Outsider's Perspective

Last weekend, our little family joined a group of 27 other relatives and went to Moab. Moab is considered a great place for hiking, mountain biking, four-wheeling, and general off-roading.

I didn't do any of that.

Without participating in the traditional Moab activities, I write now as a complete outsider from the grand adventures. Let's see how Moab looks from that side, shall we?

We started out bright and early. Or at least early. It wasn't really bright yet...



We stopped at McDonald's for some breakfast, filled up on gas, and headed to our designated meeting location to caravan down south.

After a bathroom break at a rest stop and a snack break at Walmart in Price, where we added two more cars to our already four-car parade we arrived at...the lunch break.


The girls danced with their much older cousins (well, Dad's cousins) and started the first of many rock piles to come. Good thing Dad and Grandpa Pyper were so accommodating.


We were only seven miles out of Moab at this point, but it was too early in the day to check in to the RV resort/campsite where we'd be staying, so we pulled aside for the first bike ride of the weekend. Admittedly, Chris and I were a little clueless as to what the plans were...we've never gone before and we were with a group that goes twice a year for the last [insert some large number here] years. There was a certain level of assumption, since they have a regular routine followed on each trip. We didn't know that plan and therefore didn't necessarily know what to expect at any given point. But we managed ok anyway.

Chris all ready for his first even official mountain bike ride! Thank you, Brian, for letting us borrow your bike.


Jane wanted to go, too.


Sadly, she couldn't quite keep up. We all stayed behind and settled in for the wait.


The scenery was nice, despite spending three and a half hours in nothing more than a dirt parking lot.



Chris had the better view, I think.


He had more company, too.



The girls and I did get to hang out with Melissa, Lorilynn, Edie, Kambri, and Grandma and Grandpa Pyper. That is, right up until the wind became so strong that the dust blowing around forced us back into the van.


More to the point, we went to the front two seats of the van. As we had not been to camp yet, the van was still full of all our gear, meaning there was no room past the front seats. Sigh. That was a long couple of hours...

Once all the bikers returned, we loaded up again and headed into Moab proper for dinner. And a couple hours after that we were checked in and getting settled in our cabin.


Nice place--no inside pictures, though. Sorry. That first night was a little hectic. I was really worn out from all the car time and watching the girls with nothing to do time, and we didn't get into camp until it was already starting to get dark. We basically had time to dump all the stuff into the cabin, put the girls to bed, then we went to bed. Not the most exciting introduction to camp ever. Then we woke up really early so Chris could get ready to go on a hike to Delicate Arch. The girls and I didn't go because we didn't know how it would be for me (pregnant) and them (short and often uncooperative walkers), so Chris went out with the group alone. In hindsight, we should have gone. We had a hiking backpack that Megan could have ridden in and Jane would have been fine walking it. Oh, well. We'll know next time.

It was a good time, though, for me to get the cabin more organized--that helped my mental sanity for the next two days. Jane and I also had plenty of time to discover the greater amenities the RV resort had to offer while Megan took a nap. All kinds of fun things like...

a playground,



tether ball,


giant chess and checkers (middle schoolers not included),



and...whatever this game is called.


It was probably the best since it provided such a variety of entertainment, like counting,


step stools,


scooping,


shaking,


and hats.


Despite all that fun, I admit, I was pretty disappointed when Chris came back and I saw what we missed in his pictures.







Ah, that would have been cool. I'm glad that Chris got to go, but pretty sad that the rest of us missed out. Next time.


At least we could go back in the cabin when the wind got too strong and too cold, as it apparently did for them also. They were just stuck on top of a mountain.


That afternoon, Chris took off with the men-folk to ride Porcupine Rim. It wasn't until they got back that I learned this particular trail has caused, I believe, the most biker deaths in the area because the trail goes straight along the edge of a very high cliff. Um, thanks for not telling me...I think... Either way, I don't have any pictures of that ride. I'll have to get copies from Bruce sometime.

While the guys were gone, all the women and children went--where else?--shopping downtown. I told the girls they could each pick one thing for me to buy for them. Lucky me, Jane picked a bracelet that only cost $1.49 and Megan doesn't care, so she got the same thing. Me? I bought something completely un-Moab-related that I still happen to really really like.


