Our Baby

We went in for our 19 week ultrasound today for a look at our baby. (If you didn't know that we are having another baby this is our announcement: we are having another baby.) We got a good look at the baby and even a few ultrasound videos that are pretty funny to watch. This one is our favorite. The funny part about this is that it seems like this little beast is kicking the living crap out of me but I really can't feel it that much. It just feels like little taps when you're as tough as I am. (You can't hurt steel baby.) Any way this was just a fun little clip, and now if you want you can guess what we are having. I'll give everyone the answer the next time I post. Until then, enjoy this clip of our soccer player.

A street party and a wedding

Last Saturday was my parents street party. As I was growing up, we never had a street party but the neighbors began having one a few years ago and each year it seems to get better and better. It was so much fun to see all of my old neighbors together and there was so much food. They also had a live band, some of the neighbors danced, hula hoops everywhere, a bounce castle (Mckinley's favorite.) and my dad's dutch oven cooking. It was pretty cold and windy but it really didn't stop a lot of people from coming and even staying late to listen to the band.

Then on Sunday, we went to a wedding up in Beaver canyon. The bride is one of my mom's students and so my mom and I did a musical number during their ceremony. It was a Christian wedding that reminded me so much of when I was a little girl marrying off my Barbie dolls. They really couldn't have picked a better spot for an outdoor wedding. The picnic area was so beautiful and sheltered from the wind. There is a bridge over a pretty big river that we had to cross to get to the place where they held the ceremony, and you could hear the river rushing the entire time we were there. It was really so beautiful, I'm so mad I forgot my camera, but it's ok because we are going back for an overnight camping trip with JJ and Valeena when it warms up. (They just don't know it yet haha.)
After the ceremony, a dinner was served. It was very different from any other wedding dinner I've been to because the food was a long line of authentic Mexican food. The grooms family made the food and they were each standing by, serving their specialty. They served things I had never tried, like two different kinds of Mole, (David and I loved the green kind.) Rolled Tacos that they were deep frying in a huge fry pot over coals, Spanish and sweet rice, Enchiladas, homemade guacamole, and homemade flan which was amazing. There were a lot of things we didn't know the names for, but we tasted just about everything and loved it all. It was a lot of fun.

Mckinley getting kicked out of primary Part 2

I'm not smiling as I'm writing this. I'm documenting this very well so that when Mckinley has children of her own that are hellions, I can refer her to this post, (And all the ones we have to look forward to I'm sure.) and show her how naughty she was as a three year old.
Yesterday Mckinley was taken out of primary by the primary president not once, but twice. The first time she was jumping around from chair to chair, and being very noisy, so the Primary president took her out kicking and screaming(that's the part I'm most embarrassed about. The primary president seemed pretty shocked at the fight that a little three year old can put up. It is pretty impressive, I admit.) into the hall and talked to her about being reverant in primary. After she had calmed down, she asked Mckinley if she could be reverant if they went back in and of course, Mckinley responded "yes." So they went back in where Mckinley immediately violated the agreement by behaving in the exact same way.
So the Primary President came to Relief Society and Mckinley yelled for me through the door to get my attention. Mckinley was anything but remorseful when I came out. She was happy and smiling, just as if she was saying, "Hey mom! There is a PARTY going on in there! You should come check it out! " I told the primary president that Mckinley gets this behavior from the same person who gave her red hair. Haha! Apparently, I am meant to be a permanent fixture in primary now. At least until my child learns to be reverant.....which could take a very long time:(

Late Memorial Day update

I know it was a week ago now, but I wanted to write a quick note about Memorial day. In my family, we always have a BBQ where all my cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents get together. The food is always really good of course and it's so fun to catch up when everyone is all together. My cousin Caleb was at the grill this time around and did a good job with hamburgers and hot dogs. My dad cooked some great dutch oven potatoes, and my Aunt Vicky always makes baked beans that would make anyone who hates baked beans change their mind.
My cousin Annie and her Husband Nick had just gotten back from a Carribean Cruise the day before, without their two boys. Their youngest boy, Ian, who is four or five, was mad at them for leaving him for a week, and said he wanted to get his parents recycled. So Annie and Nick were working on building back up their friendship with Ian and were taking their boys to "Night at the Museum 2." But before they could go, Ian had to eat this hot dog. I thought these pictures were so funny, especially because they were taken a few minutes apart. If you look at the hot dog, it hasn't changed much in any of the pictures and you can just see Ian's five year old mind trying to figure a way out of this mess.

