Trick or Treat

love,
The Valantines

The 3rd Valantine Wedding

Brandons little sister Aubrey got married on Saturday!She and Brady have been dating on and off for 2 years and Aubs FINALLY decided too keep him!

I had a blast doing all their photos! They are such a fun couple(you can see more photos on my blog/website)We had the reception the night before at the Ence homeThey have the most amazing backyard and Aubs made it SO beautiful with all of her wedding decor!All though we all looked good in our bridal party get up I MUST say that Evie looked the cutest!

The night before the reception we were outside setting up and Evies hands and ears were FREEZING!The next day I ran to the store and found this ADORABLE hat for the reception!Needless to say she was a huge hit :)

I FINALLY got a good family photo of us (well kinda, evies got a face on)It was such a special wedding. The Temple Sealer gave them some great advice and had so many good things to say. I'm glad Aubs has such a great man to take care of her now, it takes a lot of worry off Brandon and I. Brandon and I got married in July 2009Cary and Kaili got married in August 2010and Aubrey and Brady got married October 2011... looks like Danis up next summer! ;)
Sorry this post is short but Eve's is ready for bed and is getting mad at me.*nigh nigh*
xo Meg

Best $20 bucks ever!

 My brilliant Mother found a Jumperoo on KSL for $20 so we bought it 

it has been by far the best $20 i've ever spent!

She will sit and play in that thing for HOURS!

(especially if you add some Mickey Mouse Club House to the mix)

I can actually get SOMETHING done now!

.fabulous.

The other day we went to the park and had a picnic so I took my camera and got these 2 great shots :)

My mom is coming down to STG this weekend for Brandons sister Aubreys wedding!I can't wait!more pic to come
xo meg

Rolling Pin...

WellI'm guessing Evangeline learned how to roll over today...She has been getting up on her side pretty good lately but has never quiet made it all the way over.

Today I sat her next to me on the middle of the "chaise lounge" part of the sofa and then started to work at my computer(which is set up on a card table right next to the sofa)I could hear her cooing and talking like always but then I heard a big thud noise and crying....yup.not only did my kid roll over for the first time and I missed it,but she rolled over TWICE and right off the edge of the sofa...

.Sorry Girl.Guess that ends the days of me just leaving you on the sofa!

xolove, Supermom :)

Worlds Worst Mom Award and Sailors BDay

So I attended something I never thought I would in my life....

 .yup.

A dogs birthday party

ha ha ha

This is Sailor Man oh his 6th birthday!

My neighbor Alli is a vet tech and helped deliver Sailors entire litter. 

Sailors mom wasn't around after so Alli bottle fed him and raised this pup from birth.

Needless to say

he's a mamma's boy

(to say the least!)

Alli texted me and asked if Charley would like to come to Sailors birthday party at the dog park

I told her to count us in!

When I heard there would be party hats involved I knew my camera was in too!

She had wrapped presents, party favors, and even a dog friendly cake on paper plates!

. yes .

she put the dogs pieces of cake on paper party plates

ha ha ha

The day was going great until I received the 

"Worst Mom of the Year" Award :(

When I got to the dog park I grabbed Evie

then slung the diaper bag over my shoulder

then slung my camera over the same shoulder

then grabbed my blanket...

unfortunately I didn't UNload in the same order...

this time it went like this..

I laid the blanket out

laid Evie on the blanket 

THEN grabbed the diaper bag forgetting that the next item to unload should have been my camera...

I grabbed my diaper bag strap (along with my camera strap) and my 25 pound camera 

swung around and smacked Evie RIGHT in the face..

She looked terrified for a minute and then started SOBBING!

.worst. mom. ever.

I immediately grabbed her up and started rocking her

luckily I was the first one to arrive at the party because I definitely started to cry too

ha ha ha

I was so upset with myself!

