going. going. gone.

so, today i did something really dumb. you probably can see that already. i set my cell phone in the cup holder of katelyn's stroller. when i put the stroller back in the car, i totally forgot my phone was there, so it fell out into the parking lot. when i backed the car up i went over a little bump. i made sure to drive by slowly so i could see what i ran over. i was pretty disappointed to find out that the bump was my cell phone. now old, ruined, destroyed cell phone.
the whole way home i kept thinking, why couldn't it have been my sunglasses? bummer.

Let Freedom Ring

Happy 4th of July! Don't you just love this holiday? What better way to celebrate the fourth than with a parade, some good food and family?

We took Katelyn to the Freedom Festival parade in Provo. She loved watching all of the entertainment.

She even clapped when all of the bands walked by.

Later that afternoon we had a bbq with the family. Sadly, this was really the only picture we took. This is my sister taking a picture of our group.

Tyler and I didn't get to see fireworks this year. Katelyn woke up at five that morning, so we opted out and decided to let her go to sleep instead. Instead, we entertained ourselves with some sparklers. We had heard that you could make shapes with your sparklers and take some pictures, so we tried it out. We actually have quite a few pictures of different letters and shapes, but have decided to spare you and only show you our initials.

Happy Fourth!

UVUphoria

On Monday, Tyler and I attended UVSC's celebration for transitioning to a university. My nice sister got us some discounted tickets because she is a faculty member there. So we braved the heat, found a nice spot to sit and sat back and enjoyed the show.

3 country singers were invited to perform that evening. Josh Gracin, Collin Raye and Joe Nichols. I won't lie, we had no idea who Josh or Joe were. We went there just for Collin Raye and totally loved singing to his songs. I know, that totally dates us.

We took plenty of pictures of ourselves having fun. This one totally reminds me of an engagement photo.

Part of our group that was there. If you'll notice, we were pretty far back.

After a great, but long show, we got to watch some fireworks. I spent most of my time trying out the firework feature button on our new camera.

Random Pictures

I've been meaning to post about Katleyn and all of the fun things she has been doing and learning. Just be prepared-it's kind of a Katelyn overload. Since none of the pictures really connect, I've titled this post random pictures...

Katleyn has now learned to fold her arms for prayers. She normally gets a really serious look on her face, but for the camera we get a great big smile.

Katelyn has learned to put her sunglasses on. What a babe!

She's always such a great helper too. This is Katleyn "helping" me pack for Wisconsin.
Sleeping..what's that? This is her new favorite past time. Waiting until mommy puts me down, then partay!
Katleyn loves playing outside with all of the neighbors. She also loves playing in the pool.
Althought she isn't walking yet, she is getting more confident.

Trip

Tyler and I took a trip out to Wisconsin the first weekend in June to find a place to live. We kept busy the whole time searching for the perfect place. We were told that the best way to find a place in this area was to cruise through the neighborhoods looking for "For Rent" signs. There were plenty of signs around, so that was very helpful advice.

While searching, we spent a lot of time doing this...

I used to hate the grid system, but after spending plenty of time looking at this map, I realized the value of it.

We saw a lot of fun things while driving around the Milwaukee area, including these statues in someones front yard.

And this sign in another front yard. These signs were actually quite popular in this area. We were even told that if we liked Bush it was best to keep our mouths shut about him. We definitely were not in Utah anymore!

After lots of searching we realized that housing in Wisconsin was SO different from the Orem/Provo area. We were going to have to start eliminating some items off of our 'must have' list. For instace, a dishwasher, big closets, and a nice big counter in the bathroom.

In the end we found a great duplex to live in. The kitchen is reasonably sized, but it also has a dining room. The bedrooms are hardwood floors and there is a ton of storgae space (Every place we looked at had TONS of storage space in the basement). We have a garage to park in (yea-this will be nice when we have like 14 inches of snow). And, we actually found a place with a walk-in closet! Those are very rare in this area.

After our long search, we headed to Chicago to have some fun and celebrate our 3 year anniversary. We got to see the musical Wicked, which we absolutely loved.