Souvenirs are all about personal taste, right? Well, this one fits me well.

From my side, Saturday was the closest I got to really feeling like a tourist having the Moab experience. The last ride for the bikers was Dead Horse Point in Dead Horse Point State Park. I don't know about you, but I was not aware that our fair state had a park named after dead horses. Learn something new every day.

The riders heading out--we were down to only three families by this point, instead of the previous eight.


Our waiting location was better this time. The parking lot was paved, so Jane could actually ride her tricycle successfully.


There was also a visitor's center that we spent a fair amount of time in, taking advantage of the kid corner they had set up.



The scenery was good, too.



We even saw Christopher! He's the one in red.


I had fun taking pictures of the girls. Even if they weren't always cooperative.






The group all split after that ride. The two other cars headed out to make the trek home. We drove a little farther into the park to see the actual Dead Horse Point. The legend is that cowboys would round up the wild mustang horses in the area, then corral them in on that peninsula. They'd take the horses they wanted, then leave the rest trapped there, where they'd die of thirst within view of the river 2,000 feet below. Sad.


I was glad we went, because it was well worth the view. We didn't stay long, though, because it was really REALLY windy and cold. Jane also tripped and scraped up her knee and never really recovered until she fell asleep in the car. At least we got one family shot on our trip, even if it isn't the most flattering picture we've ever had taken.


All told, it was a good trip. It was hard with such little kids, and things were awkward at times because we really did have no idea what was going on, but I'm glad we went. We'd like to go again.

One final note: You may have noticed Jane's hair in the previous pictures. I am one who is highly opposed to dealing with her hair during trips away from home, particularly when we'll be spending a lot of time outside in the wind. This was my chosen hairstyle for Jane this trip.


27 elastics total. It was way worth it. I did it on Wednesday night. This picture was taken on Saturday night, after sleeping on it three nights and playing outside in strong winds for three days. It isn't hardly coming out at all. Yep, definitely worth not having to brush her hair multiple times every day.

It only took about ten minutes to get out. Our trick is a seam ripper. Just pop it under one loop of the elastic and cut it, then unwrap. I buy 100 of those little elastics for a dollar, so I don't feel bad about using them only once. Again, the convenience is worth the cost.


So, good trip. Let's hope we can work it out to go again, even if we have three small children next time...

An Exercise in Portraiture

Several people have commented to me on my lack of Moab-blogging. I promise, it's coming. The writing is not coming to me as nicely as usual, and that coupled with a malfunctioning memory card reader, the post just hasn't happened yet. But stay tuned. I promise, it's coming.

Before we went to Moab, I had my hair cut for the first time in over a year. Chris has been wanting me to grow out my hair ever since we got married and this was the first time I've been consistently willing long enough for it to actually grow.

But, I have stick-straight hair. It's very healthy, and the color is great, but it's boring. No wave, no curl whatsoever. I finally mustered up the desire and, thanks to Christopher, the fundage to get a real hair cut. This is the best picture I have of my new style, taken by yours truly on my cell phone so I could send it to Chris while he was at work.


Layers in the front, trimmed nice and even in the back. Still super easy and yet not quite so boring.

Here is another self-portrait. Chris has generally been my belly photographer for pregnancy shots. I always get overly self-conscious about how my face/hair looks in those pictures and thus never like any of them, much to the annoyance of all involved. So, I attempted one myself while no one else, including the camera, could see my face.


I took the girls out to run errands yesterday and I had no less than four or five people comment on my belly...apparently I actually look pregnant now. It's nice to have those reminders because really, sometimes I still just feel enormously fat. Probably because I worked so hard to get skinny right before I got pregnant. :(

Anyway. I'm 24 weeks now, almost 25. I'm just waiting for the third trimester to kick in so I can finally feel like we've gotten somewhere. It still just seems like I've been pregnant forever and still have forever to go!

One of the errands we ran yesterday was Megan's 18-month checkup. She weighs 25 lbs. 10 oz. (only three pounds less than Jane) and is 31 inches tall. That puts her dead average on height and still a little higher on weight, but not anything to be worried about.

Funny thing. The doctor did stay it's a bit unusual for her to not really be talking yet (she only has maybe six words that have meaning, and those aren't all fully intelligible). She seems to understand most of what we say to her, though, so no cause for concern yet. He said that most likely, she has an older sibling who does a lot of the talking for her.

