Too much fun!

Mia and I have been having too much fun.  Well, other than that Mia got sick and was congested and had a cough for most of the trip.  We were able to spend oodles of time with grandma and grandpa and Tiffany, as well as many other friends and family.  We can hardly believe our time here is quickly coming to an end.  Only three more sleeps until we head back to papa and Texas. We can't wait to be back in his arms, but man are we going to miss all the family (and friends that are like family) that are up here in Utah.  Zeus is worried that Mia won't remember him.  She's been so good with all the people she's met up here and we've skyped nearly every day, so I'm hoping she'll go right to him just as she always has so he's not all sadness when we get back!


Here are a few photos from our visit.  Unfortunately I've been horrible at taking photos unless it's of Mia and/or other family or kiddos with Mia. 

Mia and my friend Aleece's three darling kiddos sharing Mia's puff snacks.  My friend's Erin and Jaclyn were there as well, along with Jaclyn's little boy.  Somehow we didn't end up getting a grown-up shots.

Mia and my friend Sandy's two youngest girls.  Our good friend Mary was there along with her two darling boys and when Sandy's three other kids got home from school we went and got the infamous Farr's ice cream.  Man, I stink at group photos! 

Sandy's little Camilla sharing her toys with Mia who's hair'd come out of it's ponytail, but still stuck straight up!!!

Sandy got this one of Mary and I, but other than that, we sure stunk at being sure to get group photos!

Got a cool shot of the snow-capped mountain peek though - gorgeous Utah scenery.  Man, I miss the mountains!

We went and got Mia's photo taken in her pretty dress.  Got one of Mia and I as we waited for them to get ready.  :)  They turned out great - can't wait to get them in the mail!

Here's a silly preview of what Mia thought of photo time.  :)  

For a link to all of the portraits (even ones we didn't particularly love or order), click below:

https://viewimages.targetportraits.com/sharealbum/sharealbumlist?rndId=CAcIBAk=&uId=CQYJBwlO

and then this one for one's I've put in montages/templates:

https://viewimages.targetportraits.com/giftmaker/index?rndId=CAcDBQI=&uId=CQYJBwlO

Afterwards, we wandered the store and did some "window shopping".  We found this cute shirt and had to get a photo of Mia and her Auntie Tiff.

My mom went to get her hair cut on Friday and talked me into going and getting my hair cut as well.  It'd gotten pretty long - I honestly don't know how long ago I got it cut, probably before I was pregnant with Mia, so forever ago.  Zeus called while we were driving to the salon, and when I told him I was going to get my hair cut, he replied, "Great!  Chop it off!  Chop off at least 3 or 4 inches!"  Oh my.  I had no idea he felt that strongly about it.  Usually significant others WANT you to keep it long, so it caught me a little by surprise.  Not totally by surprise though, because it  had gotten so long that it weighed itself down.  I have pretty thin hair anyhow and tons of it has fallen out since I had Mia.   Zeus once commented that when I let it dry loose, I looked like a "flower child" and should pull it back in a pony tail.  Schnikeys!  

APPARENTLY it had gotten pretty bad, and I was more than ready to have it shorter again, so in we went, and off came the hair.  I knew what I wanted because I've been thinking about it for forever and also because when I skyped with my sister Michelle last week, she had a new haircut similar to what I'd been wanting that looked FABULOUS on her.  I wasn't sure if I'd be able to describe it though to the stylist, but I guess I did because she did a great job.

Here's the main chunk of hair I got cut off.  

Yeah, that's it.  All of it.  ALL. OF. IT.  It looks impressively long, but that's the whole thickness of it as well.  PITIFUL!  The rest of the cutting was the layering of it.  It's now layered and totally NON-flower-child looking, I'm proud to say.  Stay tuned for photos of the new haircut.  Oh yeah, and as I drove home with my mom she said, "Wow, your hair looks SO much better.  It use to be this thin long pony tail that did NOT look good.  It was so long and thin.  I can't get over how much BETTER it looks!"  Yeah, the truth hurts sometimes.

Family Fun

The last few days we've just hung around the house together, gone out to eat a few times, stepped out shopping a few times and pretty much just kept it nice and low key.  Forgive the blurry cell phone photos.

Mia rocking with Uncle Kevin.

See, totally just chillin'.  :)

Thankfully Uncle Harold (my dad's youngest brother) was better at getting his camera out and taking photos than the rest of us were and he was nice enough to let us download them so we were able to have some non-cell phone photos.

Tiffany, fastidiously reading.

Holding up my chins for the photo.  :)  See, only one!

Carnivorous beastie Mia, chewing on her shoe.

Mia and Tiffany doing what they do best - chewing on stuff and reading.  :)

But wait! I can do another trick as well!

Wait for it!  Wait for it!

I can SWING IT!!!  YEE HAW!!!

Playing with mommy.

Grandma (my mom) finding a less conspicuous way to hide the chins.  Good one!

Mia teaching mama how to text on Uncle Harold's phone.

Mia teaching Uncle Harold where his nose was - he was way surprised to find it right there in front.  :)

Mia teaching Uncle Harold how to wave.

S M I L E !

