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:

My 789th Trip to Disneyland

Despite my attempts to avoid Disneyland, I always give in. I am truly at a disadvantage for the following reasons:

Reason 1: I happen to come from a long line of addicts, none of which have ever learned to overcome their compulsions; furthermore, Dave and Kate have now been converted to the club. I am just a tad outnumbered here.

Reason 2: How do I resist my darling husband? He made a countdown chain the day we booked the vacation. For weeks, he's been reading books, reviewing old photos, and turning on Disney movies to help Kate be researched and ready for the trip. I mean, pretty darling, right?

Reason 3: Disneyland happens to be located in my favorite place...California. If I go to Disneyland, that means I get to go to a place full of the best restaurants, shopping, friends, and memories.

So yes, we, along with my parents, woke at 4:15 am Friday morning to catch our flight to sunny Southern California. We rented a very lush Ford Flex, and went straight to the park. I can't account for everything we did and rode, but remember having a successful, happy time. Kate loved any ride that went in a circular motion, such as the carousel, Dumbo, the tea cups, and even the Matterhorn.

She was really a good sport, even on the dark rides. She would hold on tight, let out little whimpers, and her bottom lip would sometimes pucker out and quiver, but she didn't do much crying. She was so brave and tried really hard to be a big girl.

Kate taking in the Disney magic
Me and my babe riding Dumbo

So the biggest line of Day 1 was the wait to meet Mickey Mouse. It's not something I ever want to do again, but I think it was a pretty big deal for Kate. After all, she's kind of got something for the guy...

Another highlight was when Kate met the Winnie the Pooh gang. We got right to the front of the line just as it was time for the characters to go on break, thus, another long wait to meet some V.I.P.'s. Well, the experience proved to be worth the wait again...Kate loved hugging & kissing them all. For lupper, we ate at the Blue Bayou. This is Kate enjoying her mac 'n' cheese and pirate hat: My parents had never eaten there and the food was better than I had ever had there. After the good eats, we left Disneyland to buy some snacks and breakfasty items, then checked in at our hotel, Red Lion Maingate. Nice lobby, nice rooms and pool, but not quite as nice as it was hyped up to be. The price was right, so I guess that counts for something. We rested up and gathered our bearings, and walked back to the park for some more riding and Summer Night-tastic.