran the Green River with my whole family and it was crazy. We made our boat the "baby boat" and so we were full with most of the tiny ones. It was a ton of fun and Ty had a blast looking for "sharks" in the water with his cousins. But if I had it to do over again I would not take so many babies... It made it pretty stressful for a panic head like me. :)

I am not sure why this one turned out so small but here it is... Our final adventure of the summer was another trip to California we took a week and a half ago. I just cannot get enough of this place!! If Joe's job wasn't here there would be no question in our minds about moving there. Joe was dying to get there sometime this year and I am always up for it so we took off with my brother and his family and headed down. My sister was doing some beach camping that they do every year and so we decided to crash it. :) It was AWESOME! The campsites are on the edge of this cliff looking down on the beach so you hear the ocean all the time and the view is amazing! It's perfect because you walk down to the beach, spend all morning there, come back to camp for lunch and then head back down. Plus there is a fun little town across the road that you walk to and get these really tasty donuts... Mmmmmm... Its a good thing I am pregnant and dont have to watch what I am eating. :)

We didn't do Disneyland this time because I hate it in the summer with all the crowds. :( Plus money is becoming a little tight after all the playing we did. :) We had such a great trip though we went to all our favorite spots, including Ruby's in Huntington which is pictured above. Its the funnest little restaurant and they have great shakes! Well I hope everyone had an awesome summer also and that they are all getting settled back into school. :( Fall is my favorite season of all so I am excited for lots of new fun adventures...

What a Whirlwind!!

2010-04-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

Back in February we had the awesome opportunity to go to Ireland with my neice and her husband. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen!! Every time I would think "Wow nothing could top this sight" we would turn the corner and I was proved totally wrong. We were only there six days because it takes two to travel so we were running the ENTIRE time! I seriously needed a vacation when we got home. :) But we saw sooooo many things I wouldn't change one bit of it. We had such a good time I would highly recomend it to anyone interested, although you should plan what you want to see first because you could literally spend two months there and not see it all. There are 25 pictures here, yes 25! And I had a really hard time cutting them down to this, (we took about 1000 pictures) I had to leave soooo much out but here are just a few highlights of the incredible island Ireland. My favorite is at the bottom so I know its alot but you should make it through. :)

We rented a car and drove almost all the way around the island, and this was the view everywhere we went! I love it! It was winter there so it was FREEZING but everything is still so GREEN. Ireland is just farmland with little towns spread throughout. We loved driving along the tiny country roads even if it was on the wrong side. :)

This is St. Patricks Cathedral. It was the most beautiful building I have ever seen. The stonework and architechture are amazing. Especially for how old it is.

This is inside the cathedral. I am certainly not catholic but I dont think anyone could stand inside this building and not be touched. I wanted to just stay in here all day. I loved the feeling of it.

Alright like I said before everything always got topped... :) This really was the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen! This is Kylemore Abbey. It is the only working abbey in Ireland and the Nuns and Friers get to live and worship here every day. Can you imagine???? The inside architecture is just as amazing.

This is a further back view so you can see the lake that it is set on. We had to drive up the mountains a little to get here so there was a slight little Utah feel to it. If Utah wasn't a desert! :)

This is the Blarney Castle. We got there first thing in the morning so the fog hadn't quite burned off yet. I love how it looks in this picture, I had never seen fog like this anywhere. By the time we left though there were blue skies and sunshine.

And yes we did kiss the blarney stone, so I now have the gift of the gab and you can't believe a word I say! :) If you look at the top of this tower in the middle, right above the window there is a hole. This is where the blarney stone is located. According to legend you have to kiss it while hanging upside down over that ledge or else you will not be bestowed with the "gift of the gab" so that is just what we did! It was very terrifying, I almost talked myself out of it but I am very glad I didn't.

This is just a random Abbey. They have these ruins all over the place and they are sooo cool! Most of them have the people who built them or preists who ran them buried there now. But everywhere you go they are just alongside the road.

This is Bunratty Castle. We had an authentic Irish dinner and show put on inside of here one night. They served us so much food and it was soooo yummy! It was fun to act like royalty for one night. :)

This is inside the castle waiting to sit down. The shows they put on were neat They had like five girls all singing Irish songs with harmony is was really good.

This is just one of the streets somewhere. In all the little towns this is what they look like. Very European. I loved it. :)

This was the Hotel we stayed in. The Ritz Carlton Powerscourt. It was incredible as well.

Just in case the roads aren't tiny enough or having big buses knock off your side view mirrors while they pass you dont discourage you this is how their signs are! They dont use street names at all so you just head towards a town and hope you find it. It makes getting directions extremely difficult. We got lost about 30 times. :) But at least we made it home.

