The Grand Day

Every time we go to Salt Lake for dinner or for a special event, I always try to get Tim on board for staying at the Grand America. Of course, I never think about it until we are in Salt Lake, and the suggestion to stay at a way expensive hotel without planning ahead never goes over well. Well, after a very long Saturday, we ended up the Grand America after my car died for the second time in one day. Tim left work, got all the way to Alpine, and then had to turn around to come get us at a wedding reception. He decided he'd had enough driving, so he made a reservation on his way to pick us up. It was crazy and fun. I only had a formal dress, pantyhose and heels. McKenna had a few normal outfits at the bottom of my bag, and Quinn had a slightly less formal dress to change in to the next morning. I just enjoyed the hotel robs when we were in the room, and dress-downed my dress by going shoeless on our walk around the hotel in the morning. Once the stores opened, I picked up a pair of $10 flip flops in a store where everything else costs $200. Not sure how that happen, but I was grateful. We got a late check out and enjoyed the famous Grand American brunch in the morning. It really is amazing. Rack of Lamb, lots of cheeses, a smoothie bar, and anything else you could think of eating for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I have never been so full in my life. It was the first time in my life that I was not ready for my next meal. I had some nuts for dinner, and called it a day. I wasn't even hungry the next day!! I felt like my mom. She always says things like, "Oh, I'm so full. I guess we won't need dinner." I never understood what the heck she was talking about until the Grand America brunch. Anyway, we loved our time together. The girls were angels, and we all slept great in our suite on the top floor. I might be a few hundred dollars further from my cruise dreams, but let's be real ... that apparently is never happening. So why not enjoy a splurge once in awhile while I wait for the real thing?

Here are the pics of us on our adventure:

Training and Soreness

So, I am officially out of reasons to put off training for the 3-day walk. The Fundraiser to combat breast cancer is in Novemeber, and I have to be ready to walk 60 miles over 3 days. I started training back in February, but had to take a break as I got more pregnant. But now the baby is here, and it is time to do my small part to make sure her world is breast cancer free. So, here we go!

I am doing a 16 week training schedule to get ready. I thought I would be behind, but they have a great training plan for folks that come on board late. Plus, one of best friends from Junior High and High School has decided to walk with me. Her name is Kari, and she is the beauty queen eating cupcakes with me in a picture right here on my blog. Kari and her sister Tobi lost there mom to ovarian cancer when they were 7 and 5 years old. I had barely mentioned the 3-day walk in casual conversation before Kari said, "Yeah, I'm doing that with you." She said it calm and cool and never looked back. We talked yesterday about how sore we ARE!! She just started her training too, and she said that last week she and Tobi did 15 miles from "right off the couch." She said it tore her up.

I am so excited to walk with Kari, my Aunt Sally and my cousin Kate in November. These are all very special women in my life. And two of the other most important women in my life will be up in LA watching my little ladies for me while I push myself to the limit and wear my shoes right out.

Stay tuned for blogs about my training and tiredness!!

Donate to my fundraising cause here.

Dirt Brownies

You know I am always in the market for a good recipe that tastes yummy when hot and a little like dirt when cooled.

Plus, there are Zucchinis everywhere around here.

Peggy’s Best Zucchini Brownies
Serves 24—Can be doubled to fit jelly roll pan
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa
2 T vanilla
1/2 cup oil
2 cups peeled and grated zucchini
Combine dry ingredients. Add vanilla, oil and zucchini and mix well. Bake in un-greased 9x13 pan at 350 for about 30 min-utes. Frost with the following:
Boil 1 square butter and 1/2 cup milk for 1 minute. Add 1/3 cup cocoa and enough powdered sugar for spreadable consistency.

