::more st george pt 1::

Here's some more fun from our St George weekend.

First, a photo of Sandy on the way there. He's such a good sport. He and Max (and Sultan) all do a great job in the car. And poor Sandy has nothing to entertain him really, except the mirror and whatever toys I think to hand him. At least Max has movies and books and stuff.
Anyway, he's a great little guy.


One of the beloved things about staying in St. George is the pool. And the fact that it's usually warm enough for swimming to be tolerable. Sadly, the day we took Sandy to the pool it seemed way colder than usual, so he had to get into the hot tub, which was also cooler than usual. Still too hot for him to stay in for long. Too bad because he was having a blast.

He was splashing and giggling and getting very startled when he accidentally splashed himself right in the face.

He's not a serious as he looks.

But the bigger kids, of course, got to have the best time. They don't have to quit and go home for nap because the pool is too warm/cold. They play and play and play.
Here's Max and Parker comparing heights. We're not exactly sure how Max is suddenly a head taller.



These guys basically have WAY too much fun together.
And KC looks on, as usual. I'm sure he'll get over there and start pinching somebody at any minute.

And some launching:


What else are dads good for really?

In other news, we got to eat at In & Out Burger and Cafe Rio. We went to a movie with all six of the kids and survived. We put them all to bed every night and they stayed and there was actually some grownup time had. It was rather amazing--probably a blessing that we all needed!

More to follow--the drive home has some rather interesting events worth reporting!

::thanksgiving 2011::

We were lucky enough to have time to drive out to UT for Thanksgiving. We joined Kathy and Kari's family in Kathy's St George condo. This was the first time that we got to see the new condo--though it's been in the family for a while. It's very nice and airy and sunny and we approve!
We got to spend some time hanging out together, a little swimming, some yummy food and mostly just good family time.
It was short but worth it.
Thanks for hosting Kathy, and thanks to both you and Kari for working hard on the dinner Thanksgiving day while we finished up the drive out. It was pretty nice to arrive to a feast that was just about ready to go on the table.


(Kris says he is inserting green beans in his mouth to look like fangs for the picture, rather than eating them with his hands like it looks like he's doing. I'm not sure what to beleive!)

A bit more on the St George trip later. We're on our way home now and will get there sometime monday. Let all the crazy holiday times begin!

::grandpa's guitars::

At least a few of them.

When we were in UT in Sept for Murphy's wedding Max had a fun sunday afternoon playing some of Grandpa Ken's guitars.
The Gibson Explorer:

This one was relatively new to the collection. We hadn't ever seen it much. It's pretty cool though.

The Fender Telocaster. Kathy got this one for Ken for his birthday one year. It was one of the first nice guitars he had and he loved it. It's one I remember him playing the most. I love Max's pose here.

This next one is an interesting one. It was commissioned from a polygamist guy that builds guitars. Ken picked out the design and it took the guy about nine months to make it. There's even a blog post about it. Max loves the american flag theme too.

The last one I have a picture of right now is a cool Gretsch. Kris and I picked it out for him when we lived in Kansas City. I think it's a very cool looking guitar.

This is only a fraction of the guitar collection that Ken had. It's a fun one. Next time we're there we'll take a few more photos and share.
(and he did make a book--here's a link to see some of it as pdf if you want to!)

::family::

Today I'm in UT for a quick quick little visit.

I thought these pictures turned out great, besides the fact that Kris is missing. It happens a lot so we're resigned to it by now.

Silliness.

::UT trip in phone pictures::

At the beginning of Sept the boys and I headed out to UT for my youngest brother Murphy's wedding. It was a fun trip. We went out a few days early, then Kris joined us just for Saturday and some of Sunday. Then the boys and I stayed for a couple more days.
It was a little nerve wracking flying with two kids, but since Max is so big and Sand is still pretty easy--not moving around much--I think it could've been much worse.
The best thing ever was that the flight was really empty. So after all the stress of driving to ABQ, parking, taking the shuttle with all our luggage, checking in, going through security (always awful, but a million times worse with baby and baby stuff) and finally getting to the gate, we had a whole row to ourselves!
Like this:

He didn't sit like that the whole time, but even a bit of rest was nice for my arms. It was lovely.

Max had a cold, of course, so instead of going straight to my parents house where the incipient bridegroom was going to sleep, we crashed at Kathy's house. She wasn't there because Kelly & Lechelle had just had their second baby and she was out helping them.
It was weird to be in the house alone an we missed her, but we were cozy there.
Here's Max reading his favorite Hendricks house book--"Chicken Soup with Rice."


He recovered and the next morning we went to my parents to spend time.
I was lucky enough to get to be there when my sister Charlotte went through the temple to receive her endowments. If you'd like to learn a bit more about that go here. It was lovely, and I was so happy to be there. Thanks to Kari for watching Max and Meridee for taking care of my little Sandy.
Afterwards the rest of my family had to head out to some wedding festivities, but Sandy and I got to take Charlotte out to dinner at our old standby favorite, Los Hermanos in Provo.

