Odds and Ends

So to update you, since my last posting our puppy now has a name: Bowser (although we did consider "Friend," along with a few other names...)He whined quite a bit the first few days, but seems to be settling into his new home pretty well now. And the girls seem to be liking him, too!

So, I headed back to the gym this week after about a 6 month hiatus; I froze my membership just before Cailyn was born and wanted to keep her away from the day care there during RSV season (which went up until around April) and then we were out of town. I did do a work out video somewhat consistently at home during that time, but going to classes at the gym is SO much more effective! My whole body has been sore for the last few days. I'm shooting to make it a habit of getting to the gym at least 4 days a week, so hopefully I'll be able to start shedding this baby weight! (Rylee loves going to "play kids gym" so that helps motivate me to get there as well.)

On Monday (Memorial Day), all of Quinn's family who was in town met at the Orem Cemetary; the military was supposed to take care of his headstone, but since they lagged in getting it done (Grandpa Clawson died in February last year) the family just took care of it, so this was the gathering to see the headstone. It was a nice chance to get together and remember what a sweet man he was and how much he blessed our lives.Other than that, our week was relatively uneventful, which was kind of nice because I was able to get some cleaning done and tie up a few loose ends here and there.

Our newest addition

Tonight our family went to the park. While we were there, some girls came with three puppies and a sign that said "Puppies for Sale - $25." We've been talking for a while about getting another little dog for Mo to play with so that he's happier and less needy. I have been kind of hesitant since I'm not really a dog person, but we brought Mo with us on our trip to California and he got to play with the dogs out there, and he really was much happier and more mellow, so when I saw these cute little puppies I decided that we should get one.

Having the sales background that I do, I had to laugh when we walked up to look at the puppies and the oldest girl (probably about 13) said "We're selling them for $25, but you can make an offer of $10 and we'll take it." So, $10 it was!

We told Rylee that the new black doggie was a friend for Mo. A few minutes later, we asked her what his name should be and she said "Friend!" We're still looking for a name...(so feel free to give suggestions!)

When we got home, the puppy was exhausted, but Mo was SO excited! He walked in circles sniffing him and wagging his tail about as fast as I've ever seen it wag!
Rylee was pretty excited too!

So hopefully this goes according to plan and makes my life EASIER instead of harder!

A short one...

Not much eventful this week other than just trying to clean the house and get back to the swing of things after being out of town.

I think that this picture of Cailyn is just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen!She is starting to laugh a lot at little things. Recently, Rylee was jumping off of a little step over and over, and Cailyn watched her do it and cracked up every time! It was pretty cute.
Rylee continues to be Rylee. As you can see, she got an "owie eye" this week while playing with her daddy and falling off the bed. Her latest favorite questions are "What are you doing?" and "Why?" both of which she will ask over and over. She also is starting to add "huh" and "k" to the end of most sentences, as in "Cailyn sleeping, huh?" or "No nap, K?"
She is fascinated by the "baby tomatoes" that are starting to grow. I just hope that we wind up getting to eat some fully ripe ones - I have caught her a time or two with a little tiny green tomato that she has plucked off the plant.
And this is the winning shot from Rylee's photo shoot tonight...as in Rylee got a hold of the camera and when I went to upload pictures tonight I found that she had snapped 20 pictures, mostly of a blanket on the couch and her own legs and feet.

Our vacation part 2: family reunion on the beach!

Here are some pics from the Clawson family reunion. We rented a big 10 bedroom beach house and crammed 32 adults and 15 kids into it and had a great time! These pictures are from my camera, but we had our friend Rachel come take pictures of everybody - the big group, individual families, and kiddos - and they turned out so cute! When I get those I will post some as well.

I painted mine and the girls' toenails in preparation...

Rylee and ava spent lots of time with shovels in the sand...although the sand castle thing didn't really work very well because every time we emptied one of the mold buckets to make a tower, Rylee just tore it down!

Rylee got lots of color on her legs! Unfortunately, most of it was mud and washed right off...but she did get a little bit of a tan!
Cailyn seemed to like the beach too. (And lucky for her, she seems to tan a little better than Rylee!)

