Friends

I love coming out to Utah to see all my wonderful family. We try to see as many of them as we can each time we come. It's great to visit with brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We are lucky to get a lot of family time in while we are here.

We also have kept in touch with a few good friends over the years. It's a real treat to see them as well.  Meet our friends:

Lauren (more on her later) and Michelle B. Kicking it with our "old" Young Woman's leader from VA. (she is the young one on the far right) We love her! She makes me laugh, she is always so great to catch up with! Girls nights with our former yw leaders (several of them now live in Utah) is something we always shoot for. Unfortunatly this is the best we got this time.

Lauren again- she is my BFF since High School. It's crazy our friendship has survived this long considering long distances, varing stages of life, and just growing up and moving on. But I really think this girl will be a friend for life. I love her.

Meet the Matthews and the Lattins. These two families are some of our favorites from our good ole Wymount days. We did dinner group with them almost weekly, had many game nights, and I basically lived at there houses during the day crafting or couponing. These girls taught me everything I know, and they are some of the best wives, mothers and friends I know. We really miss them all! (and check out there adorable kids!) We loved our days at BYU and the friends we met there. Now we just need to coordinate our trips to Utah with the Skanchys, Sagers, and Youngs....we miss those guys!

And... no picture but...one of our last nights in Utah we got together one evening with the Thomas family. My little kiddies I used to nanny and there awesome momma. I love catching up with them and seeing them grow.

If you have a toddler...

I highly recommend this book. It is full of great ideas and hundreds of activities to keep your little ones busy using things you have around the house. It is so creative and all the ideas help your child develop essential skills.

One activity that I am not sure is even in this book but that Lucy loves is rice box. I love it because I can let her be messy and I can just vacuum up the rice at the end.

 As you can see her favorite part is throwing the rice everywhere! 

Silly girl! 

A Wonderful Homecoming!

We made it to Utah on Saturday night and the next morning was Nathan's homecoming talk in church and  a huge family gathring aftrwards. It was soooo great to see Nate after 2 years and have him meet Lucy. We are so happy to have him back. It was also great to see a lot of family and friends that day!

The 3 Amigos. My cousin Lauren, Nate, and me. We are all really close in age.

Can you tell we are a bit excited to have him home? We love Nater!

With all the Knudsen Family there we couldn't miss out on a group photo opportunity. Here is the whole Knudsen clan!

And, we snapped a family photo. We are so happy to be all together for a few weeks in the summer. We already having a blast!

Lucy did really well being passed around from person to person. Everyone wanted to see this cute girl!  Here she is with "auntie" Lauren.

4 generation- Knudsen side.

4 generation on the Jewkes side

Thanks aunt Heidi for all the great pics!

Summertime

"Oh what do you do in the Summertime when all the world is scorching HOT?"

 Do you swim in the pool to keep yourself cool? 

Or play in the children's museum INSIDE? 

Is that what you do? So do I! 

Curls

I have always dreamt of having a baby with curly hair but I was sure we would never get it. Neither Erik nor I have much curl to our hair. I am sure it won't last and it really only reveals its full curliness in high humidity but hey we will take what we can get! For now I'm loving my little curly Lu! 

Did I mention?

We have a walker!! At the end of June just after Lucy turned 13 months, Lucy's walking skills started to make there debut. And just like everyone said, it took her teetering, and taking one or two steps for a day or two and then she was OFF! She is still uneasy on un-even ground and rough terrain but I think it's now safe to say we have a walker!

Don'tcha just LOVE her chubby thighs and her little sneakers? I just want to squeeze her! 

YAY! No more dirty knees! Pull out those white capris! ;) 

I realize pictures can't capture her walking and we do have video but who really wants to see that anyway? Take my word for it...she's a walkin! 

Nichole and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Although this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day occurred weeks ago I would still like to document it and for you all to feel sorry for me. Ha...no I just thought it was crazy! When it rains it really does pour! I know you all know about day's like these. 

First on my way to the Gym I notice smoke coming from inside the car, in the back behind the back seat. I panic. Lucy is back there! I notice it is only when I hit the breaks. 

Long story short- after sitting at a repair shop for 40 min. (really not that bad) but with a 1 year old...I learn that my brake light bulb had fallen out of place and was burning a hole into the plastic casing of my car every time I hit the breaks. So now we have this lovely hole in the back of our car. It kinda looks like a bullet mark..which makes me feel tough! 

At the car place I notice a rash all over Lucy's body. So i grab a filler Dr. appointment which means after being sitting at the Doctors office for literally 3 hours we were told it's Roseola (sp?)  and it's not contagious and there is nothing you can do about it...thank you, thank you very much. 

My poor baby looked like a leper for several days. I felt bad taking her places with friends because it looked so awful...like Mom's were thinking what on earth does your child have? 

