Camren turns 8!

Camren turned 8 on the first, but we didn't end up doing anything because we were so busy getting ready to go to Idaho the next day. Instead, I shopped before we left and we planned to have a surprise party for him while we were at Hailee and Alan's house. He had no idea, and we all had a blast! I can't believe he is already 8! It seems like just yesterday John and I were getting married and he was only 2. Boy how time flies!

The awesome cake

Oooh! Presesnts!

Still stunned, not sure what's going on.

Just a little excited. hehe!

Magic Tree House books are a favorite around here.

Happy for more Bionicles

If you can't tell, cars are pretty much his favorite thing ever

Oooh! Another Bionicle!

Getting sung to

My kids love to lick the frosting off all the candles

The big, blue, toothless grin says it all

4th of July - A Day Early

Since this year the 4th of July fell on a Sunday, of course all the celebrations were held on Saturday. (At least they were in Idaho, and back home in Utah) We decided to drive out to Melba to see fireworks, since they are supposed to be some of the best in the state. I have to say they didn't disappoint. They had probably the best fireworks I have seen since Hailey was 1 1/2. We had a blast hanging out on the lawn talking and eating pizza, and of course taking tons of adorable pictures. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

My totally adorable kids.

Hailee and Alan and the boys.

John being a wierdo in Hayden's sunglasses.

Hayden wasn't thrilled with the fireworks. This is before he started screaming his face off.

Me and Hayden hanging out.

Boating Fun

We had SO much fun out on the boat with our friends!! The kids had a blast out on the tube and the taco, but I think Alan had more fun than anyone. Ha ha! He was like the biggest kid of them all! We were able to spend several hours out just blasting the radio and flinging Alan and the kids all over the lake. Hayden had a blast on his first boat ride. He was bouncing up and down and waving his arms everywhere. He was so excited. He made it through almost the whole trip, before he passed out sitting up from exhaustion. It was so cute!

I let my daughter take my picture. I guess it's as decent as it can be with me in it.

Hailee with her cute boys, Hunter and Jaxon.

Alan and the girls on the taco.

Pulling the tube and the taco.

All the kids (minus Camren).

John and Hayden (they're not really red, we had the bimini top up)

Me and Hayden.

Excuses and Idaho

Man. So it seems like every time I make plans to update my blog it goes like this:

Me: ooh! look! I did a couple new posts! Only 5 billion more and I will be all caught up! Go me!

Internet: oh Michele . . . . someone posted something new on facebook!

Me: ooh! what is it?

Internet: oh, and you're people are starving in your cafe, and there's a sale at Gymboree and you might want to check out craigslist and ksl while you're at it.

And there goes another 3 days of my life I will never get back.

At least this time I actually had an excuse. We went to Idaho for the weekend. We left the 2nd, and got home the 5th. We spent time with our best friends, Hailee and Alan, and had a TON of fun! Idaho was beautiful, and it was nice to be with friends. We went to amazing fireworks, we had a surprise birthday party for Camren, we took the boat out, and we just spent time lying around talking and eating double stuff oreos and diet coke. It was awesome and I wish I didn't have to come home.

Although I love Utah, it is lonely here. My parents are in California, and while I would LOVE to live right by them, I have NO desire to live in California again. I have friends here, but not ones that we hang out with and do stuff together with as a couple or family. It was so nice to be in Idaho. John even applied for a few jobs out there after we got back, because we liked it there so much. I don't know if anything will come of it, but it would just be nice to live somewhere where we had friends that we could hang out with all the time and do stuff with. Like hang out at each other's houses, and go camping and boating together, and just do stuff together. I know that it sounds crazy to think that we would move to Idaho because of friends, but it's nice to know that I would seriously have someone that I could hang out every day with. I don't have anyone like that now, and it gets really lonely.

Wow, well this post got really depressing all of the sudden and I didn't mean for it to. Anyway, our trip was freakin awesome and I will do more posts - with pictures in a minute.

Gratuitous Hayden Pic

So it's getting late (or early), and I'm actually getting a little tired, but I couldn't leave without posting a picture of the cutest baby alive. His hair is starting to curl now. It is so adorable I can't bear to cut it. I told John maybe when he turns one I will cut it. I'm not going to be one of those moms that let's their little boy look like a girl, but he still has a while before I have to worry about that. And oh those cute, chubby little cheeks! I swear I could eat those cheeks all day long! I can't believe he is going to be 10 months old on Sunday! Boy has the time flown by. I wish I could keep him little forever!

I will post some of the other kids later on today when I come back to do some more updating.

Singing

So I went and checked out a new vocal coach last week. I was a little nervous because it had been a while since I quit working with my last one. I am shy (hard to believe for the people that know me) and I have a hard time warming up to people. So add that to my nerve wracking stage fright, and I thought I was going to die going in to my session. Ha ha! Luckily I went and everything was fine. The teacher was awesome! In just one lesson I could already see a difference because I was able to make it to a high A flat without straining. It has really frustrated me that it is totally true that you have to either use it or lose it. In school, I sang first soprano, sometimes I even sang the descant. But then I discovered that I loved singing alto, because I loved harmonizing and it was a change from what I had been doing for years. So after years of not using my higher register, and enjoying the harmonies, the higher end of my range is almost non-existing. So, the teacher I saw teaches SLS, which is Speech Level Singing. Basically, it uses methods to strengthen your vocal chords and teach your larynx to stay down while you're singing so you can belt the higher notes without the strain you would usually get. In one session I could see a major difference. So I am planning on working with her, at least for the summer. She isn't too busy right now since it's summer, so she offered to charge me 1/2 price. Since she is one of the top vocal coaches in the state, that is too good of an offer to pass up! She has a lot of connections in the music industry, and also teaches classes on performance and getting over stage fright. The goal is to get performing locally, and then go from there. So I will have to keep you posted on what's going on with that. In the mean time, I am excited to be getting back to doing what I love more than anything.

Updating

Man, I have just gotten so far behind on here. It's hard because I have let it get so overwhelming that I will come on here with the intention of getting things updated, but then I get on here and realize just how far behind I am and it's like paralyzing. So for now I am just going to take baby steps, keeping up to date now, and I will try to get the older stuff caught up when I can. And if it doesn't happen, I will try not to beat myself up about it.