Blogging from AZ

A lot has happened since I last updated, but I'm just going to focus on the last little bit. We are coming to the close of Day 8 in Taylor, AZ with Jason's parents. We have had a lot of fun. Brooklyn turned 3 yesterday and we celebrated her birthday with presents, paddleboating on Owens pond, homemade individual pizzas, pink cake, and a pink drink (strawberry milk), at Brooklyn's request. I thought she had a great day until just before bedtime she said, "Yeah!! My birthday is over!! I didn't like my birthday." She then wanted to take down all the streamers. I wonder if I'll ever figure that girl out. Some other things we've done: we met up with my friend Stephanie at the park. I hadn't seen her in 10 years. Crazy that she lives here!! We had Trapper's lemon pie. We watched Grandpa kill some roosters. We laid out on the trampoline looking at the stars. We played a lot of hide and seek. We went to Heber to see Jimmie's girls in an orchestra concert. We buried a dutch oven. We ate at Eva's. We went to the Harvest Festival and looked at the llamas and homemade crafts. We played Apples to Apples and Mexican Train. We watched Prince of Persia. We caught some bugs.... and a whole bunch more that I'm neglecting, I'm sure. Tomorrow we are going to the Grand Canyon. But the most exciting thing of all... JASON GOT A JOB!!! We got the call on Thursday and I have been bouncing around happy ever since. Oh, and looking at houses online. LOL. He will be working as a manager in the Environmental Services Department at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital for a company called Aramark. It's a great company and we'll have a decent salary with benefits in the place where I grew up and all of my family still lives. So much more than I dared to hope for. I'm feeling so humbled and grateful. Anyway, that's the big news for now. Hopefully I'll pull myself away from the MLS listings long enough to update you on the rest. For now, take a gander at some of the pictures that Kathie has taken since we've been here.

Rollin on the river

The girls at the pond

Grandma and Grandpa Maner gave Brooklyn a picture of the L.A. temple for her room

The great Taylor Fire of 2010.

The doomed roosters. They are now in the freezer.

And the hens better watch out too if they don't start laying!!

Giddy up.

Addy's 9 month Check-up

I took Addy to the doctor yesterday. She won't be 9 months until Sept 1st, but we are moving out of state next week and her insurance is only valid in Utah so I wanted to get it done before we leave. She is 28 1/2 inches long (75%), weighs 18 lbs 13 oz (50%), and her head measures 44 3/4 cm (75%). The doctor is pleased with how nicely her hemangioma is shrinking. He also said that she will probably be a late walker because she doesn't seem to like standing up, even with help. He said to expect around 15 months... great. But overall she looks fantastic and is still completely adorable. :)

New Trick!

Today, Addy went from rolling around on the ground to sitting up... all by herself! She was quite pleased.

Jason's Phone

So here is life from a different perspective... Jason's cell phone! And a few from our camera which are glaringly better quality. Too bad we're so lazy about getting it out.

Brady teaching Brooklyn the fine art of throwing money into water.

My baby is cute.

The girls can take baths together without Addy's "boat" now. I thought Brooklyn would have a lot more room, but Addy gets so excited and kicks her legs so hard that she propels herself backwards and pushes Brooklyn up against the wall.

Stuart had a birthday.

The boys had to teach Hannah how to light the inside candles first.

Brooklyn "fixed" Addy's hair, starting with a good spray bottle wet-down like she sees Mommy do.

Only difference is I don't spray her in the face. She was pretty chill about it, though.

My baby is still cute.

Jason went to get our oil changed on the 5th of July. He got to eat tacos and watch the Independence Day parade while he waited. I got to feed and dress the girls at home.

We have a thing for Curious George in our family.

We go to church. For some reason, nobody seems very happy about it. Maybe I'm just getting chastised for taking pictures in Sacrament Meeting. Guess I can't blame them for that.

We have fun playing with our cell phones.

Jason sent this to me:

I sent this back to him:

He sent me this one too:

And he got this as a reply:

Brooklyn likes being a big sister... sometimes.

