the park city list

things that were did and done on our vacation to park city (a reverse to-do list):

cousin love
spending time with the fam
fire alarms at night
scariest merry-go-round with the kikster holding on for dear life
built in baby-sitters
checking out the local eats
finding the best fish 'n chips ever. these beat the ones I crave at Simon and Seaforts in Alaska. now that's saying something.
trips to the park for the little one
tanger outlet mall (jcrew? yes, please!)
walking hand in hand down main street
feeling like a tourist in utah
feel good weather
holding baby jake
date nights
500 days of summer. click here to see one of my favorite scenes. also, wes thinks everyone who goes to byu should see this show. from my experience, he is probably right.
alpine coaster through the mountain foilage
experimenting with new styles
looking for air supply (one of them lives there)
zipline down the mountain at night
kyoto on the way home. best sushi, ever.
last hurrah before the last year of the MAcc begins

no hands. daredevil.

she did this herself and thought it was really pretty. classic. mom trying to get away. halle whining.

how did everyone manage to come home without having their picture taken? yes, that means you jan and anthony.

dinner and a bath

Are babies like goldfish? Can they eat and eat until they roll over and die from massive amounts of food consumption like our little scaly friends? We have one little guppie in our house who seems to be on her way there. A few nights ago Halle ate the following: a yogurt and a big jar of baby food, many goldfish, some of my dinner, a few graham crackers, cottage cheese, and oatmeal. A little later I put her in the tub and her dad came home and heated up his dinner. He came into the bathroom to eat and be with us. And once she saw his plate there she was saying "mo" and doing the only sign she knows, the sign for "more" (her version of it anyway). So he fed her.

Lasagna in the bathtub.This little fish loves to eat anything and everything. I guess I should be happy it is not the other way around.

an introduction

Meet stella.
(and of course you already know the kikster)

a family close-up

Let me preface these family photos with a few points of interest.

1. I already asked our photographer if she could photoshop some poundage off my thighs, but apparently the technology is not quite sophisticated enough to accomplish that.

2. If you know Halle, you know she does not like to be held, especially outside. I feel we were lucky to even get one photo where all family members are looking at the camera and she was not whining.

3. Our photographer was fantastic (thanks Bethany for the recommendation!). By the end of this post I am sure you will be scrolling up to the top to click here and view her website.

All photos by Courtney Brooke Photography

halle was here

I love finding little fingerprints on spotless surfaces. I smile inside each time I see a little hand on the the windows, washer and dryer, fireplace, television, refrigerator, etc. I hope that never changes. I hope I always love these little messes and never become obsessed with a completely spotless house. I want a clean house, yes, but a clean house with just a bit of smudge to always remind me: Halle was here.

whistling

A few nights ago it was stormy and the wind was really blowing up on the mountain. I was sleeping with Halle on the couch in the wee hours of the morning. Not only does stella the house wash dishes with the push of a button, but she whistles too. I love the noise the wind makes as it blows around the house and pushes it's way through cracks in the doors. It sounds like the house is whistling a little tune. It made me feel like we were safe wrapped in our blanket on the couch and nothing out there could get us. I really love wind.

**Missed the Wymount wardies today. I also didn't think I would ever be in a ward that was louder then the BYU 34th ward. I was proven wrong today as we sat in our new ward. I've never seen so many kids in a chapel.

my life in boxes

we made it.

All boxes, people, shoes, and furniture are safely inside our house on the mountain. The hard part is getting the pieces of our life out of the boxes and into their rightful places.

My canon decided to head south with mom and take a spontaneous vacation to sg. So, sadly no pictures of the house until mom and dad return the camera next week.

But I will tell you this:

She has a name.

And the name bestowed upon her is...stella!

(click here to make sure you are pronouncing it correctly)

Wes was a little bummed the house is female, so we agreed the theatre room would be male. He decided to name that room...steven!

(Must be said with a nacho libre accent)

I don't know if that means our house is a two-headed creature named stella and steven or if it means our house has a very large boil on her back named steven. But either way we love her all the same.

