monroe's 24th of july

happy pioneer day, everyone! here's a peek of what we did to celebrate the weekend:

on thursday, we went golfing with trent and jessica. in the afternoon, we convinced my parents to go with us to watch the new harry potter movie (why i was in geek mode the other night). that evening we had dinner with weston's parents and kate looked like this:i love when she wears grandpa colton's glasses!

friday morning we woke up bright and early to catch the parade. weston took a handful of pictures of the "floats" so you could feel like you were actually there. i say "floats" because... well, you'll see:
guy on a 4-wheeler (there were about 6 of these "floats")more 4-wheelers
local business that sells these animal model thingsbullies - okay, i liked this one and they used sparkly stuff so theirs actually counts as a floatand of course no utah parade is complete without rodeo royalty
kate had a great time collecting candy and dancingat one point, kate got an otter pop so we stripped her down to keep her dress clean. she had a great time dancing around in her diaper.

it was a little embarrassing when someone in the parade yelled, "erin! is that your little girl?!" sorry for the vertical orientation of the video, but you get the idea

here is another video of kate getting down with the mini-cheerleaders. watch till the end when she jumps (first time jumping - EVER, by the way... a little slow, this one).
it's hilarious because you can see the wheels working in her head ... "hey, they just jumped, maybe i can do it too"

that afternoon, weston's mom took kate to trent's parents house for some waterslide fun while we went golfing with my parents. they had rented one of these inflatable slides and kate went down twice on the huge slide with uncle chad! that evening, we had weston's parents come over to watch the fireworks and have s'mores with my parents. it was a great way to end the evening and kate was happy as a clam as the center of attention.

on saturday, we all woke up bright and early (7am!) for an early golf game. while i didn't know if my body could work that early in the day, the weather was gorgeous! who knew? :) after some breakfast at burger king, we all went home and had naps. we spent the rest of the afternoon with weston's parents before heading back home to american fork. it was a busy but really fun weekend.

happy 24th!

Sunday Afternoon with My Girls

which witch?

or wizard, rather.

when i first watched harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, i really did not like the "new" dumbledore. the actor who first played albus, richard harris, was the dumbledore i knew and loved. this was prior to my reading any of the books, mind you. but i loved the sweetness and gentle nature of this professor dumbledore.

when the actor died, the third movie had a new actor, michael gambon, playing the familiar role. intially, i did not like new dumbledore. in fact, i didn't like new dumbledore until probably watching the 5th movie, the order of the phoenix. it was really when i finally decided to read the books that i actually started to love new dumbledore.

here is my main reason:

end of #5: crazy battle with voldemort, is spectacular

end of #6: amazing scene, no spoilers but he's just the man

he's just enough gruff and rough and gentle and caring. i especially love the relationship he has with harry - more than mentor, more like fatherish figure. what a great man.

sorry richard harris, but i don't think your dumbledore would have been capable of what albus had to actually, physically do - especially at the end of #5 and #6. i love michael gambon as professor dumbledore... love him. he's fantastic.

what do you think???

oh yeah, i caught the matinee today and have this junk on the brain again - please forgive.

the bachelorette: the men tell all

so, did anyone else think about the word choice by chris harrison, "reid couldn't be here because of a prior engagement?"

when they promo'd the next episode/finale with reid at the end holding a ring, we were pretty pumped. we like reid.

kiptyn, you were my early favorite. i picked you to be in the final 2 from episode 1. but your hometown visit ruined my taste for you. sorry. your mom is just weird and i think it would be hard to be accepted in the fam ... just seems like nobody would be good enough for little kiptyn. plus, you're kinda boring. again, sorry.

ed, i really, really like you. you seem to be a good guy and you are actually willing to lay it out for jillian and not worry about just plain telling her how you feel. points for that. i also liked your little green shorts, despite what other may have said. way to go, bro.

reid, we are so glad you are coming back! you are hilarious and we think, even though you are clearly a bit emotionally retarded, that you can make a great fit with jillian. one thing i don't understand: you seem to have no problem calmly telling the cameraman how you feel and how you think you feel about jillian. why can't you just tell her the same things in the same easy manner? something to work on, for sure. while we don't really think you're coming back to propose, i happen to think you may be offering a promise ring. jillian's word choice when asked how she is now, "very happy," ... not engaged, but very happy with a huge grin. honestly, if kiptyn and ed don't propose? weiners. but reid is definitely not there, so i'd be s-h-o-c-k-e-d if he actually proposed...

oh, and it was so irritating that jake got harangued for being a good guy. what's up with that, guys? you could not leave the guy alone and it lasted for an entire segment! get over the fact that not everyone is a drunk pig.

juan, you won me over tonight. i used to think you were quite the snake. my apologies.

wes, words can't express how glad i was not to see your ugly mug. you are the snake. i'm so glad they didn't give you any more face time in front of the cameras. hope your music career really takes off. oh, and just because you were #1 in chihuahua, mexico does not mean the people of spain would feel the same way. get a globe.

can't wait for monday night!!