Just when you thought you had no more space on the roads they cram it full of sheep! :) There are sheep everywhere in Ireland.

Eating in a pub. This is how we ate most our meals because that is all they have there. And they only serve food during certain times of the day so sometimes it was very hard to get fed. :)

This is inside one of the Abbey ruins we stopped at. It's Corcomroe Abbey in the "fertile valley" so of course we had to be kissing in it. ;)

For those of you who watch a lot of television this is in a Gordon Ramsay restaraunt. He is the guy who does "Hells kitchen" The food was delectible but the price was really high. He only has five of these in the world so we had to do at least one meal here.

They do not have bathrooms at any public stops like stores or gas stations so they have these on the side of the road. We never dared use one so we had to just hold it ALOT!!! :)

This is a little church that I loved. Along with Abbey's, the sides of the road are loaded with churches! We stopped at alot of them because they were just so beautiful and they usually had a few people worshiping or praying inside.

I thought I had this turned right but oh well.... :( This is called Bru na Boinne. There are a whole bunch of old tombs that they have found and dug up and are older than the pyramids!! I need to look at my stuff but I believe this one dated back to 1420 B.C. It was pretty cool to go inside something that old.

This was the first castle we saw and my favorite. It is not as upkept as some of the others but more authentic. It is called Dunluce Castle. The way it is positioned on the cliffs edge is sooo awesome. Back when people lived there the queen of it hated being that close to the ocean and was afraid of falling into it. One night while they were asleep the whole kitchen area fell into the ocean as the cliff beneath it collapsed away taking several servants with it. After that they built her a new house further on land and she never set foot in there again although the king had a new kitchen built and still lived there. I cant blame her it was a HUGE fall!!! :)

This is in Northern Ireland and we just crossed one of the only rope bridges still around. It was pretty scary actually but worth it for the awesome view we had after.

This view was amazing. It literally took my breath away! I wish pictures could do it justice. The land in the distance is Scotland. I was glad it was clear so we could see it.

This was probably my favorite thing we did although I really couldn't pick. This is the Giants Causway. There is a really cool legend about a giant that built it over to Scotland but its kind of long so I am not going to tell it since this is about as long as it can be already! :) In reality nobody knows how this came to be but scientists say it was made from volcanic rock. It is a huge area that looks like the remains of maybe a bridge or something made out of perfect hexagonal rocks. It is soooo incredible of course its hard to tell in a picture but this one also took my breath away! :)

Here is a closer view of the rocks. Its mostly ocean but you can see how perfectly smooth and shaped the rocks are at the bottom.

The land of paradise

2010-02-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

Ok we are going crazy packing for ANOTHER trip today but really quick before I add another thing to be blogged about to my long list I thought I would get one out from under my belt... I know I am going backwards but back in November my great parents took me and Joe to Hawaii!! It was such a needed escape and we enjoyed it so much. It was the first time I have ever left Ty and it was soooooo hard! I thought he was going to think that I had abandoned him. :( But when we got home he just came into my arms and squoze (spelling???) me so tight! He had been just fine and forgot all about us until we came in the door. We are leaving him again tomorrow and I hope he does the same thing... :( So to prepare for this trip we made some room on our camera and finally got the pictures on here! So here are some highlights of our warm sunny vacation. This one is going to be just the opposite!

This was the view from our back patio. We stayed in the condos at the Turtle Bay resort. It is on the beach and a golf course... You cant get much more heavenly than that! :)

Of course we went to Pearl Harbor and saw all the sights there. Very neat to learn the history and see it all.

We spent a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center and it was very fun. They take you around to all the different "lands" and you get to try things from their culture and watch lots of shows. We loved it!

Here we are with my parents in the Figi part. Everywhere we went the entire trip we were meeting people and they would all put lai's on us. By the time we were through with this ONE day we each had four on. We probably got about 10 or 12 throughout the course of the trip. They are made from fresh flowers and some with shells and they get pretty heavy when you have that many on! :)

This is the temple in Laie. We really wanted to do a session but it is closed for renovation. :( But the grounds were beautiful!

This was our favorite beach that we kept coming back to. There is a little island called Goat Island a little ways out into the ocean but when the tide is right you can walk on the reef and get clear out to it. We did it and the water was up to about my shoulders at some points but around Joes waist cause he is so much taller than me! :) I was nervous the waves were going to wash me off the reef but we made it great.

We loved beach hoping and just tried to do different beaches most the time.

When we got home Ty and Daisy were sooooo sweet and excited! Ty took my lai right off me and had to wear it around. It was great to get back and be a Mom again. :) I missed him sooooooo much!

