Disneyland

Kind of at the last minute, I strong-armed Craig into a Disneyland trip over the Fall break. We used miles to fly to So. Cal., and we used hotel points for 4 free nights (now there's a perk to a business travelling spouse). We met my parents and my brother and his little family there to enjoy the parks together. In spite of some sick kids every single day, we really enjoyed ourselves. The parks were all decorated for Halloween, so that was really fun to see.

We saw Mickey Mouse on the first day. There was no wait at his house, can you believe it?!!


Carly's favorite was the teacups. She always would try to get in a pink one. :)

We all loved one of the newer rides at California Adventure called Toy Story Mania. This has started a Toy Story and Toy Story 2 movie watching craze at our house. And, Adam LOVES Buzz Lightyear.
Adam and Carly rode the merry-go-round next to California Screamin' over and over while all the bigger people rode the coaster. Megan did it at least 5 times! Thank you, baby switch passes!

On our last day, after my parents and brother had left, we went back to the parks for another 1/2 day. Everyone got to pick the two favorite things to do one more time. And, we stood in the hour long Princess Fantasy Faire line to get these shots and talk to the princesses. It was the longest line we had, actually.

I was praying for Ariel to be there (the princesses rotate in and out), and she was! Carly was so cute--she said to Ariel, "I see you in a movie!"

Ashlyn's 11th Birthday

I do parties for the kids on alternating years, so this was Ashlyn's year to celebrate with family. She had dance on her birthday all evening, so we just had cake and ice cream when she got home. A couple of days before, she got to go to the store to pick out a new bike (a ladies' bike, can you believe that??) Craig had been out of town on business, but got home just in time to eat cake.Ashlyn seems so grown up to me these days. She has always been responsible and conscientious, but now that she is older it seems different. I am truly blessed to be her mother--she makes me look good, but it's all her, not me. I love you, Ashlyn.

Carly Turns Five!

Carly turned five on August 31st. She started Kindergarten this year, which has been kind of traumatic for me. She is loving it so much, and now I can't believe that I almost decided not to send her. For this birthday, she had her first "friend" party. We went to make bears at Sparetime Family Fun Center (very similar to Build-a-Bear Workshop). Each party goer got to choose and make their own animal. It was a hit.

I had to get this super cute top for her to wear to school and for the party. When will she wear it again? I know, not too practical, but I couldn't resist.

Carly's Surgery

On July 31, Carly had an otoplasty (cosmetic ear pinning surgery) on her left ear. It was a corrective surgery to pin back her protruding ear, or her "floppy" ear, as we have always called it. She was born without the stiff cartilage in that ear only, and we always planned to have it fixed before she started school. So, here are some older and some very recent "Before" pictures, as well as some after pictures. She looks great, and we are extremely pleased with the results.On the day she was born. See the ear protruding? It was literally folded down when she came out.This is Carly at 7 months. The one ear definitely sticks way farther out.Here's Carly just days before the surgery. Both the pics above and below were taken at Snowbird this year.

This was taken at the surgical center post surgery. She had to wear this dressing for a few days, then a headband over the ear to hold it back while healing for a couple of weeks.
Here's Carly today!! The results were excellent! We love our Carly, and she says sometimes that she misses her "floppy" ear. I am grateful that she won't have to deal with questions or teasing in the future, and that we live in a medically advanced era where this kind of thing can be fixed so easily (It sure wasn't cheap, however!)

Trying to Catch-up

I've been going back and forth--try to catch up and post pics of all the things I have missed since I last posted on this blog or just skip to now. I decided to try to catch up because one day I plan to print this blog into a book, and I would feel bad if I just left out 3 months of the whole year. We've had vacations, surgeries, birthdays, etc. It just wouldn't be right. So, it may take me a few days, but my goal is to do several posts covering what we have been up to since the end of July.

First up is Snowbird. We have a time-share condo at Snowbird every year at the end of July. We've been going since I was about 5 years old. This year my parents were there, along with my brother Brad, Amy, and baby James. We enjoy being able to see them a bit more since they are in Rexburg. Our very close friends the Stepans also joined us for about half of the week. We had to do everything we usually do: hiking, alpine slide, rock wall, mechanical bull, zip line, etc. It was a blast.

We did a short hike to Lisa Falls with the Stepans on Sunday. We were literally standing right at the bottom of the falls getting wet after a very short hike from Little Cottonwood Canyon Road.

