All She Wants for Christmas...

is her two front teeth. Well perhaps she won't be able to say that come Christmas, but for now she is missing two front teeth. Keely lost her second tooth this weekend. This one had been loose when the first fell out and she hasn't been as persistent with it. But it had gotten quite loose and we kept telling her to pull it out. She gave some half hearted attempts and then we decided to try and shoot it out. Yes, you read that right. They do it on America's Funniest Home Videos so we thought it would work :) We tried to tie floss around it but it kept coming off. We tried string. It either came off before we could shoot the arrow (we chose the Nerf big bad bow) or when we shot the arrow it didn't pull the tooth out with the string. But after a few attempts, the tooth was now even more wiggly. So James took matters in his own hands...wrapped a tissue around the tooth and yanked it out without much effort.

It only bled a little, it was ready to come out. So now she's toothless on the middle bottom. She says it feels "weird" to have a big gaping hole but I think she is getting used to it. I didn't take a specific tooth picture but you can see her cheesy grin in this one from Sunday's hike (hint: double click on the picture and it will get bigger so you can see it better).

Summer Hiking

The weather has been hot down here in the Valley so we've headed up into Little Cottonwood Canyon the past two Sundays. The temperatures drop by 10-20 degrees and the wild flowers are in bloom so it's a great way to relieve the summer heat.

The first hike was a bit random. We headed up into the canyon but it was way crowded. We just kept driving up and up until we got to the highest point, Alta. We parked and right in front of the car was a trail head. Quinn said let's do that one and so we did, really not knowing anything about it. It ended up being a pretty strenuous hike, totaling 4.2 miles round trip! And the kids did it...not without complaint (we obviously haven't hiked enough this year)...but without being carried. Well that pertains to Keely not to Quinn as he hasn't been carried in years. We climbed over 1500' in those 2.1 miles up to the Twin Lakes Pass. And I am glad we persisted because the view from the top was fantastic. But it was hard...my glutes were in pain for days. I am being lazy with the pictures so here is a slideshow of all the pictures on this hike. We dubbed it "The Minty Mine Hike" because we passed a couple of old abandoned mines and there was so much mint growing along the trail...it smelled great!

This past Sunday we again headed up into the canyon to Snowbird this time. We took the chairlift up to the top of the mountain and hiked around. I have no idea how long but it was a bit more than we expected. After we were done we took the lift back down and walked a bit of the Barrier Free trail. We probably hiked about two miles (wild guess).

New Jersey, New Jersey...

the greatest in the land, the best of sun and sand! Well not really, but that was a song we sang in middle school and whenever I hear NJ twice in a row I cannot help but complete it with that verse :)

I am way late writing about this trip as we returned almost 2 weeks ago. We spent almost a week in NJ visiting family. We tried to keep this visit as low key as possible so it would feel like a vacation. I think it worked, and the kids had a blast. It was a bit more challenging this time since all of James' siblings were in town too, so we had to balance between more people. About halfway through I honestly felt like I was never in the right place always feeling like I should be with the other family. I think (or maybe I hope) that was something in my head only and I think we did a good job of balancing time. So in no particular order, here are some of the things we did on our trip.

Doted on Adelia :) Keely was so excited to feed her and change her diaper (though I don't think she did that). She fed her this first bottle in New Jersey...Adelia was so hungry that she didn't care who was feeding her.

Played with Adelia. She is at such a fun age, crawling around and squealing with laughter. She loved being with all her cousins again...she probably didn't remember them from January but hopefully she will the next time we see her.

Killed 30 birds with one stone :) Not to offend anyone who was there, but there is a lot of family on my side of the family that want to see us so Karen was kind enough to host a BBQ at her house so all those people could spend a few hours with us. (Thanks Karen and Steve!) We had a blast and it was nice to see everyone.
And another benefit of having it at Karen's was the pool. Even I jumped in because the weather was sweltering humid. The kids swam in Karen's pool quite a bit over the trip.
Played with Cassidy and Aedan, and their new hamster Elizabeth. In case you can't see, the hamster is in the green ball.
Attended the annual block party on Becket Road, complete with ices, waterslide and tye dying. Played with Cassidy and Aedan on their scooters and skateboards.

This face is priceless. It's always a bit tiring with all the activity in NJ :)
Went to Red Bank and walked around, leaving just in time to avoid the afternoon thunderstorm. I love Aedan's face in this picture :)
Ate Oreos with Grandpa :)
We also went to the beach and had a fantastic day at the Atlantic Ocean. No pictures though! So that was our trip to NJ. We had so much fun, especially Keely who misses everyone so much. She loved spending time with her cousins old and young. We all did and it was a very fun trip :)

4th of July Wrap-Up

We had a fun long weekend. Here's the wrap-up in bullet points.

• We went to the pool 3 times -- Friday, Saturday and Monday. Well once it was just Keely and I but the other times were the whole family. We went late in the day until evening to avoid the crowds. I've written about our lovely local pool that we join every summer but this year they've added a splash pad and flume slide for added fun. However these new additions also seem to have doubled the people with memberships. Well maybe not double but it sure seems like it. I long for the days when it was not crowded and we could go any time we wanted.

