A Day at the Zoo

On Wednesday Ricci and I took the girls to the zoo. We stayed the night at my parent's house Tuesday night so we could be up and ready when the zoo opened. I've never gotten to the zoo when it first opened before. And I will never go any other time now! It was perfect! It wasn't crowded, it was perfect weather (not too hot yet), and the animals were a lot more active than I have ever seen. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the leopard and the tigers, but I was nursing when we were over in that area and didn't have my camera out. They were super active and came right up to the glass. Kalianna was ecstatic! She even asked if she could go swimming with the tigers. Ummm....no.

She loved seeing all the animals, and remembered many of them from when my parents took her. She would ask for the next one, as we walked through the park, naming each animal we saw and making their corresponding noise. Magdalyn slept through much of the trip, not that we were expecting anything else. But thankfully it was cool enough I didn't have to worry much about her getting too hot.

Kalianna wanted to see the elephants first. They are a favorite of hers. After looking at the elephants she wanted to go see the big elephant statue that shoots water. Well it sneezed right as she got up to it, scaring the crap out of the poor girl. She jumped so high! After that, she didn't want to go near any of the animal statues. Not even the dinosaurs, which she normally loves. Dumb elephant almost gave the poor girl a heart attack!

When we first got to the zoo and walked passed the merry-go-round, Kalianna ran right up to it and kept saying she wanted to ride the animals. It hadn't opened yet, so I tried explaining this to her. She didn't understand, so I finally had to tell her it was broken and we continued to walk around. When we were almost done and started walking back toward the entrance, Kalianna could see the merry-go-round going from the bottom of the hill. She squealed, "It working!" and took off running for it. She even squeezed passed the people waiting in line and was just about to sneak her way onto the ride when I caught up. I reached over the railing and had to pull her back. It was pretty funny! She was so excited and so sweet about it, asking "pweeze!" that I gave in and bought her a ticket. She picked the elephant to ride on. Once I set her on the elephant's back, the look of pure joy on her face was priceless. Huge grin from ear to ear! I joked with Ricci afterward that after spending a couple hours looking at real animals, it was the fake ones that brought the biggest smile to her face.

It started getting quite warm and we had seen everything, so we took off around 11:30. Then we picked up some lunch and went to WesTech to eat with Matt and Bryan. Super fun day! I just love summertime!

Powder Mountain

Every year since we graduated from high school, our group of friends has gotten together for a weekend camping trip. Our friends have continued to go, but Matt and I have missed the last two trips because we had Kalianna and we didn't want to slow our friends down. (We are the only ones who are married out of our group of friends. And our trips usually consisted of some pretty intense hikes) Anyway, this year we decided to get a condo up in the mountains so Matt and I and the girls could go again. Our friend, Steve, has a timeshare up Powder Mountain, which is past Ogden Canyon near Huntsville and Eden.

Everyone met up at our house Friday after work. We picked up a pizza for dinner and after eating we loaded up our car and took off. Kalianna was so excited to drive through the pretty canyon. She kept exclaiming, "Mountains!" The condo we stayed in was a 2-bedroom. Our friends were nice and let us have the master bedroom with a queen bed. While Breezy, Suzy, and Jacque (Steve's girlfriend) each slept on a twin in the other bedroom. Then Steve slept on the couch in the living room. Our friend Greg couldn't join us since he is in the airforce and is stationed in Wyoming right now. We set up the pack n' play for Magdalyn to sleep in and started to set up Kalianna's bed when we realized there wasn't a good place to put it. The room was pretty cramped already. So Matt had the genius idea of setting up Kalianna's bed in the closet. Now before you call child protective services on us, we did not shut the closet door and lock her in and she loved it! She loved having her own little cave/bed.

We had lots of fun with our friends, and the girls did awesome! They really seemed to enjoy it too. We watched movies, played games, went swimming, went for a hike, and ate and ate and ate. This was our first time meeting Jacque and by the end of the trip, we all gave Steve our approval. She is a speech therapist who works specifically with children ages 2-3 on their language development. She was super impressed with Kalianna's vocabulary and ability to put sentences together. We knew Kalianna was smart, but it was nice hearing it from an expert!

