Long Lost Family

On Saturday, Eryn and Mike went swimming again with Justin and Colton. (Justin works with Mike and Eryn's in love with their son Colton!) They all had a lot of fun together. Eryn is becoming more and more daring with each trip to the pool. This time daddy let her jump in water that was over her head and then float/doggy paddle her way back to the top. I am not sure I would be able to watch this without freaking out, so for now Mike takes her to the pool and I stay home.

Later that day, we went to my cousin Christy's wedding reception. Yes, they are the long lost family that I have. They live out here but I barely ever see them! They were all excited to see Brooke (before my parents) and Eryn too. It was nice to have a quick visit that was centered around a happy event and a BIG CAKE!

Christy and her new husband Eric

Janis (my Dad's cousin) and Dan (her husband)

My Dad's little sister Gwen with her husband and their 4 kids! Yes, shorts and Tevas are standard wedding reception apparel for our family! : )



I couldn't resist the little flower girls climbing up the waterfall!

Eryn didn't want to take a break from eating her cake to get her picture taken. She had a lot of fun running around and playing in the sandbox with the other kids!

Brooke cried ALL DAY that day. This was one of the few moments when she took a break from that.

Mommy's Helper

Eryn is still wearing her fruit loop necklace from church and trying to get Brooke to eat it too!

Since she wasn't interested in eating... She must be ready for sleeping!

Eryn has been such a good helper with so many things. She's really good about telling me when the "Baby Sister crying!" and she really likes putting the laundry in the washer and dryer with me.

However, she's no good at blogging for me. The ABC's are getting better though. Now when she sings it there aren't 4 O's in the middle.

I have realized that Brooke's desire to be held ALL OF THE TIME is more than likely a survival technique. She's just the tiniest bit afraid of her overly helpful older sister! You'd probably be too if you saw Eryn coming at you all of the time to kiss you, comb your barely there hair with a hard plastic comb, or heard her screaming Popcorn Popping about an inch from your face!

I am just glad that Eryn loves her baby sister so much!

Mike's Long Day at Work

Yesterday Mike went down to Moab for work. After being there a little bit, he got the call that a car that had been impounded in Tuba City, AZ for the past 3 months was finally released. So he drove another 4 hours down there to get it. He was gone ALL day and managed to drive (round trip) 875 miles or the equivilent of driving from our house to San Fransisco + 90 miles! It's a good thing that he likes driving and exploring or it would have been a very rough day at the office. It didn't hurt that he had his iPod with him to plug into the car and enjoy his music without complaints from from Eryn to turn on Taylor Swift! He hade to drive straight through a lot of places and didn't get to stop as often as he would have liked along the way to take pictures, but he managed a few while he was down there. It is pretty clear why we fight over who gets the camera from time to time. : )

We are planning to take a day together down there and we'll spend some more time seeing the sights!


Monument Valley

This picture made me jealous that I didn't get to go on his road trip with him!

This rock below is called El Capitan (Agathla in Navajo) and lies between Monument Valley and Kayenta, AZ. It is a volcanic rock related to Shiprock in NM.
Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell.

Lake Powell

Brooke vs. Mommy & the Camera

Round 1 went to me earlier with the picture of her that's on the side of the blog. Round 2 went to her. I tried, but she wanted nothing to do with me, the camera, or the cute little tutu or wings. She just wanted her binky and to be held. The whole time I was taking these Eryn was bouncing in and out of the room with the other set of wings on screaming that she was Tinkerbell. I was just a tiny bit frustrated!

Happy Birthday America!

Our 4th of July went pretty well this year. No fireworks for us this year. Brooke's just a little bit to little and I was just a little bit to tired to try to chase Eryn around waiting for hours for 30 minutes of entertainment. Our celebration of America's Birthday still had lots of events.

I started the day taking family picture for my friend's family this morning and was rewarded with some ice cold Coke and cash! Probably the 2 best things in the world next to my girls.

