A weekend with the Halls

We were so happy to drive to Castle Rock, CO on March 10 to visit Tyler and Juliana and see them with their 3 girls! Addy and Mckenzie were so much fun to play with, and we LOVED meeting sweet new baby Lydia. She is a doll and we love her so much already! We had a lot of fun with the Halls and just enjoyed being together. Some of the Rollenders were there, too. It was a weekend filled with good memories. It was short but so worth it!

Evalyn loved the attention from Addy. They had so much fun together. Addy was so sweet with her and kept her quite entertained. Here she is, filling Ev's bib with little balls. I'd hire Addy to babysit the kids any day!

Addy also kept McKay quite entertained. Not sure what's in their mouths right now :)

Deliberating about something.. I should have taken a picture of McKay outside Tyler and Juliana's house, playing in their backyard water feature. He was having a blast, totally barefoot with muddy feet and wet clothes. Couldn't have been a happier boy in that moment.

Sophie kept Brenan quite entertained over the weekend, too. Here they are playing slaps. Not sure how Kathy felt about that :)

Sophie teaching Brenan how to clog. He's a natural.

Uncle Tyler: "Just let me have a little bite of ear!"

Evalyn: "I'm going to pretend not to notice this time."

Uncle Tyler: "Come on! Give me a smile already!"

The consequence of asking too much from a 10 month old!

Actually, it wasn't the nibble on the ear, I'm sure it was the long drive and the smokey hotel room that pushed her over the edge. Ha, truthfully though, I love watching Tyler interact with Evalyn and McKay. He is such an awesome uncle. We can't wait to be together again!

Sweet little lovee. Lydia was so angelic and so precious and just so lovely. Almost makes me want a newborn because there is just nothing like them.

My taste-testing panel. They gave the chocolate frosting a thumbs up.

La cake for Juliana's b-day. So fun to make for her.

Another highlight of the weekend was Dillon getting himself a fiance! Ashley and Dillon are getting married on June 29 and we couldn't be more happy with his choice. We love Ashley, love weddings, and love being together so it's going to be a rockin' weekend in June!

lunch time, skate time.

Lunch time = skate time.

Evalyn LOVES riding on the skateboard with Dad. So does McKay.

Evalyn does NOT like so much the feel of prickly grass on her bare skin and tries to keep her legs off the grass.

Should submit this to Vivint for marketing purposes. Scare away all the robbers.

So dashing.

High Chair Charades

Buvvy at 11 months. A fun game of charades:

Angel.

Milking the cow.

"How many times can I make Mom sweep today?"

News anchor grin.

Buckin' bronco.

"Gasp! No way! She didn't!"

"What's the word......burnnnnn." (little mermaid)

Ticklish spot.

"Stay on your seat until you're finished, McKay!"

I am number one.

Happenings in the "backyard":

Home Depot Debut

Home Depot is the best. McKay got to make his own cub car and race it down the tracks! He got a little scared once all of the cars were racing towards him. He even got his own personalized apron and of course, he was already wearing his hard hat so he fit the part perfectly!

Buvaluvalyn

It's no surprise that we've come up with a long list of nick-names for lady Evalyn. Here's a small sampling of them: Ev, Uv, Buv, Buvalyn, Buvvy, Buvaluvalyn, Bulevalyn, Lady Buv, Puff, Puffy, Sweetie Puff, Puffalyne, Magic Puffin. Magic Puffin is probably the best one.

So glad that despite her 9 day fast when she was sick, these cheeks didn't go anywhere :)

Magic Puffin just seems to suit her.

Little Buvvy is still working on the crawling thing. We've found that the 3 things that motivate her to do any sort of forward-motion on her belly are: remote controls, dirty diapers, and minuscule 'life debris' she spots buried in the carpet (fuzz, bits of paper, cheerio crumbs etc.)

Feb recap...

(sorry for the weird formatting of this post)

Sweet little Buvaluv. Both kids have been sick on and off since mid-January. The worst week was when Evalyn looked like this constantly. She was so lethargic (bonus being that she snuggled with us!) with a high fever for over a week. Turns out she had an ear infection, RSV in her lungs making her turn blue sometimes, and an awful UTI. Sicky icky. It was so hard to see her so sad and sick. Just love her so much and now have a renewed gratitude for healthy, happy babes.

When he's not wearing his 'little helper' hard hat, he's usually got this touque on.

When McKay was feeling better, we built this awesome Mr. Snowman. Once he was all assembled, McKay exclaimed, "Merry Christmas, snowman! Merry Christmas!"

McKay got a little concerned when his face started falling off and his arms fell out. He'd talk to him from our front window and ask to help fix him when we was falling apart. After a hard afternoon sun-melt, we went out in the evening to fix him up. We were outside for maybe 40 seconds putting him back together. The second we walked back inside, McKay yells, "Daddy we're home! We just fixed Mr. Snowman!"I forgot how much fun it is to make a snowman.

FHE: Lehi/Nephi.

A favorite passtime for McKay. He is constantly mincing all of the paper he can find. I try my best to get all of the pieces in the trash when he's done. Evalyn loves the scavenger hunt they provide for her. She finds them EVERYWHERE! She's our little vacuum. Maybe that's why she's constipated. Too much paper in her diet?

(notice the touque?)

She's working on her book report now. Looking forward to hearing her pointers on my mothering skills.

'

Getting a head-start on his Faith in God goals (he'll hit the ground running in Sr. Primary).

Chef McKay.

Of course, can't post without some Yago-quotes:

Me - leaning over the counter with my elbows on the counter and hands over my eyes because life is just hard sometimes and I am exhausted.

McKay: "Are you tired?

Me: "Yes."

McKay: "No you're not! You're perfect!"

Daddy: "Do you love Mommy?"

McKay: "Yes."

Daddy: "Why do you love mommy?"

Mckay: "I love both of you."

McKay's going through a phase where he intentionally stutters.. "Tha.. tha.. that's ok mommy." It is hilarious. Sometimes he'll say like 12 "tha's" before he finally says the word "that". He also tells me "it's okay" a lot. When he can tell I'm getting frustrated or upset about something, he'll often tell me it's okay. What a peacemaker, right?

On the way home from Walmart:

Me: "Should we go see Daddy?"

McKay: "Yes.. you call him Brenan."

Me: "Ha, yes I do!"

McKay: "And I call him Brenan too!"