Defying Gravity

I can sum up the play "Wicked" in one word, AH-MAZING! Mark and I went and saw it Wednesday night and I can honestly say, it was THE best play I have ever been to. Loved it! Mark was impressed too. I absolutely loved everything about it and can't wait to go again.

The music, the cast, the costumes....all of it. I loved it so much I dropped $39 on a T-shirt but well worth it. I already had Mckinley's Halloween costume planned out but now I think a more Elphaba inspired costume is in the works.

This week was an interesting one. Mckinley got sick for the first time ever- throwing up, major diaper blow outs, lots of crying. I guess we should be lucky that we made it to 9 months with nothing but teething runny noses. The Dr. said it is a virus but that it could last two weeks! AHHH! Just glad to have Mark here for the weekend :) I missed him while he was working this week.

I love the sound of squeaky feet

The summer heat is officially here in AZ. We hit 112 degrees on Friday and it was painful! Ballet flat shoes were never made to withstand the heat of asphalt at that degree. In other news, Mckinley is 9 months old of of Thursday! Seriously, she gets more fun everyday. As you all know, I have pirated my child to a "Cutest Kid" contest. Hey, my kid is darling, we all know that, so why not throw her out to America to decide if she is worth $2500!! Vote for Mckinley!!http://www.wetv.com/cutestkid/rating.php/8328/?pos=154

Today is Saturday- got up early and hit the yard sales with Lindy Iund as my sidekick. I played wingwoman today (the one who looks out for the signs). I got a few gems- an original Cupie Doll for $2 to go in Mckinley's room, some clothes for Mckinley (.50 cents-$1 a piece) and there was a random lady selling things like Quattro razors, ziploc bags, etc- all for $1-$3 so we both scored there. Last night we went to the Elders Quorum game night@ the church and busted out some Rockband and Uno. It was fun and we got to leave Mckinley with a babysitter- our sweet neighbor girl Kristen. Tonight, Mark's brother Matt is coming in from Utah so we get to go out and see "Harry Potter" YES!

I get to play single mom this week as Mark and a few dudes are working in Eager, AZ. They are going up there to paint an apartment complex Mon-Thurs. for the next four weeks. That should be a good time and I am not looking forward to getting up @ 5:00 to be on time! It will work out and it will be nice to have the money plus there are a few dudes going that need the work for their families too so it is a win/win for everyone involved. The Lord is really looking out for us :)

Here is just a cute video of Mckinley in her squeaky shoes (Thanks Sunni!!). They are still a little too big but the feetie jammies held them on pretty well. What was even more funny, Cory (the dog) was going nuts too thinking there was some squeaky toy somewhere for him to play with.

Summer time and the livings easy

Mckinley and I just got back from a wonderful trip to Utah. I have said it once and I will say it again, you forget how green a state can be until you get to Utah in the summer. There are so many gorgeous flowers and the trees and grass are a shade of green that could only be sustained in Arizona with gallons of water daily. We did a lot of visiting and were lucky enough to be in town for the blessing of her cousin Jill. Such a darling baby with mounds of black hair.

While we were in town we got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. The temple is truly an amazing place. At the beginning we watched a movie and Elder Holland said that he doesn't think about heaven in the paradisical sense but that "no place is heaven without your family". It was good and so true. I cannot imagine life on the other side without all of my family there.

Here is my family (sans Brayden and Tyler) @ the Temple. If you look closely you can see the burn mark on the angel Moroni from being struck by lightening a few weeks ago.

We got to visist a little bit with everyone- not everyone I would like (sorry roomies...I am horrible I know) but we are coming home for a full week in Sept. so bare with us! :)

This was one of the cutest pictures of our darling little girl who will be nine months next week...amazing! She is crawling and quite well I might add. She is very quick! She loves solid food and will eat anything! She now says "Mama" which I was totally stoked for. She also pulls herself up and can stand for brief periods on her own too.

No pics of Mark and Tony from the races in Cali but rest assured that Mark had an excellent time. He said the weather was cold, his driver lost (but did beat Tony's driver) and they filled up on cherries from a grove there. He brought Mckinley two shirts and I got a Honda shirt. It was weird being on vacation without him but I am glad he got to go and have a break for a bit.

