Stoner Family

Colton

2011-07-18T23:10:00.001-06:00

Mod Monkey Party Decor

2011-07-18T16:25:00.005-06:00

Since its been about 4 months, I figured I'd post pics from Colton's Mod Monkey Party, because I've had a few people ask. So, I kept seeing these cute Mod Monkey ideas for parties, but I hated the colors, and wanted to do my own color scheme, so after going to Roberts Arts and Craft I found these cute papers that I did the windmills in and it all went from there.

Here is the invite I came up with. You can get it from my etsy page here and get it with your own custom party details. I sell my products as a print version or a printable, if you like to do the printing yourself.

Here are some pics of the general Mod Monkey decor. I would have to say it is a mixture of monkey and jungle animals theme. I love to add a little mix so it's not all too one item (for example if all the decor was monkeys and banana's, it might get a little old).

My Happy Birthday Mod Monkey Banner. Now it doesn't have any banana's or monkeys in the banner, but that is one thing that I LOVE most about it! It is unique in and of itself! I added some crepe paper and ribbon to give it a little interest.

Again, the banner can be purchased in a printed or printable, do it yourself, item. They are found here in my etsy store.

For the monkey cake I did, I really wanted the grass cupcakes around it, but after I designed some cute cupcake toppers and cupcake wrappers for my Etsy store.

Here were the Thank You's for everyone who came with some chocolate covered monkeys (okay they are bears, but who's really gonna notice a difference).

Colton's 2 year old pics

2011-03-14T15:21:00.002-06:00

Isn't my little man so handsome! My friend and neighbor, Mikki Vierig did these for me, and she is amazing! You can find her here. Thanks again Mikki!

Fun Project for Spring!

2011-03-08T14:29:00.002-07:00

For Colton's 2nd Birthday Party we had a monkey cake and I made some cute grass cupcakes to go around the cake. This gave it the affect that the monkey was in the grass. I saw this cute picture of these grass cupcake wrappers that were cut out with a cricket. Since I don't have a cricket... I decided to do it all on my own.

First I got a template from Skip to my Lou here. You can do it that way I did it and print it and trace, or you can do it digitally and print your own, if you have a good printer. You could always take them to a place like Alphagraphics and get them printed on a good quality printer. I might have to do that next time.

Step one: I cut out the template slightly bigger on top, so the individual grasses would overlap the cupcake slightly.

Step two: cut lots of jagged corners into the top side, giving it the grass affect. This step does not have to look perfect, in fact, the more crazy the better.

Here is the final product before applying to the cupcake. (yep, not very pretty or neat, but no one will notice)

My 4 year old, Ayden, helped me cut out 3 or 4 of them, and he did a dang good job! It was a fun project to do with him. Anytime scissors are involved, he's all in! I just drew a quick zig-zag design for him to follow.

The FINAL product! For the cupcakes I used a larger round top and made individual spikes to try to make it look like grass as well. Since it wasn't the main showcase, they were just a perfect backdrop.

I've also been thinking these would be super cute for easter with some eggs or bunnies on top of the grass! Here's a challenge for all of you, to now get creative with the outside of the cupcakes as well! :)

Max's Blessing

2010-11-02T16:25:00.003-06:00

Like true Kristy fashion, I'm posting pictures from 2 months ago :) Sadly, I just don't have much time to dedicate to editing pictures and blogging. Grady was able to bless Maxwell, and it was a beautiful blessing! I'm so glad he is worthy to do this for our sweet baby! Max did great! And we were able to share the day with our wonderful, supportive family, and a few great friends! Thank you everyone that came and supported us!

The complete 'Stoner Family'- Me and all my boys!

Stoner, Parker and Jorgensen Grandparents, along with my sisters Angie and Amanda, and my cute Peterson nieces! (Ashley gets the girls and I get the boys :)

Some of the decor. Sadly, it was WAY windy and blew a lot of my decorations away from outside and I ended up not using a bunch. But, you get the idea.

2010-08-24T23:25:00.002-06:00

I finally got these done and sent out! What a relief! Now, just to put together his baby blessing... True Kristy style, you'll see pictures in a month or so :)

Welcome Baby Maxwell

2010-08-20T10:00:00.000-06:00

Sadly, my little guy is 6 weeks old today! But, here are some pictures of him when he was born :) I'll have to post pictures later to show you the difference, but he looks just like Ayden!

The delivery took a little longer than we were hoping, but being early, that's how it goes sometimes. I was induced two weeks early, because my blood pressure was crazy high. So, he wasn't too ready to come, and apparently had to finish up some last minute business before gracing us with his presence.

He is such a cute and good baby! I'm so lucky! Since I am so busy all the time with Colton (he was 16 months when Max was born). He's a little sensitive to what I eat, so I have to watch it, and he had bilirubin really bad for a week, so that was a pain in the butt. But, thankfully we got it under control, were able to send the stupid light bed back, and hold our baby! (He did look pretty cute though in his tanning bed when he wasn't screaming)

I also wanted to post some cute picture of Max's older brothers. Two days before I had Max I took Ayden to my cousin Jace's to ride the horse. He has been obsessed with being a cowboy ever since he was a cowboy for Halloween last year. Notice his awesome, cheap, cowboy hat and boots from his costume? He wears them all the time, and had to dress up like a cowboy to ride the horse. So darling!!

And, I love the picture of Colt smiling in his towel! This kid does not smile for the camera much. He's much better at scowling. But, this kid LOVES the tub, and doesn't he have the cutest smile?

MAN I LOVE MY BOYS!!!

Random Pictures of the Boys

2010-06-30T13:32:00.000-06:00

Ayden is sooooo funny! He talks and talks and talks! He really has such a funny personality, and man is this kid smart! He got that from his daddy! He loves to cheese it for pictures, he loves to pretend talk on the phone, and he loves to play tiger/dog/dinosaur. He pretty much is friends with everyone, and he would be outside, playing with the kids all day, everyday if I would let him. He is my little sweetheart!

So, you can see that Colton still has NO hair! I've never even cut it! Maybe if I shave it off, it will grow back. Okay, he has a little hair, but if I NEVER have to comb it, does that count? Man, this kid is a mover! He can go almost anywhere Ayden goes. He LOVES to play with cars, dinosaurs, and climb on anything and everything! He continues to fall off everything he climbs on, but that doesn't stop him, and he continues to hurt himself on a daily basis.

The last 6 months...

2010-06-28T15:11:00.004-06:00

So, sadly, I've been MIA for like 6 months. I'm not really sure why, but I haven't been real inspired to take pictures, which makes me not want to blog. I've really just been focusing all my spare time (which is never much), on my vinyl business. So, over the next little while I'll be getting you up to speed on what's been going on before I have another baby, and then my time will be gone all over again. :)

We'll start at the beginning... Christmas!!!

It was SO much fun with two kids! I can just tell that they will get more fun every year!

We did a lot of fun things, like sledding, going to the cabin, making gingerbread houses, parties, santa, more parties, etc...

I don't have hardly any cute pictures from the party, cause I put my sister in charge of taking pictures and I have no idea what setting it was on, but they are ALL crap! These are the best that we got. But, his party was a blast. Lots of cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents there to support our little guy!

Easter was fun, but man was it COLD! For some reason, I always think it's going to be beautiful, and then I remember that it NEVER is! Ayden LOVED the egg hunts! Man, he's good too! That kid really understands the concept of the more eggs- the more candy! Colton does pretty good too, although, he'd still rather just chase the other kids around and be content with one egg in each hand.

Anyone like cheap vinyl?

2010-05-06T15:31:00.003-06:00

I need a house to practice in!!!! So, then I can take pictures and have a sample for my website. :) There are 2 listed here that I am currently looking for. The prices are on my website www.vineyardvinyl.com So, please let me know if you have a room I could put some vinyl in.

Thank you!

Just a thought...

2010-05-02T23:12:00.002-06:00

I'm sorry in advance for making you listen to my rambling thoughts, but this has been on my mind a lot lately, and I wanted to share it with as many people as care to listen :)

So, the economy is struggling right now, as we all know, which in turn is affecting almost everyone I know in one way or another. So, I'm thinking that we need to all start taking care of one another. The best way I can think of doing this, is by sharing what we don't want or need anymore with those that so desperately do.

When you are cleaning out your closet, or garage, or what not and you find a bunch of stuff that you no longer need, but don't want to throw away; what is the first thing you think of doing with it... Take it to DI right? Sadly, I think this should be the third idea that crosses your mind. Now, don't get me wrong, I support DI and think it's a great program and the proceeds do amazing things, but again... it should be your third choice. Here are my thoughts on the first two.

1- You should offer it, and I mean ANYTHING, to those around you who might need it. Everyone knows someone (or possibly someone who knows someone else) that is a newlywed or a mother of 3 little ones, or even someone who lost a job, that might, just might be in need of those items you no longer need. So, PLEASE, try to think of those around you and at least offer it, whats the worst they could do, say "No Thanks". Then you'd be in the same place as you are now. Super easy ways to spread the word is mass texts, emails or even posting it in your status on Facebook. I bet your items would go quicker than you think.

2- Have you ever heard of a website called FREECYCLE? It's www.freecycle.org and I've been a member for like 2 months and I can't BELIEVE the stuff people get rid of! And keep in mind that everything is FREE. I'm not trying to plug this, really, but it works! And the awesome thing for those getting rid of stuff is that people pick it up! You don't have to worry about a thing. Also, you will notice with time, that items go quick! Like 6 hrs max quick! So, if there is something specific you need, don't just wait for someone to post it and hope that you are the first to ask, just post that you need it in the wanted section. It's a pretty amazing program, and I really wish that more people were on there doing it. I don't know what other areas it's available, but I know it's in more states than Utah.

There are so many things that we could be doing to help each other out and try to be frugal during this rough time. You should also try things like doing local swap meets, where everyone just brings stuff they don't need and swapping for other items they might be in need of. Also, doing trade is a huge help to so many people. Trading services for items, or services for services,etc. Whatever that might be. Most people have something to offer you that they would be willing to trade. Also, if you find an amazing deal somewhere, like the grocery store or a retail store... SHARE THE WEALTH! I doubt I'm not the only one who LOVES to hear about amazing deals on something I was already planning on purchasing.

Let's try a little harder to share the wealth and take care of one another.

Baby Boy #3!!

2010-04-05T15:52:00.004-06:00

So, sadly, I haven't really clued you all in on the new, CRAZY, news in our life right now...

