I updated the look with a background that I made using digital scrapbooking freebies. I LOVE collecting them and think that it is so awesome that you can get great stuff absolutely free! I put a link to "Scrapping with Ikea Goddess" in my "Blogs that I love to stalk" section to the right, underneath our family info. This is my go-to site to find the best freebies, in case you're interested.
I have to tell you about another fun blog: Cake Wrecks. These terrible cakes and the blogger's comments crack me up!
I have to tell you about another fun blog: Cake Wrecks. These terrible cakes and the blogger's comments crack me up! 
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Make sure you click on each of these cakes to be taken to their stories!!
And, by the way, I fixed my comments so that anyone can leave a comment--they can even be anonymous. I now even get an email letting me know it's there! I love getting comments so much--if you leave one you could count it as doing your good deed for the day, with such little effort involved!!
On July 24th Tammy took Lana, Zach and us to Arctic Circle where the kids had a fun time on the playland
and then to the arcade at Toad's, which used to be Mulligans (out in the North end of Ogden). They now have the arcade, go-karts, and a batting cage in addition to the golf & mini golf there. 
Faith's favorite game is Deal or No Deal
and Christian loves the fishy merry-go-round. We had lots of fun!
On July 26th I went to my friend Liz' baby shower. I am so excited for her & her husband Matt that they are having their first kids--boy/girl twins!!! They have been together since we were all in high school, it's got to be 19 years or thereabouts! I am also loving that they just moved back to Utah after living in Georgia for the last 10 years. I wish I would have remembered to get a picture of Liz's cute tummy. Oh well, I'll have to get one in another month or so when it starts getting really impressive :D
My other friend with twins, Becky, got to bring her identical girls home from the NICU at the end of July. They were born mid-June at just 30 weeks gestation, but they seem to be doing pretty well. Becky is a fellow dog lover and tells absolutely hysterical stories, I sure miss her being far away! Love and blessings to your family, Becky!!! (Like she actually has time to read my blog with preemie twins and all, not! But I'm sure Carolyn will pass on the well wishes ;)July 30th was the 1 year anniversary of this blog!! I can't believe it's already been a year since I started this thing. It has been a good year!
On August 2nd at midnight, the 4th Twilight installement: 
Breaking Dawn was released. Joy wanted me to go with her to WalMart that night, but I couldn't make it. Too bad it didn't work out, Joy had designed an iron-on for me (<---) so we could get our pictures with our books and appropriate apparel. So funny!! So I designed these next two for her, just for fun:
Breaking Dawn was released. Joy wanted me to go with her to WalMart that night, but I couldn't make it. Too bad it didn't work out, Joy had designed an iron-on for me (<---) so we could get our pictures with our books and appropriate apparel. So funny!! So I designed these next two for her, just for fun:
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Tony picked it up for me and I read it (all 754 pages!!) over the next few days. Breaking Dawn was my least favorite of the series, but I still had fun reading it. I like to refer to the Twilight books as literary cotton candy. Fun, but not much substance ;D Still, I would definately recommend them as an entertaining break from reality. Once you start reading, you can't put them down!!
Here, Faith made a fort out of our lodge bed and sheets. She's always coming up with something fun and creative to play with her brother!
I took this picture of a watercolor Sarah got of her family. Her neighbor painted it and gave it to her as a surprise!! I can't believe how beautiful it is, what an amazing gift, huh? (I just realized that I don't know the name of the artist, I'll have to ask Sarah on Sunday and get it on here--sorry.)
Here are the kids being elephants. Faith loves making costumes and dress up out of paper!
One of Christian's favorite activities at Braegger's lately is popping bubble wrap. "Pa" makes sure to always have some on hand!
The babies (Sierra, Christian, & Noah) just all decided to sit at the end of the driveway and eat their popcicles together. So cute!
And here are Sarah, Celeste, Mom, Lily and Joy out on the lawn chatting while the kids play.
My cuties love to peek through the railing at me.
On August 8th it was Crumpet's 13th birthday.
Here are the kids being elephants. Faith loves making costumes and dress up out of paper!
One of Christian's favorite activities at Braegger's lately is popping bubble wrap. "Pa" makes sure to always have some on hand!
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Something the kids have been loving to do at my mom & dad's on Sunday evenings has been hanging out with the dragonflies. For some reason, tons of dragonflies come every evening to their yard. I couldn't get a clear picture of them darting around, but I had Faith stand still for awhile and snapped this pic when I saw one coming toward her. (It's down by her calf on the left side of the picture.)
The babies (Sierra, Christian, & Noah) just all decided to sit at the end of the driveway and eat their popcicles together. So cute!
And here are Sarah, Celeste, Mom, Lily and Joy out on the lawn chatting while the kids play.
My cuties love to peek through the railing at me.
And here are my baby boys asleep on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
My grandpa Quinn had been cleaning out drawers at his house getting ready to go (he has lung cancer) and had put together bags of stuff for each of us kids. Just odds & ends that he said we would probably want to junk most of, but maybe find an item or two that we could use. I took a picture to chronicle what was in my bag: binoculars, a tiny boom box, several letter openers, a bunch of little matchbook sewing kits, a pin cushion, a scarf and a bunch of other little things. He's so funny!
My grandpa Quinn had been cleaning out drawers at his house getting ready to go (he has lung cancer) and had put together bags of stuff for each of us kids. Just odds & ends that he said we would probably want to junk most of, but maybe find an item or two that we could use. I took a picture to chronicle what was in my bag: binoculars, a tiny boom box, several letter openers, a bunch of little matchbook sewing kits, a pin cushion, a scarf and a bunch of other little things. He's so funny!
On August 8th it was Crumpet's 13th birthday. On the 12th, it was Sarah's daughter Alaura's 5th birthday and she invited Faith to her "Aloha" party. Faith had so much fun! She brought home a grass skirt, a straw bag that she had decorated with shells, candy from the pinata, and little 
paper umbrellas. I hear that there was an awesome sandcastle cake!
paper umbrellas. I hear that there was an awesome sandcastle cake! .
On August 14th it was Tammy's birthday--happy b-day Tam!!!!!!!!!!!!
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August 15th was my & Tony's 16th wedding anniversary. The next day we took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo where Tony had almost as much fun as the kids.
That night, we dropped them off at grandma Braegger's and went out to eat at Olive Garden and then to "Dark Knight." It was fun to get out and have a date!!
Lately, we have been watching some Olympics. We've seen women's fencing, beach volleyball, regular volleyball, lots of swimming (yay, Phelps!), a little gymnastics and some running & pole vaulting. Faith is obsessed and Tony doesn't care for it, so there is a small battle over what to watch in the evenings! We haven't seen a ton, but a lot more than we usually do of the summer events. My big thing is Olympic ice skating!
We're just getting ready for school which starts Monday, stay tuned for pics of my baby who will now be at school all day long!!
