Sunday, February 8, 2015

Sug Turns 90!

We went to Moab this weekend so that we could celebrate Ian's Grandpa's 90th birthday, which is a pretty incredible milestone.


We began the weekend with a small family party for Sug.
The next morning we went hiking at Courthouse Wash. It was disturbingly warm for February. Aven and Etta did their best to give me a heart attack.
Etta is a natural climber, just like her dad. 
Ian's dad took us to see some petroglyphs.
An apparently serious moment.
I love spending time with Ian's family. It's always a great time.
I love this picture Ian took of me and my baby.
After our hike it was time for a big party in honor of the nonagenarian. Again, I love this family.
The next day we hiked to delicate arch. Aven has become a champion hiker. Etta does good on the way up, but requires a lot of carrying on the way down.
It was a fabulous trip- we can't wait to go back!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Happy Christmas

We finally got around to taking pictures of these cute girls in their Christmas dresses. This season sure is fun with these little sweethearts:



 








Sunday, November 23, 2014

Metamorphosis

When we moved into our house we found it very odd that the master bedroom was the one that did not have the outside access door. We were never fully comfortable putting our kids in a room with a door to the outside. For the last few years we have been talking about a re-model to remedy the situation and this year we finally got around to it:

What started as Aven and Etta's room  . . .


 . . . was transformed in a new master bedroom:

And what was once the master bedroom . . .

. . . was transformed into a wonderful room for Aven and Etta:


And what was once a fairly useless little nook in the master bedroom . . .

. . . was transformed into a walk-through closet that connects both bedrooms to the master bathroom and provides storage that we didn't have before:


And finally, what was once an awkward and mostly useless wall of  drawers . . . 

. . . was first transformed into a nice storage area for toys that still had an ugly built-in desk . . .


. . . and finally into a truly functional space. We LOVE it:


Another shot of the new master:


 A few more shots of the girls' room:





Ian did an amazing job with everything. He did a whole bunch of things he had never done before and he did them well. As with most old homes, he encountered his fair share of strange problems and head-scratchers, but he figured out a workable solution to every weird obstacle. I am SO glad this enormous project is done!


Saturday, October 25, 2014

Garden After Dark 2014

So I'm a huge sucker for taking low-light pictures, especially when there are a lot of colorful lights. We went to Garden After Dark at Red Butte with some friends last night and I got a few good ones.





Cute kids- we sure had fun!



Monday, October 20, 2014

Ian is Amazing!

just have to publicly boast about Ian's awesomeness for a minute. We decided to take on a home remodeling project in which we will be switching bedrooms with the girls. Throughout this project my main job has been to hand Ian tools and wrangle the kids. Ian, however, has spent the last week engaged in a variety of things he has NEVER done before and he has done an amazing job so far. After watching some YouTube videos and reading some DIY forums Ian has:

-Removed an external door we have never used.
-Framed a new wall, creating a new walk through closet that connects both bedrooms to the back bathroom.
-Hung drywall.
-Installed two new doors.
-Capped off an old section of our gas line. 

He never ceases to amaze me with his sheer awesomeness!

There is obviously much finishing work to be done, but I am relieved that most of the "big" stuff is done.




Monday, September 1, 2014

Labor Day Hike

One of my favorite-ever hikes is the Brighton to Albion Basin Hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Ian and I have been together for over 12 years and even though I have wanted to take him on this hike every year it has never happened until today. That probably makes us sound lazy, but since we can't take Grace Dog up Big Cottonwood we usually end up hiking Millcreek. Any-who, enjoy some pictures of our 3 hour, 27 minute hike, in which we hiked 4.66 miles and climbed 1280 vertical feet:

There is something so beautiful about seeing the ski lifts in the summer. I guess it just gets me excited for ski season.

Apparently everyone else decided to go hiking today too.

Ian took some pretty pictures.

Looking down on Lake Mary.

Lake Martha, with Lake Mary in the distance.

Ian, with Lake Katherine behind him.

Me standing in a hollowed out tree trunk. Notice I'm wearing my cool new X-Files shirt. Hell yes.


Friday, August 15, 2014

Red Butte

Well, my yearly stint as a stay-at-home-mom is drawing to a close, so we are trying to pack in a few last days of fun before we're all back to the grind of work and school. Today we enjoyed a few hours at Red Butte Garden that included a picnic and exploring. I'm pretty sure that we need a new digital SLR. Ours is almost 10 years old and is as sluggish as can be. Most of the shots I took didn't turn out- boo! So Ian, Christmas is coming up . . .

Running through the rose garden.

I swear they DO love each other.

Exploring by the duck pond.

My camera did manage to capture this beautiful image- yay!


asda

Monday, July 28, 2014

Two!

Etta turned two a couple weeks ago, but we finally got around to having a party for her over the weekend. It was fun, as always, to have friends and family over for some laid back birthday fun.


We played "pin the bow on Minnie". We let the little ones go without blindfolds. Etta is a little too smart and got straight to the point.


We did a pull-string pinata, since I wasn't in the mood for head injuries.

Etta blew out her candles like a champ.

She opened presents like a pro.

And there was lots of sandbox fun for everyone.

 




The end.