The "Tall" Tales of Dave, Lindsey, & Sarah: August 2009

Sarah finally got her helmet on this past week...today is day 5 with it on which means it is supposed to be on 23 hours a day. There was a schedule to get her used to it by gradually wearing it more and more, but today is it...it's on ALL DAY! She doesn't seem to mind it one bit. She is her usual super-cute-self. She has no problem sleeping with it on, in fact, she is napping with it on right now. Other kids seem to notice it more than Sarah does. Carter kept caressing it trying to figure it out and little Sariah Taylor kept saying, "hat off." Besides helping to correct her plagiocephaly, it has the added bonus of protecting her head while she is learning to walk and climb on everything. Plus, she is adorable in it. Now, I just need to figure out how to decorate it. Suggestions welcome!

{Pre-helmet = unprotected}

{She wasn't so sure about the helmet at first...}

{...but quickly got used to it. Now she thinks she can play with power tools. }

{Carter couldn't stop staring and touching the helmet}

WARNING: REALLY LONG POST AHEAD!

Thursday (7/16) - Sarah and I hit the road for Idaho around 9am and I had to stop twice before I got to Hurricane. We stopped right before Barstow to get gas and nurse and then in Primm to make a bottle and go potty. We got to Hurricane around 4:30pm UT time. We hung out with the Kenningtons, the girls made a trip to Tai Pan (which wasn't nearly as good as I had remembered), ate some yummy ice cream, and went to bed. It was nice to visit and see the kids...we really miss living around the corner from them.

Friday (7/17) - We slept in and left around 9:30am, stopped in Filmore to nurse, and arrived in Provo around 2pm. Maryellen, Sarah, and I went to a few craft stores trying to find everything we needed to finish the letters I made for Abby's room. Maryellen took me to Cafe Rio since I had never been there and I must say, it lived up to all the hype...it was very good. (I had the pork burrito in a wheat tortilla). Then we rented a movie, "He's just not that into you," and had a great night crafting, visiting, and watching the movie of course. Brandon was able to get home before Sarah crashed for the night and they were so excited to see each other...Brandon hadn't seen her since Christmas.

{There was an accident on the freeway right before I got into Provo. They had to direct traffic off the freeway and then back on again...it took forever and Sarah was crying the whole time. Not fun!}

{They matched her bedding perfectly!}

Saturday (7/18) - left Provo at 6am, stopped to go potty twice and fill up with gas. We arrived in Idaho Falls at 10am, hung out, showered, and unpacked. It felt good to settle down somewhere for a little while. My Aunt Debbie and cousin Mary were still there visiting so they took me to Rexburg to shop at Porters Craft Store...that was SO MUCH FUN! I love craft store and this one was like the mother of all craft stores. They have so many cute finished craft projects everywhere that I had idea overload so I just took pictures of EVERYTHING! We ate at Cafe Rio again and Sarah sat in a highchair for the first time. (As soon as I got home from our trip I had my sister give me Brody's old one and it is great having a high chair!). Sarah had another first that night, she took a bath in grandma's sink like I did as a baby. She loved it!

{the blue cap was from Mary's tanning session}

Sunday (7/19) - Woke up early with Sarah. Ate breakfast. Aunt Debbie and Mary left. Sarah pulled herself up to standing on the bathtub all by herself! Grandma, Sarah, and I went to see Aunt Shirlene (my grandma's sister). Sarah liked the trampoline. Sarah went from sitting to crawling for the first time.

Monday (7/20) - Went shopping at Down East Outfitters and bought a bunch of clothes on clearance. I made chicken enchiladas for dinner (and just about killed grandpa with heart burn). Grandpa took us girls to the falls to walk around and then to Reed's Dairy for some ice cream.

{Grandpa was on his cell phone almost the entire walk ;)}

{Sarah liked the geese and the geese liked Sarah}

{Idaho Falls Temple}

Tuesday (7/21) - Went shopping. Made baked potatoes with chicken and corn on the cob for dinner.

{hangin' out in Big Lots}

Wednesday (7/22) - I had lunch with my cousin Jaime. Went shopping with grandma...she bought Sarah some cute silver sandals to match mine. Grandma, Sarah, and I had dinner at Red Robin since grandpa was golfing in Jackson.

{the balloon is from Red Robin...she LOVED it!}

Thursday (7/23) - Grandpa took us on a drive to Island Park. We saw a couple muskrats in the water and lots and lots of stupid seagulls, but not as many fish as there used to be. We also went to Mesa falls, which was beautiful. We drove by the Rexburg temple and looked at the houses right past it...they are HUGE houses! If it didn't snow there, I would buy one of those houses. We stopped in Ashton on the way back for fried chicken, scones, and ice cream cones. That night we had dinner at Stockman's with U. Brent, A. Onda, and A. Maureen. We had Reed's Dairy again on the way home.

