Summer Visitors - a rare occurence!

Our cousins, Leslie & Allie Jenkins spent a few days with us in August.  Rach and Allie are good little friends and are only a few weeks apart.  Leslie and I have become good friends over the past couple years, and I treasure our friendship and I have learned many important lessons from her.

We did all the normal summer day to day things with them - like errands, jumping on the tramp with sprinklers, watching princess movies, colored (boy, did they color!), trip to the mall with a free Thursday carousel ride, etc.  One activity that kept them busy for two hours was letting them "paint" outside with water.  They seemed to paint the whole backyard with their brushes, sponges and pool full of water.  Genius idea, Les!

They were troopers in the heat and never complained about our warm house temperature (79+ degrees in the summertime).

Pictures to come!!

Walking

He took his first steps right around 10 months and he just keeps getting better and more stable.  And he knows what a fish and lion say - too cute.  And he has the frowny face mastered - he knows how to use it to get his way and I absolutely love it!

Me & my honey visit Chicago

This trip was so not planned and so last minute ... aren't we just so ... spontaneous?!  Brandon found out with less than a week notice, that he needed to take someone's place and conduct interviews at University of Chicago and Northwestern for his firm.  I desperately wanted to go with him (of course!) so I spent the day figuring out how to get there and get a babysitter for our kids, etc.

We decided to make a weekend out of it and flew out of Mesa Gateway Airport to Rockford, IL ($120 each way) on Allegiant Airlines and we left first thing Saturday morning.  We rented a car to get from Rockford to Chicago, which takes about an hour and a half depending on traffic.  We flew down Grandma Nancy to watch the kids (each of us paid for one way); she is so wonderful - I have to be careful about asking her for for things since she'll drop any and everything to help out.  I flew home on Tuesday and Brandon came home on Wednesday.

It was such an amazing trip for us both!  I wanted to take lots of pictures, but soon realized that the picture couldn't capture the way it made me feel to be back in Chicago.  My eyes were just taking it all in and my heart was so happy (cheesy, but true!).  Being there brought back a flood of memories - like running to the metra so I didn't miss my train (happened countless mornings), looking out my window (21 stories up) at the beautiful scenery of Lake Michigan and Hyde Park, making the walk to the lake from Regents, greeting the doormen, finding a great parking spot (huge accomplishment!), reminiscing about our close Chicago friends and our restaurant "tour around the world", and remembering when Brandon pretended to steal my purse my first time in the Co-Op.  These are just a few memories that come to mind; it was fun to remember so many fun times with Brandon.

I was so grateful for the opportunity to go back and visit Chicago.  Brandon says that the way I describe and feel about Chicago is similar to how returned missionaries feel about their missions.  I can definitely see that, and now I feel a little bad about how I always diss Brandon's mission, McAllen, Texas.

Food Log (I must have gained 10 pounds, seriously):
In Hyde Park
- Pizza Capri (I had forgotten how good their complimentary bread and dip is)
- The Original Pancake House (never disappoints)
- Harold's Chicken Shack (still so ghetto, and yet so good)
In Downtown
- Garrett's Popcorn TWICE! (I like the caramel and Brandon likes the cheese, so the Chicago mix is perfect for us)
- Bongo Room (their breakfast tastes more like dessert)
- Pinkberry (this was my first time at pinkberry, and I really liked it)
- Chicago Dog at Wrigley Field (a must)
- Harry Carray's (this was my first time, and Brandon was so happy they had Goose Island root beer)