Oregon!

Last weekend, David went to Ashland, Oregon to help his sister Stephanie move. Of course, we forgot to send the camera with him, but he said it was really beautiful up there. As David was telling me some things about the trip I thought the highlight for me was this: Apparently in Ashland there is a natural water fountain where the water has an unusually high amount of minerals in it. Stephanie took David in a non deviant way by the water fountain and pretending like she had never tasted the water before she took a drink and said, "wow, that's amazing, Dave, try this water." So of course David took a nice long drink, after which he tried to spit it all out. He said because of the high sulfer content of the water it tasted exactly like rotten eggs. I was laughing so hard when he told me about this because Steph has been wanting to do this to someone the whole time she has lived there. David is the best for jokes like this, and he doesn't hate you afterward so he's pretty fun.
On the drive back from Oregon in the moving truck, David and Steph got a flat tire just outside of Elko and had to wait a couple of hours for someone to come with a new tire. (apparently they don't include a spare with moving trucks because it is a liability for the client to put a tire on.)
David flew home on Memorial Day which I will talk about in my next post. With a few pictures by the way! Shocking, I know.

Why do I always forget my camera?

We have had a fun few days this past week. On Saturday morning we went to St. George to go to Freis Farmers Market. We were in the market for apricots for canning, but they didn't have any just yet, so we settled for fresh Corn and beets. MMMM! Then we went to lunch at the downtown St. George Pizza factory. I have memories of my Grandma and Grandpa Jackson taking us there when we would go swimming at their condo. They sat us in a booth which used to remind me of a train for some reason. Around Pizza Factory is an old shopping village that we walked around in for a bit. Next time we want to try the open air soup and sandwich shop. We wanted to do something that Mckinley would think was fun, so next we went to the park on tabernacle street where they have these water fountain things around the park that little kids can play in. There is a little river with big boulders in it that kids can climb around on and play in the water, and then there is a geyser pad? like at the gateway mall. Mckinley preferred the stream but she did run through the geysers twice with her daddy. Red Robin was there, and when Mckinley saw him she ran up to him and gave him a hug. She was so excited that she started jumping up and down, which the robin did too. We thought it was so cute because she seemed so enchanted about it. It was an impromptu park visit for us so we didn't have Mckinleys swimming suit or a towel or anything, and I'm pretty sure that Mckinley was the only one there wearing a dress. When she was soaked to the bone, we put her in the car and went home.
Later, as we were doing yardwork, one of our neighbors came over and asked us to participate in a photo shoot for Deseret Book. Hahaha, we did it, but the funny part was that it was for a Christmas story. So we were dressed up in winter Christmassy clothes as it was like 90 degrees outside. We sang Christmas carols and were really feeling the Christmas spirit for about an hour.
The next day, Mckinley gave her first talk in primary about Jesus being baptized. She had practiced so hard on it and had colored a really pretty picture to display, and she was very worried that the primary leader was going to forget about her turn. When they said "now we will turn the time over to Mckinley for a talk", she yelled, "I'm right here!" We were so proud and I thought she would be shy about talking into the microphone but of course, what was I thinking, she is not shy.

A new adventure with training wheels

Last Halloween, Mckinley got a new bike. Davids boss had been bombarded by neighborhood trick or treaters, so instead of candy, he gave her a bike. So as soon as it started to warm up, we went and got training wheels and a little kid helmet. And the next day it rained...all day. And the day after that was a Sunday. Anyone who has kids knows what it's like when your kids get excited about something and then you tell them, "but not until Monday." It was a very long weekend.
Finally Monday came and it was time to try out Mckinleys skills with her new bike. She was so excited. She got really frustrated though because she couldn't figure out how to make the bike do what she was trying to do. She just wanted to ride and have the bike read her mind, is that so much to ask?
The next picture was taken the next day. She was pretty mad again and was ready to leave her bike down the street and walk home. It's hard to see but she is walking away, very defensively folding her arms.
But the story has a happy ending. She got back on her bike and has been working very hard to learn how to steer. (pedalling plus steering together equal major tantrums.) So look out world!