Highlights from my Birthday Weekend

Yesterday was my birthday, but in true Rachel-style, I like to drag it out and party and celebrate for as long as I can... My fun started last Thursday...

Thursday, July 29th

• Left work early to get my 3 youngest ready to go camping with their dad for the whole weekend. I love my kids dearly, but this was much anticipated because it meant I would have 3 whole days to sleep in as long as I wanted... oh, the blissful heaven of laying in bed and not having a 3 year old pestering you for cartoons & apple jacks at the butt-crack of dawn on a weekend...


• Received some unexpected birthday cash in the mail from my grandma... woo-hoo!!!!!


• Went to a lovely dinner with my amazing husband Spencer and his two kids, Max and Ashley to Spaghetti Factory. Oh, dinner was SO good!!!! It was really nice to do something with just them for a change.

Friday, July 30th

• Saw "Dinner For Schmucks" with Spencer and my oldest Kesley. She really didn't want to go at first, but ended up having a great time with us. After we grabbed a quick lunch at the mall food court and then shopped a little too. Spence got me the cutest necklace...

• Later, dropped of Kes to work and picked up some yummy pasta for a quiet dinner at home. Watched a movie and got to relax!

Saturday, July 31st

• Spence gave me my present a little early... cutest tee from Buckle... I love it!!!




• Headed over to Good Times Tattoo and got my 2nd tattoo (the ankh - Egyptian symbol of life) on my ankle. Also touched up my hearts tattoo on my shoulder blade and added a flourish to tie it together better. VERY happy with the outcome... but OUCH!!!!


• Quick lunch and a little shopping at the Gateway. Got a new phone case for my IPhone.


• On our way home we bought 2 new fish for our fish tank as well as figurines of Spongebob and Patrick - we already have the "pineapple under the sea" in our tank, so this made sense, right? :)



• Stopped to see my mom and she surprised me with a new book that I wanted and $$$... glad we got to visit with her for a bit.



• Didn't feel like going anywhere that evening, so we made a frozen pizza and finished watching Season 6 of 24... we are almost caught up!


• Had my first diet coke in 2 months.... hey, it's MY birthday!!!

Sunday, August 1st... MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY!!!

• Had a very low key day... slept in till 11am. Colored my hair. Ordered 2 more shirts from Buckle with birthday money from my mom (thanks mom!). Pre-ordered a book coming out later this month.


• Spence gave me a very sweet birthday card.


• We had a yummy dinner at Happy Sumo... Vegas roll - my fav & Coconut Encrusted Halibut (seriously, it's like candy... SOOOO good!) I love that place!!! ♥



• Finally found a water bottle at Dicks Sporting Goods to replace the one I melted in the dishwasher. I am SO particular about my stupid water bottle, but this one is awesome.... and it's pink :)



• Picked up my kids from camping... they were all freshly bathed and even their laundry had been done. Happy Birthday to me! I missed them, so it was awesome to get them back again. They were tired, but had a blast.


• Went home and kids sang me happy birthday and we had cupcakes and ice cream that Spencer had picked up earlier.... so thoughtful.



• Kes gave me some really cool earrings and lip gloss. I love that she picked something out for me... it was really sweet of her to do. Made my day.


• Finally got to crawl in bed and watch E! with Spence... perfect ending to my birthday weekend!!!

THIS WEEK

• Planning a birthday lunch with my work friends.


• Lunch on Wednesday with my bestest long lost friend Shalayne.


• Lagoon on Saturday with Spence, Kes, Ash & Max (rest of the kids are floating the river with their dad).


• AND in 2 weeks... Scorpions concert!!!!! These tickets were also a birthday gift from my amazing husband. Can't wait!!!!

End of June

Summer is FLYING by, and by flying I mean I'm seriously getting whiplash watching is race on by... I can't believe it's almost July! We really haven't done a whole lot of note-worthy activities this past month. It seems like just adjusting to our new family life and settling into a routine has been enough to tackle for now. And we are doing quite well with all of that... especially considering all 8 of us are living in a 3 bedroom town home. We are working on a deal with the bank, so hopefully we can lower the price significantly and get this thing sold... AND keep our credit in tact so we can start building our new home. Yep, I think we are going to build in Farmington. We've pretty much decided on a location and as soon as the bank confirms the deal we are proposing, we can start to move forward with our next steps of this process...

Kids are busy too.... one word summaries of their summers:
Kesley - Work!
Ashley - Soccer
Dallin & Max - Video Games (2 of them = 2 words)
Hallie - Coloring
Audrey - Barbies

Not that these things are ALL that they do... I would feel like such a bad mom! But they are very busy with the above activities. Each of them are super good kids and we really love having our combined family life... it's SO busy (and noisy) and yeah, there's a lot of drama... but considering our close living quarters right now, we are doing very, very well and the kids all enjoy each other and being at home with everyone.

♥ Spence and I have been married for 2 months now and we are SO happy... life is very good and we feel extremely fortunate. Dream. Come. True.

A few more wedding pics.....

Hallie's Dance Recital

Hallie had her spring recital about a week ago. She refused to show me any of her routines, so I was a little concerned she would just stand there and do nothing. Nope!!! She totally rocked it... was one of the only girls that knew what she was doing. I was laughing and so proud at the same time. Love this kid!!!

Wedding/Honeymoon

Just a few pics from our wedding on April 20th...

...and a few from our honeymoon vacation to Cancun, Mexico...

Countdown......

I am gatting married a week from tomorrow. To say I am excited doesn't even begin to cover it. I love Spencer more than I can even explain... he is the p-e-r-f-e-c-t match for me. I am so happy to start a life with him and to be his wife. I sincerely can't wait.......... LOTS of photos to come soon! ♥

Engagement/Family Pictures

Rachel & Spencer

My beautiful engagement ring

Our family of EIGHT!

Rachel and kids

Spence and kids

Rachel & Spencer

♥ I love this man ♥

Kesley

Ashley

Dallin

Max

Hallie

Audrey

I said YES!!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday night..... Spencer propsed! He had a beautiful dinner planned at his house complete with red rose petals on the table, chilled wine, beautiful flowers and candles, he put so much thought and effort into planning the whole thing. It was SO romantic...


Then he dropped to one knee and with both of us crying, asked me to marry him. A long stem red rose had the most beautiful engagement ring tied to it.... I was SO overwhelmed with emotion. It was an amazing moment!


So we are getting married on April 20th! I know, that's really soon! It will just be a small ceremony and lunch here in Utah, then we are taking off to Cancun for our honeymoon and getting married again on the beach for fun! We are SO excited!


This is my best friend. I am so excited to become his wife and spend the rest of our lives together. He is so kind and thoughful... he reminds me of my dad. I am VERY lucky and feel so blessed we found each other!

Quick update...

Life is pretty busy, so here's the quick list of what we've been up to since the Holidays...

• New year's came.... I love the fresh start o a brand new year. It feels like a clean slate to work on. And the anticipation of what may come in the whole next year is always kind of exciting.
• Hallie turned FIVE and all of a sudden seems so grown up. For her birthday she wanted to go to Training Table, so Spence and I took all 6 kids to dinner and then had treats and opened presents afterwards at his house. My computer crashed and I lost the few photos I remembered to take...very sad about that...
• Audrey is finally staying in her bed when I put her in it at night. We went through a phase of her coming out at least a dozen times every night. It was rediculous. She's at last learning that bed time means TIME to stay in BED!
• We took the four older kids to see Avitar on the I-Max on MLK day...it's such a fabulous movie and they all enjoyed the experience. I love days off of work.
• Kesley was grounded the whole month of January. Is that reallya punishment for her or more for me!!!! but she was pretty complient and hopefully is learning her lesson!
• Dallin's birthday is in 2 days... he will turn TEN. He's getting a Nintendo DS and I seriously think he might self combust when he opens it. Very excited to give it to him.
• This weekend is Valentines and I get to spend it with Spencer... I can hardly wait! AND it's a holiday weekend with President's day. YAY!!! Love, love, love time off work (it's SO extremely stressful right now!!!)

More updates soon....