More Band Reflection

Lately the "band" reflections keep flooding in. We took our little family to a concert in the part to see a friend who was drumming for a country band. We really had an amazing time. There was no stress, no worries, and none of OUR money on the line. It is the first live music I've seen since the band. I had almost forgotten that those sorts of things can be fun if you can just go and relax and not feel like your whole life is on the line with every show. After we got there, the band took a break for technical problems. A few people left. Tim and I would have been flipping out if it had been one of our shows. As we watch the band hustle to get things fixed, I asked Tim if the drama on stage was stressing him out. He said, "It would if I was here by myself. But where here as a family. We're just chillin'. And it actually makes me relaxed to know I never ever have to deal with that sort of thing ever again." He really looked happy.

After the show, he took Quinn up to see the stage. He pointed out instruments and equipment and told her all about it. I could tell he was reflecting on the past a little. It is hard not too. But again he seems to have made the choice that makes him really happy, and that is really cool.

Music is fun again. Life is life is fun again.

I guess it all turned out to be something different.

Pre-School Part 2 (and a half)

So, she survived!!! And more importantly ... I survived!!!

Quinn did great on her first day at pre-school. Turned out she was sitting by Miss Gretel on the play ground because a boy had just pushed her off the swing. She was OK. Gretel thought she was crying because it surprised her. But later, Quinn told me she was crying because the boy who pushed her was crying ... while he was in time out. Quinn felt badly for him.

But she did have her fair share of time outs too. She didn't want to put her toys away, which is my fault... because I always do it for her ... because she rarely plays with toys at our house. We are working on that. So that was no surprise.

She was happy to see me when I got to her teddy bear picnic, but she had a lot more to say about pre-school once we got home. She said they read books about bears and "colored" her name. And she made a picture of herself in her first day of school outfit.

Asher and Melissa at the Teddy Bear Picnic

Quinn shows off her fancy picture of herself on the first day.

The three girls from our neighborhood in class

Quinn and Miss Gretel. Friends forever!

A close up of her picture!

Flipping out While She's at School

Oh my gosh!!! I am totally flipping out!

I just peeked outside at the school. I could see miss Gretel sitting on a bench in her side yard with kids runny around doing an activity. Ah, but I could also see some blond curls situated on a head right next to Miss Gretel. What's going on? Is she is trouble? Does she hate it? Is she too young? I'm totally flipping out. 15 minutes until I pick her up could not come sooner!!

Oh, my baby!

Pre-School Part 1

She did it! After a long fit this morning, we finally got all dressed and happy and off to Quinn's first day of Pre-School!

For many reasons I decided to start Quinn in pre-school a year early. We searched high and low, and my favorite pre-school for her turned out to be the one across the street. Literally, it is the house I can see from my bedroom.

I have mixed emotions about today, but I really think Quinn will shine in school.

I dropped her off at 9 a.m. (walked her across the street with McKenna playing in her swing in the house), and then I will head over in a few hours with a picnic lunch. So fun. Each child was told they could bring a teddy bear to the first day since the school name is "Bear Canyon School." Quinn picked one out a week ago and has been sleeping with it every night. She even let me bring the dog-dog home after we got there.

So here are the pictures of the morning. More to come after the picnic!!

Woke up early and headed straight for a game with letters. This lady loves her letters.

After a healthy breakfast and a HUGE fit, she is all dressed and getting her things together.

She told me, "No pictures, mom," but if we were in them together, she got on board.

Finally is was time to head on out. Standard first day of school shot in front of the house!

She sat with Sam from church and did puzzles. Both the mom's looked on and waited for the "you can go now."

Then Asher arrived!!! Asher is one of Quinn's very best friends. Matchy, Matchy pre-schools!

Here is Quinn convincing Asher that pre-school is fun and not to be scared. (She also made her dad stay for a few minutes.)

Yay for pre-school. Friends forever!

Picnic shots to come later.

I, of course, am supposed to be spending this coveted time while Quinn is gone doing work.... I'd rather blog!

Alyssa!!!

Look who came to visit!!

We had so much fun catching up with Alyssa and all her adventures. She left her job a little realy this year because of some crazy drug lords in the forrest who were trying to kill her and her team of naturalists. So instead, she climbed Mt. Whitney ... twice an then hiked all 200 miles of the John Muir trail ... in 9 days.

