the Tolman "Family"

Morgan's head shots

2011-06-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Morgan needed new head shots for her portfolio or acting, so she gave me the chance to do them for her, the great thing is that for one of my photography assignments I needed to do portraits, so it killed two birds with one stone!

Addison and Kim

2011-05-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

2011-04-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

It was so fun to do this wedding! Im no photographer, but I really enjoy playing with the camera, and I learned so much from this wedding!!!

2011-02-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

A few of the pictures I took of my sweet horse just before I sent her to her new home!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-07T12:48:00.001-08:00

I was practicing using natural light and poor Henry was my subject. His cute little nose never stops sniffing so because the shutter speed is low it was hard to keep his nose crisp.....but anyway Merry Christmas for the Hen Dawg!!

Meet Smokey JO

2009-10-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I am crazy!! A few weeks ago a family whom I used to teach horseback riding lessons to a few years agao called me. Their daughter moved out of the house and they wanted to move back to California, but the only thing holding them back are their two beloved horses. She asked me if I were interested in buying them. I told her I was not in the position to own a second or third horse and that I didnt really have the money to buy one. She called me back aobut three hours later and asked if she gave them to me for fee, with some hay, if I would then take them. I made a few phone calles and arranged to have one of the horses brought to the barn I have my mare at, and the other to a friends barn down the street. So long story short I have another horse. His name is smokey Jo. He is a registerd race bread quarter horse, and has done lots of ranch work. I am going to use him for jumping. I will take my first ride on him monday night...(he had not be ridden in two years) and see how things go. He is aobut 16hh maby 16.1, I will need to measure. So here are some fun pictures of my new guy, he really needs a bath!!! and a blue halter!!!

I am not trying to pose as a photographer!!!

2009-09-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

I just enjoy taking pictures. I normally would never take on the task of a wedding, but the family I did this for assured me that i was their best option. I still find this hard to believe, however things went well for this shoot. I have so much to learn, and really want to take some classes someday!! Anyway here are a few of my favorites!

a few photos....

2009-08-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Jumping

2009-08-02T13:56:00.001-07:00

Jp built me two new set of jumps! Now that I have a few students that are riding cross bars, and two horses in training for jumping they have really come in handy. I was using barrels before but with these I can easily adjust the bars and they are much more sturdy if the horse nocks them. Since the highest my horses are jumping right now is about three feet we have put them to the test at about four and a half feet with henry. As energetic as this dog is, he has had a hay day. I have trained him to jump on the "over" command, I use soft bars just incase he its one, but he is very athletic and jumps with ease!! Its been a lot of fun to play with my camera too, I cant wait to catch some horses jumping.

WARNING not real interesting!!!

2009-05-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

WARNING this is not really an interesting post, mostly horse stuff but what the heck!

Its been a while since I have blogged anything, we don't have to much going on. JP just started his first block of the summer semester so thats really great! I can finally see the end nearing with school, he will be finished next winter, I can not wait!

Anyway, Jp hit his first hole in one on Friday and I guess for golfers thats a BIG deal...Way to go JP!t. It was on a par three and he gives all the credit to his new highbred club. I had a horse show on Friday and took first place in four of my classes and second in another. I was riding a horse I have never jumped before and Ill tell you what, I found my new hunter!! Its been a fun few weeks! I have had her in training ever since and she is really shaping up nicely I have her going to feet!!

In other news, I was given a baby horse...a yearling filly from a good friend. I havent named her yet, heck I dont know if I am even going to keep her. She is a wild little thing and its taken me about to weeks just to get to the point that I can touch her, but she is coming along and that is very promising. I also went out on limb and SHAVED shooting stars into my lesson horse Cheyenne. Being as it is that a bunch of little girls ride her I think it will be a hit!!

Last but not least our beautiful little megan graduated form high school and is on her way to the big BYUI in a few months. We are so proud of her, she really is an amazing young woman!!

i wont leave you with any earth shattering photography just a few snap shots of well...horses (except the one of megan of corse!!!)

If you look close you can see her shooting star on her rump.....
My baby is the one on the right! Register quarter horse with great breeding!Nothing amazing except that she had never seen a jump before this day!! She did well and now that I have been schooling her over fences she is doing very well. We have another show on Friday and I can wait!!!

Sweet Dreams

2009-03-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I LOVE my mattress, and that is something that not many people can say! Before we got our amazing Intelligel sleep system Jp was up and down in the night, he would take hours to fall asleep and was never able to sleep in; ever since we got our bed, we both sleep better than ever. We sleep so good that some funny things happen to us in our DEEP sleep. You all may recall the story of JPs "adult bed wetting" (it was one of our first post, its hilarious and if you haven't read it you should take a second, it worth it!). Anyway recently Jp had an amazing dream and it would not be right if I did not share! Let me start this way......

