back to real life

i have been on a break. a break from life. it was just peachy! as mentioned on the previous post, i flew to missouri to surprise my sister-in-law aimee. i've spent the last 9 days in pj's. (no lie) we did a whole lot of nothing and it was splendid. for doing nothing, my trip seemed to fly by and now it is time to go back to responsibilities and getting ready for the day.

don't think that just because i was on vacation we didn't have several projects to do. aimee needed a bit of inspiration for the littles bedroom. i guess i was just that because we had that room painted and ready to go in no time. i for one think it turned out just perfect.

million question a day jackson. this little guy is sure growing up fast. i was asked multiple times in a day how certain words were spelled, what letters made what sound, asked for a snack every 5 minutes, and entertained like there was no tomorrow by his funny little personality. even though he loves me, i think he wished his uncle daniel was there to "karate chop" and give "wedgies".

we took many walks. one of which was at a beautiful state park right up the street.

one of the highlights of the trip was driving to jefferson city to watch the tour of missouri. it was such a cool atmosphere to be in and the support for the riders was incredible. it made me want to jump on my bike and join.

all dressed up for church.

miss o. she has some major attitude and sass. olivia says no more than anything else and gives the best kisses imaginable. she really doesn;t like being told its bedtime and she LOVES treats. that my kind of girl.

good bye smith family. i love you all so very much. thank you for your hospitality, mosquito bites, walks throughout the town, google-ing, late night bowls of cereal, advice, comfort, and most importantly, introducing me to chocolate animal crackers. see you all again very soon! xoxo.... shante

MO-town

you heard right... MO-town, as in MISSOURI. i have left the beehive state for a SURPRISE visit to a little town called kirksville to stay with the beloved smith family. i get to look at these cute faces all day long for nine days straight. i'm sure i'll have an abundance of photos to share when i return. until then... will someone please check in on my hubbie from time to time?

hobble creek half & a morning in millcreek

on saturday my friend and i woke up at the crack of dawn to participate in the HOBBLE CREEK HALF MARATHON. some people say that runners are crazy. some people say that runners have no life. and some people even say that running is a waste of time. well... those people have never run before. there is nothing like crossing that finish line knowing that all the hard work and dedication you put into the weeks and months prior finally paid off. running is not easy and its not painless. but its definitely worth it. thanks for being my running buddy amy and for putting up with the early mornings and late nights. and a shout out to the best hubbie in the world. for being there, like always, smiling at me as i cross the finish line.

one of the perks about living in the salt lake area is being so close to so many canyons. on sunday morning we met up with the entire Hammond family to celebrate my super fit, super fun grandmas birthday. the weather was perfect, the company and conversation even better, and the breakfast delicious as always.

grandma and all of her grand-daughters

the whole Hammond crew all together

we love you guys and it was so great to see everyone. happy birthday grandma. you are so fun to be around and you just get better with age.

always, sometimes, never

i saw this post on a friends blog and thought it was a cute idea. i'm usually not into the whole "tag" thing but i thought this was different from ones i've seen. its always fun to learn about someone elses little quirks. enjoy!

i ALWAYS...

- eat breakfast right when i wake up. i usually know what i'm going to have the night before.

- sit down on sunday nights and make my "lists" for the up-coming week. this includes a grocery list, menu for the week, work out schedule, any errands that need to be run etc. sometimes i'll even go as far as breaking my days down into hours. ocd??? i think so.

- have a snack in my purse. just ask my family, i'm not a happy person when i'm hungry.

-wash my face at night before i go to bed.

-know what day any major holidays and my birthday falls on for the current and upcoming years. i'm a walking, talking, calendar.

i SOMETIMES...

-"forget" to brush my teeth at night. i'm a morning and after lunch brusher. danny has issues with this one. all i can say is, i'm working on it.

-get up at some random time of the night and eat a bowl... or two of cereal. guilty pleasure.

-stick my tongue out to the side of my mouth when i'm concentrating too hard.

-look at random people and think of what animal they look like. you should try it. its amazing at the resemblance in some people.

-get so caught up in the future that i forget to live in the present.

i NEVER...

-eat the little white things in eggs. my mom told me they were the umbilical cord of the baby chick and i've never gotten over it. sick.

-fall asleep without telling my hubbie i love him. lame but true. it really does keep me up.

-have an enjoyable air plane ride. i've been known to have full on panic attacks while loaded on valium, and dripping sweat from every inch of my body. the poor poor people who have to watch it all happen. i'm sorry.

-answer phone numbers i don't know.

