Welcome Summer!

One of my favorite things about summer are good weather, good food and good company! We often go to Hagerman so Dennis can get some work done and to have yummy BBQ with my dad.

Yes, May looks delicious in her cute orange sherbet outfit from Auntie Donielle, but she's not on the menu. ;-)

Billy Idol Smile. :)

There's no keeping this girl out of the water.

Funny story about this tree... Hagerman got hit with 80 mph winds last week and a lot of trees blew down, including this one. After Dennis and Dad cut off the big limbs I guess it slowly just stood itself back up from the weight of the root ball. Crazy!

Dad's outhouse got smooshed. :(

There's my man... The lumberjack!

A Day In The Life...

Get Dressed...

Put glasses on...

Get undressed....

Check on Maylee...

Wait for the garbage truck...

Take a nap...
Or not...

Okay, really take a nap this time...

Watch Shawn the Sheep (while doing anything but sitting "normal"...)

Make sand castles with baby formula...

Make sand castles with cloud dough... (We added about 3x as much baby oil so that it would stick together better... And get less on the floor!)

 

Give everyone hugs and kisses goodnight!

Baby Smiles

May started smiling, cooing and even laughing a couple weeks ago... I love little baby "aaah's"!

She has the most awesome Billy Idol one-sided smirk!

2 Months Old {Maylee}

I forgot to post this one...

11 Questions

My friend, Kayla tagged me in one of these chain mail thingys... Can't disappoint! 

11 Questions: Post these rules
Post a photo and eleven random things about yourself
Answer the questions provided by the one who tagged you
Create eleven new questions for the people you tag
Contact those you choose and let them know they've been tagged

  Photo courtesy Dough Maughan... 2007

11 Random Things About Myself:

1. I love CSI. CSI-Twin Falls... I could go to school there forever! (Oh wait... I already do!) See the picture above? That was from a photo shoot for my honors class. They wanted more pictures to use for marketing. It was right after practice. I forgot my makeup. These pictures are ALL OVER CSI STUFF. And all I had was pink lipstick in my car that I threw on my lips and tried to rub on my cheeks. And yes, that's a duffel bag. I forgot a backpack too. :-P See here. And here (2007-2008.) As well as numerous pamphlets, catalogs, course schedules, and (my favorite) a GINORMOUS banner that they hung in the mall... I really wish I wore makeup for that shoot!

2. Cheer was life from about 2002-2008. I cheered at CSI. They still use my picture for that too. See here (page 16). I'm just a local celebrity. Ha!

3. I hate getting my picture taken.

4. I LOVE taking pictures. I bet you didn't know that... ;-)

5. I overuse :)  ;-)  :(  lol hahaha hehehe jajaja (that's Spanish) and "..." but refuse to talk in "text" (c u l8r, hey q t, etc.) because it will ruin my spelling. (haha! There I go again...)

6. I hate shopping in the traditional sense... But I am in heaven at second hand stores & yard sales... Especially when they are my same 9.5 shoe size! SCORE!

7. I eat kid cereal for breakfast every day (okay, sometimes I have a toaster strudel) and I can often be found drinking juice boxes. 

8. I'm slow at running, eating, packing, writing, grocery shopping, driving, changing diapers, answering voicemail and almost everything else but typing and giving talks in church.

9. No matter how hard I try I always type because: becuase and especially: expecially. I can never remember how to spell recommend (only one c! ugh!) either. And is it disc or disk? And all grammar goes out the window when I blog... Like starting a sentence with a conjunction. And sentence fragments. It pains me to read my own writing... But I guess that's just how I talk. 

10. I'm half Canadian.

11. One of my ears sticks out much farther than the other... Something I never realized until high school. Now I'm self conscious about it. You could totally see my mutant ear in the ginormous banner at the mall.

