4th of July Extravaganza!

I have been horrible about updating our blog so here is a whole slew of blogs to get up to date. It is now 12 am and I am finally finding time to fit a little blogging in. 

Over the fourth of July weekend we enjoyed spending time with Stephen's brother, Thor, and his family. We started off the day with a yummy breakfast then on to the annual Rexburg parade. It was about 90 degrees and the lack of shade didn't help. Quincy enjoyed seeing all of the people, I also enjoyed seeing all of the people and floats that have been the same for the past three years. 

That evening we had a nice BBQ, played some Wii Fit and planned to watched the fireworks but at around 9pm Quincy started in to meltdown mode. We finally decided to head home to put her down. We thought that we would be able to see the Rexburg firework show from our house but it turned out that we couldn't see anything. Stephen, being so tech savvy, pulled out his ipod and found several firework shows on YouTube. He held the ipod up in the sky and we played make believe. 

The next day Stephen was able to go on an all day hike with Bishop Davis, who he served in the bishopric with. He had a great time hiking Devil's Staircase and it was good preparation for his four day backpacking trip to the Sawtooths coming up in a couple of weeks. 

                             Taking in all of the excitement

                                  Trying not to melt
                              My two favorite people!
                     Bishop Davis and Stephen-what a view
                                 GQ mountain man!

We had a great weekend! How grateful I am to live in this country and to enjoy the freedoms that I so often take for granted. I am also incredibly thankful for all of those who risk their lives and for those who have died defending the freedoms that I enjoy!

Quincy's New Ride

After our trip to Utah we decided that the time had come for a new car seat. Traveling in the car with Quincy had become anything but enjoyable! I am happy to report that driving in the car is a whole new experience now. Quincy is a lot more pleasant and I love seeing her sweet face.

Utah Trip

My Brother-in-law, Rick, won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for his company Skull Candy. My parents headed out to Utah for the event and so we decided it would be a good time to visit some family in Utah before our move in a few weeks. 

We had a great time in Park City: swimming, eating a yummy steak dinner (thanks dad!) at Ruth's Chris, site seeing in Old Town Park City and taking a roller coaster ride through the mountains. I had so much fun on the ride, I haven't been on one in years. 

Overall the trip was a lot of fun, I even got to make a stop at Ikea-I had been looking forward to that for a while. Unfortunately, I lacked the funds necessary to make any purchases.

                  Waiting in line for the roller coaster ride

                                Heading up the hill-yikes!
            Looking off the balcony of the Hotel Park City

Lovin' the Summer!

Today my sister Darcy and I took Quincy to the park. We ended up taking a ride on the carousel and as you can tell in this picture, I was having a blast!

              I love Quincy's hair when we take out her pigs.                        She reminds me of the Mayor in the Grinch.

               It is hard to be mad at a face like this!

A Day At The Park!

We have been doing our best to enjoy the sunshine this week, now that the sun has finally decided to come out here in Rexburg. We have gone to the park the last few days and have enjoyed the fresh air. Quincy loves watching all of the children and being in the sun. However, she hates the grass. As soon as any part of her body touches it, she bursts into tears-what a girl! 

We have been doing a lot of traveling over the last month so I haven't posted in a while. We headed home to Colorado and then to Anaconda Montana to visit family. Quince has been a great traveler but we are glad to be home. Traveling really wears us out. 

Stephen spent a week in Colorado at a job expedition leaving Quincy and I home alone. Let me just say that I was happy to have him home. I can't imagine doing this parenting biz on my own. We are still on the job hunt but it looks as though we will be moving to Colorado in August. We are so excited for a change! 

Visitors!!!

This past week we were lucky enough to have some visitors. My mom and sister came to spend a few days with us. Actually, it was a surprise that my sister came and we were so glad to have her all to ourselves! We made a trip to the mini bazaar, the snow shack and clean flicks. It was so great to have them here because it isn't often that people make the trek out to good 'ol Rexburg. 

                                                Mima
                                                huh?
  Snuggling with daddy at the park and enjoying the fresh air
This is Quincy's new chair. She doesn't quite know what to think about it yet but I know that she will grow to love it. I secretly think that I like it more than she does.

First Haircut

When Quincy was born she came out with a full head of hair. Slowly her hair has fallen out and then grown back in thicker, that is all except for a little tuft of hair on the back of her head. This little area just grew and grew and became a little wild rats nest. While we were home my older sister suggested cutting it but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to do it. I guess I felt like she might lose all of her super powers like Samson. After returning home to Rexburg I realized that the time had come. 

