Go Cougs; Go Fam; Go Team Reunion...

A couple of weeks ago, we used the exceptional excuse of a "Team Reunion" (defined: Drew's close-knit group of college roommates, originating at the Glenwood, but expanded when they moved to the 191st ward and 3 of them met their fabulous wives, me included) to head out to our beloved Utah for a week of all-out fun.

It started out with a 2 1/2 hour delay on the tarmac at Dulles, an unexpected overnight layover (sans luggage) in Phoenix (and thus, a sleepover at my parents house), and an early morning flight to SLC where we found out they had lost our luggage. Augh! Can you say "Trip from Hell"? Luckily it made a serious comeback with a fabulously fun night spent with longtime BFF, Jenn Rose (now Potter).

Friday after I locked myself out of Jenn's house w/ all our belongings inside and then proceeded to break in, I met Drew at the airport where I learned his flight included none other than John McCain.

Team Reunion up in Big Cottonwood Canyon at Wendy's family's cabin (we got in by the skin of our teeth, as it was being sold and would close two days after our departure). Loads of fun, a wonderful dinner out, scandalous late-night games, and Little Teamsters meeting eachother for the first time.

Sunday we were off to see Drew's family at his mom's new house in Herriman. Lots of cousins, delicous BBQ, fresh fish caught by Uncle Daniel that day, and late-night games. Monday Drew, Makenna and I made the trek down to Provo to honor one of our favorite burger joints, Burgers Supreme (get the Rueben, fries, fry-sauce, and a Diet Coke and your life will never be the same). Then we upheld the annual tradition of decking ourselves out in all new BYU paraphernalia (including a darling pink sweatshirt/sweatpants combo for Makenna) and stopped off to get a modest 2 lbs. of chocolate-covered cinnamon bears from the Bookstore. Ahhh...good times.

Such a fun trip. So glad we made it out there. It killed us not to be there for a football game, but we had some note-worthy substitutes for sure. See everyone next year!

The 3 of us on a hike around Silver Lake.

The moose we got dangerously close to.



The lovely Jenn in front of her new house in Lehi.

Mr. McCain at PHX Sky Harbor Airport. What is not shown is Drew in the Men's Restroom with him 2 minutes later using neighboring "facilities".

Makenna and Cousin Nathan, born exactly 1 week apart, got on splendidly together.

Loving on her Uncle Daniel.

Me with the Sisters-in-Law: Joanali, DonnaLin and Melinda.

Drew with his crazy, yet very lovable, family.

The little Teamsters at Silver Lake (not pictured: fellow Teamster Spencer Bateman).

Hanging out around the Tree of Life on BYU campus.

Seven and Counting...

SEVEN years yesterday. SEVEN. We were just reminiscing about showing up to the Mesa Temple at 6:30 A.M., pre-sealing, so that our skin wouldn't melt right off our bones while we were trying to take pictures. The bride's car was considerably late, leaving Drew to wonder if he was being stood up (my pre-cellphone days) the day of the wedding. Alas, the hair just took longer than anticipated, I showed up in all my bridal glory, and the rest is matrimonial history.

Except for... the part with the uber-ugly sealing dress. After worrying what I would wear during the ceremony (my dress was AZ-August chic; translation: short sleeves, scoop neck, and a halter top...hehe), a VERY trustworthy friend assured me the temple had beautiful, stylish gowns, set aside especially for the blushing brides. On our way to the Bridal Room, I stopped to pick out one of these dresses. What came next was...

1. The attending matron giving me an utterly baffled look at my request.
2. A quick walk to a "special closet" where a few dingy temple gowns hung.
3. A horrifying look from Yours Truly, when I weighed my options.
4. Heart palpitations and maybe a couple of tears when I chose the Best of the Worst, (think turn-of-the-century ruffles, above the ankle hem, and gobs and gobs of lace).
5. My beautiful wedding dress hanging from an over-padded hanger in the Bridal Room, while I walked in, holding hands with Drew, to find a hundred faces staring at me and JUDGING my sealing dress choice. Nothing short of TORTURE. But soon afterwards...nothing short of BLISS.

Ahhh, memories. I love you Drew. Happy Anniversary.

