Denver Girls' Weekend

This past weekend I had the very rare and wonderful opportunity to take a girls' road trip with my mom and sisters (one of which is a sister-in-law, but really a sister, right Christa?). Two of my sisters were running a 10K in Denver, so the rest of us decided the best thing to do would be to drive out and support them, and we were right. Teresa flew from SL, and Kristen drove out from Wichy. (They did awesome in their race, by the way. I want to be them when I grow up.)We had SO MUCH FUN. No kids, no husbands, just US. We did everything we've always dreamed of, like going out to eat, and shopping. We're really not that hard to please. Just give us a little cash, a few days to blow it in, and we're happy.

The beautiful city of Denver.

In case you're wondering, yes, we are used to posing for a living. Have you met our dad and his camera? We figured out a long time ago the best thing to do when the camera is around is just smile and get it over with. Now we are grateful to our dad for all the pictures through the years, and of course all the training.

This is l-r: Teresa (daughter #4), Shayna (#5), Alison (#2), Me (#1), Kristen (#3), our lovely mamacita, and Christa (married to son #1).

Love you guys!!! Till next year....

Bear Lake '09

This past weekend we attended the Price Family Reunion at Bear Lake. It was so fun! I'm depressed that it's over. The entire Dan and Norene Price Family was there! Kristen and Steve came from Kansas, and everyone else was able to be there, too. It was so fun to have my parents, all eight siblings, five spouses and eight grand kids there. We rented a condo and spent Friday at the lake while the weather cooperated. It was supposed to rain all day, but the clouds just kept going around us, so we were able to play on the beach all afternoon. The kids LOVED it! Luke has been begging to go to the beach (or the "be-otch", as my sister Teresa has officially named it. and my dad laughed. what is this world coming to?) and the kids were so thrilled to play in the sand and waves. Bear Lake is truly one of my favorite places in the world. Probably because I was born there, in the beautiful town of Montpelier. I still love it. I'm still a little mad at my parents for moving when I was one.

The guys played a vicious game of Ultimate Frisbee, which Jason is still paying for.

Unfortunately, we weren't the coolest ones at the beach. Close, but not quite. I considered running after these people and joining them, but I didn't bring any twine to tie my stuff to the back. I do have some horns I could donate to them, though.

Saturday was cold, but Jason wanted to take the kids to the beach anyway. It was way too cold to get in the water, so Luke entertained himself by throwing goldfish crackers to the sea gulls and then trying to kill them with a shovel. I don't know where he gets it. Good thing his shovel was made of plastic and the birds were faster than he was. I do not want a stuffed sea gull on my wall.

Jason made a sandcastle in the form of a trout. He is quite the artist.

Abby was a good little girl the whole time, as usual. Our room in the condo had a closet big enough for her pack-n-play crib, so she slept in there just as well as she would at home. Every morning someone would ask if she had come out of the closet yet. Oh, my family.

On Sunday we went to Minnetonka Cave. It was my first time going there and it was amazing! I thought it would be a single cave room you walk into, look around, and then leave. Not quite! There is a sign outside the cave that says, "Warning! Can you handle 72 steep stairs?" More like 72 flights of 72 stairs each. It was quite the journey, especially carrying Abby the whole way! But it was fun. I love caves. My only regret is that we didn't see any bats. Next time, my furry little friends!

I am wearing Jason's shoes in this picture because all I brought were flip flops, in case you are wondering about my freakishly large feet. My feet are freakishly large, just not THAT freakishly large.

And here we are, every one of us! I love my family. Thanks for the fun weekend, Mom and Dad!

I can see clearly now!

