love from home

back at the end of may/beginning of june my parents came out for a quick visit and it was so wonderful.
it's just so nice to have family around in our neck of the woods.
we love it when anyone visits us (come visit us!) but especially when it's either of our parents.
parents just make you feel like you're the number one person in the world, right?
and i can totally see how, because oh man, i sure think the same of maxson.

we really didn't do anything overly special while they were here, just normal day to day stuff with maxson: walks, toys, swinging, bike rides, naps, target run. 2 more "special" things we did do with them were going to the dairy store on campus (as seen below) and then my wonderful dad watched maxson and put him down for nap while my mom went garage sailing with me (where we found some pretty awesome stuff, i love garage sailing season!). we played games a few nights, we watched a movie, and we just talked. talked about the present and the future. oh how i love my parents dearly!

a. the new blocks we got at a garage sale
b. papa time
c. ice cream
d. watching home videos

thanks for visiting mom and dad, we miss you!!!
and i've said it a thousand times, but thank you for our water toys!!!

happy mother's day!

happy mother's day!

to my wonderful mother and casey's wonderful mother.

the 2 greatest women to influence our lives.

we love love love you both!


we're lucky enough to spend the day before mother's day with casey's mum
and the day after with my mum.
the love they have given to us is always infinite,
and now that i'm a mother, their love means so much more and i am now so much more aware of their sacrifice.
there truly have been so many other wonderful mothers in our lives that have influenced us,
and today we thank and honor them!

and now because of our little maxson, i've been given the greatest gift of being called a mother too.
there's is nothing, nothing i would rather be doing in my life,
it truly is the greatest calling.


my SIL shared this video with me and i want to share it with you!
do enjoy and happy mother's day!!!!

when granny came to town

the past week went way too fast.

way way way way way way way way way too fast.

i picked my mom up from the airport at 12:40 am thursday morning and suddenly it was tuesday and i had to drop her back off.

how rotten is that?

although we stayed cooped up inside mostly, due to cold, spring weather,
i had the most wonderful week with her here.

she was an absolute angel in every way.

she rejuvenated my spirit.

casey is going through the hardest semester dental school will give him right now (literally, all the upper classman say 2nd semester of the first year is the roughest, and we now understand why!)

and because of that, it's hard for me to get everything i want to do done.

she played with maxson while i

cleaned,

cooked,

organized,

exercised,

showered, 

or napped.

and then when maxson was sleeping she

cleaned, 

cooked,

organized,

worked on my projects,

and ran her balloon business.

she's kind of like super mom.

of course casey and i are head over heels over little maxson and think he's just the best/cutest baby in the world.

but it was so fun to listen/see another person love this little baby just as much and agree with all our thoughts.

a few things her visit confirmed:

maxson really doesn't smile much for others.

she had to work real hard for his smiles/giggles,
she did get a few but they were most definitely selective.

we have a cuddle baby.

because maxson is our first, we just automatically assume this is how all babies are.

my mom constantly was saying how amazed she was that he was perfectly content with just cuddling your shoulder/chest when you held him.

we love it :)

we love granny.

please come back soon!!!!!!!!!

hey mom,

why my mom is the bomb dot com: (1 day late)

she's like always has had kitties around,
she wore cool jump suits when she was pregnant,
she took cool pictures with my dad back in the day,

"she" got through law school with 3 little boys,
and then she had a fourth boy.

she actually blind folded herself to play pin the tail on the donkey with the 3 little boys.
she was always taking us kids swimming.
she put us in the best halloween costumes.
she let us all ride motorcycles growing up even though it's not the safest of hobbies.

she gave birth to me :)
she the lit the turkey on fire which is quite funny i'd have to say.
she always let us snuggle in bed with her.
she trooped us 5 kids around everywhere to do fun things.

she taught us how to work and how to have fun.
she put 80 candles on her dad's birthday cake.
she does balloons, which is awesome.

she jumped on the tramp in super cool spandex pants with the 5 kids and dogs.
she let kirk way too short of swim shorts, heh heh.
she had all 4 boys on 4 different baseball teams in one season, talk about super woman! can you imagine all those practices, games, and treats after games?!?!

she lets me steal borrow her clothes

she's constantly going going going.
ex: hiking timp in 1994? with 5 kids down at aspen grove
hiking timp with me in 2010.

yeah, i think she's pretty awesome if i do say so myself.
thanks mummy, i love you!


and to my MIL:
casey said you were pretty darn fun growing up.
and i'd agree that you're pretty darn fun now!

