A Big Day for My Little Girl

Natalie chose to be baptized last Saturday.
It was a big day for her with lots of friends and family to support her. She was baptized by her daddy.

She wore the same dress that her Grandma Moody, Mom, and sister Cara all wore.

Afterwards, we had lots of yummy cupcakes.

As I did with Cara, I put together a little video recapping some big moments for her thus far.

Happy Birthday Natie!

For Natalie's 8th Birthday we had her party at the bowling alley. She had lots of fun bowling and playing with a few of her friends. It was a great party--and easy for mom to put together!

Roadside Carnage

On the way home from our 4th of July weekend in Utah with my brother and his family (more to follow about the visit) we got a little lesson in physics.

We were riding with my parents and to make sure we had enough room to make the journey comfortable, my dad had placed some items in their carrier on top of the car. We had traveled to our destination without any issues. However, when my dad was reinstalling the carrier on the car for the ride home, he was missing 1 of the 4 locks that held the carrier lid closed. Being the resourceful man that he is, he figured a zip tie should do the trick.

Well, we had been on the road for a few hours and I heard a little pop. Ignoring my instinct, I said nothing, figuring it had just been a rock in the road or something. After we had stopped for lunch in Cedar City we were traveling down the 15 when all of a sudden we hear a commotion and look behind the car just in time to see the carrier skidding across the freeway. Immediately, my dad pulled over as we watched helplessly while car after car managed to swerve in time to miss our belongings. We were all hopeful. Until the semi truck hit it.

At this point, I was more upset not knowing what was gone. I wasn't watching as my dad had loaded this carrier so I didn't know completely what of mine (and my kids) had made it on top of the car and what was inside with us. But I knew I had seen my suitcase put in there.

So there we were on the side of the road between Cedar City and St. George when this nice lady in a SUV (with her children in the back) pulls over. She walks out into the middle of the road and holds up her hands to stop traffic. Cars come to a stop (to my amazement) and my dad drags the carrier (now missing my suit case) to the side of the road. Amazingly, my mom and dad's suitcases, and a bag containing my kid's dirty laundry is still inside the carrier. My belongings are a different story. I immediately look around (this is all happening very fast, mind you) and I see my stuff scattered all over the freeway. Traffic is still stopped, so I start running all over picking up anything that looks like it doesn't belong there. I grab my makeup bag, my jewelry case, the concentrator attachment to my hairdryer, a bag of laundry and a few random articles of clothing. But what I don't see is my suitcase. We think it may be back far enough where we can't see, so we decide to drive up to the next exit and turn around.

About a mile up the road there we see it. My poor suitcase sitting on the side of the freeway. It had been dragged a mile by another car. We pull over and I open it expecting to see it completely devoid of its precious cargo. To my amazement though, I see almost everything that I hadn't picked up on the road earlier. It even had both of my shoes I had packed for work the following day.

I have to say that I am so grateful. I think I recovered about everything. I won't know for sure until I do laundry and completely see what I may be missing since I had clothing packed for over a week (and I don't know how to pack light). But two of the saddest victims of this whole ordeal were my suitcase and my make-up bag. I had one bracelet break (and I'm not too upset over it since it wasn't one of my nice ones). But the make up bag. . . well, pictures will do it more justice.

I think the girls at the makeup counter will be glad to see me. The only things that were salvageable were my brushes and 2 of my eyeshadow colors.

The suitcase destruction makes me particularly sad though.

Jeff bought this for me and I've never seen another like it :(

I have to say that even though a few material (and expensive) things may have been lost, we were very fortunate. The carrier could have hit another car, could have been more damaged or someone could have been injured. As I told my sweet girls, who witnessed all of this. Things can all be replaced. People can't and since we are all safe. It's all OK.

Start of Summer!

After the Mud Run, we went back to Ryan and Kelly's house in San Diego. Jeff helped his brother install a microwave while Kelly and I entertained the kids and visited. The following day we all went swimming.

The girls had fun playing in the water and practicing diving with dad.

Playing in the Mud

Back in January, I registered for the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. I did this knowing that I would be having a baby several weeks before, so I would be nice and motivated to get my running shoes back on.

This was my third time running it. The last time was when Natalie was a baby so it had been a while. Lucas seemed to tolerate all the commotion as calm as ever.

First, we secure our shoes, so they don't stick in the mud.

Then we make our way over to the start with the 5,500 other runners.

At first its difficult to actually run since there are so many people.

But the freezing cold fire hoses make a little room.

The river crossings make your shoes nice and heavy.

Just in time for the steep hill

Once you hit the first mud pit/wall you have a little break while you wait your turn.

Then you get to cross the lake. They say it's only 4.5 feet deep,

but lucky me, I got to swim the whole thing.

And if you didn't get muddy enough, there's the last crawl through the mud.

Yup, that's what I call a good time.

The hardest thing about the whole thing: the freezing cold public showers to when the race is over. I love this event. Sure, there are the hard core athletes, but I highly recommend this for anyone--even if you aren't a runner.

Kids In a Candy Store

I had heard about this fun candy and soda shop that was up the street so I decided to take the girls on a walk to check it out.

What a cool little store with a vintage feel. They have a whole row of saltwater taffy, every kind soda pop you can think of and all kinds of candy (they even had candy cigarettes, which I thought they didn't even make any more).

This place reminded me of when I was a kid and was allowed to walk up to the corner store. I think it was more of a gas station type place, but I remember going for walks and the excitement of getting to pick out a treat.

Nesting

I've had three babies and it just so happens that during each of my pregnancies we've undergone a major house project during each.

With Cara it was the backyard

With Natalie, it was the kitchen

With Lucas it was new wood floors for the entire house as well as construction of the new pantry and entry closet.

I don't know why these projects happen when I'm prego. Maybe its coincidence. Or maybe Jeff experiences the nesting phenomenon also. After all, with the first project, my role was strictly supervisory.

Regardless of the reason, I'm glad that most of the renovations are complete with this house 'cause I'm done having babies :)