Thursday, July 26, 2012

Kangaroo Zoo, TP, and the Station Fire

After a crazy weekend dominated by the baptism and moving into a box-filled home that didn't have a fridge or working washer/dryer, we finally got hooked up on Monday morning and settled in to a point that it seemed reasonable to get out of the house and do something FUN in the afternoon! 

My parents chillin' at Kangaroo Zoo:
Will and Andrew--the adopted brothers neither of them have:

Wizabeff:
Katie-poo:


It was HOT that day, so we thought we better cool down with some Sub Zero ice cream:

Visiting back at home:
I really do intend to rot and die in this house if it means I can look at this every day:


A random dude biking through our completely wild and un-landscaped backyard:
My sister, Elizabeth, and I laughed ourselves to tears over and over again during the week as we mimicked women who pose super deliberately for pictures. Choose your best side, chin down, suck it in, hand on your hip, bend the knee, flex the toe:
This really is my best side. Totally:
Only half joking:
Tuesday we ventured off to Thanksgiving Point. (Like I haven't posted enough pictures of this place already.)


We got a golf cart for my mom and dad (and the youngest, whiniest child) since it is a really big place, but since we couldn't all fit on it at once we had to split up. This led to many hilarious moments of me trying to contact my mother on her infrequently used cell phone to either get directions for where they were or give her directions (to translate to my father) for where we were. In the end, I chased them down and then shuttled everyone back and forth myself since I was the only one who really knew where I was going. (I just wanted my turn to rule the road on the golf cart.)
It's fun to see how the gardens change through the seasons:
Shuttle stop #4:
We ended at the Children's Garden:

Lunch at TP's Trellis Cafe. The kids were so well behaved I couldn't believe it! I think it's because they were sitting by themselves--it made them feel responsible for their own behavior. (Nothing like a nagging parent to rile a child up, right?)
I think this is Kate's best side! We were totally cracking up about the "best side" thing again at lunch:

This is about the 11, 754th picture we made my dad take because we didn't like how any of them turned out. I think it was the lighting:
My cute parents:

Right about then the waitress noticed the huge cloud of smoke up near the mountains, so we headed home to make sure our house wasn't burning down. Of course, it wasn't, but it sure wasn't that far away as you can see from these pictures taken from our back deck:

I took this one with my telephoto lens:
There's nothing quite like watching a massive wild fire in action:


Another day of unpacking, organizing, meeting with the insulation guy, ordering checks with our new address, taking the kids to piano (and Kate to her first stained glass art class tonight--so cool! she paid for half herself), babysitting for a friend who just had ankle surgery, making Andes Candies mint chocolate cookies, and not exercising or showering--which has me feeling a wee bit cranky. Time for bed!
 

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Elizabeth's Baptism

I didn't end up working on the pantry at all. The little girls watched movies upstairs while Brandon, Kate, Will and I had a Harry Potter marathon downstairs. Bad Allyson!

We made quite the scene checking all 11 of us (and the harp and cello) out of the hotel on Saturday morning in our dress clothes to be at the church ready for the baptism by 11am. We got there plenty early so Kate and Will could practice. (And I could calm down enough to enjoy the service!)

There's Rachael giving Kate a thumbs up:

Brandon performed the baptism, and since our church does it by immersion in a large font, both parties get to wear these awesome jumpsuits for the big moment:
Right before the service began:


With cousin Andrew:
And Wachael:

And the after pictures:








Grandma Reynolds flew in for the baptism the day before and stayed with us at the hotel after  helping quite a bit with the last of the stuff at the old house. She also gave a wonderful talk on baptism at the service as well. She was a real trooper! Elizabeth was so happy to have grandparents from both sides there:
Mimi and Papa--the other troopers of the week! Here they thought they were coming in town for a vacation way back when we first planned the trip and had an earlier moving date, but we ended up roping them into our whole moving mess. Looking at this picture, I think it was worth it: 

Check out Rachael:

The other Elizabeth:


Our dear friend, Ashley, and her adorable son Talmadge surprised us by coming to the baptism as well. It was so great to have her there with us!


Per Elizabeth's request, we went to Blue Lemon for lunch . . .



 . . . and then Orange Leaf for dessert:


Will was being so sweet to Elizabeth all day long, kind of coaching her along since he was the last member of the family to be baptized, but this was just about the cutest moment of the whole day when he invited her to dance to the music playing at Orange Leaf: 

After taking this picture, Brandon took his mom to the airport while the rest of us headed back to our new house to stay for good!
Since Elizabeth wore her dress again to church the next day, I had to take a few more pictures:


Can't believe our little sweetheart is growing up so fast!
 
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