So Much to be Thankful For

I know this is a short post but I intended it to be such for a lot of reasons that I may or may not actually get into here. All in all I wanted to just express how thankful I really am. The truth is that I, like most of us out there, have taken a lot for granted in my life. I do not mean to do it, I don't think anyone does, but I am thankful for a great many things.

First and foremost I am thankful for my family in all its varieties and combinations. I am blessed with a loving wife who puts up with me through all of my silly insane moments. She loves me unconditionally and is always patient with me and I cannot tell her enough how thankful I am for that.

I am thankful for my sweet Charity. She really is the light of our lives. We are blessed to have such a happy loving little girl and I want her to know how much her daddy loves her.

I am thankful for my puppies Harley and Lizzie. They have been so good to Charity and so good to us. They help bring a peace and comfort to us even in our hardest times and I do not know where we would be without them.

I am thankful for my parents, my brothers and sisters, Camille's parents and brothers and sisters. Camille and I really are blessed to have families that have been so supportive of us through all that we do.

I am especially thankful for my brother Marcus right now. Long story short we are glad he is with us after such a scare. He has been one of the best parts of my life and I really could not imagine my life without him. He is a brother, a friend, someone I trust and an immense example to me in my life. Our recent experiences with him have reminded me how much and all of my siblings and siblings in law really mean to us.

I love and appreciate our friends far and wide. Mark and Michelle and their family always helping us out and just being there for all of the little things as well as the big ones. Matt and Cathy Hicken and their long-lasting and far-reaching friendship and support. The girls at the salon. The wonderful people at BGM. All of our various friends and family who care enough to genuinely ask us how we are doing.

In this season of thankfulness, love and giving I want everyone that reads this to know that I am eternally thankful for all of my many blessings, especially the blessing of having such wonderful people around me to support me, guide me, and love me in spite of my failing and imperfections.

Thank you all so much and I love you.

....ok so maybe this did not end up as short as I thought it would be.

Scarecrow Festival 2008

Here are some pictures of our fun at the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. This was a few weeks ago but I figured it would be fun to see.

The Pumpkin Patch

So I have not posted our Hawaii pictures yet and they will be coming soon. I am still waiting on a decent tool for posting multiple pictures as a slide show. I promise to get it soon.

As of today, however, I thought I would show off my sweet Charity. We went to the pumpkin patch in Springville tonight with Mark and Michelle and their kids. Here are a few good pictures for you.

This is (Starting at the top left to right) Ella, Makayla, Charity and Emmitt. They loved picking their pumpiks from the patch.

Charity found the one she wanted but dad had to tell her no. We had to get something a little more her size.

It wasn't the biggest one in the patch but I think my sweet Charity will love this one. I could not get her to do it long enough for a picture but she loves to hug her pumpkin. I think she will like it just fine.

Charity is Having Fun!

Charity is having lots of fun with mom and dad. She is a really fun loving kid and always smiles. We take her out with us to dinner and movies and it does not bother her at all and she barely peeps. This is a picture of her sitting with us in our booth at Happy Sumo. I tried to convince Camille that the Buffalo Roll is good for babies but she wasn't having it. Just milk and fruity mush for Charity for a while longer yet.


Following dinner at Happy Sumo we took her to see Horton Hears a Who. She loved watching it and even was laughing with everyone else at a few parts. Come to think of it, I should get her a little stuffed Horton.


Spring has come and Camille has started playing softball with K&J Construction again. Charity and I had to miss the first game as it was way to cold but last week we got to attend the game and Charity was even blowing raspberries at the opposing team... sorry Korriane she just like's mommy's team better. Here we are at the game.



A while back our good friends Mark and Michelle Peterson gave Charity a bib that says "Future Mrs. Duritz" (referring to Adam Duritz the lead singer for the Counting Crows for those of you who dare profane). I found this picture of her that I had taken when she had first started eating. I had taken it to send to Michelle so she could see Charity's bib but I thought it belonged here too. She is getting really good at eating solid foods and I even have to take her graham crackers and banana puffs to Camille's games for Charity to munch on. She has even started drinking from Camille's glass... which has only helped reinforce our efforts to minimize our carbonated drink intake.


Charity has such a fun personality. I really get a kick out of all the silly little things she does. We love her and she is definitely keeping us very busy!

Mardi Gras in March

My fabulous wife is incredibly creative. I am still amazed by what she comes up with. This week she made cake #3 which is designed for our friend Mark for his birthday today. Mark had told his wife and Camille that he wanted a Mardi Gras theme for his party so Camille immediately began to design his cake... without further adu, here is Camille's 3rd cake:

The thing that I want to really point out is that the masks that are on the cake are all hand-made from fondant, black sparkles and gold buttercream all done by Camille herself. I was looking at this photo and realized that the masks may look store bought so I wanted to make sure she got credit for her creativity and skill in making those so realistic.

Also, it may be hard to see from the angle I took this shot but the lower cacke slants to down to the left and the upper cake slants back the other way. This is something we have been wanting to try for some time. Let me tell you that cutting filled cakes at an angle is REALLY hard.

Another amazing creating by Camille and her Igor-like assistant.... me.

Yet another confectinary work of art!

So Camille is working her hardest to get this cake thing down solid. She made another cake this week, this time for Mark and Michelle Peterson who just had their third child and first son on Monday the 10th.

Most importantly, congrats to Mark and Michelle on the birth of Emmett. He is a cute kid. No doubt he will step up and hold his own against his sisters. Welcom Emmett. We all hope that you will be blessed with the same sense of humor your sisters have been.

Camille wanted to give them something special for Emmett so here is her second cake. This one is 4 layers of coconut cream cake with cream cheese icing between each layer. It is covered in teal fondant and has brown, white and yellow fondant decorations. There is a darker teal buttercream trim along the bottom of the cake. Truly a work of art... and only cake #2 for Camille!