See? It's not just me that thinks Jane talks a lot!

The most exciting thing about Megan being 18 months old is that she finally finally finally gets to go into nursery! HOORAY!! We got her all dressed up Sunday morning and I wanted to take a picture of this week's milestone, but she was quite opposed.


Until Jane stepped in to help.


Then she got the idea.


Megan has often been with me in the past when I've dropped Jane off at nursery and generally gets rather upset when she has to leave with me afterward. Chris and I both dropped her and Jane off on Sunday. I closed the door and looked back through the window to see what Megan would do. She looked at me for just a second and you could watch the realization in her face that she got to stay. Her face broke out in a huge grin and she took off toward the toys. Priceless.

And yes, she still has her cast. It actually comes off tomorrow. I'm pretty excited. She will finally get to have a real bath again. And we can avoid moments like this:


Yeah, her arm is stuck. She couldn't get it out because of the cast. Don't worry, though. I didn't stop to take a picture until about the eighth time she'd done it. I figured if she hadn't learned by then, she could wait long enough for me to get the camera.

I'll blog Moab tomorrow, or maybe even later tonight. For now, I'm off to clean my bathroom mirror.

the Beauty that is

General Conference

We don't have cable, but Chris was able to hook up the antenna that happens to live on our roof. Lucky us, we got General Conference in Hi-Def for free. Sweet.

It was really, really nice to be able to stay home and watch conference. It was much easier to keep track of the girls and still listen when we didn't have to worry as much about what trouble they may be causing.

We did work to help Jane, at least, have some kind of good connection to what was going on. For one, we had her find the pictures of the speakers. She got pretty good at it by the end.


The girls did have a few moments where they just might have been listening.


Or it might just have been that Dad got them to sit still long enough to share an orange.


Most of the time, though, we contented ourselves with having them in the same room.


Even if they obviously weren't listening...


I decided I wanted to have a nice, big family breakfast on Conference's Sunday morning. Bad Mommy Moment: We slept in a little late that morning, and then were cooking all the food, so it was much later than usual before the girls ate. Megan wasn't happy about that.


Yeah. That was when I realized that, well, they'd never had dinner the night before. Sorry, girls! With the bustle of Chris leaving for a song practice and then Priesthood session and me babysitting three older girls from the ward so their dad could go to the session, too, dinner somehow slipped my mind. Sigh. Please forgive me.

We made up for it with breakfast!


Especially, apparently, because we had bacon. Jane even had to pick every little piece that had broken off on the plate.


We watched three of the four session in the basement on the computer...so much for hi-def.


But we did get some significant progress made on our new puzzle.


I don't know if I've posted about this one yet or not. I don't think I have. We have done an ancient map of the world jigsaw puzzle each time I've been pregnant. With Jane, it was a 2,000 piece puzzle. With Megan, it was 3,000 pieces. This time?

6,000 pieces

Pretty much it's going to be ginormous. It is literally as wide as I am tall. And holy cow it's hard to put together. We spent just under six hours working on it this afternoon and what do we have to show? Not quite four feet of the edge. That's it. That does certainly count for something--Chris even did that much all himself while I only sorted other pieces--but we still have a very, very long way to go before it's done.

Deep breath. This one's going to take some real effort. We could use some help. Any volunteers?

As usual, though, the girls weren't always quietly listening to the talks being given.


But Conference was still wonderful. Ah, I'm glad I'm an adult now who can really appreciate and enjoy all that General Conference is.

The cuddling was okay with me, too.


Even if my belly does look kind of huge and yet not quite as "pregnant" as I'd like from this particular angle...sigh. I look kind of fat. But Megan is still really cute.


This has been a very good beginning to what is shaping up to be an insanely busy, but hopefully good, month. In the coming days and weeks, we have quite a few adventures planned:

All four of us are going to Moab for mountain biking (Christopher) and playing in the dirt (Jane and Megan) and generally not being required to do anything (Laura--yay!!).

Chris and I are going to Yellowstone while the girls stay home with aunt Amy for two days.

I am leaving them all at home--husband and children--to go to BYU Women's Conference with my mom and sisters. Hello girl time.

