Hanging Out

Tucker is very perceptive about when we are preparing to leave the house. He just assumes that he is going too. He sits by the door leading to the garage, looking up at it and says, "Well Mom, where are we going this time?" And if he is not invited out the excursion, then he literally pouts at home (which is more often than not in the summertime due to the heat). If we do allow him to come, we open the door and he then proceeds jauntily to the car door. Then we open the car door and he makes a mad leap into the car (his legs are really, really short). Tucker finds the driver's seat the best place for someone with his...hmmm, how do I put it...leadership abilities. He loves sticking his head out the window and just "hanging out" in the neighborhood. He really is a quite a good driver as long as he doesn't spot a cat.

Mom is Serious

This look says, "Mom is serious about the word No."

Family Reunion

Summer means it is family reunion time! Camp fires, extended family and fun with my paternal grandmother's family! See the slide show on the right side of the blog.

Together Forever

My sister's recently officially adopted kids were sealed (Which means they can now be together forever beyond the bounds of death. Learn more about it here.) in the LDS Salt Lake Temple! There are no words for how momentous this culminating event was and yet at the same time so simple and beautiful. They are such a gorgeous family!

A Week

This week's synopsis:
Sunday: celebrated Father's Day...was that just a week ago???
Monday: called pedatrician since the Pea's habits and moods were drastically changed (sleeping 4 more nap hours and very grumpy or tired most of the time) Told to wait and see if it is a growth spurt.
FHE with friends: Milo and Co. (see his adorable cuteness above) Grillin' and swinging with their super cute fam.
Tuesday: Went to work only to run home after phone call from Nana and baby screaming background...what was wrong? What could she have swallowed? She started throwing up...please not a AAA battery and other misc items...oh, yeah some lime green marble sized plastic balls of unknown origin. She's going to be "one of those who give you a run for your money" according to the doc.
Wednesday: green plastic balls recovered from the diaper - whew! Back to normal habits.
Visit with sis who flew in from D.C. for funeral of her awesome 92 yr. old grandmother-in-law (see obit. here)
Thursday: Went to work (no panicked phone calls from Nana)
Friday: Enjoyed last day borrowing family's Tahoe with its DVD player in the back playing Finding Nemo the only movie that the Pea will watch for more than 10 minutes and only then if tied into car seat. Bought awesome $2 beach mat with sis at IKEA - turned it into two table runners with a seam ripper (that's $1 per table runner!)
Saturday: Family Camp Out Reunion

Flakey Friends

The Flakes, our fabulous friends from our frozen days of Michigan have always made us laugh. Now she has expanded her talents to original handcrafted animals at this new etsy store! There are so many fun, funny and fuzzy friends! This guy is on of my favorites:

A Well Loved Pine Cone

To explore texture, I introduced this pine cone to PeaPod when she was 4 months. Ever since then, it has been in our toy box and she gets it out time to time to be carried around and played with.

To my dad

credits: http://socialcouture.typepad.com

Happy Father's Day!

A man I look up to in more ways than one:

Wild poppies

Summer is here and nature is abounding! I'm blessed to have these lovelies growing wild behind my home!

Smells Like Home

The heavy sweet smell of Russian Olive trees in June reminds me of my childhood summers exploring the fields dotted with these trees with my sisters to find priceless treasures like hatched blue robin or speckled pheasant eggs, snails in the "swamp" (to my mother's chagrin), and rocks that for one reason or another were considered special enough to store in our dresser drawers!

Wow - Britian's Got Talent!

My sister introduced me to Britian's Got Talent. I'm hooked. Love these clips!

Happily Mundane

I love how becoming a parent turns the ordinarily mundane features of life into Events. Parenting makes moments count. Today, our happily mundane moment which has become an Event in our lives is entitled: A New Car Seat. PeaPod still fits in her original infant carrier that her mother, me, picked out with much deliberation - finally caving into my pregnant excitement and going with the completely Pink Peg Perego set. She is almost too tall for it - one more inch and it is no more! So, she has a new forward facing (annoyingly beige) car seat. It is super fun to have conversations with her now in the car - typically something to do with animals and the noises they make. And so, in typical motherhood style, I reminisce of this day when we brought her home in it looking sooo small:

Supplies: K Pertiet layered frames
TaylorMade Blended papers
Fonts: Bush and comicsans

Summer is Here!

Hooray! It has been a cool and wet spring (wet for Utah anyway!) I'm so happy that it feels more like summer finally! I guess I've always been putting around in the garden; above is my sister and I picking tomatoes one summer in our granny's garden. Can't wait till next week to see you next week, Loo!

You are my Sunshine

Always good for a laugh...

I love this blog. It makes me really look at advertising!

Unbelievable Pants

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it:
This morning I was hanging some of PeaPod's clothes and deciding which ones needed retiring. I had yet to dress her for the day. PeaPod was wearing just a diaper. She came over, took some clothes off the hangers and left to go play in her room. As I came into her room, I saw this: her wearing these pants! She had put the pants on all by herself!(Unless Tucker, the dog, put them on her - which would also be unbelievable.)
I just can't believe it!

Pelican Party

I have neglected to tell you about Petey. Petey is a pelican that visited the river behind our home last year. This year he brought his wife, Priscilla and their child, Pensacola (Penny for short - I bet you can guess where Petey wintered!) Since Petey is quite the popular fowl, they had a Pelican Party last week. It was a good showing with 12 pelican friends dining at the bend in the river. We, the paparazzi, tried to get a group photo, but pelicans are rather shy of the camera - they are such large birds that they are self conscious of the extra weight the camera adds. P.S. All real pelicans' names have been changed to protect the innocent.