I'm pregnant with my 3rd boy! It still feels so surreal! I still can't believe it! I'm due July 21st. This one and Colton will only be 16 months apart, so I kind of tried to keep it secret for as long as I could. It was a bit of a surprise, so the fact that it's a boy, is actually the best thing for us right now.

But, I would LOVE your help if anyone has a name they are willing to share with me. We seriously have NOTHING to name him. With like a million boy cousins already, I feel like every name has been taken.

But, overall, this pregnancy has been cake, so that's been really nice. :)

New Vinyl Blog

2010-03-25T22:04:00.001-06:00

For those of you who don't know... I have a little hobby that is quickly turning into a business. Vineyard Vinyl. I LOVE to design fun graphics, normally for invites, announcements, cards, etc. But, you can take these graphics and turn them into fun vinyl clings for your walls, windows, mirrors, fridge, you name it you can stick it there! So, I got a vinyl machine about 2 years ago, and I have been playing and having a blast ever since.

I have had so many people want to see what I've been doing and how much it actually costs for them to get their own. So, I'm in the process of putting all my pictures, and graphics together so you can see what I have! I have a TON to come, so keep checking back to see my fun projects. I just started, so there isn't a ton on there yet. And, if you have a cute room, you would let me practice in, you get a pretty significant discount :)

Contact me if you have any questions. Thanks!

Tenielle's Baby Shower

2010-03-01T09:42:00.003-07:00

One of my best friends Tenielle just had her first baby! They named her Emmaline and she was born on February 16th. I was so excited to be able to throw a baby girl shower, I got a little into it. (As you can probably see) Here are pictures from the shower that was on January 16th.

These cute pom poms I borrowed from my girlfriend who had already made and used them for her baby blessing (Thanks Tiff!). They are Martha Stewart Pom Pom kits and you can make them yourself, purchase them and then put them together yourself or I even found a girl that sells them on Etsy.

I made Emmy a rag quilt for her gift and I mixed it up a bit and did it in strips instead of squares. It was really easy, just make sure if you do it, you still have to sew down the middle to make sure it stays together. I did mine in a zig-zag pattern. For the small ones, I just did one set of zig-zags, so there were 'V's. On the larger ones I did two sets, so they formed 'X's.

I did another Candy Buffet, because I just thought it'd be a cute and simple addition. As long as you have jars, and don't spend too much time looking for colored candy, it really is so easy! Here are a few tips:

1- Make sure the jars are on different heights (put boxes underneath the tablecloth). This gives it more dimension.

2- Decorate the jars with bows, ribbon, vinyl, etc.

3- Decorate the rest of the table as well. Simply the candy alone can tend to look bare and boring.

4- Places to get candy: any bulk place (Winco bins, Costco, some grocery stores have the candy bins as well, then you can pick out specific colors in like taffy.) You also can go to specific party places like Partyland, and Zerchers that has a candy section where they sell candy by color. Online sites is where you can get special colors and large quantities. (I used candywarehouse.com and candyfavorites.com)

The food table wasn't anything too special. But, doing something with height, like the cupcake tree gave it some interest and dimension. To make your frosting look good and flawless, just use a piping bag and the largest tip you can get. I also added a 'E' in vinyl to the plates for Baby Emmy to make it not so boring, and it also made it much more personal.

Thanks Tenielle for letting me throw your shower for you! I had a blast doing it!

Angie's Wedding

2010-01-13T14:48:00.004-07:00

So, my baby sister Angie got married December 10, 2009. Man was it cold, but it was a beautiful day! Followed by a beautiful night!

Angie thought it'd be a good idea to have a candy buffet. My mom was so stressed over it, so I told her that I would do it. So, this is what I was in charge of! (oh, and I made her announcements for her, that was a proud moment!) I'd have to say, it turned out so cute!! It was dang yummy too!

After gorging yourself on all the awesome Magleby's food, we got to go dance it off! I so wish I had a picture of me and my hubby, but I don't have one. (So, if anyone got one of us, send it my way PLEASE!)

And, honestly... what's a wedding without a bunch of cute kids, dressed up! SERIOUSLY PRECIOUS! Ayden is seriously in love with Afton, too bad they are cousins. For now, it's cute. Let's just hope he grows out of it! :)

Prepare yourself...

2009-11-16T14:26:00.003-07:00

I'm sorry in advance to all you weak stomachs if you happen to view this.

So, Grady went mountain biking with some friends, and he crashed pretty good. The handle bar came down and jabbed him in the thigh. The crazy thing about these pictures is, I thought it was bad the 1st day!!!

DAY 1: (about 3 hrs after crashing)

DAY 2:

DAY 4:

Now, it's basically all black and starting to heal on the outside edges. Pretty nasty what a handlebar can do to you

LP with Friends!

2009-11-12T16:04:00.008-07:00

We planned a trip down to Lake Powell with our friends in September.

I have to say that Lake Powell in September is the greatest place on earth! The weather isn't too hot, or too cold, the water is warm from the whole summer, and the weather is great! We're talking glass the whole week!

And, my poor husband cut open his hand the second day and couldn't get his stitches wet for 24 hrs. So, basically when we left. Ya... that didn't work!

And not to mention that we don't have our children with us, so it's a little bit of paradise!

So, Ryan decided to tell us right before going in for lunch that it's fun to jump off the boat while going... 1 1/2 hours later we were ready to go in. Now, don't let the kids see these! It teaches all the wrong things!

But, it really was fun!!!

Here's what we did this Summer...

2009-09-10T17:43:00.014-06:00

Mother's Day was actually a disaster... Ayden decided to poop his pants all over the slide at the park, so I got to clean all that up, while Grady cleaned up Ayden. Seriously, I've never been so embarrassed in all my life. But, what you gonna do? Leave? Nope!!! Clean it up :)

But, on the bright side, Grady made me breakfast, I got a pretty gift from my cute boys and I got to talk to Angie on her mission.

Ayden took swimming lessons for the 1st time. It was so nice to have him learn the basics. That way he could be comfortable and not so reckless in the water. Watching him learn something as scary as swimming was so much fun. And, honestly he has never trusted me as much as he did his teacher.

Angie came home from her mission! It was so good to see her!!! Our family is finally complete! It was so cute- the kids, Luke, Afton, Ayden and Parker all lined up in front of us and held hands while waiting for her. They did it all by themselves. I WISH I had a picture of it. It was the cutest thing ever! The only sucky thing is she didn't get in until 11:00pm!!!

And then we went to New York... I'm sure you all have read that awesome saga! If not, take 1/2 hr and read the post. :) Here are some pictures from the fun parts.

I don't know if Grady said much about this museum, but it was the MOST AMAZING thing ever! It was HUGE and they had the coolest, funnest things for kids to do! If I lived in Rochester, we would have a season pass and go every day! I highly recommend it if anyone is ever near Rochester.

The 4th of July is always the busiest, craziest, most fun day of the year! It starts with my family running the Freedom Run in Provo, followed by breakfast at Magelby's, boating (or sometimes 7 Peaks), BBQ's, fireworks, and then the Stadium of Fire fireworks. Gotta love it! Also, my son has a HUGE obsession with 'pato bugs'! It was like pulling teeth to get him to look away from them and smile for me for that super cute picture!

(And, me and my 3 sisters did NOT plan our shirts, but we thought it was so funny, we made my mom change and wear one too! I know! We're dorks!)

So, my baby Colton is getting SO BIG!!! This was him at about 3 & 4 months, and he's even bigger than that now! He's 6!!! He is super happy all the time! Loves to giggle, and has the bluest eyes ever! We are having so much fun with him!

Lake Powell with the Harvey's was so much fun this year! We took Ayden this year and man did he LOVE it! He never even minded taking his naps or going to bed, cause he played so hard, he was exhausted!! He also didn't mind wearing his life jacket all the time, so that was nice!

We had a lot of fun this summer though... Swimming, going to the zoo, boating, dinosaur museum, farms, parks, you name it, we probably did it!

Should I post?

2009-08-26T14:11:00.001-06:00

So, I'm thinking of posting something for you all to see? Sound good? Since I'm such a slacker and never have time to clean my house, let alone post on my blog....

But, I'm doing it! It might take me a couple of days, but you can expect something soon.

Please, share in our misery...

2009-07-14T23:11:00.003-06:00

(This is Grady typing - FYI. Prepare yourselves for a novel.)

We recently took a trip back to the Rochester, NY area. My grandmother passed away last December (future thanks for any condolences) at the young age of 98. Almost our whole family was able to go back to where they lived and where she was to be buried (just outside of Palmyra, where they grew up) even though we moved them out here about two years ago. We were so excited to go back with the kids. Little did we know the trip from hell awaited us.

We left on Wednesday, June 24th. While getting everything together that morning Kristy asked me to get our passports and birth certificates since we'd be visiting Niagara Falls (yep you need a passport for Canada now). I got everything together and realized we didn't have Colton's birth certificate. We spent the next 45 minutes tearing the house apart (and yelling at each other in the process :) before finally giving up and leaving late to the airport. Now we're both mad at each other and I'm flying to make sure we get there in time. We do, and get our bags checked, our tickets in hand, and head through Security, which with two kids, a stroller, a car seat, and multiple bags is one of the worst things ever.

But we make it to the terminal, where all my family is waiting only to have the employee at the gate tell everyone that all flights in and out of Chicago are delayed. Uh oh. She also mentioned that more than likely any connecting flights are also delayed. That gave us a faint glimmer of hope. We finally boarded and the flight went fine until we started to descend. Kristy had been sick the previous week (thanks to me) and now her ears wouldn't equalize and was in so much pain she was bawling from pain as we landed.

Having never been to Chicago's O'Hare airport, we were unprepared for the sheer madness and lack of direction available there. It took us 30 minutes to haul two kids and bags from one side of the airport to the other (after my computer back strap broke). We get to the terminal before they've boarded (which is completely packed) only to have the lady at the desk tell us they have no seats for us since they've been given away.

"WHAT!?"

Yep, they gave away our 13 seats because we weren't here a half hour before the original departure time, EVEN THOUGH THAT FLIGHT (AND EVERY OTHER FLIGHT) IS DELAYED!!

We begged, we pleaded, and they worked to get us on board. Only 11 of us made that flight, and my parents managed to get on a later flight into Rochester. Now none of us are together, but luckily I was able to get a seat with Ayden. He slept through the last part of the flight and woke up as we started descending. He needed to go the bathroom so I set him on my lap facing me thinking the guy at the back of the plane was waiting for the bathroom. I suddenly felt a warm sensation starting and my stomach and working its way down and realized I'm being peed on.