The past three months! :)

2010-01-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

So the other night I was in on a chat with my sis in law who used to blog ALL the time and just hasn't had any time lately so now she just has to much to catch up and will probably never do it because she doesn't want to leave anything out. As she was saying this I thought "YES! that is exactly how I feel now!" Well everyone was saying how much they miss her blogs when one girl quetioned "Why dont you just start from now and work your way back when you get time?" So that is exactly what I am going to do! I love getting on and reading all of yours but now I guess its time to start adding my own again.
I have been known to only post when I have pictures... And to be honest I kind of despise taking them. I would much rather just be in the moment then looking at it through a lens. Basically you can say I am lazy. But fortunately I have a wonderful husband who, on occasion, loves to take pictures! Usually this only occur's on big events or vacations, hence the very few post's on my blog in the last year. I have been wanting to get on here and post about Halloween, we went to a very fun pumpkin patch where they had tons of little rides and a petting zoo which Ty loved; Hawaii, we were very fortunate to go to Oahu in November and had a GREAT time; and of course the Holidays... So as I was thinking over these major events I realized I have basically no pictures of christmas or New Years so I could easily blog about that even though I still have to upload my photos from my camera for the last 3 months! So I am sorry to say this one will be picture free and when I do get around to it I will post the only picture we took of the entire holiday season! :)
We had a great Christmas and hope all of yours was wonderful as well! It was very crazy as the Holidays always tend to be. We actually got all of Ty's shopping done in like November so we were not in all the crowded stores and when it came down to it we decided not to get eachother gifts, boring I know, but we have A LOT of big and EXPENSIVE things coming up. (There will be posts of all in the future) So Christmas morning was actually kind of quiet which was nice. Ty did get spoiled and now all his toys will not fit in his room so we are going to have to finish our basement! I am just glad to have any excuse to get it done. :) Then after gifts we went to Mom and Dad Seely's for brunch and we definitely got spoiled there!! Then my parents stopped by our house to see all of Ty's stuff and we ended the day at Joe's grandmas house. Christmas is also her birthday and she turned 80 this year! It was very fun to see lots of family and eat lots of good food.
Now I know all of that sounds pretty typical and you are probably thinking where was any of that crazy??? But the crazy part was before and after... This was my parents first Christmas home from their mission so everyone was really excited to be together. It seemed like every night there was another Christmas party at my Mom's house! We were practically there eating great food and melting into her couches the entire month! Then two days after Christmas my sister came into town from California and we all got together some more... My other sister has a cabin up Provo canyon and so we all went and stayed there for New Years and several more days. It was very fun but I think when my sister left Joe was very relieved to have no more of my family for awhile. My parents are in Cambodia visiting for this whole month so Joe is basically free. :)
That was pretty much our Holiday, now back to normal... January is my worst month out of the whole year! I just think it is very depressing! I quit my job the week before Christmas so now I am just staying at home. :) Very quiet and different but I am trying to get used to it. I LOVE being with Ty all the time he is soooo fun! I wish I had pictures to put on here it is definitely more boring without them. Oh well, I hope you are all having a great New Year and getting everything done that you want to. My next few post's will probably be backwards and out of place but hey thats me! :)

A great way to end summer

2009-10-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago my parents took our little family up to flaming gorge for a last quick trip of the summer. They had been keeping their boat up there for a few weeks and had found a really neat K.O.A. to stay at so we decided to check it out. We only stayed one night but we had almost two full days on the lake. Boating is my absolute most favorite thing to do in the whole world, and plus it was so great to just get away and have a little mini vacation. Ty did so great the whole time we left early in the morning on Friday so he slept alot of the way there and he LOVED camping and being on the boat. He was a trooper. :) Thanks so much Mom and Dad for an awesome weekend! It was a great way to say goodbye to the warm weather cause we are certainly in the freezing now! Here are some pics, there are some funny ones at the end. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do...

These were the little cabins we stayed in. It was so nice to not stay in a tent with Ty! He did so much better in his crib here then in Bear Lake. :) They were a really good price also!

After a long day on the boat. We came back and had dinner and just let Ty play around in the dirt. He is ALL boy and loved every minute of it.

Grandpa showing Ty the fish he just caught. He loved them and so did Daisy. Everytime my Dad or Joe would throw one in the boat they would both go crazy. They loved to watch them flop all over the floor.

Ty got brave enough to touch one and then he would look up and smile. He was a little nervous but he liked it as well. There is a "live well" on the boat that the fish can swim in after you catch them and he just wanted us to hold him above it so he could watch them. Everytime we would set him down he would walk over and point to it and say fsh fsh. He is already growing up to be a little fisherman. :)

My two boys hanging on the boat drinking their water bottles. It was sooooo pretty up there! Driving through the canyons on the water was AWESOME!