Highlights:
- Brandon realized he forgot his laptop when we arrived at the airport, so he had to speed home and get it; good thing we got there two hours early
- We stayed at the Hyatt at McCormick place the first night and then at The James in downtown (thank you, Osborn Maledon)
- I recognized the Metro train conductors and the waiters at Pizza Capri and Pancake House (all Hyde Park), so I guess two years away hasn't been all that long
- Searching for Goose Island Root beer (Brandon's all time favorite) ALL over the city and finally found it at Jewel Osco on Grand & State
- Surprising Brian, our favorite doorman at Regents Park and he said, "Y'all are gonna make cry!"  I knew it!  It was so fun to see him.
- Visiting with friends on Sunday at church - the Shurtliff's, Cannon's, Parker's (although I missed seeing Tilah and Iman, the little stinkers didn't come to church), Woodson's, Swarray's, and Patricia even came with her daughter, Melaine, who is now 18 months old and such a cutie.  Patricia coming to meet us there, really meant the world to me.
- Brandon met one of "The Five Brown's" who is now in the ward ... between him and Jabari Parker, they have quite the group of Mormon celebrities!  (And I should mention the soon-to-be-famous author, Liesl Shurtliff, who just found out that she's getting her book published! Go, Liesl!)
- Parking downtown = $36 for 24 hrs and I forgot how bad that hurts!
- Loved the diversity the city has to offer - it's so refreshing!
- Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier (a first for me)
- Skydeck at Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower, also a first for me) - it's the tallest building in North America and has the most amazing views and now offers "the ledge" which allows you to step out onto glass to see straight down 103 stories
- Glad to see the boys playing the drums on buckets - I just love the street entertainment!
- Cubs v. Braves game ... Brandon goes for the love of the sport, I go for the hot dog and people watching, enough said
- Lake Michigan (only regret of the trip was not getting their early enough so that Brandon could play ultimate frisbee at the Point with all the guys on Saturday morning)
- Watched "Soul Surfer" on the plane and lots of "Friday Night Lights" (Netflix) on Brandon's laptop
- We saw the most hilarious photo shoots this weekend - there was the group of people on State Street standing on red carpet, causing quite the scene and I didn't recognize anyone; then there was the girl with booty shorts and old school roller skates, rolling around downtown having someone take her picture - she looked ridiculous; then there was a whole group of ladies in bikini's at Ohio Street Beach getting their photo taken by someone who didn't look like he knew what he was doing, and he'd call out the next girl by using the color of her bathing suit - "Pink, you're up!" - this "photo shoot" was also being filmed and one girl looked at us and said, "We're having a photo shoot today!" Yeah, we could tell - I wonder if they actually thought they should aspire to be models ... then again, maybe I don't have an eye for that sort of stuff.

Gotta love Chicago!

3 new posts ... be sure to scroll down :)

Rachel's First Dance Recital

It was comical.  Sorry Rachel, but you were pretty awful, and we loved every minute of it.  At least you were having fun.  I think we might have to pursue the singing thing.

If you're up for the whole recital (that's you, grandma's) then I posted all the dances at the end of the video.  The first couple minutes is just the highlights.  If you ever want to know what moves she's supposed to be doing, just see the girl next to her who is actually watching their teacher.  Sorry for the shaky camera, it's Brandon laughing his head off.

PASSWORD TO VIDEO:  dance

Rachel's Recital from Whitney Hale on Vimeo.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed

Getting into everything

My little man is getting into everything these days!  I have found myself carrying him on my hip more, just because I know he'll stay out of trouble that way.  His favorite places to cause mischief include the house plant to eat the dirt, the toilet to splash in the water (sometimes flushed, sometimes not), unroll the toilet paper, eat the toilet paper, play in any/all cupboards, diving into the empty tub to get toys, etc.  

He also took his first official steps at the beginning of the month (10 months old), so he'll be running before I know it.  Except that he really is taking his time learning and just takes 5-8 steps when we encourage him to do so.  He also learned how to wave "hi" and "bye" - so darling.  And he gives kisses and hugs, but he's been doing that for a little while.  He has this little "cheese" face he does to me when he's extra happy, he squints his eyes and tilts his head up and shows his teeth really big - it's my favorite.

I would say his two favorite times of the day are when daddy gets home and bath time.  He gets so excited and can hardly contain himself.  

He also loves to play with his big sister, except for when she takes his toys - he always cries and lets me know about it, so she doesn't get away with too much.  He also really likes to go outside and jump on the tramp with Rachel, which really means that he crawls around while she jumps and he flies everywhere.  He laughs and laughs!  He's at such a fun age, and he is such a happy little guy.  

Took a few pictures of him after he woke up from his nap and aren't you proud of me, I didn't even photoshop off his boogers!  

His sleep-comfort item is definitely this white blanket - he loves to bite it!

He sleeps with his stuffed monkey that I made Rachel give him (like she doesn't have enough stuffed animals, what a mean mom I am!)

