More from the Box

The camping box made an appearance again last weekend. Our adventures brought us to Jordanelle, after American Fork Canyon was sold out. We don't have a boat a jet ski or anything that would make enjoying the water a bit funner, but I still think we had a pretty great time!

Dogs are not allowed on the "beaches" so we set up camp off the beaten trail. The boys sure had good time. And you would have never know it but Chuck is quite the retriever, especially in the water. I think he secretly doesn't want to have Colt to have the last word! He looked good out there even though he looked like a drown rat!

Katy just kept laughing hysterically at the dogs fetching the sticks we found...

And getting knocked over by the waves! Aside from throwing mud at anything she could!

We hung out in Park City too. We got to go to the park and hit up the outlets. We even got to hang out with Ken and RaNae (who were having a weekend getaway in PC as well). It was a great weekend! We are pretty much going to be out of town about every other weekend the next little while. I guess you could say we are just trying to soak up the last moments of summer!

A day in the life.....

Catching up on Steve's iPhone dump for the last little bit. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Family night drive up Rose Canyon to overlook Kennecott Copper Mine.

2. Taylorsville Day fireworks in June. Notice Steve's gun earmuffs? Those worked like a charm on the boom-boom sparkies.

3. Hangin' out at Snowbird

4. You could even see Tooele up there at the overlook. And I know the 5$ per car goes to charity when you go, but it's free when you take our way!

5. Diggin' for rocks in Grandma Joanne's garden.

6. Bee sting at the pool. Steve taught me that if you put white toothpaste on it...it feels much better. My cousin Brooke gave Katy a glow bracelet, we told her it would keep the bees away to get her to go back outside!

7. Watching the K-9 trials in Herriman. Way cool to go and watch if you've never been.

8. She even got Grandpa Beardshall to play in the garden with her one night.

9. Watching fireworks with Paige and Blake on the 4th of July.

10. Pretty flowers at Snowbird.

11. More Taylorsville Days. You can't see it but Steve is reading "Busted" a one dollar magazine you can pick up at the gas stations. You can read about all the people that were arrested the previous week. Kind of sad but kind of some funny stuff in there too. Steve, of course, loves it!

12. I felt bad she was having a hard time with the noise level on the 4th. She was not very happy. It wasnt until a few days later she was saying her ear hurt. Because it was after hours I decided to take her in to the insta care. She had an ear infection so bad her ear drum had ruptured and it was bleeding like crazy when they checked it. We felt SO bad. She was kind of off a few days before that but never mentioned that her ear hurt or that she didnt feel good! Parent's of the year award!

1. Chuck in the new truck...poor guy can't see very well with those stubby legs!

2. I think Grandpa even got a bit wet!

3. Trying on Steve's glasses, Uncle Ken's face makes me laugh in this picture....like he's trying to decide if she really looks good in oversized glasses or not!

4. Colt has a good view from the back there.

5. Dog lake. We pull of the hot sweaty mess pretty well!

6. Thank heaven for scrubbies....we got ready for bed before our overlook family night!

7. RaNae and Ken came to Taylorsville Days with us. We had a blast and got treats before hand.

8. Steve scored us free tickets to the Days of 47 Rodeo through work and we sat pretty close behind President Monson. He was so CUTE with everyone that came to say hi and all the kids that kept yelling for him to turn around and wave! He's quite the comedian!

9. The new truck...it doesn't have a name yet. I cant tell if it's a boy or a girl yet? Still working on that one. The Jeep never had a name but we knew she was a girl!

10. Why???

11. Why?????

12. I see where Katy has become quite the expert at pulling faces...more fun at the rodeo!

The Camping Box

We didn't make it up to Silver Lake on our "anniversary celebration night" because we were a little side tracked making an offer on THE CAMPING BOX.

Years ago, before either of us had kidos, we went camping in Moab with Rachel and Andrew Davis. I like to think that I'm always prepared but we forgot some essentials needed when camping. Enter the camping box. If I remember correctly they grabbed it on the way out from his parents, and it was loaded with everything you could ever need while out in the wild...it had salt, pepper, sos pads, garbage bags, pots, pans, utensils, tampons...you get the idea. It was genius for sure. When we got back, we immediately made a camping box of our own, which we've made good use of up to now.

When we bought the pop up trailer, Steve got to work transferring everything from the camping box into the trailer. Steve says it needs a good name....I keep coming back to just calling it "the camping box". What do you think? Any ideas?

I LOVE the 90's teal green and yellow theme. Steve has big plans for this bad boy.

We enjoyed some great camping food of course. Hot dogs and chili (my favorite....I kid, I kid, I hate hotdogs! ha) and grilled cheeses. Katy was dying over the zoo pals plates so we had to get those too....do you see my horse looking at you?

Katy wanted some chips. I asked her to smile for a picture and I'd get her some. This is what I got....

beautiful!

This is Steve's best impression...

And this is what I get with a picture together. Nice.

This picture will FOREVER make me laugh out loud when I see it. Katy was up playing in her bed and thought it might be funny to do her best impression of an angry birds pig. Pretty striking resemblance right? So funny!

