Part of Your World

Claire loves the Little Mermaid...you'll see the devotion on this video...
(and of course she doesn't go anywhere without her new favorite doll, Jessie. Thanks again Lauren!)

Happy Halloween!

From Jessie the Cowgirl

One sweet Labor Day weekend

Labor Day ROCKED this year. It started bright and early Friday morning at Swiss Days. We were not the only ones thinking that...it was a zoo!


The scones were SO good. I will be going every year to at least get a scone.


It was hot, but so worth it!

{I - gasp! - forgot my camera...so thanks, April, for remembering!}


That night we got to meet our friend's new addition, Rocky Charles, at the hospital. He was born at almost nine pounds...way to go Danielle! Such a cute, chubby little guy.


Claire just loved him.


Saturday thru Monday we went camping with the fam. Claire and Corgan loved jumping on the air mattress.


We were right next to this little river. The kids entertained themselves by throwing pine cones in.


Nate and me


Action shot of Nate chopping the wood.


My cousin Nancy brought bubbles and they were a hit!


My brother, Ryan, and his cute girlfriend Olivia.


Group shot, with a few people missing who had already left. This was taken on our last morning after cleaning up the campground...so we all look really awesome.


Finally, on the evening of Labor Day, we went to a luau at Thanksgiving Point. YUM, I love luau food! Here's everyone waiting on the grass for the show to begin.


All the girls (minus the moms)


These kids love playing together!


Family shot


Claire got to go up on stage and learn the hula. She was front and center and loved every second of it. I've got to get her in a dance class.




I've decided that we need to petition that it be Labor Week, not Labor Day.

What? August is over?

I looked on the calendar today and stopped drinking mid-drink. Its August 31? August is almost officially over? The end of summer is upon us? Noooooo. Seeing as how I have only blogged once this once (well, on my family blog at least) I figured I better do a quick catch up for posterity sake.

Here's our August in a nutshell...

On the first day of August we went to Lagoon with some of our dearest friends, the Carlsons. Here is Soren, Kai, Nate and Claire in their shades...


Claire and Kai were best buddies. Seriously, they never fought once = minor miracle.


Lindsay and me with our girls, just after we got soaked by the fountains.


Claire and Nate riding the Sea Odyssey.


We dropped the kiddies off and went back for some more fun that night. We got a self-portrait on the Sky Ride.



A few days later we went to the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake. We weren't sure if Claire would like it, but she had a great time! Nate kept showing Claire the frogs and she loved it.


Claire showing us that she's two or doing a peace sign. I'm not sure which one.


Nate and Claire spinning outside.



Next up was a Bees game with my family. Claire fell in love with the Bee and wouldn't stop hugging it. It even hit her with his stinger a few times because she kept following him around. Here she is mid-action, with her cousin Bryton.


Family pic.


One with Nate and Claire...she's really into putting her arm around everyone's shoulders lately.


And Claire and me.



Next, we went swimming with cousins Drew and Corgan. Here they are ganging up on her.


My mom with Claire and Corgan.


Claire and me.



Next was our big trip to Cali. We drove and spent the night in Las Vegas. I found my new favorite/affordable hotel - South Point. We loved the pools.


I love this shot of Claire's little bum and then her huge belly.


And the breakfast buffet in the morning was awesome.


Claire especially loved that she could have ice cream in the morning.


We went to Six Flags Magic Mountain on our first day in Cali. I love that place! There are tons of huge thrill rides! Thanks to Nate's parents for watching Claire all day for us. Here's a group shot - minus me of course.


Nate and I waiting in line for an awesome ride - Tatsu.


The next day we drove down to San Diego to see the BEST musical ever...


LOVED IT and love Nate for the idea.

We even got a chance to stop at the San Diego Temple. It was beautiful.


The main reason we went to LA was to celebrate Nate's grandparent's birthdays. His grandpa turned 90 and his grandma turned 75.


Claire and her cousin, Maddison, at the party.


We had almost everyone there!


I had to get one of Claire and her great-grandparents.


And I love this four-generation one.


What a great trip!

In the middle of the month, I caught this cute one of Claire and her cousin Drew. My sister calls it their "prom pic." He he he...what can I say? They posed themselves.


Next we went to Claire's cousin Sierra's second birthday party. They were loving all the sweets!


She loved the cupcakes.


Sierra and her cute parents, Cliff and Jess, blowing out the candles.



Claire got to go to the zoo with "Grandma Sheri" (Nate's mom).


She got to ride "Melman the Giraffe" from the movie "Madagascar" on the carousel.


Grandma Sheri even bought her the most prized possession she owns - a "Gloria the Hippo" stuffed animal (also from "Madagascar").



We got to go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. The kids loved the water feature.


Claire striking a pose in front of Jaws.


