Friday night we kicked off the journey to Natalli's womanhood by throwing her a bachelorette party. She had a great turn out and got some excellent items! Once all 20 of us were dressed in our party best, we headed to Skateland. It only took a few slips and run-ins with the wall before I got my skills back. We took occasional breaks to practice our modeling. I know what you're thinking, we don't need any practice!
We had our first house guests last week. Tay and Bean came down from St. George with their kids for a weekend in sunny AZ! We were able to do a lot of fun things, including 3 different splash pads and a public pool. Not all our activities involved water, we did go to a (horrible) Diamondbacks Game, the Swap Meet, and some wonderful eating establishments. Our new favorite is the Flight Deck Cafe at the Mesa-Gateway Airport. You get to watch fighter jets land and take off while enjoying your meal. The nice lady-cook noticed Landon and Jack and brought out free Mickey pancakes. We will be returning there often!
Kambria and James were married on April 25th. 
August 15, 2009
We took a trip to St. George a couple weeks ago because our good friends got married. Sam went to high school with Wayne and when we lived in SLC we were able to hang out with him occasionally. Towards the end of our SLC days Molly (Wayne's gf) moved into the unit right below us, so we were able to hang out a LOT! We miss our SLC friends and it was really good to see a bunch of them. 
Here is Shawn and Hayley, our great SG friends. We were all WAY over dressed for the groom's dinner. Once we realized how silly we looked, we spent a half hour in the parking lot laughing and debating whether or not to go change. They had a BBQ later in the week. It was fun to get all the kids together.
Since the wedding was in St. George we of course stayed a whole week. Landon fits right in with all his little boy cousins. We went to a bounce house place where we all ran around like maniacs, I have the scars to prove it. Landon was fearless and couldn't get enough of this HUGE slide.
We celebrated Jack's 3rd birthday while we were there.
Notice in the more recent picture that the tickets are absent. That's because the moment management saw Sam walk in the door they slapped this onto the machine... That's what Sam swears anyway.
For this trip, we took advantage of Landon's last few months of flying for free. However, we probably won't fly again before he turns 2, as we were thoroughly harassed by every airline employee. We were constantly assuring them (with the help of Landon's passport) that our baby was in fact, a BABY. After all that, the flight was only about 30% full, so he sat in his own seat anyway.
I've heard that television is bad for children. "It rots your brains", or something like that. That's what my mom swore to us anyway. We weren't convinced, my mom is not very scary. Landon is just over a year and a half old, and has watched cartoons every morning since birth. Now before all you perfect mothers start judging me let me justify this fact by mentioning that these cartoons are educational. Recently Landon has been receiving a lot of attention concerning his development, and I am not talking about his physique. (He has been the size of a 3 year old for 6 months now.) He knows the alphabet and recognizes just about all of the letters. He knows all the shapes, all the colors, and can count to 29. He has always been good about remembering things we teach him, so to me this is just normal. Considering my background a normal kid is more than I could ever ask for! I don't have any other kids, or friends with kids his age to compare him to. BUT whenever we go out and people hear him counting to himself or pointing to letters he recognizes they act totally amazed after asking his age. I am by no means tooting my own horn or trying to brag. I'm just a proud parent and take no credit for my baby's learning. Sam and I swear it's thanks to the TV. So, obviously I do not condemn TV watching (until you become physically attached to, and must be surgically removed from your sofa). In fact I accredit everything I know to shows like Saved by the Bell and TGIF, not to mention the many copied VHS movies found in the Smith family colleciton.
Lunch at Joe's Farmhouse
Sam wearing his V day gift
Finishing off the night with a very appropriate dinner