Wedding #2

Last month my brother Ben got married in Portland, and I got to fly there with Erik minus the small ones.  I think it might have been our first kid free trip since Sam was born.  It was glorious to fly without children.

The Portland Temple is beautiful, and absolutely surrounded by vegetation.  We were a little dazed after our year in Arizona.

The girls with our dad: Becky is glamorous, Lindsay is classy, and I just look bossy

Our newest member, Valerie!

Erik with the happy groom

After the reception, we hurried to Multnomah Falls to get a taste of Oregon's scenery.

My family, or as Erik calls us,"The Shire"

 We flew in late Friday night, back midday on Sunday, and Sam was still mad at me for leaving him.

In Vogue

We do a lot of dressing up at our house.  And since our dress up options are all feminine, Erik frequently comes home to Sam in beads or pink hats and shakes his head.  Dress up is a very serious affair - when she puts on her Cinderella costume, Dad gets to play every other character in the story over and over again. For hours, if he has the stamina.  He's perfected the art of armchair acting.  The other day, Morgan pulled out her beautifully-crafted-time-intensive french braid because "Snow White does not have a braid!  She has a headband!"  I grit my teeth and try not to squash her imagination.

Loving his sister's galoshes.  This caused Morgan a great deal of stress.

Does this remind anyone else of "Man in the Iron Mask?"  He was not a fan.

Even Dad gets in on the action.  Although maybe he shouldn't.

Erik was in dire need of new glasses, so we all trekked to the eye doctor to give input.  I put some little frames on the kids for fun, but it quickly turned into a love affair with glasses.  Morgan still talks wistfully about her need for a pair "to help her see better."  With our combined genetics, I think it's pretty likely that her wish will come true.

She's a big fan of accessories.  Sometimes I really wonder how the two of us ended up together.

Even princesses have to pick their noses sometimes...

The Food Edition

In looking through our pictures from April, I was a little taken aback at how many there were of eating and food.  I don't remember gorging myself last month, but I suppose it could explain why both Erik and I are newly committed to exercise and healthy eating.  That or an upcoming Lake Powell trip necessitating 4 days in a swimsuit.  Regardless, enjoy our feeding frenzy vicariously.

The boy's first asparagus

These days, anytime I take a picture of Sam, Morgan insists that I document her too.  Even when this is what she gives me to work with. (did you just start singing the Mulan song too?)

Sam's first Cafe Rio, Erik's request for his birthday dinner.  I guess I should be insulted that he didn't want my cooking, but mostly I was just relieved.

First sucker.  I'm noticing a trend.  April must have blown his mind.

Yup, you guessed it, first strawberry pie.  Compliments of Erik's 30th birthday.

Look at that angle- he's totally doing the old man after dinner slouch.  All he needs now is a toothpick.

I know there's not a kid in this picture, but dang this was good.

Another date that I wasn't invited on.

She insisted on sitting in the high chair, and then got upset when Sam tried to take food off "his" tray.  I'm relishing the development of a competing predator.  As a mother I can't teach her survival tactics, but Sam is giving her a crash course.

I just realized that as I type I'm eating snap peas and hummus.  It would appear that April is not as isolated an event as I would like to think.  Although its hard to feel too guilty about peas and hummus.  If you don't see me in any of the pictures from Lake Powell, you'll know why.

A Wedding Trip

Erik's sister Liz was married at the end of March, so the whole family flew/drove to Utah for the ceremony.  

Here's the beautiful bride with her new husband, Larry.

The three siblings, making Lizzy's trademark "whatever"...

...and her other favorite, the thumbs up

Meeting up with dear friends... 

...and far-away cousins...

...and a much-missed Nana.

Check out that sweet bow-tie

As the sole grandson with 4 granddaughters, Sam's going to have a lot of practice with the ladies

After the whirlwind wedding/Easter weekend, Erik flew home and the rest of us set out for Moab for a few days.  The kids obliged the fates by developing nasty colds the entire duration of our trip - Morgan literally got sick as we were driving up, and recovered the day we got home.  Sam woke up crying every few hours at night, and refused to let anyone else hold him during the day.  Which, you can imagine, made hiking Arches NP a bit more interesting.  All that could have made for a lousy trip (and it probably was a downer for everyone else), but it was so fun to be outdoors with family that I overcame my natural pessimism and managed to enjoy myself. :)

Don't let this idyllic picture fool you - Morgan grudgingly hiked up into Monument Arch, as high as she could, and then refused to come down.  It took both Far-Far and Uncle Mark to carry her down, with her yells and screams echoing throughout the arch.  One of my prouder moments as a parent.

She found her happy place at Sand Dune Arch - no hiking, no elevation, just sand to play in.

By the last day (here in Canyonlands), Sam decided that Uncle Mark was alright.  Nice how they always become pleasant just as you're about to leave.  

And then it was back home, via Las Vegas and a night spent in a glittering casino (or as Morgan used to say, "casheemos").  You should have seen my kids eyes when I woke them up to go inside.  They fell asleep in the desert and woke up to noisy crazy megawatt Vegas.  After Sam hit the slots, we got home with a ton of laundry, not enough pictures, and some good memories.  Let the outings to national parks begin.

A little March Madness

I actually did fill out a bracket this year, but since I ended up somewhere in the middle of my group, I will not be discussing it here.  Instead, here are the things that managed to pull me out of my competitive despair.

I think Morgan has been on more dates with Erik than I have in the last several months.  They always go to Home Depot and then to the "ice cream store" - these are the two key elements of a date to Morgan, and she's not open to any other suggestions.

"Bacon... I need bacon..."  You wouldn't know it by his height and weight stats, but this kid loves to eat.  Especially meat.  If his enormous melon wasn't proof enough of his Merkley heritage, his eating tendencies would be.

Documenting her alarming increase in fashionista behavior.  I have a feeling she's going to be looking at me in despair in about 13 years, wondering how she got stuck with such a frumpy mom.

The Boizelle cousins at the semi-annual train show.  You drive around town and check out these amazing train sets that hobbyists have in their back yards.  Free, entertaining, I love it.

A little impromptu photo shoot by Erik

Rocking the turban.  I'm a major influence on her early style. 

I think God made sure that 6-18 month old babies were delightful, so that mothers would forget the rough stages and want another one.  Sam is such a joy right now that I'm ready to freeze him in time and never let him grow up.