Escalante Trip

Over Memorial Day weekend we took our family down to Southern Utah to see some of the amazing sights in and around the Grand Staircase Escalante National whatever Bill Clinton named it. Some of our neighbors were going & had planned a fun filled itinerary that I wasn't sure we could keep up with, but we ended up having a great time. The weather was just perfect, after having been cold, cold, cold here in Northern UT for way too long, and my huge, pregnant self managed to make it through nearly 10 miles of hikes, slot canyons, tours, and chasing the kids. Seeing as how its now late June, I can safely say that NO amount of walking or hiking will ever put me into labor- it just gives me incredibly fat, swollen feet and a sore back. But really- we all had a great time and would love to go back again soon!Grosvenor Arch (inside Kodachrome State Park). We ate lunch here, then went on to some slot canyons where I forgot my camera! A cool slot canyon we found. Easy hike for the kids (ok & the big fat pregnant lady).Bryce Canyon. So pretty!Overlooking the most terrifying stretch of road in the lower 48. Seriously- have any of you ever driven highway 12 between Escalante & Boulder?? Its SO incredibly beautiful, but a terrifying drive. Straight down on both sides!!

The Anasazi Museum & State ParkSeriously- the wierdest museum I've ever been in. The place is FULL of taxidermy animals this guy has caught all over the world. This red striped deer-thing is from Africa & is worth over $60k. Really interesting museum and really, really wierd. The mossy cave trail (just outside of Bryce Canyon).The Petrified Forest State Park. The kids loved it here & we spent over 2 hours on a 1 mile hike because Kenni had to stop & read about all the interesting things that were marked on the trail. They collected a ton of brochures because they swear they are going to do a science project on petrified wood next year. We'll see......
Grandma & Smurfy on the Calf Creek hike. I just loved this picture.

Here's all of us at the top of Calf Creek Falls. A bit of a brutal hike due to the heat (& the size of my kankles), but worth it when we got to the falls. It was so beautiful!

Baby Girl Stuff

Until recently, I've really had a hard time wrapping my head around all this baby girl stuff. It's been NINE years & three boys since I've had the pleasure of dealing with all things "baby girl", and I'm afraid I'm a bit rusty. People keep asking me if I've gone crazy buying things, and my reply has been "Actually, I haven't bought a thing!" I think it was because I didn't actually trust that the fetus I was incubating was indeed female.
Anyway- in the last four weeks, it has finally occurred to me that I will in fact be bringing home a baby girl in less than a month, and I need to get my act together. I've been working diligently on the nursery (pics to come later), and I have finally acquired a few "girly" things. BTW- I have had people ask me if I still have Kenna's old stuff- & the answer is "Are you kidding??? That stuff was growing cobwebs. I got rid of it after the doctor announced for the third time in a row 'its a boy!' "

So, here are a few of my favorite aquisitions- because really, when will I ever get to have this much fun anticipating a baby girl again???? Not until Kenni brings me one & hopefully that isn't for about 20 years.

This was the first gift I received upon discovering that it was indeed "a girl!". My friend Erika had bought them when we were together shopping just hoping they would come in handy. She rushed them over the minute I told her the news. And thank goodness for that! What would I do without a whole box of gymboree princess onesies??????


Here we have the first (& only- until last week!) outfit I purchased for the wee one. I went 'boutique shopping' with my bff from colorado. We are both expecting girls only a week apart- so fun! Anyway- I was trying to regain the use of cognitive speech after discovering how much 'boutique clothes' cost (again, this is all new to me), when I came across this little outfit and I was in love. Luckily for me, it was honestly the cheapest thing in the whole store and only set me back twenty five dollars. I know, that is still a lot of dough for less than 1/4 yard of fabric, but seriously, everything else in there was between 60- 120 big ones. FOR BABY CLOTHES!! eek!


I adore this blanket!!! It was a gift from same bff from colorado & her mom, who have started a new baby blanket business. If you want to see more of them, look on my side bar under "Jaclyn & Brian". (my bff's little sister- she has pics on her blog). It is seriously the softest thing I have ever seen!

Ok, I know my baby will be born into the raging heat of a Utah summer- but I had to have this hat! I imagine some seriously great newborn baby photography that involve the use of it. Rach- be thinking of something amazing!! (no pressure :)

I saw this baby headband at a local boutique & realized that baby headware has come a long way since Kenni was a newborn. When she was little, all headbands were made of lace & had somewhat grandma-ish bows attached. I bought this one mainly as a guide so I could attempt to make some more of my own. I loved it! Now we'll see if I can replicate it.


