Mama Mia!

We went to Price a few weekends ago to celebrate Mother's Day and party it up with the family. Little A and I headed down on Friday. Zach, since he had to work Saturday day and night, was going to stay home for the weekend. But instead, he was missing his wife and child (we are pretty incredible) and decided to surprise us by riding a train that left Sunday, Mother's Day, at 4 IN THE MORNING - like, when it's still dark, really dark - and arrived in nearby Helper at 7 a.m. That's still early. Like, really really early (especially if you're the one who had to roll out of bed to pick him up).

But what a great guy.

We had a fantastic time in Price (as usual). We went to visit a 500 million year old friend at a College of Eastern Utah dinosaur excavation not far from my parents' house.

(L) Little A touching a real dinosaur tooth. (R) Preserving the dinosaur vertebrae in plaster.

Little A being held by his Grandmother, who should also be known as the World's Best Mother,
and hanging out with his BFF, Grandpa Randy

Hosted an impromptu Valdez family hula hoop party. It was harder than it looks.

(L) Aunt Suzi showing us how it's done. (R) Cousin T.J. busting a move.

(L) Mal and mom (M) Sara (R) Little A

(R) Birthday Girl showing her dad and Uncle Jimmy the proper technique
(L) Linsey, Zach and Grandma Darlene

Celebrated Karley's birthday.

Celebrated Malarie's official college graduation (even though she finished her classes a year ago - she's smart like that).

Toasting the graduate, unfortunately the awesome photographer didn't get a picture
of the graduate during this toast.

And celebrated some pretty incredible Mothers on their special day.

Little A and his Great Grandma Inez and Great Grandma Darlene.

All mothers should be so lucky. We had a blast!


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Monday Lovely: Snowy grandfathers + grandsons

Little A & my dad, taken just a couple weeks ago.

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While the view from my home includes a trash-strewn parking lot

As you may or may not know, I am one of the world's most loyal Golden Girls fans. My favorite character, of course, is Rose Nylund. Besides our occasionally ditzy personalities, she and I also share a first love: Our hometowns.

Price is my St. Olaf.

So it should be no surprise that one of my favorite things to do is take Little A down there where we can breathe in the (fresh! clean!) air, look at the (clear! blue!) wide-open sky and enjoy long conversations with the relatives of my aunt's across-the-street-neighbor in the customer service line at K Mart. (Small towns are like real-life experiments of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.)

We also enjoy taking advantage of the beautiful scenery just steps out my parents' back door. So all the way back in November, just days after Thanksgiving (I have lost 5 pounds since these photos were taken, thankyouverymuch), we went for a little sunny-day walk.

The family set out on an expedition...

...to look for these: seashell fossils.

The view wasn't bad.

The people-watching was riveting.

And the expedition proved to be a success.

We had such a fun day that I think that even Rose would be a tiny bit jealous (though she probably wouldn't admit it. She is surprisingly competitive.).


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Monday Lovely: Crazy for Cabin Fever

The A Train and I walked up to Trolley Square last week when we noticed the windows at Cabin Fever. I love black + white images paired with bright colors. And I love Elvis. And butterflies.

The trifecta!

[Editor's note: This window momentarily brought me back to my childhood aspirations to be a store window decorator, a la the hit 1987 movie, Mannequin. I was actually able to live out my dream during a short-lived high school stint as a sales girl at the bustling Fashion Crossroads on Price's Main Street. Elastic waistband pants, anyone? After a few times of alternating between the oversized sunflowers and oversized crayons, I was out of props and my window displaying days kind of ran out of steam...]

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Carbon County Celebratin'

As I mentioned in a previous post, last weekend was a very big one for us. We went to Price for wedding festivities galore, spent time with much-missed family members and I turned the big 3-0. As I've said to friends, I'm sure somewhere, somehow there was a miscalculation. I don't feel 30 but I guess I'll take it.

Little A loved every minute of being the center of attention while we were hanging with the family. His older cousins (my cousins' kids) are all so sweet with him and since the next-youngest baby in our family is already 4 (?!), he gets passed around constantly by all the aunts and uncles. He loves meeting new people and seeing new things, which works out well since we're almost always on the go. He is a very happy and calm baby (although I realize now that by typing this I am tempting Baby Fate and will likely be witness to a serious in-public meltdown, that may or may not involve a large diaper blowout. I guess I'll take my chances...) and handled all of the changes to his schedule like a champ! He also had his first stint with a non-family member babysitter for a few hours during the end of my sister's wedding reception and handled that like a champ, too (although it was a pretty tough one for his mom).

A few photos from the weekend...

Proof

My dad putting his new purchase to good use.

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From Baths to Babes

Abby pointed out to me that I've been slacking on posting pictures of a very cute baby who happens to live in my house.

But it's for good reason! We've been busy. On top of restaurant-induced craziness (I've decided that about 90% of the craziness in my life is attributed to that. Good thing I really love cheese.), I was fortunate enough to get a horrible illness last week and so my parents came up from Price to get the little prince and myself since I couldn't take care of either one of us and Zach was swamped with work.

I'm feeling much better now and actually went back to work yesterday; I'm going into the office two days a week. Zach had his first full-day of being a part-time stay-at-home-dad (whew, that was a lot of hyphens). He and the baby had a great day of hanging out together. And the dishwasher had even been emptied when I got home, which was a plus.

A few updates:

My mom introduced Anthony to the fun of a bubble bath. He hadn't really loved them before this point, now they're his favorite. Since this picture was taken he's outgrown the kitchen sink, though.

He loves going to Price and getting to spend time with members of his crazy family who treat him like royalty.

Back at home, we have decided that the cold weather is an excellent excuse for him to sport varieties of fashionable headwear.

Last week, Anthony went on his first date with Joelle's little beauty, Natalie. Don't worry, their moms chaperoned. We all met at the coffee shop and let the kids be wild and crazy (see below) while Joelle and I enjoyed our half-caff lattes.

Isn't Natalie adorable? Joelle pointed out that Natalie is a cougar since she's about three weeks older than Anthony. Which is great for him because he loves older women. I think he was trying to play hard-to-get, though, because he slept during their entire date. His strategy is to make Natalie think he is a man of mystery. I think it's working.

And maybe the best part of their relationship, as Joelle pointed out on her post about this outing, is that thanks to Natalie's grandmother's home town, Natalie is part Price-onian, just like Anthony. A match made in heaven, er, Carbon County. Same thing, right?


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His bum will have a lemony fresh scent

Last weekend, Anthony and I took his first trip to Price. I loved introducing him to our large extended family, Anthony loved getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa and I'm pretty sure they loved spoiling him, their first grandchild.

When we realized we were running low on baby wipes, Grandpa volunteered to run to the store to pick some up.

My poor dad didn't know why we were all laughing when he walked in and handed us these, which he pointed out, he got in both colors since he didn't know which ones we would like best.


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Showered

A couple weeks ago my wonderful friends (they're also all from Carbon County, which is why they're so super fabulous) Charity, Marisa, Heather and Holly threw an incredible shower for little Mirando. It was amazing, from the adorable centerpieces to the tasty cupcake party favors.

Thanks, girls! This whole getting-ready-for-baby-phase has been so much fun and made Z & me appreciate how many thoughtful friends and family members we have. We feel so lucky!

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