One of Those Days

Deep breath, sigh. I did a lot of that today. Just breathed through all of the stressful, frustrating situations. Here are a few of the more entertaining ones:
Situation: Morning Bath Time
So, I've just finished giving Naiya a bath and I'm getting her dressed in the girls' room while Melia is supposed to be starting her bath. Naiya was not too happy about having to get out of the bathtub in the first place, but I leave her to play while I go help Melia with her bath. As I enter the bathroom, Melia is sitting on the edge of the tub and says, "Mommy, I got a little pee pee in the bath tub." What??! Why??! How long have you been potty trained now and you decide to pee in the bathtub??? All of these things are running through my head as I am quickly trying to get her legs and feet and all the toys and poof balls out of the pee pee water. Meanwhile, Naiya has decided that she is not done with her turn for the bathtub and hurls herself head first, fully dressed into the bathtub. I use my cat like reflexes to catch her mid-flight and manage to pin her down with my forearm (because my hands are still full of toys) so that she is left hanging over the side of the tub upside down with her face about an inch from the water. Close, but no cigar, Naiya! Unfortunately, this sends her into a screaming fit while I'm trying to get Melia to take the toys from my hands so I can finish foiling Naiya's plan. After much crying from Naiya, much explaining from Melia as to why she would pee in the tub, and much deep breathing from me in the midst of the chaos, I managed to get two girls clean and ready for the day.
Situation: Trip to the Mall
I love using a specific brand of lip stuff because it is the only thing I've found that keeps my lips from getting dried out. Problem: They don't sell it anywhere near Orem, UT. I don't want to order it on line because they charge a crazy amount for shipping. So I have the bright idea that I can drive to Salt Lake to the mall to a salon called Apothica to buy it and save myself the shipping cost. Here's a run down of how it went: Naiya cries for the majority of the 40 minute drive, we get lost off the freeway. I battle an endless number of one way streets seeming so close, but never actually making it where we need to be. Can't find parking. End up parking waaaaay at the other end of the mall in a parking lot you have to pay for. (So much for saving the shipping cost.) Make the long walk back to the end of this outdoor mall, Naiya in the stroller and Melia walk/jogging the whole way to keep up with us--did I mention that we only had an hour until nap time and a 40 minute drive back? Melia was a trooper on the way there. Her little cheeks were all red by the time we got close to the store. Finally, we see it! Apothica! We enter and ask for Suki lip butter. Worker: "Sorry, but it's out of stock right now." Really? Really. "We can order it and have it shipped to you with no shipping cost." Hey, now we're talking. All is not lost. Finish up there. Melia wants to ride the escalator. Up the escalator with baby in one hand and stroller in other. Naiya walking at the pace of a slow turtle. Melia complaining that the only snack I brought is raisins. Melia pushing stroller and crashing into Naiya. Time ticking away. Forget this, Naiya goes back in stroller. Mommy pushes and Melia takes up jogging again. Did I mention it was hot? Make it back to car, kids loaded in car seats, stroller loaded in trunk. Look at the time. 2:00. Naptime. Wonderful. Pull up to pay. There under an hour. It's free! Yay! 40 minute drive home. No crying this time. Naiya awake the whole time. Home. Unload kids. Put Naiya down for nap. Put Melia in room for quiet time. Mommy collapses in bed for much needed mommy nap time.

There were more "moments" today, but we'll let those remain unwritten. :)

Dance Battling: A True Art Form

The scene: Vero's second wedding reception in Utah. A somewhat subdued event. The happy couple greeting their guests. Chatting and mingling at tables. Cake eating. Guests beginning to leave. And then, it happens. The DJ decides to play a few dance songs to end the night while people are beginning to take down tables and clean up.


The signal for Vero's friends to let the good times roll!


There are few rules when it comes to dancing, but here's a good one: Dance, not only with your body, but with your mouth as well.


Uh oh...here comes the challenge. Vero calls Bo out with her awesome running man move.


Bo counters with a little Vanilla Ice.


Oh no she di'in't--MC Hammer typewriter move!


A new battler on the scene with his own MC Hammer moves! Go Alex, Go Alex!


Bo's back with some sweet Michael Jackson moves!

Tough battle....but there can only be one champion.


Victory dance!


Wait...looks like we have a tie!

Good work people. It was an honor to be there with you to witness such a thing of beauty.
P.S. Vicky, you were truly missed. :)

Cute or What?

