What a Kid

Yesterday Kate and I had the following conversation while trying to get her dressed for the day.
"No, not that one," she said after I picked a shirt for her.
"Okay, than you pick one," I told her.
She then pointed to her swimsuit cover-up,
"This one?" she asked
"No."
Next, she pointed to another swimsuit cover-up,
"This one?"
"No."
Then, she pointed to her winter coat and asked,
"How about this one?"
"Nope."
Last, she pointed to her Princess Belle dress,
"This one?"
"Okay."
We had a winner. Now you know why parents let their kid dress up as Superman to go to the grocery store. Sometimes it's the only outfit THEY want to wear that will actually cover their whole body.

Later for lunch, Kate sat down to a bowl of Spaghettios and apple slices. I couldn't help but laugh as she dipped the apple slices in her Spaghettios. "Whatever makes her happy," I thought.

"Come and Knock On My Door"

We just returned from Bear Lake, making this summer one to never forget. Thursday night, we stayed at the Hampton Inn in Logan with my parents and Ryan and Adrienne. We ate at Cafe Sabor (a delicious Mexican joint located in the old train station). Friday morning, we ate a "most pleasant" continental breakfast, went shopping, bought Bear Lake groceries, and ate at the Bluebird. Sheesh that place is old and creepy. The worker even told us there have been ghost sightings in the basement. Anyway, it was a really fun place to eat. The kids got lollipops, which they all (in turn) lost after dropping them on the ground.

After lunch we drove the rest of the way to the lake. Upon first arriving, I was extremely nervous about what our condo would look like. Most of the condos at Ideal Beach have been renovated, but when I saw the puke-colored carpet leading down to our condo I knew we were in for it! Here are only a few of the many finds that our condo sported:

shag carpet, beautifully weaved wall hangings, circa 1960's couches, creepy chandeliers, some lovely floral print wall-paper and decor in the bathrooms, and my personal favorite, this lovely print as a focal point, I mean...you seriously could not find this stuff anymore even if you tried. It was awesome. I quickly realized that our surroundings actually made for a good time; mostly because there was no damage we could do to make the place look worse, and also because we shared the condo with Ryan and Adrienne, which made for a lot of fun.

We spent most of our days laying on the beach; burning my white skin, building sand castles, and floating and swimming in the lake.

Dave and I also saw our very first show @ the Pickleville Playhouse while we were there. We sat on the very front row, and Kate was such a good girl for the whole show. The main character, Juanito Bandito (a Nacho Libresque bandit) was pretty funny. After the show we ate at the Western Cookout. Kate was starved. I couldn't get her to eat anything else but steak!
On Sunday, Dave, Kate and I went to church and saw Quentin L. Cook, an apostle of the church. He spoke and we were so glad we got to hear him. All in all, super fun and memorable. I can't wait to go back next year.

Thick & Creamy Fun

For each day that Kate gets older, life gets a little easier; but in other ways, a lot more difficult. Lately, whenever Kate gets out of mine and Dave's sight (and it's extremely quiet), you KNOW she's up to no good.

Here's a small taste of the things she's been getting into: unraveling toilet paper, sampling my makeup & jewelry, undressing herself (diaper and all) just for running around naked-sake, making herself a bath & taking one all by herself, shredding important papers, dumping entire boxes of crackers out on the floor for an afternoon snack, and the latest...smearing her body and hair entirely with diaper cream. I had to act quick with this one, so I just grabbed my cell-phone for the pics:

(for this pic, I had her lift her chin up so we could get a better view of what she had done)

***Now this mess was one that you couldn't get angry about. When Dave and I walked in the kitchen and saw her, we just burst out laughing. I guess it's good she finds moments where she can get filthy because her parents, generally, don't let her have fun like this. Cleanup, on the other hand, was not so funny. Diaper cream does not simply wash off or out. It was days worth of greasy hair and multiple baths that Kate had to endure before it finally all washed away.

So (change of subject) Dave, Ryan, Adrienne, and I went river rafting down Provo River yesterday afternoon.

(Do you like the pic? I stole it from the website since we didn't want to get our camera wet).

