Team McPherron

Bittersweet

2012-01-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

Packer's lost their game yesterday. I am bummed.

Seriously.

I had already planned my Super Bowl outfit.

Seriously.

On a good note.. Cody was only keeping his mountain man beard around as long as they were winning... which means I had the pleasure of cutting it off.

Tear.

Don't worry, he's still got a beard, its just much, much shorter. And I LIKE it. :)

I'm not ready for it to be over...

2011-12-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate. Definitely
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Big ones have a bow.. smaller are wrapped.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White on the tree, colored on the house.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? I always buy it.. then it sits in the car until it goes bad.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Day after Thanksgiving. Unless I'm dead from shopping.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Ah snap. Food is my enemy.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Getting up before the parents and opening our stockings by the light of the tree.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I never stopped believing. Really though, I don't remember. Must not have been too tramatic. I still believe in the spirit of Santa. :)
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I'm crazy. And OCD. I wish I had room for two trees. So I could put all of my ornaments from growing up on one.. and have the other one be my CRAZY, anal tree.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it.. for one month.
12. Can you ice skate? I rock. Boo yah.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My rabbit in sixth grade. Too bad I killed it. Sad day.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Being with family. Even though they smell. My little family Christmas morning.. having kids on this holiday ROCKS.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Here we go with the food again. SWEETS are delicious.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Eve Pajamas. I have a small obsession with pjs.
17. What tops your tree? A big ol' sparkley red star.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? GIVING fo shizzle..
I somehow erased 19.
20. Favorite Christmas show? The Family Stone, Elf, Fred Clause, Polar Express, Old Christmas Claymation. Love them all.
21. Saddest Christmas song? None of them make me sad.
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. This is the ONLY thing that would make Kapri stop crying when she was a baby. Now she sings it with me!! HO HO HO!!
23. What is your favorite Christmas ornament? The ones I have made with my girls' handprints. Oh yes. I am THAT cheesey mom now.

My house is a disaster. Just thought you all should know. :)

Our life...

2011-12-13T23:31:00.001-07:00

As seen through pictures from our phones.

I took pictures EVERY SINGLE DAY when Kapri was a baby. Now I am lucky to remember to get out my camera on her birthday. Poor Piper. What has become of me.

Thank goodness for cameras on our phones though. Thanks to them, you are now going to get a review of TEAM MCPHERRON'S pure awesomness.

Do you get queasy at the sight of blood? Well, suck it up.

First up.. Kapri had to get stitches. She decided it would be a good idea to pull down a back massager from the top shelf in the closet. Her face didn't agree. She screamed and fought getting stitches so they had to sedate her. WORST. DAY. EVER.

Luckily she was great when she got them removed and the scar is barely noticeable!!

CUTEST sleeper ever.

This little lady is pulling herself up on everything. She's crawling now too.

Pretty much.. she's the shit.

Mama and Daddy got to go on a date!! My man looked FINE this evening.

Fast forward to this.

Let's just say he thinks the Green Bay Packers undefeated streak is all because of this beard.

And who knows, maybe it is.

PSYCH!!

Sorry baby, the Packers are not winning just because you have refused to shave.

But that would be awesome.

Santa's Reindeer

Draper Park has FABULOUS lights this year.. definitely worth a drive by.

Went "ombre" with my hair. Thats right ladies. I gave my self re-growth.

Not gonna lie... matching babies make me happy.

Our official tree topper.

LOVE baby butts in the air.

Itty Bitty earrings make me smile.

Happiest baby EVER. Even when she's upside down.

Our life in a nutshell.

"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead.

TRUE STORY."

Kapri had a BIRTHDAY...

2011-12-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

SHOUT HOORAY!!!

We're gonna sing to her today.. one year older and wiser too.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.. TO YOU!!

My baby is 3. THREE.

We had a low key birthday this year. Maybe next year we'll splurge and let her have a "friend" party. I once heard a good rule of thumb is to allow them to invite as many kids as they are old. I could probably handle 4 four year olds. Probably.

I read a blog and got the fabulous idea of the "balloon fairy" visiting Kapri's room while she was sleeping and leaving a plethera of BALLOONS to surprise her in the morning.

I thought this was a fun and pretty much brilliant idea.

We blew up all of the balloons in our room and then quietly threw them all into her room at about 1 in the morning.

I was so excited to hear her excitement when she woke up in the morning. But, I was NOT expecting her to wake up a 4 in the am when it was still pitch black and come running into my room hysterically crying because there were BALLOONS IN HER ROOM!! I mean seriously.. I would be freaked out too if I woke up in a dark room full of balloons.

WHOOPSIE.

I let her sleep the rest of the night in our bed (which I almost NEVER do cause dang, its uncomfortable). She was much more excited about the balloons in daylight.

She got to have her BFF Addison sleep over.. which I'm sure was the GREATEST birthday ever. We had brownies with candles, Barbie movies and presents galore.

Happy Birthday Kapri!!

This little girl makes me feel LOVED all day, every day. So grateful I get to call her mine.

PS. This chickadee is FULLY potty trained. I told her that 3 year olds can't ever poop in their panties. For some reason it clicked.

Can I get a WOOT WOOT!!

SIGH...

2011-11-11T23:19:00.001-07:00

I feel like I don't have time for this here little blog anymore... so much to do, SO LITTLE TIME. I also feel like I over-use this saying. ~~I think~~, I know, that I just need to manage my time better. This has never been a strength of mine.

Here's a quick review of the happenings over the last while...

Halloween Bunko!!

So.. here's the deal. I had this FANTASTIC idea for a costume. Big coat.. high heels, big boobs (free and already had 'em.. so convenient).. Hair tied up in a bun.. RED lipstick. You get the idea?

Some people thought I was a flasher. Noooooo.. you know in the movies how girls are always showing up to their boyfriend/lover/husband/best friend whom they really love's house? They're wearing a coat with NOTHING underneath. Yep.. totally me. Except, after the initial reveal of my costume I was done with it. Done with the heavy stinky coat, done with the shoes that were a much too tall for my taste.

DONE.

I love this group of ladies. Just one question though.. what on earth is Nanette looking at? (The indian chick.) Look at the CAMERA people. Thats typically what you do when someone is taking a picture of you.

Annual Halloween Bash

My poor brother (oh whoa is he) was out of town and couldn't make it to the party. His wife didn't think he should miss out.. so, he was there in ~~spirit~~ spider.

Games were played, food was eaten, prizes were won.

Until next year...

Here is where I would be entering pictures from Halloween Day and Trick or Treating. But, alas, I have misplaced the SD card that holds those pictures.

I think I also misplaced my brain.

Guess I'll save those for another day. I bet the suspense is KILLING you.

It should be.

We are THAT cool.

My babies...

2011-10-11T00:09:00.001-06:00

These last few months have literally flown by. Well not literally, literally. Oh, whatever.

Piper is six months old. SIX MONTHS PEOPLE.

Kapri loves her. Piper is learning to love her back. You see, Kapri doesn't take no for an answer. She doesn't care if you don't like her, or if you find her annoying, or overbearing (not that I'm saying she's either of these things)... she MAKES you love her. You can't help but breath her in when she's smothering you with her bear hugs, while telling you "I wugg you". That child can brighten any rainy day.

(This picture was not "posed".. mmmm. That little hitch-hiker toe on my older daughter.. just like her father's. Let me count the ways that prove she's his.)

I have a book from when Kapri was a baby. It has all the "firsts". First tooth, first smile first blah blah blah. Lately I find myself getting it out just to see how her and Piper match up. Here are their six month stats.

Kapri
28 3/4 inches tall (90-95 percentile)
18 lbs 9 oz (90-95th percentile)

Piper
14 lbs 1 oz (25th percentile)
25 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile)

So. Basically, Piper feels tiny.

I had to stop nursing about a month ago because she wasn't getting enough from me (sad day), so the fact that she was pretty much starving might have something to do with her size. But, no worries. She has put on two pounds since she went to straight formula. I do not recieve the mother of the day award for trying to breastfeed as long as I could. Boo. Kapri only nursed until 4 1/2 months. Piper almost made it to 5 1/2 months. Thats a record here in this house. I should feel proud. Instead, I feel like a bad mom for not realizing that she wasn't getting enough nutrients/calories.

Kapri crawled at 8 1/2 months. Piper is already getting up on her hands and knees. At this point she can pretty much roll wherever she wants. Gone are the days where I could sit her in the middle of the bed/floor and walk away for more than thirty seconds.

We did her six month pictures a few days ago and HOLY MOLY that child is cute. Seriously. Its not even just me that thinks so. Here.. see for yourself.

Kapri had just recently gotten a new outfit and we HAD to showcase it. These are some of my favorite pictures of her. EVER. Her personality just punches you in the face, through the camera!! I love her. A lot.

I remember when I was younger, sitting and wondering what my kids would look like, how their personalities would be. I couldn't have dreamt up any better.

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In other news...
I just realized recently that I never shared pictures of Piper's room with all of my faithful blog followers. Hello. You still around people??

But don't worry.. here's one for your viewing pleasure.

My absolute favorite room in the house.

Drumroll please.

Now aint that just a little slice of heaven?

I rocked Piper to sleep tonight. I don't usually do that. It was the perfect ending to my day.

We just can't get enough.

2011-08-31T13:42:00.000-06:00

More play-doh pictures you say??

Okay, if you insist.

Fine jewelry and accessories for sale.

You KNOW you want a play-doh toe ring.

the best twenty minutes of my LIFE.

2011-08-15T23:59:00.000-06:00

Because I know you are DYING to know what Kapri and I do in our spare time: I'm sharing a little snippet of our day with you.

Enjoy.

GREEN booger. its a big one.

unicorn

SLC punk

eugene levy

mike wazowski

hulk's tongue.

eye-lash extensions. she's totally up on the trends.

and last, but certainly not least: daddy's belly button lint.

