Memorial Day, Mountain Man Style

We had a wonderful, relaxing Memorial Day in Hyrum. The kids got a horse back ride, we went up Blacksmith Fork Canyon and saw the Mountain Man Rendezvous, we went further up the canyon to a beautiful park and played and played, came home and had a DELICIOUS lunch off the grill, and then the kids played and played even more and then had more treats in the evening. Perfection.

The scouts in my parents ward put up these flags for holidays at every person's house. I love the tradition and I love seeing the flag out and waving! (That is my parents house, ps.)

Sorry for cutting you off, Jack-Jack. Ruth loved the ride! Thanks Grandpa!

My brother Wyatt and his youngest, Natalie. So sweet.

There's Jack-Jack!

And now, onto the Mountain Man Rendezvous:

 It was cold and windy, but there was some pretty neat stuff. Apparently we should have gone on Saturday though, because they had games and candy cannons. Too bad. The mountains themselves though, are absolutely STUNNING. Last Saturday Sterling and I went on a hike up the mountains with some friends. I forgot my camera, lamesauce, but it was also stunning.  It was an incredibly beautiful hike though, and I can't wait to go try it again! Those mountains are so beautiful right now though! It almost looks like we could just be mountain men up in the mountains!

Sorry, it was blurry. But here is Hailey, Cassidy, and Lindsay Ann with their beautiful parasols.

Ruthie tried on a bonnet.

I don't know who these little boys are, but they made a PERFECT picture.

Grandpa Jack, Hailey, Wyatt, Lindsay Ann, with Natalie and Jack-Jack in front.

Grandma was bouncing them too much to get a clear picture. They LOVED it.

Everyone also loved the merry-go-round. Hailey is pushing, and Cassidy is on the back. They went on it SO much that Cassidy was sick when we got home.

Blurry, but here is Ruthie on the merry-go-round. She loved it SO much, I was super surprised. She wasn't scared at all! 

All in all, it was a fabulous day. We relaxed, we played, mom grilled steaks, dad made a big pot of beans, Ruth ONLY ate watermelon, and we lazed about. My wonderful mother helped me cut off and hem three pairs of old pants (before college-days-old) into shorts for the summer, and put tucks in my capris that are always falling down. Hallelujah. And what will I do when we have to move away for medical school? I thought I should maybe buy a sewing machine, but Lindsay Ann had the wonderful idea of sending my mending home in packages. Genius. Later that night, Grandpa made his famous snow cones and the kids ate them til their lips were purple and Jack was shaking from head to toe! The only thing missing was my amazing husband--who rode his bike to work so I could drive the car up to have a wonderful day without him. Thank you, Sterling!

Pictures, you say?

This is what she did when I said "SMILE!"

He, on the other hand, can't stop smiling, so I decided he would be a better subject. Love that grin just SO SO much. And go ahead, you can say it, my baby is the CUTEST baby there ever was!

Oh yeah, that outfit is size 9 months!!!!

This is him laughing out loud, only you can't hear it. Best noise ever.

She decided to give me a small smile. She looks gorgeous.

My cheek is too fat! I can't keep smiling! It's too hard!!!!

Kisses.

His favorite past-time.

Umm, yup. I snapped this one before she pushed him off. Is it too much to ask for ONE cute picture of them???

The following pictures are from our walk the other night, when the lady thought I was a teenage mom.

Kisses.

Pushing.

Throwing rocks.

 And these are from a recent hike with Andrea and her kids. The wildflowers are coming out on the mountains and the Wasatch front is actually GREEN this spring! So lovely!

Her little sunhat kinda gives off an Asian vibe.

And that is what you get when you ask for pictures. But I'm sure you don't mind, because they are the CUTEST EVER!

Funnies

Will has officially laughed out loud! (Saturday was the first time, I think?) It is the most adorable sound in my whole life, and I just love that ropy-poly, grinning, happy little man. He is also still sleeping through the night (Yay! That lasted for longer than two nights!) and his molar is almost completely through now. Really weird, I know. Uncommon, crazy, and so bizarre to see a big ol' molar in the top right of his mouth!

Ruthie is a hoot these days. She is also getting along a LOT better with her cousin Devaney (a couple time outs for both of them first thing in the morning, and they were good to go for the rest of the day). Still, Devaney is quite annoyed that Ruthie can't say her name correctly. Ruthie was looking for Dev the other morning and was at the top of the stairs and yelled "NE-MOE-NEE!!!!" and Devaney, at the bottom of the stairs, got all annoyed her name was wrong, and yelled back in disgust "DEVANEY!" Ruth, not realizing Devaney was mad, got quite excited and gleeful to have found Devaney, and yelled back in joy "NE-MOE-NEE!!!!", to which Devaney got even more frustrated and yelled back, "NO! DEVANEY!" It went on for quite some time, Ruthie happy as a clam, and Devaney, incredibly frustrated, and I was watching and laughing SO hard.

The other morning I was blow-drying my hair and getting ready and Ruth (who still cannot open doors, thank the heavens) would say "See ya!" leave, and shut the door behind her. Then she would knock, say "Dope!" (her word for 'door', I really don't know why) "Please!" and so I would open the door, she would pop her head in and yell "Peek-a-boe!" and then start again, "see ya!" I thought it was so funny. It just makes me laugh that she can do the same thing 10 times in a row and think she is hilarious every time.

Also the other morning, she was drinking some milk, and set the cup down on her tray. She let go of her cup before it was actually resting on the tray, so it hit the tray pretty hard and sent her milk flying---right back into her face and literally up her nose! The surprise and astonishment on her face was so hilarious I busted out laughing, and she started crying, poor thing.