Megan on the climbing wall.
Ashlyn hanging on to the mechanical bull.
This is the group at the top of the Peruvian lift, after you walk through the tunnel.
The men started throwing rocks to hit targets and see how far they could throw. Adam (and everyone else) had to copy them. Luckily, no one else was around so it was relatively safe.
This pic of my dad, Brad, and James was from our hike to Donut Falls with a lot of the Walker cousins.
This is the whole Westmoreland group on the Donut Falls hike.

Alex and Ashley's Wedding

Congratulations to the bride and groom, married July 6, 2009. After the wedding was a yummy dinner and dancing. We all had a great time dancing, but unfortunately, I only have shots of the kids. Adults dancing would have been way funnier. In fact, I realized after I got home that I didn't take half of the shots I would have liked to. I wonder if it had anything to do with that 17 month old boy that I am always chasing after.
Wyatt and Teamon seemed especially into the dancing, especially during Michael Jackson's Thriller.
We tried and tried to get all the cousins to pose for pictures, but Adam was super uncooperative. He was actually screaming in every single one I took, which you can't see in this one below because his head is down. Too bad my camera doesn't do video/audio, although maybe that's not something I actually want to remember.
We love our family and love spending time all together. We are grateful for the opportunities we have to make these memories.

Sedona

Sedona, Arizona is a really beautiful place. The scenery is just amazing. I am not a fabulous photographer by any means, so my pictures don't really do it justice.

Monday morning before the wedding we went to Slide Rock State Park. You would sit on the rocks in the creek and the water would push you down, like a natural water slide. Here's Claire on the slide.
Megan was so hesitant to try the slides, but once she tried it she didn't stop! The water was shockingly cold, so most of the adults only tried it once or twice.
Ashlyn is the brave one. She did the slide first of anyone, and jumped off the cliffs with Aunt Allison first, too.
Craig took Carly down. I think she was glad she tried it afterwards, but she wasn't too happy during. By the end she was clinging on to Craig's neck with what looked like a death grip. I think her reaction was more related to the water temperature than anything else. She even insisted on jumping off the cliff with Craig, too. She just has to do whatever her big sisters do.
My camera battery died while at the park, so I didn't get any pictures of the cliff jumping. We had a great time.

Grand Canyon

On our way down to Arizona for Alex and Ashley's wedding, we stopped at the Grand Canyon with Todd, Lisa, and the boys. We went to a few different viewpoints for pictures and saw the sunset on the first day. We were there on the 4th of July, and it just happened that we ended up at a good old fashioned barbecue/4th celebration at the local trailer park/campground. We had a great time, and it sure beat McDonald's.
We hiked along the rim on the second day for about 2 miles, which was about all the kids could do, even with strollers. Thank goodness for the free shuttle buses that go all over inside the park. After a picnic lunch and some Navajo Indian jewelry shopping, we headed on down to Sedona.

June Catch-Up: Florida Reunion

We spent a week at the end of June on Florida's Gulf Coast with the Hoffman/Henderson family. Craig's grandparents live in Bonita Springs on the beach. The girls had a fabulous time all week with cousin Mariela, who lives in Arizona.

Quite a bit of time was spent on the beach, as opposed to in the water, because the water was uncharacteristically rough. Grandpa Clawson said he had rarely ever seen the waves that big.

We worked on a 1,500 piece puzzle all week, which we glued, mounted, and gave to Nana Clawson. We stayed up until 1:30 am our last night there to finish it. Of course, Craig hid the last piece so he could be the one to put it in!

The kids had fun seeing the ventriloquist perform at Mel's Diner.

One of the week's highlights was a "talent show" put on by all the cousins. The girls did a dance, Mariela sang with Carly, and Wyatt and Teamon even had parts. They set up an "auditorium" on the lanai, complete with assigned seats, tickets, and reminders to "Please turn off all cell phones, and no flash photography." Aunt Lorie helped out as the music technician/stage hand.

Even though the water wasn't great for swimming, the waves made for excellent boogie boarding. In all, I think at least 6 pairs of sunglasses were swallowed up by the rough water, never to be found again.

I didn't get my camera out too often because Buzz always had his out. I'm sure he'll send me a disc with all his photos. It was definitely a memorable week.