News From the White House

San Fransisco 30th Birthday

2010-02-27T14:39:00.004-07:00

We went to San Fransisco the weekend of Tyler's 30 birthday and that was so much fun. I finally got my portrait of Tyler that I have wanted so now my photo wall is complete. (Pictures coming)

We took a boat ride to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alkatraz. This picture pretty much sums up our entire trip:

Peyton was constantly on the go. We must have done 30 laps around the boat deck.

But she was having a BLAST!

The lighthouse near the Golden Gate Bridge:

I stitched two photos together to show just how tall the Redwood trees are at Muir Forest. This isn't even including the humongous base of the trunks. It was so peaceful and beautiful there. Occasional drops of water would fall from the branches and the earlier rain made all the colors so rich and warm.

Where the heck have I been!?!

2009-11-21T12:32:00.004-07:00

I decided it was unrealistic to think that I would scrapbook our entire lives and so I wanted to start publishing books with our pictures in them instead. So I started to slurp my blog into a book but the problem was, the easy copy and pasting turned into an all out digital scrapbooking project and it was taking so long to do pages in there that I didn't have the time or energy to redo it all again for the blog. But recently I have started saving my layouts as images and the thought struck me that I could quickly upload those and they would be just as good as a well thought out post. There are a lot of holes since I still have a lot to do and I just started saving them this way, but oh well. So here is just some of what we have been up to since April:

July 14th Peyton turns 1

Swimming pool party

August: Cousins come to visit

We go to Bear Lake and Jackson Hole and go white water rafting

Sept 6: This is me

Sept 18th: Gardner Village Petting Zoo with the Zappes

October 23: Witches Night Out Party

Oct. 30- Halloween party at Work (Imagine Learning)

Oct. 31- Painting Pumpkins and Trick or Treating

Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival 2009

2009-04-23T20:47:00.012-06:00

For the past few years I have always enjoyed going to the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival to take pictures of all of the beautiful flowers. This year since I spaced taking a single Easter picture, I decided to take Peyton with me and get some Spring pictures of her amongst the tulips. I am SOOO glad that I did. The flowers are GORGEOUS right now, probably at their peak for the next few days.

It was so nice to get outside and enjoy the warm weather and take in the beautiful landscapes, although a warning, it was really crowded today- I have never seen it so busy.

Peyton loves to stand (except in grass) but I have been dying to get a pic like this one for awhile. If you look closely you can see all 4 of her teeth that have come in. The two on the top are not her front teeth but they are the side teeth!! The doctor says that's uncommon. They are her vampire teeth :)

Peyton did really well except getting her to smile. She was so curious about the grass and she was a little confused as to what the heck was going on. But I am happy with the ones that I got. Its a pretty sweet deal- you pay ten dollars to get in for adults but kids under 3 get in for free! Not bad considering usually you have to pay 75 big ones to take professional pictures in their gardens.

The tulip festival goes to May 2nd and I highly recommend it!

March, Food Storage, and Square Foot Gardening

2009-04-18T20:53:00.016-06:00

I haven't died, promise. Life has been so crazy these last few months that blogging about it is just so overwhelming. I am so horrible I didn't even take any pictures of P's first Easter; I have been so uninterested in documenting life! But I got my groove back so its all good. I am just going to summarize the last little bit real quick and then keep on from right now. Otherwise I will never get caught up.

My brother Travis got married in March so most of my family came out for it. It was really fun, except that I had the flu for the day of the wedding. So I didn't take any pictures. However a few days later we took advantage of all the sisters being together and did a photo shoot at my house with my mom. My brother Trevor, my sister Lisa, and myself were all able to take pictures so we have a ton of them! You can see them all on facebook if interested. I had a couple sisters staying with us and we had so much fun catching up. I got to meet my nephew Jake (Lisa's baby) and take some pictures of him. Peyton and Jake were so sweet together. They are a month apart. I have a bunch of cute pictures of them taking a bath together in my kitchen sink. My sister Tamara and her husband and kids got sealed together in the Draper temple. Then her little boy Grayson had his baby blessing. All the family events were awesome. However after everybody left I think I just needed to crash and do nothing for about a week.

On a sadder note, Tyler lost his job a few weeks ago. They let his whole department go. We were worried about it because there were a lot of lay offs through January and February, so luckily we had a plan B in place. Two days after Ty was back at work. He is working now with his brother Derek for his target range company, SRS. Tyler will have to travel occasionally to help out on the construction part of the job, but for the most part he will be working locally at home doing the paperwork (payroll, HR stuff, booking hotels and flights, etc.) Its weird to have both of us working at home together, but its nice too. He gets to see Peyton a lot more which is great.

The last little while I have been really getting into the food storage thing. I have always wanted to do it but it seems so overwhelming. What we have done in the past is just by a bunch of food that we think will last awhile, and then it sits in our basement until it expires. So I am really excited about this website I was referred to called Food Storage Made Easy.

Its created by two Utah women that just get it. If anyone is interested in a simple, organized approach you should check this site out. They provide a lot of free tools and how to videos. I am still working on my 3 month food storage but I am stoked. They also link to other great food storage blogs and sites.

Also, I LOVE gardening. Every spring I am just itching to get outside in the warm weather and play in the dirt. It is very therapeutic to me for some reason. I usually plant flowers but this year I wanted to try a vegetable garden. I am doing a square foot garden. I am getting a lot of help from this blog, My Square Foot Garden.

Tyler is so awesome and he built me my first vinyl garden box (2X10 ft).

Today I filled it with strawberries, romaine lettuce, spinach, onions, and carrots. I can't wait until its warm enough to do some corn, tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon. I bought the strawberries and lettuce as little plants. Here are my cute baby strawberries:

The rest I am starting as seeds.

We'll see how it all works out. Usually I've killed about 40% of whatever I plant so hopefully I do a little better with the veggies as opposed to flowers.

Ok that about sums it all up. I will try to do better about my posting. Hope all is well with you!

