Just in Time

Brandon and I made a bet (yes, I know, it doesn't make much sense seeing as we're married and we share money) about Mckinley crawling. Brandon bet she would be crawling before my parents got home and I bet she wouldn't.

Well, my parents come home today. In fact, as I type they are in California hanging out with two of my brothers and I get to see them late tonight at the airport. It still doesn't seem real.

With only a day to spare, Mckinley started crawling yesterday. She's still learning, but I told Brandon that if she moves at all on all fours, he wins the bet. It was a small bet anyway, if I won, I got jamba juice and if he won, he got $10. Not an even bet, I know, but I loooove jamba.

Anyway, if this video ever loads, you will be able to see Mckinley crawling for about 2 seconds. Enjoy. :)

Okay, I hate blogger when it comes to adding videos. Thank goodness for youtube.

Nevermind, I can't get it to work on youtube either. I guess you all know what it looks like to see a kid crawling anyway. If I can figure it out later, I'll add the video.

Holy crap I am going to see my parents in 6 hours. I can't believe it.

Hong Kong is Here to Stay

My paper chain that started with 90 links is now down to 4. My parents come home in 4 days, and I can hardly believe it. We thought we would be saying goodbye to Hong Kong, but now we are saying HELLO to it again. My little sister opened her mission call last night and believe it or not, she got called to the China Hong Kong mission speaking Cantonese!!!!! Holy cow I can hardly believe it!!!!

.

I stole this picture from my cousin's facebook of her opening her call. The kids surrounding her are my cousins' kids, my mom and dad are on skype (in Hong Kong, how ironic) on the computer in front of her, and most of her siblings were on a conference call on the phone with her. So there are actually quite a few more people in this picture than you think.

(side note: she had just spent 8 days in the wilderness with no shower, toothbrush, toilet paper, etc. so she showered first, and that's why her hair's all wet)

.

Okay, I don't know how many of you care to hear the story, but you're all going to get it.

So my little sister Amy is living in Arizona with my cousin Ryan while she is working at the Anasazi Youth Wilderness Camp. She goes out into the wilderness with troubled youth for 8 days at a time and like I said above, has no showers, toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, deodorant, cell phone, etc. Anything the rest of the world thinks is crucial, they don't have it. It's pure craziness.

.

Anyway, while down in Arizona she got her mission papers all sent in. Last week when she was home her call didn't come so she assumed it might come while she was gone. She left last Wednesday and the call came two days later, on Friday. It's been sitting in my cousin's house, patiently waiting for her to come home and open it.

.

Ryan texted me this picture and said "The next 18 months of your sister's life is in my hands. Wish she was here!"

.

So anyway, while she was gone, I told all my siblings to stand by on Wednesday (seeing as we had no idea what time she would get home) and then my brother set up a conference call for all of us to call in and listen. My parents had the day off in Hong Kong and were home packing so it was perfect.

.

So last night at 8:00 she called me and was out of the wilderness and I told her the mission call had come and that we were all waiting for her to open it. So we all got on the phone and man, when she read those words, "You are hereby called, yaddy yaddy yadda, you are assigned to labor in the China Hong Kong Mission" we just couldn't believe it! Sounds just like my parents' mission call 18 months ago. And like each of their mission calls when they were single. Yes, people, my mom and my dad both served in Hong Kong when they were single (yes, they were in the same mission at the same time, but no, they did not meet or fall in love there). So this is seriously just the coolest thing ever.

.

Amy knows Spanish pretty well so I think some of us thought she might get called spanish speaking but wow, now she has to learn Cantonese! A super hard language. Hopefully my parents can teach her a few words before she goes to the MTC. Which is on March 30th by the way. Only 2 months away!!! That is super quick.

.

So, last night Amy made a quick decision to quit her job in Arizona and come home to Utah and stay here for the next 2 months before she leaves. She was planning on just coming home for about a week to see my parents and then go right back to work and stay there till she left on her mission. I don't think she was expecting to leave so soon. So, needless to say, I am EXTATIC that for the next two months she will be here and can play with Mckinley and me. I have missed her.