Ok- well, there's your sneak peek into the world of "baby girl stuff". I can't wait for more! I haven't even covered tutu's, baby legs, bracelets, or anything with "bum ruffles". Oh, there's so much to do- so little time!!!!

The return of "Phil" & other blogworthy news

Yesterday was me & Mr. Wallace's 11-year anniversary. That is craziness. For me, anyway. It makes me feel old. We were lucky enough to sneak away & go to dinner in SLC. I say lucky enough, because it was a school night, and I was supposed to drive car pool to have one child at dance practice, one child at soccer practice, one child at t-ball practice, and then get the kids off to a primary activity. All this, plus I was supposed to attend an HOA meeting where they would be discussing some illegal mtn. bike trail building that's been going on in the neighborhood. The hooligans responsible for this eggregious act will go unnamed, but lets just say one of them sleeps in my bed at night :)
Anywho- back to my big date! Grandma Lesli was so kind to come over & babysit & handle shuttling the kids to their various activities. Also a shout out to Michelle who covered my car-pool duties to dance. SO, with all that, we snuck away for a nice dinner.
Seth brought me home a dozen roses and a surprise gift. When I opened the box, I couldn't stop laughing.
Let me explain.....
When I was pregnant with Kenni, I borrowed a huge body pillow from my sister. Seth couldn't stand it being in our bed at night. He said it was like there were 3 people in there instead of two. Which reminded me of a pregnancy book I was reading at the time where the author named her body pillow "Phil", and called him the "other man" in her bed. So, we named ours Phil also- because that's just a great name for a huge pillow, right?
As it turns out, Seth had gone & bought me my very own Phil, complete with the cutest pillow case I have ever seen.
I swear, when Phil gets retired, I am sewing that pillow case into a skirt. Isn't it to die for? Its ROXY for crying out loud.
Anyway- I have gone four pregancies without my own Phil, and I am so excited to have one now. I slept fabulously last night.
Thank you Seth. I adore you & I can't believe its been 11 years.
Seth follows the tradition of my Dad (which I lOVE!), and gets one red rose for every year of marriage. That's why there's one that's white. 11 roses for eleven years.

Oh,yes. And this was my gift to Seth. Its a huge, mounted, laminated & covered with dry-erase board trail map of Snowbasin. My talented neighbor, Rich made it for me. It is so awesome & Seth loved it. If you are interested in one of your own, check him out at buzzgraphics.net



One more thing......
Noodle FINALLY allowed us to take the training wheels off his bike last week. He has been zipping around the neighborhood ever since. Children beware- he doesn't know how to brake yet.





Oh yes, and Smurfy will NOT allow us to cut his hair anymore. It's getting out of control. If this continues, its going to be a long, scraggly summer for that boy.

The Last Ski Day

Well, its official. Snowbasin shut their lifts down for the season on Sunday, April 18th. I honestly can't believe they made it that long, but thanks to some late-spring storms, things were still going strong. Its our custom to have a big barbeque/tailgate party to celebrate the end of a great season, but this year, some of our dear friends & neighbors were moving away on tailgate day, so we chose to stick around the 'hood & help them move instead.
However, we still managed to sneak a few minutes in between Saturday morning soccer games & the big move to hurry up the mountain & take a few last runs. Most of our regular crew was there. We ate lunch on the patio in beautiful spring weather with the Crowthers, Bonds, Lowders, Gardners & Jones'. My bacon-cheeseburger was seriously to die for & I'm sure added at least 2 pregnancy pounds (when combined with the Dream Bar I chased it with)- but I didn't care. It was a perfect last day of the season.
As you can see, we had the whole fam out & we even got Smurfy up on skis for the first time. He loved it! It was so cute.
Au revoir Snowbasin. Until next year. We'll miss you. (Oh, and if its not too much to ask...... next year more powder please!!!!!)
Yes, it was really, really warm. Not that warm, though. The neighborhood boys thought they would be brave & ride one run shirtless. Oh yes, and one neighborhood man (or large boy.....)

Spring Break Fun

We have had our spring break planned for a little over a year now. The plan was to head up to Grand Targhee with a few neighbors & their families for a bit of spring skiing. We did it last year & it was a blast! However, as the time drew nearer, we all began to fear that there just wasn't enough snow left this year to warrant such a venture. So, as a back-up plan, we decided to head down to Moab & do some camping with the kids. This would be fool-proof, right????
Wrong. The week of spring break dawned a balmy 40 degrees, with chances of snow showers all along the Wasatch Front & into Central & Southern Utah as well.
Which left us with PLAN C.