I pick up Ayden and go to the back of the plane. The guy...he's just stretching his legs. Bathrooms are all unoccupied. I clean us up as best I can and head back to my seat. Meanwhile, Kristy is by herself bawling because of the pain in her ears again. We finally land and I get off (naturally carrying as many things in front of me as possible - the pee stain on my tan shorts couldn't be more noticeable).

We get to baggage claim and grab Ayden's car seat, a bag for my parents, and that's it. Kristy's bag doesn't come. My brother's family's bags don't come. My parents other bag doesn't come and neither do the bags for my aunt and uncle. Awesome.

After waiting a half hour to get the rental car we try to get something to eat only not even grocery stores were open at midnight, so we head back to pick up my parents, hoping the rest of the bags will arrive. The only ones that show up is Kristy's and one of my brother's. So we head to the hotel.

The next day we all drive to Niagara Falls and the thunderstorm of thunderstorms hits just as we get into the city. It's completely pouring, there's lightning everywhere, and just as we come to the main area for the falls, lightning strikes a quarter mile from us and knocks out the credit card machines all around. We manage to pass an hour or two and finally the rain stops and we get to see the falls. Ayden loved and managed to get himself soaked chasing birds through the puddles (oh and we got in just fine without Colton's birth certificate, which we realized we actually have never received).

Then we left Niagara, got something to eat by our hotel and hit the sack. Kristy slept with Colton and I was with Ayden, and around 1:30 AM I am woken up by the feeling warm vomit all over my back. Ayden had thrown up on me and all over our bed. We call down to the desk, get new bed linens, I change, and we go back to sleep. 4 AM - same drill. Ayden throws up on me, the bed, and we get to do it all over again. (Ayden couldn't have been less concerned or sad, in fact at 4 AM he was ready to play with toys)

Next morning (Friday) we give him a little bit to eat, and head out with my family to go to Palmyra to see the church history sites. In our infinite wisdom, we fail to bring a second change of clothes for him, and just before we get off the freeway exit by Palmyra he throws up on himself and his car seat. We find a dollar store, buy him some clothes and try our best to clean up him and the car seat.

We finally get the Joseph Smith farm and I take Ayden in the Sacred Grove to try to find my family while Kristy feeds Colton in the car. We get all the way to the other entrance of the grove when Ayden says he needs to go the bathroom.

"Perfect. There's a bathroom right here."

We walk the 30 feet to the bathroom, and I start taking off his pants and underwear when I realize he's already gone. He's pooed his pants and it's run all down his legs. I spend the next 20 minutes hand washing his crappy clothes (pun!) and him in the sink of the bathroom.

Kristy, meanwhile, has no idea where I am and is waiting for me as the rest of the family has already headed down to the Hill Cumorah. We put our brains together, and decide to finally put Ayden in a diaper and the day goes by much more smoothly.

Saturday is the funeral and burial. The funeral goes by without a hitch, and we travel to the cemetery just outside of Palmyra. After the burial, we decide to go to a lake, but instead of Lake Ontario 20 minutes away from our hotel, we drive for 2 hours to the Finger Lakes to go on some paddle boats there. Except they closed 30 minutes before we get there. We hang out at the lake for a half hour when all the women want to go shopping. We go to main street in the little town - closed.

So we all go eat at a restaurant and leave to go back to our hotel. Kristy and I leave a few minutes before everyone else and ended up taking a different path. After about an hour and a half we're just getting ready to get off the freeway close to our hotel when a deer jumps out into the highway and I hit it with our rental car. The worst part, is Kristy was sleeping and woke up when I jerked the wheel slightly in hopes of avoiding the deer. So the first thing she was was the car meeting the deer.

We make it to the hotel around 10 PM and check the damage to the car. Bumper broken; grill broken, hood bent, and the radiator is leaking. Hooray!

After a call with our insurance that night and with the car rental company the next day they ask me to drive it into the airport rental office (about 25 minutes away). Luckily, not a lot of the antifreeze and leaked out. I just barely got it here before the thing overheated on me and got a new car. Meanwhile, everyone else was going to go to church at 10:30, except the ward there met at 9:30, so that worked out really well as well.

It starts pouring again as we make our way to the airport that afternoon, but luckily nothing was delayed and we make it to Cincinnati without a problem. The flight to Salt Lake was great, and Ayden slept most of that too. He ended up waking up as we landed and was crying because he couldn't get comfortable on the seat so I picked him up and set him on my lap (facing out) and once again, I found myself with a warm sensation all over my legs. He peed on me again. Luckily, Kristy didn't have any ear problems coming home.

So, in a nutshell, this is how our trip went: delayed flight, almost missed another flight, lost luggage, potential ruptured ear drum, peed on, thrown up on (times 2), pooped on (sort of), throw up in car, hit deer, car overheated, and peed on (again).

And yet, we still had a lot of fun on the trip. Go figure.

2009-05-07T12:00:00.000-06:00

Our little family!

Colton is all blurry, but this is how Ayden smiles when you ask him to, and I just had to show you all!

Grandma & Papa Stoner

Grandma & Papa Parker

Great Grandma and Papa Jorgensen

Colton's baby blessing was on Sunday. Graydon gave him a beautiful blessing. He blessed him with so many wonderful things! I'm so grateful to have such a happy, healthy baby. We also have such great family who support us in all that we do. Life is good! Now, if I can just get my butt into my clothes...

Photo Shoot

2009-04-25T09:12:00.005-06:00

Potty Training...

2009-04-25T08:57:00.002-06:00

This little bum has been a common sight around our house the last couple of weeks. So, I decided after changing two kids in diapers for 2 weeks that I didn't like it. So, I tried potty training Ayden, and he took to it very quickly! It really only took a week for him to go on his own without me reminding him every two seconds. But, the second week, we started going out and he'd have an accident, cause he would forget. So, then we finally got him to understand while I was running errands. But, then this week has been a whole new week! He's had like a million accidents when he's out playing with kids. Apparently he just gets a little too excited! So, hopefully he'll get the hang of it before too long. I just have to keep reminding him for now. And, I must say, it is totally worth all the work! Good job Ayden, mommy is so proud of you!

Easter 2009

2009-04-20T16:45:00.009-06:00

Colton and Ayden- Easter 2009

I'm so sorry I've been MIA. I just have so many better things to do :) he he... not really, but I have been busy.

Easter was awesome! Ayden is the egg finding King! He pretty much cleaned up every hunt we went to. He must have his mom's competitive side! The first hunt, he got like 5 and called it good, but once he realized that they have candy inside... Every other hunt was a whole new story! Ya, we went to 3 egg hunts this year. (Ward party, friend party, and a family one)

I was able to teach in YW on Easter, so this year really had a lot of meaning and spirituality for me. One thing that really touched me this year is that the Savior suffered every pain we've ever felt for us. That includes the pains that we have from other people's decisions and sins that affect us. I've really been grateful for my Savior this year and the comfort that I've been able to feel during my tough times through the Holy Ghost. I love my Savior Jesus Christ!

A few more pictures...

2009-03-25T14:47:00.005-06:00

Grandma Parker

Just hanging out in the room

Watching his show

Looking at pictures together. Ayden liked visitors as well.

Our cute friends the Benders!

My little stinker!!!

2009-03-24T14:35:00.001-06:00

So, I left all the boys home to go to Young Womens on Sunday. Ayden was downstairs watching a show, and Grady was upstairs with Colton. Now, anyone that has a 2 year old will know that you have to actually check on them every once in a while...

When I came home, after being gone for an hour, I came down to check on Ayden and guess what?? He found some pink acrylic paint and decided to help me decorate. First, his face, hands and clothes, then, my table, the carpet, the couch and a pillow. Isn't that so nice of him?

I know, you are all thinking right now, why the crap didn't I take a picture! Because I was so mad, I didn't want to ever remember this moment, I just wanted to get it out of my new carpet as soon as possible!!!! Now, a proud moment for me right now, is that I actually got the paint out of everything except his shirt. And, seriously, these were not small amounts of paint. about a 2'x2' piece of carpet covered, and the ENTIRE yellow pillow was pink. Apparently the secret to getting paint out is carpet cleaner. It was the only thing that would work. Spray and wash did nothing.

As much as I wanted to be soooooo mad at Grady and point fingers and yell... I am the one that left my paints out where Ayden would see them. So, pretty much both our faults, equally!

And, this is why I need my craft room back! Enough of the office being in the family room!

My cute little stinker, with his beautiful eyes!

Hi Colton!

2009-03-05T22:12:00.005-07:00

So today was busy.

We woke up early and drove to the hospital for Kristy's induction appointment. They got everything hooked up, but it seemed like it sure was taking a while. Then, all of the sudden the nurse checked her and said "Let's get the doctor in here and get started." About 30 minutes later, we said hi to Colton Kimball Stoner.

He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and measured 20.5 inches long.

I've attached a few pictures we took (we cut Kristy and break and didn't include any of her after delivery). We'll get some better pictures up soon!

Start the year off fresh!

2009-02-27T20:44:00.004-07:00

The Stoner family has decided to start the year off with fresh new haircuts!

Sorry it took me so long to post a picture of mine. Sadly, I haven't been taking many pictures lately. You think you'll get a new camera and go crazy, but I've been a bit intimidated. It also doesn't help that I'm pregnant and my face is swollen almost beyond recognition. So, the thought of someone taking a picture of it and documenting it forever... not so cool!

So, sadly, we cut Ayden's hair as well. I KNOW! It's so cute when it's all done! But, sadly, it only stays that way for about an hour. The whole rest of the day it ends up looking like this...

In his face, messy, and totally ugly!

So, we cleaned him up a bit. Sadly, his new haircut makes him look SOOOO old! (to me anyway) I love it though, cause I can style it in so many ways!

Also, just to give you all a quick update with the baby... I've had pretty high blood pressure the last couple of weeks, so the Dr. has been concerned and was going to take him if it didn't get down. So, typical me, I freak out and have to get EVERYTHING done, just in case, and what happens... my blood pressure goes down!!! I know that's a good thing and no one wants to have their baby 3 weeks early if they can help it, but I was so ready! So, now I'm just hanging out. The Dr. said that he'll take me a week early (this coming Thursday, 5th) if I'm dilated enough. So, keep your fingers crossed for me. I went 2 weeks early with Ayden, so this whole last 2 weeks of the pregnancy is more miserable than I would have thought. I'll keep you all updated!

Scrapbooking Party

2009-02-07T15:20:00.003-07:00

Attention anyone who likes to scrapbook and likes Close to My Heart products!!!

