{a weighty issue}

In light of my fb post about all of you force feeding my husband I've had several people asking me how I am losing weight.  I thought I would address this because I feel the need to spread the good word, and thank you all so much for your kind words.  Some tips:

• Read Women, Food and God. This book changed so much for me, and everyone that I've recommended it to who has actually read it has had a good cry and figured some stuff out.  Just about everything I'm going to go over stems from this book. See here and here.
• Stop dieting.  Now.  Seriously.  If you want to eat a pan of brownies, do it.  If you want to eat ice cream everyday, all day long do it. With that, however, focus on how it makes you feel being overly full and uncomfortable after you do.  You'll stop wanting to overeat yourself to death.
• Stop eating when you are full.  And I mean the bite that you're full you're done.  Seems easy, but it took me a good 6 months to master....and if the food is SUPER good I still struggle...
• Start reading food labels.  EVERYTHING has sugar in it.  Peanut Butter, Yogurt (seriously, don't even go near Yoplait), Spaghetti Sauce, Bread, Milk, Cereal.  When I say I quit sugar, I actually stopped eating all of these things (or switched over to a no-sugar version...and I don't mean fake sugar instead, I mean no sweetener added ie plain greek yogurt, natural peanut butter, and organic 9-grain bread).  A lot of them had WAY more sugar in them than the cookies or cupcakes I want to eat.  And if you're worried about whether or not your kids will eat the healthy food-if it's the only option, they will.  I started buying cereal for a bit while I was prego (it stays down) and suddenly Paisley only wanted cereal for every meal and would refuse other food.  As soon as there wasn't cereal in the house this was no longer a problem...  See here.
• When you quit eating all the sugar they pack into "normal food" (seriously the "lean cusine's" I was eating were 300 calories and 25 grams of sugar!!!) you'll stop craving sugar.  It takes TIME.  And it's not just about calories...it really is about sugar and processed crap.  
•  Be European.  Enjoy and experience your food.  As soon as I start trying to count calories or get too specific I get really rebellious.  I just enjoy and stop when I'm full.
• Don't drink calories.  Drink water.  Lots and lots of water.  If you're lips get chapped you're not drinking enough-your body will tell you this stuff if you listen.
• Eat more veggies.  We started doing bountiful baskets and I love it.  Find something like that that works for you.
• Find a cardio that you love and do it.  I LOVE zumba.  So much that I don't mind going 4 days a week because I love it.  As soon as Stella is 6 months I'm going to start lifting because I need some sculpting goodness...something I also enjoy doing.  Don't force yourself to do something you hate-you need to love your body and be nice to it.  See here and here.
• Love your body.  My body and I had to go through some stuff.  It really wasn't until I survived making/birthing/feeding Paisley that I really began to appreciate my body and be grateful that it was doing such a good job housing my spirit.  I stop hating it and started embracing it and loving it for what it was.  How many episodes of Biggest Loser do we have to watch before we all realize that it's emotional damage that keeps us heavy!  See here and here.
• Be SUPER patient.  I started changing my lifestyle...gradually...2+ years ago.  I am just now really starting to see some results.  I think I've finally gotten to a point where my body is letting go of the fat because it can trust I'm not going to try and starve it, master cleanse it, or work it to death.  (And I'm nursing, which last time didn't work for me, but I think might be working now because I'm eating so much better and taking care of myself) See here.
• Think of this as a lifestyle!!  I changed my lifestyle...not put myself on a diet.  It was small change after small change after small change.  In the book Women, Food and God she talks about everyone having a "natural weight" that your body will normalize to and I really think it's true.  I think I'm finally heading towards mine.  See here.
• Don't drink the koolaid.  I don't know why, but women flock together and hate their bodies as a group-don't do this.  You love your body.  Be different and spread the good word.

I'm down almost 40 lbs from my heaviest weight (not pregnant) so the proof is in the pudding..er, uh veggies.  And if you see me eating a cookie it's because my ultimate slogan is "I never want to be so skinny I can't have cake at a birthday party."  and I'm sticking with that...

Oh, and seriously-force feed my husband something if you see him.  He could use a donut.

