Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Mariah's Graduation



It happened! My baby sister graduated from Centennial High School! We are so proud of her! We are going to miss her so much when she leaves for BYU-I in the fall! She is my second pair of hands most days, and I absolutely love spending time with her. I know three little girls that will be devasted when she leaves, but we are so happy for her! Congrats MOJO!



Thursday, May 13, 2010

Park Time

Dear Camden,

I don't love it when you steal my toys, or wake me up in the morning! But thank you for always finishing my food of my plate, especially the meat! And thank you for never leaving my side and always hugging me after nap time. Especially thank you for the fun time that we had at the park talking! And thank you for always think I am funny...especially when I am singing at the top of my lungs!

Love, Emma
Dear Emma,

I don't love it when you scream at the top of your lungs at me in the car. I don't love it when you steal my toys! But I love it when we dance together or jump on the trampoline. And I can't wait to see you after nap time separation...that's why I am always yelling your name through the bedroom door! Thank you for letting me eat your extra food, especially the meat! Thanks for the late night chats after mom and dad lock us in our room! And thank you for the fun time at the park today! You even held my hand so that I would not run away in the parking lot! Thanks sissy!

Love, Camden
P.S. we love Sophie too! Maybe we should stop beating her up...mom would like that!!

Easter Dresses

Emma has something in her mouth!
Sophie would not look at me!

Camden was not happy with me! Can you tell?
I DO NOT ENJOY taking pictures of these girls, its almost has difficult as doing their hair! But for journal purposes, I wanted pictures of these dresses! I made them for the girls for Easter! Despite everything they are doing at this stage of their life, I love them!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Easter 2010







Here are some snap shots from the Easter egg hunt in my parents back yard. Sophie wanted to eat the eggs and when she couldn't decided to eat some dirt. More pictures to come, with their cute Easter dresses that I made this year! It was a fun project and I am so proud of the results, I just need to take a picture of them!! Why is it so hard to get a picture of these girls looking at the camera???!!!

Pacific Half Marathon


I love you girls!! Thanks for running with me!!

(Waiting for me at the finish line!)


So last fall some friends approached me to run a half marathon with them at the end of March in Malibu, CA. I have never been a huge runner, but decided to start running with these girls in the early mornings before Rob left for work. We trained all through the winter, and finally I ran my first half marathon on March 27th! It was an amazing experience. The race turned out to have a few more hills then I wanted it to, but I did it! My family was a great strength to me, I could not wait to see them waiting for my at the finish line. My sister Mariah made shirts for my girls to wear that said, "team amanda", and "that is my mommy!" It was so sweet. I still can't believe I did it, and would not trade those morning runs with my friends for anything. Especially now that pretty much all of those friends have moved! I am giving myself another few weeks before I start training for my next race...and part of me just wants to buy a bike!! What I learned about myself, and friendship from running this race and training for it- I would not trade for anything!

Lake Trip #1 2010



















After getting the boat from the shop, we decided to take it out for a test spin before summer comes in full force. We were lucky to have our good friends, the Strobehn's with us on our maiden voyage for 2010! Trish took lots of pictures, because she is an amazing photographer and I can not take pictures to save my life! Here are a few of the pictures that she took! We had a great time letting the kids drive the boat in circles. The weather was wonderful and we only had one almost injury! Emma fell out of the bow of the boat onto the boat ramp. She still had her life jacket on which saved her! She barely even cried! Not even a scratch on her! I call that a successful boat trip!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

She is here!

My sister Shelly finally had her little girl yesterday afternoon! Baby Hannah Michelle Mckibben was born weighing 7lbs, 2oz., 19 1/2 inches long! Both Shelly and Hannah are doing great! She is just perfect and we are so thrilled to have a cousin on my side of the family! I will post pictures of her soon! We love you Shelly and Hannah!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Where to begin...

Summer 2009 recap
My one accomplishment this summer! I made dresses for the girls for the fourth of July! I made one for all of my little nieces there age as well!
Fourth of July party at the Barratt's

It has been so long since I have had a chance to post on this blog! I don't even know where to begin! So I am going to sum up some of the things that have happened this summer in pictures! And of course I am now recommitting myself to updating this blog more frequently!
Summer 2009
Highlights:
- Fourth of July trip to Logan, Utah! Thank you Jensen family for a fabulous time! And Barratt's for the fourth of July party at your house in Park City!
-Quick trip to Idaho to visit family and spend one last summer at the cabin in McCall, Idaho. This trip involved three flat tires, three babies, and just two people to take care of all of that! Thank you Aunt Melanie!
-Labor Day weekend with the Finlinson clan! Bear Lake was a blast!
- Melanie's wedding!
- Shelly's baby shower!
- Mariah's volleyball games! The girls are really good at yelling, "Go Bulldogs" and we are working on "Go Cougars!"
- A quick girls trip to St. George to see the musical "Footloose" at Tuacahn!
I am missing so much! But here are a few pictures!

Melanie's wedding! Mariah, mel, me, and shelly

Melanie's wedding! The girls were very bad flower girls, but they looked beautiful!

Emma twirled all night saying she was a princess!
Mel and I, after Shelly's baby shower, at Mariah's volleyball tournament

The twins at Bear Lake! I can never get both of them standing and looking at the camera!
We have spent many days and nights helping my parents get the house ready for the wedding! The girls helped Grandma spread dirt everywhere and plant flowers! It was really sweet!

This is a random picture of Camden showing me how to properly wear a bra!

This was taken at Bear Lake! We were packing to go home and all of our nieces and nephews were in the car watching a movie with the girls! There were kids in every open spot of that car, and Emma was sleeping through the whole thing!
The twins on there first tube ride with Sarah

Sarah and Abby
We had a very busy, but great summer and the fall is turning out even better! I will post more soon! I can't wait to get the pictures from Sophie's first birthday, and more from Melanie's wedding!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Challenge

My good friend Trish accepted the challenge this week of taking pictures of the girls. It is an almost impossible task! I am really surprised that we got a few good pictures! Trish and I went to the park with all of our children and the help of my sister Shelly. I was running around saving children from the wild peacocks and ducks at the pond, while Trish snapped pictures! Thank you Trish! Here are a few of the pictures:

Double Trouble!
Trish also took some pictures of Sophie at her house, I will post some of those soon! Can you believe Sophie is already six months old? My little angel baby is growing up!


Amanda & Rob Finlinson

Amanda & Rob Finlinson

Our Story...

Rob and I met in November of 2002 in the financial services office at BYU. After a very akward introduction, which involved me introducing myself in the third person, Rob called and asked me out. After a pretty amazing first date (its a long story-some other time), I confidently told Rob "that once he dated me he would never want to date anyone else." I really had no idea at that point that it was going to work out so well. We dated for the next five months and then one beautiful night on a bridge at Sundance resort, Rob and I got engaged. We were married four months later on August 16, 2003 in the Las Vegas, NV temple. And we have been living happily ever after since...