I am hosting an Open House on Saturday, Feb. 21st from 10am-2pm at my home. If anyone likes free stuff, yummy food, and making some free cute cards, come on over! For more information go to my scrapbooking blog.

Better late than never...

2009-02-02T13:45:00.008-07:00

So, I got a new camera for Christmas, and it's taken me quite a while to figure out how to do ANYTHING!!! So, here are some pictures from Christmas. I'm still trying to figure out photoshop and aperture and all the fun programs that you get to use when editing your pictures. So, bear with me, and I promise I'll get better. :)

Grady, Christmas morning...

It was our first Christmas alone, and it was so much fun being able to give Ayden all our attention. He was so much fun watching unwrap a present and then be ready for the next 30 seconds later.

Isn't my niece Afton so dang cute?!

Opening presents at Grandma and Papa Parkers

Parker loved the wrapping paper more than the presents!

Parker's new chair!

The kids had a blast playing in the paper after the madness!

We went up to the Jorgensen cabin the day after Christmas, and man was there a ton of snow! It's always so beautiful!!

Ayden and his stupid gloves... next year he will have gloves that stay on his hands.

Mandy and Luke playing in the snow!

Ayden was a HUGE fan of the snowmobiles!

Lukey! What a sweetheart!

Dad pullin Ayden in the snow.

Ayden would have stayed out all day if we let him.

Papa and Ayden on the snowmobile. (or bike as Ayden calls them)

My adorable and sweetheart mom who took care of me all weekend while I was sick.

Gavin and Luke

Time for something new...

2009-01-29T13:25:00.004-07:00

So, I decided the other day to chop my hair all off! I can't tell you how great it feels! I forget how much I love having short hair! Sorry the pictures aren't the best, they were taken with my phone. So, we were able to donate the ponytail to Locks of Love, which is a pretty cool thing, if anyone ever has the chance to do it. In all we cut about 13" off!!! Crazy hu? That doesn't even count all the hair Jody cuts out when she thins it. :) I also added a little blond to it, which is very scary for me, since it was a first time experience. I'm hoping that the blond will make me keep up on my haircut and get it done more often so I can have cute hair more than 2-3 months out of the year. I'll get a better picture of the 'after' for you sometime.

Thanks so much Jody! You really are amazing at what you do!

Santa's coming to town!

2008-12-17T22:08:00.004-07:00

When pulling out all the fun Christmas Decorations, Ayden grew a fond attachment to the Santa hat. He wore it for like 3 days straight! As you can see, he even wore it while eating. It was pretty entertaining. Christmas time is even more fun with kids, I must say!

Busy... Busy... Busy!

2008-12-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

So, we celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday! I know! 5 years! REALLY?! It's crazy to think of, but it's true. So, you saw our present to each other. Our beautiful new computer! Yay! The only problem has been getting Grady off of it! I used to have the old one completely to myself, but now, Grady wants to use it all the time and I have to fight him for it. That's going to take some getting used to.

I could do a whole blog post about how much I love my husband and how grateful I am for him, but I already told him. :) So, I'll just let you all know that we had a great night! We're doing really well and are "trying" to enjoy every minute of our fast pace, crazy lives!

Also, I went to the Dr. yesterday and they realized that I'm measuring like I'm 27 weeks, so they moved my due date back to the 12th! YAY! I so wanted to say "I told you so!" But, I was able to refrain. Also, thankfully I do not have a hernia! I was having crazy pain in my stomach last week and a little this, but not bad. I called and they said I gave myself a hernia. But, after an examination. I don't! That's one less surgery I'll have to go through after having the baby. It turns out I just stressed something and possibly pulled something. So, 2 VERY good news updates from our Dr. apt.

The New Bloggin' Machine - Special Grady Post

2008-12-10T00:15:00.004-07:00

We're proud to introduce the newest member of our family. That's right, we got a new computer.

Kristy's been suffering through a very slow Sony VAIO for the last couple of years (my fault for not reformatting it and starting from scratch). I bought the computer before we were married, so it's almost 6 years old and we thought we were probably due for something a little more with-the-times.

So the day after Thanksgiving I drug Kristy and Ayden to the Apple Store at the Gateway in SLC and we got ourselves a brand spankin' new iMac. Now I can actually work in the same room when she's scrapbooking. It's a win-win!

As all future blog posts will be done on a Mac, we hope all you PC users won't have any compatibility issues*. Also, sorry about the bad quality of the image. Trying to take a picture of a lit screen with my phone just wasn't working out.

* Just kidding. You'll be just fine.

Ayden's owey

2008-11-26T09:00:00.007-07:00

So, we had a sad accident about a week ago. We were at Grady's office and Ayden was super hyper. He kept running and we kept telling him to stop. Of course, it didn't do much good, and he ran, full speed, right into the corner of their conference table. Now, this is not ordinary table. It's a big piece of steel covered with a sheet of glass. The glass sticks out about 2" from the steel. So, needless to say, it's not very childproof.

So, he hit it pretty hard and went straight down. It was very scary! We were just glad that it missed his eye (barely) and he didn't need any stitches. The really sad thing is he had pictures the next day. It was nice and bruised for them. :) (These pictures are a week after it happened)

Thankfully he's doing great now! He's pretty proud of his owey (spelling?) and was really funny and posing for me! I love my little dude! (Oh, and the scratch under his other eye is from a different day. He's a little accident prone)

Twilight...

2008-11-23T22:06:00.006-07:00

So, I went with Carly and Becky to Twilight on Friday night! All the anticipation... I actually really enjoyed it! Now, of course, after reading the book like 5 or 6 times, I knew it pretty well. So, I knew before hand that I could either pick the movie apart and ruin it for myself or I could just enjoy it for what it was worth. So, I enjoyed it.

Now, you have to know that for a book that's 500 pages long, to put it in a 2 hr. movie is going to be pretty darn difficult. So, OBVIOUSLY they are going to leave a lot out, and change quite a bit to make it work. I was actually surprised how much was the same.

Now, about the characters. Everyone pictures the characters in their own way. So, I will say that I was a little nervous about some, (Charlie, Charlile, Esme, Rosalie, Bella, & Jasper) but most grew on me... well all but Rosalie. Now, don't get me wrong, she's still really pretty, but she just talked a little too much. She would have done better to just keep her mouth shut and be ornery. Also, the white makeup was a little extreme at times. But, all in all I was really entertained and really liked it. Besides, even if it sucked we would have had a blast!

Halloween Decorations

2008-11-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've had a few people ask about my decorations on the wall behind all our pictures. So, here are the pictures of them. The spiders are AWESOME! I got them at Swiss Days this year. And, the vinyl decorations I designed and printed them. I'm hoping to find a reusable vinyl next year, so I can use it over and over again, but using it for our 3 parties this year made it worth it. I'm designing my Christmas stuff right now. I'll post it as soon as I get them up. :)

Halloween Memories

2008-11-18T14:03:00.003-07:00

Sorry, I'm a slacker and never put up pictures of Halloween. Ayden was Calvin & Hobbes for Halloween and it was so much fun! I never realized that his hair was as long as it is! Everyone thought it was a wig. But, they also thought he was Einstein too. As much as he loves his Tiger, he'd get a little excited to look at all the pumpkins and get candy, so he'd chuck the tiger before getting to the door. After Grady took him out Trick-Or-Treating my family came over for a little party. Don't all the kids look soooo cute! We had a blast! Ate a TON of food, played the Wii and just hung out! I've gotta say... I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

Playing in Photoshop

2008-10-31T12:00:00.003-06:00

So, I was dinking around in Photoshop and wanted a pencil drawn effect. Unfortunatly, I'm not good enough to do it myself, so I turned to Grady to help me out. This is what we ended up with, and I think it is super cool! Besides the fact that my little guy is so dang cute!

Witches Night Out!

2008-10-30T19:43:00.003-06:00

So, can I tell you how much I love witches night out? I LOVE IT! All the madness, the crazy people, the long lines and all! It's so fun to see everyone dressed up and see everyones cool hats and fun tights! Sadly I haven't been able to go the last two years, so it was good to be able to go again. It was really fun bringing my mom this year! Thanks again for putting it all together Amber!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ayden!

2008-10-26T21:52:00.004-06:00

So, my baby turned 2! I can't believe it! It was actually on Friday night, the night of our Halloween party, so we celebrated it on Sunday. I know! I'm such a mean mom to have our party on his birthday!

I tried to get crafty and make him a Thomas the Train cake. Sadly, it didn't really work. By the time my frosting was grey and black, it was VERY runny from all the food coloring. Oh well! Do I get points for effort?

We invited Ayden's cousins over for a little party. It's much more fun watching 10 kids unwrap each present instead of just one :) It was madness, but I LOVED it!

By the end, he really had the hang of it. All caution was thrown to the wind!

As you can see by the mid "Choo Choo" sentence, Ayden LOVES trains! Especially Thomas! Which is really quite interesting since the cartoon is the most boring thing I've ever seen!

Ayden would like to say Thank You to everyone for his great gifts! He's very spoiled!

Halloween Party

2008-10-21T14:05:00.002-06:00

One thing I've wanted to do since we got married is have a Halloween Party. Sadly, it hasn't been possible the last 5 years due to a VERY small space or having a baby :) So, this year it was finally possible and I'm glad to say that we actually went through with it. It was a lot of work, and a CRAZY week but it turned out REALLY good and was so much fun! Those of you who couldn't make it, no worries, if all goes well, this will become a yearly tradition for the Stoners!

Thank you everyone for dressing up and bringing food. It wouldn't have been possible without you! Also, I wish we would have taken a picture of the whole group together, but we kind of forgot. The group in the middle are all the guys from Fifty Studio.

My funny son...

2008-10-18T20:26:00.003-06:00

So, my little man has been making me laugh so hard lately! I'm sorry I never post, life is just crazy! But, I'm nervous that I'll forget all these things if I don't write them down. So, here are a few from lately.

1- He has these new words... First off, he REALLY thinks that he's saying the right word, but he's way off!

CUPPY- for pumpkin. ??? Where that came from I will never know. At first it was pummy, but apparently that was too close to the real word. :)

IPER- (The i is a hard i) for spider. He doesn't say his s's so this isn't a huge surprise.

GABBY- for garbage. And, everything that looks like garbage instantly is garbage and must be placed directly in the garbage. If I try to take it out, he'll put it right back in!

2- He's calling ALL babies PARKER. He will still say baby if I really try, but for some reason now, babies are Parker (his little cousin). Also, every single kind of drink is WATER. He does like juice and milk and chocolate milk, but they are all still water to Ayden.