Allred Family Reunion

We spent Pioneer Day weekend right outside Zion's National Park in southern Utah (near Orderville, UT) at Clear Creek Ranch with Brandon's mom's side of the family.  Bonnie and Wallace Allred have a family reunion every two years with all their children, grandchildren and now lots and lots of great-grandchildren.  We all stayed in the same lodge with 50-60 people.  I was expecting total chaos, but was pleasantly surprised at how MUCH fun we all had!

We ate lots of good food, played games together (it was the first time in ages that we busted out "Settlers"), had a gigantic slip and slide, canoed, swam, hiked, talked & laughed.  Brandon's cousins are great and Rachel loves playing with her cousins and second cousins.  I love that we hardly worried about Rach - she was constantly playing with the other kids, and they didn't even ask for any toys or movies.  And one morning she slept in until almost 10am, which is SO unlike her - we kept checking on her to make sure she was still breathing.  Andrew had fun people-watching and being outside.  He just barely learned how to pull himself up in his crib/pack'n play, so that made his sleeping a little disjointed, and since our family was all in the same room, I think he took advantage of that too.  They were really good on the rides up and back, as usual - I consider myself lucky!

Papa Wally & Pookie shared stories of our pioneer heritage and also told of some of their own travels!  Papa had collected hats from each place they had been, and he let all the grandkids and spouses choose one.  Brandon was very pleased with his light blue "Maui" hat and Rachel wore my "Bermuda" hat for the hike.  It was very sweet that he gave all of his hats away.

I included some of my favorite pictures here and also made a collage of all the activities and details (click to enlarge).  I also have to give credit to Val for taking all these pictures - it was a nice break to sit back and enjoy the moment rather than be behind the camera.  Thanks, Val!

I didn't realize we were standing so far apart.  I promise we like each other :)

Great Grandkids

Bonnie and Wallace Allred

Hayride

My Mesa Sister

My dear friend, Lore, moved back to Washington and this may be cheesy, but it definitely merits a blog post!  I met Lore at the Library within just a few weeks of moving into our house (almost two years ago).  She lived in our same stake and we just clicked - I knew we had to be friends.  We went running a few times together and then we started taking our kids to the park and swimming pool together.  She introduced me to Mandy (from her ward) and it's safe to say that the three of us and our kids have been inseparable ever since.  During the winter we would go to park 2-3 times a week and during the summer we'd swim 2-3 times a week (exceptions were vacations, visitors, sick kids, etc.).  Lore's much more spontaneous than me, and she was usually the one to initiate our outings and adventures (often at the last minute, but I loved it).  We loved to get our entire families together for bbq's or holiday parties, and we occasionally snuck out for a girl's night out.  I consider Lore & Mandy my MESA SISTERS and it just won't be the same here without Lore, but I am so happy for her to be living in Washington near her family and for them to be almost done with physical therapy school.  

Just some tidbits on Lore I don't want to forget.  She's extremely positive.  She has such a good outlook on life and was a great example to me of keeping an eternal perspective.  She never said unkind words about anyone and always gives people the benefit of the doubt.  She's the best listener.  She would always ask me specific questions about how everything was going, and so many times I remember thinking, "Why am I still talking about my life?  Lore, how are YOU!?"  I felt like she really loved my kids - so special - and I totally trusted her with them.  She would always say things like, "that totally gives me the chills!"  She's got an eye for design and art, and she is so talented and creative.  

On a personal note, I have struggled at finding my place in our ward here.  Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal to me if we had family here, but it's just us.  Luckily I have wonderful friends - like Lore, Mandy & Kasey, who have helped fill the voids where needed, and they've been like sisters to me.  

Lore, Mandy & I - Girl's Night Out

Halloween Party 2010

Such good friends!  Lore & Dustin Smart with kids, Macie (age 2 and a half) & Dalan (age 5)

Rachel & Macie, maybe they'll reunite in college, Lore!  Now I just have to convince you guys to send your kids to BYU.  Not an easy task!!  :)

The thing I want to remember about Macie is that she was unsure of all of Rachel's hugs and affection at first, but then she finally warmed up to her and they played so cutely together!