So this is where you can all think I am a bad mother... I have always thought that Ty thinks he is part dog. He has been walking for months now but still crawls around everywhere after Daisy, he howls at EVERYTHING, and up here he did a new one... Yes he DRANK out of daisy's water bowl! Now most kids would pick up the water bowl like a cup right???? Not ty! He got down on all fours and was lapping it up like a dog! Dont worry though after he first crawled up to it we put fresh water in. :)

Here is a closer look at the "Ty doggie" He thought he thought he was being very funny.

This is after he is very full of water. He knew he was being very cute. :)

Finally an update!

2009-09-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

Ok ok I really want to blog more but everytime I sit down to do it lately I find I have nothing exciting to say so I just read everyone else's news and get off. But after a discussion with my wondeful mother-in-law I have resolved to give many uneventful boring posts from this point on... :) No but seriously I am really going to work on this! As it just so happens I do have some fun pictures to put on today and some stories to go with them, its another long one of course but the end is the fair and so cute so bear with me. :) Here it goes....

Since my brushing post was on here for soooooo long I thought it appropriate to start this one off with a picture of Ty brushing. Plus he is just so gosh dang cute that I have to fill this blog with pictures of him. (you cant tell I love him or anything right?) :)We just got him all ready for church and we were brushing our teeth and so of course he had to do his as well. He does finally have four teeth now so it does make a little more sense. :)
Isn't this outfit the cutest? He has a suit coat as well but it was pretty warm that day. We could use it now though!We had to replace our garbage disposal and the whole time Joe was doing it Ty would not leave him alone. He kept taking away the tools and trying to get underneath the sink so as soon as Joe was done we let him get under there. He thought he was being such a big help. :)Tyler LOVES to eat! As I said in an earlier post he always pulls things out of the fridge and eats them off the floor. So this day I thought I would beat him to the punch and just fed him his grapes right there. He loved feeling like he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. You can tell by the look on his face like he just got caught.

THE FAIR

While the State Fair was here we thought it would be fun to take Ty because he LOVES animals so my friend Alisa invited us and we jumped on it. When Ty first saw this goat he laughed and would pet it, but then it made a really loud sound and he wouldn't touch it after that. He would just stare at it and bark. (He thinks every animal barks) It was very cute!

This cow was HUGE but of course he loved it. He was barking and howling at it the whole time. What can I say I guess having a dog has rubbed off on my son. :)

So I know I look like a freak in this one but I was trying to teach him that sheep say BAAAAA!

It was a fun night and we are sooo glad we did it! :)

If you have no teeth do you still need to brush????

2009-07-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

So to start out this story you all need to know that Ty HATES it when I brush my teeth, I am not sure why, but it usually consists of lots of screaming (on both our parts!) :) Very weird I know... Finally after many episodes I figured out that while he hated me brushing, he was however very intrigued with the tube of toothpaste, I am not sure if he likes the bright colors or if he is just plotting out his revenge on it. But for about two minutes a day I can have sanity while I clean my teeth. Well awhile back I found a little toothbrush that I had recieved on an airplane and I thought maybe he would like that as well, I gave it to him and he seemed pretty pleased. So today started out with the usual crying, I gave him his little toothbrush and his tube of toothpaste and continued on brushing. It got really quiet so I kept on brushing... Still really quiet... I looked down to see what he was up to and he had the tip of the toothpaste (lid on) pointed at the brush of the toothbrush and he was squeezing it. I thought is he really trying to put that on there? No way. Then he put the toothbrush in his mouth and started making "brushing motions" I hurried and spit out my toothpaste and lost it! I thought it was the funniest thing ever that he was trying to brush his "teeth" As soon as I started laughing he got the biggest grin on his face and started giggling, then he went into turbo speed and started brushing even faster and laughing almost as hard as I was! For those of you that dont know, my son is very VERY late in getting any teeth, he finally has one little one on the bottom front that is about halfway in and thats it. Yes he is fourteen months old and is just barely getting his first tooth! So I really have no clue what he thinks he was doing maybe his gums felt dirty :) But it gave me a good laugh and made my morning so I thought I would share. Hope you find some humor in my goofy little man as well. :)

It is about time!