Birthdays and House Projects

Makenna's birthday was so much fun and she really got into opening the presents this year. After the labor intensive Wilton Cake class Stacie and I took two years ago, I caved and decided to take the road MORE traveled, settling on a traditional strawberry 2-tiered cake. We surprised Makenna with a Barbie tricycle (which immediately bestowed on her the title of "cool"). I also couldn't resist in adorning her with completely gaudy, and totally girly, dress-up clothes: a frilly hot pink skirt and some fierce diamond-studded pumps.







I recently finished this little picture project, finding my inspiration on a Sugardoodle.net link. I printed 12x12 photos from Costco and Tacky-glued them onto 12x12 pieces of Styrofoam sheet. I then finished them off with 1" black ribbon around the edges to conceal the styrofoam and secured it in place with black-headed sewing pins. I like how it turned out, although I veered from my original plan of including decorative scrapbook paper on some of the 12x12 pieces.


Drew finished this fabulous new headboard last night, which I am entirely pleased with. We made it out of two old bedroom doors and finished it with some decorative crown molding on the top. I love it!

Happy, Happy Birthday Makenna Dear

Our little girl is turning TWO today! Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday Drew and I were chatting on the phone, while he was interning up in D.C., about how we should spend our last weekend ever being completely childless. When lo and behold, the next morning an ultrasound showed Makenna was way too thirsty to stay inside Mama one more day and we had an emergency C-section, while Drew rented a car and drove like Evil Knievel down to St. Mary's to make it just in time for the birth. And the rest is history.

On to the absolute most important things about Makenna at age 2:
1. She loves to help around the house and clean while I'm cleaning. If I'm vacuuming, she's not two feet behind me with her little vacuum. She always asks for wipes to clean the kitchen. I hope this keeps up.
2. Makenna's favorite breakfast is 2 scrambled eggs with ketchup and a cup of orange juice. She gobbles it down like it's nobody's business.
3. She loves to wear jewelry. I can get at least 20 minutes to get my make-up on in the morning if I give her my box of bangles and a few chunky necklaces. Before you know it, she fairly resembles an African princess with jewelry up and down her arms and legs. BTW, she wears Grandma's pearls just about every day.
4. She is a water bug and loves to be in the pool. She won't wear any life-saving device, so my eyes are glued to her at all times, but she loves to jump off the side and into someone's arms.
5. Makenna is also a love bug, giving kisses and bear hugs to anyone who wants one, and some who don't (getting off the plane, she's standing next to the man across the aisle and gives his leg an intense bear hug to his astonishment).
6. Her favorite songs are "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Wheels on the Bus" which we watch endless times on YouTube a day.
7. She signs like a pro. Since she's a bit late in talking, her doctor recommended we start teaching her signing. She knows tons of signs and likes to confuse extended family members by talking with them in sign. Thus Drew and I are left to translate. (However, one of her first speaking phrases which consisted of more than 1 word was "Ice, Ice, Baby"... just keeping it real.)
8. Makenna loves to read books, which makes this former el. ed. teacher overjoyed. Her favorites are Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; This Land is Your Land; Ten Little Fairies; and Fanny's Dream.
9. She loves to go to nursery now (it took a full 5 months) and doesn't even look back to wave good-bye when she runs in there.
10. Last, and most important, she has turned into one of my dearest little friends. We have so much fun together and have fun making eachother laugh during the day. She has quite a sense of humor, of which I am grateful for. I am so glad I get to spend my days at home with her and I love being Makenna's mom.

August 3, 2007


August 3, 2009

Weddings Galore

Drew and I haven't been to a wedding in forever and then in June, two very important weddings fell on the same day. AHH! What to do, what to do. Lucky for us, they were an hour and a half away from eachother (Drew's law school buddy: southern Massachusetts; my cousin: central Connecticut). We decided to make a trip of it and go up a couple of days early to play in Boston. I LOVE Boston- one of my all-time favorite cities, so this was the perfect excuse to get up there.

Even though it rained from morning 'til night our only full day of touring Boston, we still made the most of it and had an awesome time.



In front of the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides).




World-famous Pilgrim Sandwich at Mike's City Diner on the South side of Boston. Please tell me I'm not the only one who has a life goal of visiting all the hot-spots on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," because this was our first place we checked off.


Makenna by the Old North Church on Boston's Freedom Trail...right before her catastrophic melt-down.


Experiencing the deliciousness of Katz' Delicatessen in NYC on the drive home.


My mom and dad met up with us during the Connecticut wedding and drove back with us (can you say "cramped quarters in our Camry?") to VA. The girls dominated the back seat and loved it!


