What did YOU do with yours?

I'm talking about that dress you dreamed about all of your life...and wore for one day. I love my wedding dress. It was different and unique and clothed me on the most exciting day of my life...but now it is hanging in a corner, kind of in the way. It has been in the closet of my mom's sewing room which she recently cleaned out, so now it is homeless. My little family is trying to share one closet, so there is really no room in there. I don't think I could sell it, by the end of the big day, and trekking all over the Manti Temple grounds, it isn't exactly in mint condition. I could get rid of it, but there is always that feeling of wanting your daughters to be able to see it and take it to the young women's activity where all the moms bring their dresses...hahaha. My mom still has hers but its sleek and small (what the heck? she was TINY. ask any of my sisters. from the time we even thought about trying it on, it was too small for any of us.)...so it doesn't take up any room . Anyway, I'm just curious if the majority of people kick em or keep em.

The Birthday

Easton turned 2 on October 16. He had been talking about his birthday for a couple of weeks. I don't know if he really knew what was going to happen, but he kept talking about green, blue and orange presents and a green, blue or orange cake and how he would blow out the candles. It was so funny. I prepared for a day that I hoped would live up to his expectations. The night before I (and Randon) stayed up to put up streamers and balloons like my mom (and dad) always did. As I was wrapping his presents, I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I had also decided to make him a little ABC scrapbook thing with pictures of him with something or doing something for every letter. Of course I was up late getting it done, wondering if it was even worth it. It turned out cute, but I knew there was a big possibility he wouldn't even give it a second glance. Anyway, he woke up in the morning and I took him upstairs to see his presents. The first thing he saw was his bike which he thought was pretty cool. We had him open his presents and it was so fun to watch him. He even opened the book I made him and said "Momma, you make this!" (He had seen me making it) "I like it!" Well that right there made it all worth it. He spent the morning playing with his toys... (Cass got these cute pics of him)I mentioned going to the zoo, and he was so excited. By the time we got around to leaving, it was his naptime and he was so tired from the exciting morning, but he just kept saying he wanted to go to the zoo. So off we went. He loved seeing all the animals, and it was so fun to see all the babies. The baby elephant was so cute! We heard about the baby giraffe and the baby tiger all day. When we got home, Great Grandma and Grandpa Rass were there to celebrate and even gave him some money! Easton took a little snooze and then it was time for pizza and birthday cake. Grandma and Grandpa Russell also came up and brought him a cool little step stool that they had made. Grandma and Grandpa Rass got him a little block train and a book. Aunt Chantel even brought him some trucks that he loves to play with. So spoiled! I tried my best to make and blue, orange and green cake, and tried to use marshmallow fondant. It turned out looking more like a cake from Dr. Seuss land or something but thats okay.

Finally getting to blow out his candles!
I made eclair cake for everyone else to eat and thats what he preferred to eat too!

It was a fun day, I loved watching him having so much fun.
Happy Birthday Buddy!

Happy Halloween!!

We had a great time with the cutest little buckaroo in the west. Easton got to go to two trunk or treats and trick or treating on Halloween. Holy cow, times have changed! The first one was a boys night night with Randon's friend BJ and his son, Sam. They had a fun time and I went to pick them up and got to watch him go up and say Trick or Treat! and a quiet little thank you. So cute! He loved it! If you know this kid, you know he LOVES candy. He was in heaven...and continued to be the next two times. He loves his hat and now wears it every time he goes outside. Randon...didn't dress up. I begged him to go au natural and just wear a loincloth but he declined. Maybe next year... Hope you all had a spooky fun time!!

Guess Who had a Birthday?

*Disclaimer - The following is written by a mother much smitten with her child and could perhaps contain gag inducing bragging and sentiment. Should the above mentioned content offend you in any way, please discontinue reading now. Thank you and have a nice day*

