18 months

Cole had is {late} 18 month check up yesterday. He is following the same curve on all his measurements, so nothing too exciting.
Wt...24.5 lbs...30%
Ht...33.25 in...75%
Hc...19.25 in...76%
yesterday after the doctors appointment it got very quiet so I went to check on mclayne and couldn't find her. anywhere. then i STEPPED on something soft. she rolled over and continued sleeping. it might have seemed weird, except ryan covers his face every morning once it gets light. they are WAY too much alike!

Fishing Gravel Ponds

We headed to Chatfield State Park today to do some fishing in the gravel ponds. We had a pretty sweet set up with the umbrella and chairs, and picked a place right by some wild hollyhocks...very pretty. It was very relaxing {at least for me}, and I was able to almost finish my seventh book of the spring/summer. We ONCE AGAIN left with no fish, but another amphibian replacement instead. The pond was full of huge tadpoles...we're talking 4 to 6 inches. Some even had back legs. Mclayne will no doubt be in the back yard all day checking on it. I think the fact there was more packed for the trip than poles, bait, and a dr pepper proves I was there, but just in case i put in the picture accidentally taken of the ground (and my foot). When my kids are older they're going to wonder where mom was on all our family outings!

a couple more pictures

i had to add these pictures that cara took to my bear lake post. i missed this while i was out on the wave runner, so i'm glad she caught it.

and this outake of mclayne i got today while taking some marketing pictures for our bows. i was really only taking pictures of her hair and accessories, but this one was in the mix. i only wish i was this photogenic!

Summer Stuff

what we've been up to.....

first this...
the only picture i have of Lori and Steve's visit. How I got a picture of this and not one of the aquarium or Steve riding away on the harley with his leather vest is pretty pathetic!
then this...
Girls Camp 2009 - two days of Survivor camp at Golden Gate state park with 15 girls and a handful of leaders. It was a lot of fun, especially the rock climbing, and even more especially because my kids were blowing up at both ends at home with Grandma and Grandpa! Left camp early and
caught a flight here...
the annual Stewart reunion at Bear Lake. It was the third year without ryan, but I handled it better, had a lot of help, and the kids had a great time. i think it's pretty obvious that i don't take enough pictures, but i had to snap a few of laynie holding cole's hand, pulling him around the pool. too cute

and I got to see them...
before I headed up to bear lake we had a barbecue at amy's. As fun as it was to see everyone and our 15 kids, my vote for the next get together is still girls trip to St. George, right?!

Talylor Lake....almost

Ryan woke up Friday and decided to take the day of and go camping. We chose a place called Taylor Lake that some of Ryan's coworkers suggested. It was a little far for just an over-nighter and was very high (and cold), but the drive was very scenic and we found a great campsite just short of the lake. I think we'll try it again when the kids are a little older, so Ryan can actually do some fishing and Cole will sleep better. For now I think we'll just have campfires at the lake across the street and put the tent in the backyard!

mclayne isn't one for princess dress-ups or make-up, but i caught this rare moment of her being girly. i came out to find her wearing lip stick, nail polish, covered with glitter, and flipping through a blank notebook like a magazine. a sign of things to come? i don't think so. she spent the rest of the day building a trap for the snake she found in the yard and chased into our rock wall. she was "confused{convinced} it was a guard{garter} snake."




by some miracle cole escaped being made over.

Bits of our weekend

Cole had some good times...mostly in his high chair. He has a messy habit of running his fingers through his hair while he eats. Syrup is by far the best product yet!













Mclayne was getting acquainted with this guy. It looks like crawdads aren't the only things that like hotdogs around here. Mclayne didn't even care that we didn't catch any fish or crawdads {again!} after we snagged this and a tadpole. Throw in the container of night crawlers that she got to play with, and then later feed to the turtle, and she was pretty happy.

hopefully no more studios for me

I needed to get some pictures of the kids in their wedding attire {well, almost all their wedding attire...mclayne's dress was covered with bubble stains when I went to put it on her, so she ended up with plan B}. Our trip to the studio to get Easter pics was less than pleasant, and I took some pretty cute pictures of Mclayne when she was a baby, so I decided to take the pictures myself. They didn't turn out perfect, but I think if I get a few lights and backgrounds, I'll be able to say goodbye to studio forever! It was hard enough getting Cole back in his tux, let alone getting him to hold still or look at the camera. But when I have a more professional set up, I think it will be a lot easier. I'm still not sure how excited I am about taking pictures of the kids, but it's going to be pretty fun turning the basement into a studio!

the news

here are all the random things that have been going on lately....
1. Crazy weather - snow yesterday and 74 tomorrow - what?!
2. Holly and I had our first attempt at selling our bows today. It was a windy day with not a lot of foot traffic, but we have a store interested in carrying them and have ideas for workshops. Nothing big, but we're pretty excited!
3. Cole was diagnosed with polyps today and has to have a colonoscopy and outpatient surgery to have it (or them, if they find more) removed on May 19th. He also has to have blood work done (the part i think is the worst!) so it's not much fun. Poor guy
4. Mclayne started to work on mother's day presents for her grandmas

5. still chipping away on my stockpile of bacon and trying to counteract it with spinach sludge shakes, although now i'm adding in a little ice cream. i'm sure the vita-mix lady would be VERY DISAPPOINTED with the addition, but what's bacon without a little ice cream, right?!

who doesn't love bacon........and sludge?

i love bacon. and when albertsons has buy one get TWO free I go a little crazy with the bacon. my usual four or five strips per week goes straight to four or five every morning. no lie. so today i decided to balance out my binge with a healthy little shake my father-in-law calls sludge (still paired with bacon).

It's basically a spinach based smoothie with fruit, water, and ice. I used spinach, an apple, pineapple, and blueberries and it was delicious. Vita-mix has a really great recipe guide for green shakes if you want to check it out. It's a great way to get rid of all the guilt from eating too much bacon...or reese's peanut butter eggs!;)