"My fanz all buy my rhyms at a p

ound for a penny

Thats how I get my dimes cuz my boss wont give me any"

Yes you have just read the words to Jps first rap!! Please no plagiarism, ha ha ha. Crazy, he woke up the other morning saying he had had this really vivid dream about becoming a rap star, and the rap that took him to the top was that one right there!! It is so fun to hear him "rap" the words cuz he does it in rhythm jus

t like in his dream. Anyway I hope his dream i

s not one of those dreams that shows his true desire as to what he really wants to become, can you imagine me hanging out with my rap star husband while he

bears his testimony to Dr. Dre?

A Word Concerning Truth.

2009-03-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

I am not one to usually write anything with real passion or meaning on my bog, one reason is due to my fourth grade level spelling and writing style (fourth grade may be generous!) but also perhaps that I fell that through writhing I can not properly convey how I truly feel. I am a very verbal person and would prefer to express myself that way, however, I am going to do something very outside of my box in expressing some serious feelings here in written word. Today as I wondered around on facebook, as I usually do on slow days at work I came across an article written by a past class mate from high-school. This individual has always amazed me by her intelligence and ability to express herself, so when I came across her "well" written and very opinionated article I was not surprised. As I began to read what she had to say concerning sacred ceremonies being aired on HBO, and gay marriage, and the LDS faith, I began to think of the blessing I have to "just believe". She explained why she no longer believed in the church of Jesus Christ of later day Saints. She presented links to "Proof" that the church is incorrect, information that joseph smith was a farce and that logically you can not believe in the church based on inconsistency from the Book for Mormon to the Bible. My reaction to this is that I dont need proof! faith is believing without seeing, I have felt the blessing of the gospel in my life and no book or video can convince me otherwise! I can not help but think of the dis-service one can bring upon them selfs by only allowing yourself to only think logically. Spiritual things do not always make sense. Many times when I am prompted for one reason or another it is not my logic that urges me to do, but my faith because many time there seems to be no rhyme or reason. As it happens that often I do not see a logical reason for those promoting until a later time. I dont voice my political opinions the way I once did and I am not as involved as maybe I should be, but I am seeing how cunning satin is in politics and how important it is as a latter-day Saint to defend truth. He has taken issues private and sacred and made them political, he has taken those who can do wonderful things in the church and given them reason to use there talent to argue agents faith topics. I am so sad to see wonderful people loose that amazing light that is a gift from our father in heaven! He loves us and wants us to be happy in this life, he wants us to be fulfilled and happy, to achieve our goals and dreams, and by those same tokens satin sees our weakens and works us to the bone. I am grateful for fellings (holy ghost), and faith, because I do not understand many things, I cannot hold great doctrinal debate on truth, but I can bear testimony that Christ lived and died for us so that we can have the gift of eternal life, repentance, and Godly royalty. I know that if I use the atonement that has been provided us, that I can have the blessing of eternal life to become like god. I know that there is always forgiveness and if we just approach him in godly sorrow he will help us to be clan. I know that if questions arise he will listen through prayer; and I know that if we will listen not with our ears but with our hearts we will know the truth.

Snap Happy!

2009-03-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I went to California for a week for a family Vacation and had a great time....after Disneyland we hit the Zoo and Seaworld and as you can see I had a ball!!! JP even got in the picture taken mood and took some really nice pictures....so here you go!!!

Jp did this one of the flowers....I love this one!!

He also did the dolphin shot...they were so hard to get good pictures of, but Jp did such a good job!!

My Amazing Family!!!

2009-03-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

Last week Emily let me use her kids for some practice....the only problem was that they were so easy to photograph!!!!

I have not done any post processing but they turned out well even with out!!

Kids say the darnedest things!!

2009-02-24T07:57:00.000-08:00

I am a little late on the V-day festivities post but what the heck! We had a great time....Jp and I actually celebrated for two days!! On Friday night we went to color me mine and dinner, and a movie with Larry and JoAnn, we painted "GreenWear" (thanks for making me sound smart JoAnn) We had such great

time and I am so sorry I don't have pictures because it was soo fun and we made some

great stuff!! On Saturday night we went with my family (mom, dad, Emily, Reed, Jeff, Marin, Michael, Addison) out to dinner. The plan was to hit up Red Lobster but when we got there and found out that the wait was two and a half hours...well we changed our minds and went to Magraths fish house!! It was great and LONG!!! I had crab for the very first time and LOVED it. I want to

know how I have lived an entire life with out this amazing sea food...thanks a lot Heather!!!! Any way here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure,

sorry about how bright they are...the flash on my point and shoot is really bright!!!

