Burned out-But long post

I've kind of felt burned out on blogging lately. At the insistence of Andrea, I'll update. I also had a request to tell of my engagement with Eli. I'll try to compose a reader's digest version to post.

Family update: June has been a slow month for us as we have made no trips to the doctor (although I think I already funded the local doctors' family vacation).
Sydney will be starting piano lessons soon; we'll see how she does with that.

Samuel is as cute as ever. He's started eating rice cereal and loves it. He took to it like a duck to water. They grow up so fast!

The girls and I had fun finding Father's Day gifts for Eli. They wrapped them all up and hid them throughout the house. They were so excited to give them to him that he got most of them well before Fathers Day. Claire was so excited to give him his card that she opened it herself, when he wasn't home. He got breakfast in bed. Sydney thinks that everyone should get breakfast in bed everyday. She thinks it is something special to bring me breakfast in bed (and it is). What a different world it would be if everyone thought like a child all the time.

Here are some pictures. They're in random order because I don't feel like sorting them.

My dad almost caused a few accidents bringing the eagle down to Ferron from American Fork in the back of his truck. It is wrapped in green moving wrap.

I heard about this handy little steamer from my grandma. I've been wanting a Sargent steamer for awhile, but couldn't quite bring myself to pay $1000 for one. I paid just over $100 for this one on ebay (it's new), and I love it! For my small house, it is just perfect. It holds enough steam to do my floors and bathrooms, and has just the right number of attachments. I have not bought a new mop since we moved from Kansas. I haven't found a mop that I like. I have just been washing my floor the old fashioned way on my hands and knees. This steamer is so cool because I can mop my floors in about 5 minutes (including the time to warm up the steamer). And the floors dry really fast. And the best part of all is I can make the floor attachment just the right size for Sydney, so she can mop for me! She thinks it's fun.
It doesn't get better than that.

My dad came across these notes that I wrote to him for Father's Day in 1996 (I was 15). I think he enjoyed reading them as much now as he did in 1996.

We went out looking for desert flowers and were not disappointed. We got some great pictures of some very unique flowers. I miss the green of Kansas, but you can find beauty anywhere you go.


The next 3 pictures go together. A lady that lives by us has a beautiful yard with lots of flowers, ponds, and trees. She really likes frogs and so she has this pink frog lounging on a rock and the 2 green frogs are sitting across from her, as if they are looking at her. This lady has a great sense of humor.

This is a funny picture to me because ever since we lived in Florida, whenever Eli sees water, he says "that pond could use a good gator". Our friend has a gator in her pond; it's rubber, but it looks real. This is the kind of gator I wouldn't mind seeing around the house.

It's pretty much impossible to get the three of them looking/smiling at the same time. I never imagined it would be so hard. This is the closest we got.

"Look how long my leg is"

Sydney woke up one morning positive we were going to Kansas the next day, so she packed a suitcase for herself and Claire. She included all the essentials: swimming suit, bedtime book, baby, a change of panties and one outfit each. Oh, and the hair detangler.

I'm in love

Breakfast in bed.

Eli loves to make pies. We make a good team because he makes the crust and I make the filling (although when he makes chocolate, he does everything). We gave him a lattice top cutter for Fathers Day. He was very excited to try it out, so he made his own pie for Fathers Day. Isn't he cute? He's wearing the apron I made him when we were dating.
It says "Moove over, Eli's cookin'". If you know Eli, you know that's a true statement.

Curious little boy

Sydney marked all the things she wanted to make in my recipe book. I have no idea where she got the idea to use clothes pins, but it was cute.

My dad's billy bob teeth. Scary I know. This picture is for her wedding video. =)

My cute parents