          Have you ever seen a sweeter face?
                                    Snip snip
                                       The result

Colorado Visit

Over the break we had the opportunity to go home to Colorado and visit family. We always enjoy being in a city with more than five stoplights. As much as we have enjoyed our time here in Rexburg, we are definitely ready for a change. Stephen just started his final semester of school which means that three months from now we will be embarking on a new adventure-we are so excited! One of the wonderful things about going home is having LOTS of family to love on our little girl. Here are a few pictures from our visit.
Quincy and London playing in her playhouse-Quincy really was looking and feeling like a big girl.

It is so much fun to see Grandparents interact with grandkids-Quince loves her Grandpa Osborn!

                          Cousin Sydney Page
    Enjoying the sunshine with Mima Claudia and LondyLou

Playing Mommy

For the last two weeks I have been playing mom to my sisters kids in Park City. I had fun but the  one who really had a blast was Quincy, she loved being around all of her cousin and spent most of her time giggling.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 I was amazed at how busy life becomes when you add a few more children into the mix. I felt like all I did was drive from one thing to another. I gained a new respect for my sister and realized how crazy my parents must have been to have eight kids. 

Facials with Brooklyn

 

I was able to spend a couple days with my sister Cami shopping and visiting. Why is it that so many of the great stores are in Utah-something isnt right about that?

Playing Dress-Up at the Outlet Mall

Decorating Easter Eggs 

Bowling at Fat Cats-Preston put Brook and I to shame!

Mischief

Ever since Quincy started crawling she has become very curious about her surroundings, she has also become quickly dissatisfied with crawling alone. Now she enjoys climbing on everything within reach. This new couriosity is keeping me very busy-I do a lot of wiping away tears after she has fallen, bumped her head or gotten herself stuck.

On The Move

Here is our happy girl! This is what she looks

like 99% of the time-all smiles.

This was an exciting week for our little Quincy Jane: she started crawling. For the last month she has been setting the stage for the big moment. Once she started, she didn't stop. She is on the move constantly. In some ways this makes my life easier. She's no longer wanting to be held every second, but on the other hand, she's getting into all kinds of mischief. Another sad thing about her learning to crawl is that she no longer wants to be snuggled all the time. She has no time to just lay in my arms-she has things to discover!

Assembly Required

Have you ever noticed that putting together furniture or equipment brings out the worst in people? It has been seven months since our baby Quincy was born. I've been looking forward to the day when I could start exercising for a long time now. What I didn't realize is that in order to begin my workout routine I would have to do the following: get dressed in BYU-I approved clothing, drop Quincy off with a sitter, drive to the university, spend 15 minutes looking for a parking spot, wait 15 minutes for a machine to open up, finally get to my workout (!), drive back to the sitter and finally go home. After doing this a total of two times, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Thus ended my hopes for fitting in to my pre-pregnancy jeans any time soon. 

Then I had a bright idea. Why not bring the gym home. I began looking for a reasonably priced elliptical machine. In case you were wondering, reasonably priced ehlipticals don't exist for college students unless you shop at K-Mart. I finally found what I thought would be a perfect answer to my problem. Stephen and I (mostly Stephen) went straight home and began putting this thing together. As I watched him, I began planning out in my head the my new routine. Wake up, feed Quincy, work out, shower. I couldn't wait for the next day to get started. My daydreaming was brought to a halt as I heard mumbling and pounding. Turns out the K-Mart brand elliptical was quite the nightmare to put together. To make a long story short, two steps from completing my new home gym, we discovered that it was a piece of hud and decided to return it. We stuffed it back into the jeep and returned it. An entire weekend wasted. I guess I will go back to my oh so convenient schedule.

Mommy Talk

After spending the evening with a group of girls who were at my home for a recipe group, I realized that I am behind the times technologically. When they left I decided to give this whole blogging thing a try. I have actually been enjoying blogging for a while now-just not my own. 

After a day of baby talk it was nice to have some time to shoot the breeze with adults (even if all we did was talk about labor, pediatricians and nursing). It is a great feeling to know that I am not alone in the joys and hardships of motherhood. A magical things happens when I get a peek into the lives of others-I realize just how blessed I am to be doing exactly what I love. All I have ever wanted was to be a wife and mother, so I guess I've got it all.