american fork steel days

what is steel days?
not sure
what kinds of treats do you have a steel days?
not sure
what do you do at steel days?
not sure

what did we do to celebrate this year's steel days?
we woke up bright and early to watch the parade. being complete amateurs with the parade (we didn't even know the route) we threw kate in the stroller and headed down to main street. we walked a few blocks east on main where all the floats were lined up and took our seats in an awning covered "bench" built into a law office we had shade the entire time and nobody in front of us, it was perfect. the only downside is that we were technically behind the parade route - meaning the parade started just yards beyond where we were sitting. so we kind of had a behind-the-scenes point of view ... sort of.

there was a float for a local family fun center that had a gorilla and an empire state building on the trailer. they were parked in front of us for awhile and kate would not relax her death grip on me until he was out of sight. these pictures show her concern and her fixed gaze on said gorilla man:
she's even slightly craning her neck to make sure he's really driving away.

weston had a smidge of wolverine pride

anyway, it was a good parade, lots of actual floats (but no float from eagle mountain! kassie, i wanted to see your float and it was not there!!! what gives??), and when it was over, we walked back home with no crowds. it was great. weston entered the art show and we took a very brief gander at the car show and called our steel days participation complete.

oh and we saw some of the fireworks display while en route to purple turtle - best part of the day :)

did you know

that a tornado ripped through our apartment yesterday?okay, so if it was a tornado it was named after me. i made this mess. i have been dreaming (is that true?) about reupholstering our couches for about a year now ... ever since this little beauty. i finally came across a killer deal on just the right color fabric the other day and decided to get to work yesterday. i had thought about not touching this massive project for awhile, but then realized the sooner i start, the sooner it will be finished. so, here i go! watch out for staples if you happen across our living room :)
taking off the old fabric is such a nightmare. i woke up sore in all kinds of places this morning - it is serious manual labor. but the amazing thing is you have a perfect pattern once you get each piece free.so, here she is, in all states of undress. hopefully there will be an after post coming sooner, rather than later .... please cross your fingers with me for that!

new feature: sytycd favorite

i know this feature is a bit late seeing as the show is halfway over, but every week i am going to post my favorite so you think you can dance routine.

tonight's favorite was choreographed by travis wall, who's mom is kind of a big deal. anyway, it was travis' first time choreographing ... ever? really? ... and it was great! my favorite part of it all was the unexpectedness of the movements. i was surprised every other count because i didn't know where the dancers were going, how they would get there, and the amazing use of that locket. it was fantastic! way to go travis and jeanine and jason! i think these 2 are my favorites, well... i do love me some ade, that's for sure.



enjoy!

and can you believe that kiss????!!!!

it was

so good.

and i can't wait to go see it again!!! thursday matinee, anyone???

look mom, i make my bed now

so i have never been a bedmaker - ever. but some days it's all i get accomplished ... well that and making sure my child gets fed, clothed, and has a fresh diaper.

but here is the evidence, of both accomplishments:and i want it known, for my mother, i have been making my bed everyday for the last couple of months ... everyday. :)

get your geek on

yeah, baby! harry potter and the half blood prince comes out this week and we are totally prepared. well, we are almost totally prepared. we are 3 movies down (in the refresher course of 1-5) and will watch 4 & 5 by tuesday night. the new movie starts wednesday and you can believe we are there!

i'm not excited or anything.

ps-remember when we were doing the same thing 2 years ago?

kate's quiet book

so remember that project i finished up for kate? it was a quiet book that i saw on good day sunshine. i have been looking for inspiration for one of these books for a good year and really loved this one. it's completely imperfect, none of the lines are straight and the corners on the pages are horrible, but i'm pretty sure kate won't notice any of those things :) hope she loves it as much as i do!

so you think you can dance

i was moved to tears... not full on crying tears, but teary eyes, choked up throat, runny nose tears. i stuck the whole video on here - it's 5+ minutes but is amazing and beautiful and just... ah!... amazing!!! please watch.

kandk1 12 @ Yahoo! Video

mia michaels (my numero uno) choreographed this piece and did a wonderful job of showing what the addiction must look like (he is so committed to that character even though he despises it) as well as what it feels like to be the addict, trying to escape the something or the someone that's not good for you. please tell me what you think... if it makes you think anything :)

Walks + 1

Erin and I have been going on walks in the evenings. I don't walk much--I skate most of the way on this cruiser board. Tonight I snapped a couple photos. Kate loves her horse, and I had to snap this before the walk. I even made Erin take a photo of me for good measure.