Easton is 2! What? Huh?! I can't possibly have a two year old! Seriously, you hear all the time about how fast time flies...but wow. It seems like overnight he went from my baby to this chattering opinionated hilarious little man child. I love him so much. He is growing up so fast and there is no stopping it. I miss my little baby but at the same time my heart swells with pride (is that bad?) and love as I watch him learn and grow. What can I say about Easton? Practically perfect in every way I guess. Haha. I'm his MOM, I get to say that. He blows me away with how fast he learns. Don't worry, he just asked Grandma to draw a "baby octagon" the other day. He loves to draw and color and knows all of his colors. He knows his letters and loves to count... and it usually goes 5,7,8,9,10! Yeah! Who needs the 1,2, 3,4 and 6 anyway? He sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (more like his own words to the tune) and its the cutest thing. Oh and he sings the "Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh" part from Single Ladies by Beyonce. Hey, we have a nice variety of music over here. He loves to be outside and jump on the tramp which is pretty funny because he usally gets some good air. He is obsessed with gum and candy. Yeah. Not so good. He has the worst diet because he has so many adoring fans around here to get him whatever he wants... he can throw a mean little fit too. Where did that come from? Gotta love the two year old stage. Anyway, between comments such as "Niiiiice boots, mama!" and stories telling me he wants a blue present and a green present and an orange present for his birthday or that he is having a Halloween party and dressing up as a monkey, he keeps me thoroughly entertained and smiling. I just really really like him. He has these perfect little chubby cheeks and wonderfully pudgy little hands that grasp my finger when we go up or down the stairs, and when I go to get him from his nap and he looks up at me and smiles and says "I missed you, mama!" my heart just wants to burst into a million pieces. He is such a great little guy, I'm really lucky to be his mom. He makes the hard times seem so much brighter and makes the most important things in life really stand out. Did I mention that I love him? Okay. I guess the disclaimer was a good thing. He had a splendid little birthday. Pictures to come!

Lovin' This Time of Year!

I love Halloween. It's no secret. I also love haunted houses and corn mazes. I am probably too old but luckily I still have friends and a husband who will go with me. So last year, we spent too much money on the lame Castle of Chaos. This year we got the gang together to go to the crazy corn maze. I was so excited...as you can see, as was Randon. He was so genuinely super excited, bless his heart. Okay, so he smiled just to humor me. What a dear.

The verdict was...it was awesome!!! Here is the gang. We actually got a little lost and there was even a short little spook alley after to go through, that was, dare I say, WAY better than Castle of Chaos. Terrifying! It was so fun, and all for a better deal. It was so fun to hang out....we don't get out near enough. And Traci (left) and Jenny (2nd left) are BOTH expecting little babies and I'm so excited for them!! They came out to brave the fright, pregnant and all!

Emily and I scared to DEATH in the corn maze... the worker thought he'd jump in the shot at the last second. He thought is was hilarious. I agreed. Thanks for going guys! I'm glad we all survived!

We also went the other day to the good ol' punkin patch to get some punkins. Easton was SO excited. Any time he would see a pumpkin anywhere he would point it out, so I was excited to see his reaction to a whole field full. He was rightfully amazed. Finding just the right one...

He was definitely a fan of the baby pumpkins. What a stud.

"The One"

He sure doesn't look it here, but he thoroughly enjoyed the pumpkins. Fun times!

It's Time

Oh good heavens, where does the time go? It's time. Yes it's time for me to update. So to summarize... this was forever ago, we had a fun play date with Em and Brenley and Laura, Cam and brand spankin new Chase! It was so fun to chat and watch the kiddos!

We made it out to this lake in our hood...I guess I shouldn't give away our exact location if I haven't already...anyway its just tucked away in this neighborhood, its more like a pond than a lake really. But it has a sandy beach and perfect for swimming. Fun! Of course we had to have a little drama and Easton fell in the water and his little lifejacket didn't work so well and flipped him over. Luckily I was right there to grab him, but from then on we knew that lifejacket wasn't going to work for us! All in all...good day.

This was our nightly summer activity...Easton loves him a good bikeride. And he looks pretty darn cute in a helmet.

We also made it to the County Fair to get our MOO on.

After the five minutes of looking at the animals, it was uh....pretty lame.

No offense to fair goers. Maybe the state fair was better.

Next it was off to Lake Powell with my dad's side of the family. It was awesome. We borrowed a portable DVD player for Easton on the way down. He wouldn't let me help him with the earphones. He prefered it his way. Haha. He demanded to watch Yo Gabba Gabba the. whole. way. Have you ever seen it? Well pretty much if I ever see it again or hear that wretched music I'll gouge my eyes out and cut off my ears. Anyway....

It was a splendid time. Grandpa with Easton

and his cousin Gage on the houseboat.

Easton was content to play in the sand or float near the beach the whole time. We forced him to go on the waverunner for a sec.

That was not pretty.

We had some pretty awesome tube rides. My Uncle Chris is pretty much the death master. Yeah I just gave him a new title. This ride was the mother-daughter with my lovely mother, me, my cousin Destiny and her mom Jodie.

