Happy Birthday Pie

honeypiegraphics.com

It is our niece, Margaret's Birthday today and we would have blogged about it sooner-but we just got to internet access! :-) So...

Happy 3rd Birthday Pie! :-)

Lt. Commander Beher

We had the opportunity to attend our friend's promotion ceremony. I had never been to a promotion ceremony and I must say I thought it was very exciting. Our friend Haski has served in the military all of his adult life, excepting the 2 years he took off for his mission. He started in the Marines and then transferred to the Navy after his mission. He was Garin's Webelos leader when we first moved to Alpine and what a terrific leader he was! Our families have become close in the past year and a half and we have loved every minute spent with them-so watching his promotion was extra special! He is now a Lt. Commander-an amazing accomplishment! We are so proud of his service to our country! Here are a few pictures (taken with my phone) of his day. It was so neat-sorry the pictures aren't better!

4th of July fun...

My Mom sends packages for every holiday-I mean every one. Here are the kids holding a few of the items from their 4th of July package-their fun shirts and pop rocks. Not shown are the napkins (I LOVE holiday napkins), cotton candy, pop-its, poppers, and red, white, & blue cookies. So, thanks Mom, the kids love the packages! :-)

As for our 4th, we had a great day. We packed (and listened to the kids complain about working on a holiday...I will save Garth and I's comments for them for another post), we had a DELICIOUS BBQ at the Rands (we love going there for BBQs), and then watched the fireworks at Viejas with our dear friends, the Behers. It was a terrific day. I love the opportunity to celebrate our country, our heritage, and the blessing we have to live here.

Happy Birthday Jocelyn!

July is a HUGE birthday month on both sides of our family...today is my sister Jocelyn's...so...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOCELYN!

We hope your day is happy and terrific one!

Love, All of us!

(photo courtesy of marthastewart.com)

Happy Birthday Eric

Happy Birthday Eric! I am usually pretty lame about posting birthdays on our blog, but I had a quick chance this morning...so have a terrific day!

Love,

Us :-)

Craigslist

What did we do before Craigslist? I love Craigslist! (I actually like it a lot more for certain items than ebay! As we have been decluttering, downsizing our stuff so that we will be ready for an easier, less stuff type of move we have been selling items on this favorite website of ours. So, if you need something and have never used it...check it out. We are loving it-and so are the people that have purchased some great deals.... :-)

PS We aren't getting it...but I thought this would be so cute for my girls room or maybe the kids loft.

And the other tag.... :-)

Tori got me twice :-), so here is the 2nd. Kind of interesting to think about what you would put...ya know?

This is how you play- 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprise facts about you, & then 5 people you want to tag!


JOYS-
1. Garth
2. Gospel
3. Family

FEARS-
1. No work
2. Snakes
3. Ticket (don't tell)

GOALS-
1. Debt Free
2. Raise strong testimonied, empathetic, responsible, and kind children
3. Spend more time with Garth

CURRENT OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS-
1. Time-outs with Garth
2. Hard Rock glasses (my sisters and I)
3. Baking, baking, baking

SURPRISES ABOUT MYSELF-
1. More comfortable in my own skin the older I get
2. 6 kids-so not in my original plan
3. That I really like to just take the back seat to things more times than not
(I still don't like to be bullied, though)

I TAG:
Anyone who wants to do it in addition to Laura, Jenna, and Darcy :-)

Tagged again...(and there is another one too) :-)

I was tagged by my SIL, Tori. So here it goes...
(oh-and have a GREAT day everyone!)