I just LOVE her little profile!

Rylee walking with Grandma and Grandpa Mac to see the tide pools

Amongst other things, we saw a starfish and lots of crabs - including one that was probably the size of a baseball that Josh found - at the tide pools!

Cailyn did a really good job sitting up for this little photo shoot...

...at least for a while...

...but she didn't seem to mind the mud too much!

Although, by the time we were headed back to the house, she was pretty tired.

Long Overdue (Read First)

So...we've had an abnormally busy few weeks! This is the first chance I've really had in a few weeks to update my blog. Here's the latest on us:We've been enjoying lots of nice weather lately, and Rylee loves to take advantage of the sun by blowing lots of bubbles.

She also got her second haircut a couple weeks ago...we're still working on getting the hair on top of her head to grow out to even up with the rest of her hair! It's coming along slowly, but surely. We went to Cookie Cutters again where she sat in the airplane chair, got to blow bubbles, watch Elmo, and then got a balloon and sucker afterwards. She talked about her "hair cut" for quite a while afterwards.

Now, for a potty update...Rylee's doing GREAT!!! Here's her first attempt at putting her panties on by her self (or as she says, "Rylee self!")
She got the pee thing down pretty quickly, but took slightly longer with the poop. So we bought her a doll as incentive and made a chart...she got a sticker each time she went number 2 on the toilet...

and after three stickers she got her doll!

I guess she decided to crown herself the potty princess...

We are currently in San Diego...Quinn's mom's family is having a reunion here starting tomorrow (we rented a condo on the beach, which is AMAZING!!!) We came down a little early, and Rylee kept her panties dry for the ENTIRE car ride from Utah to San Diego! What a big girl! I am so proud of her! This picture was taken at one of our potty stops on the drive. Her Grandma Mac (who flew out for her uncle's funeral and then drove back with the girls and I)bought her a Cinderella and Belle tattoo from a little quarter machine and we put it on her tummy.

(Speaking of Rylee's Grandma Mac, we taught Rylee to distinguish between her Grandma and Great-Grandma by saying "Grandma Mac" and "Grandma Clawson" since we have been around both of them a lot lately. It's pretty cute - she calls them "Mama" Mac or Clawson, as appropriate.)

Little Miss Cailyn Del continues to learn and grow. She started rolling from her back to her tummy about 2 weeks ago. Oh, and I think that she's double jointed! That girl has some serious flexibility in her shoulders!

She is getting pretty good at sitting up! She still topples now and then, but is getting better and better.

She discovered her tongue last Friday night and enjoys sticking it out. (She also discovered her toes right about the same time.)

Yesterday we went to Disneyland! It was Quinn's parents, our family, and Katie, Josh and Ava. Grandma and Grandpa Mac bought the cutest little dresses for Rylee and Ava - Rylee was Tinkerbell and Ava was Sleeping Beauty.

Here's Tinkerbell riding into the park on Daddy's shoulders.

The whole gang

In front of some beautiful flowers...this is one of my favorite parts of Disneyland! The flowers are so beautiful - I think they make it feel like you are in a story book.

OMG!!! ANNOYING!!! This blog site is having issues...for some reason it put the pictures that I uploaded into several different posts. I am too tired to mess with it, so I am just going to make a bunch of little posts right now that are really meant to be one big post...so here goes...

#2

Happy little Cailyn being "Cute and Bubbly!" Rylee and Ava got their faces painted in the Princess area.

Looking at each other's new "face stickers" as Rylee called them.I was trying to get them to look at me for a cute close up of them hugging with their faces painted, but they kept looking away...I thought this was cute anyway!

#3

The girls checking out their new face painting in the mirror. After getting her face painted, Rylee went to the Pixie Hollow and met Tinkerbell and friends. It was so fun to watch her with them! They all doted on her and she just soaked up all of the attention!

Here she is "blowing bubbles" out of their hands...it was really just air, but she thought it was the best thing ever!
Rylee was so happy with the fairies that she was actually HAPPY to pose for the camera (most of the time she kind of fights the camera...)

She gave them lots of hugs and kisses...