Then she stopped to see us. We loved having her! She helped us eat the WAY TOO MUCH bread that we've had around the house and she was great company. We miss her when we go so long without seeing her. It had been since Christmas.

Meeting the other Avery for the first time!

Hanging outside!

The Same But Different

So I am the worst at printing and especially framing new pictures of my kids and family. Evidence of this is that one of the only pictures of Quinn in our house is a picture of her at 11 weeks. It is a 4 x 6 on our piano. Because it has been up for so long it is sort of the standard Quinn baby picture. Well, here is that picture AND an oddly similiar one that we got of McKenna this weekend. You decide:

Family resemblance or identical twins?

Quinn at 11 Weeks

McKenna at 10 weeks

Need a second look?

See more pictures of McKenna at her blog: Memberoftheband.blogspot.com.

McKenna at 10 weeks

Click here to see pictures of McKenna-benna at 10 weeks old. Our Averykens continues to stun us with her beauty and charm. I guess it is her job to stun us and our's to be stunned.

Memberoftheband.blogspot.com

Lazy

Tim was a very supportive friend when I had my Nordstrom incident with Quinn the other day.

When he got home, he said, "Tell me all about it."

So I went through the afternoon and what led up to the fit of all fits at the mall that evening.

"I left work and then picked up the girls from daycare. And then..." blah, blah, blah.

When I was all done, he said nicely, "I think your problem is that you are not nearly lazy enough. I would have said, 'I just worked, and you (Quinn) just had a long day at daycare. Let's not leave the house for 3 days.' It has never once crossed my mind to take the girls to a store."

Love it. We had a good laugh.

Then this morning Quinn had another monster fit in the Plaza of the Grand America Hotel in SLC. It was time to feed Kenna, and Tim was taking care of the Quinn situation, so I sat on a couch in the lobby doing my thing watching the plaza through a giant window. It looked like a cartoon as Tim chased Quinn in zig-zags across the square. I would see them pass, and then they would go out of my site. Then I would see them again and this time Tim would be holding her or reaching for her. Maybe the next time they passed Quinn would be chasing Tim and so on and so on. It was hilarious.

Eventually I heard the ever so familiar "My doggy, my paci" cry coming from behind me. That is always how a fit ends. A cry for the things that soothe her.

Since then Tim has brought up the fit about 5 times. I think he really gets it now: My job is hard. My favorite of the comments he made are, "It's a lot easier to be a nice parent from 0 to 2 years old." "Wow, she is really intense in those fits." "She's really strong." "We're gonna have to work on those..."

Yeah, I know.

Anyway, I enjoyed being the lazy one today. :)

Everything has its opposite

Last night Tim and I shared an amazing southern BBQ dinner with our dear friends Lindsay and Brandon. The kids were perfect and watched a movie while we ate and enjoyed each others' company. The ribs were delicious, and the cookies were baked just right. After dinner the kids played nicely and went to bed with little fight. It was a dream.

Today I had to drag Quinn out of Nordstrom by her wrist.

Everything in life has its opposite. And those opposites help up appreciate the beautiful, the humorous, and the purposes of life.

But maybe next time I need to be humbled or see life for its vastness, I could do something simple like run out of diapers or forget the stroller.

Oh, wait. I did those things today too ... at Nordstrom.

You know, the perfect woman would have sensed the trouble a brewin' and turned around before she even got to the store.

Good thing I am not perfect or my life would not be so interesting, I would have nothing to say to my mom, and I wouldn't have a reason to truly sink into my arm chair and dream of the next BBQ.

Pass the baked beans!!

Pictures of the Girlies

I have had some requests (demands) from some aunts and other people who love my kids for some updated pictures ... especially of McKenna. I just wanted to to say that they are on the way. I don"t have a cd copy of the last two photo shoots with my mom or McKenna, and my personal camera is on life support. We got some amazing pics this weekend, though, so stay tuned.

One big thought

Tim is selling his drums to a old friend for $2,200.

It feels a little like selling a piece of our family soul.

But maybe it is more like saying good-bye to the adolescence of our marriage. To the golden age, that in reality was not nearly as golden as what we have now.