• We went up to Hidden Valley Park on Saturday night to watch fireworks. Yes, Saturday because we live in Utah silly and that means no one can shoot fireworks on the holiday since it falls on a Sunday. Another quirk of living here :) Anyways, we got high enough up that we were able to watch about 5 fireworks displays at once! How many places can you live where you can do that?!? Quirks aside, pretty cool.

• We hosted the monthly gathering of our fantastic group of friends on Sunday. We had our own little fireworks show in front of the house. As usual, the kids had a blast and so did the adults. We made pulled pork with BBQ sauce, everyone brought some sides and appetizers and it was perfect weather. I also finally used some of the herbs from my garden to make basil pesto and it was a hit! I can't say enough about these friends...we love them and it's just a perfect match of 4 families.

• Callie's fear of fireworks seems to be getting worse. On Saturday night, she tried to hide under our bed but got stuck so we got her out and had her sleep with us on the bed. Every time the loud blasts went off, I pet her to calm her down. She slept with us until 4 AM when James kicked her off. Yeah, two people, a 50 lb dog and a 15 lb cat all in a queen sized bed. At least the kids stayed put :) Thankfully, that was the worst of it and she's calmer now until July 24th.
  

That's the extent of it. It was not all that busy but exactly what we needed! The kids are off today as well and home with James while I work. I'll work from home tomorrow then we leave for a week in hazy hot humid NJ. A wrap up of that trip when we return next week...

Book Review: Cutting for Stone

I didn't write about last month's book, which was The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I read this book many years ago when it first came out and loved it. As a refresher, I watched the movie and actually liked it although from what I recall of the book, it is a departure for the sake of drama. I think if I had read the book closer to watching the movie I would not have liked the movie so much.

But anyways, this month's selection was Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. When I initially checked for information on the book, I was not going to read it mostly because of its length (~600 pages in paperback). I hardly ever read books that long, not that I never do though. It's just been a while. But I read reviews and they were all very positive, it's on the best seller list, so I ordered it and started reading.

From the beginning, it was captivating. I could not put it down. There are few books that catch my attention like this one. It was an epic novel, spanning some 50 years. It was reminiscent of the Kite Runner but totally different. It is mostly set in Ethiopia and intermingled with the characters' lives are descriptions of the country, its food and culture. I was immersed in it - so much so that when I would put it down at night, I would dream of it. I finished this ~600 page book in about a week! There was only one time when it got slow but then picked up again and whirled to a close. It left me wanting more, and that's exactly what a good piece of fiction should do. I highly recommend reading this book...and I have a copy if anyone wants to borrow it!

Just Another Day?

I'm sure everyone has said this on their birthday...it's just another day. I know I have. And when you get caught up in life, it can seem like just another day.

Today is James' birthday. He is 35 years old. I have celebrated each birthday with him since he turned 18 years old. That's a lot of birthdays! He thinks it's just another day but I disagree. Without this day, he would not be here. Without this day, there would be no us. I would not be who I am today. There would be no Quinn, no Keely. Not even Callie or Rudy. We as a family would not exist. I refuse to think of this as just another day. I refuse to think of a world that does not contain the things I love most about it.

This is most definitely NOT just another day. Happy Birthday my love!

The Property Party

This weekend we went camping again. We only decided to do this on Thursday even though we knew about this event months ago. We were just too tired from the last camping trip, or so we thought. The event was a friend's birthday and the venue is his parents' undeveloped land about 45 minutes away. We decided just to spend the day up there but at the last minute decided to camp there on Saturday night. So again we loaded up the car (it seems just as full whether we are going for one or two nights!) and headed off into the great beyond.

If our last camping trip was considered modernized with the amenities, this was a 180 degree turn to primitive camping. Well, maybe not that crazy. The property is 64 acres way off the beaten path...think free range cattle and only accessible by bumpy dirt roads. We went up about 3 PM Saturday afternoon and got settled. There were about 60 people at this party, some who had stayed since Friday night...most in tents but there were some pop ups and small campers. The weather was gorgeous up there, in the 70s. We played several games of volleyball, drank several beers and the kids ran and played around the property -- which is fenced so there's really nowhere they can go to get into trouble.

The facilities were, uh, the opposite of modern. Over the hill was a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat and a shower curtain type structure around it for some degree of privacy. Since I had just expected a 5 gallon bucket, it was actually above my expectations. Keely had to go to the bathroom within 5 minutes of arrival and it was the first of many trips. She was pleasantly surprised too, and all was well. The night wore on, the sun dropped and it got cold! Again, polar opposite of the last camping trip. We were not quite prepared for the cold. Thank goodness for the warmth of the fire and our sleeping bags rated to 20 degrees. But boy, were my nose and ears cold! We survived the night though :) and it warmed up quickly once the sun rose.

The property owners cooked a huge breakfast for us on Sunday. So that is how James started out his Father's Day. Well that and with a huge headache :( But then he felt better, and I ate enough breakfast for the two of us :) We took a hike with our kids and some of their friends to explore the property then it was time to head home. It was a quick trip but we had fun and I think we will go back again next year. The kids want to spend two nights...but I am not sure that my back agrees, or that I would want to use that potty for any more time!