And don't forget book club, Easter, several doctor appointments including one for the removal of a certain orange cast, and at least one hair cut. Busy month. Let's hope it's all good.

P.S. There is another new post below, just in case you missed it.

She made it!

I already mentioned that we have been wanting to get Jane into preschool. She's ready for it, I'm ready for it. I had heard amazing things about the preschool program at the local elementary school and decided it was definitely worth the shot.

I was nervous, though. Apparently everyone else in the neighborhood had also heard all the amazing things about the preschool and it was fairly difficult to get in before all the spots were filled. We showed up early for the registration time, and yet managed to still be at the end of the line for most of the time we were there.

Ugh.

But it worked out. By the time our turn came up and they copied our paperwork, the moment of truth had arrived. Dun dun dun. We got the very last spot for the class we wanted. Yay!! Starting in August, Jane will attend preschool twice a week. Yay!

The one problem we have now is that Jane knows she will be going to school but really has no concept of when that actually happens. We've been trying to give her some major events to help hold off the excitement until the appropriate time. If you ask Jane, she now knows that first Bill and Morgan will get married, then the baby will be born, then Jesus will come. Then we can go to school.

There you have it. The second coming will be sometime in August.

I really don't know where that came from, but she is quite adamant. Oh, well. I guess we'll just play it by ear. :)

Later that evening, we got out of the house for a bit just for the sake of getting out. I think the girls really enjoyed having Dad play with them for a while.



Even if he didn't always follow all the playground rules.


But that's ok. The slides were as fun as ever.



Too bad it's snowed again and we won't be back for a while...

Leap Frog

For the last few days, I've been wanting to get just one more post up before the end of the month. Here it is, 9:00 at night on the 31st, and really? I've got nothing special to report on. So, in lieu of exciting news, I opt for pictures and a random update. Let's go...youngest to oldest, shall we?

The baby...

I had a supplemental ultrasound at the end of last week. The doctor wanted clearer pictures of the arteries going into his heart--they weren't concerned about anything, they just wanted better pictures to be on the safe side. They couldn't get the shots they wanted because he was turned the wrong way. So we went back.

He was still turned the wrong way. After much poking and prodding and ridiculous moves on my part trying to get him to flip, we came to the conclusion that this child is one of two things. He has either got quite the attitude already, or he is particularly lazy. Ha.

Why do we come to such conclusions? There were two or three times that the technician tried to nudge him over so she could get the right angle. He started to move in the right direction...then he paused...and promptly rolled back. And repeat. We tried a few different times and he'd almost...almost...flip over, and then go right back. It's as if he was saying, "Ok, I'll turn for you. Oh, wait...just kidding! Ha ha!" Or, he started the move and got partway only to decide it wasn't worth the effort. Sigh.

Don't worry, though. After a rather embarrassing debut of me literally jumping around the room (I've never been so glad to have gone to my appointment alone!), he finally flipped over and the technician took pictures to her heart's content. His, too. Everything looks just perfect. :)

The toddler...


Megan has adjusted well (enough) to her cast. She can do just about whatever she wants now without any major hassle. It's a little sad to watch her try to rub her eyes, though! That can't be comfortable, rubbing with fiberglass and all.

We have had a rough couple of weeks, though, between adjusting to the cast, getting pink eye (again!), and cutting four teeth simultaneously. The girl drools like there's no tomorrow. Or else like someone installed a faucet in her jaw.

Love you, Megan!

The preschooler...


Preschool! Gasp! Ok, I don't actually know for sure, but our fingers are sure crossed. We are going tomorrow afternoon to hopefully register Jane for preschool at the elementary school around the corner from our house. She desperately needs the social time with kids her age, and--don't blame me--we could use a little less, uh, togetherness. This stay-at-home mom thing has put a bit of a strain on our relationship. Don't get me wrong. I love my daughter. I just think that we can both tolerate each other better if we don't have to tolerate each other quite as often.

The man...

Hmmm. I don't really know what to update about Chris. He is working a lot, and doing well at his job. He recently received just about the highest evaluation score that it is possible to get in the company. That's pretty sweet. So is the proportional raise that came with it.

The pregnant one...

Yeah, that'd be me. Ugh. I have had some of the weirdest pregnancy things pop up this time around that never happened in my previous pregnancies. I don't know if it's because we're having a boy this time or what, but really? Give me a break.