But it is still a big thought that kind of makes my eyes water ... for one hundred and one reasons I supposed.

And it makes me want to sing "It's been sad losing you" from Hello, Little Captain, which is so ironic. (sigh)

School and Work: Ready to Roll

Sometimes I find it is better to just embrace something that is coming.

So this morning I jumped out of bed, handed McKenna to Tim, and got ready to go back to work. In no time I had my PB&Js packed, a pile with picture frames, textbooks and a breast pump on the front seat, and I was singing Billy Madison's "Back to School" as I pulled out of the driveway.

Our department offices moved since I left for my summer/ maternity leave, and so first order of business was to find my new space. I new the building, but I had no idea where in the building the new offices were. I missed a call from Kristie because I was calling our admin Errin from the 4th floor to find out where the department is on the 2nd floor. When I told Kristie that I missed her call because I had to call to find my office, she laughed and pictured me walking up and down the halls calling my own office and waiting to hear the ring. That would have been a great idea...but I have never known my office phone number...

When I got the location squared away, I headed back to my car to get my stuff. The lot for my new office is far away, and it just wasn't worth throwing my back out. So I did what any sensible mother of two would do. I pulled out my B.O.B. stroller (hitched up the team so to speak) and filled it to the brim. Apparently people do not pay attention to what is it a stroller because many people said, "AWWW, how is that cute little baby?"

"Great," I'd say. "At home, but great."

I think I'll bring my pack mule around campus more often. It helped me stay relaxed and comfortable and slightly connected to home. However, I am not sure I am ready to be "that crazy teacher with the baby stroller." Beats some other names I've been called around there.

I pumped in my office while reading my Blog reader at lunch time. And although nursing gives me a wave of depression the minute my baby latches, on the contrary, I tend to get a wave of peace if I pump. So I enjoyed the moment in my dungeon of an office, and then christened the new department office with a bottle of breast milk on the top shelf.

When I got home, I was delighted to find everyone, including Tim, asleep in their beds. The house looked normal, and my mail was waiting for me neatly on the kitchen counter.

We've sure come a long way from the days when I came home from work and found 6 month old Quinn swinging vigorously in her swing with her legs tucked to her chin cause she was stuffed into 3 month PJ's. Tim was no wear to me seem, and the house looked like we'd been robbed.

Again, I reiterate ... we've come a long way, baby.

Next step in the going back to work process is the test run with the girls at the nanny's house on Friday and Monday.

Then Quinn starts pre-school on Tuesday, and I start teaching on Wednesday.

It's not ideal to kiss my babies good-bye, but it's fine. It teaches me new things. It changes my perspective. It makes me work harder and try harder and love harder.

I'm find with this giant multi-task in my life, and maybe I should just embrace that I already am "that crazy teacher with a baby stroller." At least on the inside.

Midwife

Just found out today that the state of California does not honor prescriptions written by a midwife.

There are a lot of reasons why I love Utah, and now I know that midwifes are another reason to be grateful for where I am and what Utah is.

Now that my brother and sister both live within a few miles of my parents in Palos Verdes, California, I sometimes daydream that we find a way to live there too. But when it comes down to it, I'd rather live in Alpine, Utah.

For weather, for price, for peace, for neighbors, for fruit trees, for jobs, for Lindsay, for dryness, for farmland, for mountains, for parades and now for Midwives, I think I'll stay right where I am.

Now if only I had a sweet car for the long drive ...

If it's not me...

I was at yoga this morning with my mom. I have mentioned it before, but I'll just say it again. NOTHING makes me happier than yoga with my mom. I learn to appreciate and love her in very new and special ways when we commune together with yoga.

Today it was time for an inversion at the end of class. My mom opted for the shoulder stand with the rest of the class, and I, as always, took my own route and opted for Legs up the Wall.