"Wooohoooo this is pretty fun and thrilling.""Yes. We might very well die."

Apparently I don't ride the right way though. In the pic you can see my sweetheart of a husband, my dad and two cousins having a marvelous time. The boat barely had time to start up before someone was pushed off. Psh. Lame. Riding white knuckled, sitting properly is so much more hard core. And mind you, Randon had tore something in his rib area previously wakeboarding. So you'd think we'd take it easy, no? Sigh.

Cass held her first annual Masquerade Ball. It was flippin awesome. I wasn't able to stay long, but watch out next year. I'm goin all out. If you weren't there, maybe I can put in a good word for you and score you an invitation to the HOTTEST event of the year!

Well now, whoever could this be?

Don't be fooled! Its just the Rassy girls.

And boy am I excited about this time of year! And so is Easton apparently. He was so excited when he saw the "baby punkins" in the store. He even took it with him for nap for a while. What a cute kid. Happy Fall!

More Happenings

Its time again for another update. Summer is just flying by. We went with my family for a little camping trip up Fairview canyon. It was so nice to go and relax. It seems like we used to take quick trips all the time when I was little but they happen less often as we've gotten busier. Easton thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially his mini sprites. He refers to everything bubbly as "toke". Hmm. Weird.

Sweeping the dirt is always an enjoyable activity.

The cooler boss.

Helping Boppa with the dutch oven breakfast that I'm pretty sure almost stopped my heart from beating but was sooooooo good.

After that I was able to attend girls camp. It was a blast! We were able to go to the Heber Valley Girls camp that was gorgeous. So fun. I have no pictures. Sad. The day I got home from camp, we headed out to Lava Hot Springs to spend time with Randon's family. We went to the water park which was pretty fun. Easton liked playing in the pool but there wasn't really anywhere to get out of the sun, so we bailed early to try to get him to take a nap. (Unsuccessful.) When everyone got back, they were talking of floating down the river. Sooo.... um.... have you ever been there? Well none of his family had so we had no idea what to expect besides what we saw from the road which looked like a nice lazy river. So, Randon and I think, hey, they have little lifejackets, we can just get a double tube and sit Easton between us. People! Ah. If only I had gone with Jenny and Traci and Emily and known before. Turns out...its pretty much a river full of death rapids. And no one told us it might not be a good idea to take your BABY! (okay almost two year old.) Well we went and took Easton and hit the inevitable rapids. I hopped off to try and get us to the side and well, it was head over heels down the river for me. It was actually really scary, only because I didn't want Easton to get hurt or drown or get upset, but I look up and Randon's trying to keep his footing and keep Easton above water. Ah! We find our way to the side...our tube is gone, our shoes are gone, Easton is okay, but we are pretty scraped up. Randon's back was hamburger (pretty much how I imagine Traci's was when I heard that story so long ago...I don't know why it didn't click that this was the same event that caused it!) We climbed over some barbed wire into a field and luckily two of my sister in laws were there who had had enough and seen my flip flop floating along so they though it might be a good idea to see if we were okay. After walking through a prickly field with no shoes, we made it to safety. I felt like mother of the year, just sick to my stomach I had taken my child on that river, though Easton seemed just fine and happy to tell the story, "Fa! Wa Wa!!" over and over again. And he would see a tube and shout, "Big O!" So I was really grateful he was okay. Seriously though, no warning signs or anything? Really? That same day we saw a girl with a bloody head and one headed into an ambulance. You'd think someone might tell you of the possible risk... Anyway, of course I don't have any pictures of this either. But fortunately I'm a great artist. So....here you go.

Looks like we had a pretty rough go of it, huh? Anyway, it was great to spend time with the Russell fam and the rest of the trip was fun. Then, after some recoup, we headed off to Idaho for the Powell reunion. Randon had to work, so I was mean and left him behind. It was nice, I love it up there. So many of my memories of my Grandma and Grandpa are when we were at the reunion, so it was a little hard to be there without either of them. It was good to see my Grandma's siblings though. (We missed you Mel!!) Easton had fun and had no trouble finding the dirt. By the night before we were ready to leave he was filthy!

At the reunion, they have a raffle to raise money for the next year. I remember getting so excited for it clear on back when I was a youngin. Easton made a haul.


He even got a bag to carry all of his toys.

I love this pic, this is what Easton does when he sees a flower. Gotta smell it! Haha.

I guess that sums it up for the last little while. I can't believe summer will be over soon!