I'm not sure it was what you call "river rafting" because it was mostly just floating peacefully down a river. There were no handles on the raft, which originally scared me, but once we got going, I realized they were definitely not needed. I got splashed I think twice from the rapids, and the only true way to get good and wet was to jump in from the side of the boat. It was definitely not thrill-seekers paradise, but we had fun. Our guide was cool, as well as the other family that rode with us. We often rode alongside a boat full of Kwuality people that were boozing up as they went...which always makes for some nice entertainment. We decided we want to go back, only next time we think we'll try tubing down the river. The experience lasts a little longer, and you get a little more wet that way.

After tubing, there was a bridal shower (for my nephew, C.J.'s, fiance'). While I got showered and dressed for the event, Dave finished off preparing the dessert I was supposed to bring. Now a little background...a shower of any sort is one party I usually dread going to...it just feels so wrong taking part in silly little games as a grown-up. Luckily, this shower had minimal games and lots of great conversation. I think I enjoyed myself.

Later last night, we went to Dave's sister's house for the A.F. fireworks. His family's get-togethers are always full with people, food, loudness, and laughter. What's not to love about that? The fireworks were good, and the kids enjoyed licking popsicles and waving glowsticks during the show. I enjoyed hearing Niel Diamond's, "We're coming to America" from a distance. You have to agree, there is nothing more patriotic and nostalgic than that song. Am I right?

Too pretty to not post

I'm no expert, but is she not the prettiest little girl in the whole world?...

Once we warmed up the pool with hot water from the kitchen, Kate really enjoyed herself. I couldn't get over how cute she was in her little swimming suit and wading pool. We just love her. What a perfect accessory she is to us.

What's that smell?

Kate got her first taste (or should I say "smell"?) of the Monte L. Bean Museum yesterday. I couldn't discern whether it was the forest green carpet, or the succession of dead animals (or a combo of the two) but there was a definite odor of "old" there. Anyway, we went with Kelly and her kids. I hadn't been since I was a kid so it was fun to go back.

A couple of cool finds:

A "white" black bear; supposedly this little guy had some rare genetic disorder making him white. Maybe he's just a white bear...did they think of that?

The two-headed snake found right here in Utah County. The sign explains that he/they died from starvation due to being unable to swallow.

And Shasta, the famous Liger, once displayed at Hogle Zoo (those were the good old days).

Anyway, fun (and free) times. After the animals, we ate some icecream at the creamery. I was a little disappointed that there were so few flavors to choose from (no sherbets), but the chocolate icecream tasted like a Creamie so I was utimately pleased.

Just our Family of 8.

Hey blog readers, Dave here, Ashley asked me to catch our blog up for her so here's a quick recap post of our last two weeks. We got back from the O.C. ("don't call it that"...for all my fellow Arrested Development fans) and it took about 5 days to get back on schedule from the jetlag. I'm pretty sure you can't blame it on jetlag when there's only one hour time difference, but I really needed a vacation after our vacation.

Anyhow, the 4th of July came just in time. On Friday the 3rd, we had Lyle, Sherrie, Reese, and Sandra over to our front yard for a fireworks spectacular presented by yours truely. Then despite numerous invites to join the Nelson fam at the Provo Freedom Festival on Saturday morning, we slept in, it was great. Saturday afternoon we had the first-ever Blackhurst Family Reunion in PG, complete with KFC and random mayo-based salads. Then spent the evening at Brian & Andra's neighborhood spectacular Cul-du-sac of Fire!

On Monday, our BFF Tisha brought her baby McKinley over for breakfast at our house before she had to return to AZ. She had been in town for the weekend. It was great to catch up with them, McKinley changes everytime we see them.
This weekend we have been housesitting and tending my brother and sister-in-law's five kids while they took a little vacation. We, well I should say I, was pretty nervous about the whole experience. But it turns out their five kids pretty much equal our one Kate. Seriously, she has been pretty difficult to manage, while their five kids have been great. We've kept them pretty busy this weekend. On Thursday we went to see Ice Age 3. Friday we cashed in some coupons at Liberty Land. I don't know if you have seen this place off the freeway in Lehi. It totally reminds me of the mini golf course in that 80's movie Overboard, you know the one where Goldie Hawn has amnesia the entire movie. It was surprisingly fun. We putted a very patriotic 18 holes of miniature golf, then the kids split up for various activities. Josh and Caleb took Dallin and Allyssa on the go-carts while Kate and Cammie enjoyed the creepy carousel. (The workers were really nice, but the rides could use a little TLC, they make the carnival seem clean in comparison.) Then we tried out the roller coaster through Mount Rushmore. It was truely a thrill ride. You sort of strap yourself in with a rather rickety old bar then the operator yells, "The ride with start in about 10 seconds." Then he jumps down below the track to actually start the coaster. I'm sure that's not okay, there's got to be some sort of OSHA or regualtory board that thinks that's not okay. At the end of the excursion the older kids took the younger ones on the bumperboats around the Statue of Liberty and everyone came off completely soaked except for Kate who had refused to get on.

