Rewind: 4th of July

India walking in the Centerville Parade!

No More Mullet!

I'm so happy to have hair again.  

Thank you circle of life.

Rewind: Short Stories

Part I

The day started out with the kids helping me pick the apricots, pine cones, and sticks off the ground.  I started screaming when I saw the  "stick" attached to a disgusting, furry body.  Then I freaked Maya out and she started screaming too.  I'm not very brave.

Turns out rats love apricots.  This uggy rat did not run away because its back legs were crushed.  I did not want its carcass in my backyard.  So my cousin, Ashley, caught it and we took it up to the waterfall for its release to nature.

Part II

Later that week, these guys came to visit us!  We sure had so much playing with our favoritest next-door-neighbors in the pool and waterfall!  Love love hug hug and kiss to you Tristan & Andrew. (And a pinch on the butt for you Susan & David).

Andrew liked throwing rocks.

But India did not appreciate Andrew's accurate aim to the back of her head.

Finishing off the day with a best friends hug.

Part III

I let Kysa, Meeka, & India play with my makeup once.  Now they ask everyday.

India kept calling herself a paint-facer.  And we probably won't let her wear make up until she can afford to buy her own.  

We Are the WORST Parents

Just kidding.  Actually, I think we do a really good job.

However, sometimes we forget that we've put India in time out.  And then we forget why we put her in time out too.  Once she sat in time out for 45 minutes, and we only remembered then because we couldn't find her to go to church.  She's so obedient and quiet.  It's amazing how well time out still works.  

You are so cute India.  We will probably forget you again in the future since you are the practice child.

Sorry babe.

No, we didn't run out of paper.

We got rained out of the Bountiful Summerfest the second day. Plus I wanted to save $2 because how hard could facepainting really be? Turns out you actually need real skills. But it was so much juvenile fun!

Brittany painted me some rockin' luscious lips. And I was going for a butterfly on India's face.

Brittany: I was much kinder to your lips than you were to mine.

Bryce sporting the carebear look.

India's masterpiece: Josie who still looks good covered with globs of paint.

Beautiful, mega-talented cousins Meka, Rachel, and Hannah performing songs they wrote at Summerfest.

Maya kept herself happy by dancing and blowing kisses to the cute boy performing with my cousins.

This is what real face painting looks like. India loved the pink cotton candy (yucky), playing at the park, tile painting, and not so much the cultural events.

In the Buff

Maya used to unroll rolls upon rolls of toilet paper for fun. So I started putting our toilet paper on "backwards."  And then I started putting her on the potty and giving her one square to wipe herself. This funny baby is now to the point of undressing herself, putting her potty seat on the big toilet, and then coming to get us to put her on the the throne to do both kinds of business.  

For whatever reason, we think it important that Maya know how to make a mad face on command. She follows her sister's footsteps in her love for dress ups, barbies, and dancing.

Now that Maya has graduated from TPing the bathroom, her new favorite game is throwing everything in the bathtub.  Like all the wipies.  Or library books.  Or important school documents that turn water pink.  

We suck at baby proofing and picking up after ourselves.

Sorry for the nakie photos girls.  You can hate me later.

Vercation

We were supposed to go to the beach in Cali last week.  

But we thought it might be a good idea to penny pinch for grad school.

Sigh.

However, we went to Flaming Gorge with our friends Richard and Amanda and their kiddos for not nearly long enough. We spent a day on the boat, and I came back with a wicked bad sunburn though I relotioned myself at least eight times.  Anyway, so fun and so worth it.

Ammon faced his fear of water and had a great time.

Skipper Morgan

Tubing is waaaaaaaay scarier than waterskiing.
 I screamed the whole time.

Also, I can waterski for 14 seconds.  Go me!

This is my favorite picture of Maya.  She is seething anger through her eyeballs because she is so pissed off that Ammon had her thrown in the 50 degree water. His idea, not mine.  She was mad for hours.

Water babes: India and Kirsten

Playing on a private beach.  Next time I will have to get pictures of the gorgeous scenery. 

 Utah is so pretty!

Maya, not so mad to be in the water now.

Pretty Girls

India wanted rockstar curls today.  That's what we call my three barrel curling iron.  And India is my little rockstar.    She is constantly coming up with fun family "fraditions" (aka traditions).  

Playing with friends is definitely the most important part of her life.  Several times a day she asks me, "So, who is going to play with me now?"  Luckily, we have lots of friends to play with! 

India likes to pretend that her birthmark is shaped like a diamond because she is the diamond princess. 

Today was Maya's first official day in nursery.  And, of course, she loved it!  

Maya's vocabulary grows daily though her favorite words are still "No" and "mine" and "Belle" (family doggie and name of any other doggies or kitties). Hitting and yelling "no" have become a problem, so she sits in timeout ALL THE TIME.  I'm amazed timeout still works.  She folds her arms in the corner for 1 minute.  Sometimes more if we forget.  

 She calls Ammon "da-yee" instead of "dada." And only Ammon can cuddle her to sleep.  Her favorite books are Are You My Mother? and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.  I super love that Maya wakes up, puts all the Barbies in her crib, and plays until someone gets her. She even makes a kissy sound as the Barbies kiss.  

Funny, huh?

Lemonade Rain

Every morning India snuggles in bed with me, so "I" won't have bad dreams.  

After personal prayers, sometimes we talk about what kind of things she can dream about, so she won't be scared.  In the middle of the night, I'm too brain dead to think of anything comforting to say.

This week she decided on her own she would dream about

 lemonade rain.  

Maya Portraits

Finally

I can check professional pictures off my to-do list.

Broccoli Salad

This is my new favorite way to eat broccoli. I use a lot of broccoli (as in, I fill up the bowl --- not sure how much that is) and not as much dressing because I like that barely there taste. You can add whatever tasty embellishments you want.

• Broccoli
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 4 pieces of crumbled bacon

Dressing

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (or miracle whip - blechy)
• 2 TB sugar
• 2 TB white vinegar

Awwww Nuts

I have a problem.

I'm late.

I'm always late.

I was born 2 weeks late and have never been bothered much by it. Inconvenienced, yes. Bothered, nah. Then I married someone who belives if you're not 15 minutes early you're late. Somehow this was never a problem when we were dating. And somehow I never remembered this irritating Ammon for the next six plus some years.

So earlier this year I decided I would make a concentrated effort to start being on time (read: early). And not just to scheduled appointments . . . everything!

But I blew it. Again.

I got an overdue notice from the library today.

Centerville Library will not let me pay in advance for late fines and damages.

I was just trying to be realistic.

And I paid eight bucks for the last redbox movie I rented. (In defense, it took us all eight nights to watch Sherlock Holmes because we'd watch it in 15 minute segments because Ammon was pooped at the end of his 15 hour work days).

The list goes on.

I've become so unorganized and irresponsible.

But I'm not giving up.

Any sage advice?

Cupcakes, Mullet Proof, and Cheating

Cutest cupcake eater ever.

After everyone had gone to sleep, I cleaned the kitchen and found a hole in all (minus one) of the leftover cupcakes. I laughed. And then I frosted them anyway.

3 weeks later: Slight improvements, but still a mullet.

Can you believe I paid money for this? Good grief.

At least my hair is still growing.

We played India's new game Pretty Pretty Princess from Uncle Donald and Aunt Beverly for our Family Home Evening activity.

Now is it sad or funny that Ammon cheated to win?

Or wonderful that someone who hates games and would rather watch basketball will dress up in clip-on earrings for his wife and daughter?

Must Read

Lovely and easy read.

Brilliant. Deliberate. Poetic.

My new favorite book.

Buy it.

For those who still love princess stories.

And I do.

For Grandma

Happy Mother's Day!

We love

Grandma Elizabeth

Grandma Mac

Great Grandma Parker

Great Grandma Garey

and

Great Grandma Clark

The words:

It's always fun when grandma comes, when grandma comes, when grandma comes,

hurray!

She always says the kindest things in the kindest way.

She has a twinkle twinkle smile everyday

Oh when Grandma comes!

Spring brought me bouquets of flowers everyday.

Note:  It should be required for everyone to have hundreds of tulips in their yard.  

Fact:  Mom's tulips did not disappoint this year.  Thank you for letting us live in your beautiful home and take care of your even more beautiful yard.