I love my city.

I grew up in Midvale, Utah (about 15 minutes south of downtown Salt Lake City). I lived in 3 different houses growing up and they were within about 3 blocks of each other. When I moved out on my own I rented a studio apartment in the same neighborhood. My family didn't travel very much. We took a couple road trips through the western states but that's pretty much it. I always knew that I wanted to see the world and live somewhere else. So, it was exciting when I was 19 and I got married and moved to Las Vegas where my husband had been transferred for work. Sure, Vegas is a huge vacation spot for the world and people love to go there to party but I hated living there. I gained a huge appreciation for Salt Lake in the year and a half that I lived in Vegas. Las Vegas is dirty, hot, smelly, windy, everywhere you look you see a mostly naked person, and overall the people are not very friendly. Thayne said Hello to a guy when we were walking into the grocery store once and we were seriously afraid that the guy was going to hit Thayne in return. Salt Lake is clean, has beautiful landscape, four seasons, family friendly, and some of the nicest people. I'm still amazed at how often people say hello to me at the grocery store or walking down the street. I still want to travel the world and experience other cultures but I have realized that Salt Lake is my city and I love it here. I feel lucky to be able to live my life and raise my family in such a beautiful place. Home really is where your heart is and Salt Lake has a tight hold on mine.

The reason I bring this all up now is because Thayne and I were in Vegas just last week. It didn't take long for me to remember all of the reasons I hated living there. The trip was good. We saw some old friends that we hadn't seen since we moved back to Utah almost 6 years ago and we did some fun things with the Biking Convention that we went down there to attend. But I was so happy to come home and so happy that I didn't have to live there any longer than I did.

FAMILY PHOTOS JULY 2010

In July wee spent some time in Monticello with my brother Sam, his wife Roxy and their cute little family. Roxy has picked up photography and she is amazing. She took some time one morning to take new family photos for us. There were so many amazing ones that I couldn't post all of them here but I tried to narrow it down to our top favorites.

THE WHOLE FAMILY

THAYNE & I

KYLE

TRISTYN

KASSIDY

JAKSON

MAX

THE GIRLS

THE BOYS

THE KIDS

Max's birthday party & other stuff

On Sunday we had a little birthday party for Max. We had a few people from mine and Thayne's family come. Max loved seeing everyone and getting to play with all of the kids. Here are some photos of the festivities. :)

Max and I opening his gifts with the help of Joseph.

My mom and sis Blythe

He put the entire top of the cupcake in his mouth. The frosting is the best part.

Jakson stole some frosting from Max

Kassidy, Tristyn & Mariah

In June my good friend Carla got married. I love weddings and was thrilled when she asked me to help out with it. I was in charge of the bridesmaids dresses, another dress for her sister Nicole to wear to the luncheon and some of the reception decorations. It turned out to be a beautiful wedding and I was so grateful to be able to be so involved.

Kyle was Nicole's date for the day.

My friend Liz and I threw Carla a bridal shower. I forgot to get more pictures but the shower turned out amazing. I did the decorations and some of the food and Liz did most of the food. We made a great team. I made the towel cake above for Carla to take home with her after the shower and I framed photos of the happy couple and set them out and I also gave those to Carla afterward.

In digging around in the many photos I have neglected to post in the past few months I found this one from Tristyn's prom way back in April. She looked gorgeous as always and her dress was super cute and unique. There weren't any even close to similar at her prom.