3- He has started hanging on EVERYTHING! It's like he's so proud to be able to reach things he has to show me. He tried hanging from the door nob the other day and it just turned in his hands and he landed on his knees and hit his head on the door. It was pretty funny.

4- He has a new saying that is the cutest thing in the world, my heart melts every time I hear it. "Looka mommy!" He has to show me everything and gets so thrilled to show me and have my approval. It's not as good since you can't hear his cute little voice.

5- He's started wearing my high heels. He still likes wearing all my and Grady's shoes, but for some reason he has really taken to the pointed, high heel ones.

6- He loves apples and will eat them any chance he gets. Here is the funniest picture of my fruit bowl and how I found it. Normally he brings me the apples before eating them and asks, but this time he apparently helped himself.

5- He's becoming very OCD! Oh, no I'm rubbing off on him already! He has to set all his toys up in rows. So cute!

Baby news!

2008-10-15T10:07:00.002-06:00

So, we went and got our ultrasound yesterday...
Here are a few pictures. The baby was moving like crazy! It must be related to Ayden :) So, there is bad news and good news...
BAD: The baby is measuring small, so they are thinking that my due date is 2 weeks behind. SAD! I'm only 17 weeks instead of 19? That sucks!GOOD: Even though the baby was so small, they were able to tell the sex. IT'S A BOY! We are sooooo excited that Ayden is going to have a little buddy! This is also going to take a LOT of stress off of me. I don't have to touch the nursery, I get to save a LOT of money on clothes! Plus, they will be best friends, right!?

My Vacation

2008-10-09T14:07:00.008-06:00

I went to Seattle, WA last weekend to visit my cutest friend Erin.

(All the pictures are ones I stole from her blog.

She is extremely talented so I just let her take all the pictures :)

She recently had a baby and I just had to meet cute little Quincy! She really is a great baby! She gets a little fussy at night, but overall she just slept the whole time.

Since Ayden has the best bed-head ever after naps, Erin said "This just has to be documented". Didn't she do a great job with the picture?

We went down to Seattle and checked out Pikes Place. It was pretty cool to walk down the market and see all the fresh fish and gorgeous flowers! The pictures are of the kids checking out the "Big Boats" in the water.

The kids just played and played! Ayden's a big fan of new toys, so he pretty much was acting like they were all his and Carson couldn't play with any.

Ayden's only like 6 months older than Carson so they played pretty well together.

Oh, wait... except the fact that Ayden is a bully! Poor Car was so scared of him! My stinker of a son is so in his terrible 2's!

Of course it took like a million shots to get the cute one of us on top! You always need to document the funny ones in the process!

Thanks Er for letting us come and play! Also, thanks for letting me be lazy and not do too much! I was in some serious need of relaxation!

Lake Powell

2008-09-09T12:53:00.004-06:00

We finally had our chance to go to Powell! It never feels liks summer until we've gone. So, since it was basically the last week of the summer, it feels really weird to be over.

We of course had a ton of fun! Doing basically nothing and loving every minute of it!

We played lots of cards!

Went boating...

Isn't my mother beautiful?

Enjoyed the beautiful nights with the water as glass and the amazing sunsets.

And built the Parker tradition sand castle.

Thanks mom and dad for taking us on our favorite yearly vacation! We couldn't have been blessed with better weather or water! :)

Finally time for me to do this...

2008-08-22T20:34:00.001-06:00

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

I'm back!

2008-08-12T14:33:00.006-06:00

So sorry everyone! I've pretty much been gone for a month! I've been so busy I can't even begin to tell you. Here's a few things we've been up to...

We celebrated the 24th of July by going boating with my parents & the Jensens, watched fireworks and went fishing the next day. It was a ton of fun! Thanks mom and dad!

Ayden has recently discovered trains and is obsessed! So, we took him to see the Heber Creeper.

We went to the Kamas Demolition Durby. Which was AWESOME! I've never been and I just loved it! That's for sure going to become a tradition if I have anything to do with it.

Our ward had Young Women Girls Camp a couple of weeks ago. That was really fun and I got to know my girls really well. And, I got to do a lot of crazy things I've never done before like real rock climbing, repelling, shooting, zipline, and walk on wires 50 ft. off the ground crazy trust thing!

Then I got my new book... Breaking Dawn. And, anyone who is really into the Twilight series will not be surprised that this book consumed 3 whole days for me. I loved it by the way!

Also, some good news, we're pregnant! YAY! But, it's been a bit of a bummer, cause I've been REALLY sick! So, when Ayden is napping, I haven't really had much desire to get on the computer. I've been sleeping every spare opportunity I've had. (I'm only 10 weeks along)

And, lastly, we ran the 1/2 Marathon down Provo Canyon on Saturday! It pretty much killed us (mostly my joints from all the down hill), but hey we finished! I'm so glad I have a cute husband that will do crazy things like this with me. I don't know if I would have ran the whole thing if it wasn't for him to help push me. (sorry we didn't take any pictures)

I'm getting more pictures ready right now... so check back later.

Stoner Family Reunion

2008-07-17T13:38:00.001-06:00

Stoner Family at Boondocks

2008-07-17T13:16:00.003-06:00

Grady's parent's started off the family reunion with a bang! They took us all to Boondocks! The bumper boats were definently the hit of the party! Ayden and I went when everyone was on the bumper cars, so we don't have any pictures of us, but we were SOAKED! This cute family bombarded us cause I got them really wet. Ayden loved it! I don't know what it is about water, but my son is obsessed! It was just as fun to watch as it was to ride.

4th of July

2008-07-17T13:10:00.002-06:00

Our neighbors the Nelson's invited us over to watch fireworks on the 3rd. Ayden and their little boy Xander are dang good buddies. Ayden had never watched fireworks before and he LOVED it! They scared him at first and he tried to climb up my body, but then he got used to it and wanted to touch them. On the night of the 4th after running the 10K that morning we went to our annual Jorgensen Family BBQ to celebrate the 4th and my Grandpa's birthday. My cousin Kelly brought his blow up fun house thing and Ayden had a blast! He got jumped on, stepped on, dove out on his head a few time, but he never cried and loved the whole thing! Great purchase Kelly!

My new calling...

2008-07-10T13:42:00.002-06:00

So, a couple of weeks ago, we went to church and found out our ward was being split. That is the second time in the 20 months we've lived here. Crazy I know! The crazier thing is, our new ward still has like 200 primary kids! AHHH! I'm sure we'll have another split within the year. But, anyway... Sunday afternoon I get a call for a interview with the new bishop with me and Grady. So, of course I'm laughing at Grady cause I'm just assuming it has to do with him. But, then he tells me that EQP are called by the stake not the bishop. So, then I started to worry. Sure enough, I got called to be the Young Women's President. WOW! I'm very excited, but my mind is still going crazy at the same time! I'm good at organization and delegation, so hopefully that helps. But, I really am kind of scared! So, those friends I do have currently, I'm sorry you won't be seeing me much for the next year or so. :) I'm just grateful for my Heavenly Father and the power of prayer. He's helped me feel so much better the last week. So, ready or not, here we go!

Parker Family Reunion

2008-07-01T21:30:00.002-06:00

So, a week ago was the Parker Family reunion! Our family was in charge of it this year, so I ended up pretty much being in charge. We did an olympic theme and went down to Duchesne and stayed in the Six Lakes Lodge. It was so nice and actually relaxing. We had a blast in the different events, fishing, canoeing, shooting, guitar hero and bunko. Of course I forgot my camera!!!! AHHHH!!! Thankfully I had my mom's to use most of the time. So, I'll post pictures later. Next week is Grady's family reunion and guess what? We're going to the same place! :) Ha Ha! I love it! So, you guys all know how highly I think of this place now. This will be stay number 3! I'll let you know all about it when we get back.

We've been busy!

2008-06-17T21:03:00.007-06:00

Ayden helped me make cookies. I think he liked them, what do you think?

Pony Express Days- Movie night- 'Horton hears a who' and the Parade.

(It was a little chilly that weekend)

Ayden has been LOVING the water! I can't even keep him out of it while I water my flowers.

I've been doing lots of yardwork as well. Right after staining our steps, Ayden came out and left me a cute little surprise... My tomatoe and herbs, because of lack of space, ended up in pots. Our lawn is still kind of crappy, but my flowers are doing very well!

When it's all worth it...

2008-06-01T15:18:00.005-06:00

For those of you who don't know. I LOVE to scrapbook!! I started while still in Highschool and have been doing it ever since. I remember when I lived in New York I missed scrapbooking so much I searched and searched for some new supplies. There were ZERO stores in NYC that have anything to do with scrapbooking. So, when I came home for Christmas I took it all back with me. :) For the last 2 1/2 years I've been a scrapbooking consultant for Close to my Heart and been teaching other scrapbooking classes on the side. I'm still about 2 years behind, but I don't let it get me down and push on. It's days like these that make it worth all the sweat, time and pennies!

Ayden loves to sit in his chair and look at the books. Especially since now he's started noticing who people are. Like mama, dad, papa (grandpa), baby (any baby), dogs, etc... One of my favorites is that he doesn't recognize me when there are pictures of me with short hair. I try to tell him, but he doesn't care. Since he likes them so much, I guess I better keep doing it!

American Idol Finale

2008-05-27T14:10:00.003-06:00

I know it's a little late, but I just wanted talk about the finale for a second...

So, I've always been a fan of American Idol, but when it comes to the finale, I'm always VERY decided on my favorite. This year was a little hard for me, cause I couldn't decide which one I wanted to win. I seriously love both Davids!

David Archuleta is just so cute! The fact that he's from Utah, definitely helps a little, but he's just such a normal, nice, kind boy. He reminds me of a Brian Terry type of guy (anyone who went to LPHS will understand). And on top of it, I LOVE his voice! But, then there's...

David Cook! He's such a babe! I love the way he dresses, his hair, and his voice is so hot! He's also a good guy. There's something about being a family guy. Gotta love it!

So, ya, this year I was able to just sit back and enjoy it. I really didn't care one way or the other who won. Mainly, because whether they win or not, both will have an amazing career! I can't wait to see what they both do with the fame. Hopefully it doesn't ruin David Archuleta.

American Idol tour at the E center on July 14th and 15th... Anyone want to go with me?

