Addie Pants

 I figured it's about time again to share all the things we love about our growing Addie, and the funny things she says.

 #1: Addie is adventurous.   She's usually up for anything, including dancing in a rainstorm with Daddy.  She's willing to taste every food at least once, she's never shy around other kids, and she's excited to go just about anywhere (except the fabric store).

She's trying to catch a "snail" boat in this one.  She and J were racing empty snail shells down the gutter. 

 #2: She's imaginative.  Here she is snorkeling in the bath, pretending to find sea creatures and treasure.  She makes up fabulous stories and is pretty creative with problem-solving, too.  For example, Jason was about to put a bite of her dessert into his mouth last Sunday, but she yelled out, "It's poisonous!" at the last minute.  Dessert was saved.

 #3: She gives everything a good shot before giving up.  You can see how she's giving it her all to get herself a drink.  (That doesn't mean she doesn't get good and frustrated, though.) 

 #4: She's brave.  She does things, even when she's scared.  She was scared to take swimming lessons, but she hopped in the car, drove to her first lesson, and entered the pool all without hesitation or fit-throwing.  (She ended up loving it and was excited to go everyday.)  I've seen her do this with immunizations, giving prayers or scriptures in sharing time, and trying new things.  She tells me she's scared, but does it all without even a hint of fear.  What a girl!

She passed preschool level 1 swimming this year! That's her instructor, Dani, in the pool.  We sure love this kid! She means more to us than we ever thought possible. 

And now for a good story:

So, a few nights ago I made a bad dinner.  I confess, as shameful as it is to admit it, I occasionally make a bad dinner.  This one was particularly bad, like black and inedible bad.  Making a balsamic vinegar reduction is not as easy as it sounds, my friends.  Also, here's a little tip I'm going to try from now on: taste the sauce before dumping it all over perfectly good food.  Anyway, as we were all eating, gagging, and shuddering, we ended up in laughing fits.  Addie kept us chuckling by trying to figure out what went wrong.  " It has too much black on it."  "I think it got too roasted."  " Maybe you cooked it too long."  "This reminds me of that berry I ate once."  That berry she ate once was poisonous, by the way.  We laughed about our awful dinner all the way through eating the bowls of cereal we ended up having instead.  How nice it is to have such funny people to call family!  It makes everything more endurable, even tar-covered dinners.

And some Addie-isms:

Addie was trying to convince me that tickling her back would make her go to sleep one night.  "See mom?  It does help me go to sleep!" she says, while tickling her own back with her eyes closed.

We were holding hands one day while walking when she all of a sudden stopped walking and pulled her hand down.  "Mom!" she exclaims, "I don't want people to see my armpits!"

She has a dinosaur vitamin everyday, but I have to cut them in half for the correct dose.  She always requests the "bum" half.  One day she said, "I love to eat vitamin bums!  Also, it's gross to eat real bums."

We were practicing letter sounds one day, and I pointed to the letter H.  "This sound makes a 'huh huh' sound, like huh-huh horse, " I explained.  "And like huh-huh dog, " she adds.  Who could argue with that? Dogs do make that sound.

I love how she says "bath-tize" instead of baptize.  It makes more sense.

This was awhile ago, but I don't think I have properly recorded it yet: We were all riding in Uncle Eric's truck when Addie got bored.  "Let's play some car games, " I suggested.  While I tried coming up with one, she just sat there looking puzzled.  After a few minutes of thinking, she says, "But mom, we're in a truck."  Not quite following, I said, "Yes we are."  "We can't play car games in a truck!  We have to play truck games!" she exclaimed. 

One day I said, "Should we curl your hair?"  To which she replied, " Like the old ladies at the haircut store?"

Lake Powell 2012

Addie fell asleep during the houseboat ride from dock to beach.  The anticipation of the trip mixed with heat and vinyl cushions makes for one sweaty coma.

Babies are at risk for such comas too, despite wearing bulky flotation devices. This is just further proof that babies can sleep anywhere.  It's too bad that skill gets lost somewhere along the way to adulthood, because I would benefit greatly from it.

Addie and Jack are snuggle buddies, even on vacation. I guess I should say that Addie is a snuggle buddy, because Jack doesn't really have a choice. 

 Jack loved the lake.  He was so content to just sit and let the waves wet his little toes, and I was just as content to sit there with him.  Vacations are good.

 Addie was a little mermaid the whole time and was in the water from dawn to dusk everyday.  I did manage to catch her out of the water in this photo.  It was probably the only time.  She and Caitie were hard at work with their sand construction.

Jack got a little lake immersion, too.  Doesn't he look so relaxed?
 

Jason took him out for his first dip.  He didn't love it at first, but he quickly got used to the water and joined in the party.

 This year we had sea doos, which are both scary and thrilling.  Bapa and Addie went for a ride and spun some donuts.

We also had a couple of little old men along on this trip.  If I didn't tell you this is actually a picture of little baby cousins, you would go on believing it was two old men, wouldn't you?  Babies are awesome that way.  Stetson and Jack hung out a little bit, but were both fairly busy with eating, pooping, and sleeping to get any good quality time in. They know they're peeps, though.

We went on a boat ride one day to find some arches.  We looked really hard and just about missed them, but lo and behold, we found 'em.  Sneaky rock formations, those arches.