woodruff special

sometimes i think to myself

"i want to be an awesome cook, like one of those legit moms who does it all"

then i realize i'm a woodruff

 

my mom.

thanksgiving day in 1992 i believe 

and we specialize in "the woodruff special": burning things :)

i'm trying to break out of the mold.

i'm working on it.

i like eating yummy things.

i like cooking with other people.

i don't like cooking by myself, eating it (especially when burnt:), and then cleaning it all up.

but, i am working on it and one day i will succeed :)

see that plant in the background? i bet you 10 bucks that's a Dieffenbachia, common name dumbcane- it's poisonous

Timpanogas

yes, that is correct.

me and mi madre hiked to the top of mt timpanogas a few weeks ago.

8.3 miles to the summit at 11,750 ft we were 2 proud girls.

one of my mom's goals this year, along with sky diving (which i shall be doing that with her too:) was to hike mt timp to prove that she's still awesome!

originally, a lot of us wanted to hike with her, one by one we all dropped out for multiple reasons until no one was going to be able to hike with her.

and that determined woman said she was going to hike it by herself still!

give me a break mother.

kirk called me, told me i had to do it with her somehow, so i got my work shift covered and didn't go to my grounds crew volunteer hours that week and went hiking with her!

rising at 4:45 in the morning, we were on the trail by 6!

the first hour or so was in the dark and quite chilly too!

the next 6 hours consisted of us climbing up that stinking mountain.

lots of talking.

lots of crazy mountain goats.

lots of trees.

lots of boulders (in 1 section:).

lots of people passing us.

lots of gorgeous views.
lots of beautiful colors.
lots of mountain goats.

lots of up hill mostly.
and then lots of too much downhill

we went slow but we enjoyed it and had a good time bonding together :)

 if you are a byu student and haven't hiked timp, you should, it's one of those cool things you can say you've done.
if you've lived in utah your whole life and have never hiked timp, shame on you :) do it, you'll love that mountain so much more after seeing the view from the top.
if you don't live in utah but visit often, plan a time to do it, you'll love it (after the fact:)
if you have horrible knee problems (cough cough you know who), don't hike it, you'll be miserable.

ps- we saw a man who ran to the top and down in probably 3 hours or less, disgusting.
then he said he was going to bring his family up to hike it with him the next day, gross
we also saw an 80 year old man hiking it by himself, props grandpa, props.

pps- we hiked up from the AG side just fyi

happy mommy day!

mommy.

mother.

mama.

mootie.

mom.

i have been blessed with beautiful examples of mothers in my life

i'm so lucky to know and have so many amazing women in my life teach me

my own, wonderful and sweet one.

i see myself become more and more like her each day,

and you know what,

that makes me really happy :)

i am who i am because of her.

my husband's wonderful, sweet mother

she teaches me new things about motherhood and my husband everytime i'm with her

and she taught her son so well, he was so lucky to have this wonderful woman raise him.

i see my SIL's and cousin's with their kids all the time and hear them talk about them and i hope to be what they are and to be able to teach and love my children like they do theirs

i'm so lucky to watch first and then to do like them

i've been blessed with wonderful grandmothers,

grandma holman,

granny woodruff,

grannylynn,

and casey was lucky to learn from

grandma jo

and grandma christensen

there are so many more beautiful, kind, wonderful, amazing, talented women 

who have taught, guided, befriended, and nurtured me

so i just want to say

thank you.

thank you for being you.

happy mother's day!!!

the cocoa bean: cupcake cafe

i am most definitely a cookie girl.

i love cookies and prefer them over just about anything.

chocolate chip are by far my favorite ever.

so simple and so yummy!

but, back at the end of march i found a coupon for the new cupcake cafe by campus

we didn't end up getting to use the coupon though...boo

so casey and i went to this little place on that wonderful friday day

it was cute.

and fun.

and super yummy.

casey very excited to eat it

kimber very excited to eat it

it was big and yummy like stated before :)

so when my mom cam into town we just had to go again :)

the "whatever you like" and" s'mores" are both very yummy :)

the cocoa bean: cupcake cafe is a new favorite

the clock is running!

swim swim swim GASP!

swim swim swim GASP!

so many things to do with so little time left!

we're supposed to leave tonight to start our journey to AZ for the

WEDDING

but honestly don't know if I'll get everything i need to do before then!

mmeh...father time should slow down just a wee bit for me today

ps- 3 days til our wedding day!

pps-I don't know what i would do without my mom and i really shouldn't be complaining, she's the one really getting all the wedding stuff ready-

she's so amazing.