On another note I have to tell this hilarious story about my

niece Kennedy!! She is about as cute as they come (I posted a picture of her below...see for your self!) and her personality is just as cute. This is the kind of kid that sits with her legs crossed and carries on conversations with adults! Once she talked my ear off about hump back whales! That being said you will really have appreciation for this story! Last week she spent the day with her mom and Grandma doing some grocery shopping. At the end of the day grandma JoAnn dropped the two off at there home to unload groceries. At this point kennedy felt it appropriate to let her mom know that she would be staying at grandams house the rest of day and not coming home...

Kennedy, very matter a faculty "mom I am not coming home, I am going to Grandmas."

Mom "no kenners we need to go inside"

Kenners with no attitude..just VERY matter of faculty "No mom I am going home with grandma!"

Mom "kennedy we are not going to grandmas today, remember how we are working on obedience and doing what your parents say??"

Kenners "yes mom and I am not working on that today."

Holy cow where do they come up with this stuff?? well all I can say is that she is on to something...I guess some times "we just aren't working on that today!"

I hope you got a good laugh...and on that note....I got a new portrait lens for my camera and I tried it out on of course the dog...look how smart we

made him look! And yes what you are thinking is true, looks can be deceiving!

We did not think about it till we were done with our little photo shoot that maybe the reason he is sorta bug eyed in some of the pictures is because these are perscription eye glasses and well needless to say he has great vision!!!

Cheyenne

2009-02-17T07:56:00.001-08:00

This is defiantly a post for my self more that anything else, as I hope to someday print this and save it as a journal. I just wanted to post this as something that is really important to me. I have been a horse lover all my life, so when I was able to buy my very first horse at age 20 it was one of the best moments of my life. I remember going with my dad and a small, borrowed, white two horse trailer to buy her from an older gentleman I in Lehi. We loaded her into the trailer and shut the door, seconds latter I was in TEARS. My hole life I had wished on every birthday, christmas, and any other significant holiday that I would find a horse with a ribbon around its neck out in a trailer in the fort yard, and at age 20 it finally happened! I was only able to keep her for about a year and a half due to some complications with the ownership partnership and my inability to afford her all my own. I made the decision to sell her last winter and have regretted it ever since!! The only good news to that was that I sold her to an amazing family who has cared for her better than I did, she has an amazing little girl that love her more than anything!! A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from her new owners expressing the need to sell her, this economy is really effecting so many. When I sold her to the now owner we had an agreement that if she ever need to be sold she would be offered to me first. Well needless to way we are in the middle of coming to an agreement about placing her with me again. The reason I feel so strongly about this would be hard for many to understand, she is just a horse, but to me she is so so much more. I have missed this horse so much! My wonderful husband has agreed to make sacrifices in order for us to be able to bring her back home. I am so lucky to be married to someone who can understand some of my very most deep feelings and respect them! I will also have the opportunity of sharing her with the little girl that owns her now, taking them to shows and teaching lessons, ever sense I sold her that is something I have not been able to do much of and is part of my great joy when it come to horses. Anyway I have my fingers crossed that everything is going to work out! We will see!

A Big Glass Of Water

2009-02-13T09:25:00.000-08:00

I really do have such a wonderful husband, and one of the things I love so much about him is his sence of humor. For instance the other night I asked him if he would not mind getting me a glass of water while he was in the kitchen. I quickly added after he replayed yes that to please put it in the biggest glass he could find. Moments later he brought me my water. It was the glass that goes to the blender he chuckled as he handed the water with a straw to me. "You said you wanted the biggest glass I could find!"

Clarity in Communication

2009-02-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

If marriage has taught me anything, it's that you have to choose your words carefully. This rule applies more to husbands than it does to wives. I tend to get in trouble a lot more than my wife does when it comes to word choice. Husbands need to use a very good filter, while wives seem to have carte blanche on what comes out of their mouths. This particular story isn't about saying something inappropriate, but is more a commentary on my wife's use of ambiguity.

The other day we went to Roxberry to get some smoothies. On the way home we started talking about a whole variety of topics, and out of the blue my wife asked me, "JP, did you get a thing in your thing?" Puzzled, I looked at her and said "What???" Becca said again, pointing at her smoothie cup, "A thing, you know, did you get a thing in your thing?" At this point I start chuckling, because I still have no clue what she's talking about, but she sure does! As we continued this little discussion, I was finally able to get my wife to "use her words" and ask me if I had gotten an energy boost in my smoothie. You know, a 'thing in my thing'. I'm grateful for a wife who loves me and is patient when I don't fully understand what's going on around me. I just can't wait until we're like 80........

