The New Smith's Marketplace

IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A bunch of fellow friends and I were rallying for this store to come and even went to county council meetings to cry about it. :) Now it's here!! The grand opening was today and we couldn't miss it. I'm impressed with how quickly they got this massive structure up and running. This new Smith's Marketplace is basically like a Super Target HERE in LOS ALAMOS!!! Life could not get any better! I'm in heaven. Space! Products! Convenience! Nice Prices! Bulk Foods! Space!! Beauty! Ahhhhhhhh.

 high fives

 princess underwear

very first sucker

 cupcakes, cookies, and suckers, oh my!

 face painting

 gorgeous view of the canyon on the south side where there is outdoor eating

 full parking lot

 taking the elevator to the employee's break room

 mariachi band!

Couldn't get the whole place on the camera ;-)

Despite this expansive store, I didn't feel like I was walking for miles inside; it felt good.

Tristan 15 months

Tristan is 25 lbs (80%) and 31.5" (60%). At birth his weight was in the 50% then dropped to .09% at 4 months so we added formula to his diet, and now he's at 80%. Heh. You can tell he's grown a lot in these last couple of months. For the last few months he's had fluid in his ears which he hasn't been able to shake. Next month when I get it checked again, I might ask that they put in tubes in to get it over with. Thankfully, he hasn't had infection from it. It just bothers me that he isn't able to hear well because of it and it will delay his speech.

He is interested in walking but not there yet; he should be soon. He doesn't exactly say words; I mean, I think he finally understands that "da-da" is actually dad and he will rarely say "muh-muh" though I don't know if he's referring to me or not. He is very conversational, though, with his babbles and it is hilarious when he spouts out things that sound like words: "oh!" "wow!" "yeah." He does plenty of grunting and pointing.

He LOVES to throw balls/things and is quite good at it! Often he'll let out an "uhn" as he does it. He can crawl both up and down the stairs. He's never been bad about putting things in his mouth. He's still very cuddly, giving strong squeezes (hugs). He now has 6 teeth and is working on 2 more. Gradually he's started eating more table food (and is glad), but I'll still feed him baby food some and he'll take it. He'll eat a whole corn dog by himself when we go to the pool!

He's always been fascinated with unrolling toilet paper or putting his hand in the toilet, so I have to keep him out of there. He loves to play with his big sisters or at least be where they are (that can be tricky when block towers or train tracks are involved). Avery loves to be a big sister to him and is great helper but also likes to carry him around, which he is becoming less fond of. Tristan has always been able to go to other people, but now he will only do so if mom is still there. If I drop him off, he is upset and will demand to be held the whole time. He takes good afternoon naps, and usually does well with quiet time in his crib in the morning when possible.

Tristan is a joy to have! Here are his 15-month photos:

Golly he's adorable

Can't wait to rough-house with him

 Recently he's picked up this face from us (Brian does it the best), but when Tristan does it, it is the BIGGEST crack-up!! Especially when he gets the really puckered rounded lips. I can't stop laughing!

The Zoo

Brian has been in Albuquerque working on a project for work quite a bit, so the kids and I joined him for Friday night at the hotel and Saturday at the zoo. On Friday, we finished the girls' last swim lesson day for this session and headed to ABQ. We stopped for a while at the mall then met up with Brian at Fuddruckers for dinner (YUM). I then went to the temple that evening. Saturday morning, I got some food storage items at the LDS cannery place and we spent the morning at the zoo as a family. On the way home we did some shopping in Santa Fe. My favorite part of the zoo is still the Apes and Monkeys; we saw lots of babies among the animals (chimp, spider monkey, elephant). Avery's favorites are the "giraffes and zebras," Aspen's favorite was the "talking man & the food" (talking man on the train & dip-n-dots for food). It was a first time for all of us on the dip-n-dots! The train ride was great. I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since we were here last!

 Got to pet some llamas.

 Tristan loved the whole visit; he squealed whenever he noticed an animal!

 Getting tired.

Train ride. :)

4th of July Camping

 Just a cute pic of my girls! They are both independent teeth-brushers, yay!

For the 4th, we joined some friends (Knights, Millers, Leiknesses) in a trip up to Taos and the neighboring Arroyo Seco where there is a very popular parade. We had to park a long ways away from the parade and walked lots. The parade itself was a little bit of a joke considering how popular it was and made us appreciate our Los Alamos parades much more. Nevertheless, there were some neat things....