Classic Skating Birthday Party

2009-02-07T10:11:00.003-07:00

Peyton's cousin Morgan had her 1st birthday party at Classic Skating and it was a riot! I have never seen so many kids running around in blissful heaven as I saw there. I was seen skating as well until I did the wobble- oh no- losing my balance- CRASH! BANG! BOOM! onto the rink. I was done after that. Luckily no one in our party saw except for a couple of the little kiddies.

Off to the races! You can take Littles out on the roller rink in strollers.

Uncle Jared and Daddy take a stroll on the rink

Check out those awesome red skates!

Birthday girl Morgan and Peyton share Auntie ToTo's lap

Then come the scooters! Check out Ty's sweet moves! The older kids were all into the scooters.

Cousin Rylee on her scooter

Happy Birthday Morgie!

Bed Head

2009-02-07T10:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went to get Peyton from her morning nap. This is what I found:

She rolls around a lot these days, especially in her crib. She often leaves her head on the mattress and kicks her legs like she is going to crawl. So her legs get quite a work out but her hair pays for it. She had to have a bath to get her hair back to normal since a brush just wasn't up to the job!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

2009-02-06T12:16:00.009-07:00

Happy Birthday Tyler!

He is 29 years old today. Its weird to think that he is 3 years older than me. It always feels like we are the same age. This has been such an unbelievable year for him since he has turned into a Daddy. One of the reasons I married him is because I always knew he would be an awesome Dad and he definitely is! We love him so much! I hope he enjoys this year because next year will be the big 3-0! We are getting old!!

LuLus and Tu-Tus

2009-02-03T13:55:00.011-07:00

So much has happened lately so get ready for a super long post! Back in January my Mom came out to visit because my sister Tamara and her husband Jon went through the temple to get their endowments. It was such a special moment for their family. It was so good to see my Mom and I was thrilled to see her and Peyton interact. The last time we saw her was when Peyton was born. My mom's grandma name is LuLu (of course some call her Wu-Wu, Nu-Nu, whatever they can say).

Then just the last couple weeks Peyton has made leaps and bounds sitting up all by herself unsupported.

This past weekend was sooo busy. I figured if I didn't want to wait several more years, I had better get her ears pierced soon! So my good friend Rachel and I took her to Claire's this past weekend.

She did such a great job! The workers said she had the fastest recovery time of any baby they had ever seen. She cried for maybe a minute tops,

but then settled right back down. Tah-Dah!

I also took Peyton's 6 month old photos. I had to hurry before she turns 7 months! Time flies so fast. I took them in my kitchen and I really like how they turned out. I couldn't get the pearls out of her mouth! What can I say, she likes her jewels. So I had to take them off for some. And yes believe it or not, I have a purple kitchen.

Her favorite toy

I had to get one with just the pure chubby baby fat rolls!

Finally, we went and saw the movie Taken with Liam Neeson and it was excellent!

I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone wanting to see a great movie. I don't get out to the theaters hardly at all anymore so it was extra special and really action packed and suspenseful.

Phew I made it! So that's the latest with us. Hope everyone is well!

6 Months Old Already

2009-01-15T20:46:00.006-07:00

Peyton turned 6 months old yesterday and she is doing great! We took her to the doctor for a checkup and here are her latest stats:

Weight= 18.1 lbs (87%)
Length= 25.5 inches (42%)
head circumference= 17 in (72%)

Some of her favorite things to do right now include:

Laughing at the dogs as they run past her, blowing rasberries, making growling noises, saying "oooo" like a monkey, rolling around from her back to her belly,

and having tongue wars with her daddy

and most of all JUMPING in her jump n' go!

The doctor says she is thriving and we are so blessed that she is so healthy and happy. Thanks to everyone for all your warm thoughts and all the love, help, and support you have given us.

Eating Solids, Hooray!

2009-01-01T09:11:00.006-07:00

We've been feeding Peyton rice cereal for the last couple weeks in her new highchair. She took right to it and as always is a really good eater. She looks for the spoon and opens her mouth up for it and does pretty good at getting maybe 80% of it down while the rest goes all over her face. We made the mistake of giving her baby food bananas on Christmas as a special treat and had to wait for three days for the really stinky results! So now we are back on the just the rice. We took her to the doctor yesterday because she has the croup again and they weighed her in at a whopping 18 pounds! Her 6 month appt is in a few weeks so I will have more stats soon. Introducing her to something new is so fun. Her faces that she makes are priceless.

Welcome Baby Grayson!

2008-12-30T22:13:00.006-07:00

My sister Tamara had her second little boy Grayson (middle name not yet decided) on December 23rd, right before Christmas. Talk about a perfect little Christmas present! We are so excited for this new addition to our family. So far he loves to grunt and make little noises, and he loves to sleep. Congratulations Tamara and Jon!

Family Christmas Traditions

2008-12-09T11:22:00.008-07:00

Maybe its because its my first Christmas with a child, but this is the first year that I have really gotten into Christmas and starting my own family traditions. Its fun to have a fresh slate and be creative. Some are new to me that I want to start doing yearly, and others are ones I grew up with that I want to carry on, and some are the results of meshing my childhood traditions and Tylers together.

First of all, the Christmas Card. I have never done one before because for me it felt a little silly just being Tyler and myself. So this year I made our first Christmas Card. I still have to mail them out but I am too antsy to not post about it. We really do hope you all have a great holiday break!

Growing up we always had a nice Christmas Eve dinner where my mom would get out the red tablecloth and the good dishes that we only used on special occasions i.e. Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving, etc. We had the same foods every year too. Chicken Casserole and my grandma's amazing Christmas bread are just a couple. I think we have sat down to eat at our kitchen table a total of maybe 5 times in the 6 years we have been married. So this year for one of my Christmas presents I went and got a red table cloth and some nice holiday dishes of my very own from a killer sale at Macy's. If all goes well I will attempt to make some of those classic family recipes on Christmas Eve.

This next one I have never done but I think its a really fun one. You get to open a gift on Christmas Eve and its new pajamas that you can wear that night and on Christmas if you want. I think this one is more for kids but you gotta start it sometime!