.

Well, that's the story, and if any of you made it this far, I fixed the link in the post below, so that video should work now.

.

Man, life is so AWESOME right now. So many exciting things going on.

Latest and Greatest

Holy cow I really don't know how this girl could get any more fun. Brandon taught her a new trick a few days ago. How cute is that tiny tongue???

Here's the video.

#200

This was supposed to be a post with a video of Mckinley's newest super cute trick but the video won't load. So I guess we will just celebrate that it's post #200 and put a few pictures on here. I will try again in a new post with the video and may have to resort to putting it on youtube.

So proud that she pulled all the diapers out.


I love it when kids become little begging puppy dogs. This girl wants to eat anything and everything we're eating. Confession: I don't like sharing food (and especially treats) with kids. Bad. I know. She ate half my shepherd's pie. I am definitely going to have to learn how to share.


Last night was her first bath in the big tub. Crazy. She is growing up.

Pictures. It's all I got.

Sometimes I wish my blog was clever or funny or remotely entertaining. I read other people's blogs who are such good writers and it makes me realize how boring my blog is. Sometimes I wish I had advice to give or something to write about that would make people stop and just think. But, life is what it is, people, and unless I have pictures, I don't blog. And all I ever do is add a few pictures, and let people know what's happening in them. So, I'm going to do what I do best. Add some pictures and call it a blog post.
.
Can't believe Mckinley can stand and play with this toy all on her own.

.
This is Mckinley with her Aunt Heidi (my little sister). We went to Heidi's house one day to visit her. We had a lot of fun. Mckinley and I sat on the bed and Heidi sat next to us in her wheelchair. At one point, Mckinley leaned over and grabbed the control to Heidi's wheelchair and drove it a bit. She's such a curious baby and always wanting to touch/grab/lunge for new things.

.
Haley came over to our house one day to watch a football game and ended up upstairs reading a book to Mckinley in her rocking chair. How cute is that?

.
Even though all we do is take pictures of Mckinley, here's proof that Brandon and I still exist. (Although I guess you already knew we existed, otherwise who would be taking all these pictures of Mckinley?) This was last Saturday while we were making an awesome breakfast of pancakes and eggs on our new griddle.

.
Mckinley is so happy (even though the poor thing has been sick for over 3 weeks now) and she actually smiles now when I get the camera out. (for the first picture at least) It's awesome.

Look at those eyelashes!! She gets them from her dad.

.
Hanging out in her exercauser in the kitchen.

.
Happy as can be since I gave her a magazine from the mail to play with and chew on.

.

Last night we went to visit our friends in the hospital who had a new baby. She is about a pound smaller than Mckinley was. Just tiny! And so stinking cute. Look at that perfect face.

.

Mckinley scoots backwards. Mostly when she's on a smooth surface. She started out right at my feet and ended up half way across the room. Ha ha ha.

.
Is it bad that I gave her my candy cane to suck on so she would stop crying? Look at those cute cute thighs. You can't help but just squeeze them!!

.

Now. Proof that Brandon and I are first time parents. (Read: First time parents make mistakes.) We thought we'd teach her a new trick (side note: I can't believe how incredibly fun it is to teach tricks to babies. I absolutely hate dogs but I can understand now why people might like them, if they're as fun to teach tricks to as babies are). Anyway, back to the trick. We (and by we I mean Brandon. He deserves the credit for teaching her the trick - he is so good at teaching kids stuff - but I don't want to blame him for the fact that we might have taught her a bad trick). Wow, do you think I can finally spit this sentence out? Third time's a charm. We taught her how to "fall back" on our bed. But now she's doing it everywhere. Like off my lap this morning. Don't worry, I caught her. And on the floor. Like with no padding underneath her head. So now we're working on unteaching her this trick, or at least teaching her that she can only do it on a soft surface.

.

Enough of my blabbing already. Watch the video.

