Birthday, Part Deux

We had to celebrate Tagg's birthday again. The rain really put a damper on party number one! Not only were we not able to use the epic blow-up waterslide (thanks Nat!) but we would have missed Tagg's bday buddies - Greer who is one day older and Porter who is one month older. When Porter, Tami and Jake are in town it's great to get the boys together and celebrate! The water slide was a huge hit with the kids and the boys had a ball with all their presents.

They were actually so busy playing that they didn't even bother to eat the cute cupcakes we had for them. Should have gone for another Lightning McQueen cake apparently. We totally missed the photo-op with the two "2" candles. Oh well, they had fun!

We also got to go see Kayla, Tagg's newest cousin. She was born on the 27th, the day after Tagg's birthday party and she's lovely! Such an adorable baby! And she makes Sloane look huge!

Lake Powell - August 2010

Last Chance Bay, that is. We headed down to Powell the first week of August with both kids, Grama and Bompa, the Seattle Harmers, Kevin and Kurt (all the way from Hawaii!). It was a smaller trip than we're used to, for sure, and we definitely missed Auntie Leese who was starting her new job and the PA family who weren't able to make it, not to mention Nicole and brand new baby Kayla. Luckily Kent and Ashley were able to come down for the last half of the trip which was awesome, especially for Tagg!

We skied every day, did some wave-runner riding, took the kids tubing, took our nets out on a hike to find lizards and seashells (better luck with the shells!). We did find some great sandstone holes that made for cute pictures with the kids.

Probably one of the highlights was water-balloon fights with the kids on top of the boat and the "boys" in the water serving as both targets and ball returners. Sandy and Lynn kept the water balloons coming and Bompa chimed in with some good aiming techniques. Brooke and Canyon were so awesome with Tagg and Sloane. They must have stacked about a million red cups so Tagg could knock them over, and inspired Tagg to go down the waterslide off the top of the houseboat. We thought he'd be freaked out but nope! Just went down it like a trooper. Of course, when we asked him if he wanted to do it again the next day, the answer was a most definite "no!"

Sloane was a little angel as usual. She just slept and gurgled and was generally a dream. She got her first sink tubbie on the houseboat, and rocked a few darling swimsuit combinations (seriously...why don't they make swimsuits with the snaps? helloooo?! so hard to get on and off! so they were all cute for about one photo and then it was back to the dud!).

Scott and I are still freaked out enough as parents that we duct-taped the door to our bedroom shut just in case Tagg woke up and went wandering. Pretty funny, I know, but at least we knew he was safe!

We had some neighbors who were a little too close for comfort but they did put on an amazing fireworks show on our last night. Their musical soundtrack was not so great (when the 7 year old is asking what a "whore" is, you know it's no good!).

The Lightning McQueen boat worked really well, as did our new ski and wakeboard. Tagg thought he wanted to drive but usually ended up completely passed out after just a few minutes. We would drizzle him with water and make sure he was shaded...and then wish we could all get the same treatment! The boats are like some kind of miracle sleep-inducer.

Continuing a Lake Powell tradition, if you napped you got painted toenails. Tagg had 5 blue fingernails, Scott had Broncos colors and Kevin? For the first time in history, Keving did not nap long enough to get painted nails! In another list of firsts, he also made Dutch Oven desserts - peach, blueberry and pineapple cobblers. MMMMMM!!! (super handy since we ran out of fudge jumbles!)

My famous potato salad did not fare so well. After forgetting it in the freezer at home, we made an emergency call to Kent. He did make a special trip to the house to retrieve and drove it all the way to the lake only to find out that potato salad frozen and then unfrozen...well, it sucks. Nasty.

















We took the ski boats for a cruise up some of the nearby canyons which was nice. Haven't done that in years! It's amazing how narrow some of those canyons can get. We found a killer tree at the end of one of the coves and the adventurous Seattle Harmers snagged what I hope is their Christmas card pictures. It's just amazing! And then Jeff jumped off the top of the tree. Gotta love 'em!

That week at the lake is probably one of my favorite things in the world. You're surrounded by amazing scenery, incredible people and all you do is enjoy each other and life for a week. No cell phones or email, no schedules or deadlines...just a week of pure relaxation and fun. Skiing the glass as the sun comes up with my babies in the boat and that spectacular scenery as a backdrop? Life just doesn't get much better. I feel so very lucky to have this family, to be part of this tradition and to share it with our next generation. It's really a special blessing. Counting the days till next year!

NO BIRTHDAY!!!

Tagg started his 2nd birthday with a bang. A bang as in a thunderstorm, unfortunately! That pushed that party inside. Total bummer for me because I only cleaned OUTSIDE. Stupid rain! We made the best of it and Tagg was completely enamored of his Cars balloons, Cars cake, all the Cars themed presents, especially the books and swim trunks! He got a fabulous motorized Lightning McQueen car from Nana and Papa, which we thought was cute since that's what he calls the new boat. Don't mind the grouchy face in the photo. He really loved them both! Tagg had a ball with the wrapping paper. He was whipping it around, up and down...much more interesting than most of the gifts apparently.

In the weeks leading up to his birthday, we would ask him "are you excited for your birthday?" - his response? "NO birthday!!!" "What about presents?" "NO presents!!!" "Birthday cake? You love birthday cake!" "NO birthday cake!!!" All with a very scowly face and firm shake of the head.

Yep, that started a couple of weeks of "NO!!!" And "I don't want...", " I don't need...", "I don't like..." Just insert whatever you were talking about and it was no, no, no! Thank goodness that phase didn't last very long!

Overall it was a pretty great birthday...and this was just the first party!

You'd Never Know...

...that these photos were taken by an abandoned restaurant, next to the mall and Target in Sandy, Utah. Yep. I've just ruined the illusion that we were deep in the majestic Wasatch mountains.

So the short story is that we did family pix - had to update now that we have two new additions and Tagg is not "the baby" any more. We decided after our last pictures where we decided to just be natural (bad idea!) that a little color theme might be nice. We really looked like a bunch of mismatched strangers in the last photo!

Becky and I found these adorable baby outfits at Childrens Place and decided that was the theme. It was amazing that everyone managed to find cute, color coordinated outfits to match (although every time I wear that dress, I get a few too many compliments like "wow! your dress is a really interesting color" to make me feel comfortable in it!).

The babies were really good, even with all of the costume changes! Tagg had to be bribed with Chik-Fil-A (hence all the photos with his hand in his mouth). He's strategically sneaking french fries. Not too healthy but at least it made him happy!

Marc and Becky and Harper had oodles of amazing photos! They are a pretty damn cute family and Harper looks adorable with her little bows. You can tell that I'm not quite as savvy with the headband placement.

Tagg had a great time playing Cars with daddy and papa - in the gutter. Who would have ever though gutter pictures would be so adorable. Love the scabs on his two-year-old knees.








I don't care what Scott says...this little hat that we got for Sloane in Sonoma is darling! Purple knit - adorable! It's so NOT an old lady hat. And Nana and Papa were just sweeter than sweet with the grandkids, as usual.