Toby has managed to eat or destroy most of our stockings. We don't have a fireplace to hang them anyway. So this year we are going to try something a little different. Tyler wishes there was more room in stockings to put stuff in, so after a L O N G search for the ultimate perfect stockings, I gave up and we went with these:

They are personalized santa bags! We got the smaller ones which are actually pretty big. They are so much fun. I have already filled Tyler's with this and that (I can't list anything in case he reads this post).

Our Christmas tree this year is a real one. I have nothing against fake ones, we almost got one this year for the convenience factor but went the cheaper route. However I do think real trees are more magical for little kids then fake and I would like to keep the tradition of a real tree going if we can. We aren't done decorating ours yet but when we are I will come back and post a picture of it.

I like the idea of getting a special ornament each year. This year I want to get a nice one for Peyton since its her first Christmas. We have been married for 6 years and have hardly any other ornaments besides the store bought balls. But there is something special about placing certain ornaments on the tree that remind you of special memories, such as vacations or milestones.

I remember as a child loving to play with our family nativity scene. Maybe next year I can get one of those, or get parts of a set for the next few years. Gotta be money smart right?

Then there are other traditions such as service projects, change jars, etc. that people do. This year I am going to have the opportunity to take pictures at a service project for families with children with rare diseases. I hope it goes well. I think it would be cool to do a service project every year as a family. I have to admit that I didn't seek this one out. But I am glad to be able to do it.

So that's a long list of some family traditions. I am open to new ideas and would love to hear what some of your favorite Christmas family traditions are! Please share any ideas or great traditions of your family!

Twilight Movie Premiere

2008-12-04T19:42:00.002-07:00

I am back tracking a little, this happened a couple weeks ago. My awesome sister-in-law Nichole hooked me up with VIP All Access tickets to the Twilight Premiere to the midnight showing of the Twilight movie a few weeks ago. It was a prom night theme where you show up in your prom dresses and walk on the red carpet, eat the buffet, and dance at the prom. But we are too old and tired to be prancing around in prom dresses in the middle of the night so we did updos with jewelery but then decked it out in pajamas instead. It was so nice and comfy. You can see my VIP pass around my neck.

At first it was pretty lame when we were bombarded with vendors just trying to make money on lotions and laser hair removal, etc. But after a couple hours went by we started to get a little slap happy, ok a lot slap happy- and that's when the fun started.

Their were models there dressed up in Alyssa's bridal gowns and they were posing all silly for the camera on a motorcycle so we thought we would also pose like models too because lets face it, we are pretty hot in PJs.

Then we were going through our goody bags in the theater while waiting for the movie to start. We found some pretty sweet hats and then plastic fangs that we just had to try on. The results:

Oh yeah, the movie! I really enjoyed it. There are nit picky things that bothered me, but overall I was entertained and I would like to see it again so job well done. The actors really grew on me and I stayed awake all the way until 3:30 am.

2008-11-26T12:17:00.006-07:00

This Thanksgiving has kind of already passed me by. I don't have any special plans and in fact I am more excited for Christmas. I am weird in that Thanksgiving is one of my least favorite holidays. But I would be ungrateful if I didn't give thanks this year for all of my many blessings so get ready for the cheesiest post you'll ever read from me.

I am so grateful for my beautiful new little family. The little baby that has made my life take on new meaning is priceless. She warms my heart every day with her innocence and her big personality.I am grateful for my extended family, family far from home, and friends. I have been blessed with some pretty sweet in-laws that have embraced me into their family whole heartedly. My siblings are strewn across America but I know I can count on them to be there for me when I need them and they support me in all that I do. And I have fun friends that get silly with me about things like Twilight or office gossip or are just fun to spend time with.

I am grateful for my dogs even though they have had a hard time adjusting to the new changes in our house and have been acting out- even sweet innocent Wiggum has gotten pretty naughty lately!

I am grateful for the gospel in my life.

I am grateful for our home, our jobs, our cars, and all of the things that make life so comfy cozy in this time of uncertainty.

I am grateful for big plush blankets!

I am grateful for good health and wish that I had it! Can't wait for this cold to go away so I can have my energy back.

I am grateful for ways to express ourselves creatively with hobbies such as blogging, scrapbooking, photography, music, etc.

I am grateful for fresh start mornings and clean slates.

I am grateful for showers and jetted tubs.

I am grateful for 2% milk and I know I can't live my life without it!

Anybody want to add to the list? What are you grateful for this season?

Halloween 2008

2008-11-10T17:39:00.007-07:00

This year for Halloween we went trick or treating with the Zappe family in Spanish Fork, and then ate a scrumptious dinner in a pumpkin that Tamara made. Yes, the dinner is cooked in the pumpkin. It was delicious! We thought it was fitting for our Little P to be a Pea in a Pea Pod for Halloween. She managed to break the costume within 10 minutes of wearing it, but nothing that a little super glue couldn't fix. Tyler and I were stems :) The weather was really warm which was nice for trick or treating. It was a really fun night!

Our Little P in a Pea Pod

Trick or treating

We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Loved

2008-10-28T19:53:00.002-06:00

I am so in love with her...

Family Fall Portraits 2008

2008-10-18T12:40:00.003-06:00

My good friends Rachel and Jared Black took this picture of us on the Alpine Loop.
The rest we took ourselves in Butterfield Canyon.

Look Who's Talkin

2008-09-28T15:15:00.005-06:00

Peyton's 2 Month Stats

2008-09-25T11:33:00.002-06:00

We went to the doctor on Monday for Peyton's 2 month checkup. She got her first round of shots and screamed bloody murder! It really broke our hearts. But she was weighed and measured as well.

Weight: 12 lbs = 74%

Height: 22 inches = 30%

So she is currently a bit chubby and short :) With Tyler being so tall and my family having really tall genes, I am pretty sure she won't stay a shortie for very long. We love our chubby baby big cheeks and all.

A few weeks ago she started to smile on her own which has been really rewarding. She's pretty easy to get to smile, you just have to give her a compliment. "Pretty," "cute," and "beautiful" are words she will always crack a smile for.

