70 Times!

On Monday night Anna called to see if I could escape with her to do some thrift store shopping. After a quick FHE I headed out with her. I bought a wallet for my purse. This is the first one I have ever purchased. I put my checkbook and credit cards in the leather wallet from my bank when I first opened an account in high school and I used my sisters hand me down wallet she gave me in junior high or high school to hold miscellaneous cards and cash. They were both ugly and broken down. Anna helped convince me to buy something else. I found a wallet to meet all my needs for $5. I should have taken a picture of my old ones. Hilarious! I also found a cute polka dot dress for $5. Score!

On Tuesday I came down with a cold. I wasn't sure if I had random allergies or a cold but after discovering that several family members from our Beal reunion also had colds I figured that was it. I was pretty sick and miserable for about 5 days. My immune system does not work when I am pregnant I swear. So this week I haven't done much with my kids.

Tuesday night Kelsey, Justin, and Justin's brother came and stayed the night on their way to Seattle. I had just bought all the fixins for homemade Cafe Rio salads to make them dinner Wednesday night (when Kelsey told me there were coming). She called me at 7:00 on Tuesday wondering where we were and I was on a walk with my kids. Apparently she meant Tuesday. I had no food to greet them. Oh well! They headed out for the real Cafe Rio and that night we went and got half off shakes at Sonic.

With all the ingredients to make Cafe Rio salads I decided to invite Alex's family over for dinner Friday night. That dinner is too annoying to make for just my own family (although it is delicious). They came and joined us Friday night for dinner and it was fun. Our kids actually played pretty happily together and we were able to have a nice visit with Alex and Anna.

On Saturday Scott went to check out a Craiglist van that we are probably going to buy this week. Scary! We think it's the one. I took the kids over to cousin Brigitte's birthday party. I was planning on going shopping with Anna while we waited for the party to be over but I was not planning on having my girls with me. Oh well we headed to Goodwill. I think that browse shopping with kids is the worst, especially at a thrift store or yard sale. I never take kids with me to those stores. They did alright but it's not my idea of a good time trying to keep your kids at bay from having a temper tantrum at any second. No thank you. I did find a nice backpack for Corbin for school for $5.

Saturday was crazy busy mostly because I'm crazy. I got a reminder phone call on Friday that Corbin had a talk on Sunday. Uhh. Seriously. I hate that. If we aren't at church please call us sooner than that! I like to have time to work with him and make him memorize his talk which is not an easy thing for either of us. So on Saturday and Sunday before church Corbin and I practiced his talk 70 times. He had it memorized when he said it with me but not by himself. That's pretty good with a 2 day warning. I also made 4 dinners on Saturday because I've decided to attempt potty training Piper on Monday. That takes a lot of work and planning. I tried to potty train Gabby at this age and it was a big fat fail but I figured what the heck. I'm going for it. She actually seems ready and I'm ready so let's do this. Let the 3 day misery begin. We'll see what happens. Wish us luck!

Gabby fell asleep sitting up. She kept bobbing her head. It was pretty funny.

One morning Gabby and Piper were obsessed with hugging each other. Funny.

Yummy.

Cousins over for dinner.

Cute Piper watching a show. 

Welcome Home Elder Beal

This week we have tried to get back into the swing of things a little bit after being gone for nearly 2 weeks. Scott went to Texas again this week. On Tuesday night we had a girls night at my house and we watched The Host. That movie is terrible, but we had a good time. After the movie we stayed up and kept talking until 2:30 in the morning. I think I am still trying to recover from that. On Wednesday I met up with Anna and her kids and we went to the river. We always enjoy that but it was especially fun with cousins.

My brother Keaton returned home from his mission in Mexico. Scott always planned on just driving over Sunday morning for his mission report and big family picture (too many Beals in one hot house). I planned on driving separately early but decided I wasn't up to that and we didn't want to spend that much money on gas right after our St. George trip anyway. Luckily Anna decided to drive separately from Alex driving their truck and trailer so Corbin hitched it with Alex and Gabby and I hitched a ride with Anna. Great! It was much more fun to ride and talk with Anna, plus I hate to drive. We left Friday around 11:00. The whole weekend we mostly just sat around in the shade and talked. All of the grand kids ran around for 2 days straight. Gabe packed his swimming pool which was a great idea and a big hit. The volleyball net was set up and a group of much fewer girls took on a big group of the boys and we (Rachel and Kelsey) dominated.

This weekend was also the city of Arco's Atomic Days. Alex and Lance had their 20 year class reunion. There were booths set up in the park downtown and baseball tournaments and a parade. It was fun. The kids all loved the parade. It's always fun to come to Atomic Days. A lot of people come home that weekend so it's fun to see who you will run into.

Keaton gave a great mission report. I'm proud of him.  My family is so big! We are just getting bigger. It's kind of crazy to get together but it was good. I think this is the first time in a long time to have not one person missing. That is a miracle and a good idea to snag a picture. As my dad was rammed three times with a mean bull last week my mom said we could have all been gathered for his funeral. Thank goodness that was not the case. My poor dad has some major bruising and broken ribs. He is still in a lot of pain and any time anyone made him laugh this weekend it nearly killed him. Hang in there dad!

My friend was also at the river with her daughter and our favorite babysitter Paige. She made Piper into a mermaid. Cute!

Hammock in Granny's backyard. That thing was sweet!

