And everything after...

Since I felt Daniel and Chalyse's wedding needed its own separate post, here is everything that came afterward on our three-week schlep through Utah/Arizona. 

My cute sisters-in-law, minus Heather who was in Texas. It's not often we're all together, but we have fun visiting when we are.

  

Grandma Karen with my girls and two of their cousins. Makenna and Addison were in love with Mayley, whose birthday falls between the two of theirs. 

Aunt Melinda becomes the "resident nail stylist" whenever we come to town and the girls LOVE it. Addison got her first mani-pedi and proved every bit worthy by holding stock-still until everything was dry. (Why is it I wait to do so many things with my youngest that I was so gung-ho about doing earlier on with my oldest? Does anyone else do this?)

 

Makenna with cousin Nathan, who is a week apart in age. They've only met a few times since they live across the country from eachother, but they were exceptionally cute to watch together and I think they would become fast friends if a certain family decided to move out this way;)

 

The girls and I were able to spend a day with Jenn and Magnolia while Drew was doing a deposition down in Provo (seriously? Work on our family trip?). It always seems to feel like we're transported back to Freshman year in DT whenever we reunite. (No, we didn't moon anyone out of our 6th floor dorm or steal girls' clothes while they were in the shower this time. But given the chance...). But we did make a Slurpee run (at noon, though, instead of midnight) and guess who gave Mags her first Mountain Dew Slurpee? Yours truly.

 

We had to make a stop-off at the Y before we left Utah. BTW, this is the day we're driving down to Arizona. We started off the car ride down to Provo from Lehi with Addison up-chucking everywhere...for a long time. Poor thing. It was in her hair. It was all over her clothes and only blanket. It got down into her car seat under the cover. It got all over Makenna's hair/clothes. IT WAS EVERYWHERE. So that, my friends, provided the smell for our entire ride down  to AZ. 

But back to the Y. We stocked up on BYU gear for the new season: new sweatshirts and T-shirts. We stocked up on chocolate-covered gummy bears (it's possible we may have purchased 3 pounds of these and it's also possible they're already gone- I think they're laced with meth, or something equally addicting). We toured the campus and oohed and aahed over all the changes (I used to think my parents were so dorky and old every time we made a trip to BYU growing up and listening to them do the same exact thing. Are we really there already?). Last stop before heading out on the road to Phoenix? Why Burgers Supreme, of course. Could not leave town without gulping down Fry Sauce, with a few fries, and our favorite sandwiches.

 Wait, did I say our last stop? Strike that. It was meant to be our last stop until we were passing Fat Cats on University Ave. when some extremely intelligent and honest lad side-swipes us and keeps on driving (speeding) Did I mention we were in my parents' car? Don't fear, my 007 husband heroically chased him down University and maneuvered his way through little residential streets until the sucker realized his efforts were futile and that we had him where we wanted him. 

...2 hours later and we're finally leaving Provo onto Arizona (free advice to anyone who wants it: when you call 911 and report an accident you've been in, don't say that everyone's fine and that you're not blocking any traffic. I think it's okay to fib a little so that you're not shoved to the back of the line and end up waiting over an hour for a slow-talking cop to arrive and "investigate" the scene. Just sayin').

 

Midnight- we arrive in Arizona!!! The girls finally fell asleep in Prescott (about 50 minutes from home, which was pretty much as good as not falling asleep at all). For the next TWO WEEKS, we lived in the pool. The girls were in heaven. Hence, the following 300 pool shots. 

 Seriously? Do they come any cuter?

 The mats were a smashing success with these two. Surfing, laying out, water slides, etc. etc.

                                                                       

                                Drew got me an iPhone for Mother's Day (the man totally spoils me) and I have totally had too much fun with Instagram. I LOVE IT. 

 

 Can I just mention, rather proudly, that my girl started swimming WITHOUT floaties while we were there? Holy heck, I was flabbergasted. She swam across the pool and back again. She is a rockstar in my opinion. 

