The Hogle Zoo

This last weekend we went to the Zoo and had so much fun! We had two of Will's kids for the weekened and took Missy's girls. They were so cute with the boys. Carrying them around on their backs and holding hands, I am so lucky to have the cutest and sweetest neices and nephews!

Baby Tay is all growed up

Well he did it. Taylor and Natalie were married on August 26th. It was an amazing day. Natalie is great and it is so fun to have her in my family. Here are some pics, this is all I have seen so far so they may not be the best but I will update it when I get some more.

A day in the canyon

When my family was all in town we decided we would have breakfast up the canyon. Afterward, we went rafting down the Provo river. It was a blast! It was so fun to take all the little kiddies down the river!! It turned out to be such a big success with my family that we decided to do it with the Riley side. We had a lot of fun with them as well! Missy and Savanna were scared to death which was really crazy and funny. We did nearly die a few times and that made it a little risky and super funny because we kept running into trees and people. We had a lot of fun.

Washington

We went on a little Riley family vacation and had such a good time! We drove up the coast and saw some rainforests, waterfalls, and the little town of Forks (for you twilight readers) all on the Olympic peninsula. As you can see below, the scenery was so beautiful. Next was Sequim, where they had lavender farms and pick your own berry fields. It was pretty neat. Then we took a fairy into Seattle. This was so cool! It was so neat to see Seattle for the first time! The view was incredible. We went up the Space Needle and Lorna almost had to lay the smack down on a Parking Attendant, for those you that thought I had attitude, let’s just say Lorna is giving me a little competition. We ate at Ivars, and walked around Pike Place Market. You would not believe what a cool market this was. This is the market of markets. For those of you that know what a good cook Troy is, he was dying thinking of all the meals he could make with the local ingredients! It was so cool. Then on to Olympia for me, this was the highlight. It was so cool to finally see the place that Troy’s family talks about so much. A lot of things had changed since they had lived there, but I loved trying to picture Troy and Lorna there as kids. All in all we ate some dang good food and saw a lot of things that I will never forget. Thanks Lorna for making this trip possible. I realize that I look like I wore the same outfit everyday so just for the record I brought several outfits.

Nicey Nicey's

Ok, so Racquel did this on her blog and I cracked myself up thinking about memories of her so I thought I would give it a try.
Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.
Just to clarify, "Nicey Nicey's" are what my dad would call it when we had to say nice stories or things about each other.

Jonny & The Slapsticks

Last night we went and saw Jon's band play in Spanish Fork. They had an open mic night and it was awesome! I was so impressed! They are an awesome group and all the music they sing is their own stuff. They are so talented!! A long, long time ago, Amber and I were back up singers for one of his bands. I cringe whenever I think about it because the thought of getting up on stage now scares the heck out of me!! But hey, they were fun times! Sanpete Sizzler baby...

A Rootbeer Revelation

Ok, Where have we been? Troy and I have never heard of putting cream on your snow cone... It is delicious! It's the perfect root beer float... icy, smooth, creamy and cold. These suckers are so addicting! The stands are all over the place, just look for one that has rootbeer flavor and the option of cream. If you really want to go all out you can have a scoop of ice cream at the bottom as well...Yummo!

Weeds

Well the time has finally come to start working on the yard. The girls came down and helped us so much. They are such good workers! We weeded for quite a while and got a lot done. The endless weeds brought back horrible memories of weeding at my home growing up. I am just now realizing how ripped off I was getting paid a penny for each dandelion I pulled just so I could go to a dollar movie... I guess your feelings towards yard work change as you get older because I actually had a really good time. But who wouldnt when you had the girls around?

Mac & E

This posting is a little delayed but I thought I would put it up anyway. We had so much fun a couple weeekends ago when we had the boys over for a sleep over. I thought this pic was cute (they are sleeping in the same position). Mcarthur took a liking to Lorna right away and followed her around everywhere she went it. It was so fun!

Missing You Guys

Amy and Alex sent this update the other day and the pictures are just too dang cute to not put on the blog. Heck, my nieces and nephews are our life anyway!! They are all so cute!

We really miss these guys and can't wait to see them when they come out for a visit this summer!

