Ada Girl!

Ada is just amazing me lately. She is so busy all of the time. It just seems like she is constantly using her little brain to figure something out. She has been crawling now for about a month and a little bit, but in the last two weeks she has been pulling herself up to things. Maybe this is normal and I just don't know it, but my boys certainly were not standing up at eight months. I've heard though that girls can be faster at these things. I have developed my own theory though. If you notice in this video, I am taping Ada but her two brothers are being a little crazy in the background. Ada has a pretty rough life with these two crazies. And I think she is anxious to move, crawl, walk and run . . . in order to escape her brothers! I don't know what do you think?!

I'm still a Klutz!!

Warning:This story is lengthy for no reason at all, and has no significant point . . . so unless you just love my stories, you do not have to read it!

Okay, so just in case anyone has any doubts that I am still a Klutz and prone to having accidents . . . I thought I would just share a few of my recent incidents to absolve those doubts.

I am totally a geak. I know this and those closest to me know this, but sometimes I hope that I can hide it from the world if at all possible. I was hoping that I would not do anything embarrassing here at our new residence until we were really established and had friends and all that . . . but that didn't so much happen. Ever since we have moved in we have been being very frugal. We decided that it would be a great idea to ride our bikes wherever it was feesible to ride them. So Lamon has been riding to work just about every day. We also bought a bike seat and we have the Chariot trailer for the kids, so I have been riding around with the kids. And I just will tell you that I look completely geaking with a helmet on and this is the truth. The first time I went to my parents house on my bike, my family could not stop laughing at me when they saw me. But I finally convinced myself that I was really cool for being active and riding my bike despite my geaking looking helmet. But just imagine me looking geaky in my helmet when I tell you these stories.

So a couple weeks ago we were riding to the Macks house, and on the way back Ada was screaming her gutz out so Lamon said, "Mary, why don't you take Ada and Hayden (they were in the trailer) and hurry home so you can feed her." I was like, "Okay." So off I went. Just imagine me in my geaky helmet riding home with a wailing baby . . . this alone would attract some attention . . . but it gets better. So I was approaching the intersection nearest to my home, and I have learned from Lamon that you are not supposed to get in the right turning lane on a bike and I didn't so much want to go in the driving lane (that would've made me feel stupid) So I rode up onto the sidewalk instead in order to cross at the crosswalk. But on the corner of the side walk (where the pole is with the crosswalk button thing) there is a cement circle at the bottom of the pole and the sidewalk sort of narrows right there. When I attempted to round that corner the Chariot got stuck up on that cement part and the Chariot stopped but me and my bike didn't. Me and the bike flipped right over, and it looked hilarious I promise. It was quite embarrassing, I got up on my bike and wondered all the way home how many people I knew were in that intersection at that moment . . . but then I just kept repeating to myself, "Everyone wants to be me!" And that made me feel a lot better. Anyhow, it was awesome. Wish you could have been there.
About a week later, I decided to take the kids over to the Macks house. . . and I got them all situated with Drew on the bike seat and Ada and Hayden in the trailer. And I don't know if anyone has tried to pull a trailer and balance a kid on their bike but it is pretty hard! I got going down the street, and everytime I got on and off the sidewalk I was just praying the I wouldn't fall! When I came to the intersection I was suppose to turn on I needed to turn right, and there was no way in my mind I could manage this without falling so for some idiotic reason I just kept going straight. I don't know what I was really thinking, but here I was taking a trip southbound on State Street for no apparent reason. I was too scared to turn right on my bike so I went past the intersection that took me to the Macks and just kept on going. Perhaps Heavenly Father knew that eventually I would end up in Springville or Spanish Fork or something since I had no plans to ever make a turn on my bike so He intervined I believe on my behalf and we got a flat tire. So somewhere at a tire store on St. Street Me in my geaky helmet and my kids all sat there until my Brother and Lamons Dad came and got us and loaded our bikes in a big trailer and took us to the Macks. Oh I love to be me. I will never run out of stories! In fact here is my last one, and it doesn't involve a bike at all.
At my house we have two sets of stairs. Me and stairs don't get along all of the time, but I haven't really had any incidents for years until the other day. At the very top of the stairs I somehow missed a step or something I don't really know but I tumbled . . . well not really tumbled I sort of flew and just landed on the bottom step. Lamon was downstairs watching television and I was waiting for him to run over to see if I was okay . . . but he just sat there. Finally I sort of laughed a little . . . and suddenly Lamon just let loose. He laughed so hard. I couldn't believe it! How mean! I was telling Liz about my accident a couple days later, and she couldn't believe that Lamon could be so mean. Then later that day I managed to fall down those same stairs, and you know what? Liz did the same thing as Lamon. Only I think she laughed longer and harder! I cannot evoke anything but laughter out of people! I get injured and people laugh at me! Anyway, I'm done! I warned everyone that this would be long. So I do not even feel a bit sorry if you are still reading, and are wondering why you have wasted your time!

We are still alive!

