today

My eyes pop open at 7:17am. None of this gradually waking up-giving-mom-a-5-minute-warning thing. She groggily comes in my room, picks me up and I point right away. I don't care what it is or even if I got a good look at it, I want it NOW. Like my Raggedy Ann doll or Teddy Bear. While mom changes my diaper I'm signing "eat" over and over again to make sure she doesn't miss the message that I want some food, and I want it NOW. I throw in a few cries just so she knows I'm serious. After I'm done eating I go about my morning routine emptying drawers and playing with chemicals. 

I love the park and relish my budding independence. I love going up the stairs and down the slides all by myself, and lowering myself down the stairs as well. I am pretty good at getting around and I could probably walk if I wanted to, but I don't. So I mostly crawl still. I saw a dog in the park and ditched the playground equipment for the long trek across the Great Plains (to my little legs, it feels like that okay?) to the hippies slacklining and joined the fun. I didn't turn around once to look for mom. 

I wanted to show off my artwork-- I painted dad that valentine and mom hung it on the fridge. Yeah, I did an awesome job. I love getting dirty when I eat and then rubbing my hands in my hair. That ensures that I get more baths and more baths= more FUN! 

I've learned how to get on chairs, which is cool. I love making faces and I L.O.V.E it when mom or dad play with me. If they sit on the floor I will bring a book over and sit in their lap and let them read to me for about 4 minutes, but then I want to read to them. I can walk back and forth between them easily and can repeat about 10 words ("woah" gets the highest cute factor rating). 

I think I'm pretty darn cool. 

bling

Don't you love Liesel's vintage sweater dress? Wish they had that in my size. 

Happy Birthday George

(I took Sarah's photos for her mission shoot. See a few more photos of this beautiful girl HERE)

Brian's sister Sarah came into town last weekend with her two college roommates. It made me realize a few things:

1) I most likely used to giggle about 500x a day

2) White Cheddar popcorn is amazing

3) I'm done making most of my major life decisions

4) I most likely used to talk about boys about 500x a day

5) Sister Missionaries are WAY cuter these days

6) I'm not good at Hearts

We hiked to Corona Arch (I need to start branching out) on Saturday --after B and I spent most of the day looking at flooring and keeping Liesel from eating pieces of carpet. Sunday we went to church, cooked a 17lb turkey, made rolls, had a photo shoot, invited the Allreds over for turkey sandwiches and played Hearts. Monday we hiked to Delicate Arch early in the morning and then said "adios"!

President's Day trivia: George Washington was the richest president the White House has ever seen. 

twenty-nine

my birthday was last Friday and it was a very very good one. Since Brian and Clay were off work, us and the Allreds headed down to Indian Creek. All of the north facing cliffs were loaded in snow, but we were so warm in the sunshine we were sweating. The desert is amazing like that. 

Check out the amount of junk we have at the base of the climb. It's insane!

When I got home I was surprised by two awesome gifts from my sisters and parents!! Thanks everyone!

 After we got back from climbing we showered and met up with our friends for a party. I love Carolina hot dogs-- you know, the kind with chili, slaw, kraut and smothered in ketchup and mustard and they're so big you can barely fit them in your mouth? Yes, please. We had potato salad, green salad, chips, dip and a stellar kit-kat pudding cake made by Heidi (with 29 trick candles that almost set off the smoke alarm). Leslie made a Jeopardy game that was so AWESOME!! Seriously a great b-day.

PS: the picture quality it poor b/c I had to shrink the photos down a ton to not use as much memory.

the american dream

so close. yet so far away.

ride

In college I bought my North Star La Luna bike for $80-- this little bike carried me through college (I didn't own a car until I married Brian when I was 25) and around the White Rim five times. When I think about living up at the Island in Sky, I imagine cruising down the Shafer switchbacks or the ups and downs close to Gooseberry, or the hills of Murphy and Hardscrabble. These names mean nothing to most of you, but Brian and I rode that so many times (on bike and in the car) that I feel like I know every turn. 

Anyway-- my point is that there's nothing that feels quite as free to me as biking. And it's something that really can't be done with a baby. So Monday I met up with Keri and Leslie and we went biking on the trails north of Moab. 

Leslie and Keri taking in the view

and I was reminded of how much I like it. 

Leslie coming around a bend on North 40. 

and how much I like it here. 

meanwhile. . . .

See Pookie shred. I mean sled.

While Brian was have a dudes-only bro-down session of ice climbing and burrito eating in Ouray (check out the video Clay made HERE), Leslie and I took the babies sledding up in the La Sals. Liesel seemed to like it and I got a couple of funny videos that I would love to post, but after using up our 3 gigs of internet in two weeks last month, I think uploading videos are officially out of the question.

I couldn't get her to stop eating the snow. I think the novelty of being able to eat something off the ground was just too cool. Hopefully she'll be shreddin' the powder slopes in no time!!

up

What we DO on BRIAN'S FURLOUGH:  took the missionaries out into arches-- and actually hiked as a family up to delicate arch. I don't think we had been there together since: 

2007? We've both hiked up there independently a ton and once together on a rescue and I'm sure at another point that I have forgotten entirely b/c we didn't take a photo. 

We bought Liesel ridiculous looking overalls because (believe it or not) sandstone destroys clothes even faster than  I do.  

We get to enjoy some quality family time.

There'sk always the percussion park (I'm never sure if we're going there for B's sake or Liesel's), Date nights with a Redbox and Ben and Jerry's and family bike rides around town. 

iMac joined the family. We are all very excited to welcome him. RIP PC.And does this mean we're cool now?  

We've gotten to explore places I didn't know about-- like above park ave. 

I spy Balanced rock. You're a rockstar if you can see it too. 

Took in the sweet views.

Where's Waldo? 

Where's Waldo II? Easier to see me in this one. This little pedestal was amazing. Almost a 360 drop off . . .kind of gave me vertigo. 

Liesel practiced becoming a mime. 

And we've had lunch dates with friends, library time and a clean house. 

down

sometimes dreams don't come true.