***All we need to make us happy is green play-dough, and a little imagination.***

Today is the day.

2011-08-10T15:57:00.002-06:00

Well, the actual day. My sister Traci was visiting last month with her family, and we celebrated her 30th birthday while she was here. But seriously, her birthday is today. August 10th. I thought today would be a good day to blog about it. You know, since its her birthday.

You get that its her birthday, today, right??

We threw her a surprise party. When we yelled "SURPRISE", she turned around to see who the surprise was for. YOU silly. Its just a ~~lot~~ little early.

The saddest thing ever: I somehow deleted her "what the crap, picture" followed by her "let me do it again, surprise face" picture. I might cry.

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!

I just found them. Phew. They're THAT good. Drum roll please.....

SURPRISE!!!

What the...

After a little explanation... and a lightbulb moment for Traci.. she requested a "do-over". And we obliged.

SURPRISE!!!

(a little less enthusiastic on our part, but do you blame us??)

over-actor

We had Little Caeser's Pizza. It was gourmet. And the best part, MINIMAL CLEANUP. So we could spend our time visiting, instead of cleaning. Serious advice right there.

We ate the chocolate cake from Costco. If you've tried this little taste of heaven, say "I".

"I"

Times 50.

Traci must have some super-human skills when it comes to blowing out candles. I can hear Jalynn saying "whoooooaaaa".

Kapri enjoyed a little of the cake too.

I didn't even try to stop her.

Would you??

Traci and her family went home the next morning. I've cried myself to sleep every night since.

Okay, only some of the nights.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRACI!!!
I'll be spinning on my my pant legs, in the kitchen, for you.

Potty like a princess, potty like a princess!!!

2011-07-29T22:53:00.002-06:00

Pip de pipper is four months old. FOUR. Where has the time gone? I am so busy feeding babies, changing diapers, protecting Piper from her "loving" older sister, and cleaning up torn up diapers (thank you dogs), that I feel like I'm missing everything. Missing the smiles, the giggles, the snuggles. With both of my girls. My life feels crazy all the time.. I feel like I can't keep up. I won't even mention the condition my house is in on a daily basis. How on earth do people have lots of kids? Two is plenty, thank you very much.

To celebrate Pipster's four month mark, we had an elaborate party. It involved me, Kapri, Piper and some rice cereal!! Her first solids!! Kapri insisted on feeding her. Even when I said "you know Kapri, mama wants a turn too." She said "nope, its my turn". To tell you the truth, she was better at it then me. I just had to watch close so she didn't shove the whole spoon down her throat. See, she's an over-doer.

This first picture is of Kapri, when she had her first rice cereal. She wasn't a fan.

Piper was a different story, she loved it.

In other news.. we're working on getting Kapri potty trained. When we're home she pretty much goes commando all day. We bring her little pink potty around the house with us. She goes to the bathroom in it all day long... we've had a few issues with poop, but she even pooped in it on her own the other day!!

The problem: once you put panties on her, she pees her pants. I guess she feels like its protection. Where do I go from here? How do I transfer the awesomeness from commando to panties?? Anyone?? Your input would be nice here.

Don't worry, there is a lot of dancing going on around here. Its the potty dance. We do it every time she goes potty. It involves flailing arms and jumping up and down. Oh yeah, and LOTS of yelling.

Sore cheeks.

2011-07-14T02:05:00.002-06:00

And I'm not talking about my derriere.

My sister, Traci, was here visiting from Florida for the last few weeks. This, of course, meant that I was also on vacation for three weeks. Thats how it works, right? RIGHT?

Tap, tap. This thing on???

They went home last Saturday. Come back. My house cleaning can wait.

While they were here, we did a PLETHORA of activities. Literally. I think we scared them away. We had a multitude of bbq's. Played games. Did obstacle courses. ~~Relaxed~~ Partied it up.

We even went on a vacation to Vegas and California. (Post on that to come... some time. I didn't bring my camera. DER.) So, what that basically means, is that Traci went on a vacation IN a vacation. Can you imagine? Beat that Kardashians

I am now going to post a whole bunch-a pictures. I might choose to write captions. I may not. This is my blog, after all. If you don't like it, click that there little X up in the corner.

Wait. I was kidding. Please come back.

Picture, numero UNO.

JUUUUUUDDE!!! I have nothing to say about this little boy, EXCEPT, that he is the most edible, delicious, freakin' stinkin' CUTEST little boy ever. AMEN.

The other night, we were debating what nick name to use for Piper. Kapri happily offered up "JUUUUUUUDEEEE!!" Um, sugar plum, that one's taken.

I don't know why I get her dressed anymore. She always has something better to wear. FASHION DIVA I tell ya.

Not a dull moment with this child around.

I love every bit of this baby. Drool and all.

This next part is pretty much AMAZING. Human Rubber Band. That is the only explanation I am giving you. You can figure out the rest by browsing through these next few photos.

Wait. You need more? If you insist.

Traci wins for best Human Rubber Band pictures.

My brother-in-law, Jesse (he likes to be called Jessica), set up an obstacle course for us. I thought I'd suck, but guess what, I didn't. BIG surprise to me.

Next, we played water balloon volleyball. Yes, we're THAT cool.

Oh look, there's Jessica now.

I mean, seriously. We know how to have fun.

Just one last thing.

This is my big, tough, used to hold me down and tickle me until I peed my pants, brother. The one who is always saying "babies, yuck".

We all know that deep down you're just a big SUCKER.

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE session giveaway!!!

2011-07-01T18:43:00.002-06:00

We're doing our very first Giveaway over at the photog blog!! Check it out and ENTER!! I mean really, who doesn't want free pictures?? Anyone?

Tap, tap. This thing on??

Three-Tangent-Tuesday...

2011-06-14T15:33:00.000-06:00

I'm a total follower. I read a few blogs that do this whole "tell three random things about yourself, on a tuesday, and call it Three-Tangent-Tuesday." I am now going to do this. Just for you. You're so lucky.

1. Yesterday, I was telling Kapri to stop chewing on a string that Cody had just cut off of her leggings. Apparently she ignored me, because I just changed her poopy diaper and I had to pull the string out of her butt.

2. I have never been much of an egg person. In fact, they used to make me sick. The, have to run to the bathroom very quickly, kind of sick. I cooked some yesterday for my niece and had one left so I fried it up for me. HOLY DELICIOUS. Where have these fried eggs things been all my life. Now, I am craving eggs, and have none.

3. My sister Traci is coming to visit from Florida tomorrow. TOMORROW. I haven't seen her or her kids since last year.. and I have NEVER seen my new nephew JUDE. I. Cannot. Contain. My. Excitment.

I mean, really.

Totally worth the twelve dollars.

2011-06-13T02:04:00.000-06:00

Fact is, I'm a sucker. Kapri caught me in a weak moment at the store when she ran up to me yelling "Princess" at the top of her lungs, carrying a Little Mermaid slip 'n slide. I can't say I even hesitated before I told her "YES, of course you can have the princess slip 'n slide." Talk about HOURS of entertainment. For me, of course.

We finally had a warm enough day to whip it out, so we did.

Addison joined in on the fun. She's one lucky cousin.

( I wonder if she thinks that when she's getting pummeled by Kapri.)

I think we'll be using the slip 'n slide a lot 'round these parts.

Addison agrees.

Again, AGAIN!!

2011-06-13T01:20:00.002-06:00

We took advantage of one of the few warm days we've had this "summer" and went to the park across the street from my house. Its just a hop, skip and a jump away. And we literally hopped, skipped and jumped our way over. Well, Kapri did anyway. (Seriously, this kid doesn't walk.)

I think they had fun.

Shonni, Piper and I sat and watched from the shade. Unfortunately, shade isn't sun-proof (who'd a thunk) and Piper got her first (minor) sunburn. I felt horrible and beat myself up over it. Luckily, it only lasted a day or two and she never seemed uncomfortable. Bad mom award goes to ME.

Happenings.

2011-06-13T00:42:00.000-06:00

This post is going to be random. Just like me.

Try to keep up.

We had a swimming party at my mom's in April. My nephew, Preston, was turning 8.

H-h-h-Happy Birfday!!!

(Ten points for you if you name the movie.)

My Top Three...

My niece, Cadence. Pretty much the definition of adorable.

Cody got all dressed up for me and stained the deck. He still makes my heart go pitter, patter.

Kapri and I watched. From inside.

My children are seriously scrumptious.

We found Kapri reading my favorite book ever to Piper. It pretty much made my ~~day~~ LIFE.

Piper started smiling around two months. I've yet to catch a GOOD picture of her grinning, but here is a poor quality one.. for your viewing pleasure. :)

This little girl's got a pretty good cheeser too.

I'm pretty sure she's saying "cheese" through those pearly whites.

2011-06-12T23:42:00.002-06:00

Don't cha wish your family was cool like mine???

Don't cha, don't cha baby, don't cha??

Effie Grey Photography

2011-05-20T15:55:00.000-06:00

We finally have our photography blog up and running.. still adding a few things here and there. Go check it out.. and while you're there.. FOLLOW!!

I need to attend "dot dot dot" anonymous.

..... one more, just for good measure. :)

Jelly beans and such.

2011-04-26T22:09:00.000-06:00

Our Easter fun started on Saturday morning. We went to Cody's grandparents for breakfast and an easter egg hunt. Kapri was totally scoping out the eggs before the hunt started.. there were eggs worth money and she likes the money. (She'll happily put it in her piggy bank.) When they said go (or rather, when the kids kind of just started going and everyone looked around and said, I guess its time to start) she went to the right, when everyone else went straight. Smart kid.. she had the entire side of the house to herself and her basket filled right up.

Uncle Dave had 100 dollars worth of 2 dollar bills and Kapri ended up with ten dollars. It didn't last long though, she spotted the princess doll at Harmons later that day. (I will teach my kid to save, I will teach my kid to save, I will teach my kid to save.)

