Six Flags

While my parents were here we went to Six Flags and had a blast. We will definitely be going back, especially since they have a deal where you get 6 visits for the price of 1! Can't argue with that!

Kiara's favorite part was the seeing the walrus. She would have stayed there all day just like when we go to Fisherman's Wharf and see the sea lions. I think she may have a love for ocean animals like her mom does!

I love dolphins and was really excited to see the dolphin show. It was really cool, although nothing compares to the show in Sea World Orlando. I've heard even Sea World San Diego isn't as good as the one in Florida, although I've never been to SD myself.

We went and waited for the whale show but it never actually started because the whale wouldn't cooperate. He would act like he was going to like in these pictures, but then he'd swim off. He was still pretty impressive to look at and very cute, I guess he just realized that when you weigh 2 tons nobody's going to make you do something you don't want to do!

This video is a little longer than I realized at the time but it's pretty cute. You might have to turn your volume up a little to hear her laughing. She is a little daredevil and loved every ride we took her on, even the ones where kids much older and bigger than her were crying. The only thing she didn't like was waiting in line and being told she was too short to ride something. Can't blame her there!

What a month!

Wow! I cannot believe August is almost over. I don't remember a month ever flying by as fast as this one did. In August we have been to 4 states, seen both sets of grandparents and most aunts and uncles, and moved to a new house. Throw in a dozen or so baseball games and you have yourself a whirlwind! Anyway, we've had a lot of fun and are excited about some new changes.

The biggest change this month is our new home which we are LOVING! It is so nice to be back in a house again and have some more space and a yard. We really liked the townhome we were in but it was a little small and the walls were starting to close in on us. This house is still in our ward and miraculously in our budget. We're very grateful to have found it and to have an extra room to hopefully put a baby in soon. My mom & dad were planning a trip in August and were kind enough to plan it the same time we were moving so they could help...and help they did! There is no way we could be as settled as we are already without their help and we especially appreciated the extra babysitters!

It's so cute to see how much Kiara loves her Grandma & Papa. She was very sad to see them go, she even cried when we dropped my mom off at the airport. My dad got to stay an extra night because of a coinciding business trip an hour away and we went and met him for dinner last night. It was nice to squeeze one last activity in but Kiara keeps thinking he's coming back. While they were here my dad kind of fell into the duty of getting her out of her carseat whenever we went anywhere so after about the 3rd day she started saying "Papa gotcha" whenever we stopped the car and she knew she'd be getting out. It was so cute.

Kiara & I have been to dozens of baseball games this summer but I realized I don't have any pictures to prove it so we decided to remedy that at a game we went to while my parents were here. Kiara loves the team mascot "Splash" (she calls him Splashy) and chases him around during every game. Luckily this game was pretty slow for Ben so he got to sit with us for a few innings and brought Splash over to play with Kiara for a minute.

We have a 7 game homestand this week which I am dreading but after that the regular season is over and we get our Daddy back! Just kidding...the team made the playoffs so it will be a little longer until life returns to "normal." I hate it when they play well!

Sacred Grove pictures

I got a little snap happy at the Sacred Grove but there's something about being on that ground that makes everything look breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn't help myself and now I can't help myself again and am posting way too many. Oh well, hope someone enjoys them as much as I do!

Kiara-isms

#1-Kiara has become quite the fan of TV lately, specifically Dora & The Backyardigans. Almost every time we pull in the garage she starts asking if she can watch one of these 2 shows, even requesting the exact episode she would like to watch. Well today Ben came home and ran some errands with us on his lunch break and as we were pulling in the garage she asked if we could watch "Red Sox." I said, "You want to watch Red Sox?" to which she replied, "Red Sox. YES!" and pumped her fist in the air just like Ben does during the games. It was too funny. Needless to say it was one of Ben's proudest moments as a father.

#2-During dinner tonight Ben was asking Kiara what she had done today. She rattled off a few activities: watched Dora, read books, then she picked up her bear (which is always by her side, she's obsessed with it), started wiping it with her napkin, and said, "Ooh bear poopy stinky. Change diaper." She also added a sour look on her face as if she really had just smelled a stinky diaper. Looks like I have a mimic, guess I better watch what I say!

Ralph Lauren here we come!

Kiara doesn't have a lot of dress up clothes so her alternative is to layer everyday clothing. Today she came out of her room looking like this. She was already wearing the onesie and blue shorts as pajamas but she put the pants, shoes and glasses on by herself. As my Grandma used to say, so stylish!