Trip to St. George

2008-05-12T14:42:00.013-06:00

The weekend before last we were invited to St. George. Grady's sister's husband Erik got a condo for the week and they were nice enough to let the family come down and share it with them for the weekend. It was so much fun! The boys went golfing the first day and we took the kids to a park nearby. It was the nicest park I have ever been to. Of course, Ayden had to run right into the water part first thing.

Ayden especially loved the swings, since we don't have any.

There was so much for them to do. I wish we had a park like this one nearby.

They also had a very nice pool that we went to both days.

As much as Ayden liked the pool, he'd rather play with the toys outside.

Thanks so much Erik & Ashley for letting us enjoy your fun weekend!

Sorry...

2008-05-07T14:01:00.004-06:00

I would like to apologize for being such a slacker with my blog. I feel like every free second I've had lately has gone to my yard. But, I LOVE working outside in the dirt, so I don't mind. I'll post soon I promise!

All about my Husband

2008-04-24T16:16:00.006-06:00

I figured this was a good tag for me to do, seeing as it was just Grady's Birthday and I didn't dedicate a big enough blog post to him.

All you ever needed to know about my Husband...

What is his name? Graydon Spencer Stoner (Grady is his nickname)

How long have you been together? Married- 4 1/2

How long did you date? We dated for a year and were engaged for 6 months

How old is he? 28

Who eats more? We pretty much eat the exact same. Unless I tell him to finish something off for me. What can I say... I like to eat :)

Who is taller? Grady is by about 1 inch. GO GRADY!

Who can sing better? Me, although he can sing

Who is smarter? Grady for sure!!! He graduated from BYU, majoring in Russian with Honors. He also had an Academic Scholarship. He's amazing!

Who does the laundry? Me... even when we were both working

Who pays the bills? Me... also even when we were both working

Who sleeps on the right side? Me

Who mows the lawn? Grady does mostly, but I really don't have a problem with doing it.

Who cooks dinner? Me. Grady can, he just doesn't. He does make dang good pancakes for us on weekends.

Who drives? Mostly Grady, but sometimes, I'm in the mood, so I will.

Who is more stubborn? Me, for sure! Grady's very easy going!

Who kissed who first? I hate to admit this, but I kissed him. He had never kissed a girl before, so I was afraid he was never going to get the balls to do it. So, I was sick of waiting. :)

Who asked who out first? I guess he did. When we first met he entered me and my roommate in a contest to win a date. I ended up winning one with him, but he never did anything about it... Until I brought it up, and reminded him he owed me a date. So, you be the judge.

Who proposed? Graydon did

Who has more friends? Probably me... tough one.

Who is more sensitive? Grady

Who has more siblings? Grady is the youngest of 6 and I'm the 3rd of 4.

Who wears the pants? Grady makes all the big decisions. But, my opinion counts. :) And all the little stuff we decide together.

What you might not know about my husband...

His Dreams: This is one thing that me and Grady talk about often. We talk about different places we want to travel, look at homes often, talk about fun toys we would want. Grady says it's good to have goals and dreams, because it gives you a constant motivation. He owns his own company, and I know that one of his dreams with that is that it will be successful and he'll be able to concentrate more on the things he loves to do, and be able to hire others to do the monotonous things.

High School Activities: He played football in High School for the Orem Tigers. But, he's also really good at basketball. Too bad he never tried out.

His Hobbies: He loves sports. He snowboards and wakeboards. He likes to golf, but sadly doesn't do it a whole lot. He likes to read and learn new things. He plays the guitar and is really good at the piano. He's really good at carpentry, and is my Mr. Fix-it! He can seriously do anything, and if not, he'll read how to do it, and then he's good to go.

Oops... I got tagged! :)

2008-04-17T14:51:00.007-06:00

Sorry! I'm so slow with catching these! So, here's what it is:

This is a book tag. In the book you are currently reading, or one of your favorite books, turn to page 123 and post the 5th sentence on that page. Then tag 5 people.

(I actually finished reading it yesterday, but I'll let it count anyway)

It's kind of random, oh well...

"I need something that won't attract attention."

It was a good book and it's all action, action, action, in case you like that. Apparently the author wrote the book Sahara is based off of.

I now tag: my sister-in-law Ashley, and my sister Amanda. Since they always are reading a good book.

Happy Birthday Grady!

2008-04-16T14:01:00.004-06:00

Today is my sweethearts birthday! I just wanted to dedicate a quick post to him. I just think he's the greatest! He's super smart, very talented and such a hard worker. Oh, and not to mention an amazing father.
I hope this year, your 28th year, will be the best yet.
Thanks for all you do for us as a family and for me individually. I love you so much!

Snoop Dogg is fo the B of M!

2008-04-10T15:35:00.003-06:00

So, apparently according to this Snoop Dogg is Mormon!?!
I'm sure most of you, if not all have heard about it by now and know it was an April Fools joke. What I'm curious about, is who believed it? And, how did you hear about it? People have pretty funny stories, and I'm dying to hear them!

Basketball Championships

2008-04-03T15:04:00.002-06:00

So, the championships are officially over. Which is kind of nice, cause I won't have to plan my life around the games, but kind of sad at the same time. Here's how the Regional Championships went.
We played my sister's ward in Saratoga Springs in our first Regional game. Sadly, in overtime, we lost by 4 pts. So, we were out of the main championships, but they did have a Consolidation bracket. So, us losers went down there. :)
Our next game was the next week and only 5 of us were able to be there. (2 of the really good ones were gone) So, we decided to just have fun, and hey... We won! It was so much fun! The next game was 2 days after, so it would be just the 5 of us again. This game was for the championship of the Consolidation bracket.. so the Looser winners? Anyway... Guess who we played? Eagles Gate!!! Anyone who read about our stake tournament realizes this is the team that we played 3 times in one night for the stake championship and ended up beating. Funny that we'd have to play them again for another championship. So, we decided that we just had to beat them again. It wouldn't work out to well if we beat them in the Stake games and they turn around and beat us in the Regions.
It was a really competitive game, and really fun, and we won! By like 15 pts. or something! Ya, I'm pretty competitive! Who knew! I'm still not going to say I'm good, but I have improved, so at least that's something. I'm just grateful to a great team who is so nice to teach me and let me play and who have such good attitudes!

So, Volleyball is next... What do you think? Should I attempt that too?

Happy Easter

2008-03-24T11:42:00.003-06:00

So, this year's Easter was so much fun with Ayden! He is seriously so cute! We took him to the Easter Egg hunt at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday morning and he had so much fun! He got 4 whole eggs on his own! (That's pretty good despite the madness!!!) Then he went on the inflatable toys... which he just geeks out about! He rode the cow car ride, and went and looked at all the animals in the farm. He especially loved the goats and horses cause they would try to eat his fingers, and he just thought it was the funniest thing ever!

On Sunday, we just put his basket on the coffee table and hoped he'd notice. He did right away! He was so cute, cuddling his stuffed bunny! Then we went to the Andersons for the Jorgensen family easter party. Since there were only 6 kids to find the million eggs, Ayden went CRAZY! He was running FULL speed and got like 30 eggs! It was awesome cause he'd see one and would run past like 20 to get to it. And, he wouldn't put them in his basket I was holding until he had one in each hand. So, it's official that my son LOVES easter egg hunts!

But, really, I love the true meaning of Easter! It's so nice to be able to spend a whole day thinking about our Savior and all that he did for us. The Atonement really is the whole basis of our religion and without it, we would never be able to live with God again. I love my brother Jesus Christ and I'm so grateful for all he suffered for me.

Cousins

2008-03-22T15:31:00.004-06:00

So, Ayden and Afton are so cute with each other! They just light up when they see one another! And, it just makes my heart melt when I hear Afton say "Ayden?" when I walk in without him.

They are best buds! I hope it stays that way forever!

Me playing Basketball?

2008-03-16T21:13:00.003-06:00

Those of you who know me well know I'm 6' tall and I have about as much hand/eye coordination as a blind person with no arms... he he! So, for some strange reason I decided to play on the Women's ward basketball team this year. Now, our coach had her hands full teaching me how to play basketball when I've NEVER played before. So, I've been practicing and playing hard and I can now say that I know how to play basketball. I wouldn't say I'm the best, or even good, but I've been trying really hard.

So, we have been going through our stake tournament the last couple of weeks. We've been winning and it turned out that the last couple of games to determine 1st-3rd places all fell on the same night, last Thursday. Sadly, we lost our first game to Eagles Gate and had to play again in an hour. We played the next game and won by 2 in a double overtime! Next, we got to play Eagles Gate, again, right after that. That was a fun game cause we beat them by like 15 pts! But, of course since it was a double elimination, we had to play Eagles Gate AGAIN! By then, our team of course was DEAD, but hey, we came back and won! So, our ward took 1st place!!! Now, having never played any type of competitive sports, I LOVED it! It really is a rush, to have nothing left, but want it so bad that somehow you find the strength.

Now, I've NEVER been so tired in my life! I've never pushed myself so hard, and NEVER ran straight for 4 hours in a 5 hour period. My poor feet were covered in blisters! I guess playing in running shoes will do that to you. :) But, at the end of it all, is was a blast! Regional games start this week, so I'll let you know how it goes. :)

The new game!

2008-03-12T12:23:00.002-06:00

So, my son is a punk! This is his new game the last month or so. He takes every piece of clothing out of his drawers! Thankfully this time I caught him before the top one was emptied as well.
You know when they go quiet, they are up to NO GOOD!

Sleepy boy!

2008-03-11T12:23:00.001-06:00

So, Ayden fell asleep reading his book on the way up to Grandma and Grandpa Parker's. Guess it was a long day at church!

Friday Night Out!

2008-03-07T12:43:00.003-07:00

Our friends Ryan & Carly Stockle did us a HUGE favor and took us out for the night! We went to dinner and then went to "The Spelling Bee", a musical up at Kingsbury Hall. Not only was it wonderful to get out of the house without Ayden and actually do something, but we were in great company as well. The play was hysterical! We were all laughing pretty much the whole time. So, thank you Stockles for thinking of us and giving us a great weekend!

Stoner Look-alike Meter

2008-02-27T22:58:00.002-07:00

Guess everyone was right... He looks like Grady! Thanks McKell for the idea.

Goodbye Snow!

2008-02-27T22:05:00.013-07:00

So, our back yard is almost completly snow free. As happy as I am for it to be sunny and warm outside, we sure did have fun this winter!

This was one random day, all Ayden wanted to do was be outside, so I took him boarding down out backyard.
Guess that's one nice thing about having a steep yard. He was loving it! He kept making me do it over and over again for him! By the time we (I) were done, my calves were pretty sore. Check out how wet Ayden is! He He! What a nerd! He has no fear, that's for sure!

