The Summer 2009 Eli Tour

WE STILL EXIST!!! Wow what a crazy month it has been and we're preparing for an even crazier two months! We've been traveling, had company, my computer had a heart transplant (new hard drive) lots of crazy stuff! Funny thing is that when I have tons of stuff to blog about, I ironically also don't have time to blog! So I'm playing catch up with this SUUUUPPER long crazy post!

The 2009 Eli Tour Kicks Off!

Eli has been on 5 trips since he was born, and we have 6 more planned before he turns 1--insane, I know, but i'm looking forward to it! Jayme's mom decided I should call it "The Summer 2009 Eli Tour" so here's the kick off!

Hope you enjoy and can keep up!! :-D

Salt Lake City May 14-21

My mom bought some teething biscuits for Eli and he LOOOVED THEM! They were like hard molasses cookies, he got so messy eating them, but thoroughly enjoyed them until his mean mommy took them out of his mouth when they broke off into large hard chunks (not so good choking hazard-wise, if you ever want to see a baby get really mad, take a partially chewed cookie out of thier mouth) needless to say we don't have these at home, we have small "puffy's" that disingrate when he eats them. :)

Racing day it's racing day! For those of you that don't read my fitness blog (link is on the right-hand column), my mom and I ran a 5k together and it was a BLAST! I came in 206th out of 1,000 and my mom came in 220th!! Woo hoo!! We both met our goal of running it under 30mins. It was so fun! Now I am training for a triathlon sprint in August!

If you look at this picture closely (click on it to enlarge) you will see an interesting bracelet on my wrist--it's a hospital bracelet. I was in the ER not 12 hours before this picture was taken. I had very bad stomach pains at about 6pm the night before our race and my Mom took me to the ER only to discover that I have gallstones. Fun. Having babies sure does a number on your body! I asked the doc if I could run my race the next morning and he thought I was insane, but said I could! So here I am!

Yeaaa Mommy! Eli hung out with Grandpa and Auntie Samm while we ran.

Eli and one of my very best friends, Nikki. Unfortunately we didn't get to see her for too long, but met her for a really nice lunch. She is the best!!!

Eli LOOOVES Doggies. I don't know if it's a boy thing or what, because I have a friend whose little boy also loves dogs. Eli has slept with a "doggie" stuffed animal since he was about 3 months and just loves doggies to death. This trip to my parent's house he really got excited when he saw the dogs (my mom has 2 and my bro has 1) he would just crawl all over saying "dog dog dog" (it sounds more like dgdgdgd) he loved to just sit and pet Duff and look at Max through the window. Duff was a good sport and let Eli play with him.

Big YAWN! Everyone's mouth is open! Haha!

Red Butte Garden

I have a membership to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, and it gives me access to other gardens throughout the country, so far I have been to 3 gardens in 3 states, they are quite serene and I am really enjoying it! I LOVED this beautiful tulip! It was such a fun day spent with my mom and sister, Stephanie.

This wisteria was hanging all over the gardens on these gazebo-type structures it was unbelievable and smelled AMAZING!!!

Auntie Stephie surprised my mom and drove down for a few days so she was able to join us at the gardens, we had such a nice time.

They had this really COOL children's garden with tons of things to do for little kids. We liked these giant lizards.

They were really bumpy and neat feeling!

This is a picture of my backyard. I WISH!! I LOVED this view, it was incredible. So these are pear trees growing over this trellis. COOL HUH!! Apparently, you can "train" them to grow over it. It will be really neat when it's full grown!

Sisters!

This picture was taken just seconds before I was attacked by a deranged woman!!

....sooooo..... Those of you that know my older sister know that she is nothing short of a little dramatic. :) (I love you Steph) So we're posing for this picture and we are back in this really secluded part of the garden where there are a lot of trees and streams and wildlife. Steph heard some squirrels (or maybe small bunnies) rustling in the bushes and was afraid they were rabid wild beasts coming to attack her and she literally JUMPED on me--thank goodness Eli was in the stroller! She freaked me out and we both started screaming! Luckily the wild rabid squirrel-bunny was nowhere to be found and probably ran off from wherever he was because of all the screaming-- it was pretty hilarious. Thanks for keeping things interesting Stephie!!!

Cousins! My cousin Kim lives in Provo, about 30 mins away from my parents. She came up for the afternoon and we went to lunch with my Mom. It was so nice to see her and catch up. We had a lot of fun times when we were kids and it was so great to see her!

We tend to get a little crazy when we're all together, I hope we still do this when we're 80!! :)

This concludes the first part of the Eli Tour...

Memorial Day with Cam, Alicia and Hailey!

We hung out with Cameron, Alicia and Hailey for Memorial Day and it was really fun. We had some great pool time and some good food. Eli and Hailey are getting to be able to play a lot more now that Eli can crawl around and chase Hailey. They are so adorable together and I know will be life-long friends.