2009-07-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

*** WARNING this is very long so only start if you dare :)***

Hello bloging world I am BACK! I have been really sick of seeing the same old post on my poor blog, and I am sure many of you would agree. :) But the lack of posting must mean that I am out enjoying my summer and living life to the fullest right? I WISH! This summer has been CRAZY! I am very done with working, even if it is just two nights a week, and I have just given up on cleaning my house or any other wifely duty. :) If anyone knows of a maid service and lots of cash just laying around please send them my way! I have been meaning to get on here and update forever but everytime I start there is just to much to do so I give up. Soooo... I will try to compact all of our happenings from the last three months into a mere paragraph and a few pictures and then move on.

When I started out this summer I knew it was going to be a full one but what I didnt know was that my husbands great luck was just going to fill it even more. I swear I really do have the luckiest husband in the world (and not just cause he is married to me ;) He has won so many things I cannot keep track... He started off the season with Taylor Swift concert tickets, next he surprised me with two Lagoon season passes, and to top it all off he wins two FRONT ROW George Strait tickets and as if that weren't enough they were accompanied by backstage passes! I swear I dont know where he gets it but I am glad I am along for the ride. :) We had purchased Kenny Chesney tickets earlier this year and by the time that concert came along I was completely worn out, but because we had actually paid for these and we were going with Joe's cousin and his wife we went and afterwards I had to tell him no more. I need at least a month to recover!

My sister Shelly and her family were also in town from California for three weeks and so there were many crazy family get togethers started by our family reunion in Bear Lake. It was a great trip filled with camping, beach, waverunning, great food and LOTS of awesome family! The weather was perfect and we all had a blast. My neice Haley also tied to knot and so did Joe's best friend Brad. So there were lots of bridal showers, bachlore and bachlorette parties to fill whatever seconds I had left to breathe. On Thursday we are going to my sisters cabin up Provo canyon for a sort of family reunion with Joe's family until Sunday. We are very excited to get together with all of them and share lots of laughs and craziness as well. :) We have one more wedding the following week for my other niece and then I cant think of anything else for a few weeks at least... I cant wait!!! I am going to actually have a night off that I can maybe con my hubby into curling up in front of a movie or something very low key!

Even though it has been hectic and I cant wait to slow down for awhile I am very happy with it all. Everything has been so great and I am so grateful that our lives are sooooooo blessed with people that we love all around us and that we are able to participate in all these great things. I couldn't ask for a better family on either side or for a better husband and son. I just hope that our great Country can hold out a little longer so we can enjoy all the things we do for a few more years. But ultimately the Lord has us all in mind and as for us we are certainly enjoying the journey. If any of you actually made it this far I am VERY impressed! Sorry to unload my whole summer all at once but now I can actually start keeping up again. (I hope) :) Here are just a few highlights of all the activities, there ended up being a lot but aren't pictures the best part?

Here Joe is with the King of Country Mr. George Strait!

It was pretty cool to meet him.

Us with Joe's cousin and his wife at Kenny Chesney

We bought these boots for Ty when we went to the Lehi rodeo but he got to wear them here too. :)

Ty Sharing his food with Daisy at Bear Lake. This little high chair saved our lives up there. You can kind of see our little camp, that is our tent in the background.

Ty loved playing in the sand. It was pretty cute watching him do his little stink bug crawl all over the place.

He LOVED the water. It was just shallow enough here that he could crawl and splash all over in it. He didnt like it when I would pick him up.

My parents just bought a boat and we took it up to Jordanelle for her maiden voyage. The water was still pretty cold but Ty didn't mind, he loved just hanging off the back splashing with his little hand.

We took one day and went to Hogle Zoo. This is in front of the monkey cage they were definitely Ty's favorite. He sleplt through a lot of the rest. :)

And I almost forgot to tell the most exciting thing that happened... My baby turned ONE!!!! He really is a different kid lately. So grown up it makes me very sad. He is VERY talkative and he has walked a little but still prefers to crawl. He loved to smash his cake everywhere. We had a little party with Joe's family and then one with mine. It was very fun to celebrate.

He liked to tear the paper and then he was excited when he saw what was inside!

This was his favorite toy. He is such a little climber that we thought the best thing to get him would be something to climb on that was safe. As soon as we had it set up he climbed right up to the top, stood there and shouted like he had conquered the world. It was very cute!

He loves to slide down the slide but gets a little nervous every time.

I had to put this one on here to tell you what he does. He loves this train before he got his birthday present he would climb all over it like this and think he was so big well then he figured out that he could drag it where he wants and use it to get onto things. Now I cant leave him alone with it for two seconds because I come back in and he is in the craziest places. The other day I came in and he had used it to climb the entertainment center and was banging on the TV! Its a good thing he is cute.

And the last one. He has figured out now that the fridge means food so whenever it is open he hauls right over to it and starts eating whatever he can. The other day he pulled down a bowl of grapes and sat there on the floor stuffing his mouth so proud of what he found.