{life}: is waxing

Did I ever mention how much this baby loves her Daddy?  So much.  She got her first haircut last Saturday night...I can't believe it still.  She really is such a gorgeous baby and has quite the head of hair!  She was getting tangles and snarls in the back so bad that I couldn't get them untangled so we got out the trimmers and trimmed her up!  She had a pretty bad mullet going anyway so I think it was a good thing.
Life is finally feeling more and more normal.  We have so many crazy things coming up I'm getting a little scared to give up our routine we've finally got going!  We're going to Georgia soon for a week and then I'm getting my tonsils out Nov 1st.  Then it's Thanksgiving and then Christmas...I just know it's all going to be a blur so I'm enjoying these last few weeks of winding down the summer.
I've been doing tons of photos lately and I can't wait to share!  I've had the privilege of doing several fun family shoots and I'm excited!
Halloween is coming!!  We scoured DI Saturday so I could get started on my costume!! And yes, you'll have to wait to see what I'm going to be.  It's an iconic woman that I've loved since I can remember...so excited!
MMMmmm fall...can I just tell you how excited I am to experience some of my fall in Georgia!!  With firefly's and southern cooking?!?!  The had caramels next to the apples at the grocery store and Bath & Body has all their fall scents out!  I love it all so much-snuggle weather, warm scents, apples, pumpkin everything, and sweaters!
Paisley is continually telling me new stories and growing so much.  I am the most entertained by her when she's talking to another critter that's her same size-it's crazy!  Mostly because I can hardly believe my critter is so big-seeing other critters that were so small with her and now so big just makes it that much more real!  Yesterday in church we sat next to another family with a girl her same age who was wearing the same dress as hers.  Paisley pointed out that hers was white and the girls was blue-not only recognizing colors but the fact that it was the same dress!  I know that's not a huge deal for a 3 year old, but it's still amazes me.  She and the girl had a full conversation about ABC cookies, crayons, saying thank-you and prayers.  It was really cute.
Life, like all things waxes and wanes...mine is waxing right now.  I am feeling so blessed-to be surrounded by so much love and such sweet little girls!

{time}: little moments

For Labor day we went up to Pine Valley to have a fire and escape the heat and it was gorgeous!  I actually took pictures this time, so they'll be up soon ;)  I hate going to bed smelling like campfire because it sticks to your sheets!  So Stella and I hopped in the shower.

I love showering with my babies.  Especially when they're still so little...she had been upset before we got in but settled into my chest-content and peaceful.  I love having water babies-they're like me.  They love the water.

For a second I was washed over with the memory of her being born.  Her soft skin, her wet hair, her sweet baby smell...we are so blessed and privileged as women to experience birth and motherhood.  It brings tears to my eyes because I feel like you just can't hold on hard enough to all of these little moments before they come and go.

What a difficult time this is..desperately wanting them to stay little and snuggle a little longer but dying of curiosity to see who and what they become.  I can't help but encourage progression while wanting so badly to keep them both small.  Especially Stella.  Seeing the growth day to day in Paisley is too fun..but Stella can stay my squishy little snuggler forever...OOoooo babies.

{storytime}: the car

A funny story for your Tuesday (but really Monday because of the holiday) morning:

Years ago our windshield on the Scion cracked pretty severely.  So severely that we couldn't pass inspection, which meant we couldn't register our car which eventually led to a ticket.  We finally fixed the windshield but unfortunately when they did it they didn't seal it perfectly so when it would rain we would have a waterfall straight into the CD player.  I got pregnant with Paisley around the time we figured this out and the only time they could see us back was at 7-8 AM in the morning to fix it.  Between the exhaustion and extreme morning sickness I kept putting it off, and kept putting it off and it rains so rarely here that I just wouldn't even think of it until we had a storm.  Thankfully the radio and disc player continued to work through all of this once it had dried out...

