This One's For You, Megan . . .

. . . "this is the stupidest glow worm ever!"

Pioneer Day

For those of you who haven't lived in Utah, July 24th is Pioneer Day (basically an excuse to not work and light off all the fireworks left over from the 4th). We spent the afternoon at Ian's wife's parent's new home in Elk Ridge. It was a beautiful home set up in the hills. Vanessa had her first experience with a slip-and-slide. She wasn't quite heavy enough to slide down by herself, so we tried a number of different techniques. We had a great dinner and enjoyed getting to know Monica's family better.

Our Little American Idol Star

"Whaaaa." There's something about little kids and singing into the fan that is so fascinating. Vanessa discovered she can make all sorts of fun noises. And it also does cool things with your hair if you shake your head. She hardly wanted to go to sleep last night because she was having so much fun shouting and then peeking through the fan at me. The challenge we find is keeping Vanessa cool without her trying to "touch" the fan. We don't need those cute little fingers any shorter!

It's Just a Phase . . .

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!! That's Vanessa's new favorite noise. It gets expressed every where she goes; at home, at church, at play. Yesterday was the best example. We switched to one cell phone about a month ago with hopes of saving some cash, but are now needing to upgrade to more minutes due to all the emergency calls a Relief Society President is required to make. We went to a Verizon store yesterday to see what we could do. Vanessa decided that if the person holding her even had one foot inside the store, she needed to scream at the top of her lungs. Once the person holding her stepped out of the store, the screaming stopped - kind of like shutting off the most annoying sounding alarm you can imagine. Our conversation with the saleswoman went something like this:

Saleswoman: So, were like having this totally awesome promotion right now . . .

Vanessa: Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Lisa: Sorry

Saleswoman: No, you're totally fine! Anyways, she's so cute . . . this plan is awesome-

Vanessa: Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Matt: Sorry

The scary thing is, I'm starting to think she's going to be like me. Any time she is doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing (like reaching into the toilet), she just looks at us, shakes her head no, and proceeds to do the forbidden deed. Thanks everyone for the suggestions for stopping the squeal.

Another "Daily"

While Matt keeps everyone updated on the holidays and special events we have, I find myself sharing the "dailies" (the cute little things Vanessa does on a regular basis).
What I find especially cute right now is that she has figured out how to say "ball" and "book," her two favorites (well, besides the animals like duckies and kitties). She tends to leave off the consonants, so "book" sounds more like she's trying to scare you ("boo"). What make it so endearing is not limited to how she says it, but the fact that she says it to persuade me to read the "boo" to her. I know when I've become too preoccupied with other things when I keep hearing "Boo? boo?" How can you say no?

By the way, this chair that she is sitting in is the carseat she still doesn't weigh enough to use. At least it makes a good reading chair in the meantime!

Camping

Last weekend we headed up Hobble Creek Canyon with some of our friends from the ward. Our favorite site (which has always been free) now has a sign posted that reads "Fee Area". The wierd thing was that a guy from the ward and I both thought it said "Free Area". We found out later what it actually said, but luckily didn't get ticketed for not paying.

Camping is a lot different now that Vanessa is walking. I've never seen a kid get to dirty so quick. She really liked throwing rocks into the stream with me, and even dipped her forehead in a couple of times.

Fourth of July

Provo surprised us this year. We had originally planned on going to Park City on the 4th, figuring that if Provo is as lame as it usually is, there would be nothing to do. Anyway, we ended up staying in Provo and we had a blast! We were supposed to get up at 5:30 a.m. to go watch the hot air balloons take off, but sleep won us over. We headed to the parade a little before 9 a.m. Vanessa loved it (and even scored an oreo cookie from some people who thought she was cute). The parade was really well done, and even included a fly-over by four F-16s.

Then we headed to center street to check out the booths. We ate some sweet tacos and Vanessa met King Kong. We met up with some of our friends and their kids (Vanessa's little boyfriends), and Lisa got stuck feeding all three screaming little kids a snow cone. They looked like three little birds waiting for food. I forgot to menti0n that it was about 95 degrees, so after that we headed to the pool. Vanessa had a blast and it felt really good to cool off. Later that night, we had a BBQ with some people from our ward and lit off some fireworks.

Hope you all enjoyed the 4th too!

Morning Monologues

Vanessa is now at the stage where she is working on her communication. Aside from "ducky" and "Daddy" and the few signs she knows, she has begun to "talk" in the mornings. As soon as she finishes her morning bottle, she starts jabbering. Although she makes up her own sounds and "words," she seems to know what she's saying. If left uninterrupted, she could probably go on for 15 minutes or more. It's really quite cute, and I wish it was easier to recreate in words. Suffice it to say that both Matt and I can't stop smiling when she does it. I hope she doesn't grow out of this too quickly.

(posted by Lisa)

Father's Day

This was my first official Father's Day. Lisa decided that since I don't really eat breakfast and because we have early church that she would make me dessert in bed at night. I kind of ruined it since I didn't feel like eating brownies until about a week later. She also made me the coolest card. It had a bunch of pictures of Vanessa with little dialogues under each picture. Here is my attempt to recreate it:

"Hi Daddy"

"Happy Father's Day!"

"And since you're the best Daddy ever,"

"Here's a great, big kiss!"