Later that day we Kapri, colored eggs. She chose not to use the spoon/bendy metal thingy and used her hands instead.

Meet Hulk...

The easter bunny visted our lovely abode... but had to hide the goodies in the bathroom. Otherwise we'd have come down to sick dogs and empty baskets. Cody snuck down in the morning and moved them to a "better" location.

Kapri was in HEAVEN. Apparently the easter bunny figured Piper is too young to get much, so he spoiled her big sister instead. Swim suit cover-up, bucket and shovel, white erase board, mini pillow pet, HUGE princess coloring book and crayons, play dough (as a side note, I LOVE the smell of play dough.. mmmm) and enough candy to last us, well, two days. We like our candy.

The girls were in their matching pj's. And YES, I am totally going to be that mom that matches them. Not everyday, but isn't that a benefit of having two girls??

We spruced ourselves up a bit and headed to Jalynn's for lunch.

POP ROCKS!!

After lunch we started the hunts. First up was the little kids.. Kapri had it down by this point and knew just what to do.

Next up was the older kids...

Last up... the adults. My mom has been doing an adult easter egg hunt for a few years now.. and I LOVE GETTING IN ON THE FUN!!

This year we had to pick an animal.. when you saw an egg you couldn't pick it up.. you had to do your animal noise to get your partner's attention and they had to come pick the egg up. We were elephants.. by the end of the game the noise we were making sounded more like a cat in heat. Its a hard noise to make anyway.. then add desperation and craziness into that mix. There were gold and silver eggs mixed in the bunch and let me just say, the contents were worth more than a few jelly beans. We were SPOILED by my mom and Jay this year.

THANKS AGAIN Mama and Jay!!!

After my family's get together, we headed to Cody's mom's. (Dejavu.. seems like this is a repeat of all of our holidays.)

They had an easter egg hunt set up in their backyard too. By this point Kapri was a little tuckered out and not as anxious to get the eggs, but she still gladly played along.

We had a delicious dinner, visited with everyone, and then got ready to head home. Until... the show "River Monsters" came on.. then we just kept staying.. and staying. They kept hooking us in before they went to commercial break, then we had to stay. Once we saw that giant sting ray they were fishing for.. was it worth it?? No. Not really.

In other news...

2011-04-25T15:04:00.000-06:00

My baby had a mullet/tail...

So, I cut it off.

Cannot. Wait.

2011-04-20T00:28:00.004-06:00

To get this.

Here's one example of why...

"...And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

-Tina Fey

I totally GET it.

Excerpt taken from here.

Meet...

2011-04-19T14:04:00.007-06:00

The Energizer Bunny... she goes and goes and goes and goes and GOES.. you get the point.

But, if you get her to stop long enough to relax a little, she sleeps and sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. I love going in to check on her in the middle of the night.. I never know what I'll find.

This kid keeps us on our toes, tests our patience and is sooo unpredictable (ahem, just like her father).. but we wouldn't change her for the world.

My FAVORITE newborn pics EVER...

2011-04-19T12:04:00.016-06:00

But, I may be an eensy bit biased.

My friend Bree came over when Piper was a week old to take newborn pics of her. She also has a bit of an obsession with photography, and I was willing to feed her obsession with my newborn baby. BUT, Piper had other plans. She was hungry, then she was poopy, then she was crying, then she was hungry.. you get the picture. Unfortunately, Bree didn't get any fab pics of her because every time I laid her down, she screamed. She DID happen to get some great pictures of Kapri though.. here's a link to her blog so you can see them.

Thanks for the attempt Bree.. and a bigger thanks for leaving your props so Shonni and I could get some great pictures the next day!! (Between her stuff and ours we had a plethora of things to choose from!!) And.. of course, Piper was an ANGEL for us. Newborns.. they're sooo unpredictable. Don't worry, we got some great ones of Kaprizee and Miss Addison too.

Here are a few.. or a lot.. of pictures, for your viewing pleasure.

Go ahead.. just say it.. I have THE most beautiful girls in the world.

How do you say.. my darn cup is OVERFLOWING. :)

She's got mad skills...

2011-04-18T16:30:00.005-06:00

When Piper was a week old we did some newborn pics of her. (I'll do a post about those next, but I had to share these pictures IMMEDIATELY.) Kapri and Addison got in on the fun. At one point, I was trying to get some smiles out of Kapri and I told her to dance..

Yes, she got her moves from your's truly.. and I'm proud of it.

Early delivery...

2011-04-03T21:26:00.008-06:00

Piper Blu McPherron

Born March 29th @ 10:52 a.m.

7 lbs 1 oz, 20.5 inches

If you read my last post, you'd have seen that I was supposed to be getting induced on Wednesday, the 30th. Well, this little girl had plans of her own. At 2:45 am on the 29th I sat up in bed and... peed my pants. Or thought I did. I've read numerous places that you should smell the mysterious "fluids" (ha) to see if they smell like pee. Insert me with stuffy nose.. UNABLE TO SMELL. I had to ask my amazing husband if he could come smell it for me. After he looked at me with utter fear, he obliged. (If this is too much information for you... cry about it.) We (he) determined it wasn't pee.. and our conclusion was proved when I kept "peeing my pants" for the next few minutes.

We called my mom.. she headed up from Springville to stay with Kapri, then we headed to the hospital. My mom then called Shonni to come get Kapri so she could come to the hospital. (See.. this is why a scheduled birth is so convenient.. sheesh.)

We got to the hospital.. and in true movie fashion.. my placenta GUSHED my amniotic fluids out with every move I made. By the time I made it to the desk I might as well have jumped into waist high water. THEN they make you sit there and fill out papers. How sweet of them.

I got poked by needles five times before they were able to get an i.v. in, despite the fact that I have "garden hoses". They determined I was dialated to a 6. We got settled in.. and began to wait. They were having problems monitering the baby.. and ended up putting some device up into my va-jay-jay that went around her head to read her heart rate.

(and YES, I totally just wrote va-jay-jay)

After a few hours of waiting, the baby's heart rate dropped below 100 for ten minutes.. which is NO GOOD. Nurse after nurse started rushing into the room to help. They ended up giving me a shot to stop my contractions because they were stressing the baby. They had me flipping all sorts of directions to try to get her heart rate up and nothing was working. All of the sudden, there was a doctor in the room and they were prepping my bed for childbirth. WHAT?? Oh, here's the best part.. poor Cody was sleeping in a chair during all of this.. and he woke up to me with my legs in the air.. ready to have a baby, with six nurses rushing around and some strange doctor. He looked at my mom and she said "the baby's not doing well". This sent the poor guy into shock and he was pretty much freaked out for the rest of the birth.

Luckily, her heart rate went back up, my doctor was able to make it there in time for the delivery, and I only pushed for about 15 minutes. Wha-la!!! (I'm awesome.) The cord was wrapped around her neck and they said that was probably the biggest contributor to the low heart rate and distress.

Anyhoo.. baby is here, healthy and BEAUTIFUL. Mom is recovering nicely.. Big sister LOVES her baby sister, Daddy is not in shock anymore... we're HOME and can't wait to start our lives together as a family of FOUR!!!

Just Breath...

2011-03-27T23:21:00.005-06:00

Grab the camera.. and laugh a little.

Cause even though she did this...

Later, she'll do this...

And all is well in the world.

Its a long one...

2011-03-27T21:37:00.017-06:00

But do you really have anything better to do??

Where have I been??

Well.. I wish I had something exciting to say.

We've been on vacation!!!

Kapri is potty trained!!!

We're rich and I'd rather go shopping than talk to you people!!!

But... no.

We're still here, puttin' away. NONE of the above statements are true, but that doesn't mean I don't have things to share with you.

You lucky dog, you.

In case you've forgotten, I'm cookin' up a baby in this here belly of mine. Can I tell you a secret? Its EXHAUSTING being pregnant and chasing after a two year old that rarely slows down. Seriously, she's on fast forward ALL THE TIME.

I'm scheduled to get induced on Wednesday. (Yes thats in two days, can you say CA-razy.) So, I've got minimal time left before the chaos takes over. I thought I'd try to do a little catching up on here, since I know you've all been DYING to know what we've been doing. All six of you.

Here goes...

----------------------------------------------------

My lovely BUNKONIANS had a little baby shower for me and my sister in law, Kim. She's also with child.. bahaha.. and due just a few days after me. We went to Buca De Beppos and ate delicious pasta and GREEN BEANS, with the Pope. Man their green beans are delicious, and the pope wasn't too bad, just a little creepy.

Check out THAT face. Seriously, I was excited about the pants.

Thank you ladies for all the goods!!!

----------------------------------------------------------

One morning, it snowed. Shonni called me up and said I'm gonna come sled at your house. She can be a little demanding at times, so I didn't put up a fight. Poor Kapri had been couped up the house all week and needed a release anyway, so no pride was lost. We happen to have a pretty stellar (yep, I totally said it) hill behind our house. In fact, everyone in the neighborhood agrees. Which is why we daily have people slamming into the side of our house when there's snow on the ground. Its grand. We're just humming along, knitting our mittens and BAM!!

Addison ate the snow, the ENTIRE time.

Shonni was the awesome one and went down the hill with both girls.

Then, I had to prove I wasn't just some lazy pregnant person and made my way up the hill to go down with Kapri.

Seriously.. these FACES I make. I'm not sure how Cody even talked himself into making a baby with me.

It was pretty warm and the snow started melting so we whipped out the good ol' Tangled four-wheeler (best Christmas present EVER, thanks Santa) to let the girls ride around. Well, they fought over it. Tears were shed. Screams were yelled, yells were screamed. You get the point. Sharing is a daily work in progress for these two. We pulled out Kapri's scooter in hopes of saving our sanity, but of course they always wanted what the other had. After a few (as in hundred) fits they finally got into the groove of TAKING TURNS. Its an amazing thing.

