Brian and Laura

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Half way through summer

We have had such a fun summer so far! I can't believe all the things we have done and summer is already half way over. It is so fun with the boys right now, because they are old enough to get excited about new things and listen to me... a little bit :)

Going for a walk

I sent Brian a picture of this, he was not thrilled ha

Hanging out with Papa

Icecream at Nana's

Playing outside

Hanging out with Uncle Trent

Chalk with cousins

Playing with puppies! He kept cooing and trying to put them in a pile

Brian and I got to go to a REAL game around our anniversary with my parents. We actually had out first date at the REAL game about 10 years ago. It was around the 4th of July and I remember that when they sang the national anthem, Brian stood up immediately and put his hand on his heart. I remember being so impressed with him. It's fun to think that 10 years ago we had no idea that one day we would be married!

My sister, her husband, and their 3 kids drove from Texas to Utah in June to be here for 3 weeks and join our 2nd annual Clawson family reunion. The drive took 24 hours... I cannot believe they did that with 3 kids. Amazing.

These pictures were actually from the Barnett family reunion in June

Looking grumpy, but they could have thrown rocks in the river for hours!

Sunday nights outside

Bike rides with Knox and Titus

Lots of water and popsicles this summer

Mimi is a genius and we popped popcorn one day, the kids loved it!

Chair Train! Naked, of course

We had a lot of fun hanging out and then renting out a condo for our reunion. Unfortunately, the flu went through the entire house and followed us to the reunion. Everyone got sick except my dad and my brother Tyler... it was a bad one. Not to mention we have 7 grandkids under 3 right now, so it was a little crazy! But oh so fun!

Spent the day at Jordanelle

Finn helping Ty pump up the tube

Painting birdhouses

Spinning in a chair (Finn's face!)

This is Marek, Ashley's youngest. As you can tell, he's huge, and Finn insisted on holding him, it was so cute.

The Miller's left soon after the reunion, and oh how we miss them! June was such a spectacular month, and we love living so close to family.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Honoring a Wonderful Woman

Brian's sweet Grandma Messer died last year and so we went to Cody, Wyoming to attend her funeral. She had suffered for some time from Alzheimer's, so when she passed away we knew she would be happier in Heaven.

At the time, Crew couldn't go more than 20-30 minutes without puking in the car, so the thought of driving with him and Finn for 8 hours to Wyoming did just not seem possible. We decided that I would fly with Crew and Daddy would drive Finn... and a miracle happened! Crew fell asleep right before the flight and slept almost the whole way! (Little did I know that Finn threw up 30 minutes into the drive to Wyoming)

My sweet boy

Another huge blessing was that Brian's Aunt Lynn was on the exact same flight to Wyoming as I was, and I was so grateful she was there because I was incredibly nervous. I am not a great flier myself and was afraid to fly with a baby.

The day of the funeral was really beautiful. We got to see a lot of Brian's family we don't usually see, and hang out with family while honoring Grandma.

Brian's sibling's

We spent a lot of hours in cultural hall and all the boys were loving the open space to run around! I just thought this picture of Finn reading by himself in the corner was so darling.

Because Brian drove to Wyoming, he left before our flight back, so Crew and I got to go to Grandpa and Grandma Messer's house for a few hours. We looked through old photos of the family, explored outside, and talked with Aunts and Uncles inside. It was a cool feeling to bring my kids to a place that Brian and I had been together. I love this place.

When Brian and I were just friends in high school, all of our buddies took a trip to Wyoming for our Senior Trip. Brian, my friend Whitney, and I decided to take a side trip to Cody to visit his grandparents. It's on the outskirts of Cody, and has a large field in the back leading to a reservoir, with the mountains not much farther away. We stayed for a few days, riding horses, exploring outside, and riding Grandpa Messer's old motorcycle. I actually crashed on the motorcycle, and cut up my knee and arm. One of the sweetest memories I have of Grandma Messer was her taking care of me. She cleaned and bandaged my wounds like I was one of her children. I fell in love with her and Grandpa immediately. I had no idea I would be seeing them on a regular basis!

The next time I was able to be with them was when Brian and I were dating. We went to visit the week after Christmas and it was a dream. We played games with Grandma and Grandpa and went to dinner. Grandma told Brian that she knew we were getting married before we did because she said we held hands underneath the table :) She is such an amazing woman and we miss her.

We love you Grandma!

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

6 months later and we're doing great

Well, I haven't blogged since October, even though I promised myself I'd do it every week. I don't know why it's so hard to sit down at the computer and share some thoughts and pictures? A lot has happened the past 6 months so I'll just recap a few things and post some pictures, and then I'm going to try really hard to keep up on it! (Warning: Picture overload coming)