Friday, June 26, 2015

Spring Happenings

One sunny Sunday afternoon in April we took advantage of the weather and took off up the mountain for our first 4 wheeler ride of the season. We ended up finding an elk shed alongside the road which was pretty sweet. Ended the evening with a hot dog roast alongside a beautiful lake on top of the mountain! 




When Uncle Russ and Jake take the kids late night shopping...
They're better buddies than they let people believe
 Our yard has been a NIGHTMARE!!! We finally decided to hire a landscaping company to do some curbing, and bring in some top soil to take care of the settling issues around the house. Well remember how we got that little snow storm in April?? The next day just as soon as the snow melted (aka our lawn is saturated) the landscaping company workers decided to bring a load of top soil in to the settle spots.... however the settling spots were across the yard, instead of a wheeelbarrow they decided to drive across the yard. Needless to say it didn't turn out so hot : )

 Our friends The Douglas's finally got to become parents when their little miracle was born at the first of April. Bentley is adorable and we couldn't be happier for them! I also loved snuggling him, a lot.
Russ and his cousin Wade got a lot of hikes in this Spring-90% of them being shed hunting hikes and 90% of them were at least 7 miles. He's amazing!
 Mark, Russ's dad, along with his new wife are working on getting her lot in Lindon ready to build a house. She has tons of trees (and an extremely old house) taking up the lot so as part of the getting ready process we went and helped Mark cut down trees. It was quite the experience with old and grey, and old and greyer running a tractor along with chainsaw- so I was grateful Russ was there to supervise and maintain safety :)
Had to get a picture of Mark driving the tractor-not very often Grandpa Hudson gives up his drivers seat. look close and you'll see Russ balancing up on the bucket cutting branches.
 My little brother Taylor got engaged in February and so a few weeks before their May wedding we all got together and had a bi family wedding shower/family BBQ up Provo Canyon. It was a lot of fun to interact with Alison's family and get to know them better. Plus the boys in our fam did an improve flag routine that left us all peeing our pants in laughter.!
 We got the opportunity to go tour the new Payson Temple before it got dedicated. Luckily the crazy rain and wind let up for a while so we didn't get soaked in the long line waiting to get in and it was beautiful inside!
 Mother's Day brings phonecalls from missionaries and this year we only had one out and this so happened to be his last time skyping before coming home! He called on Saturday this year and it was so fun to talk to him and hear him laugh. We can't wait to get him home!!
 No matter how many conversations/debates we have-Russ can't comprehend why I don't want him sleeping on our decorative pillows. So he has since taken it upon himself to hide them around the house while I'm at work so when I'm sleepily trying to make the bed the next day  I have to go  on a scavenger hunt. He thinks he's so funny and I just love him for it!

Always a party with these cute kiddos! Pizza partying in Costco taking pictures to send to Uncle Russ. 

 
We have a garden!! Barely got it planted- and as soon as we did it started going through those weeks of down pouring rain so we were afraid most of them were going to get washed out. Luckily some of them are still holding on strong!
 Alan Jackson came to USANA Ampitheatre on May 16 and we doubled with the Bevans for the outing. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time, and not to mention the guy next to me shared half his thigh on my chair the entire night so any water off his poncho ran down and just soaked my butt. Fortunately, we still had a blast watching a country legend perform!


 Jax man's pre-school graduation! He is such a smart kid and we sure love him!
 This little babe got cuddly with Russ one afternoon while we were babysitting at our house-unfortunately we found out when we got to my parents that afternoon that she was sick as she barfed down Russ's shirt :) He took it like a champ and luckily she was feeling better later that night.
 Kez's kindergarten dance day! She didn't have a graduation so I went to the Dance Festival to watch her class perform their dance. She did a great job
 This is my good friend Jenn from work. She's in nursing school right now so one slow night at work I let her practice her IV skills on me (my first time letting a nursing student poke me). She had never poked a human-just been passed off on the mannequins so we talked her through it and she did an amazing job! I didn't even bruise :)
 Champions of Champions Rodeo came to Spanish Fork again this year, and this year I remembered to get tickets. Channy, one of her mission friends, Wade, and Amy came with us and it turned out to be the perfect way to break in rodeo season!


 The yard work dilemma slowly started to work out and we finally got to the fun part of putting in a yard-putting in bark and planting bushes, flowers,and trees!
Our fruit trees!

Loading up our front yard shrubs at Cook's Nursery in Lindon.
 I have the best husband ever! He's always leaving me little surprises to remind me that he loves me. This particular morning I was leaving work late after a super busy night at work. He'd gone dirt biking that night with his dad and on his way home stopped and left 2 roses on my car. Then when I got home the roses continued on a trail through the house until I had collected 11. The final rose was sitting in a vase next to our bed. This guy just gets me and somehow always knows when I need him.


With the yard being done and settling the dust with less open dirt-we decided it was time to finally get a new BBQ grill. It came a perfect timing for summer grilling season and apparently we're all a fan :)
 Another 4-wheeling adventure found us going from Hobblecreek Canyon all the way up to Daniel's Summit Lodge and back. We love making the trek from Wallsburg and then eating at the lodge but decided to mix it up this time by going from HobbleCreek. It was a beautiful-chilly day and the fresh mountain air was much needed!
 Tyson got married!! Tyson and Russ have been friends since High school and shortly after Russ got divorced Tyson moved in with him. They were living together when we met and we've had so many adventures together over the years. Tyson was what some may call the pimp of the group and the one people didn't really expect to get married-so we are thrilled he found a normal down to earth girl named Kelsey and tied the knot! Congratulations you two!

I've always thought it would be fun to get the dogs a kiddie pool to ease the hot days and so I finally caved and did it. Boy am I glad I did! This little pool has become one of their favorite things and helps make the heat a little more tolerable.

Happy Easter 2015

I had Easter Sunday off this year. I had worked all weekend before but was so excited to have the day off to relax and spend time with family. We had a big family dinner at Ashlee's new house in Mapleton which followed with Easter egg hunts.
When I got home from work Easter morning- Russ had set up an Easter egg hunt that lead to my basket full of goodies!

HOPPY EASTER!

Lexi sharing her Easter candy with Uncle Russ