Towards the end Kapri started chasing Addison down the street. I scolded her fiercly.

What? You're right, I totally almost peed my pants laughing cause I thought it was so funny. Pregnancy and laughing haven't gone very well together lately for your's truly. I can't even imagine what would happen if I jumped on a trampoline right now.

I'd. Totally. Be. Peeing. The. Entire. Time.

---------------------------------------------------------------

For St. Patrick's Day we had corned beef and cabbage. We invited my Dad, and Shonni and Addison. Shonni's husband Josh was out of town so I think she was in need of a little "adult interaction". I'm not sure we qualify as "adults", but we tried to deliver. If you've ever met the three of us (Shonni, my dad and myself) we think we are the FUNNIEST people in the WORLD. We frequently make jokes (which make no sense to ANYONE) and follow them with hysterical laughing. Then we laugh because we're laughing. Then we can't remember why we're laughing, so we laugh some more. Its a hoot, I don't care who you are.

(My sister Traci ALSO thinks she's hilarious.. we miss her. Come home Traci.)

We sat the girls down for dessert.. they each had their own helping of HEAVEN... also known as ice cream pie.

Apparently, they thought it'd be more fun to share.

Did you hear that?? SHARE. Its totally catching on.

We are AWESOME parents.

2011-02-28T20:03:00.004-07:00

Who could ask for anything more?....

Thanks to Shonni for taking this picture for me!! More belly pics to come...

Disclosure: this post involves POOP.

2011-02-07T21:26:00.009-07:00

Yesterday was one of the BEST and one of the WORST days in recent history.

First, I'll tell you the bad. And man was it BAD. The day before, I had bought some fabulous GREEN nail polish to support our Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl. I painted Kapri's nails and toes and my nails. Then, Cody caught word of our adventures, and wanted in on the fun. So, we painted his nails too. (I haven't been able to take a thing he does/says seriously. Plus, I think he has been acting a little more feminine with his green manicure.) This wasn't the bad part, nope, not even close.

Ready for this?? I left the nail polish on the bathroom counter.

In plain sight... Kapri's sight, to be exact.

She was in her room playing, quietly (RED FLAG) for a while, and I decided I should check on her. She was COVERED in green nail polish. Head to toe. If it was within a 3 foot radius of her, it was GREEN. Her hair, pajamas, legs, bed, carpet.

I stood there, in shock. Its one of those messes that you look at and think "where do I even start?" Cody came in, sighed, and I handed her off to him, with a quick "stick her in the tub". I attempted to clean up the mess.

I then realized that it was after 3. We had a Super Bowl (YAY) party to go to at 4:30, and I still had veggies to cut up. So I headed downstairs...

What to my wondering eyes should appear... but lots of dog DIARREAH. Runny. Poop. (Incase you had forgotten what it was.)

I spent the next half an hour scrubbing a 5 foot radius of my carpet. (Because of course he didn't just do it in one spot, that'd be too nice.)

At one point I heard Cody yelling at Kapri, who was still in the tub. She decided to empty an entire bottle (see previous post here) of shampoo into the water. Apparently she didn't think the day was eventful enough.

We somehow managed to clean up our messes, make ourselves decent, and make it over to our friends' house for some FOOTBALL!!

I wish I could say that those 8 chins don't really reside underneath my chin, but sadly, they do.

Look close, real close. You can see remnants of nail polish on her hand. Stinker.

Oh yeah, in case you missed it.

The FREAKING GREEN BAY PACKERS WON THE GAME!!!

Whats that? You need a closer look??

You're welcome.

Can I even tell you the excitement?? I have been a loyal fan since I met Cody.. I'm now a fan for life. And then some.

Cody was REALLY excited at this point.
Oh, and look REALLY close, you can see his green fingernails.

GO PACK GO!!!

The moral of the story: When life gives you lemons... or nail polish/poop messes... just eat the damn lemons (but please don't eat the nail polish or poop).. cause if you're lucky, your team will win the Super Bowl!!!

In case you haven't heard...

2011-02-04T23:03:00.003-07:00

The GREEN BAY PACKERS are goin' to the Super Bowl!!!

Can I get a WOOT WOOT!!!!!

Woot, Woot!!!

Goodbye naps...

2011-02-04T00:09:00.008-07:00

Hello cranky pregnant mother.

I live for naps.

I breath for naps.

I crave naps.

Don't get me wrong... I LOVE KAPRI.

More than I love Caramello candy bars AND Cherry Coke, plus MORE.

I mean, really, who couldn't love a face like that??

Its just that, well... shes a lot to handle. And I'm tired. Busy cookin' up this second kid of mine thats going to be making an appearance in two months. Less than two months really, cause February jips us.

I am a better mother when I get a few minutes (hours preferably) without her constantly asking me to change her tutu, or get a doll un-stuck from the newest space she's found. Or, her newest fascination.. dumping shampoo bottles on dogs while they're sleeping.

(Copper got an un-planned bath today, thanks to this new hobby of hers.)

Anyhoo.. at the end of December we changed her crib into a toddler bed. She wasn't crawling out of her crib yet, which makes me wonder what on earth we were thinking. Actually, here's what we were thinking... The baby is coming soon. The furniture in Kapri's room, crib included, will be passed on to this little one. I'm pretty sure Kapri is going have a hard time transitioning when we bring home a baby, and we didn't want to make it worse by giving that "stranger" her bed too.

The first time I put her in her bed she looked over the edge in wonder. I know exacty what she was thinking... "They know I'm just gonna climb right outta this bed, right?"

And she did.

Over and over and over again.

After a week in her toddler bed, we re-did the office for her new room. We decided to skip the whole toddler bed phase, and just went right to a twin bed.

(Which, coincidentally, is a bed that has been in our family for YEARS. I slept in it when I was younger, when it was part of a bunk bed.)

Here we are, over a month later, and she is still getting out of her bed over and over and OVER again. Well, most nights anyway. The last four nights she has actually stayed in there the first time.

Can I get a HALLELUJAH!!!

Hallelujah!!!

What is this post about???

Oh yeah, naps. That part of the day that allowed me to re-fresh (and actually get my work done) is now almost non-existent. We have tried, on numerous occasions, to get her to nap in her room. After two hours of putting her back in her bed (sometimes even locking her in there) we have to give up.

Insert BIG sigh.

Sometimes, when we're lucky, she'll fall asleep in our bed watching a movie. But this usually happens in the late afternoon and we have to wake her up so she'll actually go to bed that night.

I know she isn't ready to give up her afternoon naps. She has proved this to me every evening at about 6 pm .

One of the great things that has come from this new room... she plays in there for HOURS. She loves her new space and is always closing the door in my face to get some privacy.

Apparently, mothers are NOT allowed.

Please don't take this post as a way for me to complain about her. She really is the puddin' to my pie. In fact, as I type this, her and Cody are in our bed snuggling. He's tickling her, and she's saying "Daddy, daddy, DADDY... hehe hehehe Daddy!!" Its the best sound in the world, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

2011-01-22T22:51:00.007-07:00

Kapri got snow pants for Christmas. Purple ones. Cause she LOVES purple. Just ask her.

Now, we have one of the greatest hills for sledding right behind our house, BUT what we don't have is an 8 year old kid, named Cadence, that is willing to play in the snow with her. Therefore, we packed up all the snow gear and headed to my sister Jalynn's house.

After going down the hill a few times, the sled tipped on the way down. Kapri FACE PLANTED it, right into the snow. If you could even call it snow. It was pretty hard and crunchy.. imagine your face sliding across it. Now imagine it happening TWICE. She was done after the second time.

We went in, had hot cocoa and called it a day.

I, of course, forgot to bring my camera, pregnant brain and all, so you get to look at these wonderful, blurry, grainy ones from my phone. You're welcome.

Another year gone...

2011-01-17T14:04:00.034-07:00

I saw this idea on another blog. And guess what, I'm-a-gonna steal it.

So long Two Thousand and Ten...

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Can't wait to see whats in store for us this year.. bring on Two Thousand and Eleven!!!

5..4..3..2..1!!!!

2011-01-17T12:57:00.006-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We hung out at my sister Jalynn's for New Year's Eve. Had a few friends over.. ate a TON of food.. and rang in the new Year. I didn't even think to get out the camera until we were bundling up to go outside at 11:59. I managed to get a few pictures.. mostly of Kapri's confused face. She was wondering what on EARTH we were doing outside, at midnight, in the freezing cold, running around like idiots, banging pots and pans and lighting sparklers. She was just happy to be awake that late.

You want me to do WHAT??!!

He left nothing but crumbs...

2011-01-16T11:34:00.017-07:00

Oh, and a bunch of P.R.E.S.E.N.T.S!!!

Thats right. Santa came to OUR house. Cause we've all been so good. I hope he came to your house too.

He brought Kapri a Tangled 4-wheeler... She's been envying her cousin Addison's Dora 4-wheeler for months. Now she's got her very own!!

I think she likes it...

(Please take notice of the bow. Its a masterpiece. Santa must've forgotten to buy one, so he had to come up with something last minute. Thats my guess.)

Kapri pretty much ran our morning. She opened most of the presents, including mine and Cody's. Once in a while she'd let us help a little. Sweet, right?? This year was SO MUCH FUN. Her reaction to seeing the presents was priceless. I can't wait until next year.. I'm guessing it'll get even better!!

Santa brought me a BB GUN!! I have wanted one forEVER.. and it was a huge surprise!!

Thanks Codylicious. You're my hero.

Kapri would start to open another present, and then see the 4-wheeler. Im not sure if she thought she was neglecting it, but she insisted on sitting on it almost the entire morning. So.Dang.Cute. I don't care who you are.

Christmas morning family picture... so cute-ish.

We had a delicious steak and egg breakfast (a request by Cody), took a late morning nap, got ready and then headed over to Cody's mom's house.

I'm pretty sure this picture of Kapri and her cousin Taisha is THE cutest.