A fun day out with the cousins

2009-05-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

So I have been meaning to put these on for about a month now but WOW! Time is absolutely flying! I got a job at a pediatric office and worked there for two weeks and then realized I was crazy to try and work during the day because I just dont have anyone to watch Ty, sooo... After an absolute nightmare of trying to shift him around and begging people to watch him (thank you sooo much Jen) I quit. :) But with the problem of money still present I decided to go back to the good old Sizz! :) So for the past three weeks I have been working 3 nights a week, 5-close, at the Sizzler in Orem. Yay! What can I say old habits die hard. But it actually has been good. They are paying me more then the pediatric office was and I pretty much get to pick my schedule plus, Joe gets to have lots of daddy time with Ty. So I feel good about it all around. Needless to say I have been running around like a crazy woman and the blogging world had to come in near the bottom of my list. :( So on to my actual post... This was the funnest day, my neice Haley works at the Lehi fire department and had us over to get a tour and take pictures on all the cool trucks. I cant wait to get some of these blown up for Ty's walls. ( I am trying to do his room in trucks, trains, and tractors) So here they are...

Isn't he just the cutest little fire chief you have ever seen? The red fire engine was out that day but this yellow one still turned out good. They had these cute little hats and badges for kids, Ty wants his off his head but it looked so cute!

We hope this is the only time he will ever be inside an ambulance! :) These are two of his cousins; Cambria and baby Beckham. I love cousin pictures they are the best.

We tried to get this real hat on him but of course he just wanted to crawl away. :) He loved to see all the different trucks they have, there was a lot! I cant believe how heavy those hats are, I would get a huge neck ache if I had to wear it!

Here he is driving the big engine. I love how tiny his cute little bum looks in that HUGE seat! And his little feet dangling over the edge. The lighting is kind of bad in this one but I had to put it on.

I LOVE this one! It is totally how the whole thing was going, Beckham just layed there being good, Cambria was talking like crazy, and Ty was just watching thinking what are we doing? (or just learning to be big like Cambria) He loves her. :)

He thinks he is so big in this one. I love the look on his face like "come and get me" while he 'drives' away. :)

Open House!!

2009-04-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone... I am throwing an open house next Wednesday night (the 29th). I know it is really short notice but I would love to have anyone there that wants to be. It is for this new vinyl thing that I just started and it is AWESOME! Seriously if I could put the catalog on here you would all be in love with it. I know I am! Plus any of you that want to see my house this is a good time as well. :) It is just open house style from 7:00PM to 9:00PM. So anytime you could make it would work. It's going to be a fun girls night out. I will be having yummy refreshments too! :) If you want to have a preview of what they have you can go to my website at http://missys.uppercaseliving.net and view all the products in their catalog. They have a lot of really beautiful things. So if any of you are looking for vinyl or just something fantastic for your home please come that night I would appreciate it a lot! RSVP me either on here or my cell (801) 361-9459. I look forward to seeing you all.

The best homecoming ever!!

2009-04-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

After a LONG 18 months of being without my parents the wait finally came to an end. Wednesday night at about 8:30 my parents flew in from Cambodia and ended their mission!!! My whole family went to the airport to welcome them in, we had big banners and lots of yellow balloons. I think it was a little overwhelming to them to see how big their family has gotten. They were so cute coming down the escalators, it was the best sight ever. :) It has been so great to have them home, their homecoming is on Sunday at 9:00 AM if anyone is interested let me know and I will get you more details. This week has been WAY hectic for me getting ready for them to come home, and I started a new job... Needless to say I am glad it is over!

All of us waiting. There is quite the crowd!
Coming down the escalator... The first time we saw them! :)

Ty saying hi to Grandpa. I love this it is so sweet!

My cute Mom. A little overwhelmed but happy. :)

This one was to cute to pass. This is Ty with his cousin Autumn at my parents house after the airport.

House pics

2009-04-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

So I have been planning on having a house warming party for EVER! But... Life just keeps getting crazier! So just incase I never get around to it (since we have lived here for 4 months now Ahhh) I thought I would post some pictures of our house for those that have not seen it yet. There are just a few and they were taken when we just moved in so it is decorated a lot cuter now I promise. ;) I will post better pics later of the inside. And I hope to have you all here soon. :)

This pic is really dark but this is the entry and you can see into the family room with the big windows. That railing is for the stairway going to the basement. Its not finished but Joe has been working really hard and has it all framed and all the heat vents run now so we will see how soon it gets done. :)
This is just around the corner from the entry. Its the kitchen and dining.
Here is the front. I love how the fog makes the trees all frosty like that. I have never seen that happen until we moved here. I guess with the moisture in the air from the lake it just collects on the trees. I dont know but I like it. :)

And another front view. I am very glad it isnt snowy like that anymore! I will definitely take our little snow storms that we have had lately over this! Even though I wish it would just warm up all together.