-stay up past 10:00. this is goes for vacations, weekends, sleepovers etc. i need my sleep. i've gotten better though, it used to be 8:30 ;0)

anyone who wants to share is welcome too! just write down five things for each one.

lake powell, four, and visitors

summer seems to be flying by. i can't believe that its august already. we have been busy with vacations, celebrating our fourth anniversary, and having my family from oklahoma visit. readers beware... its a big post.

first... me and mine celebrated of four year anniversary. i can't believe its been that long. we celebrated by eating at a tasty little place called BAMBARA, and as a little gift to each other made our way to at&t to get iPhones. i must say that i am one lucky gal to have this wonderful man in my life. he is the best. i couldn't ask for a better.

lake powell has to be one of the coolest places on the earth. we ventured there with my family over the 24th and once again it did not disappoint. minus the windstorms almost every night, id have to say it was very enjoyable.

cooling off at dangling rope marina and enjoying some soft serve. does anyone else think that this ice cream is some of the best you've ever had? maybe its the 100+ temperature or the fact that all of your other meals have had sand in them. regardless... we quite enjoy it.

d catching some air on the wake board.

me and my cute brothers, braden and gavin.

and last but not least, we were very exited when these guys called us up and said they were coming to town. meet my day, step-mom, and little bro. they live in oklahoma and i don't get to see them often enough. it was great to catch up and give hugs. we enjoyed having you over to our home and spending a night on the town. hopefully we don't have to wait so long to see each other next time.
well, i guess thats it for now. we hope you are all enjoying the last of these summer days as much as we are. winter will be here before you know it.

San Diego, CA

ahh... san diego. what a fun trip! we ventured to san diego with dannys entire family. it was very relaxing and much needed. we spent a day at disney land and california adventure, played on the beach, yummy food, bike rides and runs on the beach, fish tacos on the pier... in other words, we did a lot!

we had to get a picture in front of the "R"

on the porch of the beach house enjoying the sunsets

smores... i could eat a hundred of these things

my sis in law aimee organized a little fun run for the family. the adults ran a 5k and the littles ran a 1/2 miler. it was so much fun and so beautiful.

me and my sis in laws and mom in law after the run

all the kiddos (and danny) holding up their medals made of reeses peanut butter cups and colored ribbon.

i had to post some pictures of my two favorite little girls. above is maizy and below is olivia.

jackson, cooper, and jarom

we spent an afternoon at balboa park. it has a lot of very cool museums including my favorite, a botanical garden. there were so many interesting plants, flowers, and trees.

this is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.

thanks for such a wonderful trip reeder fam. it was so good to have every one under the same roof. good bye beach house... until next time.

here's the scoop

i know i know.... this whole blog thing really isn't working out for me. i PROMISE a new post is coming soon with all of our exciting happenings. (this is meant to be sarcastic, nothing new or exciting but i'll see if i can come up with something) 

i am...

a WOMAN OF STEEL! that's right... i competed in the Woman of Steel triathlon on saturday. this was my second time doing this race and it is SO SO fun! there is something so inspiring about the atmosphere. its magical. there are women from all walks of life, different shapes and sizes, all there for the same purpose, to finish the race. the weather was perfect and the support from on-lookers, amazing! my wonderful hubbie came once again to watch me and was there at every transition to cheer me on. what a guy. i would have to say that the best part of racing is the end. not because you know your almost done (that part is nice too), but because you get this incredible adrenaline rush. all of a sudden you feel like your floating across the pavement in those last hundred feet to the FINISH line. its painful. its a challenge. its inspiring. its a triathlon. and... its so worth it. 

p.s. i'm not one to care about what my finishing time is but... i took first place in my age group. HUGE accomplishment to check off my lifes' to do list.

p.s.s. this years pics wouldn't load so here are some of last years. missed all those that weren't here for this one.. maybe next time  ;0)

April 15th has come and gone...

I think its safe to say that both Danny and I are SO glad that tax season is over! It went by pretty fast but was crazy none the less. To celebrate the ending of busy season, we planned a little get away to St. George. I love going there. Its the perfect place to spend a long weekend. Our good friends Dan and Anj also joined us. We had a great time hanging out and enjoying some warm weather. 

The boys thought it would be fun to go "bouldering". For those of you who aren't familiar with this term it is climbing up rocks and tearing your hands apart. Real fun....

Anj and I in our little cave we found while the boys were having "fun"

Thanks for the fun trip with lots of memories made (most of which can't be shared) Can't wait to go back!

welcome to our home

Well, all I can say is that it sucks not having the use of the world wide web at my finger tips. For all of you who have been bugging me about pictures of our house... here they are. We have loved having our own place and have been busy these last few weeks making plans for our yard. I think we need to win the lottery or come into a large sum of money some how in able to complete all these plans but hey, its ok to dream. So WELCOME! This is our humble abode. It consists of 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, a laundry room, family/dining room, and a pretty sweet backyard with grape vines, a pear tree and a whole slew of others. Hope you enjoy!

Here is our laundry room/mud room

This is the dining area. It is kind of meshed into the living room as well but it actually works out perfectly.

The LIVING ROOM.

 

and my favorite place in the house... the kitchen! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

one and only bathroom. i thought that this could be a potentially bad situation. i tend to take up a lot of space and i just wasn't sure how the single bathroom was going to work out. turns out danny doesn't need a lot of space (or doesn't have a choice) and i've found a place for each and every item.

The bedroom. 

So there you have it. The complete tour of our home thus far. I know I mentioned that there are three bedrooms. The reason they are not pictured is because they are not finished yet. We are using one for an office and the other is my closet. Like I said, I have a lot of crap.