Zoo Day (June 29)

We always give my younger siblings a hard time about the cushy lifestyle they have - they have cars, cell phones, their own bedrooms, a big, fancy house all to themselves...very different from us older kids. My youngest brother Jesse for years has said, "yeah, well at least you've been to the zoo. I've never been to the zoo!" So on his second to last day as a normal civilian, we all loaded up and headed to the zoo.

In theory, it was a lovely trip. We spent time as a family, saw all of the animals, enjoyed a show or two. But the reality was, it was 102 degrees outside, I had stayed up until 5am the night before finishing up work and was up by 7am for our trip, and I was hungry! Exhausted, starving, and sweltering for me was a bad combination. I had a mid-day meltdown after a bad work email (sorry guys) and then the rest of the day was more enjoyable. Here are some of the pictures that I like best:

Family at the entrance of the park - when we were still cool and excited about the day ahead.

Carrie and Aysha

The World Wildlife Fund carousel, where profits go to help preserve wildlife:

Calvin watching the desert animals. I love the way he climbed up on everything to get a better look.

Way too much time spent with the gorilla statue:

Cute little guy, nestled in the monkey arms.

Both of us posing.

Not sure why this one seemed necessary at the time.

Carrie and her boyfriend.

Oh yeah, and let's not forget about Mariah breast feeding...

The adorable little train:

When the ride was over, Calvin grabbed on to the rail and screamed. I had to pry his fingers loose and drag him off. I'm guessing he liked the train ride.

He loved the misting machine by the lion's cage.

Calvin and Aby climbing the fence to get a better view of Mr. Giraffe.

Somewhere I have pictures of myself as a three year old getting a drink out of this fountain, so it was fun to have a chance for Calvin to do the same thing.

Miriam was in these hot Pajamas all day. I have no idea why her parents wanted to torture her in the 102 degree weather, but she was all smiles the entire time. This kid never cries. She is always quiet and adorable and sometimes we forget she even exists. One time Calvin shoved a large potato chip in her mouth, and she didn't make a peep. (Sorry Leash, I meant to tell you about my kid almost choking yours). I want a kid just like this.

The Bird Show:

Maria loved the birds and went right up to the owl. The announcer got mad at her, and she was embarrassed. She just wanted so badly to see the birds up close.

Carrie and Aysha on the big brass elephant.

We were tired. We needed to sit.

The Boy's favorite monkey.

Leaving the zoo for the day. See how we happy we look to be going home?

Third Wedding Anniversary (June 23)

(I saved all of our wedding pictures on a different computer. This is the only one I had on this laptop.)

For our anniversary we knew we would have company, so we went out before we went to Vegas. We got a babysitter for Calvin (thanks Carrie!) and went to SLC for our first real date night in a long time. We went to Z'Tejas, a tex-mex place that we love at the Gateway, and then went to see our boy Joel McHale at Abravenal Hall.

Joel ran out on the stage yelling, "hello, white people!" funny to anyone who's been to Utah and seen what a cultural melting-pot it isn't. He was hilarious. Much better in person than I even expected. His first 30 minutes or so dealt with celebrity stuff that was more of an extension of The Soup, like Tyra's lawsuit against him, etc. and then he did another 45 minutes of just stand up. He of course made some obligatory Utah and Mormon cracks, but he had obviously done his research and skipped the tired old jokes (like polygamy and how we have millions of kids) and was actually very funny. There was also a lot of prancing around on the stage like an inebriated leprechaun. I love love love him. It was fun to be out alone with Andy, feeling like we were young and in love again.

On our actual anniversary, Andy gave me a gorgeous Elsa Peretti necklace that I adore, and I gave him an AR-15 that he's been coveting for months. It was a good day to reflect and reminisce. The first few months of marriage are weird, so it's nice to have made it three years and to be even more in love with Andy than I ever could have imagined. He's my best friend, and I love every minute we are able to spend together. He is kind, loving, patient, intelligent, hilarious, nurturing, and the very best father. I feel so lucky to have him.

Happy Father's Day! (June 21)

Since this year we were traveling for Father's Day, we didn't really do much. Calvin and I had a couple of presents for him when we got home, but in general, besides spending time with their families, it wasn't a very special day for Andy and Danny. I didn't want to miss saying some of the things we love about Andy as a daddy.

He has an amazing amount of patience. He was the one on the floor with the boy, moving his arms and legs back and forth trying to teach him to crawl. He is the one that can spend hours, sitting with him building block fortresses or playing with trains. He is the one that spent countless amounts of time going up and down the stairs teaching C to do it on his own. He is always tender with Calvin and saves all of his grumpiness just for me. He always talks slowly and repeats himself, emphasizing words so that Calvin will learn to speak on his own. He will talk about our budget, and be strict about his own expenditures, but as soon as Calvin finds a toy he thinks he has to have, his dad is a softy and always buys it for him. He always makes sure all of his physical and emotional needs are taken care of, and plans so carefully for the boy to have the best life he possibly can. He is an incredible father. I can't imagine any luckier kid than Calvin is for having him as a dad. Happy Father's Day, My Lover!

Oh Baby!

I guess now that we have pictures and a gender, it seems more official. We found out last week that we're having a little girl! We couldn't be more thrilled. She was chewing on her fist and kicking her legs, just being active and adorable. She has a perfect little profile, especially her pert little nose. We're half way done and can't wait to meet her in November. Poor Calvin has no idea that he's about to be forced into sharing his perfect little life.

Bryce Canyon and Back Home (June 22 - 26)

Monday morning we checked out of Ruby's Inn and headed on the scenic route back towards Utah Valley. After a fun week of Vegas and national parks, Danny, Annette, Ariana, and Lindsey came back home with us to spend a few days. We had a great time and they were fantastic house guests - Danny cleaned and detailed our car inside and out - no small feat after the mess we made while traveling - and Annette scrubbed out my silverware drawer. Seriously. Can you imagine better house guests?

We mostly hung around the house, but we did manage to roast s'mores, play croquet, visit a water park (where it rained, but they all kept going on the sling shot tube like excited little kids because the lines were short and the ride was fun), cook out on the grill, play lots of Wii and PS3 especially Little Big Planet where the girls screamed and laughed and sounded like mad women, play with the cat that Lindsey named Ginger, Annette jumped on the trampoline and ran with Calvin with the energy of a 10 year old, went out to eat at PF Changs, pulled out the attitude at Z'Tejas when they messed up most of our meals, watched Calvin drag Lindsey everywhere he went, had long conversations about baby names and that farm game on Facebook, ate lots of chocolate, watched Paul Blart, Taken, and the Shopaholic movie, ate delicious ice cream at ColdStone, and I'm sure there's more that I don't remember at the moment. We loved having them here and were so sad to see them go - especially Calvin who had so many friends to play with and never a dull moment. We miss you guys! Come back soon! Here are a few pictures from the week, but mostly random ones as I tried to use up my disposable cameras so I could get them developed.

We bought this blow up pool for the boy, but it had a slide that he'd go down and always face-plant in the water. We started to worry about him drowning when no one was watching, so this is Andy squeezing the air out of it to take it back. This is his hang-loose sign because it looks like he's on a surf board.

Looking for Annette in the guest room.

He started out looking for Annette in the guest bathroom - now I don't know what he's looking for.

Cute LuLa in the tent tunnels.

Time for S'mores - roasted on the back deck in the fire pit.

Smart and sassy Ariana posing for the camera.