I'm going to miss having a pool in our backyard, it's so nice!

Eli loves the pool!

Desert Botanical Gardens

Alicia hadn't been to the Desert Botanical Gardens to see the Chiuily exhibit so I took her since I get in free. It was short because it was soooo hot out, but it was still fun and we got to see some of the neat glass sculptures.

Las Vegas Trip June 5th-7th

Let me start by saying that I HATE Las Vegas. Maybe "hate" is a strong word, but I am NOT fond of it. However, our friends got married in the Las Vegas temple, so we made the trip up. The drive there was LOOOOONG as Eli HATES his car seat now that he is mobile and he pretty much cried unless he was asleep or one of us was in the back of our clown car (we have a tiny 2-door civic, it's cute, but not family-friendly), entertaining him. On the trip back he "messed" his car seat while we were in a traffic jam at the hoover dam. We had to pull-over and change him, clean the car seat and get re-situated in 105 degree weather. Needless to say, it was a beautiful wedding, fun reception and although I despise Las Vegas, it was a fun trip overall.

My blue-eyed boys. Some people say that Eli looks just like me, but he also looks just like Boyd. This picture proves it!!! I love my boys!!!

Eli got to stay up late and party-hardy with us. He loved hangin out in the grass!

Thanks for loaning me your dress Samm! When I went to Utah in February, I had lost about 10 pounds and I found this dress of Samm's that I LOVED. It looked really tiny, but I told her that I would fit into it by the next time I came to Utah, and I DID!! I was so excited, so she let me bring it home and I wore it to the reception. It's fun that I can share clothes with my 14 year-old sister. :)

Dancin' with Momma! I'm so excited to finally have a dance partner!

Doin' the robot!

xoxoxoxoxooxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Happy fam!

The reception was held right near the Las Vegas temple which is set up on a hill. It is BEAUTIFUL! It was amazing because you can see this gorgeous temple and then just turn around and see the Las Vegas strip. What a contrast it is, to see something so beautiful and then turn and see probably one of the filthiest cities on earth (okay I haven't seen them all, but it's up there I'm sure).

Our friends Jon and Emily were also in Vegas for the wedding and wanted to go to the strip, so with great hesitation, we did. It was nice to get some fun pics, but we hurried out of there because I just really don't like being there.

Enjoying a Coke-A-Cola at the Coke store. Why is it so much better in an ice-cold glass bottle? Who knows...

M&M World

In front of the Bellagio Fountains--they are definitely one of the best parts of Vegas, it's really cool to watch.

Watching the fountains. Eli thought it was neat.

Home for 2 days

We had a two-day break between Vegas and our trip to Colorado. Eli was playing with his usual basket of toys which include various ones that his 4-year-old cousin, Allie has left at our house. He has never really played with this baby before, but on this particular day, he decided to check her out. She is very dirty and has pen markings all over her, not to mention-- clothing-less, but Eli loved her! He played with her eyes and really thought that she was fun. He probably sat and examined her for 30 minutes so I snapped some pics.

Colorado! June 11-18th

I lived in Colorado for 10 years and even though my parents have moved away, I still love to go there and visit. It is one of the most beautiful places that I have lived, I love it (in the summer).

I babysat for an amazing family for 5 years and I was at their house every week and then lived with them the summer before I left for college, so they are very near and dear to my heart. I am sort of like an older sister to the kids since I babysat them since they were 2, 4 and since their youngest was born. I am so close to them so it was soooo fun to finally take Eli to meet them! We had a BLAST!!

The above picture needs a little bit of explaning... soooo Eli has a tough time keeping all the contents of his diaper IN his diaper... I don't know why, I've tried everything. So when I got to Colorado, I said to MaryGrace, "I need to get some diapers" well I TOTALLY spaced it and we went to lunch at Pearl Street. While at lunch, Eli was on my lap at I felt him "go" and I FREAKED OUT. I remembered "uh oh I don't have any diapers!" So I asked a lady at the restaurant if I could buy a diaper from her (she had a baby Eli's age, luckily). She was SOO nice and just gave me the diaper. I went to change Eli and it was EVERYWHERE (in true Eli fashion). I usually carry an extra onesie with me, but of course, I didn't on this particular day. Soooo he went naked the rest of the day. I guess it was good that we were in a very liberal "natural" place so no one had a problem with it. Here he is with Taryn touching a really cool water sculpture. Unfortunately I don't have any more pictures of Eli with the kids, but MaryGrace got some so I'll have to post them when I get some from her.

Denver Botanical Gardens

My third garden so far! It was really beautiful and a fun day with Nanny! (my grandma)

I have always tried to get one of these shots with a bee in the middle of the flower and I finally got one! hehe. I have a lot of fun with my camera at the gardens.

