a few months ago, we came home from work and went to the back door to let gracie in, only to find the sliding door open, and gracie excitedly coming down the hallway to greet us. what the heck? mat was quick to accuse me of leaving the door open when i put her outside that morning, and i was quick to deny any wrong doing. who the heck leaves the back door open and unlocked when leaving for the day? anyways, the next day mat put gracie outside, and again we came home to the back door open, and gracie inside. we were completely perplexed!

alright, i'll be the first to admit that blogging is not my strong point. since my excuse for not keeping a journal is that i have a blog to document my life, i should probably fix that. but things have been pa-retty hectic around here lately! here's a run down via pictures.

at the end of april, kacey gave birth to our first nephew (and grandchild) on the shaker side, rowe taylor reed. he has stolen the hearts of everyone! such a studly little man, and such a good babe (photo stolen from kacey's blog).

my april non-resolution was met by me getting a second job as a sprinklette! mat and i have the opportunity to go to the philippines for my grandma's 90th birthday in march, so this is to help pay for the cost of the trip (its expeeeeensive flying across the world!).i am officially a cupcake associate at sprinkles cupcakes in scottsdale. i'm there 1-2 nights per week, and i can honestly say that i have never loved a job more. everyone is so nice there, and the energy is fantastic. realistically though, how can being surrounded by amazing cupcakes not be a fantastic job?

may was filled to the brim with trips and events. first was murrieta's (mat's band) show at relay for life in thatcher. they were lucky enough (not) to play at midnight, when tired walkers were dragging their feet along the track. it ended up being a fun night, but having to work at sprinkles the next morning at 9 was not so much fun. the picture below was taken at about 2:30 am after they played their set. exhausted, but not sleepy because of the amounts of sugar and caffeine they had consumed.

the week after, we went to disneyland for a fuse performance. so fun! we did a mock disney audition with disney performing arts, then performed at california adventure. mat may have borrowed a wheelchair from work, and i may have been it in the whole time so that we could get to the front of the line. i'm not proud of myself, but not having to wait in line made the trip that much more fun! the week after the disneyland trip was talent explosion, and the week after, my birthday. we had work off the day before for memorial day, so mat and i spent the day together, and my actually birthday, i took the day off and spent it with one of my dearest friends kandyce. unfortunately, i was not so good at documenting my own birthday, and don't remember too many of the details, except that my darling husband booked me a massage, bought me a robe (i have been dying to get one! robes are the best things ever), and wrote me a cute love note in my hand written journal. love that man of mine!

june started off with my sister-in-law kate getting baptized. i cannot express how thrilled i was when she told us that she had decided to get baptized. they had been talking to the missionaries for months, so when she had finally made up her mind, we knew it wasn't a half-hearted decision. a couple weeks after kate's baptism was mat's big 2-5! and you can bet your bottom dollar i documented the crap out of it. mat's birthday was on a thursday, so he decided to just take the next friday off and have a long weekend to celebrate. i made him breakfast in bed, and managed to beat him home to set up a trail of balloons that led to his birthday present, a sodastream. we then went to dinner at his favorite place with some of his favorite friends, and the next day his family came over for cake and swimming.

at the end of june, i helped my sister with an interview for her magazine, green living az, and got to meet martha stewart! well, not really meet her, but i got to be with 5 feet of her, at least.

the 4th of july was spent in heber, az. tiny town, but they have got the most amazing 4th of july spirit ever. they start it off with shooting off an anvil like 6 different times around time at 5 am, then a parade, then all day festivities until the largest hand-lit firework showcase in arizona. i was able to put my camera to good use and make a video. don't mind the shaky shots or dirty car windows, i'm an amateur okay?