1. If you could live one day over again, what day would it be?--- Our
   "honeymoon" trip to Yellowstone. We just kind of drove wherever, with little plans other than to be together. I loved everything about that carefree trip... Except maybe when we rented a canoe and tipped over into the river. I think that may be the only time in our relationship where I was legitimately mad at Dennis. He promised we wouldn't fall in!
2. What is one thing you miss from your childhood?--- The magic of Christmas, Easter, sparklers on the 4th of July, etc. I can't wait for my children to be old enough to believe in magic. :)
3. If you had 24 hours to live what would you do?--- Have all my family visit and take them to a really yummy Chinese restaurant and try everything on the menu... Because I always get the same thing: beef & broccoli or sweet & sour pork.
4. If you had to eat one thing the rest of your life, what would it be?---Horchata. Really sweet, not too much cinnamon syrup, with lots of ice.
5. Favorite date night with your husband?--- I was thinking about this the other day and I'd have to say my birthday a few weeks before Dennis & I got engaged. He took me to the pavilion at the rose gardens and brought a boom box.  We danced... among other things. ;-) It was something straight out of one of those chick flicks that I love to watch. Don't you love it when life is like a chick flick?
6. Salty or sweet?--- Sweet... Like candy in the candy jar, treat basket, candy drawer, every purse, backpack, coat pocket, nook and crannie in my car kind of sweet.
7. What is one of your favorite memories from high school?--- Every day of Senior Year in McCall. I have never had so much fun in my life. It's so cheesy, but I also learned so much about myself and what makes life beautiful... I don't keep in touch with my McCall friends enough but I am so grateful for the short time I got to spend with them!
8. What would be your dream vacation?--- I would love to go to Central/Sounth America with my husband one day. Somewhere we could speak Spanish and I can eat a ripe mango right off the tree. I don't care about the beach and shops and tourist stops (except maybe some Mayan ruins). I want to see real life and all it's shocking, sad, yet beautiful truth. I'd love to do a humanitarian project. I would love to take my cameras and not be afraid of them getting stolen.
9. What is one thing that always makes your day better?--- "I love you, dear" or recently... "I love you, mommy"
10. What is one thing you love about yourself?--- Wow. This is a hard question. I suppose I like that I derive happiness from other people's happiness. I like to make people happy. :)
11. What is your biggest fear?--- Just one? Water. Aliens. Momma cows. Diabetes (See #6).I'll finally finish writing this then my computer will die... 

Mary Wade & Rachel Elder... Go! Or not if you're too busy... Totally understand!!! But I take great enjoyment from reading about either of your lives. :) I'm just a blog-stalker that way...

Clara says the darndest things...

I've been writing this  post since about the time May was born, adding a few phrases each week. I'm glad I started writing these down because she's already stopped saying some of these and as I read through them they make me chuckle. I wish I had audio clips too, because many of them aren't so much what she says, but how she says it!

"Juice?/Chokate?/Chips?/etc Good idea?... Huh?"

Clara: "Claras need go walk?"
Dennis: "No Clara, it's really cold outside right now"
Clara: "Car seat then?"

Clara: "Claras wants some milk please"
Me: "Okay, I can get you some milk..."
*She follows me to the kitchen and cocks her head to the side with a smile...*
Clara: "How 'bout some chokate milk???"

The missionaries were leaving the house after dinner one evening...
Missionaries: "Bye Clara!"
Clara: "Bye kids!"

After a confirmation in the branch she stood up and exclaimed (rather loudly):
"Good job guys!"

After hymns & prayers... "Yay!"

"Clara, do you want some peaches?"
"Yes, I am!"

After dropping something...
"I do that?"

After throwing something on purpose...
"Oops!"

"one, two, free, fauw, five, six, evan, eight, nine, ten, evan, eight, nine, ten, evan, eight..."

After spilling juice on her shirt...
"Clara's wet! Clara's shoowt wet! Clara's... Soakin'!"

"Look at me!"

"No. More. Mon. Keys. Jump. In. On... COUCH!" (as she launches herself off the back of the couch to the cushions below)

"Oh goodess!" (Something I'm afraid she picked up from her mom)

While saying the blessing at dinner... "Pease bess May. Pease bess Aunt Donielle. Pease bess Jace's mom. (Donielle & Jaces's mom... one in the same) Pease bess Clara. Pease bess Pedro (the cat) Pease bess... The carrotts!" (and then continues to bless every food on the table...)

"Can't lock door open!" ...When she can't open the door

Hot dogs are "dog dogs," Rock Chucks are "chuck chucks," and every tractor she sees belongs to grandpa John.

"and a moo moo here, and a moo moo here, and a moo moo here..."  It's the song that never ends...

"I'll be riiiiiiiight... back" She takes about 20 seconds to say these 4 words and enunciates every sound. I think it's cute.

"Hey momma... Whatcha doin'?"

"Careful!" ...any time she's about to do something dangerous.

And my favorite... "Mom, you wook hot!" (I think she was referring to the temperature, but I'll take it as a compliment!)

Clara's First Haircut

On Monday we decided it was about time we did something about Clara's mullet hair-do she's been rocking lately.

 

I've loved her sweet little curls, especially when they're up in lil' piggy tails, but it was about time we evened up her hair a bit... Just in time for warm weather too.

We took her to Great Clips and it was SO worth the $10 to not have to deal with a wiggly 2 year old by ourselves! Plus, when there are strangers around she's shy and actually holds still! Amazing!

Where did my little girl go?!

I was ecstatic that Clara was finally able to see again!...

 She was just ecstatic to get a sucker.

Matching!

Grandma Teri got the girls some adorable matching outfits for their birthdays. May finally fits in hers so they got to wear them on Sunday.

Unfortunately neither of them were interested in getting a picture together. :(

Nor were they interested in getting a picture with me. :(

I'm not sure who may is flipping off in this picture, but she was getting tired of being toted around the yard while I attempted to wrangle her sister with one hand.

Oh well. We'll just snap one with the crying baby while Clara runs away to the neighbor's porch... 

We have GOT to finish the fence!