A New Tag

I've never seen this one before. Should be fun!

How To Play This Game of Tag:
Post these rules on your blog.List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

Okay-here we go...

3 Joys:
1. My sweet baby girl and my hubby. I never knew how much added happiness we could have in our home until she came. I love, love, love that girl. And what an incredible person I am married to. So helpful, thoughtful and sweet. I can't believe we've already been married for three years. It's flown by so fast.
2. Sundays. I really do love Sundays. I love being at home with my family. I love taking naps. I love going to church. I love listening to the talks/lessons. I love Sunday dinners. I love playing games with family or friends. What isn't there to love about Sundays?
3. My sisters. I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of sisters. We're all such great friends. We're all so alike yet so unique at the same time. (That probably makes sense if you know us). It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them when we leave for Wisconsin.

3 Fears:
1. The dark. I'm such a wimp at night. I really hate the dark. It's not so bad if other people are around, but if I'm alone, I hate it! In fact, if Tyler is away for the night I will always keep a light on in our apartment. I blame the news and scary movies for this.
2. Katelyn getting hurt. I've never been a worrier...that is until Katelyn came along. Now I worry that something bad will happen to her. Again, if the news would just lay off of these horrible stories about little kids.
3. Not having enough food storage. I just read a book recently about an event happening in the world that caused things to go awry. Basically the characters ended up with little food and water and got terribly sick. It got me to thinking about our food storage. Now that times are getting a little more tough, I feel the need to be even more prepared.

3 Goals:
1. Serve more often and more willingly. Honestly, this is something that Tyler and I talked about for FHE one night. It's been on my mind evers since. I think I could do so much more than focus on me, me, me all of the time.
2. Exercise. I'm not even going to say how often. For me-it's just exercise because right now I don't. I hate, loathe, despise exercise. But lately I've been thinking it's about time. I could use some toning. (Tyler, stop laughing. I really mean it).
3. Keeping our bedroom clean. I'll just keep it at that.

3 Current Obsessions/Collections:
1. Scrapbooking. I've never considered myself a crafty person at all, but I've really enjoyed scrapbooking pictures of Katelyn. I guess I just needed the right motivation.
2. Photography. Lately I've been reading everything I can get my hands on about photography. I would love to be able to take creative pictures of my fam. We just got a new camera so we'll see how it goes.
3. Books and Reading. I love having tons of books in my home. Having taught second grade for three years, we have plenty, but I would still love more! Now that I am home with Katelyn, I have become addicted to reading and am frequently visiting the library for something new to read.

3 Random/Surprising Fact About Yourself:
1. I love cereal. If I could eat it everyday, 3 meals a day, I would. I would probably plan cereal as one of our dinners if Tyler liked cereal as much as me.
2. I need food. I know we all do, but if I don't eat regularly, I get extremely ornery. I'm not one of those people who can miss meals or go a long time without eating. It really affects my mood. Just ask Tyler. :)
3. I hate clutter. That is one reason why I loved this apartment so much. There is a place for every little thing. Everytime we've moved we make big piles for DI. I just can't keep things that will sit around for no good reason.

Phew. I made it. Hopefully you readers did too. Now I tag 5 people.
1. Kristina
2. Joy
3. Heidi
4. Megan
5. Sarah

Piggies

When Katelyn was first born, I remember imagining what she would look like as a one year old. I remember thinking that she would have a full head of beautiful brown hair, and that I would always be pulling it back to make some cute little piggy tales. Every mother of a little gir dreams that, right? So I stocked up on rubber bands, hair bows--you name it--all in anticipation of that momentous day.

Well, that day didn't ever really arrive. At least not the one where she had a full head of hair. But I finally decided that she does have enough to pull back into two cute little piggies on the top of her head. Sure, she could still grow a little more hair. Sure, her bows look pretty big next to her piggies, but it works.

If you look closely, you might actually see some hair sticking up by the bows.

Katelyn with her cute piggies (At least we think they're cute, but we're biased).

Katelyn with daddy after church.

Another shot of Katelyn in her piggie AND proving that she does crawl. She likes to show that off now.