Yard Crashers & Pickle Ball

So we are currently living in Brandon's Dads condo that he owns. There used to be a bunch of single guys who lived here before us and they 

(putting it nicely)

TRASHED the place...

So since we've been living here it's been a series of projects

one project being that we don't have a functioning oven

so

.no.

I haven't cooked a meal ONCE since May

... it's been fabulous...

now that it's "cooling down"

(that's St. George talk for 95 degrees)

we've decided it's time to tackle the lawn...

if you can still consider this "a lawn"

Now I guess I shouldn't have, but I put a little soft light on this photo in photoshop and it actually makes this disaster look kinda pretty ha ha ha

don't be fooled...

During the demolition we found lots of treasures!

at least 20 beer bottles

3 different hoses

2 deer antlers 

a back of a truck bed

the screens from every window on the back of the house

and of course

dirty underware...

.lovely.

well after a couple of good weekends and lots of help from our neighbor KC we finally got it done and it looks FABULOUS!

We were sadly going to "zero-scape" the entire yard because the next renters after us wouldn't take care of grass.

I was SO sad because I wanted to have grass for me and E to play on

but I understand that it'll just look like it did in the last pictures after we move out...

but 

SURPRISE FOR ME!

Brandon and my father-in-law decided it would be fine to make Me, Evie and Charley a little grass area to play on for the year!

I am SO EXCITED!

We aren't allowed to play on it  till next week but I can hardly wait!

We moved from Cedar while it was still snowing and we got to St. George JUST as it was too hot to play outside so I have been couped up in a house LITERALLY since last September!

It's amazing how proud I am of my little patch of grass!

I HAVE A LAWN!!

I water him twice a day and make sure Charley doesn't dig in him.

.love.

Since Brandon did all this hard work on the lawn I surprised him and got some "summer clearance" lawn furniture to spruce it up a bit.

We had our BEST friends and (thankfully) next door neighbors Alli and Kc over for a "back yard christening BBQ" that night

.perfect.

next up

my hutch

I'm sure some of you remember my bright blue hutch!

well this hutch is the main focus of my living room and no matter WHAT I do to it it just looks cluttered!

I love to have photos out but i'm SO SICK of frames!

So I decided to do a quick little DIY fixer and I added a clothes line to my middle shelf

I think it turned out really cute!

I still have no rhyme or reason to everything else on the hutch but at least i'm happy with that shelf now 

:)

Yesterday me and Evie FINALLY got out of the house!

(p.s Evie is now a fist chewer.. she'd put both in her mouth at once if they'd fit!)

we went to the park and watched Dad play Pickle Ball with our good friend Stephen.

and

of course

I took a million photos..

this ones my favorite though

ha ha ha ha

.classic.

after 5 intense games Dad was beat so we went to a movie with the In-laws.

Evie is 3 months old!

She is KINDA realizing that she looks far enough above her she can kinda roll on her side

maybe one of these days she'll actually make it to her stomach

She is a VERY social baby

loves to coo and talk to you

(especially if your vietnamese?)

when Brandon is talking she cannot focus on ANYTHING else but his voice

and she only half knows her hands belong to her so we are still looking like a cat fight every morning when we wake up

HA HA HA HA

this face cracks me up

she loves to sit up on the couch

is ticklish in her arm pits

and loves to eat peoples noses

anyway

there is your photo overload from the Valantine family this week

keep 

calm

and 

blog

on

ciao, Meg xo

Pool Party

Every once in a while my Dad invites his sister and her family over for a swim party and this year all 28 of them came! 

It was an absolute blast! 

We had a huge dinner, sent the little ones to bed and then jumped in the pool for a quick night swim

Then next morning was when the party REALLY started!

All the kids were up and could barely wait for breakfast to be over fast enough.

then it was pool time!

My dad
LOVES all of his sisters grandkids so he pulled out all the stops for this party

including a slushee machine! 

we didn't return it for a day or two after the party

slushees on hand at your every wish!

HECK YAH!

I decided to see how Evie felt about the pool

We took her hot tubbing a couple weeks ago and she LOVED it!

I wasn't sure if she'd like the colder pool water but as soon as we got her in there she started to try to swim away from me!

success!

 (p.s this is what happens when your point and shoot camera breaks
and all you have left is your really nice DSLR camera that no one besides you knows how to use = no good pictures of you
. ever .)

After all the Cottles left we did one of my ALL TIME favorite family activities...

. we sat on the front porch .

I don't know why but some of my favorite memories with my dad is sitting on the porch on a saturday night, wearing my oversized T-shirt after just getting out of the tub. I'd sit there and help him finish off his bag of peanut M&M's while we admired all the hard work he did on the yard that day.

. I have this joke .

My dog is VERY smart and really obedient but I always say 

"I bet I could teach Charley how to ride a skateboard before I'll ever get her to STOP BARKING!"

..... well today that joke bit me in the butt.....

.fail.

Evie is turning into a toddler right before my eyes

My doctors tell me that she's one of the smarter and most alert 2.5 month olds they've ever seen!

 

Someone asked me yesterday how old she was and I said "two and a half months"

My mom said "Meg, you do know that she turns 3 months in like 5 days right?"

and I said "yes but I'm DESPERATELY clinging on to her being 2.5 months for as long as I can!"

I have always prided myself on my ability to throw things away

I'm pretty sure if my husband didn't have me in his life he'd be on the television show "Hoarders"

(don't tell him I said that, he's still in the denial phase)

but today I realized i'm becoming a worse hoarder than he is!

I am fighting Evie getting bigger with everything I have

I keep trying to memorize every new thing she does 

I write down in my journal every time she smiles or makes a funny noise! 

(which is all day every day...)

Today she did something for the very first time!

She actually reached out and grabbed a toy!!

I was SO PROUD it was probably ridiculous!

I wanted to take her out for an ice cream cone or something!!

After she did it my first thought was

"oh my heck! I have to keep this toy FOREVER! It's the first toy she ever reached out and grabbed!"

how ridiculous right?...

Well after coming to my senses I decided that keeping this toy forever would be a mistake

It would get dirty over time

She wouldn't care about it when she got older

and if I decided to keep every tiny piece of memorabilia I would surely end up on the Discovery Channel along with those crazy, old, wirey haired women who are still mad about their kids moving out after High School...

So my compromise was photographing it

ha ha ha ha

I might still be overly sentimental but one thing I'll never run out of his hard drive space

until next time

Meg xo