Answer the following with only one word.
Where is your cell phone?.........................counter
Your significant other?...............................cute
Your hair?.........................................wet
Your mother?...................................talented
Your father?....................................funny
Your favorite thing?.............................Garth
Your dream last night........................nada
Your favorite drink................................diet coke vanilla
Your dream/goal..............................serenity
The room you're in..........................office
Your children?...................................playing
Your fear?.......................................alone
Where do you want to be in 6 years?.............tone
Where were you last night?.........................home
What you're not?....................................mellow
Muffins?.........................................zucchini
One of your wish list items?.........................travel
Where'd you grow up?................................El Cajon
What'd you read last?.........................Persuasion (Jane Austen)
What are you wearing?.........................clothes
Your TV?......................................movie
Your pet?.................................none
Your computer?...............................desktop
Your life?.....................................harried
Your mood?................................jubilant
Missing someone?............................Garth
Your car?.........................................Suburban
Something you're not wearing?...................shoes
Favorite store?..............................Anthropologie (I don't have to actually shop there, right?) or Williams Sonoma (because I do shop there)
Your summer?....................................hectic
Like someone?.....................................yep (Garth)
Your favorite color?................................brown or white
Last time you laughed................................today
Last time you cried?.....................................yesterday (from laughing)

I tag whoever would like to to it in addition to Amy, Joanna, and Jocelyn :-)

And now to see about my cute Garth...

(Did I mention we knew there were at least 2?)
Okay-can I tell you how (just a little bit) bummed I am? Does this mean maybe we aren't as unique as we thought? Oh well-I am pretending anyway! :-)

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I saw this on a blog and thought hmmm...

I saw this on my sister's friends blog and thought "I wonder how many there are with the same last name?" Now I know...and I must say I love being almost unique! :-)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 2 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

What's Hot?

Alpine is! We went to the beach for part of yesterday to avoid the heat and when we came home at 5:30 pm is still showed 105 degrees on the car temp. reading!! Crazy!!

I am not sure about everyone else here, but I am definitely ready for things to cool down a bit. I heard at church the heat is supposed to break on Tuesday...I for one am ready!

PS The beach was great! Sand, friends, kids, Garth, a cute nephew along while his parents were at a sealing, it was a picture perfect day (except without the picture since we still don't have a camera)! ;-)

Gratitude for those who serve

My SIL just posted a link to a very cool video on her blog...check it out. We all need to say thank you more often for the service our troops render! :-)

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

(image just off the internet-I didn't notice any copyright but wanted a picture with the post...)

We're on the hunt...

So, we are in need of a new camera. There has been a pretty big lack of pictures going onto the computer as of late because of the broken camera. Lame, I know. Garth and I were going back and forth about what kind we want to get. It isn't going to be right away with the fact that we aren't spending any $$, but that should give us plenty of time to shop around, get opinions, see what works for everyone, and eventually find the very best deal. Because-we can only not take pictures of the kids for so long, right? ;-) (This is where I insert that I am so thankful for our cell phone cameras because they are sure coming through in our pinch-who knows, maybe we will just get used to the low quality pictures from these and be able to put off a camera indefinitely!) Anyway, when we do get a camera we want one that is 1) user friendly 2) somewhat compact 3)zooms in well and 4)something where we wouldn't always have to beg the person who has the nice camera to help take shots of the "important" events! Anyway, suggestions would be appreciated!

Taking pictures is (oops...I mean of) the Pitts ;-)

(picture taken by our friend Haski)

The day after Ethan was baptized we had a picnic at the park. Here is the picture taken of the whole Pitt family. Pretty cool, huh? We are growing, that is for sure! We are up to 24 1/2 if I did my math right! ;-) Not so shabby, huh? Pretty soon we will be taking over the world (insert the funny laugh here that always accompanies something like this on cartoons). Oh-and here is a picture of us below-ignore the lack of make-up on me, okay? I am horrible about remembering to touch up things in the afternoon-I am lucky to remember once/day! :-| I keep setting the goal to be better and by the time I turn 50 I intend to be! :-)

(picture taken by Jenna Tanner)

Here is a picture that Jenna took of our family (I was about to say little, but I guess we aren't that little anymore...where does the time go?) Anyway-we had a great time hanging out with everyone. It is the first time that all of us have been together for a picture since Jenna & Casey got married...and luckily Jaleen headed up the whole "we need to have a picture" and so we did. Enjoy-squinting and all...

I have been tagged...so read on if you are interested!