It wouldn't be a trip home without a Diamondbacks game. My dad has REALLY good seats this season and the girls loved being so close to the famous bobbleheads/Baxter the bobcat/cheerleaders/etc. The fireworks weren't too shabby either.
 

 And lastly, these little lasses love to play dress-ups (Makenna a little more than Addison). And Grandma's a pretty good fashion designer.

 New girlie-girl outfits from Grandma. Absolutely love them!

  

 And finally, the plane ride home to D.C. I was flying by myself and desperate to keep the peace (translation: the girls took full advantage of this mama in every way possible; i.e. cranberry/sprite cocktail from the flight attendant, RingPop that lasted the entire 2nd leg, and whatever movie she wanted...and then three more). What can I say? This girls knows how to fly in style.

 

 Now only 2 more months until our next cross-country flight, except this time I'll have the hubs flying to and from with me. Cake walk, folks, cake walk.

Drought No More

Drew and I got married in 2002. We're coming up on our 10-year anniversary this summer.

10 years.

Although we've hoped and prayed and reminded them relentlessly that my girls need cousins for crying out loud, neither of my brothers have found "the one"...until now. We rejoiced to no end when Daniel  got engaged to Chalyse in January. Then last week, miracle of all miracles (not really, we saw it coming), Eric got engaged to cute Meagan! After 10 long years of matrimonial drought in the Bird family, I will have two new sisters-in-law by the end of the summer! When it rains it pours, and we are drinking it up.

If you remember, Daniel and Chalyse flew out to see us at the end of March so that I could take her bridal portraits around the National Monuments. I may or may not have lost sleep with the stress of such a big job, but I am happy to finally post some of the pictures now that the wedding has come and gone. 

After a good (that's debatable) 2 months of living the life of a single mom with Drew traveling nonstop, it finally came to an end with us flying to Utah for their big day. That was the 17th.  From then we've been on non-stop hyper-drive with all the planned festivities, visiting old friends, hitting up all our favorite Utah restaurants, family dinners, paying homage to our Alma Mater (Spirit of the Y, baby), and everything else you could think of to keep us from getting a full night's sleep. It's all worth it, though, and we wait all year long for our annual Utah trip.





Onto the onslaught of pictures:

I may or may not have been pretending I was the hired photographer at the temple. And they may or may not have given me "the look" to get out of their hired space.
 

The handsome man of the hour.

Love this ballerina girl.

My ever-beautiful poser daughter.

And this is our very formal family shot. What do you think? Semi-presidential? Think we'll get invited to the White House for Mitt's inauguration?

These girls are absolutely in love with their new Aunt Chalyse!

One of my oldest friends in the world, Jenn. So happy she and her cute family could make it. This was taken by Drew after we told him we'd look thinner if he took it from above. Picture my rather tall husband poised with my rather expensive camera from a rather tall column perch. Why was I not taking shots of him?

Me, my mom, and my two new and soon-to-be sisters in law! Girl power is definitely growing among the Birds.

This is my sweet girl after "catching the bouquet." (Actually my cousin Melanie caught the bouquet, but so graciously handed it immediately to Makenna, which made the entire night for her. That, my friends, is the look of pure and utter joy on a 4-year-old.)

I think this is the absolute cutest. Not the clearest, but the cutest.

I can't tell you how long Makenna has been planning her special dance with Uncle Daniel. They stole the show (for me, at least) with their little number!

Love my sweet brothers. The farther we move away, the busier our lives get, the fewer pictures like this we take. 

Now, onto planning brother #2's guaranteed-to-be-beautiful wedding in San Diego, August 25th. So incredibly excited to get our sail on, our beach on, and our Mexican food on...oh, and some wedding ceremony stuff too.