We've been going on lots of family walks. I bought this stroller off of Craigslist for 20 bucks. Total steal.

We had a Biggest Loser Competition with 13 of my family members. I didn't win (my sister did), but I lost 15 lbs. Still a good 30 to go, but at least I don't look like I'm pregnant anymore.

Before:

After:

I've been selling a bunch of stuff on Craiglist in anticipation of our move. I've made about $500 so far! These are some of my "for sale" pictures just cuz I think it's kind of fun to look back and see what you used to own.

Bought this off eBay for baby Brooklyn for $25. Both girls loved it as babies. Sold it to a cute student family having twins for $10.

Bought this for $20 in the Walmart clearance section about 18 months ago, sold it for $15.

Kind of lamenting selling this one. We bought it when we were married for around $40 and sold it for $15. Could have gotten more out of it and will definitely be replacing it... =(

Bought this at Costco for $15 for my JetBlue job. Used and used it for work, then Brooklyn and friends used and used it for play. Sold it to a 9-year-old girl redecorating her room for $5.

This stroller went miles and miles and miles. Jason used to take Brooklyn on walks up the canyon when she was a baby and I was working for JetBlue. It matches Addy's car seat, but was too big to take with us. Plus, we need a double now. Sold it to a lady very excited to have it for $25.

Bought this off of Craiglist for $25. Rocked both my babies in it. It was dirty when we got it, but I was still grateful for it. Sold it for $15.

(P.S. The Census project is officially over, which means that Jason is officially unemployed and looking for work. We are moving to Bakersfield to live with my parents until he finds a job. Please let us know if you know of any possible jobs for him!)

J.R. aka Elder Maner at the Provo MTC. He was only there a short while before his Visa cleared and he was able to go to the MTC in Brazil, where he will be serving his mission.



The girls in their 4th of July outfits.

Dancing Brooklyn is easily distracted.

And so is her audience.

Cleaning off the Cell Phone

So I have been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad blogger. I didn't think there was anything going on, but as I'm reviewing my cell phone pictures, I see that there has actually been quite a bit happening in our seemingly boring lives. These aren't the best quality, but it's sure better than nothing! Thank goodness for a new cell phone with bluetooth. Here is a quick montage of our lives lately.

Brooklyn got a hair cut. This just happened yesterday.

We went to the dentist. Jason had 2 cavities and I had 0!! Don't think that's ever happened before. Here's how he felt about it:

Uncle Brady came to stay with us for a few days. His friends joined us the last night. We made a bed for them on the floor. Brooklyn loved watching TV on it.

We spent a day with Laura's family at Gma's. Blake and Adalyn getting to know each other:

Brooklyn and Blake running through the sprinklers:

My baby is adorable.

Jason took our nephew J.R. to the MTC. Brooklyn and I made cookies for him while he was there. We had to crush some graham crackers. B saw me using my mallet to crush them and she ran and got her little blow-up hammer toy to help. Not very effective, but completely adorable. She pounded along with me til those graham crackers were crumbs.

We've been going to Chuck E Cheese. We've actually found it to be pretty cheap entertainment. If you do your coupons right, you can get tokens for 10 cents each. Each ride/game only takes one token. So we spend 5 bucks and all of us are entertained for an hour or more and Brooklyn uses our tickets to get some candy and a toy at the end. Good times.

In addition to our annual tradition of swimming, eating steak and watching the Stadium of Fire fireworks, we went to the Freedom Days festival again. We toured the booths and got cotton candy.

I love the little tufts stuck to her face:

I got plastic surgery:

Okay, I know it's kind of weird, but it's a whole lot better than when I looked like this:

We met my parents and my sister's family in Vegas. We went out to eat, to Chuck E Cheese, swimming in the hotel pool, toured all the casinos, drank a bunch of international Coke flavors, etc. It was the perfect trip.

And if you have time for videos...

Addy eats big girl food now.

We took a walk in the rain.

B at Chuck E Cheese.

Brooklyn and Blake in the sprinklers.

Addy being boring.