Our Favorite 3-Year-Old

Our niece finally turned three. I say finally because she seems so much older than three. She's definitely smarter than any three-year-old you know. And cuter. She's the best. We took her to McDonald's for dinner, but mostly for the play place. She gave us directions the whole way there. "Are you sure you're going the right way?" "I think you should turn left." "STOP! I see a play place." Thank goodness she was with us or we never would have made it. She is going through a 'I hate pictures phase' but I really wanted to get her picture at Mcdonald's so Dan told her we had to go home unless she looked at the camera. He's kinda mean but I got my picture. Natalie wanted me to climb through the play place with her and being the cool aunt that I am, I gave her her way. Grossly underestimated the disgustingness of giant play toys. Lesson learned.

Her birthday party was on Friday. She got more presents than I've gotten in my whole life. Dan and I got her a pink mitt and ball with a t-ball set. We got it out the other day and she lasted all of about 5 minutes. I don't know if she'll be an athlete but we're trying really hard. Especially Dan.Natalie hiding from another picture

Natalie kept getting confused when people would call it "my little pony" because it was HER little pony!

We had to sing after she blew out the candles because she got so excited and blew them out as soon as they were lit.
Happy birthday Natalie!

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday lasted 3 days this year. Not bad. On Friday I came home from work with Dan to find a piano sitting in our front room! Happy birthday to me! I've wanted a piano for so long. I use to talk about it all the time but didn't really think I would get one for a long time. (Isn't is beautiful?)

Dan is so good at surprising me. I had no idea he was getting me a piano. I love it! On my actual birthday I woke up early so I could play the piano. I'm so excited to get good at it again, which may take a long time. At nine I went to help the young women fulfill their responsibility of cleaning the church. Unfortunately none of the girls showed up, so two other leaders and I cleaned it by ourselves. Seriously girls, get out of bed. So disappointed.

(I made Dan get up and drive me to the church because It was my birthday.)

After cleaning Dan took me to the mall and bought me a new pair of Jordan's. Love them. He also bought me some new sheet music so I could start practicing on my new piano. Dan wanted to make sure we got a song that he could sing along to. We'll let you know when we're ready to perform. After a little practicing, we watched food network to pass the time until we could go to dinner. We ate at Tucano's which is so YUMMY. (Oh and my parents came too.)

I usually make sure to go the gym before I eat at a place like Tucano's but in honor of it being my birthday, I decided to forgo that tradition and gained several pounds I'm sure. Well worth it though. On Sunday my mom made me a birthday dinner of artichoke chicken pizza (my all time favorite), fruit salad and apple pie. I don't think I've ever had a cake for my birthday. Pie is way better.

(I've wanted to try these forever. Not as good as I anticipated.)
Thanks to everyone for making it such a great day!

the Real deal

Last weekend Dan and I went to a Real Salt Lake game. I really don't know why Soccer isn't more popular in Caucasian dominated countries. Before the game we ate at Spaghetti Mama's. Not bad. We attempted to eat at Joe's Crab Shack but Dan almost died due to the overwhelming fish smell in the restaurant. Caused a little bit of a scene. After dinner we had to walk all the way from the restaurant to the Stadium. (The day before the game my friend Rachel and I had killed ourselves at the gym which made walking a major struggle.) Dan practically dragged me the whole way to the game. It was so painful, but so worth it. The game was awesome. Salt Lake won 1-0, but just barely. It seems like everyone at those games is decked out in Real gear. Not just a shirt or a hat but the whole getup. It's like t-shirt, jersey, jacket, hat, and scarf. Yea, scarf. The guy in front of us bought like 10 scarves and handed one to each of his kids as he walked to his seat. We actually saw several families with scarves, in August, wierd. We even got to meet a soccer expert at the game. Just kidding. But the guy behind us definitely thought of himself as one. I could tell all he did at work was google random soccer facts and scores. Pretty sure he'd never played a day of soccer in his life. He kept throwing in random facts that were completely irrelevant to anything going on. I think eveyone was impressed with his knew found soccer knowledge. So annoying.

(just a little soccer)

(You could win free chicken if you wore that hat or something. Did not prove fruitful.)

Nothin like an A-frame

I am in the Young Women's presidency in our ward. That means girls camp. I was only able to go for a couple days but I am so glad I got to go. The girls in our ward are amazing. They are probably some of the funniest girls I've ever met. We smelled really bad, got really dirty, had tons of fun and made sweet shirts. I sure learned a lot about those girls. First kisses, car accidents, and boys. So glad I'm not 16 anymore. And yes, there is a big difference between 20 and 16.

(They only dropped one person. Good job girls!)

(I am actually the oldest of the three. Surprising I know.)

(Before they got soaked. Nice and dry.)

(Ashly and Amy-Don't ever let Amy take your car to any type of drive-through window, especially at Carl's Junior.)

(Just a little double chin.)

(Made it. NBD.)