I've never been into all the girly stuff. In fact, at the time we found out I was pregnant with a girl, I didn't even like the color pink. I always said that my girl wasn't going to be into Princesses and stuff like that. Little did I know that it wasn't up to me. :) Melia absolutely LOVES all things pink, fluffy and Princess looking. And I have to say that since she has come into our lives I have softened to that kind of thing quite a bit. How could I not with this adorable little girl?


Anyway, Melia loves dancing and so do I and I have been wanting to put her in a dance class for quite a while now. After we moved here, another mom told me about this dance class that has a different Disney theme each week where the girls get to dress up like princesses. This class had Melia's name written all over it. So I called and Melia got the last opening!


We've been to 4 classes now--Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Tinkerbell and Alice in Wonderland and I have to say that this may be THE cutest thing I've ever seen! She and her friends are simply adorable dancing around in their costumes. These pics are from the Mary Poppins week.


I love being her mom!

Mar Vista Ward "Transplants"

One of the coolest things about moving here to Utah is being able to hang out with all of our old friends who have moved to Utah from So Cal. There are a bunch of us from our church who were in the Mar Vista singles ward together back in Whittier. We've decided to start getting together once a month because, well, there's nothing like old friends getting together for a good time! And we know there are more of you out there--everyone's welcome! We'll try to get the word out better for next month.


Alex and Heidi


Fawn and Dave


Brian and Austin


Me and Bo


Vero, Peter and Olivia (Peter was adopted into the gang by marrying Vero. :) )


The mini me's. That's one of the weirdest things--seeing your friends morphed into little people.


I thought this was a cool shot.


Thanks for all the laughs everyone!

More Visitors!

Have I mentioned we've been a little non-stop lately? The weekend after Caleb and Palmyra left, Bo's parents stayed with us for the weekend of his cousin, Rashel's, wedding. The weekend after that, Blake and Dani came for the weekend. Blake is Bo's buddy from his last job in Chico, CA. It was fun having them here and we packed a lot of stuff into a short time.


Here we are at Temple Square. Melia was excited to show them the big statue of Jesus. :)


Bo was looking forward to this before we even moved here I think. He couldn't wait to take Blake to a real Brazilian BBQ. Meat, meat, and more meat. I have to say that, as a non meat eater, I was wondering if this would be worth it for me. But the salad bar was delicious!!


This was right after our farewell breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. But before that, other events from the weekend included trips to several breweries (Blake loves them), trip to the Great Salt Lake (yes, the saltiness was tasted), and a mean Hand and Foot tournament. :)


Thanks for the Princess tent guys! It has definitely gotten good use already!


Large man, little tent.

Another Crazy Week!

Ok, enough procrastinating. We've had a ton of stuff going on lately and I've been taking mental notes of all the things I wanted to blog about, but had a total lack of motivation to actually do it. So last night I looked through some friends' blogs and got motivated.

So let me take you back to the week after our vacation--like mid August. That's when my brother in law, Caleb, sister in law, Palmyra, and nephews Alex and Jake came to stay with us for a week. What were we thinking having people stay with us for a week right after a week long vacation with the whole family? I'm not sure--but I'm glad we did. :) This week gave us a chance to hang out and get to know the people we love even better. Yes, we had our crazy moments--how can you not with 4 kids in a confined space?? But we had a lot of fun and we are really glad they came.


Here's their cute family plus Melia in front of the Salt Lake Temple. You would never know that we fought a huge storm just to get there!


Happy Birthday Caleb! We went to Azure's house for swimming and a BBQ.


Melia made Uncle Caleb a card. :)


We had lots of fun on the slip and slide! Thanks Grandma Carol!


This is right before Melia took Alex out!


Just chillin' with Uncle Caleb watching a movie.


Vero and Peter had their second reception and we had a ton of fun dancing! Here's us shaking our booties to the Macarena. Yes, we danced to the Macarena. Don't judge.



This was our attempt to spend the day hanging out on the "beach" at Lake Utah and get some swimming in. Can I just say that I really, really miss the beaches in So Cal? It was so dirty here and there were so many rocks that we could hardly get out in the water. Needless to say we didn't end up staying very long, but at least we got some cute pics of our families.

Thanks for a fun week guys!
P.S. We're waiting for a rematch of our Hand and Foot tournament!