Ok Ok....Mar here is your update ;)
What have we been up to, with soooo much going on this last spring, our trip to florida, zions, las vegas, me to San Diego and Arizona the rest of the summer has been pretty low key. We have been spending lots of time with friends and family doing all kinds of crazy stuff! A big thing that happened was I got a new car! I am leasing it but still, I did it all on my own. The shopping, the negotiating and got the price exactly what I wanted!! Thanks for my brother in law Kev for telling me to stick to my guns and don't back down. As silly as it sounds this was a very empowering (although stressful) experience! I've never made such a big decision on my own. And its what me and my friends like to call "sassy" red! Thats cause I'm sassy, LOL if you had seen me with some of those dealers you would agree! I flat out walked out of one in the middle of papers being drawn up for a new subaru! GO ME!

I'm late but...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!!! To my second oldest sister, who I looked up to SO much! she is one of the most talented people I know! She's amazing at scrapbooking, not just that but goes all out for everything! You go to something at her house and she's got it all, good food, sweets, decor everything. She got the good genes in the family.
WE LOVE YOU KIM! Hope you had a great birthday! I would post a pic but my desktop is dead, and I have non on my laptop.

"Its me and you babe...."



I am lucky to have a really amazing friend, she is writes so beautifully about her family and her adorable little girls. check out her blog, its sarah on my blog roll :) she got me thinking about being a mother and I hope I don't repeat what she has said but she really got me thinking about being a mom to such an amazing little girl as mine. Kirsten and I spend lots of time in the car.....we talk, I listen to her endless questions about this and that, and I admit sometimes (much more than I should) I get frustrated with her constant questions. But I am lucky, to have such a smart little angel, she is curious about the world around her, the world passing her by as we drive through, and who her mom is talking to and what she said on the phone. :)
Everyday I spend with my little girl is a precious gift to me. I see so many single moms who work themselves to the bone to keep their homes afloat to to be the best moms they can be. I have been blessed to be home with daughter, to enjoy her laughter, to enjoy summer days spent hiking, at the pool and our many adventures. I hope as the years go by our bond will stay strong...I feel blessed to have this year just her and I. I think it will always keep her and I close...I hope we have many hours spent talking, laughing. I hope I am someone she can confide in when she's 12, 17 and 30. I can't wait for the late night chats whens he comes home from her first date, prom and her first heartbreak.
Its me and you babe....you are stuck with me for eternity ;)

The Land of the free because of the brave...

I love the 4th of July for so many reasons, its always been my favorite holiday! I love the patriotic music, the show of flags and for some reason nothing is more patriotic then fireworks? As I watched the firework show at the Bees game on the 4th, while listening to music about who much we love America it reminded me like it does every year of how grateful I am to live in the United States! In this last year I have met many wonderful people who serve our country, and then I have my own brother who I think of every time I see something patriotic. As the music played I thought of all the people in my life who have served our country and how grateful I am to them. For their bravery, their boldness and the sacrifices they make to serve. I wish I was better with words but for all the soldiers I am truly grateful. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't enjoy the freedom that we have. Thank you!

Independence Day!
We had a really great 4th of July!! Kirsten, my dad, Hayley, Derik and I started out the day with a beautiful hike up little cottonwood canyon. We wanted to do Cecret Lake but there was too much snow. We still found some beautiful sites! As usual we reminiced about the many hikes we have done up there as a family. Ones like Hay, dad, Tay and I getting stuck finding a waterfall near tanners flat. Hayley and I sat on the extremely steep mountain side and cried. LOL Hayley also remembers waiting out a rain/snow storm near where we hiked. And who could forget the 4th of July hike with Piper pregnant, and her best friend pregnant and my friend JW. Lots of good times!
Later that evening we headed to the Bee's game, we didn't have tickets and they were all sold out. We were all pretty bummed, but we found a scalper who sold us tickets!! It was lots of fun, saw lots of people we haven't seen in a long time, enjoyed yummy snowcones and fireworks! The 4th is definitly one of my fav. holidays!

I LOVE THIS LITTLE BOY!

this is my sweet little nephew Maddox (my little sister hayleys little boy) In this picture we were dancing to one of his fav. songs "somewhere over the rainbow" He always has the best smiles to give me and lots of snuggles. I love spending time with him!

A Attached or Single: Single


B Best Friend : Many- sisters, molly and Laura


C Cake or Pie : oooo depends...i love red velvet cake, and banana cream pie!


D Day: Monday, kirsten gets back from her dads and friday usually out and out doing something fun!


E Essential Item: lip gloss and a camera


F Favorite Color: turqoise


G Gummi Bears or Worms: not a fan of either..i like swedish fish


H Hometown: Sandy, UT


I Indulgences: Shopping/Clothes, yummy food with good atmosphere, and getting my hair done


J January or July: JULY!!LOVE THE SUMMER!


K Kids: Kirsten, I am the luckiest mom ever!


