Happy Birthday Keith!

A Visit From My Girlies

Hannah and Brynnie's Uncle Ryan got married at the end of April in the AZ Temple. The girls got to come play at our house for a while during the luncheon and Hannah got to serenade us on Stella's guitar. Gosh darn I love those girls!

I love that belly!

The Bangarts sure know how to throw a party. Stella and I danced the night away at the reception with Hannah close by. I'm very dizzy.

They had a photo booth that took 6 pictures and we got to choose which one's to keep and which ones to give to the bride and groom. Such a cute idea and such a fun party!

Oh, and I'm glad I got to see Lindsay and Keith too.

Hannah & Brynlee

Merry Christmas to ME! My sister and her family came to spend Christmas in the valley and I got to see the girls a couple of times! I can't believe how big they are! I tried to get Lindsay to show Hannah and Brynlee pictures of me religiously previous to their coming to shed some time off of our re-bonding so we could get right into the chasing and tickling and laughing and singing. It wasn't until we played a good round of peek-a-boo that Hannah warmed up. Brynlee kind of just always smiles, so she made me feel like she was excited to see me. Plus, she didn't projectile vomit on me this time, so we're like best friends now.

Hannah got a karaoke CD player with 2 microphones. And we all know what happens when Stella finds a microphone!

Stella sang her gospel rendition of "ABC's" and Hannah was her back-up singer. In this picture, Hannah is nodding as if to say, "you sing it sista!"

Absolutely love these girls! We had so much fun! Oh, and Keith and Lindsay were there too I guess. :) We're so happy we got to see them!

Brynlee has the BEST belly laugh! You kind of just want to dance around with glee when you hear it.

Yes, Brynlee's eyes are really THAT blue.

Look, even Hannah is mesmerized by them.

OHIO - Part 1 (UNCLE MILES)

FINALLY! We finally planned our visit to Ohio to see Uncle Miles and Tom! Last Friday we flew out and got to stay in their beautiful home. I wonder what my house would look like if I worked at Crate & Barrel. I didn't get a picture of Toby, Miles' cat because he was a little shy and freaked out with Stella's sudden movements. Every time we saw him outside, he had a look on his mug that said, "I will return home when the child is gone. No sooner."

Of course, Elliot had to eat some BBQ, so we went out to eat at Montgomery Inn on someone's referral. I forgot to pack warm clothes, so I was freezing the entire time we were in Ohio. After dinner, Miles and Tom treated us to some Graeter's Ice Cream. I have a strict rule about NOT mixing chocolate and fruit, but Tom was quite passionate about getting the raspberry chocolate chunk that we had to get it and it was DELICIOUS!

Saturday morning (late morning) we planned to go to a children's museum called Cosi, not to be confused with Cosi the restaurant and also pronounced different. Makes sense, doesn't it? We had been in the front entry area for quite some time looking at their displays when I got a little ansie to go to another floor to see the rest of the museum. Miles and Tom were lurking about trying to act really interested in something (obviously stalling for time . . . but not obvious enough to me). As I started walking away, I spotted my brother-in-law Keith coming in the front door. Hum, I wondered. I haven't seen many people who look exactly like my action-hero brother-in-law. Then I saw his beautiful wife (my sister) and looked down to see a turbo stroller holding their 2 adorable kids as well as Aunt Nat following closely behind with a pig-tailed Tatem! I was so happy to see them! (if you'll remember, I didn't really get my fill of them when they were in Arizona in May because I was on my death bed) I was so happy that they made the LONG drive from Indiana to visit us!

(Stella was disgusted by the fake camel)

We milled around through the museum holding Stella most of the time because she felt like crap most of the day until she got some medicine from Aunt Lindsay.

Stella even fell asleep in Elliot's arms!

We ate lunch, made a huge mess in the cafeteria, and let the girls play in the museum playland before we headed back home. It was nearly impossible to get a picture of all four girls holding still. I can't believe Stella is the oldest. It's so weird not to have to chase around my own child anymore.

Miles and Tom grilled some yummy kabobs for us and we finished the night off with some more Graeter's Ice Cream. They also busted out the white-trash wigs.

(How can she be so, so, so beautiful and soooooooo absolutely ugly at the same time!)

We also had a contest to see who could suck in their nose the skinniest (pictures to come). We tried to stay up really late to visit, but we're all old now and can't stay awake very long. We did manage to take a normal picture of ourselves and send it to Mom (also, pictures to come later . . . they are on Miles' camera).

Elliot has a special touch with babies. Baby Brynlee must have been a sleepy girl!

Sunday morning we said goodbye to Uncle Miles before he went to work and had planned on leaving for Kirtland in the early afternoon. When Lindz, Keith, and Nat and the girls showed up all in matching outfits and one for Stella, we headed over to Crate & Barrel to visit Uncle Miles one more time and have lunch so he could have a picture with all of the girls. Lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (the restaurant where Elliot and I almost broke up 10 years ago) was a little chaotic, but I'm glad we got to spend a little more time with Miles.

We finished packing up our stuff and said our goodbyes hoping that I'd made good enough friends with the little girls for an unforced goodbye hug (I even got a kiss-kiss from Tatem!).

We're so glad we finally got to visit Uncle Miles and Tom and scare the crap out of Toby the Cat! Thanks Miles and Tom!