finally alone...i'm not happy:)

I'm finally alone and I'm not as happy as I thought I'd be:). My kids are all in school. All of them. Every day. My oldest is in 6th grade and my youngest is in kindergarten. It’s taken me 12 years to get a few hours to myself everyday. I tried to explain to my husband why I felt so excited/sad/weird/happy/relieved/depressed. He didn’t get it. I tell my girlfriends that this milestone in my life has happened and you girls get it. You instantly understand why I feel this way. You know how much time is spent with your kids and then one day you just send them away and you’re left to yourself. I am partly excited though. Maybe I’ll actually start writing on my blog:). Maybe I’ll start exercising more. Maybe I’ll solve world hunger. More than likely, I’ll just watch a little TV and eat some Oreos. I need to pace myself after all!!!

Chickens

It’s funny the things you do for the man you love! I married a cute farm boy that knows how to shoe a horse, castrate a cow, and hunt and slaughter his own beef…which were all, by the way, on my list of things I wanted in a man!!! Just kidding! When we were first married, he wanted a dog. I said “no.” I told him that we could get one when we were done having babies, when we had a backyard, and when it was fenced. Low and behold that day just sort of snuck up on us so now we have Sir Louie Von Pepper, a yappy little gray miniature schnauzer that likes to pee on my stuff. Then we somehow added fish, which aren’t as bad because they don’t pee on my stuff! The other day, Preston mentioned that we should get chickens. Now we now have 7 little chicks living in a box in my office because they are too small to go outside, and he is almost done building a coupe which takes up 16 square feet of my yard. I may sound like I’m complaining but I’m really not! I’m just confused how we turned into Little House on the Prairie overnight! Although, it will be fun when they are big enough to go outside forever and we have fresh eggs every day.

River Rafting Trip

Anyone who knows me knows that I am an indoor girl at heart. I think that if you spend that much time and energy and money on a vacation, you should get room service and fresh towels brought to you. Rafting with the Grays was just the opposite, but it was a blast!!!

We went down the Green River for 6 days. We would set up and take down camp every night so that we could go further down. We fished, played games, and got to know each other better. Aside from the 20,000 mosquitoes, it was great and we’ll be doing it again next year. I’m glad that Preston comes form a tight knit family. They are always having fun together, doing crazy things, and I love them all!!

My kids ready to go to battle with water guns!!!

I caught a one-eyed catfish.

Preston was the captain and we were the terrified passengers…ok so I was the only one who was nervous and the kids had a blast!

the Grays!!

Family video

Giant Brothers Multimedia is owned and operated by my favorite video guy Spencer Hale. He is an award winning vidoegrapher and such a fun guy!!! For our 10 year anniversary, we had a family video shot at Liberty Park in Salt Lake. Preston wasn’t a big fan of our wedding video, so this was sort of like pulling teeth to get him excited about this. But after he watched it, he loved it! So now the plan is to shot one every 5 years!! He’s really affordable and great with kids and grouchy husbands, so call him if you want to set up one for your family!

Click on the Giant Brothers Multimedia link under Family and Friends to watch my cute family movie!

By way of introductions…

I have loved looking at other peoples blogs and catching up with family that live out of state. It’s fun to see everyone’s pictures and hear about my friends lives, so I thought I join in! I thought I’d start with an introduction to my awesome family.

Preston and I have been married for 12 crazy years. He’s the coolest thing that ever happened to me! He treats me like a queen in every way. He cooks, helps me clean, and is an awesome Dad. He is in the Bishopric so he’s gone a lot, but that’s actually one of my favorite things about him…not that he’s gone a lot, but that he loves the Lord and serves with all his heart.

Taylor is my animal guru. He knows everything there is to know about every animal there is! When he grows up he wants to be the next Steve Irwin. His baseball team, the Oriels, are the Eagle Mountain Little League champs. He’s a really sweet kid!

Cameron was just baptized in March! He loves to play baseball, football, basically any sport there is. He’s a really loyal friend and it’s funny to me that everyone says “he’s so quiet,” because when no one is looking he can be the craziest kid in the house!

Katie, aka Lucy Magoo, is a born superstar. She loves to sing Taylor Swift songs into her toy microphone and she dances all the time! She’s a girly girl, so we get to paint nails and play dress up a lot! But since she has three brothers, she still has to know how to throw a baseball and get dirty without complaining.

Evan is the baby but refuses to admit that he is. He wants to be a big kid so bad! He loves playing with his siblings and is always good for a gigantic grin, from ear to ear…which usually means he just did something rotten to his sister.