Legs up the Wall is a classic prenatal yoga pose. So while I partook in this asana today, I remembered pregnancy and how special my body feels when I am making a little person inside of me. I laughed to myself because this last pregnancy was physically horrible. So when I say my body felt special, I clearly don't mean physically. I mean my body feels special to me when I am pregnant. It feels beautiful and sensitive and productive and magical and balanced and perfect ... even through pain and sickness and aches and change.

I feel best about myself when I am pregnant.

I love it and hate it all at the same time, but I wouldn't change a thing. Love and hate? That is some important balance. Find the middle. And that is just one of the many things that yoga gives me. Balance and middle ground.

And so today I love being not pregnant, and I hate it. And so my world was balanced when found out today that one of the most special people in my life is having another baby.

Announcements to come, but for now, just know that I have found a piece of infertile balance. A piece of peace that will keep me on the edge of my seat until this little one is born.

Yay for XXXXXXX and her new angel baby to come. My excitement tears are never quite as big as yours, but I feel it just the same. I promise. Fingers crossed for a boy.

Crazy Baby Dreams

Infertility really messed me up.

I dreamed last night that I took a pregnancy test, and it was positive. I went crazy! I was so happy. I jumped up and down. I screamed and cried. I can't remember the last time something that wonderful happen to me. I remember being so happy about the baby coming and even happier that I was officially fertile. Have sex, get pregnant, fertile. Like everybody else.

In the dream I told my friends Heather and Lizza that I was pregnant. I was literally jumping up and down. And then while I was telling them, I realized that I was still asleep. It had occurred to me at other times in the dream that I was asleep, but I did things to make sure I was awake. But at this point in the dream, I realize that those things deceived me, and I was in fact, not awake or at least had not been awake for the P test.

Like any normal dreaming crazy infertile person, the next stage of the dream is me finding another test and trying to take it so I can get all happy again. I head to my friend Heidi's house so I can use her bathroom and use the test that I was carrying in my purse (like a crazy person.)

I have this dream every couple of nights. The longest and most detailed part of the dream is the little line appearing on the test. It is magical.

When I wake up in real life, I am not pregnant, and I am sad.

Infertility really messed me up.

'Cause yesterday, I had some very clear thoughts such as, "Maybe I only want 2 kids." "I am really happy with just two." "If I have a third, there is no rush. We're cool right now."

And then last night, I am exposing to myself that my deepest desire is to get pregnant. But is it really to get pregnant and have a baby or to just have a sign that my body is going to stop playing tricks on me? To get what I want, when I want it? Even if I don't really want it right now? Maybe I still feel scared from all the waiting I did for my angels. And the stubborn side of me whats it now just for the sake of getting it now. Or do I really want another baby right now? With Quinn I was dying for McKenna to come when Quinn was only 3 weeks old (like a crazy person.)

Not sure. Because in this dream last night and in the past I was equally delighted to have the baby comng AND to not be infertile even though I was fully aware that I have a 2 month old at home.

Does everyone feel so conflicted about their family planning?

I know we all have our issues, but, man, really, infertility messed me UP!!

Workin' Mama

I mentally officially started work today. When Quinn hit nap time, I hit work time ... just like old times.

As much as I don't really want to go back to work, I really do love having enough money to eat, so bring it on!!

I think this semester will go really well. I have taught all the courses before, and I really like all three of them. I have 5 sections total and about 18 hours of work on campus each week. The girls will go back to Shelly, the greatest nanny ever, for 10 hours a week, and Tim will pick up the rest.

School starts Aug. 26, but I do a huge portion of my work before the semester begins. I picked up the books on Friday, and I went to work today. I got 1 of the 3 courses completely designed. I still have some details to work out, but I feel good about my progress and the hopes of a good semester with no mutiny.

'cause, man, no one likes a mutiny.

Not you. Not Me. Not Michael Jackson. And he was kind of a working mom, too.

Big Beautiful Day

Today turned into a big beautiful day, and in the spirit of being grateful to God and the Universe for simple pleasures, I figured I better write about it.

Woke up with a desire to clean my kitchen. That never happens. It started with the dishes and ended several hours later after I had organized the Tupperware, and moved everything around in the cupboards. (had to move the bread ingredients closer to my bread mixer for easy access) I also did a mad dash of the house before I left in the morning, and it felt WONDERFUL to come home to a clean space.