 Bapa, Jack, and Jason.  It was a triple-generation boat adventure.

Another sneaky arch.

 Addie really wanted the last few drops in that can.  She could see them, but they just weren't coming out.  I watched this for a good five minutes before I decided to take a picture.

Jack had a little outdoor sand nap...

... in the opening of an awesome sand cave.  He will thank us for this one day.

 Here's a couple of lake giants out for a stroll, most likely gazing down on unsuspecting but delicious vacationers.  Okay, it's just Addie and Jason, but you get that eery giant feeling looking at them, am I right?

Addie and I took turns burying and labeling each other.

This was Addie's first time writing "mom".  I'll be honest, it was a touching and emotional moment....  can we just move on to the next picture please?

 A Lake Powell trip wouldn't be complete without some beach game tournaments!  And this year, there were no ants to throw off anyone's game.

 Addie really loved it this year and was sad when it was time to go.  I asked her, "Do you want to come back next year?"  and she said, "No! (sniffle) I want to come back tomorrow!"  After a good shower and a night in my bed, I would be ready to come back, too.  As always, Lake Powell is definitely a big highlight of the entire year.  Thanks, Nana and Bapa!

Farewell, Elder Colton!

Colton had his mission farewell on July 8th (going to Bangkok, Thailand!), so we headed down south on July 6th to spend the weekend with the fam.  The drive there proved to be rather eventful: we ate at Wendy's at the only outdoor table they have (above) and saw a complete double rainbow (below).  Jason and Addie got really excited and yelled, "Double rainbow! Double rainbow!" over and over again into the wind out the open windows.  I was busy steering while Jason took pictures, but I could still feel the overwhelming excitement.  They were omens of the coming weekend.

The next day we went out to Gunlock for some boating and beaching.  Addie is quite the fish this summer and is up for anything water-related, including tubing with her aunties.

Addie and Caitie sitting with Uncle Nate to get warmed up,  He's a good uncle!

Nate and Colton doing tubular tricks.

The four youngest and I got beached while the rest went back out for more boating.  We played in the sand and paddled around in the water for an hour or so.

Jack slept peacefully (and sweatily) with his life jacket at the ready should he suddenly find himself in the mood for nice dip in the lake.  He never did.  He did, at least, wake up to eat.  It was an enjoyable morning at the lake, if I do say so myself.

On Sunday we very much enjoyed Colton's talk and the family lunch afterwards.  Colton will be such a fabulous missionary.  He has such a sweet and genuine heart, and is just so darn likable! Jack was introduced to many family members, including his Great Grandpa and Grandma Utley.  Jack was a good boy and delighted them with with many enormous smiles.  Great Grandpa kept saying, "He's sure a dandy!"

I decided it was about time we had a family photo with our newest member, so I insisted everyone stay in their Sunday clothes until we could snap one.  I, however, Picasso-ed my dress in BBQ sauce so I ended up having to change.  Looks like I'm the one that needs the bib.  Anyway, I'm glad I finally got the photo!

And here we are with the current Elder Utley.  We've already really enjoyed his letters and are excited to share in this exciting adventure with him.  Way to go, Uncle Toten!

A Birthday Four Addie!

July 5th turned out to be a very rainy and surprisingly cool day, but it didn't do anything to dampen the birthday fun at our house.  Addie began her birthday celebration with breakfast in my bed while watching cartoons.  She loved it (even though she looks like she's got the flu) and took 2 1/2  hours to finish eating.  Her favorite thing to eat for breakfast is oatmeal and she has it almost everyday.  She'll make a good old person one day.

When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said, "Play all day with you!" So that's what we did.  We played with her new legos the entire day.  It was such a simple request, and it ended being so fun for both of us!

 When Jason got home we ate homemade pizza and salad (this kid also loves salad, which seems unusual for a 4 year-old) and then opened her last two presents.

 She got a travel Guess Who game from Jack (isn't he so thoughtful?) and this bug exploration kit from Nana and Bapa.  We played several games of Guess Who, which she caught onto pretty quickly, and then had several bug hunts.

The set came with plastic bugs, so we set them up around the room and then had Addie come in and look for them.  After a few rounds of that, it turned into a game of  "We have bugs in our house!  Call the exterminator!"  Addie was the humane bug catcher who was thrilled to be called to get rid of our bugs.

When I asked Addie what she wanted for her birthday dessert she said, "We already have it!"  It turns out she just wanted one of the frozen blondies left over from Jack's baby blessing a few weeks prior.  So, we thawed a few and stuck candles in hers.  She couldn't have been happier!

She's such a sweet and hilarious kid!  We're pleased as punch to have her in our family and glad we've managed to rear her to age 4.  We're on a roll!  She's a super helper (she mopped the kitchen floor yesterday-one handed even- and it looked so good I didn't even have to redo it!) and our little entertainer.  We love her to pizzas!  I can't believe she's old enough to start swimming lessons and begin preschool already, but she sure is ready to do all of those things.  She's a brave girl with a knack for making friends everywhere she goes.

When she was still three she used to say that she'll like tomatoes when she turns four.  Well, she still doesn't like them.  It cracks me up that every time we have them I can say, "Try some!  Maybe you'll like them now." and she'll do it.  "Nope, I still don't like them yet, " she'll say as she's putting all the rest on my plate.  What an awesome kid.