Amy said this pic is of Juniper helping her with pizza dough.

This is little Sean--WHO I HAVE STILL NEVER SEEN OR HELD?

What is up with that? Cute little guy!

This pic is of all three kids Evan, Sean and Juniper. We miss these crazy kids!

THE BASEMENT

Well I have been promising for I don't know how long that I would put pictures of our basement on here. So here they are...We still have a ways to go but we have come so far!! We have done the majority of work "ourselves" and by that I mean Troy has done most of the work himself. Jon our brother-in-law has helped a ton by doing the drywall. It was so fun to have him down at our house. Will has helped a ton as well. We are so blessed to have such a helpful family.

In this picture Troy was trying sweep everything into a pile and when he turned around Sadie had decided to lay in it. She is so funny because she always has to be where you are even if it means laying in a pile of drywall and screws??? We love her but she is not the brightest bulb in tanning bed!!

As you can see by the pictures, we now have a hallway! We are in the process of finishing 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and a walk-in-closet for the master downstairs, where Lorna will be staying. Troy has been so cute in putting tons of thought and effort into the closet for her. I will put a picture on when it is done. Lorna is quite the shopper, so Troy has built like 6 long shoe shelves in the closet so she will have enough space for all her shoes and all kinds of stuff. We are getting really excited for her to move in. Our ward loves her too and can't wait for her to get settled down with us.

Veone & Faye

I was just sitting in my office today trying to think of ways to make the time go by faster. When I started to think about the significance of this week in past years. Troy's grandma Veone passed away this week 5 years ago, and it is my Grandma's birthday this week so I thought I would write a little about each of them.



Faye
My Grandma is as real of a person as you will ever know. She wears her emotion on her sleeve and is honest and real. I love her. My grandpa often tells us the story of my grandma driving by a East High School and some kids started throwing snowballs at her car. My little old Grandma put her car in park(in the middle of the intersection) and got out of her car and chased the kids away... So funny! I remember sitting for hours painting and doing ceramics with her. She was always so patient and creative. My grandparents still host big family parties, never forget any one's birthday and always have special, thoughtful gifts for every occasion. I am very grateful for her influence in my life. She inspires me to be more giving and appreciative of the small things.


Veone
Troy's grandma was one of the most truly Christ like people I have ever known. Veone always made me feel loved and welcomed me from the start. I don't think Veone ever came out and actually said that Troy was her favorite...but everyone knew it. Maybe it's the fact that she carried a wallet around with only his picture in it, or maybe it was the poached eggs and toast awaiting him whenever he would sleep over... There are too many ways to mention. This picture is of her and Troy hanging laundry on the clothes lines in her backyard. Troy is just a little guy in this picture and I love it so much. We miss her!

A Boring Life

We haven’t had the blog longer than a few hours, but this is what Sadie looked like when we got home. I don’t think she moved the whole time...

California

What can I say? It was just like old times...

We slept in, ate really good food, and played cards late into the night. We'll always remember getting caught sneaking into Space Mountain and watching Heidi scream her head off on the Screamin roller coaster at Disneyland. I laughed so hard I didn't know if I could stand up right again! Heidi's world almost came to an end when her sprite float overflowed but luckily Ben was there for damage control, and the lady at the counter was nice enough to fill it up with more sprite for free! Later, Troy insisted that we go on the raft ride. Ben and I thought it was quite fitting that he was the one that got soaking wet and had to share a poncho with a rather large "sista". We had way too much fun!!


We went to the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday and ate hot dogs on a stick. We were very entertained on the pier by puppeteers, and "magic tricks". (Apparently all you need for this is a whistle, a boom box playing 80's techno, and a badminton racket.) Needless to say, I am seriously considering a career change.

I have to say that Teddy was the best part of the trip. He is so cute! I can't believe how much he had changed in 8 weeks. He has learned how to crawl, grown some chompers and can dance to the beat. What a doll!! As Teddy would say... "Oh wow!"

It was such a nice trip and although it is so nice to get back to the everyday redneck ways of Salem, there is definitely a special place in my heart for Cali... We already miss you guys!