We ate a delicious meal.. which included HAM!! I was hoping there'd be ham, and they didn't disappoint. It was delish.

The kids had a dance party... ON THE POOL TABLE.

Shh.. don't tell Grandpa.

After their house, we went to Shonni's to see my Dad. Oh, and eat ANOTHER delicious meal. This one consisted of lasagna.

Then we opened more presents.. we got spoiled that day.

My dad brought along his lady friend, Mercedes, and her daughters, Lucy and Linda.

We like them, they laughed along with us (possibly AT us, we'll never know).

Even when we were tooting "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with our tooters.

We headed home late, after a loooong, fun day. Exhausted.

Until next year!!!

I could go for some chinese food right about NOW.

2011-01-09T22:48:00.022-07:00

For the past few years we've gone to my mom's for Christmas Eve.. BUT, she decided to ditch us this year. For warmer weather, and a brand new, itty bitty baby, in Florida. Sure, my sister Traci went and moved hundreds of miles away from us, and then decides to have a baby. I mean, WHO DOES THAT?

In all seriousness, CONGRATULATIONS TRACI!! I can't wait to meet baby Jude!!

Anyhoo.. we still got together with my family, well, the few stragglers that were left. (My brother and his family had gone to Wyoming, and my sister Kristi's family didn't come up from Price.) When we were contemplating what to do for dinner a few weeks earlier, we decided that we did NOT want to spend all of our time preparing and cleaning up dinner. Enter Panda Express. I'm telling you, I think its a new tradition. It was delicious, and the best part is, we just threw away the empty boxes and were ready for PRESENTS!!!

We draw names in our family, for the adults and the kids. I'm tellin' ya, its a life saver. Our family is GINORMOUS.. unless you compare it to the Duggars... which, seriously, who has 19 kids and is STILL COUNTING?? Stop already.

Me and Cody had Jalynn and Shawn. Shawn was blessed with a Utes hoodie.. lucky him. He was excited.. just look at his face.

We gave Jalynn a Pioneer Woman cookbook. Don't know who she is?? Just take a gander here at her website.. but I'm warnin' ya.. she's fab and you might just become best friends with her. Or wish you were anyway.

Jalynn said she was THIS close to buying the same thing for me... this picture caught her mid-sentence.

Shawn and Jalynn had us. They gave Cody a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt (he was happy, like a five year old on Christmas) and a big old thing of fancy beer (he was in double HEAVEN).

I got a freakishly cute maternity cardigan and shirt AND a wallet. I felt mighty spoiled.

(I don't have pictures of the kid's present exchange.. since they weren't there. Traci's kids gave Kapri an amazing scooter.. she's scoots around the house daily. I can't wait until its warm enough for her to use it outside.)

Then we opened Christmas PJ's!!! This is seriously one of my FAVORITE traditions for Christmas.

We all got changed into our pajamas and lounged around for a bit. We kept checkin' up on the Santa radar.. and I think we headed home when he was in New York. That was probably cutting it a little close.

Once we got home, I realized, in all my dumbness.. that I had forgotten my camera at Jalynn's!! Who does that? (I do, I do.) Of course I had to go back and get it.. there was NO way I was usin' our dumb one for all of the Christmas morning goodness.

When I picked up the camera.. this is what I found.

These are all four of my sister Jalynn's kids..

Taelor.

Kelby.

Ashlyn.

and Cadence.

First of all, they're hilarious.. I giggled through all 857 pictures that they took. Secondly.. they almost NEVER get along. These pictures document that it is possible.. and they actually do have fun together!!! (Even if that fun does include "farting" on Kelby.)

Oh yes, Moose was even involved. We mustn't forget him.

Don't worry... we didn't forget to leave out cookies and milk for good ol' St. Nick. I'm pretty sure he loved them. Proof of that to come.

Hockey pucks and MAGIC.

2011-01-09T21:57:00.009-07:00

Thanks to this boy...

who happens to be the boyfriend of my niece...

...we got to go to a Grizzley Hockey game for free!!

Get that? FREE!!!

(From left to right...) This is, of course, Trevor, the maker of magic. Taelor, the girlfriend of the maker of magic. Shawn, the father of the girfriend of the maker of magic. And Jalynn, the wife of the father of the girlfriend of the maker of the magic. And there you have it.

Not only was it free.. but we got to sit in a box.. I felt cool, if only for a short while.

We invited along our friends..

Emily and Ryan

And Mike and Denise.

In true hockey fashion, there were punches thrown. We would have been disappointed if the players took pity on eachother.

I swear they were fighting.. NOT hugging.

Please pay no attention to the blurry, HORRIBLE pictures.

Random Festivities...

2011-01-02T21:55:00.005-07:00

December was a crazy month, full of CHRISTMAS activies. Here is a sneak peak into a few of them.

Kapri put the topper on the tree.. again. I do believe we've started a tradition. She's pretty darn good at it, she must've gotten her tree topping skills from your's truly. (It seems she got everything else from her father.)

Here's the finished tree.. in its protected corner. Safe from dog's flailing tails and Kapri's chubby fingers... well, almost. She actually did MUCH better than I thought she'd do. She was fascinated (literally OBSESSED) with the big silver ball that was in the front, down at her level. She was singing/dancing/admiring herself daily in this ball. It was her own, personal mirror.

Half way through the month Jalynn came over. When Jalynn is around, ideas turn into reality. She's a doer... not a thinker. I like that about her. That, and her toe nails. Right now they're green with white polka dots.

Anyway.. Jalynn came over. I had been fussing over my family room for quite some time.. its super small and angled funny.. so there's not much you can do with the furniture. But, after moving the couches about six times, and eventually moving the tree across the room (after it fell apart into three pieces).. we ended up with a nice little cozy set up. So, among a million other things to thank her for.. THANKS JALYNN!!!

Moving on...

One day, when it was freezing cold, seriously windy and snowing like crazy... Shonni and I decided to take pictures for Christmas cards. Cause that's how we roll. It would've been much too convenient and easy for us to do it on a warmer, non-blizzard-like day.

Did I mention it was COLD?? Well, it was.

It went something like this.... We met there in our cars. Cody and Kapri stayed in the car, while Shonni, Josh and Addison jumped out to get their pictures taken. The wind blew, we took twenty pictures as fast we could, the snow came down, Josh and Addison got back in the car. (At some point, Cody had let Kapri out of her carseat and rolled down the window. She was crying at the top of her lungs because she wanted to be outside in the cold with us. Some things I'll never understand. )

Then, Cody and Kapri got out. The wind blew, we took twenty pictures, I ate my hair and soaked up a gallon of water in my boots, Kapri said CHEESE, we ran and got back in the car.. and went home.

That story might help explain our Christmas card a little bit, atleast for the ten of you that actually received one this year.. I was a bit of a slacker.

Oh yeah, it was pretty much dark outside by the time we got there. So, we had about twenty things working against us.

The snot in this picture helps prove my point.

Is it really over??

2010-12-25T23:18:00.004-07:00

We just got home after a long day full of fun, family and tons of delicious food!! I'll eventually get around to posting about it, but until then......

Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Cody, Tawnya and Kapri

.. and the weee little bebe in my belly.

Squeaky shoes and sugar cookies..

2010-12-22T07:11:00.019-07:00

Those are the makings for a fun holiday party. Atleast, in our neck of the woods. My friend Bree had a few of us over to have a party/playdate for the kidlets. These outings are always welcome on our end.

Stella was there...

Reese made an appearance.. but then had to go to school.

Addison attended, in all of her CHEESY glory.

Kapri came, of course.

AND.. we even had Ethan there. Yay for a little testosterone!!

The kids decorated (ate) sugar cookies..

They had a jumping party in the crib.. until they were stopped because the squeaking/creaking began getting louder and LOUDER. (Ethan wanted NO part of it.)

They gave us one amazing CHEESE for the camera.

Stella and Reese (Bree) gave the kids squeaker shoes. I'm not sure if thats the technical name or not.. but thats the best way to describe them. Shoes that squeak. Now, if you know Kapri, you know that she is RARELY walking. Its always a run/skip/jump kind of trot, to wherever she's headed at the moment. These shoes are a dream come true for her!! Squeak, squeak, SQUEAK!!!

At the end, when the kids were tired, the adults were worn out.. and the house was a mess.. we posed for one group picture. It was quite the success.. given the circumstances.

Thanks for hosting Bree!!

**A few days after the party, we were at Leatherby's, (the BEST ice cream shop in Utah)and Kapri was running to the front of the store (squeak, squeak, SQUEAK) and this lady looked her up and down.. turned to her husband (while I was standing directly behind her) and said "Ugh.. that is SOOOO annoying." Seriously? It took everything in me not to punch her in the back of the head. Is that wrong??

Healthy snacks.. bwah ha ha.

2010-12-19T23:39:00.007-07:00

Kapri was BEGGING me to make cookies. I kept telling her that I need to be healthy, and that cookies aren't good for my bootylicious body right now. She insisted... so, we made cookies. (If you believed, or atleast PRETENDED to believe that bull crap story, thank you.) But not just ANY cookies...

The BEST Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, like EVER.

By the end, we were covered in flour.. along with all of the silverware in the drawer, thanks to one minor mishap.

We ate some (okay, ALOT)of the delicious dough.. don't you judge me.

Then I baked late into the night to get them done. We were going to a party the next day, and I thought I'd bring some to share. UNFORTUNATELY, Spanky had other plans. Plans that included EATING my all of my cookies. Seriously.

As a little side note, I'd like to share this last picture with you. This is one of Kapri's famous looks. I'll happily give you an example: I say "Kapri, come right back here and give me back those bacon bits that I've taken away from you twelve times today." She says nothing, just gives me this look. As if to say "I don't know what you're talking about, you big dumb idiot." Or in the actual case of this picture.. when I repremanded her for putting her entire spoon of cookie dough into her milk.

December B to the UNKO...

