E's Blessing Day and 2 Months!

We Blessed Evie on Sunday August 21st down here in St. George

Brandons little sister Aubrey made her blessing dress and I think it turned out BEAUTIFULLY!

Brandon did a great job on the blessing!

Included everything I hoped he would have :)

The only bummer about the whole day was that I had no brothers in the circle :(

Jared is only 11

Ryan is on his mission in Cambodia 

and Joe is in Missouri for Medical School

So to stand in for all my brothers I had my best friend Nate Nelson come down and be in the circle

It was really special to have him and all my family drive all the way down there just for us.

Well I lied...

I guess we had 2 bummers that day

Evie has only blown out ONE diaper her entire life and it was on the Mother-of-the-Groom at our cousin Kevins wedding...

About a half hour before we put Evie in her blessing dress she blew out ALL OVER my poor Grandma Vincent!

Who of course was wearing a white cream dress

... stinkin' baby....

She has the WORST timing!

(yeah Grandma she looks cute and innocent NOW!)

Sacrament meeting was stressful

I was worried the entire time she was going to blow out another diaper all over in her dress

I was worried she was gonna scream through the entire prayer

I was worried she was gonna spit up during the prayer and Brandon would have to hold her up covered in mucus 

Etc.

When it was time for the prayer Brandon got up
the circle of men closed
 and then REALLY loudly right into the mic.
Evie started crying! 

YOUR KIDDING ME!?!!

luckily for us she squeaked out about 2 little whimpers and then stopped!

.phew.

After the blessing I had to take her out to change her

"PLEASE don't be a blow out diaper!!"

I got to the "Mothers Lounge" and started searching for a diaper ...

apparently I thought Brandon packed her bag and he thought I packed her bag so this kid had NO diapers!
.yup.

Parents of the YEAR!

I felt so bad!

After church Brandon ran to our apartment and got some diapers and then met back at the Valantines for the big party

After being held by 20+ people Evie was exhausted and ready for a nap so we went home.

.................................................................................................

EVANGELINE IS 2 MONTHS OLD NOW!

WAY too fast

I seriously can't believe how big she's getting

how smart she is

how strong she is!

She already thinks things are funny

Her Dad and Uncle Jared just crack her up.

She can stand up on her legs by herself with out any help 

(well accept balancing)

She's got big blue eyes and loves to be social

She HATES being held like a "baby" and has to be held so she is sitting up and can see everyone.

She'll lay and just talk and talk to you for hours

She LOVES Curious George books!

She almost knows her hands belong to her so she's starting to suck on them.

The other day I laid her on the couch on her back then turned and dug for a diaper in her bag, when I turned back around she was on her tummy!

I don't know if SHE did that or if the slight slope in the sofa cushion was to blame but either way

SHE ROLLED OVER!

She loves sleeping in her little travel backpack

and is becoming QUIET the little "Dads Girl"

what a blast!

Can't wait for month 3!

San Clemente Trip

Every year my family and 4 of our best friends families go on a HUGE California beach trip to San Clemente! We go every August, stay at the same hotel, go to the same beaches, and play the same games and it's a party every time!! We average about 35 people in attendance and with marriages and babies being added it just keeps getting bigger!

Like every year Brandon came and spent 85% of the trip at the hotel studying for the MCAT

It's always a bummer that he has to do that but every year I keep myself entertained with boogie boarding and beach volleyball so it's usually fine. 

This year however was VERY different...

SATURDAY

We left St. George Saturday night at 9:30 pm and drove all through the night to avoid traffic

We got to our hotel in San Clemente around 4 am and found out we couldn't check in until 1 in the afternoon!! 

SUNDAY

We sat down and fell asleep in the foyer and around 6 am a very unhappy manager came and kicked us all out! 

*rude*

Then we decided to go hobo style and we went and slept in a very muggy, very dog populated park

after giving up on trying to sleep we went and waited again outside the hotel until they would allow us to check in and then we all fell asleep again, ate dinner, and went back to bed for the night.

MONDAY

We woke up

left my study zombie of a husband at the hotel and went shopping and out to lunch on Del Mar

While we were out shopping I couldn't keep warm! I was FREEZING for some reason?

We went to our favorite mexican place and by the time our food came I was nauseous, freezing and my chest was KILLING ME! It came on so fast!

We went back to the hotel after lunch and I collapsed on the bed and was shivering like crazy! 

My mom told me that she thought I had a fever and if I did she was taking me to the hospital..

We took my temp. and sure enough 104!

I was immediately wisked away to the instacare where we decided I had developed a mastitis.

yuck!

After a long Dr.s appointment they sent me to the Hospital for some infusions of antibiotics.

After all that I went home and slept

TUESDAY

Same deal.

woke up sick

went to the Dr.s

went in for my next infusions

(Jared cracks Evie up it is so funny!)

Me and Evie went to the beach for 2 hours but of course we both hid in the shade the whole time

FIRST TIME AT THE BEACH!

My mom flew Natalie in for the trip so we picked her up from the airport and got to spend the rest of the week with her! 

WEDNESDAY

Today was actually fun for us.

We peeled Brandon, Evie and I out of the dark hotel and went to Sea World!!

I went to Sea World when I was 4 last so I don't remember any of it so I was excited to go and I LOVED it!

Evie loved it too!

We had her in her little backpack all day so she slept like a rock and then when she was awake there was nothing but colors to look at and music to dance to!

She was so funny at the animals shows!

She would start dancing in her little backpack to the music and everyone around us just thought she was so cute!

(probably cause she is though... just sayin'...)

The Shamoo show at the end of the night was my favorite!

It's AMAZING how big and beautiful those animals are!!

