Totally Happy with Toothless

On the day that How to Train Your Dragon was released on DVD, Braden got to go to the store with his friends, had his photo taken riding Toothless (the dragon), and got his own copy of the movie to watch over and over again in the coming months. If you now ask him if he liked that day he will say "Graaaalth" in a raspy voice which means "yes" in his new language - dragonese.

A Corny Day with the Yonally Clan

If you know the Yonallys you know how they love to laugh and be silly. It only made sense to take them to the corniest place we know of - Cornbelly's. There they keps us entertained by:

Driving conspicuously small vehicles (oh to have Loyce doing this in video. Hillarious.)

A tetherball to the death match - with victorious Carolyn laughing so hard she couldn't breath after Kathy was knocked on her rear end by Carolyn's wicked tetherball arm

Competitive rubber ducky races


An amazingly good day for all - except perhaps Kathy. Are your bruises gone yet?

Catching up again ...

I think of myself as an easy going person. I don't ask for much. All I REALLY want is to be an exscellent mom and wife, a great cook, a successful business owner and consultant for other businesses, a good landlord and rental manager, to keep up on ALL of my projects (including my blog) and have a completely clean house with manicured yard. Seems like that is asking TOO much so here I am catching up on my blog again. If I ever catch up completely I might tackle my junk drawer ... :)

Flower Girl

Cailin sending everyone love from the Children's Museum on her last visit (October 2010 - I am depressingly behind...).

Wedding Dance

We had a great time at Connie's wedding in the canyons. The setting was beautiful, it was wonderful to see Connie so happy and the music was so engaging that both of the kids and Grandpa Christensen did a jig or two. (Where is a video camera when you need one?)

Christensen Camping Trip

Camping with the Christensens has changed over the last several years from a backpack trip in remote areas of the Uintas to a posh experience in a camper. While I have very fond memories of watching dragonflies with my sister-in-law, Karen, around a Uintah lake, I have to say that having a bed is a nice change :). After just a short drive from home we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen and enjoyed a hot dog dinner, an evening roasting marshmellows and awaoke to a gourmet breakfast. (How DOES my father-in-law create such delicious fried potatoes? I wish I knew....)

A couple of reasons to smile ...

#1 - New pajamas

#2 (Cailin only)- naturally tan skin - lucky girl!

Deer Valley Retreat

My family (including all of my brothers and sisters and their families) got together for a family reunion at a Deer Valley condo in July. By "Condo" I mean something like a mini mansion. We had 3 levels that were each about the size of my home. There was a pool table, two kitchens, and several balconies with wonderful views. In fact that only thing it didn't have was air conditioning. (My fault - I booked it for us but for some reason assumed that ait conditionining came with most places these days ...) We rode the alpine coaster and let the kids do some high flying bunji tramopline jumping. We went to a ranch nearby for a big dinner and wagon ride. The kids playhed with eachother nonstop. It was great.

While there Mike told us that one of his last business trips had taken him to California near where we used to live. He had driven by our old home and brought a picture. It was fun to take a trip down our memory lane while we watched our kids make wonderful memories of their own.

The home I gew up in. Nothing has changed except for the house color, garage door, steps to the front, gravel (we had grass), and all of the plants you see. Othre than that, exactly the same :)

Summer Camp

Braden attended a fum summer camp put on by his preschool this year. Each week they had new themes like dinosaur and butterflies, sesame street characters, farm animals, etc. He had lots of fun and always made something cool to bring home.

Braden showing off his "Pirates and Princesses" week booty.

Curse of the Ware Pager

When you work for a hospital and get urgent pages from places like the ER and operating rooms, losing your pager is bad. Over the years my pager has spent time in my laundry basket, under my bed, in the couch cushions, beneath the seats in my car, in the washing machine and even in the "porcelain express" - sad but true. Each time my mounting tension has only been relieved once I have found the pager and, as necessary, dried it out.

