Happy Birthday Lydia

(still catching up from July!)


My tiny little Lydia is now a big 3 year old! We celebrated her birthday with a butterfly themed party for the family. My brother's kids came over earlier in the day to be tended, and we made butterflies out of paper towels for decorations. I also made a butterfly cake. Thanks to all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins for coming and spoiling her with all the cute gifts!

We love our Lydia-bug so much. She is so much fun. I love to hear the things that come out of her mouth. She seems to say whatever she is thinking, and give play-by-plays of everything she is doing. She loves singing and dancing, tickles, silliness, Dora and Diego, playing with Elise and sometimes Tyler, books at bedtime, coloring, fruit snacks, her ducky, puzzles, and so many more things. She is still below the 1st percentile on the pediatrician's chart, for both height and weight, but she is healthy and happy, just tiny. We are so glad she is in our family!

St. George Trip

My plan is to catch up my blog, so if you are reading this, you have to endure things that are almost 3 months past!

We went to St. George over the 4th of July weekend with my parents and a couple of my brothers. My uncle Carlton has a condo there that he graciously lets us use. We usually go in February but this year it was July. It was really warm, but it was fun. This was definitely Elise's idea of a vacation because she got to go swimming 3 whole times! A better mom than I would have taken her swimming all summer long to her heart's content, but it's kinda stressful with 3 kids (one of them a baby) and only 1 mom.
Other highlights of the trip:

We stopped in Historic Cove Fort on the way down. It was the perfect stop to stretch our legs, and I was able to feed Tyler while we sat in the dark watching a video about the site.

My parents tended all the kids while we went to the St. George Temple.

We took a tour around town, with tour guides dressed as early residents of St. George.

We saw dinosaur tracks at the Dinosaur Discovery museum. Well, most of us did. Lydia fell asleep during the educational movie.

We drove the route of the St. George Marathon, so Marianne could see the big hill (she is in training).

My mom and I stopped on the side of the road and painted pictures of the landscape with my mom's watercolors. Hers was serious art, in my opinion, even though she says she's out of practice. Mine was just for fun (but I wish I could remember where I put it). Elise and Lydia also made masterpieces with markers.

We celebrated my dad's birthday. My dad is awesome.

We ate at a horrible restaurant (all my fault, I picked it). I wish I could remember what it was called, but it was a hotel restaurant and the menu was overpriced and had so few choices it was almost funny. Lydia fell asleep before her food came out. Apparently she was very tired on this trip!

We sat on the driveway of the condo and lit fireworks. We didn't keep the kids up to see the actual firework show.

Eric caught a frog and tricked Elise into kissing it (he moved the frog just as I took the picture so she was actually kissing it instead of just pretending). Brothers!

My Brother's Wedding

My brother Alan and his wife Dani got married at the end of June. My parents held an open house the night before at their home. My mom did a great job planning everything and the food was awesome. It was supposed to have been outside, but fortunately they moved it inside because there was a major downpour that night. When the rain stopped, there was a nice double rainbow outside.

The wedding and reception the following day were very nice as well. Dani asked Elise to be a flower girl, which Elise was very excited about.

The food was great, but the live band and dancing at the end were the best part. I don't think I've ever had so much fun at a wedding reception. We kept our kids up way too late, but they were surprisingly well behaved.

Bachelorette Party

In June, my brother Alan married his long time girlfriend, Dani. I think she is a great addition to the family. One of the more memorable events surrounding the wedding was Dani's bachelorette party. We had an awesome dinner at Dani's sister's, and Dani opened some blush-inducing gifts (or maybe it was the funny comments from her grandma that made her blush). Then we went to a dance studio in Sugar House to learn some pole dancing. (No, I'm not kidding.) A while back there was a running joke among some women in my ward about doing pole dancing lessons as an Enrichment Night. I would totally support that activity. It was hysterical, and more athletic than you might think!

Luau 2009

Continuing our annual tradition, we invited our families to a luau this spring. We always have kalua pork and rice, and then our guests bring tropical side dishes. This year I also made Haupia, which is like stiff coconut pudding. The recipe I tried had a bottom crust, and turned out really yummy.
My favorite new invention of the year was this strand of "lei lights". The idea just sorta formed in my head and it turned out to be really easy and cute. All I did was take apart a couple of cheap fabric leis from the dollar store, and poke a Christmas light bulb through each flower.
Another highlight was my grandpa showing up in an aloha shirt, a big departure from his signature white dress shirt. It was awesome.

