Quick Trip to Utah

We went to Utah a few weeks ago for a long weekend. We packed a TON in in a few short days and had an awesome time. Christian tubed down the Weber River, we spent a day at Cherry Hill water park (while my MIL, JoLynn generously watched our kids which made this the highlight of the trip for me), rented jet skis at Pineview Dam, Christian played golf with his brothers and brothers-in-law, I ran a 10K at the Farmington Festival Days, we ate at the yummiest restaurant in Bountiful (Sego Lily), had a picnic and games at the park, and squeezed in lots of chatting and hanging out. Oliver loves his Bell cousins and just seems to pick where he left off the last time he was with them. Its weekends like this that make us really wish we lived closer to family.

Natey, Anna, Abby, and Ollie.

Playing marbles with his cousin Benny who broke his leg a few days before we got there.

The fam at Pineview.

Don't look to closely at this one- it's scary. The 10K course was really beautiful and the weather was perfect. I would highly recommend this race to anyone and hope to be able to run it again.

Coda Comes to Town and Celebrating the 4th

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I blogged! Ahhhh!
My aunt Jana and her daughter, Kailey drove through Albuquerque a few weeks ago on their way to Utah and stayed a night with us. It was really fun to catch up with them. Jana gives a whole new meaning to the word dog-lover with her little bijon frise named Coda. Oliver followed Coda around EVERYWHERE for the whole 10 hours they were here screaming, "Coda, where are you, Coda, come here, Coda, where are you...??!!" The day before Jana and Kailey came, Oliver was running around the house with one of his blankets and tripped and fell. Neither Christian nor I was there to see the tumble, but we're pretty sure he hit his head on the fireplace where we found him. We took him straight to the doctor and the poor little guy had to get three stitches right in the middle of his forehead. It was so heartbreaking to hear him scream and cry when they were stitching him up.

We had a great 4th of July this year. We had 2 families from our ward over- the Lee's and the Wagner's. The kids played in our kiddie pool outside while the adults chatted and BBQ'd steak and chicken. Christian made his icnreasingly famous homemade salsa and guac and they were definitely a hit with our guests. After dinner, we had a miniature fireworks show in our backyard. It was a really fun day and I'm really grateful for this free country that we live in.

Coda

Amelia on the 4th

Oliver and Makenna. Right under the bandaid are the stitches.

Me, Kristie, and Kim.

Enjoying the fireworks show.

Can't do the 4th without sparklers...

My Little Sweetkins

It's been a long time, I know. But, here we are again. Anyway, I'm sitting here writing this as Oliver is screaming in time out (for screaming at me), but yesterday, I swear, I was sure I had the sweetest kids in the whole world. I know everybody says that, but I'm pretty sure that Heavenly Father knew I couldn't handle hellions and decided to send me two angelic kids. I was so tired yesterday afternoon and just as I was about to lie down for a little catnap, Oliver decided he was done with his. Ugh. So, I said to him, "Oliver, Mommy is so tired, can I take a little nap and can you just be really quiet for a little while and when I wake up, I'll read you a story." Sure, Momma," was his reply. I wasn't expecting much quiet. I mean, the kids 2 1/2 years old. Does he even know what quiet means? Apparently. He didn't even make a peep, but kept coming to "check" on me to see if I was awake. Amelia is seriously the world's best baby (besides Oliver who really was the easiest baby ever). She never cries, sleeps so well, and gives the sweetest little smiles if you even so much as glance at her. Oh, I could just eat them!


Oliver went to this fun b-day party a little while ago. Here are all the kids lining up to hit the pinata.

All the kids made these crowns and the plan was to launch water balloons between these two "castles" where the kids were divided in to teams, but the lightning outside didn't want to let that happen.

This is how I found Oliver sleeping the next day. He refused to take his crown off.

Amelia is usually found sticking her tongue out. This picture made me think of that Maori facial expression:



Not only does Oliver LOVE to cuddle with his Mommy and Daddy, but he also loves a little snuggle time with baby Amelia.