Sunburns, Fireworks of Happiness, and Hydrant Horsies

After leaving the baptism, we headed down to my mom's house to change out of our nice clothes. We then headed over to the Provo temple to set out some chairs and blankets to reserve our free viewing spot for the Stadium of Fire. We were under the impression that we would have to be there all day and came well prepared with food and games and deodorant and sunscreen, and, well, a lot of stuff. When we got there, there were a few other reserved places, but it was pretty empty. This meant we got our pick of spots, and we got to leave. We enjoyed an afternoon in the University Mall where we saw Glenn Beck at his book signing (Ross was soooo excited for this!) and I got a GREAT deal on a pair of capris at Mervyns! 75% off! They were actually meant to be regular shorts for older people, but my little midget legs made them fit like capris- it was great! Ross was worried about it being too hot back outside, so we went to Shop-Ko and got some cheapie little water guns. We also went back to my mom's house for a while to use her internet connection- I mean to spend some quality time with my loving family! :)

At about 6:00 we all met up back at our little spot and enjoyed some Hot N' Ready Pizza (thanks Caulene!) and a lot of running around with squirt guns. We had invited my parents and sisters, and my Uncle Jay's family to join us, but Jay and Lara and their kids backed out last minute- which was sad, but we were VERY happy to have our other Wallace cousins join us. Allen and Carrie's kids came and reminded me just why I haven't had a boy yet! They were very rough and hilarious with the water guns. Carrie- your kids crack me up! I have some great pictures, but my camera battery is charging, so I will have to post those later.

We had a direct shot of the stadium from where we were at, and when the wind was just right we could even hear the announcers and singers. Some little girls walked by us all decked out in Hannah Montanna merchandise, and they got so excited when they saw the lights from the stadium. They started cheering and said, "Daddy, look! Those are Hannah Montanna's lights! We can see her lights! How cool is that, Daddy?! Hannah Montanna is right over there!" It was cute. We could tell when she got on stage because pink spotlights started blaring all around, and the croud (the girls in there at least) just went wild.

The fireworks started a little later than we had hoped due to some wind problems. They were also a little bit anti-climactic because they had to stop a couple of times and wait for the wind to die down again. All-in-all it was a good time though, and we will definitely do it again next year! We didn't get home until about 12:30, but we found out the next day that we ended up pretty lucky because both of my sisters and my mom got home around the same time as we did, and we had to go 40 more miles than they did. We found a good sneaky back way that wasn't quite as backed up as the rest of the roads.

The next morning found us up bright and early again for my cousin Annika's baptism. I have to say that it was a little weird to have back-to-back baptisms for my neice and cousin- just shows you the different age groups we fit into on the two sides. We are the younguns of the Goodmans, but the old ones of the Jones/Wallaces. Lara asked my mom and me to help with the music, and everything went really well. My Grandma Wallace sent me back a few years when she gave close to the same talk that she gave at my baptism. I can never hear the story of Samuel the Lamanite without hearing my cute Grandma's voice in my head comparing the protection of the Holy Ghost to 'The Force'! It is a classic, and it always makes me cry- something I get from Grandma Wallace as well.

After the baptism we all went to a park where Lara had, as usual, an AMAZING spread for lunch, complete with barbecue beef sandwhiches, fresh fruit, cherry cheesecake and Krispy Kreme donuts. We rested in the shade and talked for a while, trying to recover from the previous late night and the bountiful feast we had just partaken of, and it was nice to enjoy some conversation with family and friends. I love all of my aunts and uncles, but I have always had a special bond with my Uncle Jay. I think it is mostly because he is closer to me in age than the others and he sees me as more than just his little niece. I am getting clsoer to the others now that I am an old wife with kids and other things that are relatable to them, but Jay has always made me feel like I was right on his level. I thoroughly enjoy talking with him and Lara, even if it does mean we have to deal with a bunch of kids (my 2, and his 6).

The rest of the day was pretty lazy, and we liked it that way. We lazed around my parent's house until Jay and Lara came over to play some games. After a very loud game of Balderdash, we did some fireworks in my mom's driveway. This has kind of become a neighborhood tradition. Jay and Lara usually bring their brood on over, and we have a cute nieghbor across the street from my mom's house who brings over all of her adoptive kids. it is quite a big group for such tiny little pyrotechnics! It is always a lot of fun with good food (Danielle- I love those caramel apples!) and some great conversation. The big highlight of most years is hearing all of the silly names that the fireworks have and trying to figure out why they were named that. (We are all very easily amused. Life jsut seems to be more fun that way.) This usually involves lots of silly plots and makes for some good inside jokes.

This year, Heather was the designated firework lighter personage, and she did a great job with her lovely assistants. She decided to cheer everyone up (since we were all in such a bad mood from the awesome people and amazing goodies. . .) by affixing 'happiness' to pretty much every noun she used- especially the firework titles. "This is the Evil Flaming Dragon of Happiness! Who wants a sparkler of Happiness? I give you the Army Tank of Hapiness." The funniest part of the night was when Caulene lit a fountain that was actually named 'The Fountain of Happiness'. It sounds silly, but it was great fun, and we were all dying laughing!

