tickle bugs

We just got back from Montana where we enjoyed a memorable family reunion and I really want to post about it. . .but my laundry's stacked high, my refrigerator is empty, my children need baths and my back is sore from traveling for nine hours straight. I guess what I'm trying to say is uploading pictures is about the last thing I want to do. So it will be a couple days before I get that post together. But I do already have this together:

My little bug catcher. He was so excited about having tweezers and a net to capture all his little critters. We have been keeping many a tickle bug in this little bug oasis. On this particular day he scored two teeny spiders, five tickle bugs including a mommy, daddy a brother and two babies, a slug, and a half dead bee. It was quite a group.

McKay's pets never last very long- a week or so if we throw in a raisin or two- who knew tickle bugs eat raisins? But even when they die he doesn't sweat it much. He'll just go collect some more while telling us, "When I was a little boy I called them roly polys, but now I call them tickle bugs," as he plucks more of the helpless creatures and drops them to their impending death. Hey, at least he gives them nice juicy raisins as a last meal.

Snowbert

Last week we spent some time up at the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird, or "Snowbert" as McKay calls it. This is where my family has had our family reunions for years. We love it up there and it was a fun, but quiet few days. Most of the family couldn't come up this year...long story that I don't feel like explaining. Anyway, enjoy about a million pictures:

The view from our balcony. Love this mountain.

The first two days were filled with cousins. McKay was in heaven. I think that he could live at Lisa's house and no one would notice- he just fits right in.

Every time we are at Snowbird we have to walk to the lookout. Look at these cute cousins.

McKay about to climb the ladder. . .

To get on top of this. What is this? We don't really know, but we climbed up this wood tower thing just hanging out off the trail. Kinda fun.

Ellery just hung out in her stroller and sucked on her tinkerbell phone the whole time. When Ellery was younger it seems like all the pictures we took of her were from her carseat. You know, "We're at the zoo and here's Elle in her carseat!" "Ellery spent the whole day at Disneyland. . .in her carseat!" Now I think we've moved on to, "We're on a little walk at Snowbird, and Ellery rode in her stroller. Look how happy she is in her stroller with her tinkerbell phone." At least she is happy about it.

McKay moved into this little house that we found by the lookout point. He went right in, and next thing I know he was headed back out to "get the mail" and then he made a lovely dinner of pine cones and strawberries.


What a proud little homeowner.

Once all the cousins ditched us and went home things calmed down a bit. . .for a minute. We had to make an emergency insta care run down in Sandy because McKay's "asthma" started acting up. It was actually really scary as we were driving down the canyon to get there. He was acting all lethargic and his eyes were moving really funny and I was 100% panicked. I wanted Brian to pass everybody and run all the lights, I was so nervous. But then McKay threw up, and turns out he started feeling better after that. I'm so glad that he warned us because I was able to catch it in a blanket. Once we got to the doctor his breathing had normalized and he was okay. We're thinking it was the altitude. Scary, but so glad that it went away.

We went back up and just kept McKay on Motrin from then on to control his fever. Here we are in the hot tub on the balcony. After this we decided that a hot tub is probably not the best thing for a fever. Oops.

The next day we headed to the pool and had it almost all to ourselves. Ellery loves the water. . .

. . .but not as much as this kid. He could live in the bathtub, and a swimming pool is even better.


On our last day there we rode the tram up to the top of the mountain and I took the most beautiful pictures on Brian's phone, but turns out I don't have the connections to put phone pics on my computer. I am kind of depressed about it. Ellery laughed the whole way up and I was shocked that she even noticed we were doing something different. But she did, and she loved it. McKay loved it too, but I think maybe I liked it the most. I've gone up there a bunch of times but it was so quiet and beautiful up there and everything below you looks so still and I think I just appreciated the beauty and peacefulness of it all over again. I told Brian that I would live in the mountains if we could live on the very top and have a tram to get us up and down. We'll see. . .

And that's it! Goodbye Snowbert! We had a great time. Thanks Dad- we loved it.

today. . .

. . .marks the day that Ellery has been out of my body. . .

. . .for as long as she was in!