Ruth is also in love right now with the wooden puzzles we have (thanks Aunt Bridget!). She carries them around and as much as I try to keep the puzzle pieces in one bag when they aren't being used, they are ALL OVER our house. I peeked in on her in nursery on Sunday and she had a wooden puzzle and some kid tried to take it and she was pretty adamant about "No! Mine!" It made me laugh. I realize we have some major sharing issues (she's not even two yet, please promise me its just a defense mechanism against her older cousins and it won't get worse, please!?!?!?) but it was cute to see her so intent on a puzzle.

Ruth is also in love with her belly button right now. I think its because I've always had her in a onesie, and since its finally warm enough, and she is old enough, we've sort of done away with wearing onesies, which means she can pull up her shirt and see her belly button. She says "Benny Bunnon" and last night, when she discovered that her teddy grahams have belly buttons, you would have thought she just got handed the moon. She was so in love, she couldn't stop giggling. So hilarious.

Ruth also hops, skips, shuffles, trots, and runs(a skipping run) places...but she hardly ever walks normally. It is pretty cute, and it totally steals Sterling's heart every time he watches her. They had a grand time at the playground last night while I chilled on the bench with Will. Which reminds me. We went to MTC park (by the Dino Museum) and walked along the river. Partway through we were throwing rocks in the river with Ruth, or Sterling was, and I was up on the trail pulling out a sad Will from the stroller and strapping him to me. A lady (she looked maybe 35ish) walked by pushing a toddler in a stroller and seriously stopped dead and first thing out of her mouth was "You look SO young." I just kind of smiled, cause really, what do you say to a random lady who just said that to you? Then she asked "Is that baby yours?"
"Yeah, he's mine."
"How old is he?"
"Getting close to 4 months."
"Wow, well, it is worth it." (Will was still crying.)
I just nodded my head and smiled.
Then she said, "Is he your only child?"
"No, my 2-year old and my husband are down there throwing rocks."
"Wow. You look SO----O young!"
And then she walked away. When I'm fifty, and I look like my mom, I'm sure I will be grateful. Maybe its the new hair trim I got on Saturday? Maybe its the jeans and t-shirt I was wearing that still fit me from high school (Seriously, Sterling thinks I should throw away the jeans. But I like them.)? Who knows. But she was flabbergasted. I didn't know whether she wanted to ask me how old I was, and if I should just tell her I was 24? Would she still think that was incredibly young? I don't think so. I think she thought I was a teenager. Really. Hahaa.

And now, me and my chillin's are off to hike!

Unsuccessful Photo Shoot #528

Most of the photo shoot looked like this.

When I did get a smile, it was due to much tickling, and thus, much blurriness. Sigh.

Doesn't everyone let their kid play outside without a shirt when the sun finally comes out on a rainy day?

Her face. Kills me. I love it!

Brighton-Big Cottonwood-Lake Blanche

Adam and Liam, Sterling and Ruthie

 We met up with our good friends Adam and Aleesha and their kiddos Liam and Lydia for the first big hike of the season. I thought I was maybe over-prepared in how much I had packed, but I don't think anything would have prepared us for how crazy this hike turned out to be!

Partway up it started to sprinkle. About that time Lydia and Will needed to be nursed. We found some rocks and after feeding the kids, decided to keep going despite the rain because we saw blue skies and didn't think it would get much worse. Will then decided to go an extreme amount in his diaper. I didn't want to set our changing pad on the mud, so Sterling held him in his arms and I changed the diaper. Will decided to KEEP going, and so it became a three-man operation and Adam came and helped hold the wipes. It was intense, too intense to be properly described. Poor Will, getting his diaper changed in the rain!

LOVE the scenery behind us!

Aleesha has some awesome propping-camera-on-a-tree-and-pressing-it-and-running-to-the-picture skills so we could all be in a picture! 

 The sun did come back out and we continued up the mountain. Ate trail mix, enjoyed the gorgeous views and the perfect temps for hiking. Then we got to snow. Now, I had picked this hike because it was one of the few that was 'open' this early in the season and I thought that meant it was completely passable. Apparently not. But we just kept going until there was snow all over the trail, and then turned back. It was sad, because I really wanted to see the pretty lake at the top!

 We heard huge rumblings of thunder the entire return trip. It was crazy! But there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so we figured we had some time. It got louder, and louder. Eventually we were scooting right along in hopes that we missed the storm. We almost reached the paved part (the first 1/4 mile of the hike) when the heavens decided to open and pour down on us. We booked it to the bathrooms and stood under the canopy until we decided to make a mad dash to our car. Just in time, because right after we got in the car it started to hail! Instead of eating our picnic outside, we took our picnic to Arctic Circle, and they didn't seem to mind too much. I didn't mind, it meant we got to end our outing with a shake! Perfect! And now, I will never think I am over-prepared for hiking because we used all our clothing, almost all our food, water, and baby paraphernalia that I had!

I must say though, the temperature was perfect and lovely the entire time, the scenery was amazing, and I felt like I was a hibernating bear coming out, stretching and joyfully realizing that the beautiful world of spring is out! The rain helped it smell AMAZING in the mountains and made me want to kick up my heels with delight in everything. So really, it was a perfect hike.

This is the pretty rainbow after leaving SLC.

Double rainbow!

And this little man decided to get a tooth at 3 1/2 months, and was really sad the entire drive home, so I sat in the back by him. Isn't he so sweet?