Emma, for some reason, was entirely disinterested in the fireworks, and decided that it was Grandma and Grandpa's job to entertain her. They were not at all upset about this. They are always good sports like that. She was so tired, and yet so full of energy (not sure how to explain this phenomena, but it is true!) that she was literally running around in circles in the yard doing a funny little dance and singing lots of little songs at the top of her lungs. My dad could not stop laughing. He about died when she sat down by the fire hydrant in their yard and started using the chains as reigns and was saying, "Neigh, neigh! Go horsey, go horsey!" It was seriously cute! The night ended with the finale of "The Tiki Mon of Happiness" which was pretty awesome! We cleaned up and said our goodbyes and ended our entirely exhausting weekend.

We actually skipped a couple of other family things on Sunday because we were so tired of driving around and just needed some time to ourselves. Emma was too drippy in the nose to go to nursery, so we used her as an excuse to sleep in and relax at home all day. It was worth any guilt we felt. We all needed a break! Oh- and I must mention here that Sara totally sealed in gold her title of "Best Baby Ever, Ever EVER!!" She was amazing that entire weekend with minimal crying, and maximal smiling and giggling. My only complaints were the 'blow-outs' that she did in very public places, but even then she was perfectly content to sit in it until we got her home. Seriously, we didn't even notice two of them until we got home from wherever we had been. She is such a good baby!

Thank you to all of our family members for making the efforts to be with us. It was so good to see everyone, and we hope it won't be too long before we have an excuse to see you again. We love you all!

Pioneers, In-Laws, and Jesus Water

This past weekend was a lot of fun, really stressful, and crazy busy! The fun came from lots of family, lots of food, and one of my favorite holidays. The stress came from my social awkwardness around my in-laws. The busy-ness came from trying to fit way too many events into four little days.

Our weekend started on Thursday with a trip to the Pioneer Village with Ross's sister Melissa, her four fun kiddies (seriously, Melissa- I love your kids!) and Ross's parents. I love the Pioneer Village, but I hadn't been there since I got married, so it was fun to see all of the new additions. Ross and I were (and still are) fighting some nasty colds, and I had woken up (after 3 hours of sleep due to Ross McSnoresALot) with a pinched nerve in my shoulder which prevented me from lifting anything or moving at all without sharp pains running down my arm and making my fingers numb. I fear that pain coupled with my crippling fear of dissappointing Ross's family made me less than agreeable for the first half of the day. Sorry! It was fun, but kind of hot and very scatterbrained. Let's just say that I still need to get used to the 'laid back' style of the Goodmans. This is kind of hard for my OCDish-Ultra-Organized-List-Centered-and-Schedule-Oriented little heart to handle. Wasting time is a huge pet peeve of mine, but Ross (and his family since I assume that is where he adopted this philosophy) says that any time anywhere can be quality time if you have the right people and the right attitude. I agree with him, I do! I just have a lot of habits that prevent me from jumping right into that mind-set.

Anyway, my favorite part of the day had to be the peacocks! I love peacocks! The Village rescued them from being put down, and they were amazing! I also thoroughly enjoyed the sweet lady who told the story of Marjorie Pay Hinckley's family in the Pay cabin. The Piece'de'resitance was (and always is) the pink house of Brigham Young. I don't know why I am so enamored with it- but I could spend hours there looking at all of the pictures and old artifacts. There is such a sense of history there- plus it is pink! (I kept all of those exclamation points single Britt!)

After a final ride on the train, we headed home (much later than I had wanted to) and tried to hurry throuh the rush-hour traffic to get to our house before all of Ross's siblings (except Gena- we missed you!!) got to our house for dinner. We didn't make it. Clay and Stephanie got there as we pulled up, so they got to hang out while I got, everything ready (it had all been cooked the day before- thank goodness). Then, I showed them just what a terrible hostess I am by running upstairs and taking a quick shower to get all of the sweat, dust, and baby-related liquids off of me. I was still hurting a lot and really didn't want the whole night to be ruined by my sour attitude, so I took one of my C-Section pain pills. It helped a lot!! (those doubled points were totally warranted, Britt- for reals!)

Dinner was fun, and crowded, (and totally stressful for me!). I tried so hard to be more than a wall flower, and I kind of succeeded. . . I was more of a couch cushion this time. I am, and always have been painfully shy. It is horrible. I hate talking to new people, and I am TERRIBLE at small talk. I am awkward, and I blush at the drop of a hat, and I always feel like I am being judged. I know that after four years of marriage I should be more comfortable with his family, but the truth is we really don't see them very often. This means that not only am I true to my shy nature around them, but I feel guilty about it, which just makes it that much harder to open my mouth, and, well, you see where this is going. I don't think any of his siblings really know me very well at all, and I fully take all of the blame for that. I am a bad sister-in-law, and I know it- but I do feel bad about it. Does that count for anything?