Also, this week she found her voice and has not stopped talking since. Its so sweet to listen to her and carry on conversations of pure gibberish.

Peyton's Baby Blessing

2008-09-22T18:19:00.017-06:00

Peyton's baby blessing was this last Sunday and for all my worrying that she would scream through the whole thing, she ended up sleeping like an angel. The blessing was so sweet and I thank everyone that came, participated, and celebrated with us afterwards. We love you all :)

First let me explain the dress. It was originally all white and had these little fluffy flowers with ribbons hanging down on the front. I wasn't super fond of them. (Unfortunately the original is no longer on the store website or I would include a "before" picture.) We had been to so many stores and unless you want to pay a fortune for a dress she will wear once, you get a standard variety of about 5 different dresses. They all looked the same to me and I wanted it to be more personalized or special. Soeven though I am not a seamstress I attempted to make it more of an heirloom dress. I removed the ugly flowers from the front of the dress. I took part of the ribbon from the bottom of my wedding dress (I will never wear it again and it was pretty much destroyed at the wedding) and I hand stitched it across the top of the dress. I tried to keep it all white but it looked so boring. So I gave in and I took some pink flowers from her nursery room and placed one on top of the ribbon as you can see in this picture below.

In the middle of the flower is a button from my wedding dress. I also removed the standard two holed buttons from the back of the dress and replaced them with more buttons from my wedding dress.

At the bottom of the dress is a little organza net like thing, and as you can see in the picture below, I placed a few more of the pink flowers from her nursery in there to free float around.

I am in no way a seamstress and if you look closely at the dress its pretty embarrassing. But I think its better this way.

Now onto all the fun people that came!

Grandma White

Our awesome friends Rachel and Jared Black

Auntie ToTo and P

Cousin Ashleigh Kay

Uncle Trevor is the best burper!

Cousin Landon

Cousin Morgan

Another New Arrival

2008-08-27T12:54:00.003-06:00

My sister Lisa had her first baby on August 22nd 2008. They named him Jake Ferris Doles and although he was born by emergency C section, Mama and baby are doing well. They live in Georgia so it will be awhile before I get to meet the little cutie and squish his cheeks! I am so happy for them. Lisa and I get to experience Motherhood together and that has been awesome. Congratulations Lisa and John!

One Month Old Already

2008-08-14T20:32:00.012-06:00

I can't believe Peyton is already one month old! The time has flown by and I knew it would, but it went by so much faster than I thought. I feel like I have learned so much but also nothing at all! Here are a few things I have learned about Peyton in her first month of life:

She loves to poop on Mommy, explosively.

She loves to stick out her tongue.

She loves to have her forehead rubbed, its very relaxing, but then again, who wouldn't?

She loves to be held.

She loves to be rocked and sung to.

She loves car rides.

She hates to be cold, or undressed, and is not a big fan of baths.

She tolerates getting her picture taken, but only for so long.

She is the sweetest thing in the world and we love her!

Breaking Dawn Release Party

2008-08-08T10:18:00.006-06:00

Last weekend I went with my friend Rachel to a "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer Book Release Party here in West Jordan at Barnes and Noble. Its the last book in a series that was written for teenagers but I have become a little obsessed groupie over the last couple of years! Its fun to be passionate about something I think. I thought since we had an invitation to this party that meant only a limited number of people would be in attendance, but oh was I wrong. So many people showed up that the store was one big traffic jam everywhere you went. They had little games set up like the throwing of the bouquet or Pin the Tail on the Werewolf. People, including us, dressed up like we were bridesmaids because the best dressed won a free book. The idea was to hang out and have fun until Rachel could pick her book up at midnight. But since there was sooo many people it made it hard to really do anything. Just a lot of waiting in lines. So we headed over to my favorite place to eat, European Connection, and got ourselves an awesome crepe for a late dinner. It was really fun to dress up in our old prom dresses even if we didn't stay very long. I wore my wedding jewelry as well because how often do you get to wear all that fun stuff? I was shocked and impressed I could still squeeze (literally I had to squeeze) into my 7 year old prom dress with all the baby weight. After eating I realized the dress wasn't going to let me breathe much longer!

Now onto the most important topic- I hate DHL! I didn't get my book at the Release Party because I could purchase it cheaper online with Amazon using a gift certificate. So I thought, I can wait two more days to get the book. Well here it is almost a week later and I still don't have it. Apparently DHL can't find my house and I only found out because I finally tracked the package down on their website. So the are going to try again today, and hopefully I will be able to start reading it soon. So please don't spoil it for me for everyone who has had theirs for a week already! I went to Costco and they had a whole stack of them just sitting there. I was so tempted to just buy it and give up on the Amazon order! But oh well. Patience is a virtue right? So let me know whether you liked the last book or whether it was a disappointment.

Peyton's Black and White Photo Shoot

2008-08-05T12:28:00.008-06:00

ok I cheated with the color version but I like it too much.

2-3 weeks old

Welcome to Motherhood

2008-08-03T14:47:00.003-06:00

The other day I was officially initiated into the role of motherhood. There I was changing Peyton's diaper. Normally, her favorite thing to do is to fill the new diaper as soon as I am done changing her, but not this time. All of a sudden she EXPLODED baby poop all over me. It was everywhere! All over my bedding, all over me head to foot! I sat there in complete shock. Did that really just happen?!? I didn't even know where to begin to clean it up. So I laughed because what else can you do? I looked at her face and she had the biggest grin on it as if she was laughing at me! I know they say newborns can't control when they smile but I think sometimes its too much to just be a coincidence.

Final Update on the Nursery

2008-07-30T19:01:00.013-06:00

I posted some pictures awhile back of the beginning work we did on the nursery. Well its all done now and I promised my sister I would post the final version since she has a baby arriving in the next few weeks. Throughout my pregnancy this was the funnest project I did and its my favorite room in our house now. Tyler put all the molding and shelves up on the walls. I spend a few hours in it every night feeding Peyton. Crib bedding was the Dwell Studio collection at Target.