NYC skyline. I seriously love this city.


Ironically I'm not posting any wedding pictures at all, even though my post title implies that I will. Sorry if I deceived any of you. I will tell you that they were both amazing. Also, how much do we love all the hoopla of non-Mormon weddings? Filet Mignon, Grilled Swordfish, killer Hors d'oeuvres...I mean, come on! And the picturesque backdrops. And the bells ringing in the cathedral after the ceremony just like after Fraulein Maria and Captain Von Trap got married. Not that I didn't love every minute of my so-much-fun reception at the stake center; I wouldn't have changed a thing. But there has to be something said about the grandiose measures most non-members take for their wedding.

Ahhh...I love weddings.

Patriotic Indeed

Holy cow- our 4th was rockin'. No, seriously. We've never seen fireworks on the Mall and had no idea what to expect. If you know Drew, you know we played it safe and got there at TEN A.M. And what time did we leave? TEN P.M.

If you ever do the Fourth on the National Mall, it would behoove you to take a word from the wise and follow this checklist:

1. Show up early for the parade and sit at the BEGINNING of the parade (7th and Constitution) so that you can high-tail it out of there when it ends.
2. Make friends with an unusually muscular, thus very intimidating, black man so that he can be your family's body guard throughout the parade while herds of spectators try to step over you to get to the street.
3. Take lots of videos/pictures of the parade to show your posterity that you WERE brave enough to go downtown on such an insanely crowded day.
4. Once the last float has passed, casually run to the Old Post Office for a quick, but always delicious lunch of $6 gyros, before everyone else has the same idea.
5. Head on over to the Navy Memorial on Penn. Ave. to wash your dirty feet/legs in the "No Wading" pool. You'll feel much refreshed.
6. At this point, you're going to have about 7 hours to kill before you can enjoy what you really came for, the fireworks. So walk around the Smithsonian exhibits set up under tents all along the mall. You may even be tempted to try some ethnic food or dance to some ethnic music. (Note: your child should be sleeping in their stroller at this time, for they will not get any sleep the rest of the day).
7. There are lots of religions handing out free things on the Mall today. Why not take one? And then get into a religious discussion/debate/fight with teenage minions the churches have persuaded to do their missionary work.
8. Now hunker down at your chosen spot to wait out the evening for the fireworks. Make friends with the people next to you so that the time will pass quicker. Send your husband back to the much-coveted A+ parking spot you could score if your husband works for the FTC (free parking garage located on 7th and Constitution) multiple times to lug back chairs/umbrellas/sweatshirts/food.
9. Play the "I Spot a Mormon Family" as long as you can by looking for smiley face g's on the passersby.
10. Bring your own TP to the porta-potties, for they will surely run out 1/2 way through the day. Also be prepared to be 54th in line.
11. Hold your loved ones close and watch the most amazing fireworks display with the most gorgeous backdrop ever, making lots of oohs and ahs and making everyone feel very patriotic.
12. Now RUN to your car as fast as you can and don't look back.

Good Deed for the Day

This morning Makenna and I were on our walk, minding our own business, when out of nowhere we see a youthful-looking turtle wandering Roberts Pkwy, lost beyond all recognition. He was holding up traffic (good will still exists!) until finally 2 teenage girls get out of their car and move him gently to the sidewalk. The one girl douses him with water from a water bottle and begins to walk away.

Makenna is entranced by the small reptile and my heart strings are being pulled quite strongly by the soon-to-be dead-by-dehydration turtle. I ask the girl if she would so kindly pick him up and place him in the basket below the stroller because I'm a little too scared to do it myself (you've heard of killer turtles before, haven't you?). I tell her I'll take him back to the stream he obviously wandered from behind my neighborhood.

And so I walk all the way home with a turtle and a toddler in my stroller until we reach the stream. I think the turtle must have been extremely frightened because he made a mess of his own in my basket which I shall now have to go clean up. I picked him up by his shell (with all the courage I could muster...you know a mother must be brave for her child) and placed him gently in the stream. From there he plunged his head under water and drank like there was no tomorrow. Then I saw the very sweetest thing I can remember seeing in a long time and watched my daughter wave good-bye to the relieved turtle as he swam away down the stream.





You may be wondering how I knew it was a male turtle. Because if it were a female, she would have obviously already stopped and asked for directions on how to get home.