My cute friend, Amy (See ChrisandAmy at the right), tagged me so here it goes!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. I was taking care of two beautiful handfuls and thinking that life was finally getting easier with 2 kids 16 months apart!

2. We were living at 296 W. Chase.

3. Garth got his license, so I wasn't seeing him a whole lot as he was taking a class and bidding jobs in the evenings.

4. I was in the YW presidency with Liz L. and loving it.

5. We were enjoying lots and lots of fun family and friends time since we were still young and life wasn't quite so crazy.


5 things on my to do list:

1. Laundry

2. Dishes

3. Grocery Shopping (with Garth-hot date ya know!)

4. De-clutter

5. Pack



5 favorite snacks/food:

1. Almonds

2. Beef Jerky

3. Creme brulee

4. Triscuit (cracked pepper & olive oil)

5. Peohe's



5 things I would do if I was a billionaire:

1. Be completely debt free

2. Go to culinary school

3. Travel with Garth and intersperse those trips with whole family trips

4. Invest our money to make more money so we could donate at will and enjoy sharing our blessings.

5. Buy a home in Hawaii


5 bad habits:

1. Not looking at my goals and priorities enough and just plain messing up :-|

2. Being cluttered...everywhere

3. Spending too much...

4. Being unorganized (same as cluttered, but different too)

5. Procrastinating...



5 places I have lived: (this is going to be sad-I have to separate up the San Diego because I am so sheltered)

1. Alpine, CA

2. Provo, UT

3. El Cajon, CA

4. Jamul, CA

5. W. Jordan, UT (for a whole 2 weeks-thank you, Huff family-without them I would have only had 4!!)



5 People I'm Tagging (Yep! You guys gotta do this now)

1. Jaleen

2. Joanna

3. Darcy

4. Anne

5. Christina

Father's Day

(a picture of breakfast-don't you love when everything matches??)

Father's Day was perfect (if I do say so myself). I woke up bright and early and made Garth French Toast stuffed with marscapone cheese and strawberries, Shelby made eggs, and I cooked up some bacon. And of course some whipped cream and strawberries on the side. Oh, and did I mention that he got to sleep in a bit while I got everyone ready for church?
Church was good, his class went well, then we headed to the park for dinner with the Pulsiphers to celebrate Father's Day and (one of our favorite people in the world) Jeff's birthday. It was so much fun-I think Garth would probably say it was his best day yet (I will have to ask him). Just asked-he said, "Probably, why? The water hog one was a pretty good one too. They are always good. Have I had a bad one?" (My insert-I can't think of a bad one. But this was one was just lovely!) Anyway-so we had a potluck BBQ at the park and I brought Joanna's yummy salad (recipe will be posted on the recipe blog soon-I have to make it again since I forgot to take a picture, oops!). Garth grilled VERY YUMMY chicken and we also brought peanut butter cookies and peanut butter munchies for Jeff's birthday gift. (Those I will post on The Isom Ate)
Then we came home, called and sang to our Dad's for Father's Day and snuggled up in bed to watch a movie and just hang out. Oh-insert that Garth and I both got a quick nap in the afternoon. It was oh so nice! :-)
All in all, just as I said-a perfect day. Happy Father's Day to Garth-a terrific Dad who stays constant through all of his wife's craziness, loves his kids, is sensitive to their needs, and just loves us all more than we could ever possibly deserve. How I snagged him I will never know, but I am ever so glad that I did!

Ethan's Big Day

Garth and Ethan (pictures by Jenna Tanner) :-)

Ethan and Garth looking at the Polaroid taken by the Stake
(in this case the Stake Primary President-and my very dear friend, Crystal Erickson-usually my job, but she gave me a break and took care of it!)

