Baptism Pictures-Relay for Life-Birthdays

-Baptism Pictures-

My AMAZING sister in law, Amy, took these pictures for me. Since next week is the baptism, I figured I better get going on some announcements. Also, I need to mention my WONDERFUL mother in law who made these beautiful dresses. My girls are so gorgeous and these pictures just prove it. I am so proud of them and the great kids they are. They are the best and I love them so much more than they could imagine!
-Relay for Life-

The main reason for our weekend visit to St. George was so we could attend and participate in the "Relay for Life" marathon supporting cancer. I can't even begin to tell you how emotional this was for us all. Between Katelyn and my mother in law, Joyleen, we have been through all the ups and downs that come with cancer. And we can definitely say.. CANCER SUCKS! Coming together this weekend with so many others who have been affected by it was so neat. Katelyn felt so special, which no doubt she should. I also realized just how lucky we are to still have our loved ones who have fought and are fighting this terrible disease. It was so sad to see all of the people and T-shirts that were all about "in memory of." I'm so grateful ours said "SURVIVOR." We are so blessed and lucky. Katelyn is and always has been such an example to me. Whenever I am stressed or have a small trial, I always think of this amazing little girl and all she went through. If Katelyn can fight and conquer, so can I. Same goes for everyone fighting! I love you all so much and I pray for you!! Never Give Up Your Fight!!!

-Happy Birthday Katelyn & Kassidy-

We also had a little birthday party for the girls while we were here, since today is their birthday :) I can't believe I have 8 year olds. They, along with their brother and TyRel, are the light in my life and I could never live without them. Something many of you know, I had to learn a very hard way. I should mention too that Ty also celebrated his birthday yesterday. He is the BIG 30 and yes, I plan on doing a major good blog about him ASAP! I just wanted to get this crazy weekend blogged before anything else. And lucky for Ty, we spent his birthday traveling and at the relay. But definitely watch for his special blog next!It was such a great BUSY weekend. So many special memories made. I love spending time with mine and Ty's family. We are so lucky to have each other for support. I sure LOVE you all. Even those who couldn't make it. I'm not trying to make it sound like life is perfect (because it is so FAR from sometimes)but this is just one of those times I feel extremely blessed.

Easter... in pictures!

{It was FUN}

Easter Saturday w/Grandma "Powder"

Today we had our annual Easter get together at my Grandma Howard's. It's always so much fun for the kids. The only crappy thing for me was all the yummy food I couldn't eat. These are just some random pictures from our day.

The egg hunt:

My lovely sister and I:

did you watch this!?

Did anyone else watch this show? I absolutely love it. I admit, The Hills was a huge quilty pleasure for me and Audrina was always my favorite. So when I heard was she was getting her own show, I was super excited. After watching it I love her even more. I love her crazy family that isn't perfect and doesn't always get along, but is definitely close. It is so entertaining to me. Celebrity Reality shows are for sure my guilty pleasure!

Atkins... for everyone curious

I have had so many people ask lately what diet Ty and I are on. As most of you know, Ty has lost 50lbs. and I have lost around 15lbs. It has been so easy for Ty but so hard for me. Not that I have ever been extremely overweight, but I am an emotional eater and I have gone through so many emotions lately. All I want to do is eat, still. Anyway, I'm just going to explain this diet and how it has worked for us.
Most of you have heard of the "Atkins" diet. It's basically cutting out carbs and sugars. Carbs are always the first thing to be burned off before fat, so by eliminating most of your carbs, your body burns your fat. I know there is so much more to it that I just don't understand. You start out by having just 20 carbs a day then when you feel ready, you move on to the next stages that offer more carbs and food choices. I know that IT WORKS! and I feel amazing and healthy. I have so much energy. Just ask anyone on it and they will say the same thing I'm sure.

It did totally suck because I had to cut out my most favorite foods. Like Olive Garden pasta and Cafe Rio everything! Ty also had to cut out all his favorites, too. He is a big time bread eater so that was his biggest challenge.

It's not like we totally go hungry and unsatisfied though. There are lots of things we can eat. Bacon and eggs for breakfast. We can have salad with ranch dressing, tons of meat and cheese.

While shopping and looking on the Internet, we have also found some low carb things such as "low carb" flour tortillas. The actual Atkins brand makes some yummy shakes and candy bars and most no sugar candies have little or no carbs. So really, if you are looking for a good diet, this is perfect! I eat and feel very full and satisfied when I'm done.. and STILL lose weight. This is seriously an amazing diet and it has changed our lives. I will take a picture of Ty and post it on here tonight so you can see how great and thin he looks. If I didn't cover everything or you want to know more, you can always visit the Atkins website. They offer free advise and even send a free starter package.

Steph's Recipe Blog

If you're always looking for good recipes, then you need to visit my sister, Stephanie's Blog.

She's got a really awesome and delicious collection of recipes from herself as well as family members. She also gives really good detailed steps to making everything and posts her very own picture's of the final product. I promise you will find something everyone will love! Here is one of her many recipes she has on her blog. This one I am always getting asked about, too. It's my mom's famous bread and it's so simple:

This dough is so versatile! I use it for everything: pizza dough, dinner rolls, crescent rolls, scones (when fried), breadsticks, just regular bread.. if you need a dough recipe, this will work!!

