dump truck party

a couple of weeks ago we took george to the party store and let him pick out the theme of his party.  he quickly picked out dump truck "stuff."  we headed up to spring mountain ranch for his party.  we played some games and had a picnic.  it was a beautiful day, and the surroundings up there are just gorgeous.  it's my favorite close get-away.

the two georges...

uncle skaughty and aunt jamie...

playing croquet...

more playing croquet...

present time!

we played "stick george in the dump truck" (like pin the tail on the donkey).  i made a poster of a dump truck and then cut out a bunch of little pictures of george.  the object of the game was to stick george as close to the driver's seat as possible.  mia won (we didn't even cheat for her!)!  here's a picture of papa steve taking a stab at it.

grandma dolores makes her best guess...she's WAY off.

uncle tyler said this game was just creepy.  now that i see it, it does look a bit creepy :).

it's cake time!

who can smile for the camera when there's cake to eat?

george's 2nd birthday!

georgie turned 2 on friday!  i can't believe my little man is already two years old.  all day we'd ask him how old he is, and he'd reply, "two days old."  he had a very busy day.  after breakfast, we went to target for portraits (he cried 80% of the the time!).  we rushed back to get the kitchen cleaned and the cake baked.  then his grandparents arrived from utah.  then we headed out to dinner with both sets of grandparents.  then we came back to our house for presents.  he got lots of great presents from his grandparents and aunts and uncles.  he was all tuckered out, but he had a great day.

george had a #2 pancake for breakfast

the birthday boy before opening presents

we got him a workbench for his birthday.  he calls it his "shop".  maybe someday he'll have a big shop like his papa steve has!  he sure enjoyed banging on this thing!  i just hope he limits the banging to the toy and not other things around the house.

skaught's birthday

my big brother, skaughty, celebrated his 33rd birthday.  we met up downtown at casa don juan's for a little din-din.  after that we went to his new house for dessert.  we had loads of fun...

i made skaughty a picnic blanket for his b-day.

hair today, gone tomorrow...

i'd been thinking about donating my hair to locks of love again (i did it just before mia was born).  then my friend, sam, told me she had recently done it.  then all those commercials for 'stand up to cancer' were on tv.  soooo, i decided the universe was telling me to get a haircut!  i barely had enough to donate...you need 10 1/2", and i had just under 11".  my brother, skaught, did the snipping...didn't he do a great job?  if only it looked this cute when i did it!

first day of preschool

mia started her second year of preschool!  this year was a much easier adjustment than last year.  her friend, joe, was in her class for 2 weeks, which was a lot of fun.  he ended up switching to another preschool, though.  she misses him, but she's having a great time and is learning a lot thanks to all of miss janie's hard work!

jet-setter...

while the kids and i were in brian head, russ took a trip to michigan and chicago.  he met up with his best friend, dave, in michigan for the utah/michigan football game (i've already been told that he's going to the utah/notre dame game in 2 years to which i replied that i'm going to!).  the weather was beautiful, and russ said that the michigan fans were the nicest he has ever encountered.  to top it off, the utes won!  the morning after the game, russ flew solo to chicago to see his favorite baseball team, the cubs.  it was a long trip for him to make in such a short time, but he had a great time at both of the games.

russ and dave before the football game started.

the final score!

matt (dave's brother), elaine (matt's wife), samantha (their daughter), dave & russ

russ at wrigley field

the story behind this picture is hilarious.  a homeless man was offering to take your picture in front of wrigley field for some spare change.  russ had him take his picture, and the homeless man told him not to give him any money until he got a shot that he liked.  the guy said he knew the best place for pictures and laid down right on the busy sidewalk.  he took a bunch of pictures, totally stopping all the foot traffic.  after about 4 pictures russ gave him a couple of dollars for his effort.  russ said that he wished he had a picture of the guy taking the pictures!

brian head, utah

mia, george and i went to brian head, utah over labor day weekend with my family.  we had the greatest time!  we rented a ranger, which is a 6 seater atv, and drove all over the mountains.  my  little brother, tyler, drove, which was adventuresome.  the views were beautiful, and the fresh mountain air was good for my overall well-being.  we also took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, but it was freezing cold, so we looked at the view for 5 minutes and headed right back down.  the kids slept amazingly well, which was good for them and me!  i got a lot of reading done each night after they were in bed.    

mia and george loved to explore, pick flowers and throw rocks.

papa steve and george posing at the top of a mountain.

mia was taught the art of tree carving.  she worked on her carving for a good 10 minutes.

me and my beautiful kiddos.

we were all given helmets when we rented the ranger.  needless to say, all the adults took theirs off the minute we were out of eyeshot of the rental store.  mia and george, however, were required to keep theirs on...they actually loved wearing them!

we had a reservation for dinner, but we still ended up waiting 45 minutes to be seated!  we eventually had them bring us bread and butter to this little waiting area.  luckily uncle t was good entertainment for the kids.

my mama and me at the top of the ski lift.  it was a gorgeous view!

papa kept georgie nice and warm.