Jazz Game

2009-01-22T15:37:00.000-08:00

Jp and I got tickets to the jazz game for this last Tuesday night and we had a blast!! We went for dinner then headed to Salt Lake for the game. We spent about forty minuets passing one parking lot after another waiting for Jp to decide which one he wanted to park in. Of course we ended up passing them all and walking three blocks to the game...hehehe. Jp always hands me the credit for being the best parking spot finder. For instance it we go to walmart and he is driving we always end up a half mile from the store but if I am behind the wheel we seem to always get a premo front row slot. Anyway we had an awesome time at the game and while JP focused on the game I played with my camera, and got a few funny shots...... The guys who never get s to watch the game, the frosty cup that resembles a you know what, a bad bump, and a flat ball.

Murder for fun.........

2009-01-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

This murder scene is for Becky.

Brought home at 7:45p.m.

De-stuffed at 8:00p.m.

Rest in Peace little squeek-less duck.

Butt-Face

2008-12-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

Being a young married couple leaves Jp and I with some interesting situations, and occasionally boredom. As many of you know we are child-less, except for our dog Henry. Just that statement alone may give you some insight as to what I have to say here. Our good dog Henry. I have many family members concerned that he may actually take the place of a human child, and while I don't believe this is the case, we do exhibit some behavioral characteristics of young parents, which may lead one to believe otherwise. For example when birthdays, or christmas rolls around Henry always receives more toys than he can sink his sharp little k9s into, and when a new season comes he always gets a new outfit or costume, we find the most gross things to be adorable...thats right we get so excited when its time to go "potty"! He wakes us up in the middle of the night with loud whines to be taken out, and is the first to wake up in the morning, always sure to wake Jp and I with him so we can "play". So why all this back ground, well one of the things I see so many young parents do to there children is what I call "loving torture". Ya know the kind of thing where you dress them in horrible cloths, or take pictures of them in the nude while in the bath, or make them perform something embarrassing on camera for your years of enjoyment, well that is our excuse! Please do not call the humane society we did this out of LOVE!

(I do not take an credit for this artwork, it was all Jp's idea and doing I just pointed the camera)

more for comments

2008-12-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

help me get better

2008-12-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

A few shots of meagn......I had some fun with photoshop the barn used to be red! I am such beginner so please forgive the color and such...please leave your feed back on my photos, its the only way i can get better.

Stuff

2008-12-03T18:09:00.001-08:00

Hey! Its been a while!! Jp and I have had a great few weeks and i just have not made the time to update..so here you go!!

On November 17th Jp and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! It was really great we went to dinner and then straight to our soccer game; we even won!! Jp and I have been on a co-ed soccer team for about a year now and we have had a blast. Before this Jp had never played and now he is pro, its been really fun to have something we can do together. For our anniversary we bought a Cannon Rebel XSI digital camera, it amazing, but Jp and I still need some practice.

On November 9th, two days later Jp had his birthday...we again celebrated with dinner and a new movie! I got him two games (he loves games) picturika, and would you rather.

And of course Thanksgiving! It was really great! Both of our families went out of town so we made our own Turkey and just relaxed. We went on a really nice hike to horse tale falls and let Henry run his brain out!! I had a HUGE day at work on black Friday selling a little over 15K in beds. So we stayed really busy!

Oh and the best news....i have lost 20LBS Yea !!!

Thanks for your votes!

2008-11-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! As you can see, the bumble bee costume won our most recent poll with about 70% of the votes. Henry couldn't have been happier with your decision. Thank you to everyone that voted! Our next vote is who was a better banana, me or Becca........

Which cosutme should we make the poor guy wear??

2008-10-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

Well as many of you know Our Boxer Lab cross "Henry" is currently serving the purpose that a child might serve in a regular family; in fact just yesterday was his birthday. Two years old and a seven dollar white chocolate bone was his gift. ( I am just a little offended his birthday was not mentioned on the "October Birthdays" for the smith family blog...right next to Megans name) So of cousre we had to get him a Halloween coustume this year. We decided on a bumblebee while at Old Navy in Park City a few weeks ago but on one of our notorious trips to Target we ran into a cute little pig costume that I could not resist and the price was only $10. So we are faced with the question...which costume do we put him in? They are both inhumane and totally annoy him. In fact to get him to keep them on we have to hover treats right in front of his little snout! So which do you think is most adorable.... Please vote on our Poll and let us know what you think!!!

Becca's Wordiness

2008-09-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

Life with Becca is a constant joy. Unfortunately, you guys don't get to see Becca everyday and hear what she has to say on a whole variety of topics. I really think I am going to start following her around with a notebook and just write down the funny things she says. Here is an example that happened recently.... Becca has an intense fear of moths. Every time she sees one she loses control and starts screaming. Well, we were talking about it one night at Holly and Rand's and Becca was explaining why moths are so scary. "It's the way they move. They fly around so wild and erotic!" Becca, now I have a fear of moths too, but only of the erotic ones.....

