Coconino National Forest

I LOVE SUMMER! Even more so, I love the month of July... cuz this is when my crazy family gets together. My family is scattered from Idaho down through Utah, Nevada, Arizona all the way to Colombia. So when we get together we really try to make the most of it. Funny thing is we waste no time falling back into the pattern of playing, teasing, stinking, and eating! How else would camping be fun?

This year we drove 12 hours down to Coconino National Forest. 12 hours?!? How was the drive with a 3 year old and a 2 month old? Ask them! I call these pictures... car seat fun.

Okay so it wasn't like this the whole way but really my kids did pretty well. Jaedyn, thanks to Logan library, has a new found love in The Wiggles. (thank goodness for head phones!) Lilia pretty much slept the whole way. I did have to cram back between the car seats for the trip home just to keep binkies in and DVDs playing but wow, I really didn't expect the drive to go as smoothly as it did!

Coolest hike ever!

I wish I remembered the name of this hike but I don't. It was probably the funnest outing up there in my opinion. We bouldered down to a massive natural bridge. Had I known the extent of the bouldering I probably would have left my backpack with it's contents up with grandma and grandpa but luckily we all survived. Actually, Lilia slept the entire hike until we were hiking beneath the natural bridge and the cold water started dripping on her... felt good to the rest of us!
Montezuma's Castle:
Check out the army trees! This bark was so weird!
The castle (and Wes). I was educated on the bush beside him... uh, oops I forgot the name but translated it means stinkie. Wes was surprised to hear that I agreed with that name! I was also educated on the Tarantula Hawk by Shawn on this trip. Totally didn't believe a word he said. It all sounded like one of those tales he spins out of thin air just to make your jaw drop. My jaw dropped when we later got home and he pulled it up on the internet to show me he wasn't joshing. What?!? Look it up sometime... you'll know why I didn't believe a word of it!
Cool castle. I love that Jaedyn is pointing up at it with me! I may not be able to get her to smile for the camera... but she'll pose!

The Petrified Forest

I love it! Look how happy these kids look! HA! It was hot!
Jaedyn posing beside a very expensive piece of old wood. Wow! I could not believe the price on this stuff at the shops!

Playing with cousins

Looooove Sam's hair!

Jeremy got the animal-friendly award. And look at this kid! Isn't he one of the cutest boys you've ever seen?? Heartbreaker for sure.

Slathering on the sunscreen.

Oh and I have to brag on my baby... she slept 10 hours the first night! That was the start of something. Wish it was a little more consistent :)

We had a great time with family and can't wait for the next trip... San Juan Islands??

Be all That You Can Be...

Besides being the slogan for the United States Army, it has also become the theme for Jaedyn's playtime! "It's a bird! It's a plane! No it's superman!" I would add "No, it's all three!" haha. Check her out!

Or maybe it's not so funny. What if Mama's indecision is wearing off on her? uh oh.

Practice Makes Perfect

After practicing on her dolls for the last several weeks, Jaedyn wanted a shot at the real thing... Check it out!

Not bad huh?

Can't get enough of this grin!!!

Tomato Anyone?

SERIOUSLY?!?

Who does this???

Jaedyn wanted to stay in the car "and play" after grocery shopping one day. This is what I later discovered the little sneak had been up to! Good for her!!

2 months and growing...

Lilia: 1 month

Lilia: 2 month

Lilia did really well at her 2 month visit. Jaedyn and I had a little talk about my love for my little girls and medicine that comes via bee sting. I didn't want Lilia's shots to traumatize Jaedyn! She was a good little helper and even ate a sucker for Lilia. She stated the sucker was like medicine cuz it helped her feel better! Quite an impressive thought process for a three year old! I often think Jaedyn is too smart for her own good.

Lilia's stats:

weight: 11 lbs 30th percentile

height: 22.5 in 40th percentile

head circ: 41 cm 80th percentile

What a Weekend!