Yes, just in case anyone was wondering . . . we are still alive! We don't have the internet, so our posts are going to be a little spread apart, and it's just been pretty much a busy couple of weeks!
We love our new house. It is so fun to have our own house! Lamon stayed in St. George to work for a few days, and to get everything ready for the move, and me and the boys had a big sleepover in our new house as soon as we got the keys! We didn't have any food, or furniture . . . just a cooler of snacks, some sleeping bags, and a our dvd player, and It was a blast. Our new ward is awesome. We've had so many people come meet us, bring us food, and offer to help us move in. It's amazing. We just can't believe that we are here. Our next door neighbor told us that they were planning on buying the house as soon as it went up for sale. They had talked to the man who was going to sell it, and he said that he was going to take the first offer that was given. What a miracle that we found this house! No one had a chance to make an offer on the house, because we found it somehow before there ever was a sign put up! Little did we know that our offer would be that first offer that he was going to accept! What a miracle. We just hope our neighbors don't hate us now! Just kidding. They are really nice, and her husband is a nurse and has a massive woodshop in his backyard . . . so that is pretty much awesome. Anyway, I will post later. This is getting way way to long and boring!

"Soaking" it in before we leave!!!

We have to take advantage of the pool here at Stoneridge before we move! We were babysitting yesterday and decided to load all the kids in the car and go swimming. We had 7 kids with us in all, and it was quite the party! We got a taste of what it will be like when we have seven kids! It was fun, and one look at Drew with his goggles on made me make a mad dash home to get the camera!! Here are some pics from our outing. I have to warn you that there is one of Lamon looking quite sexy. Ladies he's all mine!!

Budgeting

This is a story about budgeting.

After observing myself in the mirror a few days ago I realized that I needed to take action. I noticed that my highlighted hair was way grown out, and it was time to do something about it. Seeing that we are buying a house soon, I came to grips with the fact that we are going to be a little tight and I can't waste money on my hair all the time getting my roots touched up. So as much as I've loved the blond in my hair I came to a difficult decision . . . Go to beauty school, let Lamon do it, or dye my hair back dark. I decided to do the latter.

I might have gone overboard on the budgeting idea. I decided to go to the hair college (The same one that three years ago created the lovely shade of red . . . after two long four hour sessions . . . for those of you who remember). Anyways, before I went in Lamon said, "What ever happens, just don't cry when you come out." Well, I didn't cry . . . but I was in their for six hours with a poor girl who looked like it may have been her first day doing hair. And of course in came the thick haired scarred monster! Poor thing. The ordeal took six hours. It was passed closing when she finished, Lamon had to bring in Ada in the middle so I could nurse her . . . and my hair? Well, I will wait a while to post a photo! :) Let's just say I was going to title this post . . . "The Dark Knight." I will let your imaginations run wild! J/K. I actually really like it. But it is very dark. My neighbor made a comment about me dying my hair black. . . . It really isn't black, but it is pretty much dark.

Our Junior Ranger Cowboy Drew

I had to save the best for last. This is something that I am sure I will remember for a long time. While at Frying Pan Flats each day Grandma (Jane) Mack set up Grandma's Store for the kids. Throughout the day the kids could earn pennies from their parents doing good deeds and helping etc. and at the end of the day they could give these pennies to Grandpa to buy little things like coloring books, toys, and vhs movies from Grandma's store. Well Drew really got into this. He was super stoked about all the treasures he purchased from Grandmas store. Well, on the day that we went to Capitol Reef Lamon took the boys in to the Visitors Center so that we could get our traditional magnet for our fridge (we try to get one where ever we go). When they came out they got into the car and for the whole drive to the little Nature Center Drew kept talking about getting something at the store. I assumed he was rattling on about Grandma's store, but when we stopped at the Nature Center and got out of the car out popped two keychains from his pockets. He said, "Look at what I got at the store Mom?" I was just like, "Oh boy . . . " I then went on to explain to him that we couldn't take things from the store without paying for them. We made Drew go back to the Visitor's Center to give them back. He waited patiently in line and then handed the keychains to the clerk and said, "I didn't actually pay for these." Then the employee said, "Thank you Drew. Here, come with me Drew. I have something for you." He then pulled out a Junior Ranger Badge and handed it to Drew and said, "This is for being Honest!" Drew was Stoked. When he got outside he said, "I got this for being "Spanished!" We laughed at that. But he now knows after some explaining what being "Honest" means. He was so proud of that Junior Ranger Badge, he wore it for the rest of the vacation along with his white sailor hat, and kept saying, "I'm a cowboy!" So their you go. Drew is our Junior Ranger Cowboy fully equipped with a badge and a sailor/cowboy hat!

Gooseberry

After our little reunion with the Spencer F. Mack Family we went directly to the big Mack reunion. It was so fun. I love Lamon's family. I spend a lot of time wondering how in the world I married into such an amazing family! It was so fun to listen to them talk about past reunions and all of their memories. It made me want to carry on the tradition, and always make the effort to keep family ties strong!


Here is a little video of one of my favorite parts of the trip. This is a game the Macks have been playing at reunions for years and years. It's called Sorry to Passe? Anyhow, here it is: