Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley

I have many things to post but I wanted to do a quick one about our weekend. We have some friends here in town that invited us to go on a little road trip. It all started when he was on call (he is an oral surgeon). The ER called one day and he went in to find a lady that had been on a motor bike and messed up her face while riding through Zion. Come to find out she is the cook for Brad Paisley. She had many many stitches that were going to need to come out in the next couple of weeks. Shawn (our friend) told her that she could just find a doctor while she is on tour to take them out. She really wanted Shawn to do it and said if he would come to Phoenix that she would get him tickets to the concert and back stage passes. So we were the lucky ones that got to go with them. So we made the 6 1/2 hour road trip (doesn't seem that long when you don't have kids in the car). When we got down there she had us park back by the tour buses. We had to get security to clear us to go in to park. Once we got in, we went into one of the tour buses to take out her stitches. As we were walking out of the bus Dierks comes walking past. We get some photos with him and chat for a sec then he says he has to go to his meet and greet but we could come hang out with him in his dressing room after the concert. We then went to dinner with all of the crew. We went out and sat in our AWESOME seats (fourth row) and watched a great concert. If any of you know Ashton he is not a country fan. But this was his first concert EVER. He actually enjoyed it. Brad Paisley is AWESOME on the guitar! He had a new guitar for almost every song. I think I got a picture of them all. They were beautiful guitars. After the concert we went backstage to meed Brad who we had not seen yet other than during the show. We chit chatted about his cooks face and he was overly concerned to make sure that she was okay. In fact after the show he rolls credits on his jumbotron. It went through all the crew and band and bus drivers...pretty much anyone that does anything for him. When it got to Kim (the lady who was in the accident) it said Kim....Catering (we worship this lady). They honestly love this lady and I don't know anyone who couldn't because she was soooo sweet. They hooked us up with signed pictures and guitar picks. We stayed down there and then got up and drove home the next morning. It was a quick trip, but it was a lot of fun. It made me realize that Ashton and I need to take more trips alone. Even if they are just quick ones because it wansn't too much hassle to leave the kids, but we had some good quality time without the kids!!!! (infact I don't think they even realized we were gone. That's what happens when you leave them with Grandma! Thanks Mom!)

Abby makes fun of Brad when she sees this picture and says, "mom he looks like he doesn't have any teeth." It does look like he was trying hard to smile without showing his teeth.

Guitar #1

Guitar #2

Guitar #3

Guitar #4

Guitar #5

Guitar #6

Guitar #7

Guitar #8

Guitar #9

He would use a pick for about a verse or so and then throw it to the crowd and get a new one.

This is my friend Carol!!! We tried to leave our husbands to sneek into Dierks dressing room, but we just couldn't pull if off:)



We parked about fifty feet away from this jeep that had cones all around it. Ashton walked past the cones and a security guard from no where (honestly I didn't see him before) jumped out and said you can't go past those cones. Kim then told us that it was Dierks jeep and he pulls it behind his tour bus in a trailer everywhere he goes. It didn't even look that nice, but apparently it is his baby!

Our Dierks encounter in the parking lot back stage.

Goings on in Cornish.....

So you would think that Cornish would be boring....my husband will tell you that is true, but as for my kids, they love it up there. After Bear Lake we were able to spend a few more days so that they kids could see Grandpa Brad. Life in the country when you are a little kid is much cooler than the city. At least that is how I remember it. Once you get a little older this is not the case. However, we had a lot of fun. Grandma and Grandpa sure showed us a good time. Here are a few of the many things we did.
Chase learned very quickly that on the back roads of Cornish no one would strap him in his seat. He LOVED driving the truck, but it also became a very nasty habit that has been hard to break.

We always go down to the farm and visit Grandma Ella while we are in town.

The kids loved to feed the calves. They are a little aggressive when you have their food so Chase decided he would just watch.

Abby went right in the barn and didn't even hesitate when Grandpa said, "put you finger in there and I will show you how we milk the cows." If you read my previous blog she puts her hands on her ears when she is not so sure about something. You can see the hands are on the ears. She didn't make a peep though and told me afterwards that it just felt funny. Chase also got a ride with Grandpa on the 4wheeler. Abby would much rather put her hands on her ears than ride the 4wheeler!!!



We went into Logan one night and had dinner with Jody and Lacy and then we all went down to Willow Park. They have fixed it up a lot since last time I was there. There were lots of fun animals. Abby called the coyotes skinny dogs. Which they looked like. They were so skinny and needed their hair combed really bad. It was all shaggy and gross. Anyway, the kids loved to feed the ducks. Chase had no fear and I think about got bit a few times.

Again, Chase's new favorite thing to do...drive!!! We knew golfing would be a hit because of the cart, but he actually had fun golfing too. We would get to the green and he would jump out and run to the hole with his ball. He would then put his ball down and KICK it in the hole. He did this every time. He has this think with kicking! He hasn't quite figured out the throwing thing. This is also a perk of living in the sticks. The golf course didn't say a think about taking a 1yr old and 3 yr old with us on the coarse. Abby loved that she got to go BIG golfing with her dad.

Daddy teaching his son WAY too early! Though I would rather him golf when he grows up I have a feeling his body is going to be one of of football player rather than a golfer. Maybe I should put him on a diet.

Grandma loves to golf and loves her grandkids....do you think she is in heaven???

Big J's always gives their kids meals in a hat around rodeo time. We made it just in time to get the hat. Chase loved the thing. Oh, and he ate a WHOLE grilled cheese sandwich crust and all. I think he must have had a hard game of golf.

My kids have only been to a Vegas parade. If you have never been to one..don't. They are terrible. Not only is it HOT, but they can not throw candy. What little kid wants to go to a parade that doesn't have candy. Oh, and there were no horses in vegas. I had to explain to Abby what those boys were doing on the 4wheeler behind the horses. She had a great time at her first real parade. It was the 24th of July parade in Weston, Idaho. Yep, you guessed it. I think it may have lasted about 20 minutes, but my kids loved every minute of it.

That night we went to the 24th fireworks in Preston, Idaho. They are the best! I miss getting to see them every year, so it was nice to be back. Before the fireworks they had some entertainment. Chase is my little country boy. He was jammin' out to the country music. This video is actually mild. After this he got up and walked up and down the bleachers dancing for all the people...and they all loved it. Maybe he should be a dancer instead of a golfer or football player :) Dad would LOVE that!!!

The Many Faces of Chase

Throughout our whole vacation up north Chase learned how to say, "Cheese!" Because we took a lot of pictures. He even started pulling the funniest faces. He became quite fond of the camera, but it started to become a chore to get him to smile normal. I guess I will take what I can get!!! I did have to throw in a few of the cute normal smiles and candid shots. Gotta love that little kid.










This is actually when we were back home, but yet another silly face.

Bear Lake

So we had a scare and didn't think we would get to go to Bear Lake again. We had a time share there and have been going there since before I was even born I think. The time share company told us that we have been going during the summer and our week is actually in November. What???? Who wants to be in Bear Lake in November? The lake is 40 degrees in the summer. I can't imagine what it would be like in November. Anyway, my wonderful mom would not take that for an answer. She knew that this was our favorite vacation and the grandkids are just getting old enough to enjoy it and now we are just not going to go anymore. So she did some research and found a condo for us to rent that is owned by someone. The sad thing is (well, not for us) that the company that we do the time share from had tons of open condos this year. I don't know if it is just the economy and no one could afford it, but the ones that we usually stay in had no one in them the whole time we were there. I just they should have thought twice about letting us use the RED WEEK!!!! So we had a lot of fun this year. I really wish Abby would grow a little more fond of putting her face in the water, but other than that it was great. Chase loved the beach. It is always fun for a little boy to be thrown right into the middle of dirt with a little water on the side and be told to play in it. He did jump into the deep end of the swimming pool. I was in the pool already and saw him running for the edge so I took off swimming as fast as I could. I got there just in time to catch him, but then I didn't know what to do I was holding a 30 some odd lb baby above my head so he would stay out of the water while I was under the water holding my breath trying to make my way to the shallow end. Oh, and don't worry my brothers and husband were all sitting by the pool laughing at me. It wasn't until I had made my way to the middle of the pool (when you are under the water with your eyes closed you can't tell which way to go) that my little brother decided I may need some help. By the time he got there I had found my way to the shallow end and my head was now above water. I wasn't scared because Chase was above water and I was fine, but had I taken any longer I would have been out of breath. You'd think you could swim with just a baby in your arms, but it is dang hard. With my hands holding Chase and only my feet, I couldn't stay above water. Anyway, we did lots of miniature golfing and of course had to go to pickelville playhouse. Which, by the way was AWESOME!!!! We went to the hanging of el bandito which TJ wrote himself and also plays Bandito. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. My mom had already seen it so she was nice enough to stay home with the kids. She said to us as we left that she wanted one of us to go up on stage for the sing along at the first. There is not one of us that I would have thought would do it so she knew there was no way, but when there is not enough volunteers they start picking people and Tony got to go up on stage. He was great up there singing ooolala to she'll be comin around the mountain. We got a good laugh. The weather could no have been better. We left the scorching heat in St. George to wonderful upper 70's. We were in heaven. Abby and Halli had a lot of fun and by the end of the trip I think Grandma Debbie had lost 10 lbs and if you know her she doesn't have 10 lbs to loose. Abby and Hallie wore her out. She is such a good Grandma!!! Thanks for the fun trip Mom and Dad!!! (We sure did miss you Dad. I wish there was a button to turn of the cows for a couple days).