Why I'm Scared to Death of Llamas

2008-09-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Heather, I just want you to know that our blog is not a radio show where you can call in and make requests for stories.......but since I think you're pretty great, and since you are open with your stories, I'm going to post my Llama story for you. Because of the following story, I have an intense fear of llamas now, and I just can't wait to get all the emails with llama pictures attached to them. . . . .

The story begins with 8th grade me getting off the bus to go to home after a long day of school. I climbed off the bus along with about 10 neighborhood kids to start the long (it took like 5 minutes, which is a really long time considering what's about to happen) walk uphill to my house. The neighbor that lived right next to the bus stop where we were all dropped off was a huge fan of animals. He had horses, dogs, cats, and just happened to keep a random llama in his front yard.

This is what you all picture llamas to look like isn't it?? Innocent, sweet, almost cuddly! It's a LIE!!! As soon as we were off the bus, this llama (who conveniently wasn't tied up, or fenced in) came wandering over to this new group of "friends" to say hello. I followed behind us for a little ways, just content to be doing something different with its day. One by one the other kids peeled off from the group to go home, until it was just me left and I still had a long way home.

I wondered to myself, "Why am I so lucky? This llama could have followed any other kid home, but he chose ME!" As I was wondering this thought, the llama became increasingly interested in my backpack, so walked a little faster until it could stick its face right in my back. I started to get a little nervous. I mean, there's a llama riding my tail, that's not something you really train for and know how to handle! As the llama would pick up pace, so would I, until I was in a full on run with this llama still chasing me. It was so close to me that it's feet kept jabbing me in my calves. Llama feet are incredibly painful to get jabbed with......

Anyways.... I kept running until I saw a car in the driveway of one of my neighbor's homes. I ran as fast as I could and hid behind it. I was crouched low so that the llama couldn't see me, but I could see him through the windows of the car; he was looking for me. After a minute, he put his head down below the windows of the car, and I took that as my chance to escape. I bolted from behind the car and made a last sprint for my house which was about 200 yards away. As I made it out of the driveway I was hiding in, I cast a glance over my shoulder to see if the llama had noticed my retreat. It had.

While I was looking, the llama picked its head up, saw that I was running, and came after me as fast as it could go. My heart was racing; not just because of the physical exertion, but also because I was scared to death. I managed to run through my front yard, into my house, and slam the door just in time to see the llama stop with its face an inch from the window I was watching out of.

I called the owner of the llama and informed him of the situation. He was upset! I'm pretty sure he thought it was my fault, and that I had somehow provoked the llama into chasing me home. Boy, if he only knew....... After that I called my friends and told them what had happened, and they decided that was not something the llama would get away with. Another story for another day.........

I was tagged.......

2008-09-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

OK so heather tagged me here we go.
3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts, and 5 people to tag.

3 Joys
1. My husband, and dog but more my husband
2. Horses
3. All my brothers and Sisters....my Family

3 Fears
1. Big gross moths, thank goodness I have a moth catching dog!!!
2. not getting a paycheck
3. being a loud mouth...after all if you have read my blog you know not many secrets are kept!!

3 Current obsessions/ collections
1. Wells this one is no surprise i am clinically obsessed with horses
2. blog staling..i love to check them all out
3. I am currently collecting gift cards from work..thanks to Dan I am getting them faster than I can spend them, everything from gas cards to Target and Burger king!

3 Surprising Facts
1. humm this is a hard one...back to the big mouth, I share most of everything about myself...
2. I really like to watch little people big world
3. what kind of answer is that???sorry this one is to tough for me!

5 people to tag
Jessica Smith, Bekka Olds, Jamie Robertson, Janess(king), laurie Huish

I am not that bad!!!!

2008-09-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

Just to clear the air.........................I just read JPs lates blog and want to clear my name. I some times make comments that sound very different than they are meant....contrary to the words below I did not think I was "all that" in highschool; c'mon I was state in debate and sr. class press; not the cheer captian(right Megan?) I was just amused at the comming together of two completley different people........(we went to the same high school) I was just making a point at how different people become after the highschool scene...as many of you know...JP is "all that" now??

So....It's funny that we got married....

2008-09-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

It was Becca's birthday this week, so, in honor of her birth, we went out to dinner. Everything was going great! The food was delicious, the conversation was stimulating, and then she said it. We were laughing and joking about us and our life together, and Becca says "So, it's funny that we got married......" The key word to me was funny. Those of you that know me know that I have an uncanny ability to take offense to ANYTHING anyone says, but only when I feel like it. I can turn it on or off as I please. Like a faucet. An offense faucet. Anyways, I asked Becca if she would continue with that statement because I was eager to hear what was so funny! Becca continued, "Well, it's just funny because in High School you were this nerdy kid that hung out with nerds and dated the joke of the soccer team. I was voted senior class president and dated a popular football player. Don't you think it's funny?" .......................... Well, I actually did find the whole conversation really amusing because Becca meant it in a very innocent way. I just like to turn innocent things into not-so-innocent things. By the way, would a super nerd have hair like this?? (Actual photos of me from high school)?

