Goodbye Friends

Our downstairs neighbors moved to Logan this week. We will miss them so much. Clara loved going to visit them. She has even gone down to their apartment as we are playing outside and knocked on their door. The she gets mad that they aren't opening their door. Clara thought Jenny was her best friend, and she keeps saying Jenny's name. It makes me sad knowing they aren't there to play with. I tried to get some pictures of Sam as he was playing out side while John and Liz were packing. However, Sam refused to have his picture taken. That meant I had to sneak some in. So here is a candid picture of Clara with Sam. Jenny was sleeping at the time, so this is a picture of Jenny I took a few months ago. And lastly is John and Liz just after the moving van was all packed up. They left for good within minutes of this picture. Good luck to you guys. We miss you!

Goodbye Hair

I also said goodbye to my hair this week. Every so often (I think this is the 4th or 5th time I've done this) I donate my hair to Locks of Love. The last time I cut it all of was a year and a half ago. I love both long and short hair. So I let it grow as long as I can, then when I'm sick of long hair, I get a drastic hair cut and I get short hair for a while. It's always nice for a change in hairstyles. Here are my before and after pictures: (I cut 10 inches off)

New Bed

On Wednesday, Clara got a new bed. I decided I wanted to put her into a toddler bed before she learned how to open doors. So we pulled out the toddler bed we had been given over a year ago and packed up the crib. I braced myself for the long night, but I don't think Clara ever got out of bed that night, or any night since for that matter. Nap time is another story because she really doesn't like going to sleep in the middle of the day, but night time has been a breeze with her new bed. And even nap time isn't horrible. She'll just get up and play until she's ready to put herself to sleep.On Thursday, we met some friends at the park. I love these two sisters: Mandy and Kim. I got to know both of them through tutoring them in their math classes, but ended up loving them enough to become good friends. Mandy has a little girl that is just a month older than Clara. And Kim has a dog that Clara played with the whole time we were there. Clara would grab the dog's leash and follow it around where ever it went. She even learned the word "little" that day and kept saying "Little" as she pointed to the dog.
My mom and sister came to visit on Friday and were here for the rest of the weekend. We had some friends over that Mom hadn't seen in a long time. We had so much fun visiting with Mom and Emma. Thanks for coming to visit!

Parks

So Clara and I went to playgroup this week. We normally go every week, but this week was unique in the fact that we were the only ones who showed up. OK, more people came after we had been there for 45 minutes. I was glad I brought my camera along. Since Clara had free reign of the playground, she explored things she normally avoids. When we got home from the park, I filled our neighbor's wading pool with water. Clara had a blast playing by herself in the pool too. Usually there are too many kids for her to really enjoy it. After a while, she decided to water a plant.

She probably filled that bucket up 10 times and was never able to actually water the plant. She kept watering her toes instead.

Clara has also learned how to say "cheese" for the camera. I love the way little kids think they are smiling so beautifully for the camera, but really they are just making a squishy face.On Friday this week, we attended the wedding of Jeremy's cousin, Dallin. Dallin and Heather had a wonderful sealer who gave them lots of great advice. It made me want to change how Jeremy and I do some things so that our marriage could be stronger. Congratulations Dallin and Heather! Friday was also a day of visiting with old friends. Apparently, I have lots of connections with people Dallin and Heather know. Heather's brother in law is Jesse. Jesse and I were good friends 10 years ago when I lived with Angie and Angela. Since I recently made the trip to Boise to visit with Angie, we talked about Jesse in some of the good memories we were remembering. And here, 3 weeks later, in walks Jesse! At their reception, I ran into an old co-worker of mine who happened to be serving in the ward where Dallin and Heather met. And then, to top it off, their photographer was an old student of mine. I loved visiting with so many people I hadn't seen in so long. (Sorry the wedding pictures are so blurry. I'm not very good at taking pictures....)

We ended the weekend with saying good bye to Matt. My little brother had been living in Provo all summer doing an internship. It was so nice to see him on a weekly basis. But this morning I drove him to the airport and said goodbye. He'll be starting school again soon, but hopefully he'll be back in a year! We'll miss you Matt!

Cameras, Camping, and Alta

Jeremy and I received our new camera in the mail this week. On our old one, we had to hold the batteries in as we were taking the pictures. It got pretty tricky, so we decided to upgrade. We ordered the camera we wanted for the price we wanted. The only problem is that it was back ordered. It was worth the wait for us. And now, after 2 months of waiting, it arrived in the mail just before Jeremy's family reunion. We are excited for all the features it has, including the much wanted 12 mp.

Friday morning, we packed and headed up Spanish Fork canyon to go camping with Jeremy's family. There were so many good times there. We ate some very yummy tinfoil dinners. We were by a river, which Clara loved watching. She watched it a little too closely sometimes though. She ended up slipping on the muddy bank and got very muddy herself. The exciting news of the whole experience is that there was a skunk wandering around our campground that night. It was wandering around right outside our tent. All the nieces and nephews got pretty scared. I just heard about it though because I was sleeping in the tent when it was wandering all around. Jeremy's mom had some fun things planned for the kids Saturday morning. Clara decided she would rather play with the toys instead of with the play dough, but at least she had fun.
Saturday night was a big reunion for those that lived in Alta when Bishop Hawkes was the bishop. There were close to 100 people there and we loved visiting with so many old friends. Jeremy and I both made some great friends in that ward. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the 2 hours we were there. Clara even made some friends. Thanks for having us all over to your house Bishop! We loved it.

Weeks Gone By

On Tuesday this week, I was able to purchase the new Brad Paisley CD. I was impressed by this new one. The last 2 albums he has put out hasn't been my favorite. I still like Mud on the Tires and Time Well Wasted better than this one, but it is just as good as Who Needs Pictures. In case you don't know me very well, I LOVE Brad Paisley. I have been a fan since his first album came out in 1999. I own every album of his, although there are a few that I don't listen to that often. Tuesday was a rough day, so when I got back from purchasing the CD, I just sat in the car and listened to the rest of it. Jeremy was kind enough to watch Clara while I had some "alone" time. It was so nice to just sit and listen.On Thursday of this week, I ate my first tomato that I grew myself. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it before it was gobbled up. My mother-in-law gave me a tomato plant for Mother's Day this year. I've been watering it every day and finally got to eat the fruit of my labors. Jeremy doesn't like tomatos so I got to eat it all myself. There is another tomato that is getting close to being ready to eat, so I took a picture of that.
On Friday, we went as a family to the Bean Museum at BYU. Clara loved looking at the animals before, but this time she was scared to even walk in the door. She finally went in if Mom was carrying her, but not Dad. We took her to see the ducks first since she was so scared of all the other animals. Once she got used to the stuffed ducks, she wanted to get down. She then ran all over like before, pointing and getting excited. We had fun watching her get so excited as she would see animals she knew.

On Saturday we went as a family to the Lindon Aquatic Center. It just opened this summer. We had a blast. We didn't bring our camera, but I found a picture of it online. Clara loved this little place. We'll definately go again.