Ty's blog

2009-03-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

So.... Ty was getting a little sick of seeing his Daddys bum crack on here so he got on the computer to give a new update. I have been wanting to update for awhile but didn't have anything real exciting to post. Not much has changed around here except Ty has been crawling around like crazy for about three weeks now. It is so dang cute I love it but he is much more of a handful now. He wears me out! So since he is growing so fast I thought I would put some new pictures for everyone to see. I hate that my little baby is gone but he is becoming a very cute little boy. He THINKS he is very big.

This is him getting Mommy in gear to update the blog. He always wants to touch the computer. Maybe a sign of his future?

Here he is resting with Daddy after church. He is the biggest cuddlebug.

Here Daddy is giving him a good education on how to play the Wii. He is very intrigued.

Bath time is his favorite time of day. He loves to splash and splash until everything is soaked. (Including his Mommy)

This is him sleeping in his highchair. I had to take a pic cause it was to sweet.

And here is a video of him crawling, he hates the tile cause his pants slide but he is getting pretty good at it. His nose needs to be wiped so dont watch if snot urps you... :) Poor kid cant seem to get rid of this cold!

One from my hubby

2009-02-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

Alright Joe has been wanting me to post this ever since we moved in, so baby this ones for you... *ATTENTION* Saratoga Springs residents (and everyone else) You are all in luck because the great and powerful Joe and Missy Seely family have just joined your community. And not only that, the wonderful head of the family has decided to represent you all and run for your mayor! So here is a tantilizing little bit for you to wet your taste buds on your newest candidate for office. Joseph Tyler Seely... He was born in 1980 to a wonderful family who couldn't have raised him better. After a slightly strange (Jonah, Brad, and Drewb) but good childhood he decided to spread his wings and move to St. George. He wandered lost and aimless for awhile doing many things that should not be mentioned (since we WANT your vote) until he made the wise decision to move to Provo where he met his saving grace ;) and made the best decision of his life to marry her! (he had better agree with me on that one) He then preceded to be the best husband until his son was born and he added best father to his long list of pros. He enjoys just about anything and anyone. Joe does not make enemies well (dont hold that against him in these politics please) but he keeps friends forever. He loves to do anything outdoors, except camp in the dirt, that he has to do first class (Thanks Dad Seely). If he hasn't tried it once he will, except when it comes to food, he is a little afraid of some pretty mild things though he is not by any means a chicken ;). He is forever the BIGGEST BYU football fan. This man bleeds blue!!! And he loves his family which is of course the best thing of all. So if any of you dont want to WASTE your vote on the next election vote for Mayor Seely! I have enclosed his campaign pictures for your enjoyment.

*WARNING* If any of you like Obama as the president you may want to cast your ballot else where. Mr. Seely's first action in office will be to get him out of our number one seat!

Who came up with this holiday anyway?

2009-02-16T08:46:00.000-08:00

So last Friday my wonderful husband tells me that he thinks that Valentines Day is the stupidest holiday and that it was only created by store owners to help them get through the slow time between Christmas and Easter. I was insulted! I LOVE Valentines! I just think it is the best because it gives you a chance, not just to tell, but to show the person you love the most how much they mean to you. Now I know that you could do the very same things on a regular day but honestly do you? As we battled back and forth about this idea he confesed that he just hates the pressure of the whole thing. He thinks that you can be a great husband 364 days of the year but if you screw up that one day then you pay for it the rest of your life. Now seriously are we women that horrible? Does one day really mean THAT much? Well I am not going to speak for eveyone else but to me... Of course NOT! All I want is to have a day that I can spend with my husband uninterupted without arguments or stress of work and just be happy. No big productions or spending lots of money that we dont have, just bliss... Is that really to much to ask? Well after all this I got up the next day and the house was all decorated with paper hearts and I had a beautiful boquet of homemade paper flowers... What can beat that? When the one you love spends so much time thinking of you and working so hard to make you happy. There is nothing better in the world. So if it takes a dumb holiday that is just made up like Valetines Day to get such a wonderful surprise I will take it! So for those that hate this wonderful holiday that is great. But as for me I couldn't be happier with my perfectly happy day and my perfectly handsome husband.

Lots of our family...