Anyway, I finally got it fixed (and it still took going back twice!!!  grr.) and the radio would work fine.  Randomly in the last year it has stopped working in cases of extreme temperature.  So whenever its super hot or super cold the radio just doesn't work.  This has been a pain with it being such a hot summer the radio has only worked sometimes....until I figured out this really, really random trick:

I drive up to check the mail at our mail boxes, usually when I'm coming back from errands so I have the kids with me.  I'm really paranoid about leaving the car running and shutting all the doors so I always crack the window and then get out (to keep the AC going and the cold in).  Strangely (and it must be done in this order and all of these things HAVE to happen...I've tried to see if it's just a single action, but it's all of them). If I put the car in neutral, pull up the brake, unlock my door, crack the window and get out and shut the door behind me...the radio will turn back on.  Yep.  Jon didn't believe me until I showed him.  Super random, but I hoped you enjoyed it.

{growing up}: ?

Ok, so I really could have spent a little bit more time on this diagram, but it shows my point and I'm all about doing the bare minimum when it comes to these sorts of things...

Jon and I had a lengthy discussion on the car drive home from Salt Lake about aging.  We're in a weird place...he's 30, I'm 27 and we both still want to believe that we're 21.  We did so much in our young adulthood, before we had kids, but of course there is always more we could have done.  We're in this strange inbetween where we're certainly not middle aged and completely beaten down by children, but we're also not able to take off chasing a VW bus across the country or off to Mexico to camp for a week.  We find ourselves trying to be responsible, worried about politics and discussing the future of our world and country while also wondering if we could find someone to babysit while we went to warped tour and at what point do we stop trying to be trendy?
Jon painted a picture of one of the best analogy's that I've every heard on the subject.  And I know this isn't anything new, but aging shouldn't be painted as crossing a map.  You aren't moving from one point to another-leaving that piece of you behind as you go.  Instead we are more like a ball of wax-growing and developing as we age-taking every piece of ourselves with us as we progress.  I didn't leave my love for obnoxious punk music and snowboarding in my teenage years.  My ridiculously loud manual transmission car is a souvenir from young adulthood that I really don't want to part with!  And I will always love fried chicken and chocolate milk-just like I did when I was 6.
Sometimes it's hard to find balance.  It was funny-towards the end of both pregnancies I got a little weird.  I start listening to music from high school and wanting more than anything to be back there.  I think I freak out a little at where life is taking me-being a Mom is this crazy responsibly and I miss the simplicity of only looking out for myself.  But then when I sit down for even a moment to think about it I would never go back...I love my life, my hubby and my babies too much.
Jon reminded me that I don't have to give up everything from my past lives-just continue to grow and mold it into where I am now.  And that's what I try to do.  I take silly pictures with silly girls, drive my loud car, play at the park with my babies, cliff jump at the lake, and enjoy chocolate milk.

{birthdays}: paisley

This year Paisley's birthday was a complete bust.  I had this wonderful plan to have all the children run rampant at a pool instead of at my house, I had these super fun cupcakes in mind for eating, and all in all it was going to be a simple and fun time...

On Friday, the day of the party I found out I had strep (and had had strep for a week by then), and also found out that due to school starting the pool would be closing at 6.  (They failed to tell me this when I called and asked them if we could do her party there on the 17th from 6-8...grrr).  But in the end it turned out ok.  We came here instead, ate delicious costco cake (I wasn't about to bake or touch ANYTHING), and colored my little pony pages.  I think she had a good time.  I hope so.

I started looking at the folders of her birthday's so far and couldn't help but compare:

1st Birthday:

 2nd Birthday:

 3rd Birthday:

 She has grown up so fast!!  I still can't believe that she's 3!!  And talking and doing SOO much!  We just love her ♥

{thoughts}: the pioneer woman

I've just started to really catch on to a habit I've formed.  I'm honestly not completely sure when it started, I know I've mentioned it before on here, but today's "woman" doesn't really intimidate me.   It's the pioneer woman that does. (When I say pioneer woman I'm not talking about that sweet woman with the awesome blog with recipes and photo tips, I mean Great Great Great Grandma that crossed the plains)  Instead of the traditional "keeping up with the Jone's" I find myself wondering how the pioneer woman would spend her time, how she would fix this problem, and what a better job she probably did raising her kids.  Her kids couldn't watch too much TV.  She wasn't ever distracted by Pinterest.  She couldn't escape to an indoor shower with hot water when she needed a break.  She nursed her babies, and had them all naturally.  She had no bouncy chair to hold her babies, and no Tylenol for fevers at night.  She cooked all of her meals homemade, darned socks instead of buying new ones and probably got up at dawn and slept at dusk.  I'm guessing exercising wasn't much of an issue-hauling water, heating water and washing dishes alone sounds like some serious cardio to me!  She didn't have a memory foam mattress, air-conditioning or straightener...  She intimidates me.  She's what I ultimately want to measure myself against.  She's who I think about at night when I wonder if I'm doing a good job...

