The Bonneville Salt Flats with the Family

I made my first trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speed Week. It was every bit as cool as everyone says. I want to go back next year!

The Bonneville Salt Flats (for those that don't know) are found west of The Great Salt Lake in Western Utah, covering over 30,000 acres. The Salt Flats were formed when the ancient lake Lake Bonneville dried up leaving behind all of that salt.

 A few things to keep in mind when visiting the Salt Flats.

-The best time to visit the Salt Flats is in late summer when there is no water on the flats. You do not want to get stuck.
-Bring sunglasses it is incredibly bright.
-Wear sunscreen.
-Bring lots of water.
-Salt will get everywhere so plan to wash your car after your visit.

We brought some things to keep the kids entertained. The kids loved driving their remote control cars and Power Wheels truck in the wide open space. Of course the kite was really fun and they even tried throwing salt balls at each other. I shut that down fast. Ha!

If bringing kids I would also recommend bringing bandages. Sammy tripped and scrapped up her leg pretty bad. The salt is rough and stung her scrapes.

Fossil Safari at Warfield Fossil Quarry in Wyoming

Our family went digging for fossils, yes real fossils. It was seriously so cool!

 Fossil Safari at Warfield Fossil Quarry in Wyoming was so amazing! They provide all the tools and teach you everything you need to know.

All you need to do is pack water, food, sunglasses, sunscreen, packing materials to bring your fossils home safely and gloves.  Also a hat, it is really easy to get sunburned there. You travel quite a way on a dirt road so make sure you have a full tank of gas. Fossil Safari does have an outhouse available.

When we first arrived at the quarry we were given our tools and then we were given a tutorial on what to do. Sammy and Sadie liked watching for awhile and then got bored since they were a little too young to be using a hammer and chisel. Travis and Brody could have spent the whole day there but we only stayed for an hour. In that hour we came home with over a dozen fossils.

Tip: keep your fossils upright instead of laying them flat. This will help keep them safe of the drive. Place towels or newspaper between them so they don't bump together. Bringing a large box to place them in helps.

Did I Tell You We Moved?

If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed that we moved. We bought a house in early March and have been slowly remodeling it ourselves. Talk about a lot of work!
We finally moved in at the beginning of June but still have a lot of work to do.

This picture was taken before we moved in. I have lots of plans for the exterior but that will have to wait.

Brody has even enjoyed helping us with some of the renovations.

Before moving in we removed more wall paper than I even want to think about, painted pretty much everything in the upstairs, opened up some walls, built closet organizers, built a wall, gutted a bathroom, ripped up old flooring, sanded and stained old hardwood, new trim and baseboards, a bunch of electrical work, ripped out cupboard, patched lots of holes and so on.

I will show some before and after pictures soon, but I want to finish decorating first.

The kids transitioned to the new house really fast. Sammy and Sadie loved finding fun places to eat before we had our kitchen table set up.

San Francisco 10th Anniversary Trip

Travis and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last week! We decided to take a trip to San Francisco to celebrate. The crazy thing is, we had not gone on a trip just the two of us since our honeymoon. We were past due for a getaway!

Below are a few pictures from our little trip. We spent more time enjoying the trip than taking pictures.

I can't even tell you how many of these vanilla shakes with caramel sauce I ate at Ghiradelli Square.

We love Blondie's Pizza!

 AT&T Park is so pretty!

And it just so happened that we were there during the annual Gay Pride Parade. I will spare you the pictures. Too many naked people.

Give Thanks

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! 

I am so grateful for this little family of mine! 

It's been a crazy year for us but we have been very blessed.

What are you thankful for?

What I Have Been Up To

The past two months seemed to really get away from me. Here is a little recap of what I have been up to.

Brody started playing  Tball

I hosted a baseball themed wedding shower

I had two nieces get married

Brody even got a new suit for one of the weddings

Our family spent some time at our cabin in Flaming Gorge

We went cliff jumping, floated the Green River, shot guns and Travis got to try out his drift trike

Brody started school and tumbling classes

But above all, I have been super busy taking care of my kids (especially the girls). They keep me really busy!

 Trying to get a decent snap shot of our family is hard!

What have you been up to?

Happy Anniversary! 8 Years!

Happy anniversary Travis! 

8 years!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a great daddy!

We love you Travis

It's Just Another Stylin' Sunday

It's Just Another Stylin' Sunday

Brody wore is custom made suit to church today. 

I am happy to see it still fits him. I guess not having a bulky diaper helps.

Happy Birthday Love!

Today is Travis' birthday and I want to recognize him on my blog. 

 Since he is now 31 here are 31 random things about my Traver.

Travis and Brody 2009

1.Travis and I met as kids (16 years old) and quickly became best of friends

2. he is a very thoughtful gift giver

3. is an awesome butcher

4. creates the coolest fonts around

5. knows more useless facts (or useful depending on the fact) than anyone I know

6. is obsessed with cars

7. is a pickier eater than me (that's saying a lot)

8. he is the best at making Brody giggle

9. owns more shoes than me

10. is not afraid to wear pink

11. he kisses me goodbye every time he leaves the house

12. Travis is a major night owl

13. he makes me laugh

14. has amazing vision (which is good because i don't)

15.Travis loves LEGOS

16. lived in Nashville when he was a kid

17. is very creative

18. he has lived in Nashville

19. he loves baseball

20. his first car was a Volkswagen Corrado

21. Travis is a scout leader

22. he loves Mike and Ikes candy

23. he played hockey in high school

24. Travis is really ticklish

25. his initials are T.J. but his dad is the only one who calls him TJ

26. Funyuns are an essential part of his diet

27. he is very sweet

28. he gives good foot massages

29. Trav owns Wranglers, boots and a cowboy hat but I have never seen him wear them

30. Ender's Game is one of his favorite books

31. I love him!

Happy birthday Traver!

Fotofly Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we took our first family pictures (unless you count wedding pictures). I had a free certificate to FotoFly from the Cupcake Conference over a year ago and decided I should finally use it.

 I was so impressed with FotoFly that I want to tell you about them.

First off, they have amazing prices. There is no sitting fee, you simply pay $79 for a CD with images from your session plus you get the copyright. You don't have to buy prints from them but if you want to, the cost is as little as $4 a sheet. Score! 

Another reason I loved FotoFly is the staff. They were all great to work with! Our photographer, Jordan posed Brody and got him to play and smile. Before the session I was a little worried that Brody wouldn't smile or cooperate but Jordan made that easy. We didn't have to do a thing.

 I also love FotoFly's studio! There are so many different background options. They have a variety of furniture to use, props, etc. They make family pictures easy!

You can see a few of our pictures below.

FotoFly
121 East 12300 South , Draper

(801) 727-FOTO

It's Just Another Stylin' Sunday

The yellow suit Brody is wearing has been in my family quite a while. I love it.!