{Girls like Dinosaurs and Dirt, too}

Taking a break from playing “catch up” on the blog…

When the husband and I were hanging out in Seattle without the Baby Girl, we found this super cute dinosaur t-shirt at the Pacific Science Center on clearance in her size. Maybe it was meant for boys – too bad - my little girl rocks this look.

Whenever she wears this outfit people confuse her gender – fair enough - I'm not offended. She’s young enough that they all kind of look the same at this point so we try to dress it up with a bow for a big “It’s a Girl!” kind of sign. Sometimes people don't get it. Oh well.

Every day, usually a couple times a day, Evette and I go out and play in the front yard. 

I help her walk along the walkway until she sees something that she wants to play with. 

 It could be a blade of grass, piece of dirt, rolly polly bug, stick, or a shadow. 

 She is curious about absolutely everything and I love it. 

 

 We watch ants march across the sidewalk, dig in the dirt, and eat play with everything we find.

I want to teach her that playing outside is fun.

That it's okay to get dirty.

That girls don't have to stay inside all day.

That it's fun to explore and learn.

And that girls like dinosaurs and dirt, too.

{Cleaning cleaning cleaning and other stuff}

On Monday May 7th I left with my Madre to drive to Dallas. We left early in the morning and got there in a good amount of time [I won't say when because then you'll know how fast I drove....I was pretty excited to see our new house/my husband].

Here we are outside of our new house - it's about 3 times the size of our apartment back in Provo so it feels like a mansion to us!

When we got there the husband with the help of his Dad unpacked mostly everything from the moving truck - that was super helpful!

The house was dirty - super nasty. My mom says that she has seen worse, but it was still nasty. Hair cuttings all over the bathroom, half a stick of lipstick behind the toilet, never vacuumed or swept, bugs in the windows...etc. Mom stayed with us Monday and Tuesday to clean and unpack. She was a star - an angel. She is a pro at cutting shelf lining, scrubbing bathroom grout with a toothbrush, going on Target runs, and keeping me in one "sane" piece.

In the process of cleaning Mom lost her keys. This was not bad news to me - that meant that she had to stay and help forever, right? After a couple hours I found her keys and was super tempted to not let her know, but figured that be bad so handed them over. She did stay for a couple hours longer than originally planned though, and that was awesome.

When she got all packed up to leave I just cried and cried - the house was still a disaster! How were we supposed to get it all clean and liveable? Well - I have an awesome husband, that's how.

After 2 and a half weeks every inch of this house was scrubbed clean and all of the boxes unpacked. Boom.

This is how we kept Baby Girl off of the dirty floor:

Just kidding... sort of.

Returning the moving van was seriously a nightmare. Sean drove the truck and Baby Girl and I followed him in the car so that we could bring him home. We were planning on stopping by a gas station close to the drop off location to fill it up before we turned it in. The drop off location is in a less than awesome part of town - kinda shady - ok not fun at all. We stopped by one gas station so that we could fill up and it turns out that it was closed - no gas. Bummer. It also turns out that the husband got the truck in a sticky situation. We got a 16 ft truck with a car trailer hooked up to the back of it.

To make a long story short[ish] there was a gate on one side so he couldn't pull through and he couldn't back up without running the car trailer into the gas pump. Baby Girl and I sat in the car with the doors locked watching the husband try to back up, scoot forward, back up, scoot forward over and over and over again with little improvement. He went into the gas station and payed some random guy [who earlier came up to the car and asked me for some money...] to help him  manually drag the car trailer to a different spot so that he could back the truck up, re-hitch the trailer, and get ourselves out of there. It was an adventure for sure.

{Houston with the Family}

I was able to spend a few days in Houston with my family while the husband drove to Provo and then drove to Dallas. It was awesome. A few days just to chill and relax with the family

I love this picture :)

Since Baby Girl and I flew with very little [I wanted to worry about the least amount of stuff possible while flying... for example - I only packed underwear and just stole my little sisters clothes :) ] she had no bed while we were there. I made her a little nest on the floor for her to sleep on but it turns out she is a lot more mobile in her sleep than I had anticipated :)

No highchair either so we strapped her to a chair with one of Rachel's belts and watched her real close :)

Swinging with the family! I'm glad they took her out to swing - it was way to humid for me out there! Guess I've been in Utah for too long..