2 cups heated milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
4 1/2 -5 cups flour
2 teaspoons yeast

If you have a bread maker just put the ingredients in the bread maker in that order on the dough setting. If not just use a mixer and make sure it kneads for awhile. When finished mixing, let the bread rest for 10 minutes for any recipe.

Marilyn Monroe!

I love love love this woman and finally got the tattoo I've been dying to get...
isn't it soooo cute!?

Just thought I'd share :)

nothing good to say today.....

I have to get a root canal.. BLAH!

I'm scared because I've never had one but at least Ty will be there with me.

*FaVoRiTe tHiNgS*

{I just wanted to share with you all a few of the things I couldn't possibly live without}

When we were looking at the prices of all my school books for the semester we were dying at how expensive it was going to be. Well I've been wanting an E-reader type thing for such a long time so I decided to look into them and see if I would even be able to get all of my school books on one. Come to find out, Barnes & Noble's Nook carries almost all of the school books I will be needing. So rather that spend around $600 on school book for my spring semester, I bought this nifty little thing for $150 and a total of about $70 on my school books. I think Ty would agree that this was probably one of our best purchases ever, with as much as I read and spend money on books. What I also love about it, is I've got my whole library in my purse with me wherever I go!

This is my new super cute purse. It's made by Steve Madden and I got it for so cheap. It is huge and it fits everything I could possibly ever need inside of it. I always have issues when I wear brown shoes and have a black purse, well now I will never have that problem again. It is a good mixture of black and brown and goes with everything I wear. It is so cute and stylish and I love love love it!

And last, but certainly not least, SILVER nail polish! It is my new obsession. I'm one to always change up my polish to match my outfit. Well, I think it's been about 2 weeks. I just absolutely am crazy for this color and even Ty loves it, too!

this BIG happy family!!

A couple weeks ago we had a huge Haslem Family get together. Sadly we were missing Sarah & Chris. It was so much fun but it wasn't the same without them. They were greatly missed. We did sooo many fun things, had so many laughs, ate yummy food and made memories to remember forever. Anytime we get together is so special to me. I am so blessed with such wonderful in-laws who love and never judge me regardless of anything wrong I do or any mistakes I make. Not many people can say they get along with their in-laws, but I can honestly say I do and that I have the absolute BEST ever! We all know I have made many mistakes and at times done things most people wouldn't agree with or approve of, but I know I am still loved by them. I feel it everyday. So thank you for being such amazing people I can always turn to. I love each and every single one of you and hope you all know just how much.

So Anyways, there is just way too much to tell about the many festivities and fun things we did so I just decided to make a collage of my favorite pictures from the weekend.

EnJoY!!

Some of the most AMAZING women I know & some of my best friends

The *GORGEOUS* Haslem's

I am so glad we were all able to spend so much time together. It was a blast and I can't wait until our next get together.

"around the clock" in St. George

This picture below is one of my all time favorites that I have ever taken and I have no idea why, but I think it is a lovely way to begin this "novel" of a blog post. This was a rainy day about 2 months ago and my kids noticed the rainbow. It turned out to be such a beautiful day and I couldn't miss the opportunity to take this picture of my kids in front of it. Everone knows my life is consumed with school, being a wife and mom so I'm so not going to blog about that. Just so everyone knows, it's going great and coming along perfect and I couldn't be more excited for summer to come! We have so many fun activities planned. The kids are getting older and they are becoming so much fun. (not that they weren't before) but I'm just really looking forward to hopefully traveling a lot this summer. We would love to make it to all of Ty's siblings homes before the summer ends. We'll see if that's something we can accomplish!! Life is soooo good right now and we are all doing fabulous so I'm just going to just straight into recent happennings...

This past weekend we made a quick trip to St. George for a really really close friend's bridal shower. (and when I say "really" close friend, I mean like my little sister, that really isn't). Bree has been pretty much part of our family for as long as I can think back. She is one of Sharee's best friends. So we were in charge of putting together this fun shower for her. It was so much fun to plan and I loooved spending so much time with my family on it. We had some fights and we cried and got frustrated with each other but I am so lucky to have the family and sister's that I have. I wouldn't trade them for anyone. The same goes for my mommy, daddy and Auntie Janet Sue. Oh, and I don't even think I need to mention my wonderful husband and babies!! I couldn't be a luckier girl... but I'm not saying life is perfect because as usual it's far from. I'm just so greatful for the blessing I have in my life.

So here's our weekend in a nutshell (and pictures)

My SEXY lover and me (this amazing man has worked so hard and lost 50lbs. He's sooo damn hot and I am so proud of him. (but he's always been the most handsome man to me)

Bree's "Around the Clock" bridal shower

The BeAuTiFuL bride-to-be ...and her PRINCESS cupcakes *Best Friends* these are some of the most important and incredible women in my life & i love them so much more than they could possibly imagine... SiSteR pIcTuReS...

and finally, something Tosh, the blushing groom, will enjoy :) We LOVE you Bree and Tosh and wish you the very best. Can't wait for the wedding!!!

AND, thanks so much Mom, Dad, Aunt Janet, Stephanie & Chet for letting us invade.