I love this one of Claire, Corgan, and Drew checking out the dinosaur's feet.


Out front. Notice the line? It was around the building the whole time we were there. I guess that's what you get when you go on $2 Tuesdays.


Claire, Mason, and Drew playing around afterwards.


Chillin on the bench.


I thought this one was funny. Mason looks like he's a little jealous... :)


They loved swinging on this bench!


My family got together to celebrate my bro-in-law's birthday.


We got together with Nate's family yesterday for his cousin's mission homecoming. Its great to get a group picture every now and then, even if everyone is not there.


And finally, poor Claire had some allergic reaction to a mosquito bite. Its made her entire forehead and eye swell up!


Just look at the forehead. Poor girl.


If you made it this far, I am seriously impressed. I can't believe we did all that in one month.

July Roundup

Here are some random things we did in July...

Had some family time at Liberty Park


{BTW-Claire's hair looks so long to me in this pic! Finally - its growing!}


Blew some bubbles (pretty much every time we are outside)


Claire dressed herself and we decided she's got some style


Painted our nails


Went to the movies with Claire's cousin, Drew (every week for the kid's movie)




Claire took her first picture with the camera...


Claire decided she loves sunglasses. Every time we go outside now - "Its bright out here. You forgot my sunglasses."


Went to the Ogden Temple


Tried to use the self-timer


Had our six-year anniversary. Celebrated at a great steakhouse in Ogden. Love you babe.


Got surprised with Wicked tickets in San Diego!


July was pretty good to us. Bring on August!

Giant grasshopper, more camping + Bear Lake

Another big update!

While I was weeding a flower bed, I was almost accosted by a giant grosshopper...I mean grasshopper. I'm not a fan of bugs and went running for Nate in the house. He came out and was also surprised by its size. This is not the best angle, but it was actually a little bit longer than his chapstick!


Ewww.

So he picked it up and Claire said, "I wanna hold the grasshopper." She's definitely not my daughter when it comes to bugs. She squishes ants in her hand, loves to hold potato bugs, and now grasshoppers. So he handed it to her.


She was all about it until it clawed into her arm.


A close-up just because it grosses me out so much.


Ewww. I had to share that little story because I'm so glad Claire has not developed arachnophobia like her mom.

Next up, we went camping again last weekend. This time with my family. We camped right by Tony Grove in Logan Canyon. It is beautiful up there. I have many fond memories of camping there as a kid.


We started off with a great breakfast by my dad. He's an amazing chef in the mountains.


While breakfast was being made, the kids watched Claire's favorite, "Elmo's Potty Time." (If you're looking for an entertaining/very descriptive show to watch, rent this.)


After breakfast Claire and my nephew, Corgan, were playing in the tent. It all of the sudden got quiet. You know what that means. Corgan came out of the tent with what looked like black marker all over his hand. We ran into the tent, thinking the worst, and found this.


Claire's first run-in with mascara. But I have to give her credit for her aim...she didn't get it on anything but her face and Corgan's arm. I owe my sister-in-law a new tube.



Then we hiked all around Tony Grove Lake. The sky was an unbelievable blue.


My mom and Claire.


This was the view we had of Claire and Corgan most of the time.


This overflow was one of my favorite things when I was young. You could run back and forth and up and down the walls. I was easily entertained I guess. The kids (and my dad) loved playing on it too.


Then we stopped to take some family pics. We decided to add Claire to my brother's family.


Then added Corgan to ours.




Claire loved carrying these wildflowers the whole time.


A cute one of my parents and Claire.



Lastly, we went over for the day to Bear Lake for a reunion on my mom's side of the family. I think everyone else had the same idea...it was a little crowded to say the least.


This is the only kind-of group shot I got. I was adding it up and there are almost 90 people in this family now, including great grandkids. Yeah, I come from a big family. So I guess this wasn't even close to a group shot...


My mom brought up her little kid pool and we filled it up. It was pretty overcast all day and kind of cold, so this kept the water a little warmer.


I thought I'd end with the cutest picture of the bunch. Claire and Corgan enjoying some kind of inside joke.


I have to say it once again, I LOVE summer!

Reunion

We had a great time at the Plowman Family Reunion! We spent five days camping just outside of Stanley, Idaho. When I say camping, I mean in-a-tent-no-showers-outhouse-kind of camping. Nate and I have never gone camping like this with Claire and wondered how she'd do. We shouldn't have. She was in heaven. She was so happy all week and kept saying, "I wanna go to my tent." She was obsessed with the tent. She also loved playing with the cousins her age and being the center of attention with the older cousins. Here's the chronicle of our trip:

The six-hour drive was beautiful! Because of all the rain we've had lately, everything was a gorgeous green.


View from Nate's eyes


Setting up the tent with Nate and his dad. Claire was a huge help.


