Home Sweet Home

Who is this homeless man? This is what happens to men when they're left too long alone: scary facial hair. But I warned Joe, if you want some lovin' when you get home, no scratchy face.

As you can see, my man loves me more than his facial hair, although it was a bit of a quandary for him. In the end, he made the right decision. It's good to have my husband back.

Well, we survived the plane ride, and now it's me and the kids again while Joe does his second band camp of the summer. It is a challenge coming back to reality, when I'm used to a helping hand at all times. Elliot crawling = Dottie's worst personality traits. She's possessive to the max, mean-spirited, and in baby mode (for attention). So I need to come up with creative bribes to make her be nice to her brother. For example, here are Dottie's Little Mermaid fingernails, which she received for letting mommy nurse Elliot in peace (she normally pinches him, shoves her face in his face, you name it):

Reunion with Aunt Mimi: Emily let me and Joe go on a date yesterday to The Dark Knight while she watched the kids.

Random pictures of lunch today. Elliot is trying out a sippy cup for the first time. He doesn't really get how to use it, but he likes to gnaw on it for teething purposes. Dottie didn't eat her sandwich. Guess what she's having for dinner tonight?

Welcome Home, J-man

Today's the last day in Pennsylvania. I'm very sad. I've really enjoyed being with my family and having a helping hand at all times (thanks to Carrie and my mom, especially, although I occassionally received help from the males of my family as well). Tomorrow is the seven hour flying ordeal with my teething, crawling (yes, it's official) baby, and my very wiggly 3-year-old. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

As promised, here are the pictures of Jared's triumphant return. He's still the same silly boy I know and love. Although he does have a certain maturity about him now. We still laugh at the same stupid things (pinching each other's bums, cracking up during family prayer, body humor in general). It's good to have my brother back. Here are pictures of his return at the airport:

Dottie was very excited to see Jareg. She talked about him non-stop before he came. But when he arrived, she was painfully shy. She clung to me and my mom and would not let go. She buried her face in my shoulder and wouldn't even look at him. The next morning was the same, but then she decided he wasn't a stranger any more. Now she's always asking what he's doing if he isn't in the room with us.

This is Dottie waiting for Jareg when he was getting released by the stake president.

On Friday, we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant, our favorite thing to do with the family during the summer. And yes, Elliot is finishing eating in this picture. I nursed him basically for the whole pageant to keep him happy and not crying. He's been pretty miserable since his two bottom teeth have been breaking through. Dottie slept through the whole pageant, even though she was eagerly anticipating seeing the "Jesus Show."

Dottie has found a new love for fruit roll-ups since Grandma Weed first introduced them to her. I've never bought her fruit roll-ups before, but it's become her new favorite snack. She shoves the whole roll in her mouth at once, and she calls them "cute roll-ups." Bryan thought that was so funny, that he's started rolling her up in sheets and telling her that she's a "cute roll-up" too. So here's our little cute roll-up.

Last night, our friends the Feathers came by to bid me farewell. They brought a dancing Elmo in a chicken costume for Dottie, but she was unfortunately (or rather, fortunately, for me) asleep. She fell asleep at 6 last night. Elliot got first dibs on the new toy, as you can see. He was having a hard time deciding whether it was fun or scary. He vacillated between laughing and crying when it would dance. I think this whole teething thing has made him more bipolar than usual.

I just want say thanks again to my family for the wonderful time at home. I'll truly miss them. I wish they lived with me or closer to me :( But I am excited to see my Josey again. I've missed him so much, as have Dottie and Elliot.

Fun in the Sun . . . and rain

This is my last week in Pennsylvania. Today, Jared (or Jareg, as Dottie calls him) is coming home from his mission to Las Vegas. We haven't seen him for two years. So you can imagine how excited we are to have our brother back. I'll be posting pictures of our reunion later. For now, here are the latest of our fun outside:

On Sunday, Dottie was outside, playing with her playdough (you'll see pictures later on in this post), and it started to downpour. I don't think she's ever experienced such rain in Colorado or Utah, so she took the opportunity to dance in the rain. She loved it. As do I.

Carolyn's best friend, Jill, had an awesome 4th of July party. Really, I've never seen a party like it at someone's house (unless it was a wedding). There were at least 200 people there, so so so much food, a live band, a lake to swim in, and a jumpy castle (I don't know what you call them). Dottie jumped in the jumpy castle for 2 hours straight. She was drenched in sweat, but we couldn't get her out. It was hilarious.

My mom has been on a quest the past two weeks for a new couch. I can't tell you how many stores we've been to, and to some stores multiple times. Here is a picture of me, Carrie, Dottie, and Elliot trying out one of the many sofas we sat on.

This is Dottie working hard at her playdough station. Every day, Dottie goes outside on the back porch and plays with playdough. She frequently tracks a lot of it into the house and leaves it out in the sun to dry. She actually is out of playdough for the time being because so much of it has dried out. The second picture is one of Dottie's many "flower" creations, which are really different colors of playdough arranged on a plastic knife.

Random Dottie photo. I don't know who took it or why. But it's cute.

These next photos are of my favorite place on earth, Rickett's Glen National Park, one of the few untouched beautiful places left in the world. No one knows about it because it is literally in the middle of nowhere (Sullivan County). On this day, we hiked the waterfall trail (my favorite), which contains more than 20 breathtaking waterfalls. We usually do only a portion of the trail, because from top to bottom, it is five miles, and that's only one way. So if you did the whole trail, it would be ten miles. However, it's been awhile since my parents took this trail, so they forgot which end of the trail they start at, the top or the bottom. We started at the bottom and worked our way up, but this was a mistake. We should have started at the top, because it is closest to our favorite waterfall, one that you can actually swim under. So, since our goal was to get to this one special waterfall, we probably hiked seven miles that day. And that was with Dottie strapped to Bryan's back and Elliot strapped to my front. We were so happy to swim under that waterfall, let me tell you! The beginning of the journey, before we knew we were at the wrong end of the trail.And this is the waterfall! Wasn't that journey worth it?

Okay, is this not the most beautiful place? Seriously, if you ever make it out to our neck of the woods, we'll take you to Rickett's Glen and you will be happy you made the trip. When we were done with the hike, we had a picnic, but it downpoured so we had to run to the car and eat it. Typical Pennsylvania weather. But oddly enough, I love downpours. I really do miss the weather and beauty of nature here. Joe, can we move back to the East someday?