Once Upon a Time 13 Years Ago

This May Rob & I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary! I can't believe we started our "once upon a time" 13 years ago! I am more in love with him now than I was way back then...I am grateful I married my best friend. Thanks for making my journey through this life AMAZING!!!! I love you babe!

Dating-1996

Married May 23, 1997
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P.S. Thanks to my friend, Katie, who did a post like this on her blog...the idea was ingenious!

Pioneer Day Extravanagaza

We all survived our annual camp-out/boating Pioneer Day Extravaganza this year! We stayed a couple of nights at Rock Cliff's up at Jordanelle and then headed down to Deer Creek for the 24th fireworks over the water.

The mosquitoes were voracious. Ben & I continue to tally our bite marks. We are each above 15 bites...and sadly over half of mine are one one of my bum cheeks (don't ask because I really do NOT know how that happened)!
Fortunately none of us got a tick, although I told Ben that if he did have a tick it completely trumped any number of mosquito bites that I have and he could be the grand champion of the nasty bug bites contest! We were all wearing bug spray with 40% deet, but it still wasn't enough to keep us bite free! Stupid mosquitoes!




I love that my kids and amazing hubby love to go do fun things like this! In my family growing up, we didn't camp...unless you count staying at a hotel or cabin camping. So other than the bugs, the occasional pit toilet (gag), and the deer (anyone who has known me since high school knows I have a deer phobia) this outdoorsy lifestyle is quite enjoyable!

There is a deer next to the bush in the background of this picture (look up and right of the fountain drink on the table). It took all of my will power not to scream & try to scare this deer away! We also saw 2 moose near camp...I thought deer were scary, but being that close to a moose was horrifying!

Ben would spend the ENTIRE day running & jumping off the boat & swimming if we let him! The kid is a total fish!

Rachel & Rob being lounge lizards


Lauren & Aunt Jill



Waiting for the Fireworks
We love how the fireworks reflect off the lake & the sound booms down the canyon walls!
I know that none of this has anything to do with pioneers, but we had a great time out and hopefully someday our kids will remember that!
HAPPY PIONEER DAY!

PLOP

Hayden gave us a HUGE scare when he fell off the front of the boat this weekend.

No, the boat wasn't moving.

Yes, he had a life jacket on.

And yes, I just about cried when he was plucked out of the water.

It's terrifying how little noise he made when he fell in. If Lauren and Brooke, my niece, hadn't been watching him we wouldn't have pulled him out as quickly as we did. He dropped his fishing pole, and rather than lose the beloved SpongeBob pole or ask for help, Hayden decided to reach for it on his own.

PLOP!

I have often thought that a little fear would be a good thing for Hayden to have (since both he and Ben seem to be lacking in common sense...actually I think that might be true for all boys but that is another issue all together); HOWEVER, this didn't seem to do the trick like I thought it would. Oh well, live & learn I guess. He came up sputtering and slightly alarmed, but he did manage to save his fishing pole! He didn't let go of it for at least a half an hour...it was his death-defying trophy! I think I was more terrified than he was! I am SO thankful for life jackets!

KICKBALL

We went out last night for a group date night.

Group dating after you're married...What?

It was a lot of laughs...until today, when my poor tired knees could barely bend (I am terrified how bad they will be when I get another 30 years of use on them!). But I digress, back to group date night...

It started with a lovely picnic in the shade by a creek and ended in a lengthy game of KICKBALL! We went to a park to play night games and YES my children were LIVID that we left them home (really a bunch of adults want to play night games?). We came prepared to play several games...capture the flag, squirt-gun tag, kickball, kick-the-bucket (since we are all older we figured kick-the-bucket was more accurate than kick-the-can). We put it to a vote & kickball won.

I discovered that Rob is an all-star kickballer. That man of mine kicked the ball so far on his first kick that it was a homerun! Woohoo!

It was a good time and I think we will do it again next month...maybe by then my knees will bend again and it won't be quite as hot!

Oh, by the way, and not that it really matters BUT...our team TOTALLY WON (don't believe anyone from the other team, we defeated them soundly)!

23' of Fun

I was not a boat person. I never thought I'd be a boat person. I always thought I would rather have a cabin, four-wheelers, or snow mobiles. But two years ago we became the owners of what we love to call the Party Barge (we still have to think of a better name). Rob has ALWAYS wanted a ski boat, and he'd never given pontoon boats any thought. My in-laws changed both of our misguided ways of thinking.

The party barge is perfect for what we do now (eventually we will move onto a ski boat, but not til the kids get bigger). It has plenty of space for the kids to spread out & play. We can haul another large family with us. We are the floating dock when we go up boating with other friends that own ski boats. It makes a great platform for jumping in the lake & it will pull a tube. It's perfect for fishing. We LOVE our party barge, it's 23' of fun! I've even got to the point that I don't swear (as much) when I'm launching or loading it onto the trailer (I'm so proud of myself-I can even do it in the dark although that usually does involve some swearing...the children are usually asleep at that point)!

Now if the lakes would just warm up a little more...who am I kidding? The kids still jump in & once the numbness kicks in they're good!

Way to Sell it, Old Man

Today I was reminiscing about the day Rob went to ask my dad for my hand in marriage...yes it was old-fashioned & I loved him for that. My dad had maybe said a total of four sentences to Rob up to that point in our relationship, so this was monumental in more ways than just one.

I was eavesdropping in the kitchen and much to my horror this was my dad's answer:

"Well you know she can't cook...actually she really isn't domestic at all. And she is expensive. She clumsy enough to cost a fortune in medical bills and she loves to shop for expensive stuff. I love Michelle, but I just thought you should know what you're getting into now."

Way to sell it old man and thanks for the vote of confidence dad! Now in my dad's defense, he had NO idea that was what Rob was coming to ask him about and was completely unprepared. He thought Rob was going to ask for a job...not his daughter! I didn't live at home, Mom & Dad had only met him a handful of times and so my parents figured Rob was simply another boyfriend in the long list.

Luckily for me, Rob did already know all of those things about me and he still married me anyway! Haha Sucker! :)

As it has turned out, I'm not too bad at cooking & baking. My general domesticity has come a long way. I seem to have gotten my clumsiness under some control so I'm not a walking medical mishap. As for the love to shop for expensive stuff...well that may take a lifetime to try to overcome (or maybe I'm not going to try)!