Ethan was baptized at the end of May (31st) at our Stake Baptism. We were so very proud of his decision and loved spending his special day with so many family and friends! My parents came in town, Jenna, Casey, & Weston were here and so many of our friends from here as well as all of our family came too! The program was great-my Dad gave the Holy Ghost talk, my brother, Jonathan, gave his spotlight, and my brother-in-law, Casey, gave the closing prayer with me doing the narration while he was changing since I am the Stake Counselor over baptisms. And how could I forget the special music by the Isom, Pulsipher, and Beher girls with my brother, Jonas, accompanying them. Plus my Mom was the chorister for the program too. (Whew-I don't think I missed anything else, although it is very possible!) It was just one of those incredibly special days and we ended it with a dinner at the church building where we all got to hang out and just enjoy being together! It was a perfect day!

RYRY is the Big 3 continued...

I am thinking maybe I will call my parent's set of little transformers a tie (just to make them feel better)!

Ry received from clothes from Mama & Papa too and couldn't wait to put them on (with help from Papa)!

And this is what Garth was doing while all this was happening...how cute is this little guy??

RYRY's is the Big 3!

So, he is 3! Where did the time go! We love this little man and are so glad he joined our family!!

Here he is enjoying the love of Mom (plus Weston) & Dad.

Are you serious?? I get presents?

No way! A doggie washcloth from Mama & Papa! Nothing can beat this!

You can't tell with the funky smile, but he loves this little washcloth more than anything!

Trev's Open House

Trev had his school open house. Here are a few pictures from the evening. (I loved the artist portrait and the idea to write your child a note on the butcher paper located on the desk!)

Emonkey's Special Day

Here is our Eman on his birthday! He is the big 8!! Enjoy a few of the pictures from his big day!

"The Real Guitar Heroes"

This was what the title of Garth and Garin's Guitar recital was-cute, huh? I think it was because SO MANY people have started taking lessons since the game came out. Garth and Garin have both been taking lessons for a little over a year. For Garth this was one of those "always wanted to dos" and for Garin he had been wanting it a little less time! ;-) They both did terrific! Their teacher, Greg, is such a great guy (he is the tall guy clapping in the last picture). He encouraged everyone to write their own music/words and sing them while playing. Garin did just that. Garth, a bit more reserved perhaps, decided to play Wonderwall and had Greg sing. Let me say that I was a very proud Wife/Mom standing in the back while holding Ryden and wishing Shelby to take good pictures. She did pretty good considering our camera is going...

Three Pigs Opera...Kindergarten Style

Yep, that's right. The Three Pigs Opera. Trev is on the top row, the 4th hat from the left (bright pink). You just have to love listening to a bunch of kindergarten kids singing about the 3 pigs. It is truly one of the joys of parenthood. And the exciting part is that we get to hear it again next year with Starlee. Do we love it because our kid is in it, yep. But, maybe they could sing something else-Mat Kearney maybe? or Jack Johnson? Either is pretty mellow. Jack Johnson even has the Curious George songs...maybe I should suggest it? ;-)

What we have been up to...

Everyone may have noticed that blogging just hasn't been something I have been getting done. We have been busy with our normal, chaotic lives plus the normal "more." Garin made the school basketball team, Shelby is participating in ballroom dancing, I am the co-Art Docent for Ethan's class, and of course just getting things ready to go out of town again. All these=CRAZY!

So, I will be trying to get everything a bit more updated. I have tons of recipes I want to post on The Isom Ate as well as some pictures of the kids from our latest trip to Utah.

Anyway, bear with me-I am getting there. And until then-have a terrific day! I have enjoyed reading everyone's blogs even though I have been lame about comments.
Google reader is so cool!

Sweet's Candy Factory

All I have to say is yum...oh, and free samples!

We took the tour and all the kids were entranced. Trev even stood right by me!
(I guess that was a little more said-you get my drift anyway, right?)

Spending the night at Casey & Jenna's

On our trip to Utah for Easter Ry, Ethan, and I spent the night at Jenna & Casey's. Here are a few of the pictures from our fun night:

Ry eating his quesadilla from Costa Vida-yum!

Ethan smiling at his appreciation of good food!

Casey hanging all of the March Madness brackets...time consuming! ;-)

Ryden playing with Aunt Jenna-and having fun as you can tell.