{update}: from my phone!

Okay so it turns out I can blog from my phone... and my phone lets me talk to it and then it does all the typing. Could I be more lazy? Or really more excited?
I am super happy to announce that Stella has been sleeping through the night... a landmark I have been eagerly awaiting!! It turns out that by following some more crunchy parenting techniques I was able to achieve the conventional goal of having my child sleep through the night. I found with her that sleep begets sleep... so I have started holding/wearing her more during the day making sure that she is sleeping more and also have stopped thinking and worrying about sleep being a priority. When she is awake I try to make sure she is wide awake and awake for a little longer. Oddly enough when I would come downstairs and watch tv at 9 instead of trying to be quiet and stay upstairs reading she falls asleep better for the night.... she really likes noise. I also keep feeding her on demand and now that she has put some weight on she's able to make it for longer stretches. I am so grateful and feeling so blessed!
We also blessed Stella this weekend and everything went really well. Of course I completely forgot to get out my camera and do not have a single picture other than the one I instagramed first thing in the morning. My parents surprised us and came down after they said they weren't going to be able to make it and Jon's parents were able to come down as well! We had a full house after the blessing.  As I sat in the meeting completely surrounded by so many friends and family I just felt so much love. We really are so blessed when it comes to family and friends.
Things are finally quieting down and life is returning to normal. I was so intimidated to have 2 children, but the longer I have them the more normal it seems and the less scary it becomes. I guess at some point you stop and look around and realize - I'm doing it so I'm okay, right?
Now if we could just get this blazing heat and mugginess to go away...I'm so ready for fall!!

{nostalgia}: anchor memories

Yesterday in church they spoke about the concept of "anchor memories."  I'd never heard it put that way...such an interesting idea.  Anchor memories are the memories that make you who you are-the big events that you remember.  Some of them are all planned-the first time you go to Disneyland, your wedding, the birth of your children and some of them aren't.  I just wanted to blog a few that popped into my mind yesterday as we were meeting...

I was at a Jr. High dance in maybe 8th-ish grade, dancing with my "boyfriend" at the time and we were dancing to a song I loved at the time...I can't remember which one.  I was singing it to him as we danced and I remember he leaned back and told me that I couldn't sing.  I haven't forgotten that, and I still don't sing confidently.  Someday I'd love some voice lessons, but in the meantime I just keep my voice down.

The one that came to mind as the meeting was going yesterday was my car accident at 16.  My Mom got there first with a neighbor-I wasn't worried to see her.  It was my Dad that I was scared to see.  The car was totaled.  I knew he would kill me.  I thought for sure that my collar bone was broken and the van was so crushed around me that they couldn't get me out right away.  He pulled up on his way home from work-I don't even think he had any idea anything had happened (ah, the world before cell phones) I saw him run up to the van and all the panic in his eyes.  All he cared about was if I was ok.  There were no words about the van-he just rushed to see me.  I bawled-initially out of terror for what he was going to say, and then out of relief.  Sometimes I think you forget that your parents really do love you-especially as a teen for me.

The summer I moved home from college I started going to Institute.  I met this kid that I liked, but the Institute semester ended and then we had a break and then moved to the church by the temple in IF.  I was standing in the foyer when that same kid walked in the door and I ran up to hug him.  There was something significant about this..and I don't know why this particular night was SO significant-but that kid was Jon.  As I left later that night he watched me drive away and decided that he was going to marry me (we weren't even dating or anything).  It's just so strange that I remember that evening so well-but it was Jon that made the huge life decision that night!