What we've been up to...

2008-02-17T15:30:00.005-07:00

Grady's parents took us all to the Kangaroo Zoo in PG! Not only did me and Grady have a blast, but Ayden was in heaven! He is such a dare devil! We took him on all the little kids things at first. But, once we took him on the big slide, he didn't want to go on anything else. It was awesome! He would go down on his stomach, his back, even head first, and all with no fear! Even though in the pictures he looks pretty scared.

Ayden and his cousin Elizabeth

He wanted so badly to be able to climb by himself!

This is the small slide. Imagine one 3 or 4 times as long for the big one.

Just me and Grady having a good time!

So, Ayden got a tent for Christmas and every once in a while I'll put it up for him. But, lately it's become a perminante fixture in our front room. (since we took most of the furniture down stairs there's plenty of room :) He loves playing in there! All of his stuffed animals have moved in and almost all the pillows in our house. We even read books in there together.

Doesn't he look old?

Thanks Jensen's for the great present!

I've been bad...

2008-02-12T22:05:00.002-07:00

I'm so sorry, I've been really bad a blogging lately. I don't know why, but I just didn't feel like I had anything to say. That, and the fact that I'm hardly ever on the computer, cause Ayden now knows when I'm on the computer he can turn into "The Destroyer". Seriously! He just runs a muck and gets into EVERYTHING he's not supposed to. It's like he knows that I tune him out, which I do! :)

Everything here is going well. Grady's been working a ton, hopefully it pays off soon. ;) Ayden is getting 3 more teeth currently, so he's pretty sad, but so funny lately! His little personality is coming out. He has so much energy about life. He loves being outside, he loves slides, snow, and is still obsessed with dogs! Hopefully some day I'll be nice enough to get him one.

I've been pretty good. Kind of up and down a lot lately. Little stressed and pretty busy it feels like. But, hopefully with spring coming, I'll start feeling a little more upbeat.

My little sister left the MTC to Berlin, Germany on Monday. She was able to call us from the airport. It was SO good to be able to talk to her. She sounded scared though. I hope she's doing better now and that her first companion is a good one. It's weird how much I miss her already and she's only been gone for 2 months. It was hard saying goodbye, but I'll get to talk to her on Mother's day, so that will be nice.

Anyway... I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry if I'm not around much in the next little bit. I'll try and keep you posted on our busy lives.

Ayden loves to Rock!

2008-01-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

Ayden got this rocking catepillar for Christmas and loves it! Can you tell?

Gordon B. Hinkley 1910-2008

2008-01-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to comment on the passing of President Hinkley:

You know, it was really weird how ever since I heard about the Prophet passing away, I haven't felt any sorrow. He was a wonderful, amazing, humble, humorous human being and I loved him very much. But, that's one thing about our amazing church and the Plan of Salvation that gives me so much peace. I know that he is in heaven. I know that he is with his beloved wife, who he loved so, so much. I know that he is with God and Jesus Christ. I know that he did so many wonderful things for not only the church, but so many individuals as well.

I will miss his voice and his cute smile. It's weird how in a way I feel like I lost a grandfather. I'm grateful for his wonderful example and the chance that I had to learn from him. President Hinkley- Thank you for everything! I love you and I'll miss you.

Love, Kristy

President Gordon B. Hinckley Passes Away

2008-01-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

So I was watching TV and they interrupted the regularly scheduled broadcast for a special report. The newscaster spoke the surreal words that President Gordon B. Hinckley had passed away a little more than an hour ago of natural causes.

I was seriously floored. I ran upstairs to tell Kristy and I think both of us were in a state of shock. I can't think of many church leaders who have impacted my life as deeply as President Hinckley has.

I'm going to miss hearing his wonderful talks each General Conference, but there's no doubt that he had done everything he could to make his life and the lives of all those he influenced better.

Binki problems no more...

2008-01-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

So, I finally feel like I can get back to my old life! It took about 2 weeks for him to be back to normal sleeping habits, so I don't think that was that bad. Here's how it went... If you really care :)
- 1st night was really, really bad! He just had no idea of how to relax on his own. Also, he's got comfort issues and won't let me rock him or cuddle him or anything, so he had to do it on his own.
-1st 2 days were really bad too! It would take about 1-3 hrs for me to get him to take a nap. Nighttime was a little better, cause he was soooo tired! The only way I could calm him down was to rub his hand. So, that worked a little. The only problem was we were in there until he fell asleep. Oops!
-Then it got to the point where he'd only fall asleep if we were in there, the second we'd walk out it'd all be over. So, it took us about a week to get him off of that. We'd have to leave, let him cry real good, come in, calm him down and leave again. He'd finally be so tired he'd just fall asleep. I think it helped cause he knew we were still there, and we'd come is if he REALLY needed us.
- Yesterday was the first day he took all naps and nighttime that he didn't cry at all before falling asleep! I can finally start going out again and running errands and not have to worry too much about his naps! YA!!!

So, for all of you who are thinking of taking your kids off of the binki, do it! It really is worth it! Just be strong! And, what works for one person, might not work for you kids, so just figure out what works best for you and stick to it! That's one thing kids understand... CONSISTENCY!

Your new Travel Agent!

2008-01-10T20:41:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Just in case anyone didn't already know. Grady and I have our own online Travel Agency. We've had it for a little while, but are now just getting our certifications all done to be able to book everything. So, if any of you decide to go on vacation or just need to rent a car, please think of us. We have a direct link www.ytb.com/kstoner (click on book travel) or you can get to our online travel link from our blog. (right hand side- Our travel website) Our prices are as competitive as any of the online bookings so, please compare our prices when shopping around.
Also, if you have any questions or need any help don't be afraid to ask. You can call or e-mail me anytime- kbpstoner@yahoo.com
We hope everyones 2008 is full of fun and relaxation!

Stupid Conveniences

2008-01-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

(1 week old)
(6 mo. old)

So, for one of our New Years resolutions we decided to get Ayden off of his pacifier (aka. poody).

We wanted him to be off of it by 1 year old, but it didn't really work out. We didn't want to have to worry about it by the time all the holidays came around, so we waited.

Thankfully he only uses it in the car and to sleep. We took it away on Tuesday night and Wednesday was probably the worst day EVER!!! Poor Ayden was SOOO tired, but couldn't sleep. He doesn't like us to touch him when he sleeps (comfort issues), so I couldn't even comfort him. It was so sad! I've never been so frustrated in all my life! He's doing better now, but still struggling a little bit.

I really wanted him to be weened before he could talk, but now I'm starting to wonder if I should have waited until I could make up some story and have him believe it. Anyone got any suggestions for my next child?

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

The Christmas Tag

2007-12-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for sure. Looks so much better under the tree than bags.

2.Real tree or Artificial? I love real, but eventually I might just give up and buy a fake one. Real are a lot of work (to find and keep alive).

3.When do you put up the tree? As soon after Thanksgiving as possible. This year it was only like a week ago. :(

4.when do you take the tree down? As soon after New Years as possible.

5.Favorite gift received as a child? This doll... I didn't think I was going to get it and started to cry, but then my mom brought out one last present for me... It was her! She was the doll that you could put make up on her, and change the color of her hair and clothes with ice...

6.Do you have a nativity scene? Ya, it's pretty ghetto though. I got it for a wedding present from someone. In fact I got like 3 of them, but this was the nicest of them. (Don't get married close to Christmas, EVERYONE buys you Christmas decorations)

7.Hardest person to buy for? My father-in-law!!! 4 years and I still have no clue!

8.Easiest to buy for? Ayden for sure! I love kids toys and clothes! So much fun!

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. I don't think I've ever gotten an e-mail card.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? He he... One of my friends gave me the same gift two years in a row. That was funny!

11.Favorite Christmas movie? Christmas Vacation or A Christmas Story

12. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so... But, the packaging ALL the time!

13.Favorite thing to eat at Christmas and dinner? My mom's toffee or fudge. I also love my mom's Christmas breakfast egg/sausage casserole.

14.Clear or colored lights on tree? Clear

15.Favorite Christmas song?

16.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home... unless I live out of Utah, then travel to Utah.

18.Favorite ornament theme or color? Snowflakes (theme), Red and Gold

19.Most annoying thing about this time of year? The crowds EVERYWHERE!!!!

20. What I want for Christmas this year? New snowboard boots, since having a baby made me grow out of mine.

Now I'll tag: Erin & Lindsey

Ayden LOVES dogs!

2007-12-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

Our friends the Stockles just got a little Puppy and Ayden went a little crazy! (By the way... I know my son is wearing a necklace... he LOVES to put things around his neck)

SO CUTE!!!

This is the face he pulls when he's barking

The puppy would knock Ayden over and walk all over him.

She had every right too, because Ayden was trying to ride her and kept sitting on her. (I wish I would have gotten a picture of that)

Gingerbread Houses

2007-12-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

So, we decorated Gingerbread Houses for our church class Christmas Party. Check out mine and Grady's...

Grady decided to make a temple. Check out his awesome Angel Moroni!

Mine is just a regular old house. I loved how my shingles turned out. :)

My Christmas Tree

2007-12-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a bit of a project this year to get us a Christmas Tree. It all started when Grady and the guys at his work decided to get permits to cut down their own trees. Sounds like a good idea right... Ummm could have been. It turned out to be such a project (snowmobiles, trailer, chain saw, etc) that they didn't get to it until the 8th. Then it became a project to get home, which didn't happen until the 11th. And, we finally got it in the house on the 13th.

So, when we decided to put it in the house, we measured the tree, but didn't think of measuring the celing. (it was about 4 ft too tall :) I know! We are retarded! Since we don't have a chain saw, we decided to cut the top off!!!! I told myself I would NEVER do that, but with some cleaver trimming, it doesn't look bad! The next morning I get out all my decorations to find out I only have enough lights to cover the bottom 1/3 of the tree. I went to the store and bought more the next day, but I STILL didn't have enough! So, one more trip to Wal-Mart and like $50 later, I had a decorated tree and a whole 11 days before Christmas!

What a week!

