John's Birthday BBQ Bash!

On July 23rd John turned 24! This was an extra special birthday for John...and me too! (wink) John and I spent his birthday opening presents and then going out to "Garcia's" for dinner, which is one of our favorite places to eat.

I felt like I didn't get a lot for John compared to ALL of the presents he got me on my birthday but ya know, it's harder to shop for guys, I think!!

Before his birthday, I made him go with me to "Sportsman's" so that he could pick out the right pocket knife he's always wanted! So he already knew one present he was getting and, bless his heart, he still acted surprised! (more for my sake probably)


A "BenchMade" pocket knife


John acting surprised!

I also got him "Diesel" cologne. It smells soooooo good!

As you can see.....

The bottle is shaped like a fist! It's awesome!

Oh goody! Another shirt! I'm sure that's just what he wanted!

Like he doesn't already have enough of those!

He acts like such a little boy on his birthday! I love it! And that's one of them many reasons why I love him!

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John's BBQ:

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you!...."

John's parents and aunt and uncle

Nick, Ashely, Hallie, and Robert

Ready to blow out the candles!

Make a wish!

I ordered John an Oreo Ice Cream cake from DQ

I also made cupcakes for the little kids and it's a good thing I did cuz we almost ran out of cake!

John was the grill master for the BBQ. He grilled cheeseburgers and hot dogs and they tasted really good! Here's John, Adam and Trevor enjoying some yummy cake!

Eating cake

Later, John started up a fire and some of us roasted marshmellows and made smores and then John lit off the rest of our fireworks for the little kids!

A special thanks to everyone for coming and celebrating John's birthday!!

Happy Birthday John! I love you! Here's to many more......

I'm reading another series....

Ever heard of Anna Godbersen? She is the author of a new book series. My sister-in-law introduced me to these books. I'm only in the third chapter of the first book and I am loving it already! If you are into books and like reading-you might want to give these books a try!

About "The Luxe": Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn. Irresistable boys with sly smiles and dangerous intentions. White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups. This is Manhattan, 1899....

Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan's social scene. But when the girls discover their family's status is far from secure, suddenly everyone is a threat to their golden future.

Book #1: The Luxe

Book #2: Rumors

Book #3: Envy

Anna Godbersen will be coming out with a fourth book to complete the series. And who knows? Maybe movies will be made out of them too!

Hope you enjoy!

SLiP 'n' SLiDe, BbQ's, and FiReWoRkS!

Sorry, I'm a little behind on my posting...For the 4th, we spent the day with family. First we went over to my parents house and had a little BBQ. After sitting in the hot sunshine for about an hour, we all decided to go over to our house and play on the Slip and Slide! That totally brought me back to my childhood! We al had a blast and some good laughs! After a few scratches and bruises, John's sister had a BBQ at her house. We didn't stay for very long cuz we wanted to go to the greenbelt in Idaho Falls and watch the fireworks!

Thanks for a fun day everyone!

First up: John


Even little Hallie got in on the fun!

The boys did all sorts of tricks!

Hang on Hallie!

John trying out Hallie's kiddy pool!

I guess the slip 'n' slide was too much!


Whoa! Alex! Nice bum shot!

The slip 'n' slide was a Father's

Day gift for Nick! He loves it!!


Alex trying it with tubes!


Aw! Every party has a pooper!

Jk! Mom watched from the porch

and just laughed at us!

My dad got in on the action, too!

Whoa! Easy old timer! Don't break a hip! This picture cracks me up! He started out on his feet, didn't even get halfway down the slide and landed hard on his bum! I think he smacked his head pretty good on the ground, too! I felt bad, but was laughing histerically!


Now John trying it with the tubes


Could I be more of a cheeseball! Honestly! Who poses on a slip 'n' slide anyways!! I'm such a nerd sometimes!

Here's John again!

We irrigated our lawn that day too! I guess my mom did get her feet wet afterall! She and Hallie were walking in the water for a while!


Hallie playing in her kiddy pool!

Splash! Splash!


Here we are at the fireworks-and yes, I did make us dress the same!

I've always loved going to the greenbelt to watch the fireworks! Melaluca puts on a great show every year!

I hope everyone had a good 4th! We sure did!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER!!!

On July 1st Alex turned 18!! Is he that old already!? I can't even handle it! He's growing up so fast! He'll be a Senior this year and before we all know it-he'll be putting in his mission papers and sent far, far, away!

Look at that baby face! Isn't he just so cute!!

We celebrated with cake and ice cream and, of course presents! The best present Alex got this year was from his knee doctor. He got the go ahead to go run and jump and do whatever Alex has been missing this year in sports!! Alex was more than stoked and that news definately hightened his spirits! 6 months of physical therapy finally paid off!

My mom made Alex a chocolate cheesecake with whipped frosting and ice cream! So yummy!!

Blowing out candels!

My mom has always tried to make our birthdays special! After cake and ice cream Robert, Alex, and Nick went to the late show. They went and saw "Transformers 2" and didn't get home til about 1:00 a.m. (Now you know why only 3 of them went!)

Alex, I hope you had a great birthday!! 18? I still can't believe it!

Love, Taunya

....And then some.....

...The other night, I opened up our cake top from our wedding reception! Did anyone else savetheirs or is it just some silly tradition that I followed?? I saved it because 1.) It's tradition and 2.) When it was time to cut the cake at our reception, John and I just got a forkful of frosting-didn't even taste the chocolatey goodness underneath!

So, I pulled it out of the freezer and was shocked to see that the cake top was pretty much still in tact! It's been buried under so many things I was for sure it was smashed. Thanks mom for wrapping it up so well!

I absolutely loved our cake! It turned out better than expected and I got so many complements on it!

John and I did cut ourselves a slice and it was very....gross!! Aw! Man! It was a little bit freezer burnt and the frosting/fondant was kinda slimy and gooey. To my disappointment, I ended up throwing it away! Yep, the first year is officially over! It was so sad to see it in the garbage!