I took Quinn to her first parade ever and my first Utah city parade. It was the Alpine days parade. I walked to it with a friend, and I think I got as excited as Quinn at times. She caught candy and toys as the people on the "floats" tossed them into the crowd.

Managed to sucker quite the huge Quinn fit after the parade with class and grace. Eventually we walked home with Quinn sleeping in the stroller. Yay for Super Mom!!

Ate an avocado, which is a wonderfully rare treat since they are crappy and expensive here.

Shared jam and bread with the neighbors.

Figured out that when a wheel breaks on the double BOB stroller, I've got two more perfectly good ones on the single BOB that have the same easy to remove tires. Nice. There is no stopping me on a walk now!

I put shoes on McKenna for the first time. They are a pair of old Robeez from Quinn, and they just look perfect on Kenna. It put me in a good mood.

Had dinner at Sue and Mikes and then Quinn got to watch her first Fireworks show. At first she said she wanted to go home because it scared her, but then she totally got on board and loved it. Uncle Mike says she might have a career future in firework commentation: "Oh, that's big. Oh, that's green. Oh, that's huge...."

Also I found out that my man caught the biggest fish of the trip on his annual Mexico trip with my dad. Yay for Tim and for good fortune in the air!!

And as if today were not good enough ... we are headed back to Sue's tomorrow for dinner, and she is making my favorite potatoes.

Simple Pleasures.

Should have knocked harder

I was sitting at breakfast with a friend yesterday morning, and one of us said something about how our kids have not been sick in several months. We knocked on wood ... I, apparently, should have knocked harder or just kept my mouth shut, because the first thing I noticed this morning was Quinn's cute, sexy, deep voice. SICK!!

Her nose started running a few hours later. By 4 pm she was resigned to the couch, and I sent her to bed at 6 pm with some Benedryll for her nose. Sad little thing called for me a few hours later. She was so congested, and she sounded so sick and so sad. I put a blanket under her pillow to elevate her head and got her some Tylenol. I hear her call for me every now and then, but by the time I get down there, she is already back asleep.

Poor little nugget. Something about this cold seems different than anything I have seen as a mother. But I figured out why. It is because this is the first time that Quinn has been sick AND had the ability to talk to me about it. She can ask me to swipe her nose or tell me that she is tired. And I love listening to her little sick voice. It is just this really real reminder that she is growing up. It makes me just want to Squeeze her till her giggles ... which I did a lot of today!

Figures crossed for a fast recovering, but in the mean time, I'll just enjoy the nursing side of motherhood.

Bottle Blues and Smiles

We almost had a MAJOR crisis on our hands here this week.

The first time I gave McKenna a bottle, she took it. I fed her an ounce and then said, "All right. We got it." I nursed her and put her to bed.

A few weeks later I left her with a friend for my root canal. My friend Lizza gave McKenna a bottle and told me that she only drank about an ounce (very half heartedly) and then didn't want any more.

So I tested the bottle a few more times, and it turns out ... SHE HATES IT! One time when I tried to give her soy formula, I swear there was actually MORE in the bottle everytime I checked the measures on the side to see how much she had eated. Aunt Sue was there. She'll tell you the milk was multiplying.

So I have been pumping my milk and testing the bottle more and more in hopes that she'll take more than half an ounce. I have to start working in about a week, and so I do not really have a choice. She has to work this out. I have to work this out. This had to get worked out! Dear me.

She has never even swallowed one sip of formula until this week. She took about half an ounce of Imfamil which was a step forward. But mostly she wants breast milk, so here I am feeling like a dairy farm all day long.

I have tried a lot of bottle feeding methods and nothing worked. But whenever I got on the Internet to search for more ideas, I started to cry. WHAT? I know. I don't really know what was going on. I wasn't really all that upset, but reading about other women facing this struggle while they too are preparing to go back to work just made me start crying every time.