This is on the color selection setting on my camera which is SO fun! These peonies were AMAZZING! I have a million more pics from the garden, but this post is already long enough, so I'm not going to post them. At the end of my "tour" I will make a video of all the gardens I visited and will post that.

Papa reading to Eli.

Nan has a few dog statues and Eli went nuts over them! He immedietly picked them out and loved touching them. This one is her biggest and it took him a while to warm up to him, but he eventually did (see below)

Finally a Rockies fan! Nan and Papa took Eli to his first Rockies game and decked him out in some Rockies gear! Eli was a trooper and hung with us at the game from 6pm-10pm! He entertained everyone around us and had a blast! It was the Rockies' 9th straight win, so that made it even more fun!!! Thanks for taking us Nan and Papa!!

Eli thought it was really fun to sit on the seats!

This is Eli's 3rd cousin Jennifer! She is my mom's cousin, so Eli's Grandma's cousin! She was in town along with her sister Carrie and thier mom, my great-aunt Cathy. It was fun to see them all and Eli loved the extra attention!

Eli and Auntie Pam

5 generations. Unfortunately, my mom is missing from this picture :(, but it represents 5 generations! There is Eli, then me, then my mom (not pictured), then Nan, then Eli's Great-Great Grandma Head!! SOO cool! Eli is very blessed (as are Boyd and I) that he has 6 living great grandparents and 1 great-great grandma!!! We love you all!! After we visit my grandparents in Florida in August, he will have met them all before his 1st birthday!! Great-great grandma Head says "I just keep getting greater and greater!!" Haha! So true!!!

Boyd joined us for the weekend, and it was really nice despite the tornado threats. Ahh Colorado in the summer--never a dull moment! We had several days of beautiful sunshine to stormy hail to tornado warnings all within a few hours. You just never know what the weather will do there!

Eli's other 3rd cousin, Carrie. Eli really took to Carrie, they had fun together!

Eli loves to pretend he is a doggy and stick his tongue out and pant, so crazy that he correlates that with dogs. Who knew 8-month olds could be so smart! :)

I know Eli will one day beg his Daddy for a Doggie. I guess we will show him this picture and remind him that he loves "fake" doggies as much as he does real ones, and they are so much cheaper and less maintence! (We will have a real one someday Eli!)

Bestie Babies!!!

At the end of our trip, Eli was finally reunited with the love of his life, Miss Olivia! It was a BLAST hangin' out at Jayme's parents house for the last few days of our trip. The babies are so adorable together and they have so much fun playing. I of course had a blast with my bestie as did Eli.

For memories sake, we attempted to give them a bath together. Olivia looks pretty stable in this picture, but don't be fooled! She toppeled over just moments later (not to worry, Jayme has fast mommy reflexes and caught her). At the same time, Eli attempted his new favorite game--"let's crawl out of the bathtub"--which is not my favorite game. The bath lasted long enough to wash up--about 3 minutes. But we got a somewhat good picture that we can use in their wedding montage. lol.

This one is pretty fun too! Mmmm fingers are nummy!

Aaaaand there goes Eli. Siiigh I guess he posed long enough to get one good pic.

Grandma Sharon reading Brown Bear Brown Bear. The babies love books--make that love to EAT books. I guess thats why they make them in cardboard versions.

I LOVE this picture even though the book is covering Eli's nose and mouth. I love that you can just see his eyes and ears. So cute!

"We're former chubby girls. We're made of steel and splenda, WE SURVIVE!" --Bride Wars

Jayme and I have been losing the baby-weight (and then some) together. We both fit into our jeans we wore in high school and are both in better shape then we were in high school! It's awesome!

We started running and it was fun to finally run together. We ran twice together while I was there, it was great! I Loooooooooooooooove running in Colorado, it's sooo much nicer than Arizona in the summer!

Grandpa Ed with the babies! He was the BEST!! He and Grandma Sharon watched the babies while Jayme and I got our hair done and also when we went for runs. We had so much fun visitng them!

Apparently, Eli is #1

"Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you will find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding. But theres also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself is the same person who’s been standing beside you all along.” --Bride Wars

I feel blessed to have two "once in a lifetime" friends--Boyd and Jayme. We decided that we are closer than sisters because we don't have to deal with the "family drama" that sisters do, nor do we have to compete for our parents attention. I love every minute that I spend with her and am so sad that we will probably never live close to eachother. But we do pretty good to get together as often as possible. I love you Bestie!! I miss you already!!! (PS- your arms look amaaaazzzing!! :) )

That concludes the "kick off" for the Summer 2009 Eli Tour. Next up...

Salt Lake June 30th-July 10th

Portland July 10th-13th

Alaska July 13th-30th

Seattle July 30th-Aug 1st

Denver Aug 1st-8th

Florida August 8th-16th

WHEW! Oh yeah we're moving in a week too.. Now you know why I haven't blogged in a while...life is crazy, but that's what I thrive on right?

Love to you all!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo