Utah Vacation

Last week Corban and I went with my mom and dad to visit my sister, Ashley, and her husband Addison in Provo. I'm always nervous when I travel with Corban, but I should have more faith in him. The kid really is a trooper.  He was great in the car all the way there and back and in the four nights we were there he only woke up once in the middle of the night.  I guess this kid is just a traveler.  Not to mention, quite the dresser!

It was so great to just spend some time relaxing...

playing at Pioneer Park

my little water baby

My mom and I took a morning to go to Gardner Village, an old flour mill turned tourist boutique shop central. They were in the midst of decorating for Halloween, so there were witches everywhere -

The architecture of all the buildings was fantastic.  Many of the shops were original cabins of Utah settlers and the old mill was converted into a restaurant.  Corban was just fascinated with the water wheel

The shops were also great. I left with a lot of craft and design ideas. And to top it off, there was a petting zoo!

Grandma teaching a lesson on "being gentle." Heaven knows, Corban needs it.

Corban loves animals, so taking to see the goats, chickens, rabbits, and an English Mastiff the size of a horse, made me feel like I didn't just put him through complete torture, having to endure two hours of shopping.

On Saturday, all of us went to Salt Lake City for the day.  We started by hiking to the top of Ensign Peak. Corban had some bonding time with his new uncle as Addison carried him almost the whole time...

We weren't exactly prepared for hiking.  Ashley and I were in sandals. But it was a nice, easy hike and the view of the city made it well worth it.

We spent some time sight-seeing - Joseph Smith building, Temple Square, the Beehive House - and then we met my cousin, Katie, and her husband Mike, at their beautiful new home in Lehi.  I'm terrible at keeping in contact with my cousins, so it was great to spend an evening with them.  They are such fun people. I'm sad they live so far away.

So, it was a great trip.  I have to say how grateful I am to my mom, dad, Ashley and Addison for being such an awesome help to me with Corban.  Everyone was so willing to hold him and keep him entertained.  It made it so I actually had a bit of a vacation too.  Time has a way of going so fast and it felt like we had to say goodbye too soon. Til next time...

Oh, my broken heart(s)

Here are my sugar cookies I made tonight...

As I tried to pry these babies off the cookie sheet, I'm thinking "I always mess up on some mundane detail."  (Quote, anyone?)

Anyway, my mundane detail was forgetting to grease the cookie sheets.  What a waste.

Girls Night In

Last weekend Josh went to a baseball game, leaving me to my own devices for an evening.

I decided to paint my toenails yellow, which I thought would be a fun end-of-summer color, but in actuality they ended up looking kind of diseased -

I even smudged one of them, which added a nice decaying effect.  Better yet, when I finally took the paint off, my nails were stained an orangey kind of color. 

I also made a white chocolate passion fruit cheesecake (recipe here) that turned out delicious.  In other words, a more rewarding experiment than the yellow nail polish. 

And then I wasted the rest of the night watching two and half hours of Arrested Development on Netflix.  Really, I don't know why I've procrastinated watching this show for so long.  The comedy style is perfect - sarcastic, outlandish, and mildly uncomfortable.  And how can you not love this face?

little, chubby Michael Cera!

Has anyone else out there ever had an obsession with this show?  For my part, I think I'm a believer.  Hallelujah.  

We cut his hair!!

Last week we cut Corban's hair for the first time.  I'd been procrastinating it for the last month or so, and Donny had been calling him a hillbilly long enough, so it was time to trim his luscious locks...

I didn't think it would be so difficult for me, on an emotional level.  He's just growing up too fast.  Toddlers get haircuts, not babies.

What I was fully expecting was how difficult it was going to be physically.  At first he was just curious -

But then he was angry -

He even fought to keep it...

In the end, I don't think he was so hot on the new look -

But I thought it was A-ok

A couple days later I decided it looked too much like a bowl cut so I tried to add some layers in the front, but really just ended up butchering it pretty bad.  But, hey, we're still convinced he's the cutest kid on the planet, so no harm done.