Scott and I helped Rachel reply to her invite to the Mormon Prom. It involved Scott and I working for the CIA, arresting him and then having Dad do some intense questioning before she said yes.

Rachel teaching Evette about fish.

Riding on the Dragon 

Gotta love Auntie Rachel!

Oh you know, chilling with Uncle Scott

Fun times all around!
We also visited our McQuay family [well Kristen and Megan - the only ones at home] but we didn't get any pictures with them... sad!

{Away we go...}

On May 2nd the husband dropped Baby Girl and I off at Sea-Tac Airport where we flew to Houston!

We bought this bag with wheels for the car seat - lifesaver! I wheeled her through the airport and it was super helpful. 

Evette was a champ on the flight. No - she did not nap. Of course she wouldn't nap, there were people to watch and entertain! We sat near the back right by the bathroom so there was always a line of people right by us. Evette would laugh and talk with all the people. One little girl even came over and played patty cakes with Baby Girl. We also had all 3 seats to ourselves - that was a huge blessing! I was pretty nervous to fly alone with Evette but I couldn't have asked for better - lovely baby.

While I flew to Houston the husband drove to Provo where he met his Dad, loaded up the moving van with a bunch of friends, and then drove with his Dad down to Dallas.

 Thanks, friends, for all your help!!

[the original plan was for all 3 of us to drive to Provo and then have Evette and I fly to Dallas. When we looked at flights we realized that a flight from Seattle to Houston was half of the price of a flight from SLC to Dallas. So - we went with the cheaper option which also meant less driving for the Babes and I - double bonus. Thanks Dad McQuay for accompanying the husband on that long long long drive]

{Olympia with Grandpa Vern}

The next [and last] stop on our trip was to Olympia to visit with Great Grandpa Vern [Grandma Diana's Dad]. It had been a few years since the husband and I have seen him so it was great to catch up with him again and also have Evette meet him. Grandpa Vern is a funny, lively guy. He showed us his bird feeders, squirrel feeders, told us jokes, and stories. Glad we got to spend some quality time with him at his house!

Grandma Diana came and stayed with us, too! It was fun to see her again on this trip! [she also made a delicious pie for us on my birthday :) awesome!]

Playing with the jingle bells at his house 

Bath time!

  

Evette loved him and found herself a new friend!

I love this picture!  Evette is so lucky to have a great great grandpa!!

{April Books}

This month I finished zero books. That's right... a big ol fat goose egg of a zero.

I started the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey but did not finish it. I know I might get stoned for saying this but I did not enjoy the book at all. I thought it was repetitive, cheesy and overly happy or something.. I don't know. Maybe I'm just too cynical to appreciate it.
Oops.
With graduation, moving, and this vacation I wasn't able to read as much as previous months. Better luck next month.

{Anniversary and Birthday}

While we were in Port Angeles we celebrated our 3rd anniversary and my 22nd birthday. By "celebrated" I mean we said, "Happy Anniversary" and, "Happy Birthday." We decided we wouldn't do anything or give gifts for our anniversary or birthdays this year since we took this big trip.

{Hike and bike ride in PA}

In Port Angeles Sharene and Stu took us on a hike to Merrimere Falls through the rain forest. 

It was raining - very typical of the rain forest.

 It was colder than we had packed clothes for so Sharene and Stu lent us some sweaters - even this little one for Baby Girl! So cute!

Everything was luscious and green and beautiful.

After the hike Sharene, Baby, and I dropped Stu and the husband off to go on a bike ride while we went home and folded laundry :)

They had a great ride and got a little bit muddy in the process. Thanks, Stu for spending some male bonding time with the husband!