{On the way to Island Park we stopped in Rexburg to buy pacifiers and also drove by the temple, but grandpa had to show me this ENORMOUS stake center they were building. It is HUGE! And I guess they are building TWO of them! Craziness!}

{the pictures don't even begin to do those houses justice...they were HUGE!}

{Rexburg Temple...beeeautiful!}

{Island Park}

{see the muskrat?}

{now do you see it?}

{she is so stinkin' cute!}

{there were SO many stupid seagulls!}

{Lower Mesa Falls}

{Lovely self portrait}

{this drinking fountain just about blew grandma away! It was pretty funny, but you really had to have been there.}

{the start of the trail down to the falls at the Upper Mesa Falls}

{that is all lava rock to the left}

{my cute little grandma}

{going down wasn't so bad, it was the coming up that just about killed grandma}

{if you look close... David thinks the girl on the right look out point looks like she just got proposed to}

Friday (7/24) - Sarah woke up early (5:30am) since she fell asleep right after dinner (7:30pm). We just hung around the condo. I went to the DI while Sarah took a nap. I found some cool glass containers for my desk.

***That is as far as I got at writing in my journal while I was gone, so I will do my best to remember the rest of trip from memory...I really should have blogged this earlier.

Saturday (7/25) - Went yard selling with Grandma, Onda, and Jaime (one of my favorite pastimes of Idaho). I found some really cool things including a quilt, a dress, an owl bank, and maracas for Sarah. We ate lunch at a cute little deli/bakery and Sarah loved the pickles. She suck on them until I had to take it away from her because she was a mess. This grossed out grandma because she thought the pickles were disgusting.

Sunday (7/26) - Went to church with Jaime. Went to Shirlene's again to say goodbye. Went to Onda's to hang out with Jaime.

Monday (7/27) - Said goodbyes to grandma and grandpa. Went to the zoo with Jaime. Headed for Provo. Arrived in Provo right after Maryellen got her epidural, around 4pm, she was at 4cm. The doctor checked her at 6pm, she was 9cm dilated, she doc broke her water. Aunt Deb's picked up Sarah. Maryellen started pushing at 7 and Abby was born at 8:33?

{It is tradition to get a picture with your head in the lion drinking fountain every time we go to Tautphaus Park so I HAD to continue the tradition with Sarah}

{If you click on the picture it will enlarge. Check out the baby flamingo, it was only 1 day old}

{Can you tell she had already gotten her epideral? All smiles!}

{And then there were 3!}

Tuesday (7/28) - Woke up, cleaned Maryellen's apartment, went grocery shopping, spent time at the hospital with my favorite niece, watched Harry Potter at the apartment, went to bed.

{Q T Pie!}

Wednesday (7/29) - Spent more time at the hospital, made a mobile for Abby while we waited for her to come home, ate ice cream from the creamery, held my favorite neice, went to bed.

{Gaye video taping them coming home...again}

{Here they come...}

{They're HOME!!}

{Sweet bliss.}

{Abby's crib mattress is higher than Sarah's so she had a good ol' time pulling herself up over and over...kept her entertained for a while.}

{Sarah was a big help in hanging the mobile}

Thursday (7/30) - Woke up and held Abby, left the Hess household (sadly) to drive to Hurricane, spent some quality time with the Kenningtons, and helped Lacy make A LOT of rolls.

{Paisley does have a diaper on in this picture....I am pretty sure. ;)}

Friday (7/31) - Went to Porter's swim lesson, played with Paisley on the playground and trampoline at the house where Port takes swim lessons, ate yummy turkey and cranberry sandwhiches from a cute little deli on Main St., waited for Kacey to get home with Capriati's Sandwhiches for dinner (gotta love the "Bobbie"...Homemade Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing, and Mayo), drove home to surprise David. That was the WORST drive ever! Sarah was fussing the whole time, I had to pull over a couple of times in the middle of the dark desert to console her (kind of scary), and by the time we got to Tehachapi I was falling asleep so I pulled over into a Denny's parking lot and slept for 30min. before I made the drive down the mountain to home. And boy did we surprise David! He wasn't even home and it was almost 1am...he was at the movies with his bro and Michael McGee...and the house was a MESS! He wasn't expecting me until the next night so he was going to clean in the morning...Surprise!! Oh well, it was good to finally be home and sleep in my own bed.

{Little fish}