2009-01-18T09:14:00.000-08:00

K I know there are a lot of new posts on here but if you want anything then you get it all at once. :) We have had pictures on our camera since before I went to Cambodia and when we put them on the computer they were all to fun I had to put them on here. So I hope you all enjoy this whole novel of new posts. Here are a couple of our family and a really cute video we took of Ty last night. He was soooo happy.

Our meager little Christmas

2009-01-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

So this was our little Christmas. Of course Ty liked the wrapping paper as much as the gifts Santa brought him, but it was soooo fun to watch him try to unwrap everything. Joe bought him this Sanata outfit and we had him wear it on Christmas day. He almost has the belly to pass as the real thing! No facial hair though. :)

Lots of Ty...

2009-01-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

What a messy face! He loves to make as big of a mess as he possibly can when he eats. I love it! And so does he as you can tell by his huge grin. How can you not smile when you see that?

I know that these are alot of the same kid but what can I say? He is our entire life. :) And we couldn't be happier.

The cutest puppy ever. :)

2009-01-18T08:22:00.001-08:00

K I know that these are a little past the holiday but we just put all our pictures on the computer so here is some halloween. With all the excitement about Ty Daisy was feeling a little left out so I told her I would put some pictures of her on our blog. :) The first one she was stuck behind all the pumpkins and was NOT happy. She kept crying to get down to where we were. It was just to cute to pass up! And the next one is a daily occurance. She LOVES to sleep with Ty when he is taking his naps. I just think it is the cutest thing in the world.

My favorite place on Earth!

2009-01-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas, Joe and my brother John needed to go to California for some work training so we decided to make a trip out of it and tag along. We only had a few days but we spent one of them at DISNEYLAND! and I couldn't ask for more! As many of you know DisneyLand is my favorite place on the planet and to be there right before Christmas is the BEST! It is just absolutely magical. They have everything lit up and huge christmas trees and music. And they even make it snow on main street after the fireworks! It was so fun to be there with Ty and think of the many great times we are going to have as he gets older. We also loved being there with my brother and his family. Their daughter Autumn is 10 months older than Ty so we watched her while they rode the rides and then they would watch Ty, it worked out perfect. It was a great way to start the holidays.

The experience of a lifetime!

2008-12-11T22:34:00.000-08:00

Alright I know there is alot here but WOW! That is the only word for this trip. Tyler and I had the great opportunity to go visit my parents on their mission in Cambodia. There is just WAY to much to put in here about it, but here are some highlights. We were gone for two and a half weeks and it was to long to be away from my cute hubby. But it was soooooo great to have my parents meet their newest grandson. I loved it! The country over there is very third world and because of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot they are set about 50 years back from all the other countries around them. Its very sad but the people are so great. They just loved us from the moment they met us. We toured the whole country from the Killing fields to the Angkor Wat ruins. It was an awesome experience that I will never forget and that Ty will never remember. :) To bad. We have lots of pictures to prove he was there though. Oh and yes those are fried Triantulas! A delicacy we were told. You wouldn't catch me eating one!

Do you know the Bumbo Man?

2008-12-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

We got this for Ty awhile ago and he loves it! This was when he first sat in it and he thought he was just so big now that he could sit up on his own. We have a little baby Mozart video that he loves to watch so I just let him sit in this and watch it to his little hearts content. Aren't I a good Mom? Getting him addicted to TV already. :) Anyway he is almost sitting up on his own now without the bumbo but I just thought these were to cute to pass up.

Teaching him right from the start.

2008-12-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

This year Joe's awesome parents gave us season tickets to the BYU football games. We figured now that we are parents we better get them started young. It was a little hard to find babysitters and so after missing a few games we just decided to take him with us and he did GREAT! He wasn't sure about all the screaming after touchdowns but he really was an angel. We wished that we had been taking him the whole season. Any how he is already a big cougar fan and Daddy can't wait until he is ready to tackle! Maybe he will play in the NFL and make his parents rich. :)

our little walmart baby

2008-07-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Read my shirt, All American.... God bless my USA

How Patriotic

2008-07-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Missy and I at the Wadley 4th of July breakfast. It was sooooooo yummy

Pleasant Grove fireworks

2008-07-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

2008-07-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Ya I know I have huge guns, allready bigger than uncle Ryans.... you may kiss them if you like..

2008-07-03T11:09:00.001-07:00

After one of the greatest rides ever. Splash Mountain Disneyland!!!!

2008-07-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Nicole can you help me? I need an appointment to get my hair fixed....

The proud papa

2008-06-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

I LOVE being a dad!!!

2008-06-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well, Well I suppose I will make an effort to create a blog spot for the world to see my wifes hot face on it.
of course you will have to forgive us for the mess, as of now this site is under construction