So I had Lasik eye surgery in March, as a result of killing a deer in October (thanks, Jason!). I was blind as a bat, so it was a huge improvement, but my vision still never got really CLEAR. It was always just a rat hair foggy, and I couldn't see far away very well. I kept waiting and waiting for it to improve, but finally last Monday I had a follow-up appointment and the doctor suggested that I have a "touch-up". Well, I wasn't sure what I thought about that because honestly, the surgery is just a little bit freaky and I didn't really want go through it again. I was nervous because I thought, if they couldn't get it right the first time, would they really be able to get it right the second time? I mean, there are only so many times they can chop into your eye. But I figured, what the heck, it's just my eyesight. What have I got to lose? ahem. But, I decided on the spur of the moment to just go ahead and do it. I was nervous all week, and finally last Saturday I did it! And I am SO happy to report that I can see! I can see! It worked amazingly. I am so happy and thrilled that I just had to share. If I've been ignoring you in the halls at church, or at Wal Mart, it's just because I couldn't see faces very well, so I've been avoiding looking at people because I'm pretty sure they think I'm looking at them strangly when I give them a weird squint and then look away. Really, it's just because I couldn't be sure who I was staring at until I got up close. But now I have no excuse! If I ignore you, it's because I mean to. And I'm sorry about that.

Belated Yellowstone Post

Well, something about summer makes me a lazy blogger. Probably because there are other things I would rather be doing than sitting at the computer! But I do miss it a little bit, so here is an update on our fun and crazy summer that is winding to a close all too rapidly!

The first big event of summer was Girls Camp. I didn't really get any good pictures from that, but it was really fun. It rained almost the whole time, but the girls were such good sports, and we had a gigantic car port tent thing that we could all huddle under and eat treats together. What more could you want? It was so fun! I love my ward. We have such a good group.

The week after Girls Camp our family took a trip to Yellowstone in our new trailer. It was a great trip and so much fun to be together and carry our house on our back like a pack of turtles. Who all share the same shell. At least that's what it felt like. There's nothing like being able to pull off to the side of the road and "camp" by a city park and use their amenities so you don't have to stink up your own bathroom. Ha ha. We actually only did that once, in Jackson, WY. They have very nice facilities near the baseball park, if you want to make a note to yourself.

Abby did so well on the trip. I knew the boys would be fine, but a toddler who has just learned to walk is always a bit of a... challenge, especially on long road trips. She loved the trailer and settled right down every night in her pack-n-play and slept till morning. Whew!

The big antler arches are always a fun stop in Jackson.

But the boys spent the whole time chasing small rodents and feeding them bananas. This little guy probably had the worst tummy ache later. He ate several.

Jackson has a great visitor center, where Dallin started his souvenir collection, courtesy of Jason. He's a nice parent. I, on the other hand, am not.

Abby loved running around everywhere we went. She is such a funny little drunken sailor!

She still loves her daddy!

What is a trip with Jason without a few little fishing stops along the way? Jason, Dallin and Luke had so much fun, and Abby and I had a great nap in the trailer. Fish away, boys! Take your time.

Once in Yellowstone, we saw tons of animals (I'll spare you the pics). The most fun was all the grizzly bears. We saw five! I don't know what the boys are looking for in this picture. They probably don't, either.

The first buffalo you see in Yellowstone is exciting. The 400,000th buffalo... not so much. Luke still wanted to pet him, though.

Jason prides himself on spotting animals and being the first one to start a "commotion" (when about 75 cars pull off to the side of the road to see what everyone is looking at). I have to hand it to him, he is really good at it, and as a result the Yates family spends a lot of time doing exactly what you see in the picture below. Watching Daddy look through his spotting scope. I get a lot of reading done this way.

Fishing Bridge is always a good time. We camped for two nights at the RV park nearby. We also saw a grizzly bear roaming around right by the bridge one evening! Good thing we were on our way out.

Lukie picks flowers for me wherever we go.

Yeah, cheesy, whatever.

Dallin learned to skip rocks on this trip, which made for some fun little rest stops.

The boys in the woods.We also went to the Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, and Bear World in Rexburg. It was a fun way to start the summer! And if I try to include any more of the summer's activities in one post, it is going to get really long, so TTYL, or whatever kids say these days.