I remember chewing bubble gum on the steps of our home in Alabama.  I have few memories of there because I was so little when we left-maybe that's why this stands out.  It was then that my Mom taught me to blow bubbles with bubble gum!  She never chews gum anymore, but that day she did.

I had the most incredible German teacher in high school.  He wasn't just a teacher-he really loved us so much even though he probably wouldn't admit it openly.  I was his aide my Senior year and we were writing lesson plans for his German 2 students.  He was complaining that no matter how short the lesson plan, he was never able to get through the entire thing...ever.  He then said something that really stuck with me "Sometimes we do German, and sometimes we do life.  That's teaching."  I've had that thought ring through my head so many times when I'm trying to accomplish something and it's just not happening.  Sometimes, we don't get to get all the way through our lesson plans...

I was driving in the car with one of my college professors coming back from a commercial shoot.  I was talking about my fear of being on my own, of surviving, of whether or not I should get married and if we could ever survive.  I remember saying "If I'm on my own I won't have health insurance!" and he said "So?  Lots of people don't have insurance..."  I had never thought of that before.  (Ah, the naivety of youth!  I was so spoiled) And there were some years we didn't have insurance...

My parents took my bedroom door.  I had to have been 4 or 5.  The door-slamming ended that day.  That one is burned into my memory forever.  It was terrible!!

I dated a cowboy right before Jon.  He was much older than me and a quiet character.  I think it was good for me to date a grown up for a minute.  I remember telling him that I loved him and was so comfortable with him.  He said "I know.  You love everyone...and is there anyone that you're not comfortable with?"  My mom had said this to me before-so of course I never listened to it.  But hearing it from him made me realize that I had to look deeper in a relationship that just loving someone and being comfortable with them.

Poor Jon's laptop crashed during finals one year.  He stayed up all night trying to fix it only to get an hours worth of sleep so he could head out to take his final.  I had quit a good paying job because I hated it and had just finished working at the halloween store for the season.  We were living in our sad orange apartment-the one we vowed never to have children in because the carpet was at least 40 years old.  That morning I got up, saw Jon off to his final, and found out I was pregnant.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I picked up Twilight to distract me while I waited for him to get home.  I was reading it at the time and needed ANYTHING to take away the anxiety and panic I was feeling.  His face was the best when I told him...I think he was mostly trying not to cry from the stress.  Did I mention that we did want a child?  We did...until it was upon us.  The thing that really stands out is that my Mom rarely calls me-especially without a reason.  She called that morning and was like "I just started thinking about you suddenly and needed to call you...what's up?"

There's so many more.  I think I wanted to reflect because so much of this is knowledge and memories I want to pass on to my children.  I hope I can be as good as my parents were, and I hope my children are as blessed as I was to be surrounded by so many good people with words to share.  I think too it helps me to realize that any moment can be one of these anchor memories...so it's important to be prepared-or maybe not to be prepared at all.  Who knows...

{nursing}: and nursing and nursing...

My sweet baby seems to be going through yet another growth spurt.  I think.  She's coming up on 6 weeks. so it makes sense, but it is going to drive me crazy!  She will ALMOST start to get into a schedule and then she'll go through a growth spurt and any thoughts of eating with some regularity seem to go out the window!!  Right before she was 3 weeks she was starting to sleep for 3 hour increments at night...then she went through a growth spurt and went back to eating every hour or so.  This last week she started doing 3 hour gaps again...and then last night went back to every hour or so and has been doing that all day!!  I know you shouldn't really try and schedule a breastfed infant, but I'm going to go crazy!

Paisley put herself on a schedule at about 2-ish weeks old and stuck with it for the most part.  At 3 and 6 weeks she went through 2 days of eating every hour or so but would then resume the every 3 hours schedule with a 4 hour stretch at night.  She ate at the same times every night and day.  I really thought this was normal to fall into some type of schedule!!  Stella refuses to!