On July 14th I lost my pager - permanently. Aaron decided to go back to school to get an MBA and between his school, work and on call schedules we just couldn't juggle my work and on call schedules too. I knew I would be sad to leave the job I really enjoyed and the wonderful friends I had made at work, but I thought leaving the pager behind would be a piece of cake. Not so. For about a week I panicked every time I realized I wasn't wearing my pager and felt disoriented every morning when my pager wasn't on my bedside table. For about a month I kept trying to remember if I was on call before committing to do things. And today (2 1/2 months later) I saw something small and black and felt the desperate urge to attach it to my hip. Do I like being at home? I think I love it - but I will let you know for certain once I finally feel like I have left my job!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

We celebrated Abby's birthday on July 11 and got a possible glimpse of Cailin's future ... Then at Lilly's bithday later that week we were taken back to the present!

Cailin with hair longer than mine - using Abby's new Hannah Montana Wig

Cailin at Lilly's birthday party with lashes longer than her hair!

Little Lilly

Tyler, Braden and Jack

Days of 47 Horse Parade

It was a real parade. There were real horses. But smiles? We coulsn't photograph a real one to save our lives!

Braden sporting fake smile #15

Hometown July 4th

On the 4th of July my parents were in Australia preparing for my Aunt Frances' funersl but we still met up with Ben and Kim and their family for the morning parade. After the parade we walked around the fair with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen hunting for the balloon and face painting ladies. One spider on a webbed cheek and a pop-able dragon later we decided to abandon the festivities and enjoy a lunch in the cool of a restaurant. Another fun holiday.

Looking out for parade candy. I still have candhy left in myh purse!

Dearest Aunt Frances

There are some people that have the ability to leave a big impression in a small amount of time. That was my Aunt Frances. Her sunny disposition and sense of humor quickly touched everyone around her. When she was diagnosed with colon cancer she joked about having to "put on weight" and the anti-nausea pills that she "couldn't keep down."

Aunt es passed away in early July just a few days before her birthday. I miss her so much. But even as my eyes tear up I can't help but remember her contagious laughter and start to smile. Heaven must be an even happier place now that she is there.

Christmas in Australia 2001

Silver Lake Silver Lining

There is nothing we like better than spending time as a family, watching our kids' friendship grow, and interacting with animals while we do it. We love Silver Lake!

One of the many people-loving squirrels.

Our squirrel-loving kids

And a moose that we enjoyed watching from the safety of our car.

Baby Ninja, Little Buddha

Every parent knows each child is special ... but when we saw Cailin quickly catch 3 flies with her tiny fingers this past week we finally realized she must be part Ninja!


When Braden worked for a few days to catch one fly and then burst into racking sobs because he had injured it - we realized he must be part Buddhist Monk!

Yes I do like phosothop - but at least the fly stories are real!

Baby Shoes

I don't think I could call myself a legitimate "mother of two" unless I did something ridiculous like forget to blog about Cailin walking. (Hooray - I'm officially in the club...) Cailin walked (consistently and for increasing distances) 3 days before turning 11 months old. Thank goodness I DID remember to buy her some shoes ... eventually!

Cailin's first real pair of shoes (above) - after an experiment with cute flowery shoes that cooked her little feet like an oven (below)!

Early Morning Art

Proof that Braden's dino art skills continue to grow - and that he never actually gets dressed.

Butterfly Birthday - Cailin is 1

For Cailin's birthday we decorated with butterflies , balloons, paper lanterns and Cailin wore a pink pair of butterfly wings. There was a butterfly hunt (kids used colorful butterfly nets to gather candies with butterfly wings that were scattered all over our back yard), a game of musical presents, and water fun for the kids. We ate pulled pork sandwiches (that roasted for almost 20 hours), fruit kabobs, cookie fruit salad, chips with avocado/salsa dip and pink lemonade. Cailin's cake was the talk of the party (just SO cute - thanks CoreyEllen!). And we learned that although she had not had chocolate before, she loves it! (That's my girl...)

Cailin got more presents than a 1 year oud could possible need. We gave her a small kitchen that she and Braden can play with together. Our family gave her some foods to go with the kitchen, a few soft ponies, books, a stuffed dinosaur, and lots of cute summer dresses.

What fun to be 1!

Milk JUg Cuddle

You know how kids sometimes do things that just make you laugh and you have to get them written down for memory sake in spite of how crazy it makes you seem to your friends and family ...

For whatever reason, both Braden and Cailin have LOVED cuddling with milk jugs in the grocery cart.

Cailin finds love at Sams Club one morning...