the many faces of Evie

asking to pray

Utah: part II

A good portion of our month was just low key hanging out at my Mom's house.

I relished the view from any of Mom's back windows. Miss seeing these mountains every day.

Love my trees in Georgia though, so it's a give and take.

The babies sure love their grandma...and they sure are 'helpful'.

These two little red heads both love salsa.

Ellie turned 5 while we were there.
She's now a little girl rather than having any toddler, and Des was kind of like the annoying little brother she never wanted...funny and sad, Des' heart was a little bit broken a couple times.

We went to Kinsey's graduation from UVU.

This wasn't one of the two events that we were planning our Utah trip around, mainly because we didn't know about it at the beginning of the year when we were planning, but I'm sure glad I could attend.

 

 

{photo by Deborah Savage}


I was able to meet up one evening with Staci and Allyson.
Seriously love seeing and catching up with them, and we had some delicious Indian food as a lovely bonus.

Lane and I started an accent wall that will go behind their baby's crib.

{Lane pretty much had all the trim up by that night}

{and then everything was painted this past weekend}

For that project we were borrowing a miter saw from Dad.
When we got there to pick it up we were greeted with this...

...a baggie with safety glasses and writing instruments and some hearing protection.
I thought it was adorable.
Daddy being a Daddy.


Curt came back in town on Wednesday, May 7th and we were all so happy to be reunited.

On the 8th mom watched the kids again {thanks mom!} so that Curt and I could go to the second event we planned the trip around, a dinner at the school we both went to for our undergraduate degrees, BYU.

Below are pretty much the only pictures we have from the evening.
But even without photographic evidence we had a really great night with very good food.
 

 {the football stadium, ironically I've never been inside}

{Curt got a kick out of this: an ad for my major, construction management. Funny because it shows a girl and there's only a couple girls at a time that are in the program...although I love that they seem to be looking for more.}

We visited some more...

And then on Saturday morning we made Mom get up at 5am on her day off of work and take us to the airport. {thanks mom!}

Flights are way better when the adult to child ratio is 2:2.

 Great visit. Good to get back home and into a routine. Miss the family.
Ahhh, the drawbacks to living across the country.

right now...

Curt:

-is finishing up a big project at work...a week and a half left! {we're excited}

-at church is now the cubmaster in addition to all of his music callings

-is running a bunch again. 

What made the difference is joining the gym at his work, even though we have a gym in both our home and neighborhood clubhouse. It just works better {and thus happens} at lunch time.

Carmen:

-I'm still getting back into an 'at home' routine after being in Utah for a month

-as always, working on home projects. 

Current docket: still working on painting all the trim I added in the foyer, need to patch the ceiling downstairs from getting can lights put in, getting bids for replacing the roof

Des:

-is sooo loud. 

I find myself saying some variation of 'don't shout' or 'don't yell' approximately a million times a day.

-is getting along so much better with Evie.

Don't get me wrong, he still doesn't like her some of the time, but the ratio is improving.

-is getting to the point that he's actually helpful...not just the intent, but he can follow directions and do things that make my life easier.

-is very articulate. talks up a storm. has a large vocabulary and comprehension.

 Evie:

-is running or climbing everywhere.

-is quiet as she gets into everything.

-is so sweet and happy, but also opinionated and persistant

-has added a few words to the list from last time: hi, hello, bye, bite {begging for food}

-even though she doesn't talk a lot, her understanding has increased dramatically.

I can give her instructions like "go find your shoes" and she'll go and bring them to me. She also nods or shakes her head and uses them to answer yes or no questions.

{after Evie climbed to the top bunk by herself (mind you, there's no ladder)...the bunk beds were promptly taken apart and they are now serving as two twin beds}

{by the way, I got these beds plus the matching dresser on Craigslist for $200, score!, then I painted them black}

New York

While in Utah my mom was so awesome and watched the kids for a weekend so that I could fly out and meet Curt for a quick New York trip.

 This was my first taste of this city and there will definitely be more exploration in the future.

Such an interesting place.

It was really hard to just pick a few pictures.

{ha ha, I know this isn't 'just a few', but if you only knew how many I had to choose from} 

The big pictures are pictures from my nice camera, the small pictures are phone pictures.

 We both got in around 8:30pm on Friday night, but at different airports, so we met up at the closest common subway station and headed in to find our hotel.

Our hotel was right across the way from where the world trade towers were, so right by the current memorial and the new Freedom Tower.

Very neat.

I thought it was cool when we were walking by one time and the top of the tower was up in the clouds.

So many old buildings with fantastic details...

 ...cemetery right in the middle of things... 

We figured out the subway! Stinky down there, but such a handy way to travel.

...Times Square...

...again, the architectural details in pockets everywhere, gah!...

Seriously bummed that I overexposed this picture and so it's blown out, but we saw the Manhattan temple.

That blurriness in the background is Central Park :)

...and this is what I looked like most of the trip...camera glued to face...

 

...beautiful church...

...Rockefeller Center...

 It was pretty cold during the morning, but then warmed up to be a beautiful day. 

Good thing we dressed in layers.

...Flat Iron Building...

...such a funky cool skyscraper. I don't even want to know the amount of coordination it took to execute the exterior... 

 ...Brooklyn Bridge...

One of the reasons I know I need to go back is that there are a million super food places that I need to try.  

There are only so many meals you can fit in one small trip.

But we did try some darn good pizza.

By the end of Saturday we had done enough walking that my decrepit knees had swollen inside and were sticking every time I bent them, so it was good that it was a short trip.

We went back to the hotel, Curt went out and fetched some yummy Indian food for dinner, and we just relaxed for the night.

Sunday morning we walked {well, I limped} around the financial district...

 ...New York Stock Exchange...Curt was kind of geeked...

...and then we headed back to our respective airports to head back to Salt Lake and Atlanta.

On the Subway where it is above ground in Brooklyn.

I got back and was so relieved to love on my babies.

They had been in good hands though; the rest of the trip Evie preferred grandma to me.

Des had a blast with his cousins and still talks about the bounce house from Ellie's birthday party that weekend.

And that is the end of that quick trip.

Again, the conclusion is that New York will get more visits.