The best investment we made for the room is the lazy boy recliner next to the window. It is very comfortable in those late night hours when feeding and burping and its also nice to occasionally look out the window while rocking the baby.

Because the top of the window is an odd shape, blinds wouldn't really work to help keep all the sunlight out. So Tyler made a wooden box decorated with bead board to cover the highest window. Not only does it keep the additional light out, but it has also helped with the temperature in the room from getting too hot. The letters on the front were so cheap, I think they were 50 cents each and took just an hour or so to paint them. There are a few paint touch ups left from installing them, but other than that the room is done.

Above the closet is a large shelf which I never have known what to put on it. I added some stars from Taipan and the floral paper arrangements were a gift to me from my sister from the baby shower she threw me in Spanish Fork (yes I know I still need to blog on those, I am so far behind). These are so beautiful and they are a Martha Stewart kit that you purchase and assemble.

The bookshelf we got for free- Tyler's work was throwing it out and it matched her crib perfectly. Tyler was able to shave about 6 inches off of it so it would fit underneath our shelves. The baskets were cheap from Lowe's and have turned out to be awesome for holding socks, diapers, burp cloths and other supplies. Its nice to be able to take them out and carry them to other rooms if needed and not be strapped down to dresser drawers.

Things on the shelves:

A present from Auntie Tamara and a stuffed animal Tyler picked out and some flowers.

Peyton letters were 2 dollars each at the local craft store that I painted with the leftover paint from the other projects in the room. Also, there are some figurines from the Willow Tree Collection- one was a gift from an awesome coworker Julie of a pregnant woman holding her stomach and the other is a new dad holding his baby.

Fake flowers to match the crib bedding and I used the hydrangea flowers in her blessing dress as well.

Maternity pictures of me

This picture is kinda special to Ty and me. Its called Security by David Bowman. Its supposed to portray how no one can make us feel as safe and secure as the Savior. Also it talks about how parents also have the ability to make their children feel safe, and so it was only fitting that the models for the portrait were father and daughter. When I saw it I thought it looked like he was saying goodbye to her before she came to Earth. Anyway, we really like it.

So thats he nursery. It definitely evolved over time but was fun because we had plenty of time to work on it without feeling rushed, at least not until the last few weeks.

Thanks for looking!

Peyton's First Photo Shoot

2008-07-26T19:10:00.011-06:00

I attempted to take some photos of Peyton that I can use for her birth announcements. The first two are my favorites. It has been so much fun to hang out with her.

Peyton Malia White

2008-07-19T21:49:00.007-06:00

Peyton Malia White was born on Monday, July 14th at 5:41 a.m. She was 7 pounds even and 18.5 inches long. The delivery was fast, under 5 hours! Both her and Aimee are healthy. We think she is pretty awesome.

We are so excited and blessed to have her join our family. It has been an amazing experience so far and we are learning so much. We want to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers.

Small Reunion with Childhood Friends

2008-05-30T12:37:00.004-06:00

Last night I was able to meet up with two of my old childhood friends from Ohio for a night of bowling. It was so fun to catch up, the bowling was getting in the way of the chatting! We grew up together in the same ward. Kristen is doing an internship at the hospital in Provo and Marni married her high school sweetheart who is also one of my friends from the same ward and they have a little girl Reese as seen in the picture. There is a really cool website that has gotten a lot of the old youth from our home ward reunited over three decades. Its so cool to find people you used to know and see what they are up to now.

Stephenie Meyer Book Signing Event- The Host

2008-05-19T12:14:00.007-06:00

Stephenie discussing The Host and writing in general

I spent most of my weekend absorbed in a lazy boy finishing The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It was a pretty good read. I liked how it had a finality to it, but if she does a sequel thats ok too. But it doesn't leave you with a cliffhanger. Friday night I went to a Book Discussion and Signing Event at Thanksgiving Point with my good friend Shar where Stephenie came, answered a few questions and then signed books. I was only half way through when I went so I spent the rest of the weekend finishing it.

Its cool that I was able to get all of my books signed by her but honestly the gigantisism of the event made it seem a bit cold. Too many rules in place, no posed photographs, or only so many books allowed, for example. We waited for EVER it seemed like and we weren't the die hards that camped overnight. There were about 1,000 fans there so it took us hours to get into the building for a decent seat and more hours to sign everyone's books. I eventually pulled the "I'm pregnant" card and they let me cut to the front of the line. Disgraceful I know but after waiting forever I didn't care anymore. The dirty looks were worth it.

Shar and I waiting in line to get inside the building

Here are some of the things she discussed- don't worry I won't let out any spoilers:

The Host may become a trilogy. She has already written the outlines for books 2 and 3 but she doesn't know when she will get to writing them. She would like to take all of next year off to just write but she doesn't know what will be produced from it.
She loves the covers of Twilight and Eclipse but hates New Moon and it is meaningless for her. The cover of Twilight represents the choosing to eat of the fruit of knowledge, good or evil, that sort of thing. The cover of Eclipse represents that breaking ties is not easy and their will always be tough threads to break through. The cover to The Host is just a model, not her, and the publicists create all the covers, she really has no say in what they look like. But she likes how The Host's cover turned out.
Her husband is now a stay at home dad and she sacrifices a lot to go on tour. She was missing her little boy's kindergarten graduation to be here in Salt Lake City. I don't feel too bad for her because she has to be making so much money!
A question was asked something like "Who or where do you get your love stories from? How can you capture the intensity the way you do?" She answered that none of her books could have been written before having her kids. All the intensity springs from the love she feels for them.
"Why did she make Jared so mean?" She said that this question surprised her and she thinks since her narrator was Wanderer that may be why we liked her so much. She tried to explain it from his point of view and then said "Besides, he only hits her once!"
She said the character Ian started out as a minor one but after awhile he became so much more to her she couldn't not expand his role.

I think I just got spoiled by the I Love Edward Cullen party I went to last year where it was a small gathering with dinner and games and I got my picture with her.