angels

I believe that angels are wonderful people who were close to us and have passed on. They look out for us from the other side and send good vibes our way when things seem to be falling apart around us. They rejoice in our happiness and help to carry our burdens in times of stress and trial.
I have learned there is another type of angel. They are those people still around us, the ones we can see with our eyes instead of those we can only feel with our hearts. They provide the same comfort and protection as the first type of angel.
My mother is one such angel.
Who else would come and stay with me while my husband is out of town? (because let's face it: I am scared of being alone in the dark and thank goodness I did not have to be in any basements because those things scare me silly.)
Who else would make countless trips to the store for food, diapers, packing tape, packing supplies, treats, etc?
Who else would listen for my baby at night so I could get some uninterrupted sleep?
Who else would feed my baby all her meals, change all her diapers, and play with her endlessly simply because she loves that little girl?
Who else would teach my baby to hold hands in the parking lots?
Who else would cry with me when another little girl pushed my baby down and made her cry and cry?
Who else would drive home to make sure the other people in her family were doing okay and then drive five more hours to come back and help me the next day?
Who else would pack up all our belongings to get us ready to move on time?
Who else would help unpack our belongings?
Who else would return to our apartment after unpacking and scrub our apartment top to bottom by herself so we would not be charged for leaving it a mess?
Who else would help me decorate my new house with stuff from anthropologie because she knew it is the stuff I wanted for my dream home?
Who else would take me to the grocery store and fill our house full of food?
Who else would keep me laughing even when I am tired?
Who else would make sure everyone is healthy and happy before taking care of their needs?
No one, but an angel.
Thank you mommy. I can't say it enough.

saying goodbye

Things I am going to miss about Provo:
*Taking walks to the Provo temple on Sunday evenings and watching Halle play in the flowers and fountain on the grounds.

*My running route

*Being close to BYU

*Surprise visits from Ryan

*Is it sad I really can't think of very many things?

Things I am going to miss about Wymount Terrace:

hmm...

uhh...

*Simplicity

*Leaving a place that holds so many memories

(This is where we started our life together. It is the only home we have known since we got married. I graduated while living here. The majority of my pregnancy was spent here. We brought Halle home from the hospital to our little apartment. I learned how to be a mom here. Halle laughed for the first time on her changing table in the office/baby room/storage closet. She took her first steps here. I guess, like it or not, this place will always be so special to me. We're bustin' out of this joint come August 11th.

Get ready for the big reveal!

We have finally chosen a name for our new home. You won't want to miss it!

pretty

Halle thinks this is pretty...She loves our Halloween Dwight Schrute glasses and whenever she gets her hands on them she brings them to me so I will put them on her, and off she goes walking around the house saying "pretty pretty."

She also thinks this is pretty...

Yep, those are her daddy's whitie tighties that, according to her, have many functions. She sports these beaut's as a necklace and also a hat, once again insisting that it is "pretty pretty."

I just think this is pretty...Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

dear air supply

Last night I went to your concert at the Sandy Ampitheatre. I loved it. No, really, I like love love loved it. I don't know if you knew this or not, but seeing you in concert was one of the things on my "Stuff I Have to do Before I Die" list (also known as a bucket list if you keep up with movies and all that). I can't thank my in-laws enough for the tickets (we had great seats, 6th row center!) The concert was way better then I imagined it would be. I thought I would be disappointed because you are so old (no offense, but you had five #1 singles in a row almost 30 yrs. ago). I can't believe your voice was the same and I think even a little better then the CD! My husband (who really is not a fan, although he did buy your CD when he first met me to get to know me better because he knew I was so into you) went with me and he even liked the show and was screaming for you. That is a very rare happening because he never screams at anything.

Remember when you pointed at me and winked at me during one of your songs. And then remember when I was up at the front and you grabbed my hand. And remember when you sang "Making Love Out of Nothing At All"? I don't know if you knew, but that is my favorite song and you guys were crazy good.

I feel like I need to apologize to you for the sad excuse for an audience that was in attendance. They weren't waving their arms or standing up or screaming or clapping or anything that you tried to get them to do. Don't be offended, unlike you, those people just get less and less energetic with age. Can you believe that the old biddies behind me actually told me to sit down in the middle of your encore? I swear if someone tells me to sit down one more time at a concert I might lose it (it has happened before). Who just sits at a concert that is not featuring a philharmonic orchestra? Not cool. But I didn't mind I just went out into the aisle and started dancing out there. I also need to apologize for my screaming voice. After I had my baby my voice got noticably lower. (Weird huh? I have never heard of this phenomenon, but it definitely happened) Anyways, as my voice got lower I found I could not scream like I used to. It just won't come out. I miss it. I can't scream at my sis. in-laws' events either which, I'm sure everyone else is glad about, but I am sad about it. So I was doing my low voice scream that you probably couldn't hear, sorry.

I close with this picture of me. Yes, I am the one in the purple shirt with my hands up rocking out. No, I am not a freaky psycho fan, I was just way into everything. As you can see I was having the time of my life. But remember that girl standing to my left with the white baseball t-shirt that says "air supply." Yeah, she is the girl that walked up to you when you were coming into the audience and gave you a hug out of nowhere. Now that was kind of scary. Thank you for the most memorable concert ever, alomst 30 years later you are still melting people's faces off!

Love, Megan

What? You don't know who or what Air Supply is? Click here and get educated.