I can't believe it but Marina just turned one. This past year certainly flew by. Seems like she was just born. I remember laying in the hospital with Marina next to me in awe at how tiny, and beautiful she was and still is. Well, we had two parties one on Saturday with my family and then one on her birthday, 9/11, with Josh's fam. She got lots of presents and loved her cake and ice cream. She hesitated at first with the cake, because she didn't know what we were giving her, but once she started she just dug right in!

We were outside pulling weeds the other day, and I looked over at Marina and she was walking around the yard so I kept pulling weeds not realizing a lady walked by with two dogs and Marina took off after her. It took Marina about fifteen seconds to make it across the yard and into the street. Josh was mowing the lawn and ran after her. Good thing cuz Marina would have followed that lady and her dogs all the way home. Marina loves dogs and cats. Whenever she hears a dog bark she stops whatever she is doing and looks around saying, "da un, da un!" On a different note, I need some ideas, our anniversary is coming up in November and we want to go somewhere fun, but we can't really think of where. We are thinking a three or four day trip so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

This is Josh trying to make it back over the river at the Sinks in Lander. The Sinks is where the river goes under the mountain and disappears. The river comes back up about half a mile down the road. Where the river goes under the mountain it makes a cave and Josh decided to cross the river and see how far he could see down the cave. Of course, my brother in law, Brandon had to follow him and they both almost fell in. Brandon did slip and his leg got all wet. Boys, will be boys what else can I say?

1. Where did you meet your husband?

We met on Washington Blvd. in Ogden, Utah. I will admit it, I was cruising the 'vard at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday night. I pulled up to a stoplight and Josh was sitting there in his eclipse. He asked me to race, and noticed I had a flat tire and asked me if I knew how to change it. I said no, so he changed it for me and then asked for my phone number.

2. What is the first thing you said to your husband?

Josh asked me to race and I said, "Are you serious? My Ford Escort against that?" He was driving a turbo Mitsubishi Eclipse and I was driving a very slow Ford.

3. Where was your first date?

We started our first date at the Pie Pizzeria where I ordered the biggest Coke they had. Josh later told me he was impressed that I wasn't being a typical girl by ordering water and a salad. Then we went to a Weber State hockey game. It was my first hockey game and I was hooked. I have loved watching hockey ever since. Then we went back to my house and watched a movie. I had a lot of fun and I believe Josh did too.

4. Where was your first kiss?

Our first kiss was actually on our first date. It was on a couch at my parents house. I have to take the credit as the one who initiated. I have to say that I think Josh was surprised because it was our first date. Of course, perhaps I should be a little ashamed because it was our first date.

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?

We started dating in Jan of 1999. We went out about three or four times then quit dating for a couple of months. Then we started hanging out together again in May. We started seriously dating at the beginning of June and we became engaged on Sept. 11. I remember because it was a week before my birthday. A lot of people think our engagement was short but I think it was just right. We were married on Nov. 4. So we were engaged for about a month and a half.

6. Where did you get engaged?

At my parents house. Josh had been telling me for a week he bought me something for our three month anniversary (I had never dated anyone longer than three months so it was kind of major that we were still dating). Anyways, Josh had called my Dad to ask for permission to marry me earlier that day. My parents at the time were at the racetrack and my Dad could hardly hear Josh so after Josh asked him a couple times he understood and although he was dumbfounded he gave his permission. So that night Josh gave me a package and when I opened it it was a pair of old shoes. Then he pulled the ring out of his pocket and asked me to marry him. We have the whole thing on tape, because my family was there. I have to admit I expected the present to be a ring.

7. Where were you married?

We were married at the Bountiful Temple. I went to the Bountiful Temple open house when I was around 11 or 12 and when I walked through the Sealing Rooms I thought they were beautiful and made a goal then to be married there. Josh didn't really care which temple so I got to decide.

8. How did the reception go?

The reception was fine. We had it at a church in Layton, Utah. The reception was long. We didn't get to eat hardly anything and we were both starving. We put chairs behind us in the reception line and had plates of food on them and when there was a break in the line we would grab a bite to eat. The only bad part was that I didn't get to eat any of my wedding cake. We cut the cake and there were more people to see and by the time I had a moment the cake was pretty much gone and so was the time. It was already an hour past our scheduled time and so we just left. But other then that our reception was great! We had a second reception at Josh's parents house in Lander Wyoming the next day.

9. How was the honeymoon?

The honeymoon went great. We went to Thermopolis Wy. We got married on a Thursday, had our reception in Utah that night, and a reception in Lander, Wy on Friday. Since we both were in school at the time we had to be back to Utah on Tuesday so we spent the weekend in Wy. We went to Thermopolis because it has one of the largest natural mineral hot springs in the world and it was close. Our first hotel was terrible. It was old, the remote to the tv had to be picked up at the front desk, there was no bathtub and the shower leaked out into the bathroom. We left after the first night and went to the Holiday Inn, which was much better. We plan on taking a second honeymoon for our 10th anniversary, a longer one.

Okay, I'm done. I'm tagging Michelle and Amy.

I'm back on the Internet. We moved into our house last week and did not get Internet access until a couple days ago and then we went camping on Friday and just got back today. Therefore, I have not updated my blog for awhile. I have been tagged by Jami and I will answer the questions soon. I want to find a couple of pictures first and that might take a couple of days.

As I mentioned we went camping. We went to a place called the Pinnacles campground. It was really pretty and the girls had a lot of fun. They loved that they could play in the dirt all they wanted. Marina would toddle around and fall down in the dirt and just lay there. Needless to say they were very dirty when we got home. On the way to the mountains Camryn wanted to know how the tent would stay up because mountains all lean. She didn't know how she would be able to stand up. She wanted to make sure we found a mountain with a flat top. Camryn is kind of a goofball. I woke up in the middle of the night Sat and Alexis was standing in the middle of the tent crying because she said her legs hurt and that she was cold. I told her to get back in her sleeping bag, because it was freezing, and she said she couldn't find it. Josh got up and put her back in her sleeping bag with a blanket. Well the next morning she had no recollection of what had happened. I don't know if she was ever really awake. We had a great time and it was nice to go and relax after unpacking (again) for a week.

Here's my little camping baby, who loved to eat dirt, rocks, and sticks!

Oh and here's a picture of my new kitchen. Josh doesn't really think I should post pictures of the outside of the house, for safety reasons. We are still getting the house organized and I think it will be awhile before that happens, but at least we are in.

Here's Marina proudly sitting in her toy. She emptied all the toys out and then proceeded to climb in all by herself. She thought she was pretty cool. She is getting big too quickly. She has started to walk and she turns one next month. We are doing good. It is time for school to start. Camryn and Alexis need something to keep them busy.

Here we are at Hell's Half Acre. It's 320 acres of crazy rock formations. It's a small canyon with caves, and twisting and colorful rocks. The movie Starship Troopers was filmed here. When you look down into the canyon it does look almost like an alien landscape. It is located between our house and Casper Wyoming. We went to Casper on Sat and went to the mall and did some shopping. We also went to a furniture store and looked around, because we have to furnish our new house! I'm excited to have my own home again. We all had a fun time going to the "city." I've decided there are some things I enjoy about living in a small town. For example, there is no traffic, no wait at the doctors office, and people at places like the bank know you and treat you very nice. But I still don't know if I could live in a small town forever. For now though, it's okay.

We went down to Utah last week because Josh had a conference in Salt Lake. We took Alexis and Camryn to Lagoon on Saturday. They loved it. Going places like Lagoon are a lot more fun with kids. They just got so excited over every ride and they really loved the water fountain that they could run through. Of course, they got soaking wet. Thanks to my Mom for watching Marina so we could ride the rides with the older girls. Well, here's a picture of Marina discovering flowers at my Mom's. She loved the flowers, but she still hates the grass, notice she is not standing on the grass. She also said kitty on Saturday. So cute! Her extensive vocabulary now exists of ma ma, da da, hi, and kitty. Sometimes I think she is trying to say thank you. Marina has also taken her first step. She will be a year next month. This past year has gone by so quickly, seems like I just barely had her. But I guess that's how it goes. So I try and remember to savor every baby moment, every snuggle, and every slobbery baby kiss.

Here's Alexis's birthday cake. I don't know whose more excited, Alexis or Camryn. Alexis is six years old. Her birthday was in June, I'm just a little behind in the blogging arena. It is hard to believe that I am old enough to have a six year old. I still feel like I did when I was eighteen. Who decided to trust me with children? That's what I'd like to know.




We went to the hot springs waterslide park in Thermopolis, Wyoming for Alexis's birthday. Alexis and Camryn loved the waterslides, especially because they could go down the slides with no help. Marina didn't like the pools very much, because it is a hot spring and the water tastes funny. I also think it hurt her eyes. Anyways, here is a picture of Marina and her cousin, Peyton, after a long day at the waterslides.

Well that's it for now. Hope everyone out there is doing good. We miss everyone!

So I'm going to really try and blog more. The problem is finding time and my baby girl wants my computer everytime I get it out. I'm back down in Utah, Josh is going to a dental conference this weekend so I used that as an excuse to say hi to family and get some school shopping done for the girls. We found a house!!! We think we will close on it by the end of August. I'm so excited to have our own house and not rent. The house we are in right now has too many problems to even list. Alexis and Camryn are enjoying taking dance. They got to ride on a float for the Riverton parade a couple weeks ago. Camryn said the funniest thing the other day. She sneezed in the car and said, "Mommy, I got blessings all over!" She said that because of course we say "bless you" when somebody sneezes.
So I tried to put some pictures on, but my computer is being stupid and won't let me so I will have to do that later.

So here's a quick blog. We have been at a family reunion all week so I haven't had a lot of time on the computer, but I have a couple of minutes to mention a few things. Most important Josh finally got his license!!!! Yeah! He had his first real day on Tuesday and loved it. It is still kind of unreal to me that we are really done. Other then that not much happening here. Marina wants to walk, not crawl. Alexis and Camryn are taking dance lessons, which they love and they just finished swimming lessons. I'll take some more time later to write about the family reunion and post some pictures.