Birthday Bash

Today was my 25th birthday. It's so scary to me to think that in 5 years I will be 30! CRAZY! (No offence to any 30 or older out there).I am usually not one to talk a lot or bring attention to myself but since there were so many people that made today so special, I have to recognize them for all that they did for me. It seems like I have been celebrating all weekend... but I can't complain . Casey surprised me with getting a sitter so we could go out Saturday night. That was a huge gift in it's self that I didn't have to arrange the babysitter. Thanks Minda for doing that! We went and saw Indiana Jones then ate at the Cheesecake Factory which of course was so good. The day before that my best est friends from high school took me to lunch at Crackers which was also so yummy and good to catch up with all of them as well. Today my sweet wonderful friends from the ward took me to Paradise Bakery for lunch and a little shopping spree to one of my favorite stores, Junky Trunk. Then to top it off I got a phone call while running errands today from Casey saying that his parents were bringing over Mattas so I didn't have to make dinner! WOW, I have the best family and friends ever!

Brooke, Alyssa and Julie who are just amazing! Thanks girls for the fun day!

getting a little birthday treat for myself at my favorite store! They have the cutest jewelry and thanks Brooke for always being prepared with your camera for those special moments

At Crackers with Jenni, LaRee and Jessica. Steph, we missed you!

I have so many memories with these girls. We have all been friends since forever and I don't know what I would do without them! When we are all together we have a reputation of being crazy and getting a little out of control. Girls, remember when we took that hip hop class for "exercise" or when we wanted to watch the N'SYNC concert live in NY city but nobody had HBO so we checked into that ghetto hotel room in downtown Mesa for a few hours so we could watch it?! I love all of our good times!

So turning 25 wasn't that bad after all! Thanks a million again for a wonderful birthday!

Happy Stars and Stripes!

We had so much fun celebrating the 4th yesterday. We started off by having brunch with the Goodmans then going to the park for a game of water softball. I guess it has been a while since I have played because today I am fairly sore and I think I bruised a rib sliding into home base. I guess I am getting old! We had a lot of fun... maybe this will be a start of a new tradition?! We then took Lane (and Casey) home for a much needed 2 hour nap then headed over to my parents for swimming and a BBQ.
Casey gracefully sliding into home

go Val!
not the best hitter

the ever so cute girlie's (Happy Birthday Bre!)

I think that was Lanes 4th popsicle, you can see all the other colors on his rash guard

Lanes favorite uncles
maybe this is why I am sore?
I am still laughing about your pose Jefferson!
double gulp diva
the master chef grillen up some dang good carne asada!!



What a great day it was to play in the sun and to be with family!

Twinners

I had a request a while back to do a post about me and my twin sister Stephanie . I thought that it would be fun so here it goes. As you can tell we don't look anything like twins, especially when we were little. Stephanie having dark hair and brown eyes and I having blond hair, blue eyes and one always being taller than the other...she won that part in the end. Nick names growing up were Steph the reph (with a boyfriend named Jeff) and Shell the bell (with a boyfriend named Mell). We had a friend who couldn't pronounce Stephanie but could kind of make out my name so we were Sheddy and more Sheddy. My mom made sure that we always were in separate classrooms in school and church so we could be an individual and not be labeled "the twins". We always managed to have the same group of friends though. There are lot's of perks about being a twin. We always shared a room so when we weren't tired at night we would play games while lying in our beds like tracing words on the ceiling with a flashlight and having the other one figure out what it said. There was 2 closets to choose from instead of one. There was always someone to hang out with at a boring family reunion, someone to go with you on the scary first day of school and some one to open your bedroom window so you could sneak in after curfew! We did almost everything together, (probably since we shared a car, jk) until we graduated high school and real "adult" life came in. Stephanie left for BYU and I stayed here to work and go to MCC. It was a hard adjustment to have her leave but I think since I knew she was only going for 2 yrs it didn't seem so bad. Plus I had a sweet hook up to go snowboarding all the time and I finally had the car all to my self! We also got to go to BYU Hawaii together for a semester which was a good bonding time for us. Since then we both have gotten married and of course you all know that we have Lane which Stephanie is a second mother to him. Another reason why I am doing this post about us is because today Stephanie moved to Buffalo NY so her husband could go to dental school for 4 yrs. To me 4 yrs is an eternity and Buffalo is an eternity away, so we will miss them very much. I know that being a twin has been a blessing in my life. I am not the most out going person and can be very shy so she has been a sense of comfort to me all through the years. It was hard to see her leave again today for a long period of time. Steph, I know you don't think this sometimes but I really do love and appreciate you. Thanks for always being there for me, always offering to babysit Lane and being so good to him. You are a wonderful sister!

Stephanie taught 5th grade at Franklin Elementary so on the 2nd to last day of school Lane and I went to visit her class room. This is were I went to school for 6 yrs. so it was kind of weird going back. We played some games with the kids and I even got to be in charge of an activity... what a power trip!


We will miss them for sure...especially Lane. So everybody look forward to seeing lots of posts of trips back east in the future!

Celebrate Good Times!

We celebrated a lot of fun things this past weekend. We enjoyed spending time with all of our families yesterday for Fathers Day. Lane and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful men in our lives.

We LOVE these guys because:

... Casey is the best husband and father ever! He let's us control the remote, does all the projects around the house with out being asked, gives the best back tickles, he eats my concoctions I call dinner and devotes all his free time to us, I could go on and on!!

...my dad makes the best breakfast burritos with homemade green salsa (well everything he makes is amazing), he is the best handyman and can fix anything, will drop everything to go help anybody out, has the best laugh ever, hahaha!

...Casey's dad makes a killer Sunday lunch and homemade ice cream, can grow anything in his garden, loves his grandchildren like no other, and serves others unconditionally.

We also celebrated my Grandma Ann's birthday on Friday night with all the Udall girls. We partied at Mi Amigos for dinner then played games and ate dessert at my grandmas house afterwards. It is so fun getting all of us girls together and having some good laughs.

Casey and I are grateful for these grandparents because they let us live in there house while they were on there mission basically for free. As newlyweds that is a huge blessing. Even when they came back they let us live in the little apartment attatched to there house for another year. We love them so much. Happy birthday Grandma!

Season Opener

We are so lucky to have my parents super fun swimming pool to hang out in all summer long. I know people have been swimming since the beginning of May, but I have a hard time getting in unless the water is a toasty 80 degrees. It finally hit that mark so yesterday Lane and I made a day of it. My cousin Leah came over with her 2 kids to swim and Casey joined us after work along with my sisters friends and Craig who swam a total of 4 different times. We were in the pool for 5 hrs. Let's just say Lane is a very brown boy now! I love the summer and living in my swimsuit, going on Sonic runs for slush's and corndogs, having the sun go down at 8 o'clock and having no schedule what so ever!

QT

Since the weather had been so nice this past week, we decided to hit up a quick trip to the dunes for Memorial Day. You can call us crazy for sure, but for May the weather was actually quite enjoyable. We had fun with Casey's cousins Britton and his wife Diana, Garrett and my sis Marcie. Lane was loving being outside all day, food galore, and all the vroom vrooms that would go by.

Lane already tanked up on sugar at 6 in the morning. This is his FAVORITE song and jams to it every time it comes on the radio.