2010-12-19T22:50:00.005-07:00

We switch it up a little in December. Instead of giving our normal ten dollars for gifts, we each bring a ten dollar (ish) gift to give. We make sure they're wrapped, so no one can see the goodness inside. We eat a delicious dinner, (which was EXTRA delicious this time, thanks to our hostess, Jalynn, and all her awesome-ness) play a few rows of the game, and then start on the gifts.

So.. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not even going to sugar coat it a little. This year's gift exchange was not nearly as exciting as last year's. You can read about the excitement in 2009 here. It was full of hootin' and hollerin', stealin' and trickin'. This year it was more like squeaks and squeals.

I took pictures (WOW), some people cooperated...

Others, not so much...

Big, absent-minded, prego me, forgot to take a group picture... so, dust off your imagination, and USE IT.

Make sure to imagine me skinny...

Pin the what, on the WHAT??

2010-11-21T22:58:00.005-07:00

My baby is two. Now...if you ask her, she's ONE. (Please imagine her, in all her STINKING cuteness, holding up one chubby finger.) We're trying to teach her to say two now.. but, lets just say, she's a little stubborn.

On her actual birthday, we went to Chuck-e-Cheese. Grandma Annie and Grandpa Frank came along for the fun.

The entertainment, games and prizes didn't disappoint. BUT.. the food is a whole different story, not good. Not good at all.

On Friday night we had a big party with the fam and a few friends. There was food involved, bowling on the Wii, pinning the feather on the turkey, LOTS of presents and loads of FUN!! People can't help but have fun when we're around.

It was also our cousin David's birthday.. the big THREE OH!! Yep.. you read it right, THIRTY. We were happy to celebrate with him.

What'll it be??

2010-11-21T22:37:00.004-07:00

That's right.. my gut feeling was that it was a boy.. but, lo and behold...

Its a GIRL!!!

We are thrilled and I am so excited for Kapri to have a little sister. Not to mention, we already have everything we need for a little girl... can we say, CONVENIENT??

This baby was super modest, and was refusing to give us a shot of the goods. Finally, the doctor came in and was able to get one good shot, enough to give us a 95% guess of a girl. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures proving this point.

Next step.. getting the perfect name!!

Double, double toil and trouble...

2010-11-21T21:45:00.004-07:00

So... I'm a weee bit late posting this.. but, here's a quickie post for you. Just to let you know how much fun we had over Halloween.

We had our Annual Halloween Party... I somehow ended up with only about ten pictures.. I must've taken about one hundred.

Friday, we went to Cody's work and trick or treated.. Kapri left with a full pumpkin.

Saturday, we went Trick or Treating in Daybreak, which is a community that has AMAZING houses... our friends just happen to live there, lucky us. It was the BEST trick or treating I've seen in years. Kids were all over the place, reminded me of when we were little and used to go. Kapri left with ANOTHER full pumpkin. Its almost a month later and I'm still wondering what to do with all these pixie sticks and dum dums.

PFFPP.... short for, something.

2010-10-23T14:54:00.009-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to the Peterson Family Farms Pumpkin Patch. Kapri is finally getting to the age where SHE is enjoying things... ALMOST as much as me!! She loved running through the field and picking out pumpkins... tripping along the way.

We met Shonni, Josh and Addison there. Addison isn't nearly as daring as Kapri and she carefully walked through the field. I think she may have fallen once, and then stood her ground, refusing to walk anymore. That explains why she has ZERO bruises or scratches on her body. Our kid on the other hand.. covered in them. In fact, at this very moment, she has a very large bandaid on her chin. Thanks to her negligent mother for leaving a razor out for her to get. (I know.. no need for lectures here, thank you.)

Cody picked out the biggest pumpkin he could find.. large stem included. I picked out a perdy red one, and Kapri ended up with a white one. (NO, she totally didn't steal it from Addison.) We even got baby Milo one. Who is Milo you ask?? Its the name of this baby BOY growing inside me. I know, its going to end up being a girl.. which is totally going to throw us off.

I'm aware that my kid is "lacking" in the hair department.. But MAN check out those BABY BLUES!!!

Say what??

2010-10-23T14:43:00.004-06:00

So.. we went and did it AGAIN!!

Baby McPherron #2 is on the way!!

I'm due April 4, 2011.. and now that the initial SHOCK and SURPRISE has set in.. we can't be more excited!! We find out in two weeks what we're having and the suspense is killing me!!! We're only having two kids, so I can't wait to find out what our family will consist of.. Dad, Mom, Kapri and... ???

Hoping for a boy (and feeling like thats what it is), but we'd be thrilled with another girl. Maybe this one will be a little more laid back, just to balance out the CRAZINESS that we call Kapri.

Excited for whats to come!!

One BIG hole.

2010-10-23T10:53:00.005-06:00

So.. I know you're all heart broken. I promised I wouldn't wait another month to post about the grand canyon. BUT, alas, here I am, a month later. What can I say? LIFE IS CRAZY BUSY!!! So.. I'm just going put together a collage, or two, or three, of my favorite pictures, and leave it at that.

It sure is pretty there.

Shonni snapped this next pic. I think its the BEST picture from our trip. I'm sure you'll agree. Go ahead Shonni, pat yourself on the back.

From now on, I'm going to have to make a point of doing shorter blog posts. So my motto will be "short and sweet"!! (I know what you're thinking, how can she be any SWEETER?? Oh... I can.)

Better late than never...

2010-09-21T00:16:00.012-06:00

Where= California + Arizona
When= End of July, 2010
Who= Tawnya, Kapri, Shonni and Addison

Now, I realize that this trip transpired well over a month and a half ago. But, it is of too much importance to be skipped over. So, if you are asking right about now "Is she seriously going to do this?" Here's your answer:

Hells to the Yeah I'm gonna do it.

As noted above, at the end of July, Shonni and I, along with our chillins, ventured out west, to the land of Sunshine. Our relatives live there, and we're always thinking of an excuse to visit. I know I can vouch for Shonni as well when I say its one of our FAVORITE places to visit.

If I had hours upon hours to do this post, I would give you every last detail of this trip. But I don't (I know, RELIEF) so I'll give you the quick version, but I won't skimp on the pictures, because that'd just be denying who I am. To hopefully shorten the length of this post I'm going to do the pictures in collages. Just click on them if you want to see them bigger.

We did a lot of swimming and spent some quality time with Nonni.

Kapri dressed up and put on a concert. If it weren't for her short chubby fingers (she never had a chance with Cody and I as her parents), I might say she was a future pianist.

We went to the beach. Kapri loved the water. If only I would've let go of my grip for two seconds, she would've been diving into the waves on her own. Too bad there's this crippling fear I have, not only that she'd drown, but that she'd be gobbled up by a shark. At one point, I left her sitting on the ground while I was chasing the little squeaker toys around, the waves started hitting her and splashing in her face. She was giggling her little pants off. She's fearless. Which is a mother's worst nightmare. Well, mine anyway.

Meet Aubrie..

Once upon a time, she lived here in Utah, attended BYU, and we took her under our wing. So to speak. We don't ACTUALLY have wings.

Then, she decided to go home to California. Starting in January, she'll be going on a mission and calling Brazil home.

After thats said and done, she'll be meeting the man of her dreams and poppin' out some cute babies.

We'll miss her.

At some point we went to Ruby's on the pier at Huntington Beach. Its tradition. And we don't mess with tradition, especially if it includes food.

On the way home we had a jam session.

After we spent a few days in California, we headed to Arizona. Surprise, Arizona to be exact. Our cousin Jamie has lived there for 5 years now, and we decided it was time we paid her a visit.

As soon as we got there we had a major dance session. It was, afterall, National Dance Day.

The girls were instant friends. And other than a few minor "mine" fights, they got along great.

One of the days, we ventured overed to the park near Jamie's house. There was a huge puddle, full of mud, and I'm sure other gross things I don't wanna know about. Of course, I couldn't keep Kapri out of it. She kept running through it and slipping, which we all though was hilarious. Then she went and smacked her head on the cement. Its all fun and games until someone gets hurt, right?

It was cool while we were there (thank heaven), and rained a lot of the time. If you could ask Kapri what her favorite part of the trip was, she would most definitely say jumping on the tramp in the rain. That kid was getting flipped in every which direction, and she LOVED it. Miss Addison isn't one for crazy adventure, and she chose to watch from the sidelines. Hence the absence of her in the pictures.

Needless to say, we had a blast and can't wait to go back. We were sad to pack up and leave, but eager to get home.

Our drive home was crazy. It included wrong turns, the grand canyon and a sleepless night. But you'll have to wait to hear about it. I promise not to wait another month and a half to blog about it. I wouldn't leave you in suspense for that long. That'd just be cruel.

Who's still here with me?? Anyone??

2010-09-15T01:00:00.002-06:00

Just posted new pictures of the niece and her B to the F. Check them out on my other blog, here.

Make it a good day!! (Courtesy of my g-ma, who does it in honor of my g-pa, love 'em both.)

Can I get a Woot Woot.

2010-09-05T22:32:00.006-06:00

Last weekend I went out with a couple of my besties. We went to The Blue Lemon for dinner... can we say HOLY FREAKING DELICIOUS Butternut Squash Soup. Please go try it today.

After dinner we went to see Eclipse, which is the third Twilight movie, in case you haven't been part of this world for the last few years.

We tried to take pictures.. Bree and Kim posed, I laughed. We were like little school girls, giggling our pants off because we couldn't keep straight faces.

I'm sure everyone else in the theater loved us. But hey, they were at Eclipse for goodness sake, what did they expect other than twenty something year olds acting like tweens?

I even threw in a WOOT WOOT when Jacob came on screen with his shirt off.

Bree couldn't contain her feelings in the movie, it was a little embarassing.

Really Bree, Jacob will be OKAY. Get over it already.

Lets do it again soon, girls. Really soon.