4 Wheeler Rides

Why yes I found another Harry Potter closet (my mom's fruit room AKA food storage room) to escape this weekend. I figured it was the coolest, darkest place for me to have my own space this weekend. I pretty much loved it. I would much rather brave the spiders than the heat of my parents non air conditioned upstairs! At one point this morning Corbin, Gabby, and I were all crammed on this mattress catching some last snoozes before getting ready for church. 

Parade

Parade

We got our first family picture since I was a senior in high school. Hooray for being pregnant, NOT! Oh well. We also took a picture of all 40 of us including our spouses and children. Only the professional got that shot. Somehow she managed to take a picture with all of us and our kids with no one crying and everyone looking at the camera. She really is amazing. She's been doing it for at least 30 years though.

I can't help but take sleeping pictures of my kids. Piper slept for at least an hour. That's got to be some sort of record for her. Scott and I had a most pleasant talk and drive with our sleeping kids in the back...that is until they woke up. It was heavenly for awhile. Can I please not have to take my kids on a long road trip for awhile? Seesh!

Home Again Home Again, Jiggity Jig

We finally got home from Utah today. I am exhausted. We were almost there for 2 solid weeks! That's a long time. It was good but it's good to be home. On Monday mostly everyone went to Despicable Me 2. I asked Corbin if he liked it and he said "it was kind of gross." Ha. Apparently there is a minion bum in the movie that Corbin didn't appreciate. That night we went to Tuachan and saw Mary Poppins. It was pretty hot and long. It felt extra hot being pregnant. Pretty much everyday we swam for a few hours and went out to lunch and to a matinee. The movies I liked this week were Monsters University and the new Star Trek movie. One night Clark led us in a game of craps. That game is complicated. I sort of get it now a little bit. Another night we played The New Yorker for a few hours. That is my favorite. I love it and hate it.  We had a tennis tournament one night. Scott and I were out first since I pretty much have no coordination and can't hit the ball.

The weather was kind of crazy. It wasn't very hot at all. Especially considering it was 110 degrees in Boise before we left. A few days it was actually in the 70's and it was hotter in Boise than St. George. There was a rain storm one day, another St. George in July rarity. The Virgin river usually looks like puddles holding hands but after the rainstorm it filled right up and there were actually flood warnings and some flooding in Hurrican. Crazy.

The house we stayed in was BIG. The bedroom our family stayed in was almost the size of our house. It had 2 queen size beds, 2 big closets, and 2 big bathrooms. Crazy. Because I am a crazy sleep person I was able to build myself a little bed in my Harry Potter closet. Every night I would escape to my closet. It worked out great. I really should probably get some therapy. The house was very nice but it wasn't very well managed or maintained. So that was frustrating. It seemed like tons of the stuff was broken or would break. We didn't have cable or internet most of the week. The hot tub was barely warm. These are kind of minor things but when you are on vacation and you are paying for these luxuries you expect them.

As always the week goes way faster than expected and you still don't manage to do all you want to do. We ate a lot! Good thing I'm supposed to gain weight anyway because I did. My kids had so much fun playing with their Nana and Papa and aunts and uncles. It was the best! Thanks Nana and Papa for such a great vacation!

The front of the house

The back of the house

The tennis court in the back. Seriously! Who has their own tennis court?

The Virgin River after the rain storm. This is tons of water for this river trust me.

Scott helped Corbin catch a lizard.

Cuddles.

Cute matching girls. Baby Greta is so chubby and so cute.

Getting ice cream in Beaver on the way down.

I love that picture! So funny.

I love this smiling boy. He is always smiling and he was a go getter in the water. He's my little fish.

Carole and Gordon.

I love that Piper and I are doing the same thing in this picture AND...

Pulling the same face in this picture. Ha!

A Wedding, the 4th, and St. George

This week we have mostly been in Utah. We were planning on driving down for Mandy's wedding on Monday but when we heard it was supposed to be 109 degrees and the earliest we could leave was 12:00 p.m. we decided that was a bad idea. We figured our cars are too old and our kids are too small to travel under such conditions. We opted to get up at 3:30 a.m. and head down for the wedding the next day. The Webbs were kind enough to watch our kids during the temple sealing and luncheon. Bless them! After the luncheon we picked up our kids and tried to rest before the reception. We then headed down to the reception in American Fork. All three of our kids gassed out and got a bit of a power nap. Piper had not taken a nap all day and even on the drive down she only slept for about 30 minutes. Amazingly all of our kids did really well and partied all night. Mandy and Cory looked so happy and in LOVE in the temple and looked like they had a blast at the reception.

For the 4th we went to the breakfast in Holladay and it was really good. The rest of the day we just kind of hung out. That night we lit some of our own fireworks and then went and watched the fireworks in Holladay. Gabby was scared of the fireworks at our house so we opted to leave her home with Papa. We also left Piper home because really if you have a choice to put your baby down and enjoy the fireworks you do (at least I do).

On Friday Scott and I were able to go to the temple together (thanks Nana and Papa) and have a quck lunch afterwards. That night we went to Chiles and had dessert with some of our good friends. Thanks Ethingtons and Webbs. Good times!

We headed down for our annual Cannon family vacation in St. George yesterday. We will be here for a week. We will be eating, swimming, eating, movie theater going, eating, card game playing, napping, eating, and more.

Nana and Piper

Corbin swinging in the Cannon's back yard.

Gabby's fireworks face (pre-scared)

Watch out, run pregnant lady run!

Pre-firework fun

Good thing we drove down in the wee hours of the morning because our AC could not handle the super hot heat. Poor hot, sweaty, tired kids.

Mandy and Cory