Although Sea World was the fun I still spent the day

*EXPLODING* 

in fever blisters.

.yup.

I had well over 150 cold sores spring up all over my mouth, chin, cheeks and even up my nose!

I guess thats what happens when you run a fever for that long?

It was painful and itchy and terrible but I tried to suck it up and not let it ruin Sea World for me...
(disclaimer* Yes, I cheated. I photoshopped out ALL of my nasty blisters in the photos i'm posting on this blog. I know thats against the rules but i'm having serious self esteem issues about them so leave me alone ha ha ha)

THURSDAY

Wake up

Go to the Dr.s

Go get my LAST infusions (me and the infusions nurse are good buddies by now)

and then FINALLY made it to the beach feeling good!!

NOW its feeling like a vacation!

 Today I at least put my legs out in the sun but still had fever blisters taking up most of my face so I stayed in the shade most of the day again.

Evie had a BLAST playing with everyone who wanted to hold her and sticking her toes in the sand!

Every trip all the adults leave us kids home and go to a really nice restaurant called Fishermans

Usually the younger married couples will go out to dinner somewhere else and all the little kids will stay home and eat pizza and tear apart all the hotel rooms

This year was a little different

While the adults were out we got all the kids together and threw my parents a big 30th Wedding Anniversary party!

judging by the picture you can tell they were very surprised ha ha ha

(sorry for the gross color correcting on these photos, I just gave up on them)

We had cake and ice cream and my sister made a really fun trivia game about their wedding for us all to play!

Good work Nat :)

FRIDAY

Today is pedicure day!

Every year all the girls go and get pedicures at Mingees!

We go get smoothies and then go sit and relax in their big oversized massage chairs...

I took a before and after shot of my toes ha ha ha

See...

MUCH needed pedicure!

I think this might be my favorite pedicure i've ever gotten!

Unfortunately all the pedicure pictures are on my moms camera but Evie was a BIG hit in the salon!

all 12 of the little Vietnamese women LOVED her!

They all sat around my chair and made funny noises at her the entire time and she was just crackin' up!

It was so funny!

After that we headed to the beach again for a couple of hours

(still didn't get in the water)

BUT

we FINALLY got Brandon out of the hotel!!!

since we only went for 2 hours Brandon decided he could spare 2 hours and grace us with his presence ;)

Evie chewed on her arm most of the day (weird baby) and then passed out on the way home 

ha ha ha ha

SATURDAY

Today was a full beach day!

unfortunately is was a freezing cold beach day...

Evie didn't come out and play in the sun like usual 

she hid in her blanket and talked to Grandpa all afternoon

Natalie talked me into getting in the water today!

(My first time for the entire trip)

We grabbed some boogie boards,

ran out into the freezing cold waves,

got pounded 2 or 3 times,

felt like we had ear infections and came in 15 minutes later...

and that was it for me getting in the ocean this week...

...wow...

Aside from being sick the entire week,

being covered, almost entirely in fever blisters,

AND not having a very playful husband, 

I still had a blast with my family and crazy little girl :)

Can't wait for next year!

xo Meg

The One Month Arm Amputation

Miss Evangeline is one month old!

She already seems like a toddler to me. 

I look at the pictures from the hospital and she seems so small and breakable then!

Now I look at her and she seems so big!

I've threatened to stop feeding her so much so she'll stop growing!!

(I would never REALLY do that so don't call Child Protective Services on me please)

I decided I'm going to take each of her "month" pictures in her bumbo seat so we can see her growth so here is the first of 12 bumbo seat pictures!

She and I were missing Grandma Rainey and Grandpa so we took a trip up to SLC this weekend

(that will be in a later post because I forgot to grab the pics off my moms camera before I left) 

as usual she was a happy little stinker the entire trip

 Now some of you are wondering about Brandons arm...

Need I say more?....

I guess this is what happens when you almost lose your arm

Whats CRAZY is this isn't even as bad as it was!

I was looking at it yesterday and realized the coloring is going down so I wanted to grab a picture before it got any better looking!

It used to be SOLID purple. Now its kinda spotty purple and his skin color is coming through the bruise now.

He's being a terd and not wearing his sling at all

He does not asking for help on ANYTHING and it makes me bananas!

When he's holding Evie he'd rather take 50 seconds to lift his arm up and over to put her binkee back in rather than just ask me to put it back for him...

I married the worlds most stubborn man 

 Anyways there is ALWAYS silver lining

We're just grateful he didn't lose his entire arm, we got off easy on this one.

ALSO!

Brandon got a job yesterday!!!

YAHOOO!!

We've been searching and searching and praying and praying for a job and he got a GREAT one!

Since we're going to Medical School next year he wanted a job that sounded good to Medical Schools. 

When he goes to interviews and they ask "so what did you do with your year off?" you don't want to say "oh I wakeboarded until I almost lost my arm and then I got a job at Pizza Factory"

... Not very impressive...

Brandon got a job at Cinnamon Hills!

It's a home for troubled youth, he's worked with troubled youth for about a year and a half before but it was at an intense place that was out in the middle of the desert (Holes style). It was mostly kids with drug and alcohol abuse and behavioral problems so he had to be able to restrain kids if he needed to. This place is in town and it's for kids with behavioral, and mental problems (not so scary). 

It's GREAT pay, GREAT hours, and he gets lots of over time!

Time to build back up that savings!

Anyway, thats our update.

We're going to California next week on our annual Anderson, Fonda, Bennion, Harris, Kroll family beach trip! I LOVE this trip! Theres about 25 of us that go stay in a condo in San Clemente and hit the beach for 7 days! It's a blast! look for that post cause it's gonna be a good one! Lots of cute pictures i'm sure!

xo Meg