Stephenie Meyer and I at the I Love Edward Party

What can I say she's a big star now! It was a great opportunity to see her again. If anyone wants to borrow The Host let me know!

Morgan White Baby Blessing

2008-05-12T21:40:00.017-06:00

My newest niece Morgan White was blessed this Sunday. After the blessing the family headed over to a local park to eat and celebrate. I didn't get any pictures of the baby go figure but I did get some shots of some of our nieces and nephews that I don't get to see as often.

Rylee and Dakota were hanging out the entire night like best friends. They played on the swing set and fed the ducks and took a stroll with their Grandma.

Later on the grown ups started a pickup game of basketball...

...and Dakota was pouting that she couldn't play too.

I don't know why I was having so much fun taking pictures of her this day, but she was so cute everywhere she went. She is growing up so fast.

Her little sister Danni (short for Dannika) has grown up a lot too! She actually let me hold her which is a big step for her. Usually only her Momma can hold her.

She also let Grandma hold her and her Aunt Co -Co.

DH (short for Derek Harrison) had a blast on the slide and playing with his daddy.

It was really nice to get Ty's family together on Mother's Day. Tyler got me a bunch of flowers for the front yard and I love gardening so it was perfect. I spent all day on Saturday working in the yard. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Stephenie Meyer Fans- New Twilight Trailer

2008-05-08T11:40:00.004-06:00

I know that there is a huge phenomenon with the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer, and I am totally a groupie even though its a little embarrassing to admit! I am so excited for the movie to come out this December 18, 2008. They just released a trailer for the movie that you can view here:

Twilight in HD

I am trying to not get my hopes up because the movie will never be as good as the books, but this trailer did get me excited. I am really liking the cast for Bella, James, Victoria, and Alice but must admit (Lisa and Shar you are so right) that the natural brunettes posing as blondes (Rosalie and Carlisle) look a little fake and better darker.

Any thoughts?

To see the entire cast you can visit the author's website here.

By the way, has anyone gotten her new book The Host yet? I got it today at lunch and I have to read through it fast before Stephenie comes to Utah next week for her tour. If you've already read it let me know what you thought of it!

Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point

2008-05-06T16:53:00.010-06:00

Spring has not been nice this year in Utah. Its been pretty non existent in fact. Thanksgiving Point has their annual Spring Tulip Festival where you can visit their gardens and see the beautiful flowers and participate in their photography contest. Last year I went for the first time with my normal digital camera back in March and got some really great shots. Unfortunately the quality isn't good enough to use them for anything other than my own personal enjoyment. So I was really excited to go again this year with my new camera in high hopes that I would get something good enough to use on Dreamstime or iStock photos which are websites where people purchase your pictures usually to use in their business power point presentations or use for commercial use.

The tulip festival came and went and the weather was horrible and Thanksgiving Point said only 45% of their flowers were even open. So I waited until last weekend to go. The weather was warm but extremely windy. I showed up and the flowers looked hammered. I was really disappointed. My eyes wouldn't stop watering as they always do in the wind so that made it not very enjoyable. I felt rushed to get back to work so I only spent a little over an hour at the gardens. All of this proved to be not the best photography outing ever.

I still managed to get a few shots that I really like. I may not have a lot that turned out from the trip, but the few I got made it all worth it to me. Here are just a few, enjoy!

Now that the weather is getting better it may be really fun to take your family. The kids really enjoy rolling down there big hill and exploring the gardens such as their enclosed secret garden. It'd be a great family home evening!

Doggy Sitting Cousin Kai Kai

2008-04-18T17:56:00.013-06:00

This week we were doggy sitting Tamara's dog Kai (short for Malachai). Wiggum grew up with Kai when they were puppies in our old apartment and so they are bestest friends and get along great. Toby on the other hand likes to play dominant games when Kai comes to visit because even though Kai could beat Toby up if he wanted to Toby has little dog syndrome and has to let everyone know he is the boss. So Kai and Toby spend most of their time macho-ing each other up and Wiggum just watches and thinks their silly.

The weather was so nice this afternoon we spent some time out in the backyard playing baseball, chewing on rocks, playing fetch, stretching out, and just being silly. It was a great opportunity for me to get my camera out, dust it off a little bit and have some fun. The puppies love when their cousin Kai comes to visit.

Previews of the Nursery

2008-04-11T14:48:00.009-06:00

The nursery is definitely not done by any means but here are a few pics to give you a little taste of what we have been up to lately.

Tyler has been working so hard on getting all the molding and painting done. When he first started the room was a dark green color. Three coats of white paint later and taupe brown on top and he finally got rid of it. I am really proud of how awesome I think he did on the molding and shelf. There are lots of things I want to put on the currently very empty shelves, but any ideas are more then welcome! Eventually above the chair I want to put wooden blocks that spell her name. We just have to figure out what her name will be first!

Above the window we are adding a molding to cover the top portion of the curtains and the top window itself. We have to block the light out somehow to help her sleep better.

This is a big and little star, but I have a medium size star not in the picture that I am still needing to paint- pink and brown. These will most likely be hung on the wall as opposed to leaning on the shelf, either where they are or above the closet which has a deep shelf but I don’t have a picture of it yet.

The stuffed animals are currently there to be out of the reach of naughty puppies who think they are toys we got for them. I don’t know where they will end up.

I want to add more flowers to the other vase, maybe a long sprig of pink flowers or something.

We plan to take the doors off the closet and put a matching dresser to the crib in there because its a pretty small room. I also have a matching night light which I didn't take a picture of yet.

I will post more, better pictures when we are all done but I took these for my sister who is having a baby boy a month after me.

Some other ideas that I have are a watch me grow board and some picture frames with pictures of us and then her after she is born.

Anyone else got any fun ideas?

Jailbird dogs again!

