ty detmer charity dinner

steve & i were invited to sundance for a ty detmer charity dinner. it was beautiful & held here:

after socializing a bit & a delicious dinner - there was a live auction. can i just tell you how fascinated i am at auctions. the excitement is right up my alley. i don't know how the auctioneer can talk so fast & see everyone at once - simply amazing! well, i ended up bidding on a gun safe??? from when i started bidding on it there were 5 of us then just 2 of us back & forth. i ran the bid up $1000 & finally decided to let it go. after it sold to the other bidder for $3200 they right then offered another one to me for my last bid of $3100 so I took it. talk about being put on the spot. i think the bidder got a kick out of me & since i was the ONLY female all night that bid - he was having fun with it. this is my new purchase:

now what?

steve humored everyone by telling them the only gun we own is a 38 special that my grandmother gave me years ago. (She decided the gun probably did her no good being carried around in her purse since she knew she couldn't pull the trigger due to her arthritis). i have no intentions in collecting guns - just thought it would be good to have to store important documents & files. we have safe security box at the bank & it would be more convenient to have those things here.

i got it for a good deal too - apparently, the safe i got is about a $5000 safe. plus, it is a tax write-off & the money went to charity ... it doesn't get much better than that.

anybody know of any other auctions i can be entertained with? never know what i might bid on.

fall family pictures

ok - so i decided a couple months ago that i wanted to get some FALL family pictures this year. we always get summer pictures (vacations & such) & we typically get christmas pictures but never have done any in the fall. so, i scheduled it for saturday. well, the weather in utah has been goregous. it has been in the low 80's & sunny - just beautiful. when i talked to the photographer earlier in the week they said that the leaves were all still green & not "fallish". i was a little disappointed & looked at rescheduling but realized they were either booked or we were out of town - the soonest we could reschedule would be end of october - which very well could be snow/winter here in utah.

so, i had to bribe steve & the kids for cooperation :) about 1 hour before our appointment the photographer called us & said that she was on site & it was SO windy. she said we could still do it but that we had the option to reschedule. well, we were all showered & almost ready so we went ahead & went for it. we got there & it was very overcast (perfect for pics) but thundering. we took 1 picture & then jake informed us all that he felt a raindrop. in less than 5 minutes, it was pouring. we went under a tree & they tried to take another shot. after that, we all ran across the park for coverage under a gazebo. can you visualize us all running, me in heels w/brock (which he did not like his hair getting WET), steve w/zoe (the dog trying to chase the leaves) & the kids as if they were going to melt. we took a few shots there (yes, wet hair & all). then, we decided it wasn't going to clear up & call it a day. the kids were great. the dog couldn't of been been better. steve was putting up with it all even though i know he wished he was at home watching football. i just forgot to bribe the weatherman ... i'll know better next time.

they think they got a couple shots - i am anxious to see. i'll have to post them, i am sure they will be comical.

salt lake scrapbook show

i just wanted to say that i am SO excited that i have a relaxing weekend at home this weekend. It is odd that we travel ALL over to do scrapbook conventions & the one that is literally 5 minutes from my house - i am not doing this year. no offense to utah scrappers- go & shop your heart out at the show BUT I am going to ENJOY every minute of my weekend at home & glad to be spending it with my family!
*note: the slc show is run totally different than any other scrapbook show! it is more like a garage sale atmosphere & we don't really have garage sale stuff.

cookies?

the doorbell rang & our neighbor brought over a plate full of warm chocolate chip cookies. the kids came running in so excited. i told them as soon as the massive legoland they had been building was picked up then they could have some. they put the cookies on the counter & were working very hard to pick up. about 10 minutes later, i went to check on them & i about died. brock had gotten on top of the counter & had a cookie in each hand. I said "Brock", he said "cookie". He had eaten about 10 cookies... he had chocolate all over his face & a smile from ear to ear. one of those moments that i wished i snapped a pic but i was too occupied consoling the kids that 2 cookies each was enough.

jake's baptism day

well, to make a long story short - jake wanted to be baptized on saturday, september 6th. he was very excited & i was scheduled to be out of town for a girls weekend. i attempted to talk him into doing it later but he wanted nothing to do with that. his best girl friend, madison, which lives next door was going to get baptized on the same day. so, i rescheduled my flight to come home a day early. my flight landed at 3:05 & i had to be at church by 4 (the airport is 30 minutes away) & had my mom pick me up curbside (thanks mom!). I left my luggage in pheonix (thanks corinne!) & changed into my dress in the airport. i made it - i even got to the church before steve & jake did. my sister (thanks somm!) came by the house & helped get brock ready & help with brock so steve could focus on jake w/o the distraction of brock. the baptism was great!! jake was so nervous but looked handsome as ever! afterwards, we all got together at katwyks (thanks ambra!) for some yummy food & good times. it was beautiful weather! we had so many people come & support us. jake was thrilled. we are so proud of jake & the decision he has made. we hope he will always remember what a special day it was & how he felt.

here are some pics of our special boy on his special day:

update

i know it has been a while or at least it seems like it has been forever since i have blogged. labor day weekend was fun. we had planned on going to the lake for the long weekend but the weather did not cooperate. we spent the day on the lake saturday - beautiful 96 degrees then on sunday a storm blew in & tempertures dropped 35 degrees. a high on 61 on monday - yikes. that was a shock that i did not welcome.

then, steve's older brother, andrew & rebekah were married. it was fun to be with steve's family. most of his family are here in utah but we do not see them very often. it was a long day but a GREAT day! brock just loves wedding receptions (all the food, the music/dancing, the attention from every female....what's there not to like about them :)

the morning after the wedding, i was off to arizona for a ME weekend. it was 103 degrees when i landed - i was in heaven!!! the first thing i did was eat at abuelo's - love that place (in fact, i ate mexican 3x while i was there - love mexican food period). it was great to be with so many friends & have fun. the wild horse pass resort was awesome. i know steve would of loved to play the course there. creative escape was great!! if you have never been, i highly recommend it. it is well worth the money & time.