Mostly it was just nice to be out in the fresh air and lounge around. We went up American Fork Canyon, and if you haven't been there you are missing out. I think it's one of the most beautiful canyons in Utah for sure. We actually go up there so much that we got an annual pass (it does cost to get in, bummer).

Katy just kept telling us how much fun she was having. She'd be doing something and then have a "freak out" moment where she needed to lay down on the ground and giggle.

I cant seem to get this guy to smile at me. He walks around all day with a permagrin on his face and when I whip out the camera, nothing! Steve's been doing some research on his rescue puppy and we are thinking more and more that he may be a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and not a chocolate lab....which is what the shelter was thinking. What are some key features of a Chessy? Amber eyes, wavy mane, white spotting and webbed feet....check, check and check!

*On a side note we are thinking that he may be younger that 4 years old (which is what the shelter guessed too). Maybe that's because he keeps eating loaves of bread off the counter when we are gone, and when we decided to keep him in the basement this week while we were gone, he took the liberty of chewing up the door jam! AHHHH! Good thing he is cute and his coat is not shedding as much lately :)*

Chuck doesn't have pretty eyes to take pictures of, and he doesn't smile for me either, and his nose got in the way of my shot....but he is my best bud and he is a super spooner, especially when you are camping! I also am fond of his Ewok lips!

We tried to get a picture of Steve and Colt together, but as you can see it was a bit of a struggle with Colt not wanting to hold still and Steve forcing a smile through his frustration! Hey, we tried and this picture makes me laugh.

We went on a walk after dinner. I scrouched down to get this shot...and Katy thought she'd do the same. It was fun in our camp ground. Katy kept telling everyone that she went to the bathroom on the potty (we brought the small potty with us....in yet another attmept at this DANG potty training thing), and that we were sleeping in the playhouse...which is what she calls the trailer. Perhaps another good name? Might be too girly.

She kept telling us all night long how she was not tired. I'm sure that the more she was telling us that, the more she was trying to convince herself that she was not tired! But she surprised us and fought it until about 11:00pm!

We seriously had a great time. I cant wait to see where the camping box will take us next!

Famous First Words

I think it's fair to say that Steve and I clicked from the moment we met. By the end of the night we had a date set up for the following week. It was magical, romantic and very classy....we went to the Belgian Waffle Inn. I think I remember Steve saying it's the best waffle you'll ever eat.

In all seriousness it was the funnest date I'd been on. We went to the movies (where it was 50 cent movie night), and to eat at the Belgian Waffle Inn, and drove around into all hours of the night, I'm sure. I think in total our date was less than 5 dollars! Okay, maybe it was over 5 dollars but that was only because Steve got an OJ with his waffle (something of which now gives Steve tremendous heart burn :) we're starting to show our age a bit here).

The night Steve purposed we went there for dinner again, and sadly that was the only two times I've eaten there. Now, we are not the couple to celebrate the anniversary of every little thing that has ever happened to us....but I've always thought it would be fun to go back there on the night we got engaged and then head up to Silver Lake, where he purposed.

I don't think a thing had changed...so it was fun to go back and remember our crazy first date. It was fun taking Katy there too, even though I don't think she understood the significance of it all. We weren't able to make it to Silver Lake because we had something come up (more on that later) but we did have a great time. And I think Steve's famous first words of "the best waffle you'll ever eat" are still true...but I think it all tasted so good because I was there with my family just how we started eight years ago with Steve's purposal!

The Tara Whitney Experience

I keep thinking of a masters card comercial when I try to write this post. You know the ones where they go through a list of items like....gas to california: $$$, food: $$$, hotel: $$$, ect, ect. The last line would be easy to write....it goes like this...
Meeting TARA WHITNEY: Priceless!

Ha, truly meeting Tara was a dream come true of mine. Cross that one off the bucket list (literally!). I've been "blog stalking" Tara for, like, forever. My father-in-law kept asking us on our trip...."why her?", "what's the big deal?" Well Tara is the big deal, really.

But let's get serious though...what a JOY to work with Tara. She was amazing. I emailed her on a whim of mine just to see how much she charged and if she was even available. She was super sweet when she emailed me back. Let's be honest here, though, she was more than your average photography session you'd normally get. Was she worth it? YES, a million times over!

Here is how we started our relationship:
(my email)

Tara,

You are AMAZING!!!

I'm afraid to ask (because if I put a price on your work it would probably be in the millions!), but I am interested in doing a session with you when we come to So Cal in May on Vacation.

So what can I tell you about myself? My husband is a ridiculously good looking cop (what more could a girl ask for?), I have a supermodel daughter, and I'm best friends with Chuck Norris (my dog)!!! Ferris says it best for Team Beardshall...."Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it!" Life is what you make of it so....LIFE IS GOOD!

I would love just one shot of us together (Katy is 2) just how we are....perfectly imperfect, just like you always say!

We wont take up much of your time and you can seriously just take one photo of us, but I think you are very inspiring and I would love some inspration in the form of a family picture from you!

