Family photo shoot

emilyharknessphotography.blogspot.com

Playing catch up

Stake Farm work.

For future blackmail

8th birthday wish come true!

Little Maya's firsts-

Bottle

Tummy time

Bath

The Games we Play

We found this box of Jenga blocks at Grandma Sharon's house. Blowing the dust off the blocks, we noticed about ten of them were labeled: Obedience, Kindness, Faith, Love. . . and more. The one that brought the tower down was Sacrifice.

I was over at Bill & Erin's house one morning and I discovered this masterpiece made of sand in the driveway. A new planter of some type? I confronted Bill on the subject. . . he laughed and hesitated before admitting it's the drum from his dryer. His tone hinted toward, "I'm not exactly sure what to do with it now, so I'm saving it until Erin comes home and we'll figure something out." Long story, ask Bill or any of his four girls.

Two sets of my expensive eyewear - each on a child under the age of 9. Not sure why I thought this would make a good picture.

It's official. I spotted Herbie in the parking lot at Wangsgards grocery store near 2nd street & Washington Blvd in Ogden on August 12th, 2011. I took this with my camera phone... wasn't exactly sure how to get an autograph.

If you haven't heard, the Ogden temple is undergoing a few minor changes. The parking structure is gone, the fountain is gone, the walkway is gone, the landscaping is completely gone. . . Through the green construction fence you can see backhoes and bulldozers and guys with hardhats walking through the skeleton of what used to be the Ogden Temple. The only thing that will stay the same is the boiler room and angel Moroni. Check out the artists rendering of what the new temple will look like: http://lds.org/bc/content/church/temples/ogden-utah/images/Ogden-New-Render.jpg

I wish I could take credit for this idea and maybe I did have something to do with it, but this time it was all Lauren's idea. We highly recommend it. We get a bunch of socks and see how many we can dangle from the fan by throwing them up there one at a time (fan is off of course). Suddenly, mom walks in the room: "What are you guys doing?" Me, Lauren, and Rylee stare at her. . . is this a trick question? "We're throwing socks up into the fan. Here, these are yours, help us out."

So . . . this was my rental car during my trip to Cincinnati for work last week. 2011 convertible Camaro. They were out of standard size vehicles, so the lady asked me if wouldn't mind driving a Yellow Camaro. What kind of a question is that? "Well, I'd rather have one of those weird PT Cruisers if you've got one. Purple please."

Miss Maya's Photo shoots

I have two very talented friends, who for baby gifts did some incredible photos. Such talent, I'm sure glad I don't have to choose just one. Here's a few favorites of our newest princess.

These were done courtesy of Emily Harkness

www. emilyharknessphotography.com

These were done by Marianne Schaelling

www.littlelottiephotography.com

Maya Kate

Not sure what to say other than . . . Happy Birthday to me and Maya! I couldn't have ever imagined that on my 37th Birthday we would add Maya to the family. June 28th is so great I just had to share it.

Maya made a dramatic 1st appearance. It was the most amazing sound ever to hear those first gasps for air followed by that perfect cry.

That tiny hand wrapped around my finger for the first time. This friend seems familiar to me somehow.

We've waited so long for you

It's ironic, Janna does all the work and I get to be the first to hold her and say hello.

"Mom. I know that voice"

I love my girls, all of them.

June 30, 2011. 10am

We have had a lot of support from family and friends the last few days, and even more over the last few years. Maya's arrival is nothing short of a miracle. She is doing very well and eating like a champion. While I'm boasting, I'll toss in that I have personally changed 6 diapers already. Awesome.

Thanks to all of you for your fasting and prayers that helped get Maya here.

We had professional pictures done at the hospital by Bella Baby Photography. They turned out incredible.

bellababyphotography.com

password: 0628mayamangum

Here are a few of my favorites:

Poisonous Sewer Aardvarks

I would tell you what's going on in this photo, but it's more fun to anticipate what your guess might be. What happens in Grandma's basement, stays in Grandma's basement.

We all walk around the house like this all day so that we fit in.

Gymnastics Recital 2011. Superstar gymnasts.

I'm figuring out this fingernail polishing stuff. It's true, I buy the expensive brands in the coolest colors and spend lots of time painting it up. What a blast. I didn't know you're supposed to seal the paint job with a sealant. Gotta get some of that next, Janna's toenails are calling to me since she can't reach them right now.

Some kids bring their toys to show and tell, some kids bring cool rocks or seashells. We bring rats - so what? Somebody has to educate the masses on what great pets they are, I nominate Lauren. I went to class one day (me, Janna, and Rylee) and carried this cage all the way into the school with little kids gawking at me all down the hallway. I told them it was a poisonous sewer aardvark. "WHOOOOOA!" was the response.

Moab, Utah

Friday, May 14th. My Red Rock Relay was the next morning. So we visited Arches National Park and saw some absolutely amazing scenery. You have to hike about 1 mile to get to Delicate Arch (above), then hike 1 mile back.

We also saw Balanced Rock. This structure is amazing, you can stare at it all day long - it's honestly suspenseful because you know it's going to fall any moment. Keep watching.

The next morning we were at the starting line by 8am. The course was 70 miles, out along the Colorado River, through the RedRock Canyons, up into the La Sal mountain range and back into Moab. We each ran twice, it took us about 8.5 hours.

The object in my hand is our team "baton" (a snap-on wrist wrap, nice & sweaty too)

My team from left to right: (Taylor Monson, Justin Nipko, Steve Schaeling, me, and Patrick Monson, unfortunately Lance Tilley is missing from this photo)

Here is my team entering the finishing stretch at the park in Moab. I was bummed Lance missed this photo of our team - that's a story for another day. We actually placed third overall out of about 200 teams.

Team name was "The Guns of Sierra La Sal"