Hanging with the boys - Kevin, Grandpa (my dad), and Uncle Harold

Uncle Harold and Auntie Charlotte sent some ADORABLE outfits for Mia.  They were size 12 month so that she could grow into them and wear them for a while.  They were a little big, but we had to have a fashion show anyhow.  I was surprised how much they almost fit - we rolled the waistbands of the pants and that helped.  The colors were so fun and looked so great on her.  Here are the photos from the fashion show.  :)

Mia's cool new patriotic bib. (Uncle Harold and Aunt Charlotte were married on the 4th of July)

Darling outfit number one.  SO cute!

Darling outfit number two.  But of course!  :)

Darling outfit number three.  LOVE IT!

Walk like an Egyptian.

And a foot photo for Auntie Charlotte - she loves baby feet, but unfortunately Mia's can be a little tricky to get to hold still long enough.  Smart mama found a great solution.  :)

Reading an upside down book with Aunt Tiffany - an upside down boat, an upside down wagon...

Capturing the attention of Kevin and Tiffany by clapping.  :)  We spent a lot of time watching Mia do cute things.

Freshly bathed little baby sweetly snuggling grandma.

Today at church, my little brother Kevin gave little Mia her blessing which is similar to a christening in other churches.  He was so sweet to do it for us!  Unfortunately late last night he woke up with a head ache and later threw up, so needless to say he wasn't feeling so great that morning.  Mia had also woke up with a cough and'd had a rough night the night before.  Luckily we all made it to church and Mia was able to get blessed.  Yesterday we all went out to lunch at Cafe Rio (a local favorite of mine) and Uncle Harold and I got there before the other two cars so we ran next door to TJ Maxx to see if they had any pretty little dresses.  We found a darling little dress and though I was planning on paying for it myself, Uncle Harold insisted on paying for half (thank you Uncle Harold and Aunt Charlotte) and my mom paid for the other half as part of an early birthday present for her (thank you mom).  Needless to say, Mia looked incredibly adorable today.  :)  My dear friend Amy Craig was able to make the 8:30 am meeting with her twin 18 month old girls in tow - what a woman!!!

Fashion show when we got home - is this not the cutest dress ever?!?!?

The pretty detail work on the top layer - so pretty!

Sitting so sweetly in church on Uncle Kevin's lap.

Pretty baby Mia with Uncle Kevin after church.

Photo with her favorite mama.  :)  Man, I never thought she had my eyes before...

Man I love this beautiful, wonderful little girl!

Kevin, Mia and I came home after the Sacrament meeting because Kevin and Mia weren't feeling so good.  Luckily after a bottle and a nap, Mia was feeling better, though her voice is really hoarse.  Kevin, unfortunately is still feeling a bit under the weather.  We happened to talk to a man from the church and I mentioned that Mia was feeling sick and he offered to come over and check her out so that we didn't have to run into Wee Care.  He happened to be a pediatrician and came over and checked her breathing and looked in her ears, nose and mouth.  It was such a blessing not to have to run across town to the only 24 hour emergent care facility and even called in a prescription for her because she's congested and is working on another ear infection.  I'm wondering if we're going to have to get tubes put in after all.  I was so thrilled that she wasn't having many ear infections, but she had one beginning of December, middle of March and now middle of April.  Poor thing!

After her nap - checking out the reflection in the tree pot.

And back to her old self - licking everything.  lol  No wonder she's currently sick!

3 days down already

We are three days into our Utah trip and time is already starting to go by too quickly (though I'm sure my husband would not quite agree with that)!  :)  I can't believe it's already been three days since Zeus took us to the airport and we flew out.  Zeus ran home from work during his lunch break on Tuesday to run us to the airport. Mia was just waking up from her nap when he walked in the door and when she saw him she got this huge old grin on her face and started clapping like crazy.  Papa came in and got her and did his customary dancing with her to the music on the thing in her crib one last time before we headed out.  I had to run and get my camera so I could snap some photos of my sweeties dancing together.

Mia dancing with her papa.

As you can tell by the HUGE grin on her face, she does not enjoy it at ALL!  :)

At the airport saying bye to papa.

Standing in her car seat on the airplane, checking out everything.

Saw the pretty snow covered mountains in Utah.

Checking out grandma.

Investigating every nook, cranny, electrical chord, and heating vent, along with the huge sliding glass door.

On Wednesday we went to Amy Craig's house and played with foam mats, books, and foam blocks.

Mia crawled all over and played with Amy's adorable twins Emma and Ellie.

Ate aforementioned foam blocks.

  

Went to Chili's with Amy and her sis and all the kiddos.  Mia ate puffs off the table and whacked the table like crazy.  :)

We went to the school I use to teach at and saw Miss Fipe, my former teacher assistant - we love you Miss Fipe!

Mia was adored by my former students who wanted me to PLEASE come back and be their teacher again cause I was the best teacher ever, they said.  I also got tons of hugs and love notes as well - such fun!

We came home and Mia was passed out cold!

Grandpa put his hat on me.  I wasn't too sure about it.

We are having so much fun hanging out with family and friends and are looking forward to seeing more friends next week!