For Taylor with love form becca

2008-08-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

This is for my little minnie me niece, she always wants me to put pictures of horses for her on this and I had to take some of this guy cuz I am selling him, so here you go little blondie horse lover Taylor!!!!

New Shoes, Like father Like son

2008-08-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

I really don't have much to post, but figured I should at least stay updated. Things are starting to get a little more busy as we step into the school year. Jeff starts school next Wednesday and is so excited to do so. We did a little back to school shopping yesterday and I had a flash into the future of what it might be like to take kids school shopping. Jeff is a guy that really appreciates things and is not one to just throw something out if, in his opinion, it still works; for example...Jeff has these shoes we got him from American Eagle about two years ago, they are worn to death. He has giant holes on both shoes were his pinkie toes protrude!! He has insisted on keeping them because they "Breathe"....they better, there is a one inch hole in each of them. He loves these shoes so much that when I have approached the subject of buying new shoes his reply has been "I wear them, not you and if they work for me that is all that matters". I have Finally convinced him that it is time to get new shoes, so yesterday we went at it! We must have looked at 5 different shoe stores and fifty different pairs of shoes before we found the RIGHT ones. At one point he told me he would just like to start wearing his soccer cleats to school cuz they are cool and comfortable. I am so glad we found shoes so we don't have to resort to cleats. He promised that he will wear these and won't go back to the old ones, but for some security...I asked him to put the new ones on while we were in the car on our way home. As soon as they were off his feet they were out the window...good buy faithful, breathable shoes!!!!!!!!

And speaking about kids, I have decided that it is much more fun to have a blog if you have children, there are always great stories and fun pictures to go with, but at the moment the best i can do is a dog. Now it is not a rare occasion that I am teased about replacing the void for a child with our 70 pound Labrador boxer mix, so I have decided to take this opportunity to tell a funny story about him. Many of you may remember a certain man in my life who peed the bed not so long ago, if you need refreshing it was my last post, anyhow the dog has decided to follow his lead.

Jeff is usually the first out of bed in the morning. The dog will whine until he gets up and lets him out to do his potty work. Tuesday was not different. JP got out of bed as usual and took the dog out side; following that, a prompt nap on the futon with the dog. I woke up about an hour latter to join him in the family room to watch a little morning Olympics and of course the dog moved from the futon to the couch for a little one on one time. He fell asleep in a tiny ball just beside me. About 20 minuets latter he began to whimper and flutter his paws like he sometimes does in his sleep, but this time it woke him up. He looked strait at me for just a second and jumped off the couch and ran over to the futon. Well guess what he left behind.... a base ball sized pee spot. I guess he had a dream he was peeing, Jp said the same thing??? Good thing I can take the cushions out of the cover and wash them......I am worried, does this mean i am next??? This whole peeing while your asleep thing has been very humorous for me, but I am sure it would not carry the same enjoyment if it were I who peed bed.

My Husband PEED the Bed!!!

2008-07-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

Its been a long awaited event!! Often Jeff and I have discussed the embarrassment of peeing the bed as an adult, he has never understood the concept being one who has amazing bladder control, in fact on more than one occasion he has taken a few punches at me due to my last "accident" when I was 20. well July 10th will go down in history!! It all started at about 3:00 am. I was awaken by my husband mumbling something, after which he quickly removed the covers jumped out of bed and ran from the room, he even had managed to swing the door hard enough that is banged in to our wall. Moments later he returned to the room.
"Becca......" he whispered, " Becca um I wet the bed"
my reply...Laughter!!!!
We then proceeded to turn on the light and check out the damage. I work for the amazing My Comfort and thus I have an amazing intelli-gel on latex mattress; so I have the worlds best mattress protector for moments like this. News flash, they aren't effective unless it is fitted in the right place....so the story goes that the edge of our wonderful comfy bed did get some Jeff pee on it.
I used a few disinfectant wipes to try and clean the mess and we started a huge load of laundry at 3:30 am. I was surprised being an experience adult peer that he dare to wash the sheets and his underwear all in the same load, if someone were to put the wash load in the dyer...they would know what happened and who did it!!
"Im not worried about someone finding out, its ok" he said not so convincingly!!!
Good thing Jp is a sport and knowing my family and I well... it wont be long before Holly or my Dad stat cracking jokes!!!
He said he was a little worried I might be mad, but I told him it was great practice for being a mother, and more that he had no more room to make jokes about me wetting the bed! Thank goodness we have intelli-gel on our futon mattress, otherwise we may have been in some trouble getting to sleep last night!!