Char and I don't get to spend a ton of time alone together and so it was really fun to get to hang out.

Next was the wedding.
It was great. We were so happy to get to be there. It was a beautiful day and everything turned out so well. Murphy looked happier than any person has a right to be and Laura looked gorgeous. Big congrats to the two of them, we're so proud and happy for them!!

Look at that Murphy's face!!
It was nice to know that somebody was there taking good pictures and I could just take a couple on my phone and call it good.


Here's Sandy enjoying himself in my parent's big play room. This little scooter was calling his name and he wouldn't rest until he got to sit on it. After that he didn't know what to do except fall off.

He's gonna be a bike guy, it's very possible.

And last but not least, even more happiness on the way home. They told me right away it was going to be an empty flight and asked if I wanted to take the carseat on. I was like, YES!!!. So Sand spent the whole flight in his seat and I actually got to read a magazine and closed my eyes for one or two seconds.

It was amazing. A taste of the good life.

There was lots more fun stuff that happened in between the few phone photos that I took, but they'll have to remain in memory. It was just so fun to spend time with everybody and be there for such happy occasions. Yay.

::while in UT::

When we were in UT for the funeral and the week after I hardly took a single picture. I was just too busy trying to survive--I got a bad cold and the baby woke up about 10 times per night every night we were there. But we had a really nice time, and it was so great to be there with everyone. I wouldn't have traded it for anything.
The last day we were there was conference sunday and it was a nice peaceful day. I pulled out my camera at the very end of the day and snapped a few shots of cousins and grandmas and aunts and uncles.

Max and cousin KC having some fun together.


New cousin Quinn.

It took a little coaxing to get a smile out of Parker.

Cousin Clayton.



We're just all so lucky to have each other.
And if you want to see pictures of MY side of the family go here. It was really nice to get to spend some time with them too, and also get to hug and chat with Laura, Murphy's fiance!!!!

::a gift::

We left UT early in the morning, heading back home. As we went down I-15 there was this lovely sunrise. I really appreciated it.


It was so lovely it was almost like a Santa Fe sunrise. Almost.....

We had a good drive home. Kris is so sweet, he knows driving isn't my favorite thing, so he drove the whole time. He also set it up so I could sit in the middle bench and put my feet up on the console for some of the time. That helped my feet not to swell up too much.
We made it home by dinner time. It was a whirlwind trip but we're so glad we got to make it.

::proximity::

This weekend we took a quick last minuteish trip to UT to see Kris's dad. He's been really sick and had to be in the hospital for an operation.
It was great that we could be there. We had some really good family time (minus Kelly & Lechelle whom we definitely missed.)
The fact that we were able to just go when we felt like we should was so nice for us.
We took our sweet van. Sultan got the whole back all to himself, the luggage went on top, and I alternated between front seat and middle seat next to Max so that I could put my feet up.


We were only out there for about a day and a half, but we got to spend at least a sliver of time with everybody which was nice.
Max had enough time to step in dog poop with his shoes, then take his shoes off and step in dog poop with his bare feet. Here's my mom lysoling his feet. Lucky guy, right?

Grandpa Ken was in good spirits and we got to spend a lot of time visiting with him at the hospital, which was nice.

Max and his cousins made some fun art for the hospital room wall which I think Grandpa really appreciated.

And Ken also didn't let the hospital get him down.

I hope you appreciate my censoring there.

Max had such a blast, we had a super tough time getting him in the car to go home. He loves it out there and who could blame him.
It's so nice to be so close. We love you all, family.

::scenes from provo pt 1::

Max and I have been in Provo for the last week visiting my parents and family. Here are a few fun photos to show you what we've been up to:

Here's Max eating bran flakes on his birthday. The milk is pink because in my house growing up the "birthday cow" would come in the morning of a kid's birthday and bring colored milk. Cool, right?

We went to Burgers Supreme for dinner on Max's birthday--his special request. Here he is eating the teeny weeny ice cream cone that they give to kids. He loves them.

Hanging out in the studio with Grandpa:


(My mom took these two photos, thanks mom)
Max has really been enjoying the studio. He's been playing the drums and the piano a lot and my dad unearthed our little old keyboard for him to play with. It has all kind of drum loops and rhythms and he loves it. He disappears out there whenever we let him.

To be continued.......

::blessing baby clayton::

The day after we got back from Idaho we got to enjoy little Clayton's baby blessing. It was so fun for Kris Max and I to get to be there for that.
Little Clay is so cute, and so friendly. He was always smiling and talking to me and I loved it.

I took some pictures of Kari's cute little family before the blessing, just for fun. And they turned out great. I love the little boys in green with their blond hair.



Grandpa and Grandma Jeffery came up for the blessing, so I took an opportunity to capture the two Claytons together.

So cute.

It was so nice to be there with the family, to be part of it all and see everybody. It's always so special to see the strong wonderful priesthood holders in the family come together to uphold strengthen and bless a new little one. Thanks for waiting it for us Kari! And you sure did make a cute little guy!