Bahama Mama..

2010-08-15T11:57:00.003-06:00

My sister Kristi and her family were staying at my house for a few days for a "vacation". They were going to the zoo, so I invited myself. Then I called Shonni and invited her too. We didn't want to miss out on the fun.

Speaking of fun, I'm a little DONE with the zoo. I had a membership last year, and have been enough to last a lifetime. But, I'll continue going, because the older Kapri gets, the more she loves it.

Shonni brought her wagon, hallelujah. For some reason the girls find it fun to ride in. Unlike the stroller, which Kapri thinks is a prison.

We bought dip 'n dots, a stale pretzel and drinks. The carousel was ridden, but this time we skipped the train. Somehow I was talked into buying a freaking huge monkey, that Kapri does NOT need. But, we named her Bahama Mama, so in the end its okay.

I love me some freckles.

2010-08-15T11:25:00.006-06:00

We camped out in my sister, Jalynn's, backyard for the 24th of July. We had so much fun doing it in Cody's mom's backyard, we thought we'd do it again with my family.

Minus a few set backs, like the sprinklers creating Lake Erie in our tents, it was a lot of fun.

Traci's boys, Koston and Teagan, were here visiting their dad for a couple of weeks, so they got to come to our campout too. We loaded them up on all sorts of junk, and hugged the crap out of them. We miss their freckles.

In the morning, Josh cooked us a DELICIOUS mountain man breakfast.

I dig his outfit.

If I were a guy...

2010-08-14T22:41:00.013-06:00

I have this friend, her name is Bree. I once told her, when she had recently broken up with a boyfriend and was upset, that if I were a guy, I would TOTALLY date her. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. I'm a good friend like that.

Anyway, her family has a condo in Moab, Utah. Land of the arches, red rock, hippies and such. We LOVE going there and have been lucky enough to be invited a few times. And NO, this is not the only reason I'm friends with her. I also like her hair.

We headed down with a few friends and all our chillins, back in July. Moab in July? I know, who does that? But it really wasn't all that hot, plus we spent most of our time in the pool, or the air conditioned condo.

Bree, Chad and their girls Reese and Stella were there. Of course they were there, they are the ones who invited us. It'd just be rude to tell them they couldn't come. And our friends Kim, Kree and their son Ethan came. Ethan is a hot commodity. Stella and Kapri have been fighting over him since, well, since their parents decided so. Its a constant battle to see who will marry him. We've got atleast 30 years before I even think about letting Kapri date, so BRING IT ON STELLA!!!

We did a lot of swimming...

I snapped this cute shot..

Then, in true Bree and Britney style, they had to go and make it awkward.

We brought along Bree's sister, Britney. She offered to babysit while the worn out parents (US) went on a much needed date. I'm not sure she knew what she was getting into.

THANKS BRITNEY!!!

So.. we piled into the Fowles' Pilot, Bree and I in the VERY back.

We'd kept hearing about the infamous ALCO. We had to make a stop there.

Then we stopped at the Branding Iron and had some grub.

After dinner we headed into the Arches National Park.

I'm pretty sure atleast 7 people drove by and thought "Will somebody PLEASE tell those people not to quit their day jobs."

There's something creepy about the trees in Moab, they got frisky on more than one occasion..

Kree had survived a two story fall last year, and is still recovering from all of the broken bones in his feet. So we decided to go on a SMALL, EASY hike. Bree assured us.

Come to find out, there were about 8,000 stairs at the beginning. Sure, that might be easy to Bree's skinny butt..

After our leisurly stroll, we headed back to the condo. Britney had all of the babies sleeping so we got to enjoy the rest of the night with games and friends.

Kim and Kree headed out the next morning. Ethan had had enough fun and was ready to go home. We know how that goes.

Its funny how once you have kids, they control your days. Ahh.. the joys of parenthood.

We made a stop at the music park.

After the park we went swimming again. I took some pictures, but started getting the "you're seriously taking MORE pictures" look a couple of times, and decided it was time to retire the camera, for this trip anyway.

Here's one of those "looks" now..

We headed home in the afternoon. Sad to leave...

But eager to get home.

We can't wait 'til next year!! Hint, HINT.

Thanks Bree and Chad!!

Me + My Family = pure AWESOMENESS.

2010-08-12T15:06:00.003-06:00

On the 4th of July we got a little crazy. Here are some pictures to make you feel like you were there with us. And yes, you wish you were there, it was THAT much fun.

So... I cropped this next picture for my smooshie face collage.. but I had to show you its FULL GLORY. Check out Jalynn in the background, to the left. Either she didn't know it wasn't her turn anymore, and the attention had turned to Josh... OR... She wasn't even aware that she was still pulling this squishy face.

I'll let you decide.

Its not a party withouth Hands Up, Stands Up.

Don't you wish your girlfriend was HOT like us?

At some point, I was coerced into doing a back-walk-over. I'm not sure who it was that looked at me and thought "yeah, she'd be AWESOME at that." But, I went with it.
At first, I think Shawn was just there to observe.
Then, once he realized the inability, on my part, to flip over, he ran to assist.
So.. I did a back-walk-over...
With ONLY three people's assistance.
BOO-YAH!!!

I'm getting too old for this...
Which actually translates to "I'm WAY too out of shape for this."

Short and Sweet.

2010-08-07T20:17:00.009-06:00

I swear by the chin on my chinny chin chin. Except there ain't any.

We went to my sister, Jalynn's, for the 4th this year.

We took a lot of pictures.

Cute ones.

This is another one of those "no denying who her father is" shots. We have a lot of those.

My tattoo and shoe went great together for the holiday, so I snapped a shot.

And NO, I am not a Dallas Cowboys fan. I know you were thinking it.

Ashlyn and Cadence took Kapri and Addison in the sprinklers.

Fun was had.

Drinks were stolen...

We had a fire.. which is not all that enjoyable when you have a kid that refuses to sit on your lap, and doesn't quite understand that the fire will BURN her!!

We even did a few fireworks.. the stick on this one broke when Cody tried to put it in the ground, so he held it. And almost caught his face on fire.

Please tune in for my next post, you won't be disappointed. It will involve smooshie faces, and several "awkward" positions. Oh Geez, sometimes I even surprise myself with my lameness.

This is how we do it..

2010-08-07T20:03:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Cody wanted to set up a big bed on the floor in the family room and watch a movie. Kapri LOVED it. In fact, I bet she secretly wishes we always had blankets and pillows to lounge around on.

So do the dogs.

I think we'll make this a ritual. I love the simple nights, like this one, where we're just home with the three of us. BLISS.

Cowboy State... Part Two.

2010-07-26T09:58:00.018-06:00

On Monday we had another family reunion (this one, not so immediate-ish) in Greybull. Which I always thought growing up, was spelled Grabel. We learn so much when we grow up!! Hmmm.

I knew about three of these people.

Okay, maybe four...

We have a cousin (not so immediate-ish, but related, somehow) who plays for the Pittsburg Steelers. (Go Packers!!) Brett Keisel would be his name, football is his game. We had heard that he would be at the reunion, so we had gone to a Pamida (the Big Lots of the cowboy state) and stocked up on things for him to sign. I have good friends, Dorothy and Gary, who would be celebrating their 30th anniversary later that month. They are HUGE Steelers fans, and I knew this would be the perfect gift. You can read all about their big surprise party here.

We were totally those lame people, I asked him if he would sign something for some friends of mine. Then we came trampling up with about three bags worth of things for him to sign. I tried to make a joke and said "Heeeyyy, remember when I asked if you'd sign something, well I really meant ten things!!" Haha, funny right? He came back with "Yeah, thats usually how it goes." BURN!! He was very nice, and even laughed when I gave him the sports "cup" to sign. He added his own twist by writing "Safety First".

So there you go people, I'm inadvertently famous. I'll be signing autographs later.

The next day we were in Burlington staying with my Grandma and Grandpa Hockley and we headed over to my brother's in-laws house to see some animals.

We saw cats and dogs.

The pigs were cute.. but wanted nothing to do with us. We sent Conner in to catch one, but he was too big of a wussy. I should've shown everyone my pig wrestling skills.

Then we went to see the baby cows.. OH MY ADORABLE. I wanted to take one home for a pet. They weren't too keen on the idea of the kids mauling them, but they behaved.

This cow's name is Hollywood. Either Hulk or Brooke Hogan (I get confused) milked her on an episode of their show. I believe she had a baby that same year, or the next, that had a star on it. CRAZY, I know.

The next morning, before we headed out, we took some pics in front of my Grandma and Grandpa Hockley's house. I will be refraining from posting ANY with me from that morning. Not pretty. But these guys sure look cute.

And Shonni. Jerks.

My Grandma Loveland (who is actually my mom's first husband's mom, but we have always considered her our grandma) lives just around the corner from where we were staying and we haven't seen her for years, so we stopped to say hello. She lives in a little white house, that I love. I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

I have a picture of me when I was younger, sitting on this same banister. I wanted one with Kapri there too, she wasn't too fond of that idea. She had reached the end of her (short) rope and was ready to go home.

At some point on the trip (again.. I get confused, it was two months ago, afterall) we stopped at a cemetery where my mom's first husband is buried. Her name happens to be on the headstone next to his.. creepy, right? We made her pose next to it.

Her husband wanted her to lay down in front of it, but she thought that was too much.

The girls loved running through the headstones, some people may thing this is disrespectful, but they're one, they were having fun. I hope kids run around on my headstone one day. In fact, I'm gonna run around with them.

The ride home was pretty uneventful.

But BEAUTIFUL.

Cowboy State... Part One.

2010-07-25T12:02:00.012-06:00

I can't do a quick blog.. post a couple of pictures, write a few words. I've tried. More than once. Its just not in me. I also don't have time to write such extensive blogs.. which is why I am never caught up. I'm doing this blog in two parts, so I can actually post the first half that I've already spent twelve days on.