2008-03-22T10:21:00.004-06:00

As the snow melted, it left our electric fence equipment sunken under water leaving the fence turned off. Yesterday the dogs realized this in the warm sunny weather and decided to dig out from underneath our fence for an adventure in the neighborhood while we were both at work. When Tyler got home and realized they had escaped he trolled the neighborhoods looking for them with no luck. He called the animal shelter but they were closed for the day. He left a message and eventually they called us back. They had wrangled up the naughty ones and sure enough they were sitting in puppy jail. The problem is that because of small staffing the shelter closed at 11:00 am instead of 5 pm like they should have. So the dogs will have to stay in jail over the weekend! It makes no sense to me why if they have to go to feed them everyday that we couldn't just pick them up and take them home, but rules are rules I guess.

So the pups are jailbirds for the whole weekend. And to make matters worse it will probably cost over $250 to get them out. Naughty, naughty, naughty!

Viva Las Vegas

2008-03-19T14:52:00.005-06:00

This past weekend Tyler and I went to Vegas with our friends Rachel and Jared Black. It was Rachel’s 21^st birthday so we had to celebrate big. And whats bigger than Las Vegas for your 21st right?!? Here is a slideshow from some of the pictures we took. Enjoy!

One of the coolest things we did was go to an exhibit called the Bodies Exhibit. It is in different cities all over the country. It’s about $30 a person but if you are cheap like us, we were able to sit at a Timeshare presentation for 2 hours and they fed us lunch and gave us the tickets for free. Well worth it. The exhibit is made up of real human cadavers that they have soaked in a solution to help preserve them. They are skinned so that you can see the muscles and bone and tendons and organs etc and placed in artistic poses to demonstrate how the body works. It sounds morbid or gross but it was really cool. It’s controversial in the media about whether it’s appropriate or not but I thought it was very informative and artistic. I wanted to take pictures but they wouldn’t allow any photography. They display a brain that has had a stroke and the inside is all black as if it had been burned. They display lungs with and without cancer, fetal development in every week of the first 16 weeks, the circulatory system with just the veins from your face, arms, legs, etc. and so much more. You walk away wanting to take better care of your body and realizing just what everything looks like. I recommend going if it is out near you or you have the opportunity presented to you.
Here is a quick video to give you an idea of what you can see:

bodies exhibition

Its a Girl!!!

2008-02-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

These pics are from about a week ago. Yesterday I went to the doctor and they confirmed that we are having a girl. I have some more pics from week 16 that I will post after I scan them in.

A New Addition to the White House

2008-01-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

I thought you might like to know the news and plus I am horrible with keeping secrets…

I’m almost 14 weeks and I am due July 25^th. So far baby is healthy and everything is well. We will find out if its a boy or girl on February 11th.

Aimee starts her own photography blog

2007-12-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone actually wanted to hire me, I thought I should have a place where I could display my photos and pricing information, etc. So I threw up a quick blog with just that. It needs a LOT of work still but its enough for now. Check it out and spread the word!

Aimee White Photography

Molly Mouse's Sugar Plum Ballet

2007-12-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago all of the girls and nieces on Tyler's side of the family went to the second annual White Family Tradition Molly Mouse's Sugar Plum Ballet. All the nieces got dressed up in their finest matching Christmas dresses for the event. The ballet itself is all done by children wearing mouse costumes. It was very cute, but even more cute to see the little girls in the family admiring the ballerinas so much. After the show we went to a nearby stage where the girls danced forever! Not even ice cream could lure them away. But eventually we got out of their and went out for dinner and ice cream. It was a really fun night. I tried to get some pictures for the parents of the girls to have. Here are just a few...

Kara and Ava

Rylee dancing

Unfortunately I am still learning how to take low lighting pictures that are still sharp so these are a little blurry, but they look great as small pictures! I have more pics at home that I can add, but for now this will have to do. If you have little girls I would recommend checking this ballet out, it was very cute, and short enough that the children don't get too ancy, and neither do you!

Enjoy!

Aimee's Photography- Portraits

2007-11-29T10:32:00.001-07:00

I have been learning alot about photography and Photoshop lately. Because of this I have been attempting to take family pictures for friends and family for their Christmas cards and church callings, work parties, etc. Here are some of my favorites from the portrait photo shoots I have been doing the last couple months:

(sister) Tamara and Jon Zappe family picture

(nephew) Taye Zappe Christmas Card

(nieces) Anna and Rylee in their Christmas dresses

Anna

Rylee

Mark Preator at Company Turkey Bowl

Randy Tingey at Turkey Bowl

Zach Bradshaw at Turkey Bowl

Young Women in Excellence Photo Shoot

Young Women in Excellence Photo Shoot

Young Women in Excellence Photo Shoot

Any constructive criticism is welcome since I am a beginner and learning. Every new shoot I do I am learning so much and this is such a fun hobby. Enjoy!

A Month Late But Better Than Never

2007-11-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

pumpkin I carved

I know it’s really late but here are a couple of pictures from Halloween. I dressed up as a devil and Tyler went as himself. My work is much more into the Halloween spirit than his as you can see from the picture of everyone below.

We had a photo shoot for everyone that dressed up where I took pictures in front of a green screen. I still need to learn how to remove it with something else. Then trick or treating at my work as well for all the employees kids,

Luke Preator as a skunk

and then we briefly saw some nieces and nephews before the trick-or-treating hours began.

My Nephew Landon as a Tiger

It was a really great day. We had the scariest house in the neighborhood with hanging decapitated heads, a screaming scarecrow churning a witches brew, a scary clown hanging from the garage, a graveyard, and a coffin with a skeleton in it on the front door! We had spider webs and scary music playing. We had more trick or treaters this year than ever before and ran out of candy and resorted to cleaning out our cupboards and handing out Capri Suns and granola bars! Hope everyone else had a great holiday, including Thanksgiving!

Happy 25th Birthday Aimee!

2007-10-05T15:02:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my 25^th birthday. At work I was greeted with homemade salsa and chips, some other goodies, and a big black spider that was fitting since I “find bugs” all day long at my job. I got calls from my family which is always nice and thoughtful.

I went out midday with some fellow coworker photographer wannabes and we took some fall photos of the Provo Canyon.