Family Pictures. Again.

Well, we got family pictures taken again. This time with Brandon's entire family. The goal is to get one printed for his parents' house to replace the one that's there. It's only about 12 years old I think.

Mckinley still doesn't like to smile when getting her picture taken (it's not just you Ashli!).

A couple different poses of the whole family.

I tell ya what, this family isn't getting any smaller!

It's always so fun to have all the grandkids together. And then to pretend like you're actually going to get a good picture with all of them in it.

The countdown continues. Two weeks from today till my parents get home. I can't believe it's finally almost here.

One Year Older And Wiser Too

Happy Birthday on January 4th to the best dad and husband anyone could ever ask for.

It's funny how similar this year's picture is to those in the past.

.

If you want to see the previous 3 years, click here:

Brandon's 26th Birthday

Brandon's 25th Birthday

Brandon's 24th Birthday

.

Last week on Thursday we ate at Texas Road House before heading to our hotel in Lehi.

.

Good thing someone remembered Brandon's birthday was coming up (wish I could take credit for that one, but it totally slipped my mind) so the servers could embarrass him. Here he is riding the saddle and yelling "Yee Haw!!"

.

Mckinley thought it was pretty funny. She is such a happy girl these days, even while still being sick.

.

Brandon got breakfast in bed for his birthday, then we went to Pizza Factory for lunch, and had Thai Food for dinner at his parents' house, followed of course by the traditional shared cake with his little sister. He had a basketball game that night so we didn't do any crazy celebrating, but he said it was a good birthday.

.

Back to Christmas for a minute, here is Mckinley with Santa Clause. She didn't cry or anything, in fact, she smiled at him right after this picture was taken.

.

Here is Mckinley enjoying (and yes, standing up all on her own believe it or not) her music table she got from Grandpa Salmon for Christmas. She can't pull herself up, but if you put her next to something, she is really good at standing up next to it. She sure is growing up!

.

I got Brandon this popcorn maker for Christmas. He said he wanted one of the big ones but I knew he wasn't serious so I got this awesome nostalgic counter top one instead. It's perfect!

.

Mckinley's booster chair didn't quite come in time for Christmas but we're sure glad we have it. She is getting to be a little more mobile now and doesn't do as well just sitting on the floor while being fed. She loves to bang her spoon on the tray.

.

Mckinley had fun this Christmas getting to know her cousin Sam, who has now gone back to New Mexico. Can't we implement a rule that family isn't allowed to move out of state?? I hate that she has cousins she will never know.

.
We had a fun New Years Eve. We had some amazing food over at Brandon's parents house. His dad bought all sorts of noise makers and confetti and stuff, so after a burst of fun, everyone got right to work cleaning up the mess. I'm still finding pieces of confetti in Mckinley's diaper bag.

.
Mckinley's hair is long enough to put in a tiny ponytail on the top of her head. It's so fun and so stinking cute!

.
Now tell me this picture isn't cute. Mckinley got the cutest white furry jacket from one of the doctors I work for.

.
It's hard to believe that in 2 days Mckinley will be 8 months old. She has grown up so much and gets more and more fun every day. She has quite a few newly learned tricks. She will spit out her binki on demand (even did it over skype for my mom and sister - so awesome!), she can clap, she kind of waves, if you say "give me a kiss" she will usually look straight at you until you kiss her, she is getting super close to crawling (at least it seems that way). She smiles at anyone and everyone, she is a super good sleeper and has learned how to find her binki when it falls out which means I get to stay in bed more at night. She hates getting her mouth wiped after eating, loves getting her diaper changed, loves taking a bath, but doesn't love getting dressed for some reason. I have no idea how much she weighs or how long she is. I never do that on my own but maybe I should since she doesn't have a doctor appointment for another month still.

.

The most exciting thing we have going on is that my parents will be home from Hong Kong in just 26 days!!! I think about it all. the. time. (literally) and can't wait for them to meet Mckinley. I think that's it for now...