We put her down at the same time every night and I wake her up at this time to feed her and we have a bedtime routine.  And we get up about the same time everyday (Paisley is a reliable alarm).  We even have a pretty normal daytime routine..Stella just eats whenever.  And I can't turn her down...!  And I know I might just need to be patient, but has anyone run into this before?  Any suggestions on trying to guide her into a schedule?  She's not even regular on what times of day she's awake...sometimes it's all morning, sometimes all afternoon and sometimes for a couple hours in the evening...

The daytime doesn't really bother me to much, it's the night time that I wish was reliable.  It was so nice to wake up with Paisley and look at the clock and know that she was just fidgeting to fidget, not because she was hungry.  And I think a good part of getting her to sleep through the night is that my body got so used to her schedule that I started to wake up before she would and feed her in her sleep so she never woke up-2 weeks of that and she was sleeping all the way through!  I would really like to establish this with Stella..but she has no set increment of time between feedings, between sleepings...anything!  I will say she generally likes to sleep at night-she isn't usually awake for long stretches unless she's upset, so that's good, but there just isn't any pattern to her waking to eat...

Anyone?  Do I just need to be patient, or is this normal and Paisley is the weirdo?

In other news, I finally did some comparisons:

Paisley

 Stella

Paisley

 Stella

So basically they are identical and totally different...

{baby}: update & pics

OOOooooo baby.  I finally finished Stella's newborn pics, but I'm going to make you go over to the fotoblog to see all of them.  Yes, I am that lazy.  This one is a favorite.  I wish she was sleeping, but oh well-she wasn't too interested in doing much of what I wanted her to do with pics.  That's how it usually goes photographing your own children!  I love this because these are the reason we named her Stella!  These are Jon's most favorite guitars.  His Mom found his first one in a dumpster with a broken neck and he fixed it up and cut teardrop holes out of the body.  They are 3/4 size guitars and they have a nice folky sound.  I love them too.  Oddly they seem to be multiplying around here...we once had 2 guitars and now we have 8...hmmmm.

In other news Stella slept for almost a 5 hour block a couple nights ago!!  Oh, it was wonderful so I was really excited but unfortunately it was short lived.  She's been on the eat-every-2-hours-or-less schedule since she was born and I'm tired.  I think she's just been hungry because she's been growing!!  She had already gained a pound at her 2 week and grown an inch!  It goes too fast, but when you aren't sleeping, not fast enough! lol  We can already see her starting to pudge a bit so that's a good sign..I'm hoping she'll put on some weight and be able to sleep longer.

Paisley is doing really pretty well.  We had a rough week 2 weeks ago but things are already looking a bit better.  I just had to realign the best ways to discipline her and also figure out how to do that while nursing ALL THE TIME.  It's not easy, but since I've been staying on top of her she's really improved.

Only one more week until my 6 week check-up!!  Jon couldn't be more excited...

{brainwashing}

I'm starting to feel like I've been brainwashed.  That may sound funny, but I'm totally serious!  I found myself yesterday thinking "awww, I miss being pregnant...I loved rubbing my belly full of baby..."  Then I took a second to really try and think about what was going through my mind.  I had to fight to remember that the reason I was rubbing that belly is because it was uncomfortable and sore-sure it had a sweet baby inside, but that is not why I was rubbing.  It was a fight to try and really remember the discomfort...as if those memories had just been washed out of my brain!! Weird!!  The craziest part-I was still pregnant only 3 weeks ago!!  I swear I can remember the pain of knee surgery 10 years ago better than the pain of pregnancy!!  I will say the labor and delivery part has stuck with me...but the day to day of pregnancy misery is fading faster and faster with each day.  It's weird, not gonna lie.

{simple pleasures}: a list

Life's most simple pleasures:

• Having a bladder.  Seriously, I haven't had one for the last 3 months and being able to not pee every 30 minutes is wonderful.
• Sleep.  And yes, she's getting up to eat every 2 hours, but still those hour and a half naps in between on my back, my sides and even my stomach are the best thing that has ever happened to me.  There is nothing like restful, peaceful, no-hurt sleep.  Mmmm.
• Sweet newborn noises.  Ohhh...I love.
• Sweet newborn smells.  I love to just breathe her in.  I keep panicking that it's all going too fast already and Jon keeps reassuring me that I need to just enjoy while I can.
• Bending, Lifting and being generally mobile.  I missed so much.  I do love being able to pick up Paisley and love on her again-it's so much easier without a giant belly!
• FOOD.  I can eat!!  I want to eat!!  I LOVE to eat again!!  Oh, it makes me so happy!
• There is nothing like taking a nap with a newborn snuggled on your chest.  I just love to savor every moment....