Oh..and while we were at the Doctor we had a scare about her lead levels from her last Dr. appointment so they had to prick her finger and take more blood. Awesome. By the end Lucy and I were both in tears! 

We also learned Lucy had a yeast infection/ bad diaper rash so we got a prescription cream and headed home. 

Later that day, while I was changing her diaper and putting the cream on her she grabbed the bottle and got the cream everywhere and then I noticed she was licking her hands. Greeeat! So then I am freaking out and called poison control, which with the small amount she most likely consumed it was fine, but it gave me another scare on an already stressful day! 

And to top it all off, who is the one person who you can call and vent to on days like these? Your Mommy of course. Well when I call she is at a bowling alley and can barely hear me, and so I don't even bother. Boo hoo hoo. I know! So sad. I think I will run away and move to Australia! 

But just as my FAVORITE children's book ends..."My Mom say's some day's are like that. Even in Australia!"  :) 

I think more people should blog about there terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day's. It would make me feel better. ;) 

And if you haven't read this book you really should. It will make you smile! 

Fourth Festivities

I think you could sum up our 4th of July in two words: HOT & BUSY 

We loaded up in the morning to go to the free day at the Botanical Gardens. We have always wanted to go and you can't beat free. So we packed up and met some friends at the gardens. 

Will this ever get old? I love it when she wears her sunglasses! We walked around the beautiful gardens until we couldn't stand the heat any longer and headed to the kid splash pad! 

Needless to say, Lucy loved it! 

She was careful not to get "too" wet but she seemed to have a great time! I think the adults got just as wet trying to watch our kids and take pictures! It was a zoo in there! But who really complained- it felt very refreshing. 

Oh look! My friend Kara! :) 

Then we ate some lunch and headed to Crump park for a good old fashioned festival.

First stop: The petting zoo.   

Lucy LOVED this! I was surprised because a few months back we tried something similar and she showed little interest. But there was a baby goat who hung out by her most the time and she was petting it, poking it,  pulling it's horns and it's tail....she had a grand ole time. (not so sure the goat would say the same..) 

She kept "mooing" her go- to sound for all moving animals! 

We also saw some pig races, and got some ice cream and by then (about an hour later) we had had it, and so had the kiddos! Notice how there were no pictures of me? Uggh..we were SO sweaty and gross. Lucy's hair was dripping by the end. It was pretty much miserable. 

So, after naps and the grumpiness from the heat wore off, we topped off the day with a BBQ with friends!  We ate some delicious food, played some kickball in the field (by then it has FINALLY cooled down) and ended with playing some games at night- since our fireworks got rained out. 

Lucy with all her buddies...plus Will who was running around somewhere! 

It wasn't your typical 4th but we still had a blast. We are so grateful to live by so many fun, wonderful people who always show us a good time! Not to mention- how grateful we are to live in this wonderful country...lol..like that segway? 

July 5th addition... 

We felt robbed that our fireworks got cancelled, (well I did, Erik couldn't care less!) So, when the Shafers called on Tuesday evening and said they were going to go to the fireworks we just couldn't resist! I mean really what's the 4th of July (or the 5th) without fireworks? And these were going to be Lucy's first! 

Waiting at Byrd Park downtown for the show to start. They had a full blow band playing patriotic music while we were waiting. It was pretty cool. 

oh my- excuse the shine/sweat all over my face! 

Even though it was way past her bedtime Lucy was such a good sport and was a really happy girl! 

When the fireworks started she at first was clapping and pointing, even "ooohing" a bit. But then after the first few it was like she was saying "are these really going to keep going?" She then started to cry and get nervous so then it was cuddle time! I loved it! I just laid on the blanket and put her on my chest and covered her ears and we just watched the fireworks beaming down on us. It was beautiful! There is nothing like sitting under fireworks as they pour over you. I really get like a magical, giddy little girl feeling. I also really do feel a sense of pride to be American. I guess that's just the emotions fireworks bring out in me. I just sit in awe! 

 I have to say this show was one of the best I've seen. It was awesome! The finale was impressive. I was so glad we braved the heat and the crowds because it was totally worth it! 

Mommies Little Helper

Please excuse the fact that this post has no pictures, I think you will appreciate why once I tell of it's content.

I often leave the bathroom door open while I am using it and no one is home.(TMI?) Lately, Lucy will run in as soon as she hears me in there, crawl to the toilet paper and start rolling it out for me. Isn't she just the sweetest thing? ;) Actually considering what an awful location our toilet paper roll is (on the opposite wall of the toilet-all the way down near the base boards) it is rather helpful.

What I find hilarious is then when I am done she walks out with me. Like it doesn't occur to her that she could just sit there and roll out toilet paper all day for fun. It makes me feel like she really did do it just to be helpful to me! I love that about her! :)

Patriotic Cutie!

I hope everyone has an awesome 4th of July weekend!