The 4th of July weekend was a fun and eventful weekend. Have I mentioned I love summer? There's just so much to do! And while the winter holidays are a time for most families to get together, our family gathers together in the summer. We had a whole houseful for the holiday weekend as we blessed Lilia on Sunday, July 3. The blessing was a really simple and sweet one and Lilia was quiet through the whole thing (phew!). I was nervous all day Sunday because she hadn't pooped in 3 days and I was just sure this was going to happen during the blessing and all over her pretty white dress. Instead, she went 2 more days and then destroyed her swing (thank goodness I hadn't laid her on the carpet!) Listening to Chad bless his daughter was a neat experience and I'm so grateful he has lived worthy of the priesthood that he holds. So many people came to show their love and support, Thank you!

My brother and his family are visiting for a month from Colombia... and are homeless here in the states. So we got to have them stay with us during the weekend. What fun it was for the cousins to play! Jaedyn loved seeing them again. They're a good group of kids. Who'da thunk it... my brother done did well.

Jaedyn with cousin Hailey

Shawn's family

At the pool!

On Monday we hit the Hyrum parade with some friends of ours and Jaedyn and Evan looooved it. They were sharing a bag to collect candy and it was really fun to watch them collect it together at first. After a while though Jaedyn wised up. hehe. She let Evan risk his life running after the candy towards moving vehicles and fighting off bigger kids. She stood by and watched, knowing she was going to benefit from his labors! And boy did she! The kids made a haul! Which is no bueno since we're trying to really limit her sugar intake. She just behaves so much better without it and we've noticed despite the little fit when we say "no", is much happier without it! Plus, we can't eat sugar in front of her and tell her "no", so it limits our sugar intake too! Great diet plan huh? Okay, so I've never dieted in my life but this has been good for us (well, it'll be good for her dad once he stops going through withdrawals :)

Whew! Thirsty kids!

The notorious bag of candy

I returned to work this week and ran into a veteran there. He stated that he was unhappy with the way people talk of the war and those who have participated. He said that it made all the difference in the world when people showed gratitude for the sacrifice made by ordinary men so that we can enjoy our peaceful naive lives. I am grateful for my naive life! I'm grateful for the country in which I live, for the opportunity I have had in my life to rise up, become educated, support a family happily and safely, raise this family in a small neighborhood among friends and family. I'm grateful for my freedom, for my religion, for the opportunity to become whatever I want, whenever I choose. I guess I'm even grateful for the weight I need to lose, because I'm not starving and malnourished. Okay maybe not grateful for the additional weight but I am grateful I'm not starving!

Speaking of losing weight.... P90x finally came! Chad promised me back in the fall that I could get this program to lose my baby weight. Well, when I had Lilia and reminded him of this he thought to ask how much it cost (oops) and quickly started backpedaling. But I persisted and he finally got online to check the program out and guess what? He wants to do it with me! In fact, he's the one who placed the order! So, we've done before pictures (no one will ever see these), completed the pretest, and are 2 workouts into the program. Haha. Okay so we have a long way to go, yes it has already kicked our trash. In fact, I wanted to take a picture of Chad laying on the floor last night after the workout with a bowl beside him (in case he lost his dinner) as part of the "before" series. Poor guy. Wish us luck!

Oh Yeah! Jonathan got married!!

FINALLY!

Haha.

The first week in June we took a trip to Twin Falls for my brother's wedding.

Twin Falls, Idaho Temple

Keili's dress... coolest wedding dress ever! I wish I'd have gotten a good close up!

Jaedyn really likes Keili and really badly wanted to hug the beautiful bride as soon as she came out!

Fun, fun... you can see the kids had lots of fun. They loved the rock formations and we could hardly keep them out of the wedding photos! I wouldn't be surprised if they unintentionally ended up as background in several :)

Pool time at the hotel. Don't believe them when they say the water is heated!

And this was too good to pass up. Cousin Andie gained a shadow over the weekend. This is them doing their "exercises" hehe.

These poor cousins don't get to spend nearly enough time together!