A little shout out to the Community Food Co-Op of Utah

I am so excited about my new food co-op that I just have to share! I first heard about the Community Food Co-Op of Utah on a frugal living blog a few months ago and I thought it sounded like a great idea. You join the co-op, paying a small donation ($5) and then you can order fresh produce and meat at a huge savings. There are different packages that you can order and then once a month, you pick it up at the nearest location. I was a little nervous doing my first order because I wasn't sure how high quality it would actually be, so I ordered the Half Share. I got everything in the picture for $14, plus $5 for the tamales, and the quality is EXCELLENT! The boys and I ate three of the four oranges in one sitting yesterday because they were sooooo good. Today I made a salad with the lettuce and strawberries (yummy!), and I have big plans for my meals this week. This is what the Half Share included in April (it varies slightly from month to month):

Half Share $14 ($21-$27 retail value)
1 Pckg. Lean Salisbury Steaks
1 Pckg. Lean Pork Cubes
1 5-lb. Bag Red Tomatoes
4 Oranges
1 Head of Broccoli
1 Head Red Leaf Lettuce
6 Bananas
4 Tomatoes
1 lb. Strawberries
Stone Ground's Artisan Wheat Loaf
16 oz. Rice

I'm so impressed! My only regret is that I didn't order the Harvest Share ($23), and get even more yummy stuff. If you are interested, the next order date is Friday, May 15, with a pick-up date of Saturday, May 30. The nice part about joining is that you don't have to order if you don't want to or if one month doesn't work out for you. You're not tied down to anything. There are "teams" from Ogden down to Nephi. Just check out their web site (it doesn't look like the May order form is up yet, but keep checking).

It's finally here!

Today the new No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novel was released, and I got it!!! I am so happy. I've had this date marked on my calendar forever, but I'm too cheap to pay shipping and pre-order from anywhere, so I just pressed my luck and went to Costco this morning and... they had it! It wasn't out on the table, so I asked the little book-stocker guy if he knew anything about it and he said, "Oh, yes, it's right here, waiting to be unpacked!" Then he opened a box, and gave me the first copy! I got hooked on this series four years ago when I was expecting Luke and all I wanted to do was curl up in a corner and read. Lucky for me, I only had one child at the time, and he still took naps, so that was possible. I think there were six books in the series then, and there has been a new one every April since. This is book #10, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, and I am so excited to read it. I love this series. It's such a fun, easy read. If anyone ever wants to borrow any of these books from me, just let me know. I have all ten!

She's on the charts!!!

As you may know, my Abby is one tiny little Babby. We do not know how this happened, since neither of her parents are tiny people. I have a gnawing fear that one of these days, some tiny little lady will show up on my doorstep holding a big huge girl with a gigantic fluffy head of hair like Luke's and say, "This is your baby. You got mine in the hospital. Now let me have her back!" And I really don't know what I will do! I love Abby more than anything! I couldn't give her away, even if she wasn't my real child.... But anyway, she's probably mine, and I'm just not going to think about it anymore. So the good news is, she is doing awesome. She has always been in the 0.0 percentile for her age, which means that out of 100 kids the same age, she is bigger than 0.0 of them. Sometimes 0.04 or something like that. At her 12 month check up, the doctor was concerned because she was only 14 lbs. 8 oz. and had only gained 2 ounces in three months, so he wanted her to come back for a 15 month appointment even though usually kids don't come back until 18 months. So in January, at 15 months, she was up to 17 lbs, which was great. But she was still tiny! Yesterday, however, I took her in for her 18 month appointment, and she has tanked up!! Not only has she gained THREE pounds, she has grown two and a half inches!! She is now officially 20 pounds (and 4 ounces!!) and 29 1/2 inches long, which means she can graduate from her carrier car seat. And, (drum roll, please) she's now on the charts! Her height is in the 4.89 percentile and her weight is in the 3.8 percentile. I know, it's a silly thing to be proud of, but I am just so happy... I'm bustin', Jerry, I'm bustin'!!!

She is all over the place and into everything. She is so close to walking, and I know one of these days I'll look up and she'll be running across the room!

She flies up the stairs but hasn't quite figured out how to get back down, which is VERY convenient, let me tell you.

She loves to push her little stroller around, until she hits a wall and needs me to turn it around for her. Also very convenient.

She kind of reminds me of Little Critter. In the hair department, anyway. Good thing she's cute!

One of the cutest things about her is how much she loves her daddy. She says some version of the word "Daddy" all day long. Da-da, dad, daddy, da-doh, you name it. She is always thinking about him and looking for him. There he is!

Dad! Da-da! Da-doh!

Come here!

She loves kisses.

How's my girl?I love how content she looks in this picture.

Ahhh... but the best part is:

She loves her mommy, too!