fifty nifty

Landon's obsession with numbers and letters has calmed down to just the letter sounds. However he has found a new interest, for now anyway. I got him this book a few days ago and he has us "read" it to him all the time. He knows all of the states on a few pages, he's not quite up to all 50. The hardest part isn't teaching Landon the states, it's getting a good video of it. Why don't kids ever cooperate when you're trying to show off their tricks?? Here's a little taste:
(please excuse my man voice)


I think we'll give it a little more practice before we attempt the east coast!

Labor Day

We met Sam's family in California for Labor Day weekend. More importantly for the big race, or what I like to call Doom's Day, but more on that later. We stayed in a hotel right by the beach and were able to do a bunch of fun things, like visit the Aquarium of the Pacific.






We then hopped onto a shuttle and toured the Queen Mary, which is one of my favorite hotels. It's haunted and we got to tour some of the scary places in the ship. Sam's Grandmother actually sailed to the United States from Scotland on this very ship, with all the war brides long ago. She has the best accent!

Beach days. I left Landon's hat in the hotel so I tried to smear gallons of sunscreen on his head. When that didn't work, a memory from my childhood slipped into my mind. I remember seeing my dad tie a hankie around his head (not the cool pirate way) to form a hat while he did yard work. I did my best to replicate the "hat", but it ended up looking like a pirate anyway.

Nut's Wedding

I say Nut's not only because that is my baby sister's name, but because 7yrs old is WAY too young to get married! OK, so she's really 19 (barely). Natalli married Jacob (who is a gem, btw) last month. Congrats to the newlyweds, and congrats to my mother for making it through 2 weddings in 3 months.

drive me crazy

We took a trip to Utah because another one of Sam's friends decided to get married. A while ago I vowed never to drive to SLC again, because I hate long car trips. Then Landon turned 2, and it seems our real life budget doesn't give a crap about how much I loathe sitting in one spot for 10 hours. For some reason we decided to chop this trip into about 50 mini trips. I guess I thought it would lessen the blow. I was very wrong. When I got off work Tuesday evening we left to stay in Flagstaff for the night. After a quick continental breakfast we were back on the road for our first pit stop in St. George. We stayed two nights, then it was time to hit the road. We stayed with David and Ali in their beautiful home across the street from the new Draper Temple. While in the Salt Lake valley we drove back and forth between Draper, Provo, Salt Lake, down to Lindon for the reception, and then back up to Draper again for our last night. In the morning we drove back the St. George for one more night before the hideous descent back to Phoenix. Despite all the driving we actually had a great time! It was so good to see everyone, and the best part is that we get to do it all again in two weeks! Except this time we will be driving to California... and my funeral.

nat's shower

Since Natalli is getting married in a week she got to open a lot of presents. We got to eat good food, and take a lot of pictures...

*Buff is not wearing the Hollywood Bumpit... I wish!

2

Landon is finally 2 years old! Sometimes we forget that he is so young, since he's been the size of a 6 year old for a long time. We had a few people over for pizza and cake to celebrate Landon's big day. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera, so most of these are from my crappy phone. I also forgot to buy candles. I guess I'm out of the running for this year's Mom of the Year Award.