Beloved Newport

In August we went on our annual trip to Newport Beach. There is really no place quite like it. The sand, walks, shakes, shopping, humidity, ocean, sand crabs, cousins, sisters, brothers, card games, rubys, coco's, diet cokes, I could go on and on. I must say that this was probably my favorite year which is saying alot since every year is so fun. But watching Kate so happy every minute plus Ty there almost the entire time equals pure bliss for me! I have sort of been dreading this post because the amount of pictures is overwhelming but I have decided to separate it into a few different posts. Majority of our time was spent out at the beach. Kate LOVED the sand and the ocean. She loved getting dirty and filling up her bucket with sea shells.

gotta love the diaper...

It is so fun to get dirty.

chasing the birds

Had to snap a picture of this lovely couple who celebrated their wedding anniversary with us!

Lillian and Max who mastered the boogie boards by the end of the week.

Parker building a castle with two excellent helpers.

"sissy" is so nice to Kate and always helps her find sea shells

The serious game of tag football

No fear here!

PLEASE take me back here! I could sit at the beach every day!

Newport continued.........

Here we are watching the clock waiting for Grandma to come and take us to the airport. Backpack full of snacks? check. Nails painted? check. Jacket on? check. Sucker in hand? check. We were so excited to head to the beach the time couldn't come soon enough!

Then on the plane Kate touched the lens of my camera so my first about twenty pictures were blurry.

Every morning these two couldn't believe they had another day all day together! They are a dynamic duo!

We even got lucky and had the Barrus family come visit one day! It is always fun to have Johnny around!

One night Kate woke up late from her nap so our little family decided to walk down to Newport pier to get a chocolate frozen banana.

We of course took many trips down to balboa pier to get shakes, breakfast, and bleu cheese sliderz!

P.F. Chang's celebrating Tyson's birthday!






We rode the ferry over to Balboa Island

best buds at the Balboa Market

dancing to the tunes

playing at the balboa arcade

what would a beach trip be like without the morning walk to seaside donuts?

and the best part of all was being so worn out at night her eyes would close before her head could hit the pillow!

Quarter of a Century? Yikes!

Yep. It's true. I am officially 25 years old. I had a fabulous birthday! I felt like it just kept going and going. It all started out with the Chapman family tradition: girls breakfast at original house of pancakes- amazing! Then Ty and I went to dinner with my mom and dad and Brecken at the most amazing restaurant. Then the best part.... the Tim McGraw concert. We had SO much fun! Tim McGraw is my favorite singer of all time and it was perfect that he came in concert on my very birthday!

My second MASSIVE meal of the day!

the cute parentals waiting for the concert to start

then we ran into this cute couple

and this cute couple

and I got to have this cute guy to myself the whole night!
The Perrys took us to Spaghetti Mamas where we all enjoyed the forever supply of breadsticks

(only pic I took- lame, I know)

and of course the Sunday dinner with birthday cake and homeade ice cream!


Thank you to everyone for making my day so special. I am so grateful for the most amazing life I get to live each day! I hope I get a hundred more years!

Swimming, swimming and more swimming...

There is nothing better than swimming on a hot summer day. And the best part is the long nap that follows after wearing ourselves out! We spent so many days either at Willow Creek or the Ivory's backyard. Kate loves her water wings and could float around all day!

Please bear with me- I couldn't decide which pictures to use so I pretty much put all of them!

And it just wouldn't be right if I didn't include a picture of her usual partner in crime!

4th of July

This picture just says it all! Our little lady was the hit of the Cottonwood Heights 4th of July parade. We spent the night before at Ty's parent's house decorating her "chariot" (wagon) and then Ty's mom pulled her through the parade with all the primary kids. She insisted on wearing Maggie's glasses for the whole thing. So typical!It was quite the event... Even the fire truck was there with the local firemen passing out stickers and pencils.Kate's cute cousins that she adores who treat her like a queen.
After naps we headed up to Mimi and Poppy's cabin in Midway to watch fireworks and sleep over. We of course always stop at our favorite pizza place first.

Silverfork...

Well now that summer is pretty much gone I guess I better start updating about all the fun things we've been up to. It really has been the BEST summer. Kate is at such a fun age and there has been so much to do we really haven't stopped! I am dreading the day the snow falls and we can't be outside all day. One morning we all decided to head up to my Grandpa's cabin at Silverfork and have breakfast. Kate is obsessed with her cousins so of course she had a blast!

Plus, who wouldn't want to go eat pancakes and bacon up in the canyons? It is so beautiful up there!

Who needs toenails anyway?

In June Kate lost three of her toenails out of the blue and a few of her fingertails got dents in them and almost fell off. So of coures with her being on close watch we had to head up to the oncologists at PMC and get some tests done to make sure everything was okay. Sure enough she passed with flying colors and all the oncologists could say is "wow... that is really interesting." Leave it to my little Kate to stump the docs!