introducing colton luke ....

john and i just returned from a weekend of visiting with the fam in lady's island, sc. my sister and her husband had baby #4 this week, and we went to see them and help out with the transition of bringing baby home. it was great because i really got a chance to serve my sister and her family - there is a lot of laundry and cleaning to do with 4 children - and i got to spend some individual quality time with her, the children, and the new baby. baby colton did not like the camera much - i think the flash annoyed him as it does most people - but i got a few cute pics of him. here are a couple of the handsome little guy:

he was such a good baby. the only time he cried was when he needed food or a diaper change. we never even heard him when he cried during the night!

on saturday, john and i took the other 3 kids and went to the park and to the burger king with the indoor playground. we got some really good shots of them:

bret on the monkey bars

emma on the spider

avery on the spring car

aren't they precious?? our time with them was priceless. i always take away such large amounts of love from those little guys.

recovering ...

i have realized that john and i are extremists. we moved into our house and had every box unpacked in 2 days. we got engaged after 3 months of dating and married after 5 months of engagement. our latest venture has been our backyard - an extreme home makeover if you will. what some people would do in 4-5 years we are trying to do in one. here is a photo of our backyard in march:

you can see the freshly laid sod and newly planted flowers. by july, we had finished the sod for the remaining 2500 square feet, put up a fence, and designed a layout for the backyard. hence the ariel view in mid-july:

in just one month we have now completed several projects including digging out and planting two very large flower beds that had three 10-15 foot trees, making our stone path (seen here) walkable, installing a sprinkler system, and laying a stone entrance in front of the gate. Here are some after shots:

it has been pretty incredible. now we are just recovering from the stiffness and sore muscles that come along with all that hard work! next up, installing decking and our gazebo on the 12x12 bare space in the lawn. we'll keep you posted ...

happy birthday to john!

my awesome and incredible husband had a birthday yesterday, and we celebrated by grilling out and playing a little poker. chris, andrea, tapan, chad, john, and i all ante-ed up with chad (of course) raking in the big winnings. we topped off the celebration with a boston cream dougnut birthday cake for my hubby. i just want to say that i love him, i love the day he was born, and i love living my life with him. happy birthday, baby.

utah

recently john and i joined chad, jeff, and kristin in a trip to utah for cj's wedding. we had a blast. no other wedding (except ours of course) could compare to this one. we had never been out west before, so just seeing the rocky mountains was incredible enough, but the whole experience was great. we stayed thursday night with cj and becca - who we had just met and we loved her right away - in salt lake, and we went downtown for lunch and tours. john and jeff were on the lookout for polygamists as soon as they stepped off the plane, but their search was fruitless. apparently the "big love" takes place on the outskirts of town. on friday we went up to alta, which was about 45 minutes towards the sky. once we found the lodge, we discovered that we were literally staying on the side of a mountain. the rehearsal dinner was outside on the patio, so we sat among the mountains and had a relaxing time with friends.

on saturday, we went with jeff, kristin, and chad to snowbird where we took a tram up the mountain. mind you, we were already at a high altitude, but the tram took us up an additional 11, 000 feet! we had to stand up on the way up the mountain, and the tram didn't feel all that stable, so i was freaking out. but once i got my feet on the ground, i was able to enjoy the spectacular view. here are a couple of pics from hidden peak:

it was breathtaking. on saturday afternoon, the wedding took place on the lawn at alta, so there was a beautiful view of the mountains during the ceremony. the wedding party looked awesome against that backdrop. the reception was gorgeous, and the bride and groom were off to scotland for their honeymoon. many thanks to the travis family for taking care of us and making us feel so welcome.

a loss for words ...

for this to be our first entry, it's going to be pretty lame. most first entries are pretty lame, right? anyway, this is our step out into cyberspace. hope to talk soon.
lindsey