And what DIDN'T help was later when I got home a giant pink bruise started showing up on my poor

beaten childs head :(

She was fussy and sad the whole rest of the day and wouldn't smile at me ONCE! 

Brandon says he's pretty sure she forgives me and will never remember this...

 I said it's only because I took away all of her short term memory..

To make up for my lack of parenting skills I packed up Evie the next morning and we went and hung out with Auntie Malorie on the St. George Marathon route! 

FINALLY it's bearable enough to be outside here!

. so a little back story on "lets go ken!".

When I got to the race I noticed the poster sitting next to Mal and asked "who is ken?"

She said "I don't know? Nate (Malories husband who was running) called me this morning and asked me to make a poster for a guy named Ken, he met him on the bus this morning and none of his family could come down to the race to support him!"

I said "oh that was nice! ... so how do we know who Ken is then?..."

to which Malorie replied 

"oh... I have no Idea?..."

ha ha ha

So we just yelled GO KEN at random segments throughout the morning :)

  Evie LOVES Malorie it is so cute!

Grits came to the race to support as well.

Here are our friends coming into the final mile!Nate (left) ran the last 10 miles or so with a completely blown out leg and was later sent to the hospital .GO NATE!.on the right is Bob and Katie (father daughter) this is Bobs 20th straight year of running the STG Marathon! Go Bob!
xo Meg

Yard Crashers & Pickle Ball

So we are currently living in Brandon's Dads condo that he owns. There used to be a bunch of single guys who lived here before us and they 

(putting it nicely)

TRASHED the place...

So since we've been living here it's been a series of projects

one project being that we don't have a functioning oven

so

.no.

I haven't cooked a meal ONCE since May

... it's been fabulous...

now that it's "cooling down"

(that's St. George talk for 95 degrees)

we've decided it's time to tackle the lawn...

if you can still consider this "a lawn"

Now I guess I shouldn't have, but I put a little soft light on this photo in photoshop and it actually makes this disaster look kinda pretty ha ha ha

don't be fooled...

During the demolition we found lots of treasures!

at least 20 beer bottles

3 different hoses

2 deer antlers 

a back of a truck bed

the screens from every window on the back of the house

and of course

dirty underware...

.lovely.

well after a couple of good weekends and lots of help from our neighbor KC we finally got it done and it looks FABULOUS!

We were sadly going to "zero-scape" the entire yard because the next renters after us wouldn't take care of grass.

I was SO sad because I wanted to have grass for me and E to play on

but I understand that it'll just look like it did in the last pictures after we move out...

but 

SURPRISE FOR ME!

Brandon and my father-in-law decided it would be fine to make Me, Evie and Charley a little grass area to play on for the year!

I am SO EXCITED!

We aren't allowed to play on it  till next week but I can hardly wait!

We moved from Cedar while it was still snowing and we got to St. George JUST as it was too hot to play outside so I have been couped up in a house LITERALLY since last September!

It's amazing how proud I am of my little patch of grass!

I HAVE A LAWN!!

I water him twice a day and make sure Charley doesn't dig in him.

.love.

Since Brandon did all this hard work on the lawn I surprised him and got some "summer clearance" lawn furniture to spruce it up a bit.

We had our BEST friends and (thankfully) next door neighbors Alli and Kc over for a "back yard christening BBQ" that night

.perfect.

next up

my hutch

I'm sure some of you remember my bright blue hutch!

well this hutch is the main focus of my living room and no matter WHAT I do to it it just looks cluttered!

I love to have photos out but i'm SO SICK of frames!

So I decided to do a quick little DIY fixer and I added a clothes line to my middle shelf

I think it turned out really cute!

I still have no rhyme or reason to everything else on the hutch but at least i'm happy with that shelf now 

:)

Yesterday me and Evie FINALLY got out of the house!