L Life is incomplete without: Without family and good friends....and someone special to love :)


M Marriage Date: TBD


N Number of Siblings: 5- kara, kim,piper, taylor and hayley

O Oranges or Apples: oranges


P Phobias or Fears: the dark, spiders and snakes


Q Quote : We may not have it together, but together we have it all


R Reason to Smile: A happy, healthy family and life:)


S Season: Spring into Summer


T Tag Ten People: marilee, tiffany, mariah, brittany, kara, kim, cami, lisa, Leanne, and Anjuli

U Unknown Fact About Me: I am afraid of the dark ;) sometimes its true!


V Vegetarian or Carnivore: not a huge meat eater but like it now and then. Mainly chicken, fish, etc.

W Worst Habit: being too emotional


X X-rays or Ultrasound: Ultrasound, usually much happier news!


Y Your favorite food: Italian, sushi


Z Zodiac Sign:Aquarius

GIRLS TRIP!! (May 23rd - 25th 2008)
I had a really fun quick 3 day trip to San Diego with some of my single girlfriends. We left thursday night, stayed at the Dana in beautiful Mission Beach. It was a great weekend full of lots of laughs, inside jokes, and overall fun! some of my fav moments were:
-The Jet Blue flight with just jamie and I. We checked out good looking "older" gentleman at the SLC airport and enjoyed watching tv with no sound!
-car rides, some of the things we came up with while riding through San Diego...I will never forget!
-breakfast at the wavehouse and the roller coaster ride at Mission Beach!
-Our 6 hours spent at the pool soakin up sun and enjoyin yummy food!
-Movie night at the hotel
- dancing in Pacific beach and yummy sushi
I haven't laughed this hard in ages....its been so good for me to have such wonderful, supportive and strong women in my life!


from left to right: Me, Tiffany, Jamie, Ashley, and Wendi

girls gotta love shoppin!

These are my friend Tiffany's REAL Jimmy choo shoes. Carrie Bradshaw would be proud.

Yummy sushi!

goofin off in La Jolla

The other day I had a moment where I knew I had arrived as a mother to a girl. Kirsten was having a particularly hard day, we had to skip backyard adventures with kara because she was overally awnry and tired. She said to me "I want a different mom, a nice mom who's not mean" I knew then I was officially a mother to a dramatic, but beautiful and spirited little girl!

Never finished our florida trip, but having troubles with my PC and can't get my photos online from there. We had a wonderful trip to Disneyworld with Sherrie, Mackay, and Easton! I will post pics when I can get them on my new laptop. and now to summer time! Hope everyone is enjoyin the weather!

And now....the beach!!!! We spent 4 days at the beach and we loved it! Our first trip was to Cocoa beach where we met Sarah, Grace, and Ruby! Piper also came with us and got so sunburnt ( as well did I a little) poor thing :) We had a great time, and loved cocoa but as said in the below pics the gulf beaches are WAY better! Our second time was at a beach right near robyns place, kirsten found some friends and we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon listening to the waves and enjoying the warm sun!
Our third trip was with my brother Taylor, his wife and boys to pensacola beach. It was chilly but Kirsten and Mackay still had lots of fun playin in the water. And we did enjoy a great walk on the beach peir doing a little shoping and enjoying a yummy lunch at a local place!
Our 4th was at my alltime most favorite beach ever! Clearwater beach near Tampa! It was so beautiful, white as snow kirsten said. It was a perfect day with just enough sunshine and ended at another great local place for yummy food and great atmosphere right on the beach! We were homesick just before going there and when I got there I felt I could stay forever!! Can you tell how much I love the beach? WE miss it and all our wonderful friends and family in Florida!


Future surfer girl?

Havin a blast on the beach with great friends, this girl LOVES the ocean!

Kirsten and Grace at the beach, she loved playin with the girls. If you don't notice the difference, this beach is on the atlantic coast as opposed to the other pics on the gulf, the gulf is sooo much more beautiful!

Kirsten and I at Pensacola beach

Here we are again....so its long coming but I haven't had time. The rest of our week was spent with a good friend of mine that I have known since I was 9. We went to the beach, spent too much money at a local board shop on Roxy clothes, and spent lots of time at the beach and enjoyin good food and fun with friends!

Every year I go to the beach I do this!!!

Out for Robyns birthday!

Piper and Kirsten at Ron Jon's surf shop

Out to lunch, Indiatlantic has such a great beach community feel. Lots of great eating places, local joints and just a fun atmosphere! Here we are at Longdoggers, Kirsten and I's dad ate here like 7 years previously!

Kirsten's very best friend Brody, my friends New Foundland dog! We love him, he's the sweetest thing ever and him and kirsten became fast friends!

First trip to the beach, the first few days we were there it was cold so we just went to walk there. Kristen was dying to see the ocean! She definitly is a girl after my own heart, she loves the beach just like me!

THE SUNSHINE STATE!

We left Salt Lake City airport at 1pm on monday April 14th and arrived in Orlando at 11pm. Our luggage somehow got sent to chicago so we waited only about 45 minutes for it to arrive again. We stayed that night in the Marriot right by the airpot (which I got for SUPER cheap on priceline and now I believe I'm a bit of a hotel snob after staying there!) Heres some pics and I will explain our first week as we go. Don't get too jealous, it was humid there but hey I think its worth it!