Then, it was off to Grandma's house for some quality family time. While driving to Grandma's house Eryn pointed out "Grandma's Wal-Mart" as we drove past it. Mike and I were both totally shocked! How did she know that was the Wal-Mart that she shops at? I discovered later that the day Brooke was born Grandma took her there. How does a 2 year old remember this stuff? Amazing!

Eryn had fun with Grandpa splashing her!

After basketball Chance feel asleep on the stairs. I was jealous he was sleeping and not me!
Grandma McCorristin's Heaven! Curtis, Shaylie, and Brooke. I know I'm biased to think my baby is the cutest, but seriously... Look at that smile!

I tried for a picture with all of the grandchildren, but Eryn was bad and my patience and pain medicine had both run out!

ABC's of YOU

You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the ABC's of YOU.

A - Age: 27, ugh...
B - Best Friend: I have a couple good friends, but Mike always win the BEST friend title since he's the one that I always want to spend my time with.
C - Chore you hate: Diaper changing!
D - Dance music: Just about anything.
E - Essential start to your day: Pushing the snooze button.
F - Favorite color: Blue.
G - Gift you love getting: Cookies.
H - Height: 5'2" (on a tall day)
I - Instruments you wish you play: The Harp because it's so calming to listen to.
J - Job title: Wife, Mommy, Housekeeper, & Photographer
K - Kid(s): 2 now!
L - Last CD listened to: Bare Naked Ladies Greatest Hits. It's the only cd in the car that I like. Usually it's the xm radio for me!
M - Most memorable Christmas present: A snow globe from my Mother-In-Law our first Christmas married. It was so random that I'll never forget it!
N - Nicknames: Valeralerie, Berry (Valerie like a little kid would say it), & Mom.
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Overnight with a dehydrated 1 year old last year. Oh what fun that was!
P - Pet peeves: Not putting the toilet seat and lid down! Mike's trained, but his little brothers aren't!
Q - Quote from a movie:"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn't exist" -Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects.
R - Right or left handed: Right like most of the rest of the world.
S - Siblings: 2 (not so little) little brothers.
T - Time you wake up: 10:45, 12, 2, 4, 5:30, 7 and so on... I have a newborn.
U- Ultimate vacation destination: I'd like to go to England, Ireland, and Scotland. Foreign countries that I will still be able to understand people in. Europe was a little difficult for me with language barriers.
V - Vegetable you dislike: Radishes.
W - Why you run late: No alarm clock, Eryn wouldn't get out of bed, Mike forgot his cell phone, there's only 1 pink shoe, where did the diaper bag go?, "Mommy, I hungry!", "Waaaaaaaah..." and my personal favorite, "What's that smell?... Oh Eryn, really? Right NOW?"
X - X-rays you've had: Teeth, chest, & leg.
Y - Yummy food you make: Chili, cookies, & cup cakes. (Hmmm... all start with the letter C)
Z - Zoo favorite: I really like watching the monkeys jump around and play. They are usually the most active animals at the zoo so they are more interesting. I do like the big birds of prey though as well. There is an Eagle Owl at the Hoogle Zoo in SLC that is really amazing!

I guess that I wasn't officially tagged so I won't impose on anyone else either. BUT, it would be interesting to see what some of you would say!

Monkey Business

Eryn had a puppy to guard her while she slept and now Brooke has a gorilla. Apparently, she needs a baby body guard with more muscle! Mike took this picture of the new best friends.

Today was also Brooke's first day on the job being Mommy's new model! Needless to say, she's not a fan. My photography blog is showing off the 1 amazing picture that I got out of the about dozen I took of her screaming and making faces before she decided that enough was enough and started to smell really horrible! I liked this one though because it was really how she felt about the whole ordeal.

Mike took Eryn and two of his younger brothers to a water park today while I played photographer. They had a lot of fun. Eryn is totally fearless when it comes to water. She was all over the place and going down water slides all by herself! I stayed home so no pictures. Sorry! I had other plans with the camera that involved it not taking a bath in a public pool.