My Beautiful Wife and Daughter

uh-oh

i think we may have done it! kate has said goodbye to her "uh-oh" ... translation: pacifier. on sunday, we were driving home from monroe and kate kept playing the game of crying for her uh-oh and then after a minute of sucking on it, dropping it to the bottom of the car again. i got tired of it and told her it was all gone.

when we got her ready for bed that night, i decided to continue with the theme. i put her down and she made zero peeps about her uh-oh. so yesterday i put her down for bed all three times without it. she is more aware of missing her uh-oh during naptime but at night has forgotten about it completely.

are we really free of the pacifiers? we had given ourselves a timeline of 18 months which is 4 weeks away. my only fear now is church - i guess we will need to be prepared to be without her uh-oh for silencing purposes, too :)

trying to be better

so i've been a huge slacker on the blogfront. i will try to do better.
here is a rundown of the things we've been doing in the last couple of weeks:

happy anniversary, baby!
on the 26th (see, i can remember when i really think hard about it) we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.how would you have liked to open this up in your mailbox 5 years ago??? isn't it amazing???
i love you weston, you make me better.

then came girls camp. then came the flu. i haven't felt that horrible in years. although, it did kind of remind me of the debilitating effects that come with creating a person ... so maybe i haven't felt that horrible in a good couple of years. either way, it was not fun... at all. then kate got sick, but she does seem to be feeling more like herself... hopefully it lasts.

we had a family reunion in the middle of all the sickness - my sickness anyway. the colton family got together at heber valley camp (that made 3 trips in 1 week!).

kate very excited about her new balloon flowernot sure about her dead balloon flower

we had fun learning about our extended family, eating, and playing on the challenge course. let me just tell you i haven't been that terrified in my entire life. at least i can't remember being that scared. i have never thought of myself as such a wimp, but apparently heights and harnesses are not my idea of a good time. we had to climb a tree trunk that was no longer in the ground - it was suspended at the top by a wire and was free to swing away whenever it desired. the log had notches cut out like a ladder for your hands and feet - only problem was about halfway up there was no longer really a place for your hands so you had to hug the tree as you climbed. i started hyperventilating, the tears started to come (but i stopped them right away), and i pretty much wanted to wake up from the nightmare.

i was only like 1/5 of the way through the course! thank goodness my sister in law, jessica, had already successfully completed the cruel and unusual punishment and i was inspired to keep going. i climbed and hyperventilated my way to the top of the 2 story tree log and grabbed on for life to the wire at the top. once at the top, you have to tight-rope to another tree that is like 30 yards away. thankfully they have a rope to hold onto as you walk across, but you have to position your weight in front of you as you shimmy across the wire - not the most confidence inspiring contraption. i only looked down once and that was enough to just about make me pass out, so i had to keep my eyes locked straight ahead at the beautiful view. i was just a little distracted, however, so the view wasn't as beautiful as it could have been.

once i got to the other tree, the easy part came. we had to rapel down and thanks to a high school boyfriend, i had done this several times. it was absolutely something i will never do again - i have done it, it is now in the past :)

weston on the challenge course

kate had a car-sickness episode on the way to the reunion, so we are playing it ghetto style on the way home...

we got to spend a couple of hours on thursday with johanna, tom, and the 2 littles. they came to utah for the 4th and we visited and had lunch with them before we headed out of town. thanks for stopping by, guys! we'll see you in a few more weeks :)

after lunch and packing up, we headed for monroe to spend the 4th with our families. weston and i got a couple golf games in on friday and saturday with cory, my dad, and cory's brother in law. i had a much better second game - but i still can't seem to reach my goal (a double-bogey round). oh well, only a few more strokes to shave off and i'll be there.

it was weston's dad's birthday on friday so we all gathered at their home and had homemade chicken enchiladas, a la jess. they were delicious! we visited there with everyone for a few hours and sang happy birthday to chris. as my dad would say, chris is just a kid (he turned 53 this year).on the 4th, we woke up bright and early and got to richfield just in time to watch the parade. it was fun to be out with everyone, but the parade was mostly disappointing. when did it become acceptable for your "float" to be a rented pickup truck with a sign on the door, advertising your local business? there was way too much of that. but it was nice to participate in tradition again, either way. i hadn't been to that parade since i was in it, 12 years ago! after it was over, we enjoyed some ice cream at the dairy and headed back to monroe to give kate a little nap.

we met up with everyone for lunch in central where they have their own town celebration with food and relays and games. the little girls all raced and got a quarter for ice cream - kate started out strong and got halfway but got scared once she heard all the screaming on the other side of the finish line :) so i had to go help her get across - maybe next year :)

that night, we met up with everyone again for fireworks in richfield. weston's grandma & grandpa carson came for the weekend so it was really fun for kate to see them again. she liked the fireworks and actually watched for about 1 minute - the rest of the time she tried to get the cousins to play with her. sophie was asleep and kate tried for 30 minutes to get her to wake up and play - she wasn't having it though!

a little impromptu midnight swinging with kate

sunday was a great day, too. jessica and trent blessed their baby girl, karli. after the meeting, we had lunch with everyone who came to support and celebrate. i could go for some more of that food right about now!!
that afternoon, i finished a project i had been working on for kate (stay tuned for that one) and watched the second half of a movie i couldn't finish the night before. we left town around 8:30 that night and had a quick drive home.

it has been a busy couple of weeks and weston and i won't get to slow down anytime soon!! we are heading up a committee to plan our ward's youth conference and it's time to get down to business with that. maybe we'll be able to relax in a couple of months, just in time for cooler weather :)

thanks for sticking it out during the marathon post!!!