Becca's Rebel Yell

2008-07-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

One of the beautiful things about getting to spend extended periods of time with Becca is that she has to be one of the most entertaining people on the planet.

We have had plans all summer long to go to the zoo. It had been a long time since either of us had been, and we figured that it would be a break from the regular date routine of going to Wingers and getting sticky finger salads.

Finally, our plans came to fruition and we set aside a day to go. We loaded up our essentials bag, which included cameras, water bottles, and watermelon bubblicious, and hit the road. Becca wasted no time in getting the bubble gum to her mouth, but by the time we reached the point of the mountain the gum had lost all flavor and Becca became disinterested in it.

What do you do with a big, pink wad of gum? Stick it under your seat? Give it to your husband? No, that's not Becca's style (although I wouldn't have been surprised to find it under the seat). She rolled down her window and casually tossed it outside, making sure to throw it hard enough that the 70 mph wind wouldn't blow it back and stick it on our expensive Chevy Malibu. Becca was successful in missing our car, but not the beautiful black Infiniti directly behind us! It stuck right inbetween the grill and right headlight; a beautiful pink hood ornament, custom chewed by my sweet wife.

This scared Becca. Having never been the type to get into unnecessary trouble, she panicked. "Jeff! My gum just stuck to the hood of the car behind us!.....NO DON'T LOOK!! What do we do? Stay in front of them, ok?"

Well, they must not have noticed that it stuck because they eventually passed us and didn't seem to notice the two of us nervously glancing out of the corners of our eyes at the new body work done on their car. I'm sure they were surprised when they got home! Just another one of the many reasons I love my wife more than anything in the world.

2008-06-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

well I am feeling a little bit guilty this afternoon after making my rounds of all the blogs for family and friends!! I absolutely love catching up on everyone and I feel like I rarely do my part! So just to make myself feel a little bit better I am going to give a brief update of the last month.....
Jeff and I have started a vigorous training program.... the use of word "training" is actually multi purpose! Our dog as some may know is a little out of control, cute as can be, but very wild, we were told if we can give him 2 hours of aerobic activity each day he will be a new beast...so we have started hiking just about everyday and guess what; we are loosing weight and our dog obeys!! The hike is beautiful and we can go as far up as we want!! The mountains are right in our back yard and the scenery is amazing!!
I have been toying with the idea of buying a new horse...really new she is only three. She is an ArabianXSaddlebred cross and my hope is that I can train her and sell her for a huge profit, just like the house market; now is the time to buy a horse. My fear is that the economy wont pick in the next several years and then I am stuck with a horse I cant sell!!! She will make a great show horse this year and she is very kind!! I am not making any quick decisions, which by the way has given JP a lot of comfort!!
Jeff has been busy with work and golf. He just played in a tournament with my brother jeff the other day and the two of them took first place!! Currently jeffs biggest concern in life is how his crocks shrunk? He swears they fit one day and then got two sizes too small. To me the logical explanation is that he made a switch with someone else as he is not the only one who owns black crocks...but he is sure they have not left the house. That is a mystery we will continue to work on!

hiphip horray

2008-06-10T20:18:00.001-07:00

here is just a blurg of our fun family trip to Hawaii!!!! I will get JP to write some fun cleaver blogs about the things we did!!!

Jeff's BIG Accomplishment

2008-05-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

Becca has challenged me to write about my life every week. Seeing as how I am HORRIBLE at keeping a journal (I haven't written in one since my mission), I thought this would be a great way to feel like I'm keeping up with journal-writing!

About a week ago Becca and I were shopping at Target. We were there to purchase some necessities for our dog, Henry. Necessities for Henry include things like a new collar with matching leash, a big bed with an embroidered dog bone on it, and the occasional new outfit that is just "too cute to pass up."

After rounding up the essentials in the pet section, we made our way to one of the lanes to check out. At these stations there are a number of impulse buy items. Becca isn't tempted by cheap gum, chocolate bars, or weekly publications of "People" magazine (unless they're taking a cheap shot at Lindsey Lohan), but this particular bargain buy hit Becca's Achilles heel. . . A $5 DVD of the hit motion picture Black Beauty!

I have never seen this movie, so my protests to purchasing it were unfounded. "How do you know you don't like it. You've never even seen it. It's a classic and I'm sure you'll love it." We bought it. When we got home that night, I strapped myself in for what was sure to be a cinematic extravaganza unmatched by any previous extravaganza I had ever experienced.

Becca and I have a little travel-size DVD player that we keep in our bedroom. This is our substitute for an actual TV and DVD player. It works just fine though, and it gets a lot of use. It's a funny thing to have a passion for something. In my opinion, "Bagger Vance", "The Greatest Game Ever Played", and "Happy Gilmore" are all quality flicks! To Becca they are OK, her passion is horses, and not golf. Well my passion is golf, and not horses. So, as we started the movie I encountered 3 obstacles that required some overcoming:

Obstacle #1. I knew immediately that I was in for a sweet ride. The opening scene is a really graphic shot of Black Beauty being born, complete with that weird bag-thing that baby horses are born inside.

