WE ARE HOME OWNERS!!!

As of 8:00 this morning we are officially home owners!!! WAHOOO!!!! We are so excited! This is a picture of the home we purchased! It is just over a mile from my parents’ house! If anyone is in the mood to rip out carpet, do some painting, install baseboards or tile let us know!! We will have to show the before and after pictures when we get the work done! YEAH!!! Happy Day!!!!

Day of Gratitude

I know we usually wait until Thanksgiving to share the things that we are grateful for, but I just feel so blessed that I had to count my blessings today!! We have been SO incredibly blessed! Here are a few things that I am thankful for

The best husband in the universe!
A wonderful, healthy, happy son!
The best family anyone could ever ask for!
Darin’s new job!
Darin’s old job with Perry!
Our new house that we are buying!! Closing in 2 weeks!!! EEEK!!!
The apartment we have lived in for the past 2 years and the wonderful friends there!
Wonderful weather!
The Gospel!

Brace yourself...Darling Pictures ahead!!

Isn’t he just the cutest!!? I know I am his mother and a little biased, but I just cannot get enough of this boy!! I can hardly imagine how we ever lived without him! He brings so much joy and happiness into our home! I don’t know how I got lucky enough to have such a good natured little boy! He is ALWAYS SOOO HAPPY!!! Just last night I woke up in the middle of the night because Matthew was laughing in his sleep!! He is always giggling, giving kisses, or doing his little babble! Matthew is officially 9 months old! Can you believe it!? Matthew is now on the move full speed! He mostly army crawls, but he is good at it! He is also starting to pull himself up on things, which means that today we had to lower his crib! What a big boy!!


All of these pictures were taken by my friend Kendra! Thanks for taking us with you!! You are so nice!! We are going to miss you soooo much!! And Matt will definitely miss Alayna!

Happy Halloween FHE!!

Last night was the BEST FHE EVER!!!! Mom planned the BEST Halloween Party! It was so fun!! The night started with the grandkids decorating bags for their candy. Then they got to play all sorts of games including Halloween Bingo, a trick or treat game, and a game where the adults had 40 seconds to grab as much candy as they could with their feet and put into the kids bags. Mom made cute little marshmallow ghosts and the kids had to eat it off of the string (Matthew even got in on that action!) The adults had powdered doughnuts tied to strings and they had to throw the doughnuts in the air and catch them in their mouths! It was so fun! The kids also got a chance to throw “eyeballs” into the witch’s cauldron. Last, we got to dress up grandpa as a mummy with toilet paper! Mom had the best prizes and cutest decorations! After the fun and games we had delicious chili, witch finger breadsticks, jack-o-lantern veggie tray, mummy celery sticks, home-made root beer, apple cider, and home made doughnuts!! What a blast!! We had such a great time!

Trip To Paris!!!

Our family went on another vay-cay!! This time we went to Paris! It was wonderful! A little grape juice, french bread, grapes, and cheese! It was delicious! Matthew liked it too!! He kept trying to eat the whole loaf of bread! The only problem was we had a hard time choosing between "Mrs. Aris Goes to Paris," "Anastasia," or "Ratatouille." Our next destination is either India or Israel!

BEN'S HITCHED!!!

My big brother Ben got married this weekend and we couldn't be happier!! Everything was perfect! We are so glad to have Kristy in our family! She and Ben make a "perfect pair!" Here are a few pictures from the day!

Matthew Update

Our little Matthew is growing up! He started "crawling" this week!! (It is more of a slither on his belly, but he gets around). He has also learned how to pick up small pieces of food and feed himself! It is really cute! He is still the happiest cutest baby ever! We can't get enough of him!

Trip to St. George

This weekend we went on a real vacation (not one in our living room or backyard) but a little trip down to St. George! We had a wonderful time!! We ate a lot of yummy food and went to several fun places including Snow Canyon, Zion’s National Park, a Corn Festival, Mountain Meadow Massacre Memorial and other fun drives. We also had plenty of time for R&R! We took down the Wii and went golfing, bowling, and played other fun games. Matthew and Darin did especially great! Matt only bowled one time, but got a strike! And Darin got 6 strikes in a row!!! Thanks Mom and Dad for the WONDERFUL weekend!! We had a blast! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Trip to Ancient Greece

Darin, Matthew, and I took another vacation, but this time we took along our friends Bridget and Dane! For this vay-cay we went to none other than ancient Greece! (complete with togas). On the menu we had gyros, salad, and pitas with some AMAZING humus that Bridget made!!! She even made a stencil to add a decorative swirl of paprika on top (how cute is she!?) Darin also made the cute leaf head dresses seen below.

A special thanks goes out to my mother for all her help planning, and to my grandma and grandpa for letting us use their yard, table, chairs, authentic décor, the flags, and so much more!! We had a great time! The best part is that Dane is going to be a pilot, so maybe next time we will get a chance to go to real Greece!! Ha ha!! Thanks again for coming guys!! We love you! Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment!

Updates!

Hello to all those readers of our blog...if there are any left!! Sorry I have been so bad with the updates! We have had a wonderful and busy summer. Here are a few things that have happened:

In July we were on our Stake's float in the Bountiful Parade!


Matthew turned 6 months old!! Isn't he still just the cutest?!!


My niece Rebecca turned 8 and got baptized!




My brother Ben got engaged to Kristy Bott and we couldn't be more excited!! She is so cute and I can't wait to have her for a sister in law!!


We went up to Park City for my friend Lindsay's "Backyard Concert" We had SOOO much fun!!

Swim Party With Grandma!

A few weeks ago we had a swim party at my mom’s house!! It was so much fun! My mom made a water slide down the hill in the back yard, the kids played “ring around the rosies” in the kiddy pool, Kristy traced all the girls with chalk and they made themselves mermaids, the kids got to go “fishing” off the balcony for prizes, they got mermaid barbies, and we had a delicious lunch, and the kids got to eat Jell-O with fish in the water and on top! We had so much fun! Here are a few pictures from the day!