Back to work this week and this weekend is the ward pool party. It is also going to be 115 here in Phoenix...one night in Utah I sat outside talking to my dad and thought, "man, it's cold". I had to stop myself from saying it because I would love to have that here in Phoenix. We miss Utah and every day I converse with the Lord (well, almost every day) about what we should do. We miss family. Summer. Grass. We know we will end up there eventually but it doesn't seem like the right time now. We really are blessed and have too many super good friends here that I would be sad to leave. There is also much to look forward to that will make the time to Sept. fly by. Next week, Harry Potter...YES! We are stoked #1 being as we are rabid fans and #2 it will be the first movie we have been to together since December. The week after, Mckinley's 9 month appt and WICKED!! I am so excited to see it! Nothing planned for Aug. and normally I would be soliciting all those that read my blog to visit but in Aug. Arizona resembles an oven/blowdryer as far as heat goes so hold off until Oct. How is that for an update? Until we meet again!

For a giggle

Man time flies! We have reached the 8 month mark as of last week. We have an eight month old... That is still so weird to say. We have such a happy little girl and she is so much fun. She is trying to crawl and has gotten into picking at everything with her pointer finger (the screw holes in her crib, buttons, eyes). Sunday @ church, she was entertained for at least 10 min. with a piece of lint on the floor. She is getting so big and we love to see her learning new things about the world. Here is she tonight, supposed to be winding down for bed, but the opportunity to get her all wound up again was too irresistible. Enjoy!

Happy Dad's Day!

Here is to Mark's first official Father's Day! What a miraculous man I married. My husband, Mckinley's dad...he does laundry, keeps Mckinley fed, clothed (sometimes even picks a matching bow to go with the outfit), cleans the house, makes the bed and ultimately, makes the sacrifices of the average "bread winner" to be home with our little girl. He is an amazing father with so much patience and love for our daughter it boggles me. I love to see them snuggled up in our bed in the mornings before I leave for work- nestled close, Mckinley's hand tucked gently into Mark's goatee- I love them! Here is to all the dad's out there- love and adoration. HAPPY DAD'S DAY!

7 months

Not a whole lot to report. The weather here this week has been unseasonably cool and we are taking full advantage. I got up early and went yard sailing yesterday-not too many good finds. The most noteworthy- "Blades of Glory" & "Quigley Down Under" for $2.

Mark, Mckinley and I went swimming for a bit yesterday- she LOVES the pool and it was fun to watch her. These are some pictures of her right after her nap...if you look closely you can see her two teeth on the bottom :)

Grateful for Sundays- I love to sit down and read the newspaper. I especially like that we have church @ 1:00 so I can max and relax in the morning. We are having the Iunds/Stephens over for dinner tonight. Always grateful for friends.

In a few short weeks we will be back in Utah. I am grateful for the vacation and the reprieve from the hot weather. Mark and Tony are going to Cali for the motorcycle races so this will just be a girl trip-two full days off work!

Where it's at...

Two weeks of no blogging can be deadly! These first pictures are of Mckinley's first trip to the zoo. It was actually pretty "cool" for Phoenix standards, one of the last days under 90 so it was nice. Mimi, Papa and Brittnee came with and it was fun. Mckinley was pretty ornery but fell asleep right as we were leaving. She did look super cute in her shades and hat.

This last weekend, we headed to Utah for the shortest trip of ALL time. If you are reading this and you didn't know we were in town, take no offense, we got in late Friday night and left Sunday night so there wasn't much time. Do not fret, I will be back in July for a little longer :) We had a good time for the 48 hours we were there. Did some yard saling (Herriman put on a great show!), went to Sunni's MS Charity Boutique which was such a good idea, my sweet mother-in-law's retirment party and Mark got to go to the motorcycle races with his dad and brothers.

Mimi and Mckinley

Above is my sister Bree and her husband with Mckinley (Bree is pregnant and due in Sept...Mckinley is excited to meet her cousin) and then, lastly, this is me and my closest cousin Ashlee and her twins Finn and Sophie. All the kiddies played together and it was fun to see.

We are so blessed to have friends and family. We do miss Utah and will eventually make it back but the short trip revitalized us for a bit.