After we celebrated Lucy (8) and Max's (1) birthdays with some really fantastic cake that Melissa provided, and after the kids had all run off their sugar-induced energy, the siblings all left, and we got to have some one-on-one time with Grant and Judy. Well, I guess I should say that Ross had some good quality time with his parents while I bathed Emma and put her down to bed. They stayed with us that night and made themselves the first over-night guests in our new house. Ross was really happy to get to talk with them. He really misses them.

The next morning (the 4th) we were all up and out early to see my niece (It still totally weirds me out that I am an aunt now) Lucy get baptized. She came out from Nevada with her parents to get baptized so that more family could be there, and we were so happy that she did. She is the first cousin on Ross's side to take the plunge, and it went really well. She was so cute with her little white dress and had some pretty white ribbon braided into her hair. She seemed to be really nervous about being the center of attention, but she sure set a wonderful example for all of her little cousins to follow. I tried explaining to Emma what was happening by showing her pictures of Jesus getting baptized. She gleaned enough from my explanations to call the font "Jesus water."

After the baptism and some refreshments, Ross and I said goodbye to his family and headed into Provo to commence the Jones half of the weekend- post to come!

Why Emma Never Wants to Come Home From "Gamma's" House

1. Aunt Caween. 2. Flying like super-heroes with Aunt Caween.

3. Singing songs with Aunt Caween (are you starting to see a trend here?)

4. Watching puppies. OK- so that is not what they are doing in this picture, but it is something Emma asks for and gets pretty much every time she goes over there.

5. Making messes without getting in trouble for it! She makes plenty of messes in our house, but Grandma Jones is much nicer about it than Mommy is.

6. Chasing Aunt Caween.

7. Blowing bubbles. Emma's mean mommy HATES bubble solution, and only lets Emma blow bubbles outside right before her bathtime.

8. Being chased and tickled by Aunt Dana.

9. More bubbles!!! Caulene blows really good ones- Emma even says so. "I blow bubbles with Caween and Caween's bubbles so big!"

10. Playing tug-of-war with Aunt Dana. Somehow Emma always seems to win!

The moral of the post is- Emma has soem pretty great aunts, and an amazing Grandma who are almost always willing to babysit for free. We are extremely grateful to them for all of their help and support. I love you Mom, Caulene and Dana. Thank you for everything! Oh, and Caulene, any time you want to send me more cute pictures of you and my girls, I would be more than happy to get them.

My Excuse

I know I have been a little scarce around here lately. I have a good reason, and it is very personal and real and a little scary to admit, but I am going to anyway. Ross and I have run into a few struggles lately- well, more like a lot of struggles. Physical, Emotional, Spritual, Mental, Financial- you name it! Things are just hitting us from every possible angle, and the unexpected torrent of trials is starting to create a whole new struggle of the marital nature. Ross and I have been having an unusually high amount of conflicts. We are fighting a lot. So much so that the 'Fight or Flight' reflex is starting to kick in, and it is taking all of my fight to stay away from the flight option. Please note that I am not here writing this to ask for advice or counsel or judgement. What I would really like are some prayers. We will get through this- but I would like it to be soon, and I would like it to not happen again for a while. I think that we have passed the climax now and are in the denoument of this conflict- I hope so at least.

I haven't posted lately because it seems that blogs are the places to post picturesque portrayals of familial bliss, and what I have had to post has been far from blissful. I decided to post anyway because I finally came to the conlcusion that this is not a place for me to put on a mask of perfection, nor is it a place for me to air my dirty laundry. This is a place for me to document the goings on in my life and to keep my family and friends abreast of what is happening with me. Well, this is what is happening with me. Hopefully this will not be the case for much longer as Ross and I are both tired of bickering. We are both very anxious to get back to that sickening state of newly-wed-wannabes that we get teased for so often. We have both had some insights into each other's thoughts and feelings and we are both trying to live up to our end of the new compromises we made.

Ross did gain quite a bit of ground on his side today when he got me a new kitten! He rescued her from the window well of an empty house. He heard her crying while we were in a fight and he walked out to go and find out where the mournful wails were coming from. I was a little upset that he would just walk away like that- but then he came back a couple minutes later with the scared little darling! She is tiny and black and best of all, she is staying!!! There are no landlords to kick her out this time, and she doesn't have a collar or any other identification on her. This was very sneaky on Ross's part as it is nearly impossible for me to be upset about anything when I am playing with a kitten. Maybe Trinket (anyone who can tell me where this name comes from will get a free copy of the book from me! No googling!) was sent here for just that reason. Whatever the reason, my kitten-loving heart is in feline heaven, and my husband's head is out of the noose for the time being!