Obstacle #2. The movie is told completely from Black Beauty's point of view, which I found odd because I'm SURE that if you could find out what a horse was really thinking about being riden and worked all the time, that horse wouldn't be nearly as optimistic. After being convinced that it was NOT odd, but rather very accurate, we continued watching.

Obstacle #3. I was really tired.

As badly as I wanted to give Black Beauty my full and undivided attention, the primal need for sleep was stronger, and, despite continual checkups to see if I was still awake, I didn't make it through the whole movie. To be perfectly honest I made it through about 20 minutes. The next night we picked up from where I fell asleep and continued watching. I made what I thought was a noteworthy achievement by watching another 20 minutes, but Becca thought differently. This pattern continued for 5 days, until last night I finally made it through to the end of the movie! I was hoping for a deep sense of pride and accomplishment, but then I recalled the fact that it took me a solid week to watch a 90 minute movie. That's not really an accomplishment to be proud of.

Everyone should do their part (By Jeff)

2008-04-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

I got out of class today and noticed I had a voicemail on my phone from my sweet wife. It said to call her back because she had "an exciting investment opportunity" for us to get into. When Becca says those words it makes my stomach hurt, because most likely she's going to say something like "I found this beautiful horse on KSL and a horse like this USUALLY costs like $15,000 but this one is only $7,000. You can't beat that deal, so what do you think?" Thankfully, there was no new horse in her sights (seeing as how we just got into a lease for one I think that's appropriate) but she was falling in love with a new saddle! I love my wife more than anything. One of my favorite quirks about her is the way she justifies spending money. With this particular saddle, her justification in wanting to buy it was that we would be getting that money from the 'Economic Stimulus' and it was very important for us to do our part in helping the economy by making purchases with that money. Well, I couln't argue with that could I? Not everyone is as lucky as me, I'm married to a girl that feels so much responsibilty towards the economy! So in between my fits of laughter I managed to say "Absolutely you should buy it!" To which Becca responded, "I'm so glad to hear you say that, because I already did!" ........... The joys of being married to a horse lover ............

good bye to a good friend

2008-04-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a second and say good buy to one of the best friends I have ever known! Carissa Pearce , 22 years old passed away yesterday afternoon of complications due to her lugs and heart. I met Carissa in the 8th grade in a per touter class, and I have loved her ever since. Carissa was borne with Down Syndrome, but that didn't slow her down!! I have never met a person more loving, judgment free, sensitive, spiritual, positive, uplifting and kind in my life. She could remember any ones name even if she only met you once! She had amazing art abilities and she was the best word searcher in the west!!! She loved to read lord of the rings and loved to watch movies. She sang like an angle and when she led the music in sacrament meeting it was the most powerful experiences!! She could say hello and smile at anyone! She could ride horses and placed in the special Olympics this year for Bowling! She always had something nice to say! She had such a powerful testimony of prayer and our Father in Heaven, and was alway sure to share that at all time, all things and all places. She will be missed so much by everyone who knew her!!

life in the poor house is good!

2008-04-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

Life is so fun!!! I always say that Jeff and I will never be really wealthy because were to busy spending what little money there is on our hobbies!!! Jeff just got a new set of dream golf clubs courtesy of my work.....My Comfort!! I earned a shopping spree for meeting a company goal!! the fantastic Mazuno MX90's have made his golfing game better than ever(hahaha)! I told him we would consider new clubs this season so to look into a set.......but only if the budget would permit. After he found the perfect pair I told him there would be no way possible to make it work; a few days latter I bought the clubs and surprised him at the local driving range. It was as cute as seeing a little girl get a pony for her birthday!!
And then there is me and my bad habit. I take riding lesson at coyote creek, an equestrian center in Saratoga springs. A few weeks ago I rode a horse I fell in love with, sooo I have started a lease on her! Her name is Fancy girl and she is a beautiful little gray Arab Quarterhorse cross!! I am looking forward to doing some jumping and showing on her this summer!
I keep justifying my spending habits by saying that 1.we will only live once 2.that once the kids start coming these things wont be an option and 3. that if we aren't getting into debt than it must be wise spending!!(it makes me feel better!) the moral of the story is that we may spend every penny but hey I think we are going to have a great summer!!!!

first time........

2008-04-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

well my friend Jessica is going to have to take the credit on this one!! I love looking at everyones blogs and thought that having my own would be a great way to keep in touch with everyone. As some of you may know, on occasion I have a little extra time at work so i might add to this but for now I would just love to add the pages of all my friends and family!!