All by herself

"Let Mommy do it" isn't really accepted in our house much anymore.

We've moved on to the "peez?" (as in, "please, Mommy, let me do it") part.

I love watching her explore, grow, learn, and have fun with all that the world has to offer.

But the cleaning up? The injuries?

Whoo doggy.

Here's my sweet little Ms. Independent doing her thing :)

We found out during a random poolside conversation that there is a gigantic blueberry farm 10 minutes away from our house (wha??? took me three years to find this treasure). So off we go that afternoon with Amber and her little friends.  So much fun!

If you ever at our house and there are no blueberries, something is wrong.

Kaelyn eats them like most kids would M&M's. Sometimes I use them as a bribe. Guilty.

So this, to her, was heaven. Those little chubby cheeks were full of blueberries for a long, long time that day.

Oh, and you wanna know something else?

There is a side effect to lots of blueberries. Day after. GAG.

Just ponder that for a second.

Picking berries:

With her mouth still full...

(The red bucket is what we took home. FIVE pounds of blueberries. Crazy!)

We also had a much-needed, far and few between playdate with the Tilden girls!

Playing in the water: (I'm pretty sure this was right before she fell off the stool. For the second time. Because she didn't want me to hold her. I promise I try to be a good parent. I really do. )

Grace was shining on us that day, because after spending a couple hours at the Discovery Center, Audra and I somehow managed to get the three of them fed and down for a nap, at the same time, and enjoyed catching up that afternoon. Yay for girl time!!

Rocker girl:

And here she is, showing off her new skills :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C_KuV4gOAU

I remember way back when, as we were refinishing those hardwood floors, I kept telling myself that it would all be worth it to hear the little pitter patter of baby feet ... and now they're here.

Smile. Sniff. Smile.

Jill

Ben's youngest brother Chris, has this fiance.

She's kind of nice.

If you like the whole ridiculously smart, funny, long blonde hair, incredible dancer type I guess. She's ok.

Anyway, this chick comes on vacation with us because a) she's a glutton for punishment, b) crazy is as crazy does, and c) she's part of the family. Mwahahahaha.

So this year we all meet up at the cabin... documented in previous post.

You wanna know what she does? She goes and gets sick.

I'd have pity on her, but you can only have so much pity on someone who looks that good in a bikini.

So anyway, she unfortunately has to rest up and spends a good bit of time on the couch, so I didn't have any pictures of her. Except for the one that Ben or Chris took of her asleep on the couch, catching flies.

Then she goes and tells me that she can't believe there are no pictures of her on my vacay post!

Gurrrrrrrrl, don't make me post it. Don't make me post the nap picture.

But then I was going through my phone and saw these.  Eureka! There IS evidence that she went with us!

We had gone to the Dixie Stampede, and had our group shot taken. Naturally.
But because I'm cheap, or clever, depending on how you look at it, I didn't purchase the awesomeness that is the staged backdrop family portrait.
Instead I took a picture of the picture. Usin' the ol' noggin.
I love the distorted angle, don't you?

So, there's Jill. In all of her tan, blonde glory.

She really was there... even if she didn't do much. Ha.

=) Here's to my soon to be sis-in-law, here's to many more vacations, and thank you for understanding the frustration of fantasy sports. I'm glad I am no longer alone. xoxoxox to you!

Well Hello, Dolly!

My little chickadee up there has hatched into a full fledged toddler. More on that later.

The annual Family Vacation. We went to the mountains!

(My thought that we would escape some of the heat while up there was a cruel joke. See my hair in all pictures for proof that this was absolutely not the case.)

We had a fun jam packed trip! Here are some highlights-

This is the Rafting Crew. We braved the Ochoe ( I think that's what it was), and quickly came to the conclusion that I'm about as good at manuevering a raft as I am driving a car. Some of you who have known me for several years will probably think that is very funny. It really isn't. Really.

Meanwhile, as Ben and I were trying to survive the raging waters, Kaelyn hopped in the car with some strange man.

 

Kidding.

Uncle Gregg, Aunt Rob, and Jill hung back and dressed my child in inappropriate SEC clothing, took her to a pool hall, and drove the strip at excessive speeds, after which they had to pull over on the side of the road and pop the hood to let the car cool off, just to be sure they were teaching her all the valuable lessons of what to do when Mom isn't looking.

That's my story of what they did anyway. And I'm sticking to it.

And about that UT outfit.

I took the goshawful orange out of that picture on purpose. So there.

I finally rescued the poor child, and we took her for some good, wholesome fun. Two days at Dollywood!

She took her first carousel ride.

First, the pros showed her how it is done.

Here's how her reactions went, in a 30-second nutshell : terrified, petrified, stoic, unsure, frozen, glazed over, gleeful, comical, done.

But atleast her outfit matched her ride! Take that Tim Gunn.

I took her on the flying elephants too, and the therapy bill for that is going to be horrendous.

At this point in the trip she was doing pretty good with walking while holding your hand. She was rockin' it. It's amazing how fast they move from holding your hand to teetering away from you to asking for the car keys.

This girl had the time of her life in the water misters around the park, on the train, and with the slew of frozen lemonades that I bought to keep us both happy.

 

So proud of herself :) And, once again, Makenzie is one cool cousin. Because Kaelyn could not get enough of her. So, so sweet.

Did I mention it was warm?

We had a little relaxing time at the pool.

No. No, not really. There is no relaxing with a toddler at a pool, is there?

She was in this float for five minutes. In the floaty vest for two. And happy as a clam when I sat her on the side of the pool and she decided to jump into my arms. That continued for half an hour.

She's starting swimming lessons later this month.

Olympics in 2028.

Um.

Look.

Sometimes you just have to jump on the bed while away on vacation.

Let your hair defy gravity a little.

And for this I apologize.

Some people. They just never change, do they?

Gregg - Family Vacation 2010

Gregg - Family Vacation 2009

We can't take him anywhere.

Here's the golf crew (Tay, where were you?). Have vacation, will golf.

We had a wonderful time, and plans are already under way for next year!

Now we're in the process of resting up from our vacation.

Isn't that how it usually goes? :)

xox dae

Happy Dance

There are no words to describe how much I love this.

Seriously, NO WORDS.