Home Alone

Chris left Huntley and I home alone for FOUR whole days to go play with some fires in southern Utah. He left Monday and was supposed to come home Thursday but Wednesday was the worst day ever. His crew was called to fight fires in Texas and our four days of being home alone turned in to THIRTY!!! I kicked. I screamed. I cried. And now I'm trying to employ positive thinking and enjoy the fact that his absence will give me my new kitchen.

Saturday Chris finally arrived on site and since he will only be able to talk to us randomly throught out the next month the blog has now become my way of updating him on what is happening in Huntley and I's lives. Saturday we went out west to take Ellie and Maze (yes that's the new dog's name given by Huntley that I can't think of anything better) for a walk. This week I discovered trying to walk two dogs and push a stroller is a joke so now we just drive out to the desert and let them run around while Huntley and I walk. Poor Hunt is going to have to get used to being quite the celebrity since I'll constantly be taking pictures of her and the rest of you will just have to get used to seeing boring pictures of her on a regular basis.

Don't worry she's about as annoyed with that fact as anyone but I figure someday she'll enjoy it since it will be a whole lot of attention on her before the baby comes.

I'm writing this at seven in the am but I know Chris was on a fire all night so hopefully he checks this before he crashes in bed and Huntley says "Night Night Daddy, Luv U!"

Bow

A couple weeks ago we had the really hard task of saying good bye to our buddy Bow. I've never been much of an animal lover and have just put up with Chris's need to always have man's best friend but Bow apparently was more important than that because I've had a hard time letting him go. He was only a member of our family for four short months but he will always be remembered, as Huntley's best friend, Chris's pride and joy, and for his crazy tree climbing skills and cute little howl.

Since Ellie is now by herself for the first time in her life she's been really lonely during the day and it breaks my heart to see her sitting by the fence as we leave. So we welcomed this little lady into our home and she has been great. She is extremely patient and puts up with Huntley's love and has been perfect. Now if we could just think of a name for her we'd be set.

Humble Pie for the Homeless

Our Easter was so much fun this year. Huntley actually understood and grasped concepts so we were able to dye eggs, hide eggs, find eggs, not to mention enjoy the real reason for the celebration and be thankful for our savior and all he did for us so that someday we can see Bow again. I love that she is starting to grow and learn things but the independent attitude that is also coming with that growth is not my favorite thing. She had a gorgeous Easter dress that is too painful to wear and after me arguing with her forever about it not hurting her Chris finally pointed out we were late for church and just let her wear what she wants. We got the below ensemble of a pink polka dot dress, pink rain boots, pink blanket subsituted in for a little old lady shawl, and our pink princess lunch pail. She looked homeless. The picture is horrible but I had to take it so that I could someday laugh at her stubborness and not be upset with her not wearing the dress she was supposed to wear.Lately it seems like I haven't had a whole lot of patience. Chris started work a couple weeks ago and is gone alot which has been a huge adjustment for me and the life I was used to of going to work and coming home and doing a whole lot of nothing. Now it seems like I'm constantly running from one place to the other, we're surviving on cereal, and I'm late to everything. I've developed a nasty little habit of saying bad words in my head and under my breath, a lot. On Thursday I'd gotten off work late and hurried home to make dinner so I could get to a training meeting for church. Of course I'm running behind, Huntley has a major diaper blowout, and not one dress or skirt in my closet fits. I walked into the meeting late thinking not so nice thoughts and was then served my piece of humble pie. Our meeting was on constantly using the For Strenth of Youth pamphlet in any way you can when working with the youth. We learned how the number one way to do this was to make sure you always live the standards in the pamphlet. Originally I had forgotten what had been going through my head just a few short minutes before and thought I'm not perfect but I do feel like I try and live my life according to those values. As the meeting went on we were told to open the pamphlet and they wanted to go through an exercise on how to teach values. Here comes my big piece of pie, the value they picked was language. I sat there in my too tight clothes feeling extremely bad and realizing I had a problem. I'm glad I was able to have this experience before it gets any worse but I'm since it's a problem I have in my head I figured writing it down and admitting I have a problem is the best way to overcome it. Now my plan of action is to try and sing songs to put me in a better mood. Plus I'd rather have Huntley pick up on hymns than spitting out swear words.

Saturday

Saturday we:

• Mowed the lawn


• Weeded the flower beds


• Played in a fort


• Built garden boxes


• Went to the dump


• Taught Huntley to drive


• And started leveling the dirt to make a corner of our yard into a really awesome fire pit

Then for the half hour break we had before the preisthood session started we sat in the backyard BBQ'ing and enjoying our hard work.

Sunday we woke up to this and our all our hard work buried. At least we enjoyed the sun while it was here.

Why I love my Huntley Baby

Since I've been really bad at blogging this year and this is what I use as my journal I decided I'd better devote a whole post to Huntley so I can remember how fun we had at this age. I love that she has developed her own personality and is becoming her own little person. #1 I love how gorgeous Huntley is. She loves to sneak in the bathroom and do her "pretties." Normally I try and keep the mascara unreachable but not this time.

#2 The way she talks cracks me up. When she wants to be carried she comes up and says "Mommy I carry you?" Of course she has her I's and me's a little confused and wants me to carry her but it makes me smile every time she says it.

#3 She is my little snuggle bug. I go to bed really early these days and she always comes and cuddles with me and then goes and lets Chris know when I fall asleep. Sometimes I wonder if we've switched roles and she's the mom now.

#4 She is one cool kid. She loves playing outside and a couple days ago Chris told her it was finally going to be warm and she'd get to go to the park. This is how she got ready to go.

#5 Like I said before we've switched our mother/daughter roles. Here she is in self imposed time out. When I told her to get out of the dog kennel she said she couldn't because she'd been bad. Too bad it's not that easy when she really is.

Anniversary Vacation

Last weekend was our anniversary. The year after Huntley was born we went to Jackson Hole for our anniversary and brought Huntley and it was the best vacation ever. Everything was cheap because it was the off season and Huntley was at that really chill six month stage where life is good and she was easy going. This year when we decided to go out of town for our anniversary I figured we brought her then so bringing her now would be the same. Boy was I wrong. At six months Huntley slept through the whole vacation and smiled her way through dinners making sure we got the best service ever. At two years Huntley jumps on the bed while your trying to relax, complains that the National Park is not a park because there is no slide, and creates havoc at the restaurant so you eat your food as fast as possible to get out of there before any major damage can be done. From now on anniversaries will be spent as a couple and not a family affair. Chris also was able to do a little fishing lately and ditched Hunt and I for the whole day. I didn't complain one bit because it meant he finally got our camera out of his buddies truck and I was able to look at our pictures from our cruise. Someday it will be warm enough to go swimming outside.

Addition

My last post I talked about all the new things that are going on at our house. I left probably the biggest one out because that one I thought we were still keeping quiet. Apparently Chris doesn't know what keeping quiet means and couldn't sleep one night and posted it on facebook for all of his "friends" to see. Now I'm mad because all of my blog readers are much more important than his facebook friends and they will be the last ones to know. So I apologize to you all but yes it is true and Huntley is going to be a big sister. For those of you who are friends with Chris on facebook baby #2 doesn't make it's arrival until September and not June.