Summer!

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!!

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

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! :)

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

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!

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! :)