Back in the beginning of June (yes, I realize its almost August and I'm just now catching up) Shonni, Addison, Kapri and I headed to Wyoming for a couple of family reunions.

Side note: I would like you all to know that I just about had a heart attack. Here I am writing a blog about Wyoming and my pictures were missing. Phew.. I found 'em. You can stop crying now.

WARNING: I have a lot of pictures to share.. if you're not interested, pretend you are, and look anyway. Pretty please.

We got to Thermopolis pretty late on a Friday evening. When we pulled into our Motel Shonni and I both looked at each other with the look of DEATH in our eyes. It was THAT motel.. you know, the one you see in all of the horror movies!! The sign was even flickering "VACANCY". Of course there are open rooms.. because everyone's dead!! They lure you in with the Free Hot Breakfast.

We calmed down, a little, got the girls bathed, into their pj's and headed over to Grandma and Papa's room to do some motel room "bed jumping".

We didn't stay in a lot of motels/hotels while I was growing up, but I'm pretty sure we jumped from bed to bed (over and over again until the adults locked us in the closet) in every one we did stay in. Thus, it has become tradition.

At one point, quite a few people were sitting on the bed.. then I decided to unload myself (a mere 120 lbs I'll have you know) onto the bed. BOOM. Yep.. I'll say it. Right here on the World Wide Web.. I broke the bed. You can be nice and say it was ALL of the weight together.. but I was the straw (or bale of hay) that broke the camels back (or in this case, the bed). But don't fret, I fixed it.

At some point Kapri kept wanting to wear Shonni's bra.. so I of course helped her. I'm a nice mom like that.

The next morning we had the first of two family reunions. This one was for my mom's immediate family, their kids, and grand kids. So I knew everyone, what a relief. We were supposed to have it at a park, but I don't think it stopped raining the entire time we were there, so we ended up in a church.

Games were played...

Prizes were won...

Fun was had...

Meet my Grandpa Jack.. he's our "Horse Grandpa".
Meet Braeden, and his pants.. that are ALWAYS falling off.

Grandma Hockley, the sweetest lady ever. (But she wasn't always this sweet, hehe.)

Then we went swimming in the hot pools. I didn't want to deal with my camera, so there are no pictures. (Darn, I know you ALL wanted to see me in my bathing suit.) But I'll have you know, it was a BLAST.

That night we did some more bed jumping.. and this time Grandpa Jack was there too.

Addison is the world's best giver of Raspberries.

Next up.. more pictures (surprise), ANIMALS!!, banister sliding and cemetaries.

Camping.. sort of.

2010-07-20T00:44:00.003-06:00

Last month Cody came up with a BRILLIANT idea. Camping.. IN HIS MOM'S BACKYARD!!! Lets face it, it was genius. Don't get me wrong, I love camping. However, I do not love bears. Over the past few years (I'm sure you remember the little boy that was killed by a bear up American Fork canyon) I have become MORTIFIED of bears. I hate sleeping in tents, and every noise makes me pee my pants. I think becoming a parent has quadrupled this fear. It doesn't help that last year when we went camping there was a bear sighting and they actually had to set up a bear trap.. TWENTY FEET FROM OUR CAMPSITE!! Really.

Anyway, hunky husband had a brilliant idea.. blah blah blah. We decided to do it the same weekend that Taylorsville had their little town celebration and they were doing fireworks.. even more convenient.. we could see them from the backyard!!

When we got there our niece Taisha was playing on the slip 'n slide.. Kapri was not about to miss out on the fun, so she joined in, clothes and all.

Frank amazed us with his bbq.. AGAIN. Heck, its delicious. Wish I got a picture so you could drool over it. Annie made me a cake.. and everyone was nice enough to sing to me.

27. What the heck. When I turned 26 I didn't feel old. For some reason, this year I do.

After we ate dinner and got into our pjs we settled in to watch the fireworks. Kapri loved 'em, much to my satisfaction.

Poor Ashley was the hot seat of the night.

Frank made a fire, and then pounded on his chest, cause thats what guys do. I think he might've yelled something like "I am he-man, hear me roar!!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure of it.

When Cody and I went to the store to get stuff for s'mores we saw the HUGEST marshmallows you've ever seen, and of course we had to get them.

They were messy, and delicious.

Let me just tell you that fires are almost NO fun when you have a one year old running around. None of us really relaxed the entire time we were sitting there.

At about midnight I decided Kapri was pooped and needed to go to bed. Now, if you've met this little girl, you know that she does not like to miss out on anything. She screamed for a good ten minutes after I brought her in the tent because she was so upset that I was making her go to bed.

She's a fiesty one. Me, Cody, Ashley and Tim stayed up talking until after 3. WHAT? Who does that? Certainly not me, I love my sleep.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and then went swimming.. Kapri's current favorite thing!!

Sometimes I dread going camping, just because I hate doing all of the clean up. This time, we folded up our sleeping bags/blankets, took down the tent, and we were done!!

30 years.. now thats just crazy talk!!

2010-07-08T00:37:00.005-06:00

I have a great friend, her name is Deana. She has parents (obviously) who are also great friends of our's. Gary and Dorothy. Now, they are not your every day couple. They RARELY (like almost NEVER) fight, and have this calm, go with the flow, nothin' gets their panties in a ruffle, relationship. Its refreshing.

They celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary in June, and Deana threw a HUGE party in honor of them. She pulled out all the stops: tons of food, lots of friends a BOUNCE HOUSE. This girl knows how to throw a party.

Did I mention it was a SURPRISE!! Nothin' beats pulling off a great surprise party. Deana asked me to capture all of the greatness in pictures. Sadly, I wasn't warned that they had arrived, and in my huge hurry to catch the looks on their faces, the first few pictures were blurry, Disappointing, but what can you do. I should've made 'em cover their eyes again and act surprised.. yep, should've. You wouldn't have known it was fake, except that I told you. Crap.

The bounce house was a HUGE success.

Addison wasn't so sure at first, but then warmed up to it.

Kapri LOVED it, and didn't want to get out.

When the time came to open presents I made sure I was front and center. A couple of weeks earlier we had a family reunion in Wyoming (I'll be getting around to sharing that with you soon, hopefully). Ever heard of the Steelers? You know, that pretty darn popular football team in Pittsburg?? Yeah, that one. Well, we're related to a guy that happens to play for them. Brett Keisel. Yep, he's totally my cousin. (So what if its like third cousin twice removed, or something crazy like that.) Anyhoo, the Matiyasics are CRAZY fans of this so called team, so I thought it only fitting to bring them something, or a few things, signed by him.

I think our football, sports cup (yes, the kind that protects your "junk", and I made sure to get it in the XL size to humor Brett) and a signed anniversary card were a big hit!! Pretty sure we were the coolest people there, maybe.

I took some pictures of the hot couple, and then decided to take a few of the whole family while we were there. They weren't very cooperative. In almost every picture, atleast one of them is looking off in to space. Come on, we're all adults. JUST LOOK AT THE CAMERA AND SMILE!!

I love these people!!

Way to pull off the party of the century D!!

P.S. You're hot!!

Here's to the next 30 years, Congratulations Gary and Dorothy!! I love ya more then my luggage!!

The seaweed is always GREENAH..

2010-07-03T02:06:00.005-06:00

Please picture my best Sebastian, the crab, impression.

We went to the aquariam with my sister, Kristi, and her kids. Now that Kapri is a little older she was actually interested in seeing everything.

Check out Kapri's calf muscles in this one!! Oh heck, she's cute.

This was our sad attempt at getting all of the "kids" (yes Justice, you are still a KID) together in a picture. It was soooo not happening.

I dare anyone to tell me that they have a cooler life than me.

The turkeys... really??!!

2010-07-03T01:33:00.006-06:00

Okay.. so I have been a major slacker. We went to the Thanksgiving Point petting zoo in May, I believe. I forgot we had even gone until I stumbled upon the pictures on one of the ten SD cards we have laying around.

There were sooo many fun animals to look at. Which one was Kapri's favorite you ask? The turkeys. TURKEYS people. She didn't care that there was a freaking cute baby goat at her disposal.. Where are the turkeys??!!

When I was trying to point out the gorgeous black horse.. Kapri.. KAPRI!! Where is she?? Oh.. over by the turkeys. It was a little ridiculous. I mean they're interesting in all, but only in a "hey you look good for Thanksgiving dinner" kind of way.

After we distracted her long enough to forget about the turkeys she wandered over to the little picnic table and didn't want to leave. Ahhh.. the joys of a one year old. *Sigh* I act bummed, but really, I LOVE seeing her explore everything around her. Even if its not what I would personally choose to oooh and awwww over.

I brought my point and shoot camera.. and cursed at it the entire time. It takes horrible pictures, but sometimes its just too big of a pain to bring my nice camera.

Kapri had her first pony ride while we were there.

She wasn't very amused. It could've been the fact that we had torn her away from her first love.

Gobble, gobble.

A daily occurance.. almost.

2010-07-03T00:21:00.004-06:00

HOT. Thats the perfect word to describe these last couple of weeks. I realize its summer.. and I also realize that we haven't reached the high temps of the season.. but people, its scorching outside!! My flowers have all withered.

Kapri has been spending a lot of time in her little, blue, plastic swimming pool. (We found it outside our gate a couple of years ago. It sat there for days, so we claimed it. Finders KEEPERS, losers WEEPERS.)

2010-06-24T22:09:00.004-06:00

We went to a wedding a few weeks ago. My brother-in-law, Josh's, brother was getting married. I helped with taking pictures, and realized just how tough of a job wedding photography is. You only get ONE chance to capture the "moment".. then its gone, and you can't get it back again. I'll be posting a few of the pictures on my other blog sometime soon.

Until then, here are some freaking cute pics of Cody and Kapri playing. I love that they love each other.. it makes my day, every day.

First daddy daughter dance!!

Congratulations Colby and Kaci!!