Word of the Day

I was walking with the girls to the park a few days ago and Makenna, out of nowhere, sighs,

"Hmmm, metamorphosis."
 I stop, open-mouthed, and stare in bewilderment (with a healthy dose of amazement).
"Makenna! Do you know what that word means?"
"Uh, yeah Mom. It's when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly." (duh)

She kept walking while I sat there, dumb-founded, while I had a small epiphany that the thousands of dollars we've put into preschool the last two years really have paid off.


In other news, our computer crashed a week ago. We backed everything up until May of last year. Meaning: my life from the last year is completely and utterly gone. I could throw up. Or just cry.

***UPDATE (5-1-12)
Our computer is still dead as a doornail. However, our hard drive has been recovered and is not, in fact, corrupted (as was told to us before). Initially we got a quote from a company that plays hard ball with crashed hard drives (intimidating, right?) of $1000+/-, which we were seriously considering. Then I was told about a BYU Freshman in our ward who was home for the summer before his  mission whose specialty is recovering crashed hard drives. Godsend! An hour later and an un-asked-for $100 in return, our data was delivered, unscathed.  Miracles do happen.

Sidenote: This morning the girls and I were saying our breakfast prayer when I peeked and saw Makenna wide-eyed and looking around.
"Makenna, you really need to close your eyes during the prayer."
"But Mom, I was looking at how beautiful you are."

Where did I pick this kid up? With lines like that, I'm scared of what she's capable of.

Spring around here

We've been ultra-busy here the last month. From Grandma visiting during the Cherry Blossoms, to Uncle Daniel and (soon-to-be) Aunt Chalyse coming to take her bridals, to Conference Weekend, to Easter, to play dates to...to...to...we've had a lot going on.

Daniel and Chalyse flew all the way out here before their wedding (which in a month from today) so that I could take her bridal shots among the monuments and Cherry Blossoms in D.C. And although they only stayed for 2 days, we had such a blast being with them. Sadly, I'm not allowed to post pictures because Daniel is Mr. Tradition himself and refuses to see her in her wedding dress before their big day. So those pictures to come...after May 17th.

We had fun with Easter festivities. We went with friends to Leesburg for a fun Easter Egg Hunt here. They had face painting, bag decorating, scavenger hunts, a delicious bakery just across the street, and of course, the egg hunt. We tried our darndest to pump up the girls before the hunt began, giving them pointers and teaching them strategy (no, of course we're not those parents that so many towns across the country cancelled their annual egg hunts over; not obsessive at all). However, despite our efforts, when the fog horn blew, both girls went into flight mode, with Addison screaming and Makenna running for cover behind my legs. All the while the other little chickies ran and took all the eggs. Finally Drew hopped the fence and dragged the girls behind. Makenna collected 4 eggs. Addison: 3. But it's not about quantity, it's about the memories, and we made some good ones.

Easter morning run-down:
7 am: WAKE GIRLS UP so we we have time to enjoy their wonderful Easter baskets
7:30 am: Get ready for church
8:30 Church begins
11:30 Come home and make and Easter dinner for the sister missionaries that reminded me the night before that I had signed up to have them over.

Makenna discovered Fancy Nancy at her preschool library right after Christmas and is in love with her. Now she doesn't need to check out the same book every week at library. She was in heaven and made us read them to her at least 8 times Easter day.

This last weekend we went to the circus with some friends. I remember going when I was a little older than Makenna and being a tad bit scared. I was hesitant to take the girls, not knowing what they would think of the crazy loud chaos that is a circus. But not 5 minutes into it, this clown comes up to the nose-bleeds and stands by us and Makenna LOVES her, saying all that day she liked the cute girl clown the best. Huh? The circus was right in the middle of Addison's nap, so she appeared somewhat dazed and confused throughout its entirety, but we still had a good time and managed to edge our way past the barrage of PETA protestors.


And these are from yesterday when it was a sweltering 90 degrees outside in the middle of April. I caved and turned on the AC (cue head hung low with shame).

And I couldn't resist posting this last one. This is what comes of having 2 girls under 5 who adore bows...and their daddy.