Happy Nine Months to my girl!

carter's grandma's pool

Last week Katie and I packed all five of our kids in the car and headed up North somewhere...I can't even remember where...to spend some time with our Las Vegas-dwelling friend Molly and her cute little boy Carter. McKay was so excited for this that he woke up way early that morning and said, "Are we going to Carter's pool today?!!!"

He had a pretty good reason to be excited. Not only did the kids get to play in a full on gym (go cougars), jump on a trampoline, play in a fun little playhouse and "play" numerous arcade games. . .

. . .they got to swim in this. Needless to say, Carter's Grandma had an amazing house, and maybe an even more amazing backyard.

We all had a blast hanging out in the pool. We stayed in the water I think for four hours! It has been so long since I've been swimming for that long. . .and it was so fun!

After our little swimmers were out of the water they even got a sweet little treat.

And more fun in the bath water! One of McKay's favorite things in life is playing in the bath, and playing with Halle and Gray in the bath is even better!

After about thirty seconds of driving Katie and I turned around to find this. All our tuckered out swimmers were fast asleep. . . except Elle. She babbled and talked the whole way home.

Thanks baby Carter, Molly and Carter's Grandma! We loved seeing you guys and we're so glad you invited us up.

the river runs

The other day we headed up the canyon for a picnic lunch and a little fun in the river. We found a perfect spot for wading around, or swimming if you're McKay. Ellery even dipped her little toes in. McKay loves throwing rocks in the water and this time he got fully submerged. He was a little reluctant to get wet at first because it was pretty cold, but by the end he was soaked all the way down to his Diego underwear and loving it! We will definitely be going back to this sweet little spot.

Nashelle

This cute little guy sitting by Elle is her twin friend, Nash. Sometimes I look at Ellery and I just see little Nash's face/head looking up at me. They just have this similarity that I can't quite put my finger on. I told Katie and she has since noticed it too. What is it? Their hair color. . .their head shape. . .their round faces? They are both chunky little things, maybe that's it? I don't know but whatever it is it's sure cute!

What if they get married someday and this priceless shot is in their wedding video. So precious.

Our 4th

Brian and I are Practically Twins. . .

Our birthdays are two days apart. Last week we each turned 27!

Brian's birthday:

*I just realized that I have a double photo in here. I just don'thave it in me to fix it. Oh well.

• McKay was so excited for Brian's birthday- I went in to check on him the night before and he had put his party hat back on and was peacefully dreaming of the party.
• We went kayaking down the Provo river. It was so fun and so beautiful and I decided that kayaking should probably be one of our "things". My whole family was shocked to find out that I not only went kayaking, but that I planned it. Why can no one see me doing this?
• Eating dinner at the OG. One of our favorites.
• I made Brian a cheesecake- his favorite. McKay was overly excited to eat the strawberries.
• I bought Brian a bunch of clothes. He hates getting clothes for presents but I didn't even care. The man needed new clothes, like it or not. Usually he will tell me something that he wants me to get him. This year I didn't even let him and I felt liberated as I shopped in clothing stores instead of Out-n-Back. Sad to say he only like ONE shirt! So hard to shop for someone who is so picky but doesn't like anything that's in style. Love you Sweetheart, but it's true!
  

Brian then left for a three day scout trip and I was left on my own for my birthday. It was weird to not be with him, but I still had a great day. Here are the highlights:

• Started the day off cleaning my house - my birthday present to myself.
• Really enjoyed lunch with my parents and Jana at CPK. Their split pea soup is my favorite. (Sounds weird but it's so good.)
• Watched Jana and my dad explore Macs at the Apple store. I get it, I do. Those commercials make me feel so uncool.
• My sweet sister Lisa was my "husband" while Brian was gone and had a little party for me at her house. Festivities included feeding the horses over their back fence (McKay's favorite part), playing at the park, eating cake and lying on the grass looking up at the stars. Thanks family, for taking care of me on my birthday~!
• Getting tickets to Wicked for next year! So excited!!!

And what about this little guy. . .

He doesn't understand why it can't be his birthday now. I guess it's kind of confusing to have mom and dad's birthdays in the same week. We tell him his is in a few months and he corrects us and says, "No. A few weeks." Poor kid. It's going to be a long few weeks.

She's Big

I'm kind of mourning the loss of my "baby" this week.