Our first stop was seaworld. Kirsten loves animals so I knew this would be a perfect place for her. She loved watching the walrus/otter show, seeing the dolphins, and was a little frightened of the sharks and alligators but once she found out the sharks were behind glass she was fine. You pay for one day of addmission and get a full year free (too bad we live in Utah) so we only did half a day there and headed back the next week. We saw the Shamu show (where I cried twice! First it was the saluting our soldiers that got me, and then just the amazing experiece of shamu and spending such a wonderful time with my little girl) I know total baby!


Kirsten got her face painted like the girls in the whale/dolphin show. She's an exotic princess she says :)

Love Shamu!! Sooo amazing!

Watchin the Seal/walrus/otter show in moms glasses!

Kirsten and the seals!

Enjoyin lunch in the somewhat cold sunshine

We're back!!!!

After 2 weeks of no internet, KILL ME! hahahaha and a 16 day vacation in florida we are back! Miss us? I'm sure you were all just dyin without any posts from me. Well in the next few days believe me you will get your fill.
Heres a little update:
The move to Saratoga Springs AKA BFE went well. One moving truck, one oddessy minivan (thank you kevin) 2 trucks (thanks dad and ryan) and a honda pilot (love you ash!) later we were moved in! hahahaha kid you not!! I was reminded that I have ALOT of stuff...hard to know what to get rid of even though I did throw out quite a bit while packing hmmmm....but we are here. And we are happy to have such a beautiful place, large and spacious and at such a cheap price (even if it is in the mdidle of nowhere!) THat of course is an exageration but..I do fill up my car every 5 days since moving here and we aren't usually home til 8 at night cause everything we do is in Lehi, Orem or Salt Lake/Sandy area. I will post some pics once we get it all cutesy, and the floor in my flooded bedroom is back to normal :)
Kirsten and I were also lucky enough to take a 16 days trip to Florida to visit friens and family! I will post some pics and tell all about our trip in the next post. We are glad to be home but sure miss that florida sunshine!
Enjoy :)

Memories, boxes, tears, excitment!





We are moving!! Its been in the works for quite some time now but we finally found a great place to move to. We are moving to Saratoga Springs (I'm sure you are wondering where the great comes in, LOL) but its cheap and will give me the oppurtunity to hopefully in the fall start school! Yesterday I spent much of the day going through my bedroom, old papers, pictures, clothes (I found a pair of overalls in my closet! LOL they are in the DI pile but I am having a hard time giving them away) after 3 garbage bags full of garbage and 3 for the DI I got the majority of it done. Now onto the garage oh joy!
After 3 1/2 years of amazing memories we are leaving our home in Lehi. With it brings much saddness, but much more hope for our future ahead. We have made so many wonderful friends here who I know we will take with us for the rest of our lives. Thanks to all who have made this an incredible place to live!

Easter!
Heres our easter extravaganza! We had such a wonderful time celebrating Christ with friends and family and of course enjoyin easter candy and goodies!

Kirsten is such a poser!

Good friends and sisters!
I am so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing women in my life!! Thank you to all of you who have been there for me this past year and I couldn't have done it without you. We went to dinner to celebrate me, and help me through a hard time last month! Love you all!

The funniest videos I have seen! Enjoy :)
p.s. the first might somewhat be offensive to some? I mean it doesn't say anything bad, but leads to it? Hmm..just a thought for those who are extra sensitive ears ;)
The second is a classic to any marriage you will all love it!

More dating stories??

I"ve told most people in real life this story but thought I would share on here. This one is going to go down in the history books of dating, telling the kids and grandkids for years! LOL
Around my birthday life was really crazy hectic, I had gone to california for a last minute interview, was working for 5 days straight, lots of stuff going on. I had planned a date about a week and a half ahead because that was my next available time. Well between that time and the time of the date I totally forgot about the date first of all, and second that I was working. WE had planned to meet at Cafe Rio, my first standard date. The day came and my friend asked if I wanted to get cafe rio I said I would bring the girls for my bday and meet them there. I invited friends and my parents. We got there, it was hectic with the 4 girls, saw everyone had a nice time and left.
As I was driving home I get a call from the guy I made the date with, we will call him bob. And that instant I remembered I had set the date for that time, at that exact same cafe rio!!! As I answered the phone I said "hi bob, I was at cafe rio where were you?" now I know technically I was there but I should have told the truth so lets be gentle on Maren for playin this off, I had the best of intentions alrighty? he said "I was there but didn't see you, I saw someone who looked like you but they were with a group of people" I said "I brought the girls I nanny cause I forgot I was working but didn't see you". He told me he thought I looked at him at smiled. I remember seeing a guy, sitting in the corner at a table all by himself, I passed him thinking...are you ready for this??? "that poor guy must be waiting for someone" HE WAS WAITING FOR ME!!! I did smile at him, but it never clicked not once til he called me.
I did give him another date and it didn't work, but boy what a great story!

Could I be more lucky???

Heres some pics of kirsten and I my friend took. Thanks Laura you did such an amazing job!!!