For example. I have a huge, blotchy, ugly brown spot that just randomly showed up on my arm.


Thankfully it's starting to fade, but only slightly. (It looks darker in person than in the picture.) As near as I can tell, this is a normal? effect of having so many hormones in your system. Obviously not affecting every person or every pregnancy, still nothing to be concerned about that I know of. Anybody heard of these?

I'm really hoping it'll just disappear. Like, forever. And never come back. There or anywhere.


And...that's all I've got. We'll close out with a picture of Jane's preferred seating when we went to Dee's for lunch today.

Le Bus

It'll be a few years yet before we get to participate in a true-blue Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, but that didn't stop Chris organizing one for Elder's Quorum in the meantime. It probably only encouraged him.

The rules:
Don't interfere with another person's car.

The end. No weight limits. No size limits. No wheel limits. As long as your car wasn't big enough to run into the neighboring lanes of track, it was allowed.

Here is Chris's entry:


We call it "Le Bus" and we are all proud passengers in the back window. We also lend our initials to the license plate.

I painted it for him.


And I have to say, as soon as I pulled up the pictures to start writing this blog, the first thing I noticed was the HUGE gray hair right on top of my head. Before I started uploading anything, I had Chris come over and yank it out. That's one way for a husband to show his affection, right?

Anyway.

You may have noticed that Chris's car was a little on the, ahem, tall side. That was not on accident. First he attached part of a 2 x 4, then hollowed out the whole thing. Hollow, you ask? Well, not exactly. From about a quarter inch from the bottom up to about half an inch from the top, the entire thing is filled with lead. Chris melted down used wheel weights and poured molten lead into the car until it was full, then capped it off with another thin piece of wood. Final weight?

Seven pounds, two ounces.

7 lbs. 2 oz. is the same that Megan weighed when she was born. Two ounces heavier than Jane at birth. That's quite the pinewood derby car, eh?

The race was fun. There were fourteen cars in the lineup, including the batmobile,


and a CO2 powered pick-up.


Yes, it was pushed down the track by the same mini air tanks used in paintball guns. Um, that's fast.

Chris's car did well. Here, you can "watch" some of the race moments yourself.



There was one problem with our green double decker bus. Because it was so heavy, Chris couldn't attach the wheels using the standard groove in the bottom of the kit-provided wood block. The axles would just pop out until the bus was sitting flat on the ground instead of on the wheels. The solution, then, was to drill new holes so the axles were completely encased inside the wood and couldn't pop out. Which leads to the problem: we could never add any more graphite to the wheels once they were in. By the end, they were running dry, which didn't help so much.

All told, Chris tied for fourth. With the CO2 car, no less. The top three places went to a car built using a shoe horn, the batmobile, and a car filled with bird shot, coming it at just over four pounds. Fourth place? Not too shabby.

The girls did have limited participation. We were short in the graphite department (in truth, we've never owned any...), and, good wife that I am, I got my kids out of bed this morning and headed immediately to Lowe's.


Pajamas and all. Jane thought going to the store in her jammies was just about the best Saturday morning adventure ever. As long as it was ok with Dad, which she kept asking me over and over. She constantly has to check lately if something is ok with her dad. Cute, but kind of annoying, too...

I took a picture of Megan during the prayer. Not intentionally, but I had my arms folded with the camera still in my hand. Pretty good for not aiming, huh?


And she's pretty good and folding her arms, even with that cast. Or maybe it's because of the cast and the fact that she can't even unbend her right arm. Who knows.

Special Edition

When I posted my March shout-out a few weeks back, I was informed (multiple times) that I had missed a birthday. I here submit my formal apology and post my revised perpetual calendar for March 2011.

Everyone say Happy Birthday to Morgan!

She is marrying my brother Bill on July 23. It'll be great, as long as we ignore the fact that my baby is due July 28... At least no one will expect me to do anything! But really, we're very excited for them to finally be getting married. The ceremony will be held in my grandparents' backyard in Draper. Hooray for weddings!!


And Happy Birthday, Morgan! Sorry I didn't have a cuter birthday picture for the calendar. I'm not really sure what that circle thing even is, but know at least that your birthday is marked.,