note to self:

don't make this face ever, i mean NEVER EVER, again.

(especially in-front of people.)

oh, and don't do drugs.

birthday love

dearest sweet jill,

today you are two years old.

i can't remember life without. i do however remember the day your father

and i knew it was time to start a family. we were sitting at stake

conference and the regional representative was speaking of

temporal possessions vs spiritual desires. jeff and i were both impressed

that our possessions could wait. a new and excited life as parents

was about to begin. i am so happy that we heeded the prompting

of the spirit and received you. i love you my sweet jillian. love, momma

p.s.

i especially love:

the way you come to wake me up every morning.

the way you fold your arms, close your eyes, and bow your head.

when you pet camille's head and help me change her diaper.

when you copy everything (i mean everything) i do.

when you put your arms up and say "mommy"

a few jillian words:

jillian= dede

one= non

um= yes

controller= con

run=go

balloon= loons

please= mommy pepe

water= tata

i love you= lala

leaf= aleafs

tree= atrees

the moon= tamoo

we started two new family birthday traditions today:

1. balloon launch

a balloon for each year with one-word wishes (obedience, happiness, etc.) written on them by those celebrating with you. (thanks nienie for the idea and hayley for refinement) the kiddos enjoyed watching the balloons float away.

2. a family picture

camille is pulling jill's hair but it's the best one we got. (stole this tradition from nettie)

SYTYCD

my bff hayley got us tickets to SYTYCD.

jeff sold ol' blackie. since SYTYCD was 2 hours away (with traffic)

i thought i could use one last outing with her (the car).

this was the first car i bought with my own money.

it's a stick and i LOVE driving it.

it got me through college and my newly wed years.

we've had some good times together.

my bro jon gets a lot of credit for keeping her running while in nv.

it's been broken into twice. note the missing lock on door.

the other side has at LEAST one dent on each panel.

the a/c hasn't worked for...who knows.

last year we changed the battery once a week. az heat.

jeff said the other day: " when we were dating, i thought

am i really dating a girl that drives this piece?"

well jeff, you married her! lol.

so long ol' blackie.

hayley and i felt a little silly walking around with all the tweens

getting ready for the show. the more we looked around though

we realized that the place was swarming with "girls night"ers.

here's the group after the first number:

the only dance they didn't do that i was hoping for

was the one with chelsie in the white dress.

otherwise, SYTYCD was awesome...

besides all the in-between numbers dialogue.

hayley and i let them know what we thought about that.

we stayed after the show and ran though the bleachers

for a sneak peek behind the stage.

lucky for us we saw chelsie (my fav), screamed her name

and asked to meet her.

she was so nice and i offered one of my brothers after she

said she didn't have a boyfriend.

then i realized that all my brothers are married now.

weird.

i guess i got caught-up in the moment.

no kids, no hubby. just me and my bff acting crazy.

i forgot how old we really are.

anyway, hales and i then tried to get into the intimate after-show

by taking some back-stage passes from a chick that was leaving.

too bad we got caught by going in through the exit door.

oops. that's what you get for being dishonest and not so sneaky.

so, we waiting outside until we got to see the whole group and get more pics.

quick confidence booster: kerrington is a normal human.

don't get me wrong. she is dang pretty, but the camera loves her.

oh, and they are all soooo short. especially will. weird.

even more weird that i care.

a tid-bit

i got a new do' after seeing my ginormous forehead

overtaking all the pics from SYTYCD (more on that later).

how about this little gem i stole from val's facebook?

do you love it as much as me?

and then you think to yourself...

last weekend jeff got his hands on this little dingy:

he thought it would be fun to go camping here:

blue ridge reservoir.

the fishing was suppose to be good.

you have to boat to the camping spot. sweet.

we (us, gardiners, fryers) were so excited for the adventure.

that is until the night came.

cold set in and so did our rude camping neighbor's.

all night cussing and then loudly making-up.

oh, and who can forget the fog horn they hooted at midnight.

at this point you think to yourself,

"now why did camping sound like a good idea?".

needless to say we all felt like this in the morning:

after breakfast clean-up

the rain started and we all had to find something to do in our tents.

like put a diaper on the bunny over and over

(for about 1 hr. non-stop).(ocd much?)

we wanted to wait out the rain but our kiddos were getting really cold

and our camping neighbors weren't leaving.

we called it.

we were lucky enough to save the trip by going to my

favorite arizona spot.

conference seemed extra sweet watching it at the cabin.

the next best thing to watching it live.

my fav: pres monson sunday morning

"Let us relish life as we live it,

find joy in the journey,

and share our love with friends and family."