catch up

I left off with a post about august in the middle of September, so I'll start my summarization of the year in october, written within moments of the christmas season....

george and I went to disneyland for a few days with my family. sans james, he was learning how to give shots!

george was a cowboy for halloween

and hated every minute of it....

I should have had him be a fireman, live and learn. hindsight 20/20.

george turned 2 and got spoiled

he was also gifted with the first snow storm of the season

we gave thanks for our blessings, and pumpkin pie (george was thankful his favorite shirt was clean)

we hit up the zoo

hung up the chirstmas lights

finished our stockings after five years

and now, we'll wait for santa to come and a few other festive things in between.

for gpa harman...and anyone else who may still read this blog

Dear Grandpa, this post is for you.  I'll try and make it as fascinating as I can.

thanks to my awesome brother and sister in law, we get to see unique parts of the world! this time they led us to their new home in Hanford California! a bitsy little town about 30 minutes from fresno. It truly was an individual space in California, nothing like the trendy L.A or magical Anaheim. No, Hanford was a little bit of retro! and we had an awesome time!

our trip was centered around the biggest party of the year, Jane's birthday party! She has been in planning mode for a good month and we were fortunate to be such hot guests for her fabulous shindig (we lucked out because it was james birthday too, that made him a special guest of honor). she chose a pirate theme and we pAAAARRRRRied all day long!!!

from a pirate cake (that sunk by the afternoon), to a pinta, and finished off with a round of walking the plank we had a pretty awesome day.

I would say a birthday wish came more then true though when grandma jill got in the pool!!!!

the next day James and Scott went into Yosemite to hike Half Dome.  No small hike for these two. they came back a little stiff. the pictures sum it up nicely as to why James needed Scott to make this trek.  I would never have been brave enough to go with him.

 the first four small pics are of scott and james starting out on the hike. james said that waterfall behind them is usually rushing but since they hiked later in the season it had a slower flow. the bottom right picture is of them finally reaching the last stretch of this monstrous hike.  they had to hike up those make shift, steep steep stairs. james dared to take a picture of scott climbing up them in the 2nd picture from the left, on the bottom row.  the top right corner is them at the top, just hanging out taunting death on a ridge hundreds of thousands years old.  this hike is not for the faint of heart, scott and james had to bid for a permit to hike the trail, and when they returned home safe and sound, after a nine hour trek, they told us that one guy had to be life flighted out while they were hiking. something that happens quite often on this hike.

up close of the stairs. coming down is harder then going up.

here are some of the cool nature shots they took.  pretty amazing place.

Sunday we decided to take a relaxing drive to see the Sequoia's. they were great and amazing, but the ride up the canyon to see them wasn't so relaxing. george and I both got a little queasy from the windy road. a trip worth taking for sure, but most likely a one time deal for me. george can go again when he's old enough to clean up his own barf! yuck!!

we also drove around the park to see some of the other cool stuff, like driving through one of the sequoia's and some random hike to the top of a look out. it was a pretty neat experience.

Jana showed us around town, Hanford has a lot to offer, but it mostly comes in their fields upon fields of lemon and lime trees, strawberries, corn, various nuts and a mystery plant, cotton! I was quite amused at these fields of food. incredible how many and huge they are.  the corn was by far the best I have ever tasted.

the fields are a lot more fascinating in person

we had the best trip ever! a week full of dance parties, ice cream, swimming, toad spotting, hot tubbing, olympic watching, eye dilating, shopping, national site seeing, crazy hiking, out to eating, big slide braving sorts of fun!

thanks scott and jana, we'll for sure come back soon! and bring grandpa with us! right grandpa???

a momentous occasion!!!

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong....
can you tell which one is not like the others before I finish this song?

john, mckay, matt, andrew (d-rew)

It's Mckay, he's wearing a hat! duh!
Now, can you correctly decide who is oldest?
I'll give you a hint,

it's not this guy!!! even though the receding hairline, and swampland beard make him look like he is 50 years past the young, and current, age of 21. yes, john has has been growing this bad boy for a year. one year precisely. we were (un)lucky enough to share the journey with him because honestly there is no way to avert ones eyes from the hair ball that consumed his face.

John's beard had some adventures of its own. a beard of this caliber and magnitude should never be denied a breezy ride on a motorcycle. so john suited up, as only john can, and let the wind swish through all that fuzz.

he was also known to find leftovers stored in there as well, another perk of beard wearers, they never go hungry.  (dry heave)

but, the countdown is officially over! a year of waiting and dry heaving has commenced as we all gathered for the glorious riddance of John's beard!!!

one last comb through to show the fullness of the beast. really it was quite disgusting!

we tried to transplant the beard to his bald spots, hair that long shouldn't go to waste. but then again, 21 years olds shouldn't have receding hairlines either. cheers were yelped, tears were wiped (all from laughter), and a fine chin was restored, a kissable one even!

the happiest of all, grandma and mom got their johnny back!

and four brothers looked like brothers again, instead of three guys possibly standing with their grandpa...

and for the record, I'm the oldest, it was a trick question!

it came with the frame....