So I did what any classic American girl would do. I call my sister and my girlfriend and I asked them to do the research for me and tell me what to do. I talked it out with Bridget, and then Kristie called with a list of ideas. We put a game plan together with a new perspective and BHAM! 3 Ounces!!!!

I woke her from a nap, so she would be drousy and submissive, and I laied her on her side like I do when she nurses. She went to town on the bottle, and she even fell asleep for a little bit like she does when she nurses.

It really does make sense. She hates to sleep on her back unless she is tightly swaddled. When she nurses, she relaxes almsot to the point of sleep. I always try to keep her awake, but there is an element of comfort for her in the process. I don't think she could get to that state on her back in a tradiational bottle feeding position. So when I would give her the bottle, she would drink because she was starving, and when she wasn't starving anymore, she would just stop and smile at me. So for the next little while, I will bottle feed her on her side or swaddle her.

I am so grateful that we have made some progress!!


Thanks, Bridget. Thanks, Kristie.

Thanks, Kenna-Benna.

Hawaiian Hay

I only make dinner for my dear husband about once every 2 weeks at most. We both just do our own thing for dinner. When he is home, we eat breakfast and lunch together. It works for us.

So I made Hawaiian Haystacks for him the other night as his one meal for the month.

For some reason we always have a lot to laugh about when we eat Hawaiian Haystacks. Like this time we laughed because we both thought that the other person though that the crunchy noodles are supposed to represent little Hawaiian people. They clearly represent the "hay" in the hay stack, but we misunderstood what the other person was saying and laughed a lot!

And we have a constant battle about how the haystack should be assembled. Tim starts with the noodles ... the hay ... and then builds up from there with rice, cheese, chicken mixture, slivered almonds and chopped green onions. He is very adamant that his way is the official correct way to assemble and eat.

I start with rice and then add the chicken mixture, cheese, pineapple and then the noodles.

His rational is that if the noodles are the "hay" they should be on the bottom. My rational is ... well, that is not how I do it... period.

Last night as we both carried our HUGE haystacks into the front room to watch a show (an episode of Friends EVERYNIGHT for 6 years has done us well) I noticed that our stacks were built in opposite styles, and it made me really happy. I think one of the most successful parts of marriage is that two people compliment each other. Doing things differently gives us double chances to get things right. The longer I am married, the easier it is to embrace our personal differences, loving me for me and him for him.

At least we agree on the stuff that matters:

The noodles represent the hay and not little Hawaiian people sitting on your fork waiting to be eaten!

Summer Vaca 2009 Pics

Our trip started with a well choreographed trip through the airport and on to the plane. 4 bags, three people, one stroller and a... But we made it and were very glad to get out own row so that McKenna could have her own seat. On the plane Quinn watched her new Barney DVD and used headphones for the first time.







I don't have many pictures from our time in California because my camera sucks, and since my mom and sister are so good at taking pictures, I left it to them! I have got to collect from them soon. But this picture of my mom, my dad and McKenna is my favorite. I love that my dad was holding my little one, and my mom is business as usual!!


Grammy finally got to feed McKenna a bottle when we started bottle training my my return to work while on our trip!!


One of many pics of Hadyn from our trip. This little one is a delight, and she LOVED spending time with McKenna.


Hadyn, Aunt Katie and baby McKenna!

Little Dax, who is not soft with anything, managed to be very soft with McKenna. What a cutie!

Hey, Beautiful Lady!


This is my favorite shot of the trip, but it is blurry, so I will never be able to print it. So sad. But aren't these cousins so cute!



Drake and Dax, a shot for McKenna's wall of cousins in her room.

Taryn and Hadyn for the cousin wall.


Drake Kissing McKenna and Aunt Katie picking the toe jam out of her toes!



Grandma and McKenna ready to swim!



They see the moom!!



We had so much fun on our trip. I think this pictures shows that best of all. We really have an amazing family on both sides with no drama and so much love. We love our summer trips. The only thing that could have made it better was having Tim there, but apparently absence makes the heart grow fonder. So I am not complaining.