What have I been up to?

this....

I have officially opened up and Etsy shop selling these awesome towel bags. The bags are inspired by sister in law and they have been to so fun to use and make. I use my bag everyday at the pool and I cannot believe how much I can fit in there. Typically we have 7 towels we take to the pool and I put our toy bag in there too, it is amazing. Best of all it is a towel, so it dries well and I can wash it!!

So take a minute and check out shayzrbeam on Etsy. I am going to put a special surprise in the towel bag for the first 5 people who make a purchase!!

*I would like to thank my friend Lauralee for making my banner, she did awesome, it was what I asked her for to a "T".

I never really liked baseball until now....

Baseball has never been a favorite spot of mine, there is a lot of standing around and not as much action as other sports. I don't mind going to an occasional Major League game here and there, but it is not something I would choose to watch over football, well, not until last night anyway.

Porter had his first coach pitch game last night and it was awesome. I was so proud of him for just going out there and trying something new, and he was good at it! He is on a coach pitch team and they go through the line up so each player has a turn to hit each inning. I don't think they even kept score, it is more about just learning the basics of the game. After it was all said and done Porter has said he likes the hitting part the best, there is too much waiting when you are in the outfield. It will be interesting to see if he wants to play next year.






Porter is number 40.


Porter and his friend JP, I am so glad they are on the same team!

Our trip to Utah....

We have just returned home from a very exciting, fun, and super exhausting trip to Utah. We were so lucky to be able to go, Andy had not been home in two years and this was also his first vacation since we have moved here. It was so great to see everyone and spend time together and to see all the babies grown up to little toddlers. I am so lucky to be a part of such a great family.

I cannot believe how quickly the time goes by, 8 days is fast when you are going 90 miles an hour. Our days were filled with visits to Grandma Pat's, a BBQ with family and great friends, pedicures, a tea party in Grandma Great's room, Girls Favorite Things night and a movie, going to the Family History Library downtown, the temple (multiple times), dinners (everything involves food ya know), mens fishing trips, a party with Cinderella, games (Catan, TTR, and Skip-Bo), and a night at the new Heber Valley Camp.


Tessa and Great Grandma Pat


The original OG gang, so good to be back together again!!


Madison getting her first pedicure.


Girls favorite things night was so much fun!! We went to this awesome italian place downtown that I cannot think of the name right now and then afterwards we went and saw a chick flick!
The favorite things that were given were: KayLee-memory photo book of 2009 and a rosette flower pin, Aubrey-a giant towel bag for the beach or pool, Shay-a handstamped keychain, D-recipe blog and platters, Erin-note cards, La La-necklaces, Grandma Great-room scents from BBW.


One of the mens fishing trips.


Tessa and Cinderella.


Cinderella and Carlee.


The cousins with their slip and slide day in the sun.


Our little fam up at the Heber Valley Camp.


The big family on the ropes course, this was at Shark Island.


Andy braving through his fear of heights.


My girls looking for bugs to put in their bug catchers (thanks aunt Erin!).

Wow, going through the pictures is so fun, we made some awesome memories. Thanks to everyone in the family for making such an effort to be with us and for always coming down to Grandma's. Thank you to Matthew, KayLee, and Grandma Great for making it possible for us to come and visit, you made the kids year by giving them this trip.
We love you all so much!

I so made this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to make something special for Porter's teacher this year to show her how much we loved and appreciated her and I got the crazy idea to make her a quilt. I read on a friends blog that she had done it for her daughters teachers and I thought if she could do it, so could I. So with a little inspiration and this awesome tutorial, I did it!!

An end and a beginning....

Soccer has ended and so has school. We have big plans for the summer... the pool and having a baby, sounds good to me.


(The name of Carlee's soccer team was the Green Geckos. One of the parents happened to work at Geico and they gave everyone on the team a Gecko, it was so cute!)