CA to NH to CT to NY to CT to NY to CA

Tired yet? I am. We had such a whirlwind trip, I am having a very hard time recovering. And now a warning that this is a very long post which will likely make you even more tired, but it's giving me an excuse to not do laundry so I'm writing it! Feel free to skip over the words and just look at the pictures!

Ben's brother was getting married in the Palmyra Temple on August 5th, 6 days after Kiara's 2nd birthday which meant 6 days after we would start having to pay for airfare for her. We have flown a ton since she was born and have been able to do most of those trips because she was free. We knew there was no way around paying for her ticket home but figured it would be worth it to fly out a few days early to avoid paying for her ticket there. The jury is still out whether it was in fact worth it or not!

Anyway, long story short we realized Ben wouldn't be able to take any more than 2 days off of work and since Ben's mom (his family lives in New Hampshire) has always wanted to take me to NYC, we thought this would be a perfect time. So Kiara & I flew out Tuesday morning to NH. After a long day of wishing I had 3 more hands and some Valium, we made it there. Wednesday morning my MIL, 3 year old SIL (yes Ben is 27 and has a 3 year old sister and a 6 year old brother, plus a lot more siblings in between), Kiara & I drove 4 1/2 hours to the train station in Stamford, CT (BTW, the whole way there I kept picturing Andy Bernard chanting "Stamford, Connecticut" from that "Office" episode).

Once there we took a 45 minute train ride to NYC. It was a lot like I had seen on TV and scared me a little. I am fairly claustrophobic and seem to be getting more so each day. I am also very sensitive to smells and a nervous passenger. This combination of neuroses made for a tense cab ride to the hotel but once we got there I was very calm. We stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria and it was incredible!

I didn't get any other pictures of the Waldorf for some reason but here is one of the ceilings. They were so detailed and ornate, it gives you an idea of what the rest of the building was like. It was definitely the nicest place I've ever been.

While we were in NYC we went to American Girl, Build-A-Bear, Lion King on Broadway and did a bus tour around Manhattan.

It was all a lot of fun, although Kiara had no interest in the darkness and scary music of Lion King so we spent all but the opening act in the lobby. It was fine though, she had a lot of fun on the escalator and I met a really cool guy who's son is the young Simba in the play. After he came out we met him too and Kiara danced around with him for a few minutes. As a side note, he said that Kiara acts just how his son did at her age. Yikes! I don't know how I feel about relocating to Broadway.

After the Big Apple we took the train back to Stamford and stayed there for 2 nights until Ben, his dad and the rest of his siblings got there.

Sunday we drove another 4 1/2 hours to Rochester, NY and stayed there for the rest of our trip. As you can see we had to get creative to keep ourselves entertained for yet another car trip but it worked!

It was a gorgeous drive and I've decided that upstate NY is the most beautiful earth that can exist. I had been to Rochester/Palmyra 6 years ago with my oldest brother and sister-in-law but I didn't appreciate it near as much as this visit. It was such a contrast from Manhattan and the city. I think if it weren't for the humidity (and the tolls!) I would move there in a heartbeat. It was unbelievable.

Monday we went to the Sacred Grove with all of Ben's siblings except the one who got married. I took a million pictures there, most of which I will put in a separate post but here a few of my faves.

After the Sacred Grove we drove another hour and a half to Ben's aunt's lake house at the Finger Lakes and again realized that this was God's land. The peace and serenity felt there is indescribable and I am so glad we made the time to go. We had been there the first summer we were married, but again I did not fully appreciate the beauty. Wow, does this mean I'm maturing? Weird! Unfortunately I got too distracted by the fun swimming that I never got any pictures of the view, but believe me, it's a place everyone should visit before they die.

The next day was the wedding and it was great. Ike & April are so happy together and we are so happy for them. Ike is such a wonderful guy (just like his big brother!) and will be a great husband. It's a little weird to think of him as married because he was still in high school when Ben & I started dating but he and April will be great together. Congrats guys! Oh, and thanks for providing music at your reception, it was the highlight of the trip for Kiara as you can see in this video. She was a big hit!

Finally the time came for us to fly home and needless to say we were happy to have Daddy with us for this flight. I had been trying to get Kiara to sleep for about 20 minutes to no avail but when Ben picked her up she laid her head on his shoulder and was out in about 20 seconds. There is nothing quite like the love between a father and daughter.

So to sum up, we saw a lot of things, covered A LOT of ground (& air) and made some great memories. Now I just need to take a vacation to recover from our vacation. Anyone up for some laundry?