My CUTE neice Halli. She smiles every time you point the camera at her. And is is always cute!

So one of the last days at the beach we had been down there for a while and Chase was ready to eat and have a nap. I kept putting it off and playing when he did this. Yep, that is him headed back up to the condo. It is not a short walk and he went a lot farther than this. I let him go to see if he would come back, but he didn't. I had to go up and get him. He really wanted to go back!!!

The good old miniture golf course. Abby was quite the little golfer. (even though her club is backwards).

Here Chase, let me show you how to build a sand castle.

Abby was the horse and wanted to pull Chase and Halli around. They actually did this for longer than I thought Chase even knew how to sit still.

Summer 2009

So here is a brief recap of some of the summer. I will have to do a few posts to catch up. Wait who am I kidding it will probably take me a few days and a lot of posts to catch up but I will try my best.
We started out the summer with swimming lessons. They were not such a big hit. She never cried and said she didn't want to go, but there is a good chance it made her more afraid of putting her face in the water. She just doesn't like it. Every day she would get in the car and tell me that she didn't dive for rings, but everyone else did. So we didn't accomplish much. She has this thing that she has done since she was old enough to be shy. Even before she could talk. She will hold onto her ears. As you can see she is holding onto her ears. That means she is very nervous. Did want to dive in at all. She would barely even jump in with the teacher catching her before her face even got close to the water.

We had a lot of fun this summer in our back yard that we now have. We set up the slip and slide a lot. We were also very spoiled to have Grandma Debbie come to town quite a few different times.


We took a trip to Salt Lake with Ashton's family to see the Oquirrh Mnt. Temple Open house. It was a beautiful temple and Abby was so excited to be able to go inside the temple. In fact, now I think she thinks she can go in. We went to the temple last week and she said, "dad, can I come with you and you can marry me?" she also said as we were leaving, "have fun getting married!!!" I love the sweet innocence of a child. After the temple we went to the Zoo. Always, a highlight for my kids. Abby loves the carousel.


Chase loved the elephants!!!

We went to raging waters the next day which was a lot of fun. Chase loves the water and we can't keep him out. Abby also likes it but freaks out anytime water gets on her face. My mom met up with us and played all day in the water. It was fun to have her there and I have to say there is a good chance Chase would have probably drowned had we not had her extra set of hands and eyes. We stayed the night at little american with my mom there in salt lake and went to the Living aquarium the next day. It was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be. We had a lot of fun.


We all took a turn being sick after this trip. You can tell in this next movie that Abby is sick, but the movie is so cute. I was hiding behind the couch so that Abby could not see me.

Our Fourth of July is never very eventful because it is so blasted hot here. Emma and her family were in town so that was fun to spend a little time with them. We did some fun fireworks out on the street. Abby and Emma were cute little spectators.


We also had a fun visit from Steph and her cute twins Braxton and Maddison. We did a lot of swimming because they were here in the heat of the summer. (and she is pregnant).
It has been a really fun summer, but there is still more to come!!!

Chase gets a "Goose Egg"

So I haven't posted forever....because I am having a ton of fun playing with my kids and hubby!!! I will do a good summer recap once school starts, which is not too far away!!! I just wanted to get a story on here that I will forget if I do not write it down. We were at Joann's getting some things for Abby's birthday party. Chase was not doing well in the cart so I let him down. He, of coarse, took off running. He is usually good to turn around and come back and he did. On his way running back to me he tripped and his hands were full so all he had to catch himself was his forehead. He was screaming and I felt so bad. Instant goose egg on his forehead and a bruise that came not to long after. I just kept saying to him I am so sorry about your goose egg. Once we got out to the car I put chase in his seat and Abby was climbing up into hers when she turned to chase and said, "Chase, that is a pretty good chicken bruise you have." Even though I felt so bad for Chase and his poor head I was laughing pretty hard. Gotta love the things kids say!!!

Abby's Tea Party Photo Shoot

We had a great time with Abby's pictures. It was much more fun than the family shoot. I think it was because it was just Abby and I and we just played dress up the whole time. She was in heaven. We had a tea party and she even got to bring bell (her puppy) along for dress up and have a tea party with her. I think she would let Tiffany take her pictures any day. Tiffany did a great job. Thanks Tiff!!! If you want you can check out her blog.
These pictures look awesome, and again I had a really hard time deciding which ones to use.