Matt had to teach the lesson on Sunday, so our original plan was to just stay one night and then head home Saturday evening for church the next morning. But we were having so much fun, our friends convinced us to stay. Matt drove home late Saturday night (or really early Sunday morning) and taught his lesson the next morning and then drove back up. We left the condo last night and got home just in time to get Kalianna to bed. It was such a fun, relaxing weekend with good friends.

Enjoying the pool. Kalianna is such a fish! After 2 hours of swimming and very purple lips, we finally made her come in. Magdalyn didn't mind the water, but she got cold pretty quickly so she spent the rest of the time sleeping in a big towel.

Going on a hike to the top of the mountain. The view was absolutely gorgeous! Kalianna would have kept hiking but we needed to get Magdalyn out of the sun and wind.

This "baby" deer was in the lodge. Kalianna was fascinated with it, but very concerned of where its mommy was.

Just love this picture!

Happy as a clam in her own special bed.

Magdalyn 2 Months

Magdalyn at 1 month

Magdalyn at 2 months

Magdalyn is growing so fast! She already looks so much bigger to me than when she was born, although others still comment on how tiny she is. She is now 10 lbs 11 oz and is over 23 inches tall. That's a whole inch taller than Kalianna was at this age! No wonder she is cruising through her clothes so fast! Matt and I definitely seem to have tall, skinny babies.

Magdalyn is in a great routine now, usually sleeping from midnight to 7:00am straight. So I don't get to bed until late, but at least I am getting more sleep now, and no more middle of the night feedings. Yes!

She is such a sweet, calm baby! Magdalyn has been smiling and cooing a lot more lately, which I love! She loves to be held and snuggled more than anything. She also loves her mobile. I can lay her in the crib and turn on her mobile and she will watch it forever, smiling the whole time.

Maggie has been really strong since the day she was born, but she just seems to keep getting stronger every day. She does great with holding her head up and sometimes when I lay her down, she will dig her heels into the ground and scoot herself along on her back.

People keep asking me if having two is a big adjustment. It's really not! The hardest part is getting less sleep, but that is improving already. Magdalyn fits so perfectly in our family, it's like she's been here the whole time!

No Longer Wise

My last wisdom tooth is now gone. I had my top two wisdom teeth removed about six years ago, when Matt and I were dating. I laid down in the dentist chair, he gave me a shot of Novocaine, and I pushed play on my portable CD player. Before the first song had ended, he was done. My top two came out super easily! I never had any swelling, never needed any pain meds, and was eating normal food the next day. Matt came to visit and brought me Jell-O after my "surgery". I was fine and we ended up going on a date that night.

So when my bottom tooth (I only have one) started coming in about a year ago, I thought nothing of it. I figured it was a piece of cake last time, so this time would be the same. That was my first mistake. I was pregnant when it came in, so I didn't want to bother with having it removed quite yet. That was my second mistake. It would get sore occasionally over the last year, but nothing significant. I figured I would wait until it was bothering me to have it out. That was my biggest mistake.

Last week it started to hurt, but I figured the pain would leave in a day or two, like it always had in the past. Four days of increasing pain and I finally made an appointment with the dentist. Last Friday I went in to see him and he knew immediately that I would need an oral surgeon. Plus with my jaw surgery a couple years ago, it was recommended that I have an oral surgeon take it out when the time came. I was in so much pain that my dentist called an oral surgeon friend of his and asked if he could squeeze me in that day. I thought my parents would just be watching the girls for half an hour, but that was apparently not the plan. I had just enough time to go back to their house and feed Magdalyn before going to my next appointment.

I thought he would just look at it and we would schedule the extraction for another day. Wrong again. My tooth and gums had become badly infected, which was the cause of my intense pain. The tooth was also impacted and was attempting to grow in sideways, straight into the tooth next to it. The surgeon said it needed to come out right then, and because of its severity, I needed to be sedated. My mom had left for the temple by this time, so my dad had both girls on his own, and no car seats. I called my wonderful friend, Breezy, to go pick up some formula for Magdalyn, since I wouldn't make her next feeding. Then my dad had to call my brother to come home and watch the girls so he could come pick me up, since I had driven myself. And of course Matt was stranded at work with no car, so he couldn't come help.

