I finally found the time and energy to blog

I'm not a good blogger, that has previously been established. Then we moved and did not have the Internet, so I had an excuse. Well, we finally got the Internet a couple days ago and for some reason I feel obliged to post something. Here is what we have been up to:

We made the huge move south to Provo at the beginning of August. Everyone up north (Davis county) keeps asking us how it is to live in 'happy valley'. My reply is that we're actually in 'little Mexico' and that no place could be more White and Mormon (aka 'happy valley') than Davis County, more specifically Centerville/Bountiful. I'm just saying...

Oliver had to sleep in the port-a-crib for the first couple weeks, luckily he still had his binks.

We immediately went back to Centerville for a week and a half in August because my brother went to Arizona on vacation and apparently my parents need babysitters. My dad and I canned tomatoes and made salsa that week, I have to say that I was pretty impressed with myself. Mike's brother Marc also came home from his mission to Arizona that week. No worries about him adjusting, we all went and saw The Dark Knight an hour after he got released.

Mike turned 30! He didn't think it was a big deal, so we did not do anything special or overly exciting. However, we did go drop a load of money eating sushi that night. It was very tastey.

For Labor Day my brother Adam and his family came into town from New Mexico. We had parties galore and Oliver was loving the cousin time (not to mention late nights and lots of sugar). Oliver was really thirsty in the picture below and this was the only source of water.
Last but not least, Mike started his job at BYU and is loving it. Who would have thought, Mike MacKay a BYU professor, I'm so proud.

Yellowstone

I finally went on the MacKay Yellowstone trip after being in the family for five years. This is my father-in-law's favorite place in the world and he knows it like the back of his hand. One MacKay gene that Mike did not get was the OCD for planning and organization (which can be good and bad). We of course got our itineraries six months ago by email and subsuquent emails with further details after that. Not to mention frequent reminders at Sunday dinners. All in all, we had a good time with family and were pretty exhausted when we get home...isn't that a sign of a good vacation?

This is the bike/hike we took on the first full day there to a place called Osprey Falls. I think this was the only place my father-in-law had not been, hence he did not know how long or steep the hike was! We did a round trip of 9.6 miles to the falls, but it was worth it when we got there.


Wildlife...we had a picture taking contest so everyone was doing their best to get pictures of the animals. We haven't had the official judging yet, so we'll see. These are some pictures Mike took with his dad's very nice camera (a lot nicer than ours!).

The hike down Uncle Tom's Cabin where you walk down a steep staircase. Not too bad on the way down, but a little more effort on the way back. At least I didn't have a child on my back like everyone pictured below!

Suspension Bridge

Swimming at some random part of the river and at the 45th parallel, where hot springs run into the river.

More pictures from various parts of Yellowstone.

Okay, this post took me freakin' forever...that is why I do not post very often or very much at one time. I'm spent, it may be awhile now.

So you think you can WHAT?

I'm seriously thinking about boycotting the rest of this show. I was shocked when Kherington and Gev got eliminated last week, but this week was just down right insane. I was really hoping Will might win this season. Huge disappointment. Oh well, at least Comfort got eliminated (again).

Oliver's haircut

Well, we finally gave Oliver his first proper haircut. We have mostly been too lazy to give it a short cut, but decided he would probably benefit from short hair for the remainder of the summer (he sweats like crazy on his head)! I had my brother Dave take a picture before because I really do like the long hair, but Mike did an excellent job on the haircut and of course I think it's just as cute.

Best buds

I'm experimenting with this new collage program I downloaded at photoscape.com. Here are some pictures of Oliver and Grandpa Trump. I think Grandpa may be one of Oliver's favorite people, even more than mom and dad (seriously). They love to take jazzy rides, eat breakfast together, play with trucks and look out the front door for cats.

Memories of England

I have been looking through old photos trying to put together some sort of album(s) over the past five years....I know, yikes! It has been fun to see old photos and the ones from England brought back lots of memories, so I thought I would share a few.

Mike mowing our little lawn with an electric lawn mower! Yes, we actually plugged it in in the house. This was my first bike in England, what a beauty! I got plenty of stares and comments as I rode this around town. Don't let this ugly, weird, little bike fool you it was pretty darn comfy with its full suspension.

The beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire. Yes I hate to admit it, but I probably did not fully appreciate the beauty of it while we were there.

Maybe my all time favorite picture from England. We were on a walk with our ward somewhere in the country and this telephone booth was randomly along the side of an old country road. Don't we look like completely lost American tourists? Ahhh...so British.

What a coincidence!

While looking through my Parents magazine I found an article about children with sleep problems. At the end there were some suggested books and this was one of them. . .





I nearly fell off my seat because this title perfectly explains my little boy who of course is named Oliver. I think I will order this book.