 Our spot in the sun

 Grilling and throwing hot dogs w/ buns through the parade! Hilarious!

 Some live music on a float. Grateful to live in America.

Afterwards, we went to campground at Mogote, CO all together (after stopping for some delicious pizza in Taos at the Pizza Outback). We stayed the night and headed home in the morning.

TN Family Reunion

(June 8-16, 2014 - entire trip)

Every 3 years, my immediate family (2 parents, 8 kids, 6 spouses, 20 grandkids = 36 people) has a reunion; it is a tradition to have EVERYONE make it and sure enough, we had the entire gang!

This year was special because we got to go out east to Tennessee where we all grew up! Our family decided to drive (23 hours one-way plus stops). The drive out went incredibly well (love the new van). We left at 2am Sunday driving and made it to Memphis, TN that evening.

 Made it to Memphis! Wahoo!

We spent Monday morning in Memphis at a fun-park before driving the remaining 5 hours to Chattanooga.

 Aspen got to ride with me next, fun stuff.

 Avery was eligible to drive her own on the kiddie track. :)

We made it to Chattanooga Monday night and stayed with Aunt Kay & Uncle Randall. Tuesday morning we stopped at my high school voice teacher's house, Mr. Regal, to say hello and he sat me down for a short lesson. :) We then stopped at mom & dad's house and went with them, Ben, and Karen to Firehouse Grill & a cool wooden playground at my middle school (CSLA).

 CSLA playground

We then went over to the Chattanooga Railroad Museum and got to ride from one station to the next (through missionary ridge) and back! We even saw the steam engine get rotated on a huge turn-table. 

Tuesday evening we went back to Kay & Randalls, had dinner and visited with Steve's family and Donna's family. Wednesday morning our family met up with Laura/BJ and Karen at Coolidge Park downtown (yeah!!) It was a slightly cool morning as the girls hesitantly began to play in the splash pad fountain, but soon they were all drenched and loving it!! We then changed and rode the magnificent carousel, walked the Walnut Street bridge, and ate at Chee-burger Chee-burger. An excellent time.

Wednesday afternoon we headed up to Pigeon Forge, TN where the reunion was to begin. Spent a nice time at the Inn at Christmas Place meeting up with family and swimming in the outside pool and slide. Games and movies in a conference room. Thursday morning, we took a hike (Clingman's Dome in the Smoky Mountains National Park) where there was to be a gorgeous view. The weather was cool and wet and the cloud coverage completely obstructed the view, but the company was great!

 Avery with cousin Shayla

 Almost everyone; just missing Donna's family here.

We then headed to the Applewood Farmhouse restaurant; lovely southern food!

 Louis w/ Tristan

 cousin Tyler w/ Tristan

That'd be the whole gang!

 cousins

 Siblings

Thursday evening we spent at the pool again and socializing. Friday morning we took a hike to Laurel Falls; oh how I miss this TN rolling green luciousness!

 Aspen with grandpa

 Yep, we totally saw a bear cub and mama.

Friday afternoon we split up for our late lunch. Our family & Karen ate together and visited a candy store (hoping to find someone pulling taffy, but not this time). Karen and I visited the Christmas Store, had smores at the hotel with the kids, and took the kids swimming. More socializing. Saturday morning we had our last excellent southern breakfast at the hotel then headed to Chattanooga for the day. We all met up at the stake center to participate in Casie's (cousin) baptism. Then we all headed up Lookout mountain to hook up with everyone (including Kay & Randall) at Cloudland Canyon State park for dinner and visiting. Along the way, we checked out the hang-gliding place where BJ (Laura's husband) was getting ready for a glide. BJ was a hit with all the kids during the reunion.

 That's BJ.

Saturday evening, we said goodbye to most and stayed at Karen's house on the mountain with her, Laura, and BJ for the night. Sunday morning, we left around 9am back home. We planned to stop somewhere for a night on the way, but with Tristan's leg bothering him and Avery's terrible swimmer's ear, and everyone being done, we went DIRECTLY home, no hotels! We did stop in Arkansas somewhere I think to have dinner and play on a playground. We arrived at home around noon on Monday!