We are enjoying our little Stella.  And I couldn't be happier now that I'm not pregnant!!

{catch up}: may

May was an absolutely crazy month for us.  We had a lot going on the entire month-starting with friends weddings and showers and ending with my sister's wedding and Stella's birth!  We also went on a Pioneer Trek with our ward.  I was partially in charge of a couple of the meals for the trek and it was our last opportunity to go camping with just the 3 of us.

 These are actual pioneer ruts carved in rock by handcarts on their way to St. George.  I am SO grateful I stayed at camp while Jon and Paisley trekked.  It was pretty intense!!

 I still can't believe they came down this way.  They decided that even though there were only 30 or so people trekking, they wanted to take ALL 5 of the handcarts, barely loaded.  I think next time they'll opt to take 2-ish.  It was rough.

 Paisley (the filthy, filthy child shown above) caught a frog.  I have never seen her so beat up as she was after trek.  She was covered head to toe with dirt, cuts and bruises.  It took a shower and then a bath the next day to reveal all of her injuries.  She LOVED it though.

 This is them, ready to set out for the day!  I'm so glad she went with him!

 I went on a trek of my own.  In the car.  To Enterprise (the closest town) to make some phone calls since we didn't have reception where we were.  I also may have stopped at Marv's for some lunch...teehee.  On the way back I stopped the pioneer cemetery called Hebron.  I thought this grave was interesting...Indian Squaw?  I guess they were kind enough to bury her?  It was way over scrunched in the corner next to another one that just said "Transient"  ouch.

 I still can't get over this damn.  Also built by pioneers (as far as we could understand) it was pretty crazy to see that it's been laid rock by rock.  The reservoir up above is apparently full of fish?  And the wildflowers were gorgeous.  It's cool to see what will bloom in the blazing hot desert we live in!

I wish I had taken a picture of the food.  We had 15 dutch ovens all going at once with chicken, potatoes and cobbler.  I'm so glad I stayed at camp while everyone else trekked.  I wanted to go, but realized that I could either cook or trek.  And I think I chose wisely by cooking-everyone was pretty hungry when they got back.

We actually left early because my biological cousin drove down for the solar eclipse and stayed with us Saturday and Sunday.  It was really cool to actually meet someone from my biological side.  She's from Georgia going to BYU Provo and had tons of fun stories about her family and my biological one.

 The following week/weekend Chad and Sarah got sealed!  It was so neat to go through the temple with them and their sealing was really cool!  My cousin got married that same day at the same time so I got to see a bunch of my extended family as well!

 The next week my family started arriving.  My parents got here Tuesday and Wednesday was my baby shower.  I'm so glad for everyone that came!  It was really fun and so well put together.  I wish I had taken pictures!!  Thursday night was the Rehearsal dinner for Brian and Christina.  It was a Hawaiian themed luau and as you can see they dressed well for the occasion!  The food was amazing!

 Friday, Christina got married!!  Paisley loved her pretty white dress!  And she looked so darling in her dress (a stark contrast to the filthy child pictured above with the frog).  It was so great to see all of my family.

 I'm not sure what's going on with my face in this pic, but everyone else looks good.  I can safely say I was in labor at this point, and not in a particularly good mood.  I was happy to be with friends and family and sad to be contracting and dying of heat.  I believe we hit 102F that day...it was blazing hot.  Paisley could not have been happier.  She made friends with my cousin's sweet little boy and they ran through the park all night together, happy as can be.  It was cute.

The reception turned out gorgeous.  My parents are now completely sold on hiring a wedding planner.  I'll post more pics of the wedding soon over on the foto blog.  It really was darling.  I'm just so glad it's all done.  It's been super quiet around here since and I almost don't know what to do with myself...oh wait, yes I do.  Sleep when I can and keep feeding this hungry little baby!