Since Ellery has been flipping, crawling, flopping, twirling and tangling herself in her crib, we decided it was time to lower it.

She thinks it's great- more room to play. I think it's depressing. . .


. . .because now my baby is this big baby who needs her crib lowered.


Goodbye little baby. I miss you already.

Summer 'do

What do you think? So far I've been called "a blond Elvira" and told that my eyebrows look too dark behind my new blond bangs. I don't care. I like them. The real test will be when I actually have to style them myself. That could be scary.

I Messed with Texas

My friend and close-as-can-be neighbor, Buffy, moved away last November. I'm still not over my friends leaving me, but I'm trying to make do. Well, a few months ago I got a sneaky little email from Ian, Buffy's husband, and he wanted to fly me out to Texas and surprise Buffy with a friend. Sweet husband, huh? "Heck YES!" was my reply to his email. After months of emailing back and forth and being so stealth, the flight was booked.

Ellery and I jumped on a 7am flight (got up soooo early) and headed to Texas. I was kind of nervous to fly by myself and I was a little more nervous to fly by myself with a baby. But we did it! She was pretty good, and aside from the man next to me trying his darnedest not to notice me nursing her, the flight was very comfortable. Does anyone else feel like they're nursing in odd, uncomfortable places all the time?

Ellery and I had no idea what Texas was like. We thought we had it all figured out when we stopped in El Paso for a minute and looked out the plane window. Dusty, Texas dirt all over the place, funny, little dirt-pile "mountains", cowboys roaming around on their horses. "Yes, this is Texas," I thought. I wondered what we would do there with all those cowboys. I don't know how or why, but I imagined Texas, all of it I guess, to be like an old Western movie.


When we landed in Dallas I realized I was wrong. For those of you who thought like me, Texas (Dallas at least) is just like Utah, except for there's no mountains and it's HUMID! I felt like my dark jeans were snow pants when I got off the plane. Ian met us at the airport and after complaining about being hot the whole ride home, we were pulling into their driveway just as Buffy was walking to her mailbox.

Her face was priceless. At first she squinted at us and was thinking, "Who is that woman in Ian's car?" And then she kind of did this confused smile. And then her jaw dropped and she started jumping around. Oh it was so fun to do that to her.

We were both very happy to see each other and had such a fun few days hanging out.

This is their darling daughter Peyton. We joked that Ellery could eat Peyton. Even though she's two months younger, Ellery has about four pounds on Peyton. It was cute to see them together. Peyton, who is a thumb sucker, was obsessed with taking Ellery's pacifier and it kept them both entertained. When we got there I noticed that Ellery was kind of fussy and showing teething signs. Sure enough her second tooth was poking through. Peyton was nice enough to share her teething rings with Elle and she was a happy camper after that.


And who's this little Texas princess? This is McKay's old pal Riley. Let me just tell you about her. We of course did some Texas shopping at a HUGE outlet mall. We were there for about five and a half hours, not including driving time, and this little girl was amazing! She didn't complain, didn't have a tantrum, didn't need to be entertained or distracted, didn't need snacks. She didn't need anything. It's like Ian and Buffy have raised this super-shopper child. McKay would have lasted about an hour...maybe. I was just blown away. She is such a little sweetheart though and I really enjoyed getting to know her again. We're already planning their wedding.

Shopping is one of my favorite things about vacation and Texas did not disappoint. Brian was glad that he missed it all when I showed him all my goods. That is the one thing we forgot to take pictures of- shopping. Lets just say we were wondering if all my new stuff would fit in my suitcase. It did, thankfully. Also, why is it so much easier shopping for your kids than it is for yourself? When did that happen?

Maybe my favorite thing of all was our nightly bowl of ice cream. Has anyone had or heard of Blue Bell ice cream? I have known people who go on and on about Blue Bell ice cream and how amazing it is. You can't get it in Utah, and Texans seem to be very passionate about this treat. Well, let me tell you they are SO right. It is heaven. Buffy had me pick out a flavor to buy and first of all, we stood in front of the freezer for about ten minutes. I have a really hard time deciding on an ice cream flavor...and especially when there's this pressure attached and about three dozen choices....it's really hard! Anyway, we finally settled on Cookie Dough. It was so good. It was incredibly creamy and the cookie dough really tasted like cookie dough. And you got a huge ball of it in practically every bite you took. I don't know if I'll ever be the same. I think I've been ruined.

