Moments 4, 5, & 6

Moment #4:  Despite my constant reminders that, "We only put stickers on paper" she has the ability to express her free agency...a free agency that sometimes gets her in hot water.

Moment #5:  When she tells me that she is mad and going to tell her daddy on me, the knowledge that her father and I present a united front...despite the miles that separate us, I am not doing this alone.

Moment #6:  The quiet opening of my bedroom door in the morning, the heavy breathing of a little girl battling a cold and allergies, the jostling of the bed as she climbs up via the cedar chest, the THUMP of her diving onto me, embracing me in a hug and saying, "Mommy I wakey now!"

An idea that grew out of control....

As many of you know, my hero recently left on a 15 month deployment. He starts his journey at Ft. Polk in Louisiana to do combat skills training. Due to Army (he is Air Force, but will be working for the Army for the next year) regulations he will get the opportunity to return home for about a week before shipping out to his final destination in Afghanistan.

To help mark the days I decided to make Miss M a paper chain that she can remove a link each day. The bulk of the chain is red, white, blue, and yellow. However, on the guesstimated dates of his return home in July and then again for mid-tour R&R I placed a green link. I can move the green links as needed.

The chain quickly grew to such great lengths that there is NO WHERE in my home to hang the entire length without cutting across doorways and stairways. So I draped the tail end across the bay window in my dining room and put the rest into a laundry basket on top of the nearest kitchen cupboard.

Each morning we remove a link...each morning we are one day closer to having him home.....

Fourth of July Weekend

We are not fireworks kind of people; you seen one show, you've seen them all. Our little family would rather spend time in the woods, being one with nature...with the comforts of a cabin of course. We went up on Thursday and stayed until Sunday.

Phillip's dad joined us Friday afternoon. We enjoyed his company. Unfortunately his mom wasn't able to join us because she was out of town. When "Grampa" arrived he asked Meghan if she wanted to play in the sprinkler. She showed interest at first, but quickly lost it. I wasn't thinking when I packed her clothes, so I wasn't prepared for her to play in the water. I did tell her that she could but would have to do soin just her diaper.

Saturday morning the guys went fishing. Meghan and I had breakfast without them, I saved them some and proceeded to clean up. After I cleaned up I went out to read on the deck and watch Meghan play. She wanted to play in the dog's water dish, but that is a no-no in this family. So I went inside and found her a pitcher and wash basin to play in instead. Meghan spent a long time playing in the water.

Eventually our fishermen returned home. After they ate their breakfast, "Grampa" asked Meghan if she wanted to play in the sprinkler. She was so excited, I stripped her down to her diaper. But when it came down to it, she didn't want to play in the sprinkler. I had gone back inside to clean up the guys' breakfast dishes. When I came back outside...this is what I found.

Why play in the sprinkler when you have a perfectly functioning wash basin?

The cabin has indoor plumbing, to include a shower....but bathing a toddler who doesn't like water in her face in the shower did not seem like fun to me. The next best thing? The kitchen sink of course....Gramma April probably cringes at the thought....

mmmm....S'more S'mores please

A couple of weekends ago we had the opportunity to go see a friend of ours retire from the Air Force. It was wonderful getting caught up with them, and a few other friends we were stationed with in England.

My parents are so awesome, they let us crash at their pad. We love visiting them so much! And they even let us bring Emma the energizer dog...all the better. Friday we did the retirement ceremony and party. Saturday Phillip played golf at the Air Force Academy while my parents took Meghan and I shopping. It was a long day for Meghan.

Nana had promised Meghan that they would do S'mores. It got later and later in the evening, it was hard to put Meghan to bed because she was having so much fun with her Nana, Papa, and her Aunts Becky & Cassie. I undid her hairdo and was about to put her in the bath when she and Nana reminded me about the S'mores. Bath plans on hold for a few minutes, we did quick S'mores in the microwave since there wasn't enough time for Papa to start a fire. (I think my dad is a closet pyro.)

Phillip and dad enjoyed just the chocolate. Nana, Meghan, Aunt Cassie and I enjoyed complete S'mores....and my sister Becky who has an aversion to fluffy, delicious, finger lickin' good marshmallows had melted chocolate on graham cracker. I KNOW she is weird, but we love her despite that.

Below are Meghan with her wild woman hairdo thoroughly enjoying that S'more.

Wall Lake

Saturday, June 27, 2009, Phillip decided he wanted to take his family on a hike. So we packed and left for the Uintah's. After an hour hike in we ended at Wall Lake, the view was well worth the hike in. Isn't that the way it always ends up?

After the hike in Meghan and I needed a snack. What a better snack for cheesy pictures than cheese?

Meghan playing with Daddy's sunglasses. She likes to play with ours, but do you think we could get her to wear her's? No way Jose!

While Phillip fished, Meghan and I just enjoyed the scenery. She found plenty of rocks to play with, numerous bugs and birds to point out, and when she got bored with that she began to play with her pack.

And when the pack lost it's appeal...she went back to exploring the dirt and rocks....after about two hours mommy and Meghan were ready to GO.

After finding Phillip who had wandered along the shore fishing, we took a family picture and hiked an hour back to the car.

All in all it was a wonderful family outing.

Fun times at the cabin

After I dropped Elder Stephenson off at the MTC and took my friend to the airport, I went back home to pick up my family so that we could spend a few days up at my in-law's cabin. We went up on Wednesday, my in-law's joined us on Friday and we all went home Saturday afternoon. I think it is safe to say that any time spent at the cabin is fun time had by all.

Whenever we go to the cabin we do at least one dutch oven meal. Phillip is the dutch oven cook in our family. This time we did our usual dutch oven chicken and potatoes. For dessert I had an inspired idea that I am sure has been done all over the country...it was delicious nonetheless. We did brownies baked in a dutch oven on top of a can of cherries, of course we opened the can and poured the cherries into the dutch oven. It was unanimous that a scoop of vanilla ice cream was the only improvement that could have been made to the desert.


Meghan loves taking people by the hand and going for walks. Here she is on a walk with her Grandma.




In May we bought Meghan these boots at Cabela's. They were on sale, too cute, and perfect for playing up in the dirt and mud at the cabin. Meghan loves these boots....and as you can tell she has a great fashion sense.

Husbands!

Hero has decided that he needs to lose 5 to 10 pounds. He has also decided that the way to do this is to do PT five days a week instead of three. Because of this he has a night time ritual of packing his PT bag before he goes to bed. Tonight we had an interesting conversation.

Hero: Have you done any laundry this week? (As he trips over the mounding laundry basket that I asked him to carry down the two flights of stairs three days ago.)

Mama: No. All the laundry was done by your mom before she left on Tuesday. Why?

Hero: No reason. (As he is rummaging through his sock drawer obviously looking for something. Then proceeds to trip over that basket, again.)

Mama: You are obviously looking for something, how can I help you?

Hero: It's okay. I bet that basket is all the laundry and is waiting for me.

Mama: Yes, how much do you think that basket weighs? (I ask this to see if he will catch a hint)

Hero: More than you should be carrying right now. But don't worry about it. (He says this as he begins to dig through the basket for a suitable pair of running socks, sniffing as he goes. Ewww)

So where is that basket almost three hours later you ask? Still waiting by the bed. That is where it will probably stay until I can lift it.