I turned this one into a watercolor landscape

At home we celebrated with cake and Tyler gave me a GPS unit called a GARMIN to help me get around town. I hate driving and having one of these is amazing! It really reduces the stress of traveling to unknown places. It’s been on the top of my wish list ever since my trip to San Francisco.

It was a pretty low key day but thats ok, its how I wanted it and it was a lot of fun.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Tyler Has a New Job

2007-09-26T16:34:00.000-06:00

photo by Scottks1

Tyler is now working as a Property Manager for a company called Leucadia in downtown Salt Lake. He seems to really enjoy it so far. He doesn't work as many hours so that he can go back to school. Within 6 months he will be eligible for tuition reimbursement. He has his own office and they gave him a phone, credit card and car. He either calls maintenance people to come in and spruce up the building for him- example landscapers- or he does the work himself. He replaces lightbulbs, removes air conditioners that are no longer functional, stuff like that. It is perfect for him since he is such a handy man, and the benefits are really top notch. The change is such a blessing for us.

Aimee goes to San Fransisco

2007-09-19T12:47:00.000-06:00

It was for a business trip and I went all by myself to San Jose, got a rental car, and drove around to different schools to help them upgrade to the software I help create. One day I had the afternoon off and I went on an excursion to San Fransisco.

I ate some great Clam Chowder while photographing the Golden Gate Bridge, Alkatraz,

and strolled through Pier 39. I drove through the crazy rollercoaster streets and dodged past the trolleys. It was a really cool adventure to do that all by myself.

As you can see from the sky, the Northern California wild fires left a haze of smoke everywhere. It made the early afternoon seem like evening. Also, it was unusually cold and blisteringly windy. I was freezing!

Here are some pics of the shipyard and fruit from the fruit stand on Pier 39. My tripod kept blowing over it was so windy. Also, a wild coyote decided to take shelter under my rental car! So when it scurried away, I ran inside the car and drove to another lookout

point about a half a mile down the curvy road. The coyote showed up about 5 minutes later. It was nice enough but I wasn't about to pet it! Some of the other photographers tried to chase it away with using their big flashes.

Unfortunately I got sick most likely from standing in the cold wind all night to capture a snapshot of the bridge. But it was worth it!

Family BBQ

2007-06-11T13:53:00.000-06:00

On Sunday we had a family BBQ (Tyler's side) at the park near our house in honor of Michael (our nephew) graduating high school. It was a lot of fun. We played volleyball, lit off rockets, had a football game going on and lots of talking and eating. I was able to catch a few snapshots before my batteries died. It was also fun since this is the first year we have had our own BBQer and we were able to use it at the party.

Anna Parkinson, our 6 year old niece

Ava (Kara's baby) our newest niece 2 months old

Kara and Jared (Kara is Tyler's sister) Ava's parents

The Grill Master

Saundra (Tyler's Mom) trying to make paper hats for the kids

Harrison White our little nephew

Heidi and Dakota- our Sister in law and 4 year old niece

Roses After a Storm

2007-06-08T15:05:00.000-06:00

Here is another slideshow of some pictures I took of the roses outside my office building after it rained. I am a little upset of the quality of the shots because my camera wouldn't let me change the ISO so they look grainy. But I still think they are pretty. Again, the slideshow cuts them off which I really dislike so I recommend clicking on the link below to go to the album in webshots to see them all better.

Enjoy!

Close Up of Roses After Storm

Maui and Kauai Vacation

2007-05-04T15:01:00.000-06:00

Here is a slide show of our latest vacation to Maui and Kuaui. It was hard to choose over the 600 pictures we took the best ones, so here are a handful. We still have all our underwater ones to develop. We had so much fun on this trip. We loved whale watching and snorkeling the best. The tour guides placed a microphone in the water and we were able to hear the whale singing. He was very upset because he had just gotten rejected. Then he popped up from the water and gave us a show of his tail. We also saw a mom and her baby. Tyler saw a reef shark while snorkeling and thought that was pretty cool. We also saw some turtles and lots of beautiful fish. Kauai is where many films are shot such as King Kong, Six Days Seven Nights, Jurassic Park, etc. Its beauty was breathtaking. It was a great place to escape to and forget about everything else except each other. Everyone has to go there at least once in their life.

Imagine Learning Video and Easter Spring Pics

2007-04-13T10:19:00.000-06:00

Here is a short little video of my company. I know its an advertisement, but I think its cool because you can see the software that I help to create and get a better idea of what I do.

Here are some pictures that Aimee took at Thanksgiving Point Easter Weekend. They are posted in full on www.webshots.com or Picasa if you would like to download any.

First Post

2007-04-11T12:56:00.002-06:00

This is our first post ever, so lets begin with some introductions. The White Family was established August 3rd, 2002. It consists of Tyler, Aimee, Wiggum, and Toby. Wiggum joined the family around Thanksgiving of 2003 and Toby joined in April of 2005.

Tyler loves BYU football, playing basketball, working on cars and model rockets. He currently works for UPS as a Customer Service spy. He listens to all the agents taking calls and emails and evaluates their level of quality.

Speaking of quality, Aimee currently works at Imagine Learning as a Quality Assurance Director and Software Tester. She basically plays little kids software games all day long that teaches how to speak English. In her spare time she likes to read, scrapbook, play the piano, watch movies, and she loves a good Who Done It show.

Wiggum works diligently at laying around the house all day long and barking at any person, car, or leaf that passes by. He loves giving kisses, chewing on stuffed animals, guarding his special treats, and laying in grass.

In his short lifespan Toby has been able to reach such a high level of excellence at being naughty. He takes special pride in thoroughly cleaning/chewing up spatulas or Tupperware left in the sink, and dragging the uncooked Thanksgiving Turkey into the family room to munch on. Once we got a can of apple bitter that is supposed to taste terrible to dogs and it keeps them away from anything you spray it on. We found the empty chewed up bottle in the backyard. I want a refund. He loves rawhide, chewing on rocks like bubblegum, and biting Wiggum and peoples bums when they walk in the house. We can't get him to stop. We hope you enjoy our blogs.