Since several neighbors & friends were left in the same boat, we all decided to try a "stay-cation" (as Mike L. called it). We headed to a nearby hotel which boasted an "indoor waterpark"- perfect for the awful weather. The kids thought this was the neatest thing since sliced bread- who knew???
This was "game night" at the hotel. Erika brought the standard huge orange bucket full of candy & games. Fun for the whole family!


Whilst in the big city, we also visited the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. Smurf still asks me every day when he can go back to Dinosaurland. I think in his two year old head it was cooler than Disneyland.

The next day Seth took the kids to see "How to Train your Dragon"- another huge hit.
Saturday, we ventured out to the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, a favorite annual tradition. As you can see, its not your typical EASTER- there is much new-fallen snow visible on the ground & everyone was bundled up nice & proper. Still, we had fun. (P.S.- Seth wants me to mention that he skied some fabulous fresh pow on this day, but I have mixed feelings about doing so because that meant I took the kids to the egg hunt BY MYSELF while he was enjoying FRESH POW. So not cool.)Love this picture of my girls :)

Saturday night while Seth was at Priesthood session I took on the Easter Egg dying all by myself with the kids. They had fun, but I was a bit of a crabby patty. I need to loosen up. I just kept yelling at them for cracking eggs & spilling the dye all over the place. That's what (pregnant) moms do though, right? Please say "right".

Sunday was the big day. I took one or two pics of the kids finding their easter eggs, but seriously forgot to take a picture of them in their nice easter clothes holding their baskets. So unlike me......
Blame it on the pregnancy.


Sunday night Janna's kids spent the night at our house & I took them all to the treehouse museum on Monday. (She is still on strict bedrest, so we are all taking turns with her kids). My friend Trish came with me thank goodness because I was not the best at keeping track of all 6 of them by myself.

You may notice that in our group photo out front I am missing my sister's little girl, Lilianne. I took the picture & then went "Wait a second.......there aren't enough kids here!" Sure enough, she was still in the building, wandering around by herself." I am an awesome babysitter.....

Tuesday I fell on the ground exhausted & exclaimed "WHEN, OH WHEN ARE YOU KIDS GOING BACK TO SCHOOL????????"
Thank the dear Lord they went back Wednesday. I had had all the "Spring Break Fun" that I could manage. Until next year of course....

20 inches

I am dying. Quite literally, I am on death's door. And this is all due to a little thing I woke up to this morning. 20 NEW INCHES OVERNIGHT!!!!! Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't appreciate 20 fresh inches, you are free to leave this post now because you won't get it. I mean, its one thing that my spring break was all but ruined by dreadful weather. We had a sub-par snow year this year & I was fine with that, what with me being a buffalo & all. But NOW, in mid-April, the skies have opened and it has been snowing for the last week! So this morning I wake up, its the last day the kids are out of school. I'm laying in bed trying to decide what we should do for the day (Baby Animal Days was on the agenda, but clearly cancelled due to the weather)- when Seth walks in & announces that 20 INCHES FELL AT SNOWBASIN OVERNIGHT!!!! Well, now its all I can think about. Against my mother's (& my doctors) wishes, I have skied all winter & had a nice time, but never really had a fabulous powder day. But now here we are on the very tail end of the ski season, I am fully SEVEN months pregnant, and I just don't think I should be up there anymore. I gave up on the season nearly a month ago.
Until today.....
I am dying to go skiing!!!!
I am way too fat & awkward to go skiing!!!!!
What is a girl to do?????

So I lie there in bed for at least another hour trying to work up the courage to just put on my gear & sneak up for one or two runs. I mean, its perfect. All the kids are home so Kenni can babysit. I could just zip up the mountain & be right back before anyone had time to yell at me for it :)

And then at last I decide....



I guess I'll just have to settle for the memories. No, I didn't do it. This was me last year.
Boooo Whhooooo hoooo!!!!!! (That's me crying now.....)

Photography by Michelle

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I got a fabulous new camera for Christmas. I have enjoyed playing with it & taking random pictures- trying to figure out how it works. However, my good friend Michelle has enjoyed it more. Every time she comes over (no matter what the reason) she picks it up & starts randomly snapping photos of everyone around her. Some are good, some are terrible & some make me want to kill her. But, still, she shoots away, always exclaiming "I love this camera!" I now have a huge collection of these that I'm not sure what to do with, so I'm sticking them here- as an homage to Michelle. I used a couple in my last post, but there are so many more, I thought they needed documentation of some sort.


















After compiling my favorite photos snapped by Michelle, I realized that there conveniently aren't any pictures of HER, so I drove over to her house, rang the doorbell, waited until she answered & then attacked. So, here you go Michelle. This is for all those other pictures you have taken! A little payback!