Life Lately

Hannah will often just lounge out like this in the most random places. It is hilarious. 

We had a going away party for Jacob and Meredith (we totally miss them already! Liesel asks about them almost every day)-- Corndogs and minute to win it games. Seriously good times. 

Jacob and Skyler competing for the Slickrock cinema movie ticket by sucking M&Ms with a straw. Heidi and Brynlee are behind them.

Hannah LOVES phones. She gets so ticked if I take it away from her and loves pushing the buttons and pretending to talk. Isn't her pink camo jumpsuit super redneck? Brian dirt biking, Hannah in camo-- next thing you know we'll be driving a Ford truck with an anti-Obama bumper sticker.  

 Liesel is turning three next week. I can hardly believe it. Life around here has changed so much in the last few weeks. The Penrods moved 3 doors down. It is like a miracle occurred for us-- life feels so different. The past 15 months, there were so many mornings where I would wake up and wonder what I was going to do with the gals. I would find myself walking circles around the kitchen. There used to be one or two things to look forward to each week: a trip to Moab, a visitor coming down, a potluck with the employees. Now that we have neighbors (and neighbors who we already know and love with two girls our exact girls ages), it feels like a whole new place. The three-year-olds fight (so do the 1-year-olds in fact!) and there are still dull moments, but I honestly don't know what I would have done with Liesel had they not moved down. 

In other news:

 The November sky has been amazing. It seriously blows my mind every morning. 

Hannah stands up all the time. She has taken steps independently (about 3-4 in a row) and could totally walk if she wanted to. But she usually plops down again and starts crawling. She stands up frequently and just stands there. She is a little artist. The toy that captures her attention longest in the house is the easel. If she's ever quiet for an extended period of time, I know just where to find her. Crayon or marker in hand. She is still a mama's girl, but she now gets insanely excited when daddy comes home. It is so cute. 

Hannah and Liesel now share a room. They are doing great at it and both seem to love it. 

Liesel is a sassy pants lately. Nothing makes me feel like I'm failing as a parent more than hearing her scream at me, shove her hand out and yell, STOP IT! It is painfully embarrassing. She is really grumpy and acts out whenever we have company. She has also started being sneaky. Yesterday she drank a whole cup of syrup we left on the table after breakfast and today she was grabbing fistfuls of grape jelly and shoving them into her mouth before I caught her. Maybe she's sugar deprived. As a matter of fact, she is sugary sweet (complete with batting eye-lashes) whenever there is a treat involved. 

The other day she climbed into Hannah's crib at 6:30am and proceeded to wash Hannah's hair by dumping half a bottle of shampoo on her head and in her eyes. I cannot get her to do anything I want her to lately, which makes me so glad I didn't wait to potty train her. 

She also loves to draw and yesterday drew a picture of Rupunzel's horse. Usually when I ask her to tell me about her picture, it's a monster or a shark and the whole page looks like sharp teeth. She loves asking Brian to draw scary things, like a shark eating a cat (which of course he obliges-- during sacrament meeting). But at least when I ask her if they are scary or nice, she almost always says 'nice.' 

She actually has started to play with Hannah nicely and several times a day I'll find them together. They both like to sit together on one chair to watch Daniel Tiger while I make dinner. She does usually help me pick up the house pretty well.

Her prayers crack me up. For about two weeks she would always say, "we thank thee for baby spoons, mommy spoons, daddy spoons, grandma spoons. . ." ? 

U-turn canyon Arches Nat'l Park

 *all photos by Nicki Preece and Leslie Allred

You know that really dorky bumper sticker? The "I'd rather be ________" ? 

Well, if I owned one of those really dorky bumper stickers and plastered it on the back of my overly-used-I-can't-beleive-it-has-never-broken-down Honda, it would probably say something really cliche like this: I'd rather be outside having great conversations with my friends and my man. Although that bumper sticker refers to doing ______ as opposed to doing your day job. And my day job as a mama is pretty awesome. 

So maybe I should edit that bumper sticker to say I'd rather be doing that at least once a week, preferably 4x a week. 

I met Nicki while working at Badger Creek and we became fast friends. Fast forward ten years (10?!!) to the present and we realized it had been too long since we got together. The next day she was on the road driving all the way to the Needles to hang out. She brought her very chill friend and the next day we were back on the road to Moab (after I found my keys that I had left in a bush while running. Who does that??! I was finally like, "oh yeah, I left my keys in a bush b/c I got tired of them jingling). 

Anyway-- we picked up leslie, dropped of the gals at the sitter and spent three hours scrambling to the top of the Entrada cliffs in Arches and rappelling back down again. 

I feel so lucky to have such great friends. And I am so sad to see SLC claim another one of them soon. Although I really shouldn't complain. . .there are much further cities out there! So don't get any ideas, ok Leslie? :) 

Active.

 I love to play outside. 

Nothing gets the endorphins flowing (or do they fire?) like an outdoor adventure. A few weeks ago I had the chance to spend a few days in town with access to friends, babysitters and really amazing fall weather. I HAD to get out. I called up a few friends and after a lot of hoping/planning/organizing we were ready to leave. I estimated 3hrs and we had just that much daylight left. We did a short, fun "slot" canyon in Arches above park avenue. None of us brought a camera, and maybe that was better-- but man the sites were phenomenal. None of us had done it before, which added to the excitement; will we find the next rappel before dark? Is that the right butte and do we go left or right? But we did, and it was great.

And that brings me to Liesel. Is it possible to *force* your child to like what you like? I feel worried. She doesn't ask to play outside-- like, ever. Once she's there, she likes it. But honestly, she would be content eating candy, chips and junk and watching TV all day long. She doesn't like to ride her tricycle. She'd rather sit than walk in the stroller. Other kids run-- she walks. She just isn't that interested in being active. And it kills me! And Hannah is terrified of heights. I want my family to be active. I want them to love the outdoors. I want to climb with Liesel and Hannah at Indian Creek and scramble up Teewinot. I want to raft rivers and take turns rowing. I want to swap who sets up the anchor canyoneering and have biking the white rim be a family tradition. 

Am I doomed to a life of Barbie Musketeers and dum-dums? I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I also know that I was outside 24/7 as a three year old. And that I was building forts and digging in the dirt. 

Please tell me she'll grow out of it. And that one day lead 5.11. 

K, thanks.