2007-12-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

I have been so crazy busy the last little while... Here is how it's gone:

Thursday: Our anniversary. Small celebration, mostly just spending time together as a family
Friday: Went overnight for our anniversary to the Zermott Resort in Midway. My parents live in Heber, so they took Ayden. It was beautiful, snowing like crazy, but beautiful. We really had a relaxing, enjoyable night.
Saturday: Grady went and cut me down a Christmas tree (with a chain-saw and snowmobile, the whole bit!), while I hung out at my parents and cooked. That night all my siblings came up and we ate food, played Bunco, hung out and slept over. (not too good of sleep)
Sunday: We all went to church for Angie's Heber farewell talk. We had Christmas breakfast and opened a few presents in celebration for Christmas that Angie is going to miss. Had Christmas dinner, played more games, watched movies, took naps... oh what a great day!
Monday: Me and Angie went snowboarding and had our last little hang out
Tuesday: Cleaned my house, cause I haven't been home all weekend and went back up to Heber to see Angie get set apart. After me and Mandy went through Angie's closet and came home with a whole new wardrobe! Thanks Angie!
Wednesday: Took Angie to the MTC to see her off... SO SAD! It's so wierd having so mixed emotions! I'm so excited for her, but so sad to have her gone for so long. Seriously, you people in Berlin, Germany better enjoy her while you have her. Then we went to lunch, came home and put up our Christmas tree... which is a pretty funny story, I'll have to tell you about later.
Thursday (today): I've done nothing but catch up... wrap presents, deep clean the house, do laundry, oh... our carpet got installed in our basement stairs and living room :) YA!!!

This weekend we have 3 Christmas partie (in 2 days... ya!) So, the madness will never really end, I'll just try to stay on top of it for the time being! Hope everyone elses Holidays are as amazing and crazy as ours!

Happy Anniversay to me...

2007-12-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

My honey got me roses! I love roses! We like to get gifts based around the traditional anniversary gift ideas... Which being year 4 was Flowers and/or Fruit. Grady hit them both on the head and got me roses and a my favorite carmel apple! It didn't leave much for me to get Grady though, so I just got him The Office: Season 3... I know... Boring, but hey! He liked it!

So, 4 years ago today, me and my honey got married! I can't believe how fast time flies. It's also kind of crazy how I love him way more today than I did on our wedding day. Especially how crazy in love we were :) But, really getting to know someone, and seeing them at their worse and them seeing you at your worse really makes you grow. Grady is such a great husband and dad. He always puts his family first. He works so hard, so that I can stay home with Ayden and I'll be forever grateful. I love looking back on all our great memories, but looking forward is so much more fun! We have so much to look forward to in our future. I can't wait for year 5!

Ayden's 1st snow play!

2007-12-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

Let's see how he likes the snow! Time to go out and play!

He wasn't sure quite what to do...

My friend Tenielle, trying to help him walk

Oh, no! I've fallen...

And I can't get up!

He didn't want to touch the snow with his mittens on... So we took them off.

He didn't really like it until I let him taste it... Then he thought it was food!

So, he started eating it... All of it!

You like his hole in the snow next to him, where he ate all of it? I guess it was a bad idea teaching him to eat it... He can't really distinquish between different colors of snow yet.

Look mom! Snow!

I miss Grady... already

2007-11-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

So, Grady is out of town for the weekend. He left yesterday and I'm already going through withdrawls. I think we've only had 3 or 4 nights total away from each other the whole time we've been married. This weekend alone will add 3 more nights onto the total.

Isn't he cute!? I found these random pictures from like 2005 at Lake Powell. I miss him! I don't like sleeping alone so last night I convinced my mom and little sister to spend the night and tonight my friend Tenielle is sleeping over... we'll see if I'll be alone on Saturday :)

I got tagged

2007-11-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, I got tagged, but it's a different one, so I figured you all wouldn't mind if I did it again.

Here are 6 things that you might not know about me...

1- I love gardening! This year has been the first year I've even had a yard, and I love taking care of it! I love experimenting with different flowers and I can't wait to get a vegetable garden next year. I wish everything wasn't so expensive and that it would grow faster. But, next year will be better. I planted a ton of bulbs this year, so spring will be very pretty!

2- I'm kind of a wuss! :( I hate to admit it, since I pretend to be so tough all the time. I'll try pretty much anything, but if I get hurt, you can pretty much assume you'll never see me trying again. Here are a few examples: 1- I love to snowboard and wakeboard, but if I try a trick and have a good wipeout, I cannot try again the rest of the trip... it takes me anywhere from a month to a year to get over it. 2- I used to be able to do backflips on the tramp and one time I didn't flip enough and landed on my neck. It hurt me pretty bad, but scared me more. I could never really get over it. Even in high school I was supposed to learn how to do back hand-springs for cheer... I tried, a lot, but I never really got over the fear of landing on my head so I didn't ever get it.

3- I'm SO ticklish! My husband can tickle me with pretty much any part of his body. Really! He tickles my side and stomach with his HEAD all the time! I hate it!

4- I have a fetish about my pants! They have to be long enough! (which is difficult being 6 feet tall!) And, when I'm laying down, my pants have to be pulled all the way down so they are straight. I make Grady fix them all the time so they aren't bunched up when we are laying down on the couch. Kind of drives him nuts! :)

5- I hate sports cars! I know! I know! But, I do! I'll admit that they are cool looking but why would you ever buy one!?! -k- I'm not going to get into it!

6- I have a CRAZY sweet tooth! I HAVE to have something sweet after pretty much every meal! I don't really like candy or ice-cream (unless it's the good stuff like Cold Stone) but I could eat a million brownies, cookies, a whole cake, etc... So, if you want to get on my good side... you know what to do! :)

I'm now going to tag Mandy, Amber and McKell

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I love this time of year because everyone is in such a happy and giving mood. I also love taking part in different charities. It's good to know that a little bit of money helps a lot. If anyone is looking for a charity this year, my friend Darrick is in Africa right now and needs a little more help before he comes home. Here is a link to access a flyer I made up with some more information on it. http://www.4shared.com/file/30075778/1e5ea1c4/flyer.html

Since it's Thanksgiving I would like to post 10 things I'm especially grateful for this year.

10- Technology (I know that's dumb, but it makes life so convenient)

9- Dogs (to entertain my little guy)

8- Food (not only the good food, but having it at all)

7- My home

6- Nature (so beautiful this time of year)

5- Good jobs

4- Wonderful Friends

3- Supportive Family

2- My hard working husband

1- Little children (they are such good examples to us all)

Angie's Farwell

2007-11-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

So, it was Angie's Farwell on Sunday in our old Highland Ward. She did so good on her talk, it was amazing! She defintly got my dad's speaking talent. We had an open house at my Aunt Joni's house after, since my parents have moved to Heber. It was defenintly a Parker party! Tons of food, tons of people, and tons of kids!

Ayden's little legs were going as fast as he could trying to keep up with little Emma (my cousin Lori's little girl)

It was good to talk and hang out with my good friends. Here's my cousin Jessie and my friend Randi (We've all been friends since we were like 5)

It was really good to see those friends of the family that we don't get a chance to see very often. This is Chelsea and Derick Brown holding Lissa's baby Parker. Aren't they so cute?

Sad Nose...

2007-11-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

So, Ayden decided to fall down the stairs at Aunt Ashley's! He's so funny! He REFUSES to go down on his hands and knees backwards. He just wants to walk down them. He's falled down them SO many times, you would think that he wouldn't try anymore... Oh well! We know it wasn't Ashley's fault! No worries! He's had worse falls before. : )

New Family Pictures

2007-11-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

We got family pictures last year, but Ayden was only 4 or 5 weeks old, so I was really excited to get new ones taken! Unfortunatly, we waited a little long and most of the pretty leaves were all on the ground. But, it turned out good, and was really fun! The first 2 are the cutest of Ayden, but of course, the worst of me... What ya gonna do though?

Walk across the bridge...

A little playing in the leaves...

Nice pose!

So happy one minute, and falling on you face and so sad the next!

FHE

2007-10-30T22:53:00.001-06:00

For FHE last night we carved our pumpkins. How sad is it that this is the first time in our marriage that we've ever carved pumpkins? It was really fun! I LOVE carving pumpkins! I love the smell, and the feel of the insides, and the time together.

Ayden liked eating the pumpkin

Ayden's pumpkin!

Mommy's pumpkin!

Daddy's pumpkin!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My boys!

2007-10-30T22:48:00.000-06:00

I just thought my boys looked so cute and matchy-matchy on Sunday that I had to take a picture. Grady worked soooo hard getting the family room downstairs finished for the birthday party, I just wanted to say Thank You to him. I have the best husband! He does so much around the house, and helps so much with Ayden, I'm really blessed!

Ayden moved up to a big-boy car seat. Shhh, don't tell on me that he's not 20 lbs... but hey! He's close enough! I can't believe how old he looks in his seat. He's so cute!

2007-10-30T22:33:00.000-06:00

So, I'm finally posting some pictures from Ayden's Birthday! Sorry, I've been pretty busy getting ready for Halloween. I don't have many more than the ones of him eating his cupcakes... Enjoy!

At first... he just played with it

Then he tasted it...

He liked it!

In all honesty... what doesn't my son like? He'll eat ANYTHING!

What a mess!!!

We had mine and Grady's families and a few close friends there... But, with the 12 kids in all... it was a bit of madness! Everyone was so sweet in giving Ayden such cute presents! He got some cars, tools, a big car to ride, lots of books, stuffed animals, and some 'little people'. He's been in heaven for the last week. Sadly, at the party, he wasn't too thrilled about everyone playing with his toys. I thought he was just a little frazzled from all the commotion, but as it turns out... he still doesn't like other kids playing with his new toys. (He could care less about the old ones) I'm a little concerned about his sharing habits, but in all honesty, I think it's pretty hysterical!

Ayden's First Birthday (Video)

2007-10-25T13:28:00.000-06:00

We put together a little video for Ayden's first birthday showing video we've taken over the last year. Enjoy!

Garner Village with the Girls

2007-10-19T22:47:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday to Ayden!

2007-10-17T23:07:00.000-06:00

The big 1! I can't believe it! My baby is a year old today! Of course he has no idea cause we're celebrating it on Sunday. But, I figured since I made him get shots today and ditched him tonight that he could have a treat...

His 1st Twinkie!

Man did he love it!

I don't think he could get that thing in him mouth fast enough.

And now he's sick!

We also got to go and visit our friends Erin and Carson today while they were in town. We miss them so much! And were glad to spend a few hours with them!

Jody's Wedding... little late

2007-10-09T15:40:00.000-06:00

So, I know it's been a while since Sept. 8th, but I still wanted to post them. My friend Jody got married to Mark Evans in the SLC temple. Crazy thing is Mark is really good friends with my friends from High School. So, we had a ton of fun hanging out together all afternoon.

Me and Jody

Jake and Korey

Jake, Korey and I

Jared and Leslie