(p.s Evie is now a fist chewer.. she'd put both in her mouth at once if they'd fit!)

we went to the park and watched Dad play Pickle Ball with our good friend Stephen.

and

of course

I took a million photos..

this ones my favorite though

ha ha ha ha

.classic.

after 5 intense games Dad was beat so we went to a movie with the In-laws.

Evie is 3 months old!

She is KINDA realizing that she looks far enough above her she can kinda roll on her side

maybe one of these days she'll actually make it to her stomach

She is a VERY social baby

loves to coo and talk to you

(especially if your vietnamese?)

when Brandon is talking she cannot focus on ANYTHING else but his voice

and she only half knows her hands belong to her so we are still looking like a cat fight every morning when we wake up

HA HA HA HA

this face cracks me up

she loves to sit up on the couch

is ticklish in her arm pits

and loves to eat peoples noses

anyway

there is your photo overload from the Valantine family this week

keep 

calm

and 

blog

on

ciao, Meg xo

Pool Party

Every once in a while my Dad invites his sister and her family over for a swim party and this year all 28 of them came! 

It was an absolute blast! 

We had a huge dinner, sent the little ones to bed and then jumped in the pool for a quick night swim

Then next morning was when the party REALLY started!

All the kids were up and could barely wait for breakfast to be over fast enough.

then it was pool time!

My dad
LOVES all of his sisters grandkids so he pulled out all the stops for this party

including a slushee machine! 

we didn't return it for a day or two after the party

slushees on hand at your every wish!

HECK YAH!

I decided to see how Evie felt about the pool

We took her hot tubbing a couple weeks ago and she LOVED it!

I wasn't sure if she'd like the colder pool water but as soon as we got her in there she started to try to swim away from me!

success!

 (p.s this is what happens when your point and shoot camera breaks
and all you have left is your really nice DSLR camera that no one besides you knows how to use = no good pictures of you
. ever .)

After all the Cottles left we did one of my ALL TIME favorite family activities...

. we sat on the front porch .

I don't know why but some of my favorite memories with my dad is sitting on the porch on a saturday night, wearing my oversized T-shirt after just getting out of the tub. I'd sit there and help him finish off his bag of peanut M&M's while we admired all the hard work he did on the yard that day.

. I have this joke .

My dog is VERY smart and really obedient but I always say 

"I bet I could teach Charley how to ride a skateboard before I'll ever get her to STOP BARKING!"

..... well today that joke bit me in the butt.....

.fail.

Evie is turning into a toddler right before my eyes

My doctors tell me that she's one of the smarter and most alert 2.5 month olds they've ever seen!

 

Someone asked me yesterday how old she was and I said "two and a half months"

My mom said "Meg, you do know that she turns 3 months in like 5 days right?"

and I said "yes but I'm DESPERATELY clinging on to her being 2.5 months for as long as I can!"

I have always prided myself on my ability to throw things away

I'm pretty sure if my husband didn't have me in his life he'd be on the television show "Hoarders"

(don't tell him I said that, he's still in the denial phase)

but today I realized i'm becoming a worse hoarder than he is!

I am fighting Evie getting bigger with everything I have

I keep trying to memorize every new thing she does 

I write down in my journal every time she smiles or makes a funny noise! 

(which is all day every day...)

Today she did something for the very first time!

She actually reached out and grabbed a toy!!

I was SO PROUD it was probably ridiculous!

I wanted to take her out for an ice cream cone or something!!

After she did it my first thought was

"oh my heck! I have to keep this toy FOREVER! It's the first toy she ever reached out and grabbed!"

how ridiculous right?...

Well after coming to my senses I decided that keeping this toy forever would be a mistake

It would get dirty over time

She wouldn't care about it when she got older

and if I decided to keep every tiny piece of memorabilia I would surely end up on the Discovery Channel along with those crazy, old, wirey haired women who are still mad about their kids moving out after High School...

So my compromise was photographing it

ha ha ha ha

I might still be overly sentimental but one thing I'll never run out of his hard drive space

until next time

Meg xo