You're the BEST, thanks for your time!

Amy Beardshall

She emailed me back shortly after that, and our "relationship" began. We put our deposit down and she took some time getting to know us. We had to fill out a family questionaire and send a picture of us together. She used that to find a location she thought we'd like.

Meeting her was just like meeting an old friend (maybe because I'm a stalker and read what she writes all the time!). When we met that night it was seriously hurricane force winds. I was kind of nervous about that "ruining" our pictures. But she assured me beach hair is awesome. After our time together I KNEW she worked her magic, I could just feel it. She was great with Katy and didn't think we were weird at all when we told her that pretend farting and burping always make Katy laugh (are we bad parents?)...she was all for it and joined in the fun!

She emailed us the next day saying "You guys are so awesome. Thanks again - enjoy Disneyland!" Yes, Tara said we are awesome! I will always remember that. I told her that after our shoot Steve told me "that was not that bad". Bravo to you on that one, that is a HUGE compliment coming from Steve! She told me when a dad says that was not that bad it's like he's saying THAT WAS FREAKIN AMAZING!!!! ha ha ha!

Thank you again for this AMAZING opportunity Tara. I will have these forever. I knew my family was amazing, but for you to capture us like this, through your lens, is like putting that into words (or pictures in this case!).

So here we go....these are my FAVORITES (sorry there are so many!)

My most favorite picture ever!

Thanks again Tara!

3 x 12//July 2011

photos taken by Tara Whitney May 2011

Seeing that this is a place to record my thoughts and what we've been doing I feel that I need to get a little personal this month, for posterity sake :) July 2011....

We did a lot this month. We had some great times and some really hard times this month. I guess you could say that we've been on a bit of a roller coaster ride.

We visited Britney and took pictures in the Poppies, celebrated the birth of our GREAT country, went to the drive-in several times, hung out with friends, had some BBQs, went to a pool party, had a Beardshall family reunion, roasted marshmallows, had some great nights with mom and Katie, went to the days of 47 rodeo, hiked up to dog lake and had an outpouring of love and support from family and friends.

I have realized more this month how important my family really is (as if I didn't already know) and how things are not always up to us. This month we had a miscarriage.

I'm not naive enough to think something like this could never happen, just hoping it wouldn't. I think the first week was dealing with it, the second week I was really sad, now I'm ok. It's hard to have to wait even longer for something you are so excited about. I just have to remind myself that it's not the end and life moves on. Steve has been GREAT, and I feel super BLESSED to have Katy. She has made this all easier for sure. We had to go in a few times and decided it was probably a good idea to tell Katy what was going on....checking on the baby. I had an ultrasound and they were concerned I was having a possible tubal pregnancy, but couldn't tell for sure. They said I had to go to the ER if I was in pain or bleeding at all. I of course ended up in the ER and just ended up having a miscarriage....which was kind of a relief in a way (not to be a tubal pregnancy).

I was putting Katy to bed the next night and this is how our conversation went:

K: I love the baby.

A: Our baby wasn't ready to come yet. We have to get a new baby.

K: Where are the babies?

A: In heaven?

K: With Jesus?

A: Yes, they are with Jesus.

K: Will we get a new baby?

A: Yes, we will when the time is right.

K: (excitedly) Jesus is going to give our baby a hug and then send it to us!

A: Yes Jesus will give the baby a big hug and send them to us.

K: Ok. I want a new baby.

A: Me too!

Everything happens for a reason, even though it's hard to know why. I know I'm in good hands and I feel blessed to be able to have the family that I do have. I'm certain we'll have another kid when the time is right. Steve and I were saying how we think our family is the BOMB. I love the dynamics we have created and love the time I get to spend with them. Katy knows who's boss but she also knows we can have a rip roarin' crazy fun time. Steve was saying that he wants our kids to feel that we are their best friends....without trying to be the "best friend". We want to create a place our kids want to be because they have such a good time with us. We want our kids to feel like they can come and talk to us about anything. So that's what we are going to continue to do in the meantime, have a great time with our BOMB DIGETY family!

Thank you for all the love and support of our family and friends. You guys are awesome...we have truly felt loved and appreciate all you have done for us! Let's see what August has in store for us....

Photo taken on iPhone up at dog lake, July.

Take a Bath

If you want to have a good time in the bath, make up some bath paints. They were super easy and SO fun. Katy sure was entertained. I found this great idea on Pinterest, although I've seen it a few places.

I've been trying to think of fun things Katy and I can do with stuff we already have lying around the house. This was a perfect solution for an afternoon.

Katy said that she was painting a picture of us hiking up the mountain!

We've since made extra to keep in the bathroom. I'd suggest a smaller brush too, it'll last longer that way! But it was worth the 5 minute effort to make and was oh so easy to clean up!

Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris got a hair cut this week....professional of course. We totally butchered him last time. You can imagine he was not happy. But Chuck Norris got over it when we bought him priceless Ming Dynasty vases to practice roundhouse kicks on! I've got to go clean up now.