we had another round of family pics taken. george is a year older and looks nothing like our chubby baby anymore. I figured it was time to cheese it up for the camera again. I hate having pictures taken. too much work for a couple quick snaps of the camera. but thanks to james cousin, luke, who did an awesome job winning george over, I think we got some keepers...

i love when george smiles big.  he grandpa ears poke out just a tich more.  he was a handful, but luke got him laughing.

so, now all that is left is deciding which family print to print for our home. the last nail in the coffin when it comes to family pics...

option 1,

option 2,

i'll probably just flip a coin. unless I can recruit someone else to pick for me. anyone??

memorial day

it was suggested by some active, in shape, out door enthusiast family members that we hike Bell's Canyon on memorial day.

a few of the healthy, fit, enthusiests

 and I, in a moment of brain lapse, agreed that the idea sounded fun and I wanted to go. so, after a delicious harman breakfast we strapped on our hiking boots, filled our camel backs with refreshing water, and headed to the trail.  about 20 mins into the hike, I remembered I'm not the out door enthusiast I wish to be, or is my pudgy middle in shape for such steep, rocky terrain.  James also left out the sidenote that we would be hiking for four hours! say what! two hours up, two hours down.  oh the joys of the great outdoors!!!

after finding out all the facts when I was stuck on the trail, I decided to just snap pictures of james in the elements of nature because I just wasn't feeling the essence of the great outdoors. we were never quite sure what side george was on.  he just quitelly chilled for four hours.

we did however make it to the top, it got pretty steep and my short legs really needed to be a couple inches longer for some of the mountain scaleing, I feared for my life. just kidding, I had sucked it up a little by then. but my thighs were burning. 1200 calories burned later, we reached the top!

our reward was great and refreshing. we are grateful family members took these lovely pics, because while we heard the falls, we only caught a glimpse of them and not a full frontal view. george was shivering from being dormant for 2 hours and the terrain was a bit to overwhelming for a timid mother who wouldn't let her husband carry her only child down a slippery slope to see some falling water.

so we munched on some m & m's my mom was clever enough to carry in her pack and tried several times to get george to look at the camera for the perfect family photo op, while my mom took her own glamor shots, and then we turned around and went right back down where we came from.

pleased to reach the bottom and give our aching feet, and james shoulders, a rest we smiled for one last round of photos and pretended we loved every second of our ascent. my dad is M.I.A from this sweet action not because he is behind the camera, but because he had his wits about him when he was invited to go and stayed home. some thought him a lazy bum, I instead think he the brightest of us all.  but we had fun none the less!!! I'm sure I'll have more brain lapses in the future.  I could use to burn a few more calories.

we headed to grandma for good food, corn hole and relaxation. it was a memorial day I'm sure to remember.

signs of summer

summer is setting in! we had to turn our AC on! wahoo, that's the first sign of summer for us! our sweet duplex has air conditioning! no more moldy, leaking swamp cooler to hum through the night and not produce one ounce of cool relaxation! aaahhhh... i might have to take a picture hugging that sweet bundle of joy! its all ready made george a bit to comfy

the ducks that came to chill in our yard also gave us a hint that warmth is headed our way. George and I went for a walk and came home to company. I was really excited to feed them, as I haven't fed ducks since I was probably george's age.  george however, was happier to chase them, while feeding himself...

unlike most utahns who feel the first burst of sunshine on their limbs and start wearing shorts, tank tops and sandals, we opted to still utilize our winter wear and pretend it was warm enough for tinfoil dinners up the canyon! it was a bit nippy, but the food was perfect and our roasting sticks were ready for some action!!!

james got his creative juices flowing and introduced us to the world of cornhole.  you read it right.  nothing beats a round of cornhole and we even got grandma to join in the action. we also used her sweet sewing skills to create some awesome bean bags to make our cornhole set complete! 

april showers brought may flowers, so we headed down to Thanksgiving Point to enjoy the tulip festival with Great Grandma, Marianne, Lindsay, Zoie and Bonnie! 

I tried to get george to sit in the pansies again. but now that he knows how to run it was a bit harder this year. 

yes, summer must be coming because we are eating popsicles donald duck style,

and running through all the sprinklers we can find.  george loves the water, until he gets splashed square in the face! haha, then he changes his mind a little. but he keeps going back for more.

it would't be summer with out a pimped out ride! 

my, oh so funny brothers came over one night and snuck spinners on my car. there is nothing more slick then a blinged up toyota corolla. george thinks its fun to spin them. at least someone thinks they are fun.

yes, I think we are ready for summer! bring on the heat! 

Parenting 101

why, yes. yes, I am a first time mother.

so, george is your only child?

a spoiled first born?

yes, haha. I guess we fit the mold. why do you ask?

because who else would be insane enough to give in to their whiney, molar teething, longest day ever, 16 month olds childs pleas to play up on the counter inside a cupboard he wanted desperately to explore and then top it all off by thinking it funny enough to grab the camera and snap a few shots while barely holding on to him with one hand and snapping a the photo opp you just couldn't miss out on with the other!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, yeah. that would be me....

 his mother.

the one who also gave him a cookie after I set him off the counter to get him to stop crying.