Dance Recital

Elise and Lydia just finished the year of dance with their cousins McKenna and Savannah at Mike's sister's studio.
Their dance recital was fun for us as parents to watch, and we appreciated the grandparents joining us.
Elise took beginning tap dancing this year, and she danced to "Rockin' Robin" at the recital. She loved her costume with the long red fringe and the feathers in her hair. She did a great job learning and remembering almost all of the steps.


Lydia's 2-3 year old ballet class was so cute to watch. They were "sunflowers" with black and yellow costumes, and danced to Vivaldi's "Spring" (thank you Liz for helping me identify the song). In the beginning of the dance they "grew" out of giant flower pots.
Lydia participated in the class all year, and danced at the dress rehearsal, but she froze during the actual recital. She hid inside the pot until she was lifted out, and then she didn't do a single twirl or plié. If you ask her about dancing at the recital, she freely admits "I didn't." She just stood there looking adorable!


(at the dress rehearsal)

Mother's Day in Green River

On Mother's Day weekend we drove down to Green River, Utah, and stayed in a KOA Kabin. It was a really cute bare-bones log cabin with a bunkbed and a double bed and that's it. Tyler slept in the pack'n'play. Actually "slept" isn't the best word for what Tyler did, compared to what he does at home. I am hoping our upcoming camping trips this summer are more restful. Other than that, we couldn't have asked for a better family trip.

Mike had his first Dutch oven cooking experience. It was a chocolate cakey thing which turned out really yummy, despite being cooked on an incline (oops!). We plan to do more Dutch oven experimenting in the near future. Right before we left home, we made our own charcoal starter out of a #10 can and it worked great.

That Saturday, we drove to Goblin Valley. It is an awesome place for kids to hike around and explore, as long as you keep an eye on them. There are boulders and "goblins" of all sizes and Elise and Lydia loved climbing on them. Lydia had no fear of falling, and time after time she would try to lower herself down from dangerously high ledges by simply sliding on her belly, feet first, the same way she climbs out of her 2-foot bed. Luckily we caught her each time, and nobody was injured.


My brother Dave and his family were there as well, and Elise and Lydia loved having their cousins to play with.

We also took a few scenic drives to some petroglyph panels at Nefertiti Rock and Black Dragon Canyon, and saw Crystal Geyser (well, we saw the pipe of Crystal Geyser, which didn't erupt or even bubble during the hour we spent there, darnit!).

Tyler is 5 months old!

I can't believe how much can change in 5 months. Tyler is so FUN lately. He coos and smiles and giggles like crazy. Back when Mike and I were dating, Mike would tell me I was a "magnet" when it was so hard to say goodbye at the end of the day. Well, it must run in the family, because Tyler is now my little magnet. When I swaddle him in his crib, he goes through his most charming little repertoire of wiggles, giggles and coos, maintaining eye contact, and sucking me in so I won't leave right away. It's so CUTE!
Lately all Tyler wants to do is put things in his mouth. His thumbs and fingers, blankets, toys, his binky (to play with, not to suck), my hair, and his newly discovered feet.
He learned how to roll from his back to his tummy right before he turned 4 months, and now every time we lay him down on the floor that's the first thing he does. I took a little video of him doing this. (But don't listen to me talking, I sound like I'm training a puppy: "Roll over! Good boy!)

Happy Easter

Dang those UV rays

I got sunburned yesterday.
Bad.
This morning Tyler won't smile at me, he just gives me this who-is-this-red-faced-freak-and-what-has-she-done-with-my-mother look.
It's been years since I got this red (almost blistery), because I am usually either really good about sunscreen, or I seek shade because of the heat of the sun. Yesterday was like the perfect sunburn trap, because it was so nice outside, the sun was not unpleasant at all, and because I wasn't planning to be out in it for so long, I didn't even think about sunscreen. How my children escaped with just a little blush on their cheeks is a mystery and a blessing. Maybe Mike's side has more forgiving skin genes. I would feel terrible if they were as burned as I am.

I usually don't post horrible pictures of myself, but for some reason I prefer blog posts that include a visual aid.