While I was there I experienced a Texas tornado. Well, Buffy experienced it at least. And it probably wasn't a tornado, but that's what it felt like so that's what we're calling it...you know, for dramatic effect. Now, the pictures you are about to see do not do Buffy justice.

We hopped in the car with all the little girls to do some shopping. After about two minutes in the car it started sprinkling. We were headed to the gas station to fill up and by the time we got there the rain was pretty heavy. Buffy got out to pump her gas anyway and made sure to bring her umbrella. I was sitting in the car with the girls, thinking Buffy was peacefully filling up when I hear this thumping sound coming from the back of the car.

I looked outside and this is what I saw. Buffy was hanging on to the back of the car for dear life, soaking wet, and banging on the window to get my attention. She wanted me to know that she was in distress. She wanted me to help her. She wanted me to save her. So you know what I did? I started laughing...really hard...and then I got out my camera.

Buffy figured out I was not going to get out of the car and that she had to brave the tornado by herself. I was snapping pictures of her the whole time, and laughing. She was kind of laughing too, I think. One of the funniest things to me was every time Buffy went past the side of the car, her baby, Peyton, would let out a terrified scream. The sight of her drenched mother being tossed around in the wind and rain was kind of scary. Don't worry, Peyton only cried when she could actually see Buffy. Once she was out of sight she would stop.


See. She's okay. She made it through the tornado. But look at her umbrella. She had to throw it away because unlike her, it could not handle storm. Buffy was soaking wet. We had to forgo our plans and go back home so she could change every article of clothing she had on and we could wait out the tornado.


On the way home this is what we saw. All over the neighborhood fences were blown over. We even saw a trampoline blown against a house with a big barbecue grill dangling from it like an earring. This made us laugh even harder and made Buffy quite proud of herself for staying alive. (I just laughed hysterically all over again as I typed this)



Another memorable experience we had in Texas was getting pedicures. On our way to the salon I told Buffy about how the guy who did my last pedicure was excited to give me a free flower. He sure did give me a flower. He gave me three on each big toe! And they were huge. I hated to do it, but I asked him if he could just narrow it down to one flower and remove the others. He hated me, but he did it and I was happier. We wondered why nail people sometimes go crazy with embellishments. But then we forgot about it as we relaxed and talked in those massage chairs.


We must have impressed these nail ladies, because they too generously gave us free flowers...except we didn't even know they were doing it. At first I noticed that she had given me a rhinestone. "Okay," I thought, "one rhinestone would be fun." Then she pulled out the white flower...then the black dots...followed by more white dots. They did a similar thing to Buffy's big toes. We could hardly contain our laughter as we remembered the discussion on toe flowers just a few minutes before. This time I didn't have the guts to say anything about the lovely flower, and yes, I am aware that I have a very large big toe. Brian teases me about it all the time.

So here they are. We call them our "jazzy" Texas toes. I complimented Buffy on how cute her feet were, this was before our pedicures, and she looked down at mine and said, "...because they look exactly like yours." Don't they look really similar. This reminds me of having "who's feet are cuter" arguments with Katie. I didn't even know Buffy was my foot twin, but aren't her feet cute? ; )

On my last day there we went to their neighborhood pool and afterwards had a fun photo shoot on the lawn. You know I always love a good photo shoot.

I had so much fun with these two! Buffy and I stayed up late every night talking and catching up on SYTYCD and The Hills. We had some good food, besides ice cream, and I loved seeing their house and their cute little town. It definitely made me realize that I could maybe move somewhere else.

Thanks Ian, for this fun little trip. I had a blast. Thanks Buffy, for being my friend. I am so glad that I needed honey that one day. Do you realize that I needed honey for the pizza that I made while at your house. Full circle. I'm glad like a couple of litlte girls we realized that we could actually be "friends forever". (It's true, we had this discussion...and I love it!)

Look at this sweet sad face. She got really upset when she found out I was leaving. It was so precious. It made me so sad to leave my friends. I love them all and I'm so glad I got to go spend time with them. Except there's one bad thing that resulted in my visit. Now I'm sad all over again that they're gone...

...and also I am now an ice cream snob...