The surgery went very well, but I was in a ton of pain! Thankfully we were already staying with my parents for the weekend. Not sure how we would have made it without them! Saturday they took Kalianna to the zoo, and Matt had Magdalyn most of the day so I could get some much needed rest. I guess all my years of bragging about what an easy time I had with my wisdom teeth had come back to bite me!

I recovered very quickly and today feel completely normal again. It wasn't exactly how we had planned to spend our weekend, but everything worked out anyway. I'm just afraid Kalianna is going to wonder why Grandma and Grandpa aren't in church with her on Sunday. We had Hayden's blessing, Magdalyn's blessing, and then we went to their ward last Sunday. Three weeks in a row of her grandparents at church. She's going to be wondering where they are this time.

Magdalyn's Blessing

After getting home around midnight from Idaho Falls, and then vacuuming the entire house and setting up chairs, we had to get up early the next morning to get everyone ready for Magdalyn's blessing. Matt and I contemplated buying a new dress for her, but then decided it might be a fun tradition to bless all our girls in the same dress. Then when they grow up and have girls of their own, they can bless them in the same dress, if they want to. We thought it might be a fun tradition to pass it around the family.

We had lots of support from family and friends, and it turned out to be a beautiful day! Matt said Magdalyn was awake for the entire blessing, but she never made a peep. She just stared around at all the men in her circle. After the blessing we had everyone over to our house for brunch. It was lots of fun to visit, and Kalianna loved having cousins over to play with! It was an amazing day and could not have been more perfect! I'm so grateful for a husband who honors his priesthood and can bless our beautiful girls!

Idaho Falls

Last weekend Matt had a friend from his mission get married in Idaho. I mean a Latvian friend. He actually was the one who confirmed her after she was baptized, so it was pretty cool! We definitely had to head up to Idaho for the reception. I mean, it's not every day you get to see a Latvian! Not only one, but there were several who attended the reception and they did some Latvian traditions for their ring ceremony and there was even Latvian food. Matt was basically in heaven!

We decided to make a road trip out of it, so Saturday afternoon we loaded the girls in the car and began the 3 hour car ride. We left right after lunch, hoping Kalianna would sleep most of the way there. It worked quite well! When it was time for Magdalyn to eat, we were basically in the middle of nowhere. So we decided to get off at the next exit, no matter what. Well the next exit happened to be Portage, UT. Anyone ever heard of it? I hadn't either! It is this teeny, tiny, one street town. But they did happen to have a nice little park. So Matt and Kalianna played while Maggie ate. It worked out perfectly!

Then we were back on the road. Leaving so late, we ended up getting to the reception later than we wanted to. But Matt was able to visit with old friends from the mission and eat yummy food, so it was all worth it. We then got the girls in their pjs, stopped at a McDonalds for dinner, and headed home. Thankfully my brother-in-law, Logan's, parents live in Idaho Falls and they were nice enough to let us use their house to change before and after the reception. So much easier than trying to dress 4 people in a gas station bathroom! (and of course we forgot to get any pictures at the actual reception)

Another stop, this time in Pocatello, to feed Maggie and get a large coke to keep both Matt and I awake. Kalianna fell asleep again, thank goodness, cause we got home super late. We had a ton of fun though and the girls did great! It was an awesome first road trip with the 4 of us!

The Boat

That's what we decided to name our second car. Yup, she is totally a grandma car! No need to look behind you before backing up, she is a beast and if you get in her way, she'll take you out! We didn't exactly pick her out. My grandma was getting rid of her (I told you she was a grandma car) and the deal was too good to pass up.

We've been surviving fine with one car for almost four years. But now with two kids, it is nice to have The Boat sitting out front in case I need to run an errand or take the girls to doctors appointments or something.

Even though we didn't pick her out, she is a really nice car and in great shape! Super roomy inside and very comfortable to drive, with the exception of her being as wide and long as a boat. I definitely feel like she could win in a fight, if she came up against any other cars. So look out, Layton. The Boat is taking over the streets.