No pups for Juni-girl

Juni got fixed! I really wanted to experience one round of puppies but the more I thought about it (especially puppy periods) the more I decided it probably wasn't for us! The procedure went well and even though she's a spaz and even on full sedatives broke two cones completely in half it all went well and we are free from pregnancy fears. We love our Juniper Love with all our human hearts and we are excited to play with her again soon. 

To be honest, she's totally stoned in this picture! Like, couldn't even walk to her bed she was so out of it. I had to pick up her 60 pound body and carry her to this living room pillow because she couldn't get here on her own. Poor sleepy surgery girl!

Anyone who ever doubts my love for our family can consult the picture above, haha! Juniper threw up her pain medicine and we couldn't give her more yet so she was up crying and moaning through the first night home. I spent a little over an hour in her kennel with her because she couldn't sleep unless my hand was on her. Finally we brought her into bed with me and she slept for the rest of the night as long as she was directly on top of me! I was her comfort blanket and I truly felt honored to help her, but also it was a pretty horrible night sleep!

That shaved tummy!

This was her first cone that she destroyed in a record five days!

Well, we thought it was a record until she turned her replacement cone into this mess just a few days later!

She felt bad about it...at least she pretended to haha!

Cora is growing up!!!

This summer has been one of transformation for my baby girl Coco. 

First she learned how to swim--not just floating on her back like last year but jumping off the diving board, frog-kicking underwater and coming up for air type of swimming. My last baby is out of floaties and that is a milestone that absolutely makes me elated! 

Then, she lost her first tooth. I know it's weird but I'm a tooth person and when kids start losing their teeth I'm just over the moon about it. Missing teeth smiles are just the cutest and their excitement for the tooth fairy is the frosting on the cake. But this came at me too fast! How is my newborn old enough to loose teeth? And why are you looking at me weird when I call her my newborn?! One day she told me her front tooth was wiggly and the next day it was sitting in my palm. She was thrilled, I hid my tears! I guess it's just that I remember like yesterday the day that Talmage lost his first tooth. We lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in a tiny apartment and we danced and belly laughed for hours (and called everyone we knew) because T LOST A TOOTH!!! I promise you that just happened. And now my T has lost all his teeth and is in braces and my baby has started loosing teeth. Sheesh. 

As if that wasn't enough, determined little Cora decided she wanted to tie her own shoes. James sat with her for an hour teaching her the technique and then Cora sat for an additional THREE hours until all of a sudden, she was tying her own shoes!!! There was a lot of self-talk and encouragement and if anyone ever needed a poster child for Growth Mindset thinking, I mean--here's Cora!!! She is not afraid of working hard and not afraid to fail along the way which is such a beautiful example for me. 

Anyway, she's in kindergarten now which is another grown-up post for another day (BECAUSE HOW IS MY NEWBORN IN KINDERGARTEN?) but this is just a little one to say my baby's getting bigger whether I like it or not. And even though I'll always pine for her to be my little pocket pal forever, I do like it! Because Cora is amazing and watching her grow and learn is such a joy. 

First pic sans tooth

One losing teeth, the other straightening them

Daddy teaching his baby to tie her shoes

Can you even handle this? I for sure can't!

Scootering around town

French fries and ice cream, my favorite combination

The happiest arm filled with self-made bracelets! Love this baby girl!

Wonder Wigs

Reporting for duty! 

(Quarantine had us busy making dozens of perler bead creations and close to 50 beaded bracelets!)

Covid

We think T may have been the first, but his vaccinated version was really nothing more than a 24-hour sniffle and it never even occurred to me that it could have been Covid. But Ev caught it next, and was the first to be confirmed, and I'm not going to lie--it was bad. Fever, sore throat, tummy trouble, body aches, headache and exhaustion the likes of which I've never seen (we were carrying him to and from the bathroom because he didn't have energy to walk there himself, and he didn't have the energy to feed himself--yikes). Quinn fell sick just a few days later and her case was short, only 48 hours, but ridiculously intense. And then I got sick, fully-dang-vaccinated me, and I'd hate to think about not having some antibodies because boy was it horrible. James was vaccinated and never got any symptoms, and Cora also never got symptoms but she tested positive the same day I did. BLAHHHH! In the end, our whole family fully quarantined for 15 days so that there was no chance of us spreading any bugs to anyone else. Unfortunately, it was too late for our closest family members--the Tat's, the McKee's and even my parents all caught it. We had to cancel visitors at our place, and a McKee family reunion, and we also lost the last two weeks of summer. While I'm grateful it didn't happen during school, the timing was such a bummer. We have been so diligent during this 18-month pandemic and I thought we were going to come out on the other side without it ever having passed through our home. I was wrong. I hate Covid means just a little bit more these days...especially since 21 days out I still can't smell or taste and I'm having to take daily naps to keep up on life! 

Some summer randoms

4th of July with the McKee/O'Neals. I can't stand that these babies are going to kindergarten. 

Muscle Mania right here!

Pre-trek hike with some fellow ma's and pa's and mooooooostly in-n-out

I dared Carol to do THE CRAZIEST dance in front of everyone at girls camp and offered her an ice cream cone in return. "An ice cream?" she asked. "No, I want a new pair of church shoes!" I quickly agreed because, guys, you should have seen this crazy dance I asked her to do. Welp, she did it and the week after girls camp it was time for us to pay up. She found the perfect shoes and Coco and I had so much fun shopping with her. 

Weekday lunch with Mom and Ash. 

Date night on the river--on nights like this I just love where we live. 

First day of dance camp. 

Bring your family to work day at Deseret Book, haha. 

The boys went to LA and had the best time on the beach for a week. We had FOMO...but we couldn't go because I was leaving for trek.

While the boys are away, the girls will play. Sushi, baby!!!

Juniper is starting real puppy training. It's only kind of going well tbh, she's such a teenager!

Our trek son's All Star!

This is the fun part about having a garden! Bowls of veg like this every single night.

Tahoe was smoky but still so dang beautiful.

Papa's retirement reception with his patients. 

This dog is naughty but she is beyond loved (and tortured) by her human siblings. 

These moments, sheesh I love 'em.

Ben's post-trek fireside was SO GOOD! I'm so incredibly grateful for the work he does and have been a religious listener of his podcast for soooooo long. 

I'm pretty sure we will be proud of our trek kids for all time. Love this one and so excited for his college adventure to come!