Then cute Sierra wanted to come and help.


Sierra had already been there a few days...Claire's face got this dirty shortly. :)


Seriously, she was in her element.


The second day, we took a gorgeous hike.


We didn't have a back pack to put Claire in and it was an almost 10-mile hike. She got to ride on Grandpa and Dad's shoulders a lot.


We had to cross a few streams that were ICE COLD. My feet felt numb for a while after. But Nate's dad crossed three times. Once to get Claire and his gear over, another to take his wife on this back (wish I'd gotten a pic of that), and a third time to take his 80-year-old dad over. That's the kind of awesome guy he is.


You never heard Grandpa Plowman complain once. Here he is, 80 years old, and can out-hike any of us. We finally got a break near the top.


I'm sure Nate's back and arms enjoyed putting Claire down for a bit.


Claire loved balancing on logs.


And she loved the attention she got from cousins Cindy and Emmy.


They loved going down to the "beach" and throwing rocks. The first time Claire went she was asking everyone where the whales and dolphins were.


The men cooking dinner.


Seriously, the Plowmans do not mess around when it comes to food. We ate fabulously the whole trip.


Claire carried this chair around everywhere. She'd roll it up, then unroll it over and over.


The morning of the 4th of July, Nate's aunt's family brought up a flag and flagpole. We had a great raising of the flag ceremony. Claire got to be part of the Color Guard.




Then everyone sang patriotic songs (while Japanese tourists took pictures of us...seriously.).


Claire loves spending time with her Grandpa and I think he feels the same way. They spent hours going on "adventures" together. Every time I'd say to Nate, "do you know where Claire is?" He'd say, "with my dad."


On the way home from another hike (that we ended up getting hailed on and had to end early), we found a flock of sheep. There were literally hundreds of sheep everywhere.


Cousins Josh and Corey playing what I think was called "Ninja Destruction". Uncle Ken taught everyone and they spent a lot of time playing it.


The last night we roasted hot dogs, ate smores and played many games of Mafia.


What a fun trip. I love spending time with this family!

{More to come of our camping adventures...we're going again this weekend.}

BBQs, Bees and Bathing Suits

Summer ROCKS.

We had a great neighborhood block party last weekend. We ate, talked, watched fireworks, and had a great time.
Here is everyone getting ready for the fireworks to begin...


I'm pretty sure all Claire ate the whole night were Doritos.


Family pic (thanks again Jamie!)


These kids were so cute! They loved watching all the fireworks!




After dark, Nate and I had some fun with the sparklers. I'm impressed with his ability to write backwards.



We also took in a Bees game...well, sort of.


This was how the game started...


After three short innings, it turned into this...


We hung out under the eaves for about 45 minutes while it poured.


It finally cleared up, and we got to see this beautiful double rainbow.


And Claire got to puddle jump.



We started swim class (again) at the beginning of this month. Tomorrow is our last day and I'm so sad. I'm pretty sure I like the class more than Claire does. This time, we took it with my nephews, sister, and sis-in-law. Its so fun hanging out with these guys!




Brad subbed for E'Shell one day, so he could give it a try and she could take pics. The kids all loved having Uncle Brad there.


She always runs to get her towel, usually with purple lips and goosebumps.


Why can't life always be like this? I heart summer.

The B-man

My little brother, Brandon (or as anyone who knows him, calls him B-man), is leaving for an LDS mission to Lima, Peru tomorrow. He'll be gone for two years. I hate even typing that. He is one of my very best friends. For the last couple weeks if Nate or anyone else even brought him up, I'd start crying. Claire said something about him last night, the tears started coming and she said, "You missin B-man? Don't be sad. Be happy." Anyone who reads my blog regularly, knows I love the B-man. So I thought I'd give him a little shout-out before he goes.
Here they are - the top ten things I'm going to miss about B-man:

#10 - His goofy sense of humor.







#9 - He loves his family.







#8 - He's an amazing uncle to Claire.











#7 - He's athletic and fun to play sports with - whether its snowboarding, lacrosse, ping pong, bowling, frisbee, jumping off high dives, etc.













#6 - He loves to flash gang signs in almost every picture I take of him.









#5 - He's really random.




{Yes, one of his presents for her second birthday was a chocolate Crucifix.)



#4 - He's one of Nate's best friends too.





#3 - Did I mention he's an amazing uncle?









#2 - He's the best youngest brother a girl could ask for.





And #1 - He's going to be an amazing missionary.










I'm going to miss him SO much. But I couldn't be prouder of everything he's accomplished and has yet to accomplish. I love you so much B! The people of Peru are lucky to have you!

I love having a girl

{In preparation for Nate's brother's wedding tomorrow.}


Of course, the moment was gone when she did this two minutes later.

*Sigh.*