Porter's kindergarten graduation was so cute, he knows that he is officially a 1st grader. He loved his teacher and so did we. Mrs. Caputo was wonderful and I hope that Carlee gets her when it is her turn for Kindergarten.

Backyard photoshoot and bragging....

The other night we were in the backyard, Andy was hard at work raking and getting the garden ready while I sat in the chair and just soaked in the surroundings. My belly is getting to a point that makes it difficult and uncomfortable for me to bend over, it's just awkward. So I got out the camera and took some pictures which turned into Carlee asking me to take her picture every five seconds. She keeps asking me how she can be one of the girls in the picture frame (you know when you buy a new frame and there is random person in there, yeah, that is what I am talking about.)













Now, I would like to take a few seconds to brag about my husband. I just have to say what an amazing husband I have. He is the best father ever and is always working so hard here at home when he is so tired from working so hard at the hospital. He NEVER comes home and asks for a few minutes of quite or to un-wind, he always just gets right in the swing of things and starts playing with the kids or helps me make dinner or works in the yard, it is always something. I just feel so grateful to be married to someone who is truly a partner. Last weekend Andy tried so hard to be sure I had a good Mother's Day. On Friday night he took us all out to Malley's for ice cream (it was more out of guilt because he was 2 hours late getting home and I had to miss something I had been wanting to go to for months-- and we had a gift certificate) but he still took us trying to make sure our night wasn't ruined, and then he rented me a red box (we have no cable or Netflix anymore). Saturday he was an hour late, but came home with a babysitter, told me to get ready, and he surprised me with dinner and a movie (Iron Man 2 is really good), something we never do. Then for Mother's Day he surprised me with the Rachel Ray cooler tote from Costco that I wanted to take with us to the pool this Summer. I asked for it about a month ago and he said it was a piece of junk, but really he had already gotten it for me!

Over the past few years I have learned so many things, one being that doing things for the people we love and care about requires effort and can be annoying sometimes when we all live such busy lives, but it is so worth it. Andy made me feel so special by surprising me with a date. He was aware of how busy he has been and knew that we needed a date and some time together and he acted on it. Instead of just coming home and having another night of dinner, playing, bath, bed, picking up, and a quick game of Monopoly DEAL he went above and beyond.

More on Andy....he is not afraid of anything, okay lie, he is afraid of heights, but that is it. The other night when we were cleaning up after dinner I asked him to take out the garbage. When he opened the door out to the garage he started yelliing for the dog and was just yelling all sorts of weird noises. So I poked my head out and asked what he was on and he said there was a racoon eating Molly's food. The WHOLE rest of the night (seriously every 15 minutes) he would just randomly open the door going to the garage and yell and scream determined to get the racoon. It was so funny. Finally at about 9 o'clock, there is more screaming and the dog is freaking out. He had busted the racoon again in the garage and he and Molly chased the racoon up a tree. So of course the kids get out of bed and I am forced to put my good read down to go and see the racoon. I am not sure I will understand the need to chase the racoon and scare it (why not just shut the garage and be done with it), but it was entertaining, something that Andy is very good at, he is always making me laugh.



Final thing on Andy....he participated in the ward talent show last night. We got the idea for his act from when he was in Med School in Maine. A bunch of the male med students got together and performed the Riverdance (they just watch it on a TV and do what the see) it is pretty funny. Here is last nights performance.

Acting loco with the little banditios.....

Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo and we celebrated! I don't know the last time I ever celebrated that holiday, but we did this year and it was fun. I was able to go into Porter's class for the day and be a part of the party there which was great. We made tacos, bean burritos, ate chips and salsa, played Mexican instruments, and I even got to have a "Moc-arita" (parents only)! I read a book to the kids (Skippy-Jon Jones) and I couldn't help but talk like the Taco Bell dog (and on a side note, when we drove by Taco Bell the other day Tessa yelled out "TACO"). After school we came home and made tacos for dinner, I love Mexican food and can never have too many tacos or refried beans, so I think we are going to keep celebrating Cinco de Mayo every year!