Wednesday night, me and Rachel (another leader) slept in the "loud cabin." In the morning Jen (a leader who slept in the "quiet cabin") asked me how I slept and if the girls had been really noisy. I told her they weren't too bad and that I slept really good, I didn't really hear them at all. Then Rachel came over to where we were sitting and Jen asked her the same question. Rachel had slept directly across from me the whole night. She started talking about how noisy and giggly the girls were being and that it finally got to a point where she had to yell to the girls upstairs to be quiet and go to bed. You could say I'm a bit of a heavy sleeper.

Familia!

Seriously so much family. It seems like we haven't been home this whole month. My sister Coleen brought the fam to Utah for a funeral, so I spent the weekend at my mom's playing with her kids Jackson and Lexi. They are most adorable. The best part about having company is I always have an excuse to not go to the gym. The worst part about having company is I always seem to add on a few pounds.

(Jackson's picture smile.)

(So Presh.)

The same weekend my sister was here, Dan's brother Eric and his wife Christy had their wedding reception in springville. It was in her family's backyard which is seriously so gorgeous. Her parents have created their own mini Thanksgiving Point, all by themselves. One day I'm going to be good at DIY projects....one day. They had cookie ice cream sandwiches. I'm really not sure if there is a better invention than cookie ice cream sandwiches. They were so good.

(Dan's sister Shonnee pounded that cookie sandwich in like 3 seconds flat. Good job Shonnee!)

My parents came to the recpetion too:)

(I wish. In real life Dan is only 2" taller than me)

The next weekend we drove with my parents to Las Vegas for Lexi's 1st birthday. Every time my Dad takes us to Vegas he tries to stop at Cove Fort. (This little old pioneer village kinda near cedar city.) Before Dan came along, we were always able to outvote my dad. This year we stopped at Cove Fort. Thanks Dan. But it actually turned out to be pretty cool and I felt good about myself for honoring/learning about the pioneers on the actual pioneer day. We even got little pioneer toys at the end of the tour.

(Dan and I don't always look this sloppy. Just on long car rides and tours at Cove Fort.)

On Lexi's birthday we all went swimming and had cake and ice cream. Lexi had zero interest in opening presents, so Jackson, being the great older brother that he is, opened them all for her. Lexi got her very own birthday cake but I knew she couldn't eat it all so I helped her out.

(Jackson and Lexi)

(Biggest brother Josh. He doesn't normally look like that)

(Big brother Garrett)

(The whole crew in the pool.)

(J-man )

(Birthday girl waiting for Jackson to open her presents.)

(Love the picture cakes.)

Never Again

If you ever need someone to fill a spot on your softball team, even if you just need one more person so that your team can play, even if you can promise that I can just stand there and don't have to do anything...don't ask me to play. A few weeks ago I played with some friends on their softball team because they needed some extra players and this was the result....

This happened when I missed a grounder while playing second base. I also missed a few pop flies and may have slipped in a few accidental swear words for which I have repented. So please help me and help yourself. Don't ask me to play for you.

04 July 09

My favorite day of the year by far, is the 4th of July. Family, Friends, Food, Parades, Swimming, BBQ, what else is there really? This year we went to the Freedom Fest on the Third with all the homies. Dan spent most of the night passing out fliers for Ella Good so I spent lots of time taking pictures and wandering around aimlessly. Lori just might have caught Lauren and I taking a picture without her again. Our friendship seriously almost ended. Luckily I helped Lori realize how childish she was being and she decided to get over it. (I know, we did it again.)

(Lori finally calmed down)

We ended up at hogi yogi for some yoasis and a little bit of a dance party. (Side story...So I'm standing by myself near the hogi yogi entrance watchin my friends lori, ryan, and mindy get down in the middle of the dance party when all of a sudden some kid is standing right next to me. Like so close I could feel his presence. So naturally, I turn my head to see what is so awkwardly close to me and just as I look over, the kid looks up and says, "so000, why are you standing here all by yourself?" (mind you lauren and mark are less than 3 ft away watching this whole scenario) to which I reply, "because my HUSBAND is passing out fliers." He kinda dropped his head and said "OOOOHHHHhhh" yea. oh. check the finger kid, seriously. Thats why we wear them. And cause they look sweet.) Anyway, on saturday we drove up to Logan to watch my most adorable little nephew in the parade. ok he's like 16. He has and job, goes on dates, and can drive but still so cute. He did such a good job in the drumline. So proud Cam! Dan always tells me how much better the Logan parade is than the Provo parade because in Logan, all the floatish things throw out tons of candy. I love the provo parade and nothing compares. Apples to Oranges Dan. They are both great, just in separate parade realms. After the parade we went swimming which was so fun! I needed the sun too so double bonus. My sister Stacie invited us over for a bbq. mmm. Her husband made steaks, chicken, hotdogs, hamburgers, pasta salad etc. I could eat my weight in bbq. On Sunday we spent the day with the Mecham's and had so much fun playing with the grandkids and jumping on the tramp. And guess what, another bbq! Yes! How could this not be your favorite holiday?

(Where is Mindy?)

(excited for the 4th!)

(Here comes Cam!)

(There he is. Second from your left in the first row.)

(The Doug Mecham Clan at the parade)

(Swim Time)

(Bro-in-law at the grill)

(Oh yea, and we saw a sweet sunset on the way home. Much cooler in real life.)