Then Saturday we went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. If you haven't been to the aquarium in a while or haven't been at all I highly recommend it. Reese & Sandra and our niece Cabrina joined us at the aquarium. They have some pretty cool exhibits and they've added a new section from South America since we were last there.

After the aquarium we made our way over to the Buca di Beppo for some great big Italian food. We had a large enough party that they sat us at the Pope's table, which definitly merits a few photos. All in all we've had a great weekend playing with other peoples kids...but don't get any ideas blog-readers. The answer is no, we won't tend your kids. Seriously. Don't ask. You all know who you are, yes, I'm talking to you.

Side note: We've been raising some baby robins in a nest outside our front door and they've finally flown away. There were three of them but currently there is only one left and he's roaming our yard trying to fly. The next-door neighbors have brought their cat indoors to keep him away from the tastey little snack. On last inspection he had crawled under the car in our driveway. Here's a shot of the little guy.

Well, that's it for me. This blogging thing takes way to long. And the uploading of the pictures...there's got to be a faster way to do this.

The Rest of the Trip...

Rather than bore myself and all 3 of my readers, I've decided to condense the rest of trip days into one blog. So here's a whole bunch of pictures and jibber-jabber all thrown in together:

Here's Kate finding Nemo at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

One cute memory from the trip was when Kate made friends with Dale. She sat and colored with him for a good long while. Dale kept giving her kisses, and she just had the time of her life. She acted as if coloring side-by-side with giant-sized chipmunk was perfectly normal. Here's a little trip we took down to Huntington Beach. We watched some pretty pathetic street performers on the pier, Lyle enjoyed watching the fishermen, and we even saw a sea lion swimming down below the pier. After the beach, we came back to the hotel for some swimming.

Our little family riding Winnie the Pooh

Us before riding Astroblasters

Kate enjoying the Electrical Parade with Papa Lyle. Me? (not so much) I'm busy fighting with a crazy woman during this picture. TRUE STORY that I don't care to get into.

Some very strange-looking people (at least Kate seems to think so). Here we are prior to the Bug's Life show.


On Sunday Dave, Kate, and I all went to church with all the old East Pasadena peeps. It was such a fun time, and it made me question why we ever left that place. I just had to keep telling myself that Utah is a better place to raise Kate, which it is. An old friend, Brother Tafua, sat next to us through the meeting. I bawled when he sat down. It's funny how old faces and people can stir up emotions you never knew you had. Anyway, it was fun seeing so many friends that we haven't seen in over 3 years.

After church, we enjoyed lunch at my all-time favorite restaurant, Houston's. Their crab cakes are to die for and are something I can never get enough of (literally...being that there is no Houston's in Utah). For dessert, we hit up the Pinkberry. So much better (and cheaper) than the Frozen Yogurt Junction or the Red Mango...
After all the deliciousness we went down to Newport Beach and walked the temple grounds. We also picked up some Sprinkles cupcakes, which we had never tried before. For being such a trendy, popular little place, I thought the cupcakes were kind of greasy. Dave makes a much better cupcake. A fun tradition Dave and I have come to enjoy is dressing our little Kate up like a Disney princess. I think it's something we love a lot more than Kate loves. Last year she was Snow White with the black wig and all, and this year she was Sleeping Beauty.
Sexy wig, right? Below Kate is sitting with Ariel at the Princess lunch. It was a pricey event that Kate really didn't enjoy. She did well with Ariel, but for some reason she was extremely frightened of the other real-life princesses (probably wise).

Here's Kate waiting for the train ride; such a cute little bug:

Dave and Kate riding Autopia:

Kate after riding Alice in Wonderland:

The last day of the trip; here's Kate relaxing at the hotel before catching our flight home: