The nurturing type

When Sophie was born Ayden was far too young to understand what a baby was and that she was part of our family. In the last few months we've had a few additions to our extended family and he has grown to love babies very much. He always wants to hold and kiss them. He pretends that his toys are babies all the time. Today I was making cookies and looked over to see this scene:




He is having a diaper changing party. I heard him asking the dolls if they needed "diaper changes" and then he ran to get some diapers and wipes. He also made me get out the stroller so he could push them around the "park" (also known as the living room)

We always talk about how much Ayden is like me and now that he has found this true love of babies, it's even more evident. He is such a sweet little guy, so tender hearted. He is a true gift!

Hogle Zoo

I have meaning to take my kids to the zoo all summer and we finally made it. We met friends and family there so see some animals and have some fun! Not a lot of the animals were out which was kind of a bummer, but the kids didn't really know the difference.

The kids always love to look and the waterfall right when we get there. Here they are, Hadlee, Ayden and Kathrine.

Ayden had a great time with Bapa. He was either holding his hand or helping him push the stroller. It was so fun to see them getting along so well.

Lindsay and Tate came all the up from Pleasant Grove to party with us. Tate is the most adorable little guy- I wish he was looking at the camera so you could see those baby blues!

The kids always love to spend a little time at the play ground. It's a nice break for the moms!

Here we are. . . all the Hammer girls and Bapa. (minus Codye of course)

Ayden and Mommy checking out the elephants.

Riding the train! What a great way to end the zoo trip! Even though it's a short ride, the kids really like it.

My many colors

Most of the time when you are referring to your "colors" there is some connotation to personality traits or qualities. Not this time, I am literally referring to my color. . . hair color that is. I was looking through some pictures cause it was time for a color and I realized that I have been pretty much every color possible. And I'm not really sure what I like best. Blond, brown, black, red. . . they all have their pros and cons.












As you can tell, they go in a cycle, like most people I believe. We all want to be light in the summer and dark in the winter. It wasn't always that way, but pretty close.

When Sophie was born I went 9 months without coloring my hair. It was madness! I called it my hippie stage because my hair was long and straight and I rarely even styled it. I had been planning on donating it once I lost the baby weight, but I got tired of waiting and decided to do it anyway. So in February I cut off 12 inches and got some highlights.


1 month later I was bored so I did this:


2 months later I did this (more highlights)


and 6 months later here I am- back to what I call my natural state of red. For some reason I feel more myself with red hair. My mom and Grandma hate it red so sorry guys. I guess I've always gone back to this so it makes me feel comfortable.


I consider it a blessing to be a girl and have the option of changing your hair. It's a fun way to be creative!

The final post. . . of SYTYCD

So everyone was wondering why I never posted after Sabra won SYTYCD. I thought people would think I was nuts if I had 4 posts in a row about the show. But don't get me wrong- I was ecstatic! I was so happy to see not only a girl win (for the first time!) but my favorite girl!

Last night at young womens, my friend Texie told me that her daughter got a flyer at her dance studio saying that Sabra would be at Roy High School (the high school she attended) for a special assembly today. I couldn't pass up that opportunity so I got up early this morning and raced down to the Roy High School Auditorium in hopes of catching a glimpse of the star. Well, I caught a little more then that!


Yup- this is me and my new friend Sabra posing for a photo opp! How awesome is that!! They showed a highlight video of this season of SYTYCD and then she performed. The principal interviewed her for a minute and she performed again.

Then they had the seniors go up on stage and she joined them in singing their school song.

After that they sent the kids back to class but of course there was a mad rush for the stage and I was totally a part of it! We ran up to get Texie's daughter's "vote for Sabra" shirt signed and right after she was done I had to sneak in for a quick shot! It was awesome! What a great way to end the season!

Congrats on winning the show, Sabra!! We love you!!

The beauty of the earth

I am not a person who usually appreciates the beauty of the earth. I don't really like gardening because theres dirt and bugs. I can see how people would like it, but the cons out weigh the pros for me.

Last week I decided it was time to buck up and pick the strawberries. I picked them in the spring and got so many we didn't know what to do with them. This time around I wanted to make jam. I spent about a half hour in the yard and got enough to make 13 jars of jam with some still left over.

I love the 5:30 classes at my gym. Today the teacher told us to go home and eat some complex carbohydrates to see if it would maximize our next workout. I decided to make a shake since I usually just eat an apple and that didn't sound good. I had a can of peaches and some bananas so I went outside and picked some strawberries and raspberries from the yard. I made the most delicious shake with only fruit, half of which was from my very own yard. When you buy the fruit at the grocery store you don't really appreciate that such amazing things come from the earth. I had a moment to think about what a cool world we live in. The Lord was really looking out for us. He not only provided food for us, but delicious food for us to enjoy.

Double the freshness. . . double the fun

When you have one child and they do something totally funny and entertaining it's so much fun. But for some reason when you have 2 children and they are both doing something funny and entertaining it is more then twice the fun. I love those times when my kids get playing together and are truly enjoying each other's company. What a great feeling as a mother. Here are some shots of them just being kids together:

All I can do

Thank you so much for all your support! I know you must think I'm a little psycho for caring this much, but I just couldn't stand to sit back and watch Lacey win without doing all I could do to prevent it. Just so you know, a combine 1500 votes went out to Sabra from my house. My sister Jenny was here and we had both of our phones as well as my home phone and my husband voting for the entire 2 hours. I know theres still a good chance that Lacey might win, which would totally suck big time, but at least I can rest easy knowing that I did all that I could. So once again, thanks for all your help! Hopefully we made a difference. And as I heard, oh so many times last night "for the results, watch So You Think You Can Dance on FOX"!

don't forget. . . VOTE FOR SABRA!!!

This is just a friendly (but extremely serious) reminder to VOTE FOR SABRA TONIGHT!! Lacey will not win just because her dad pays people to vote for her! We love you Sabra! Good luck tonight!

The fight against Lacey!

I need help from all you bloggers out there. I am overly into the show "So You Think You Can Dance", mainly because it reminds me of my glory days. The thought that Lacey Schwimmer might actually win just pains me to the very core! She's not good! Okay, she's good, but she's not the best and she doesn't deserve to win just because her brother did! The truth is, he had personality and was entertaining. She is just skanky and fake.

LACEY = BAD!!

So if there is any chance that you could watch the finale on Wednesday and help the cause, it would be so greatly appreciated. To vote all you have to do is call the number. And you can do it as many times as you want so I know that if we all join together, we can make a difference.

Sabra is my favorite. Not only is she from Utah, but she danced at a studio in Bountiful. And she is so beautiful to watch. She is strong, but graceful. She seems like a really genuine person too, which is the main thing that bothers me about Lacey.

Check out that bod!

She's gorgeous!

Neil is my next favorite. He is just so sexy, and has the most beautiful extension of any dancer I've ever seen. He can jump so high and yet look so graceful at the same time. Plus it doesn't hurt that he's to nice to look at.

YUMMY!

So this is my cry for help on the matter! I'm going to text everyone I know the night of the show and tell them what number to dial so hopefully we can stop the Schwimmer madness!

Our first camping adventure

I believe I've referred to our summer "no dinking around" list a few times now, but one of the things we wanted to try was camping. We have never been (except to organized camps: fathers and sons, girls camp, scout camp, etc. . . ) and don't really know what we're doing. The men took over the planning (Logan and Ryan) and I must say that it turned out alright! We headed up to Huntsville and found a spot. It wasn't a great spot, but since most of the camp sights were full we were lucky to find one at all. We set up our camp, had some yummy dinner, and sat around the fire until it was time for bed. My kids are still a little young for camping so it was definitely an adventure. As I've mentioned before, Sophie is a big fan of dirt so and I'm sure she got her fair share in this trip. She was filthy the entire time. She also thought it would be fun to touch the fire so we had to keep her strapped in her high chair for most of the time. She was a good sport though. In the morning we had breakfast, went to the river to play for a little bit, and headed home. It was a fun adventure and we decided that next time we need to stay 2 nights so we can have more time to hike and stuff. All in all it was a successful trip so . . . thanks men!

The three musketeers

Our sleeping arrangements

Ayden and Mommy roasting a delicious hot dog

Ryan making some yummy egg sandwiches for breakfast

Ayden and Daddy snuggled up in the morning

Sophie watched a movie in the car with the heater on until it warmed up

Our family in the River

Daddy helping Sophie throw some rocks in the river

The clan just as we were heading out from our fun camping adventure!