We sold our house in Spanish Fork, and moved out from June 14-16. We stored the majority of our stuff in Nikki's basement, which was super convenient since she lives right across the street. Plus, it's free. I appreciate that SO much... and hopefully the payment of using my furniture and giving her everything out of my fridge and freezer is sufficient ;)
From June 17-20, DJ was coaching at a BYU basketball camp, so we stayed in Provo at my mom's house. Lex and I had a great time spending a few days with my mom! On the 20th, after DJ got off work, we headed to Wyoming. We took both my car and DJ's truck, since we're staying in Wyoming for 5 weeks and had to bring a bunch of stuff plus our dog. So Lex and I made the trek in my car and DJ and Cosmo were in his truck together. Poor Cosmo had been spayed that same morning, so she was totally drugged and sore. We made it to Lovell around 2am. GAG! It was kind of awful. Lex did really well in the car, and fell asleep easily, but then I had like 5 more hours of late night driving all by myself. We had to stop every couple of hours to let Cosmo out to use the bathroom, plus since I'm pregnant I was supposed to get out and walk around to avoid blood clots. The hardest part of the trip was when Lex was awake and she's old enough that she'd see a toy, snack, book, etc. that she wanted and she let me know she wanted it, ("mmmmm!") but couldn't articulate what it was she wanted. So I would try handing back about 5 things before getting it right, and sometimes I never got it right. Oh well. When we were going over South Pass, DJ and I both nearly hit the same deer-- it was in the middle of the road and got out of the way for DJ, but then turned back toward my car and I just had to hope it didn't get in the way cause there was really nothing I could do. Luckily nothing came of it and the rest of our trip was extremely uneventful.
On June 21, we woke up and unloaded the bed of DJ's truck into his parents' living room and then piled in the truck with Cosmo in the back so we could go camping over by Buffalo. The rest of his family had already been there for a day, so we met them there. If you know me, you know I'm not a camper. BUT, it was family vacation this year, and I was only there for one night, so it wasn't a big deal. It was fun to be with the whole family (minus Vanna). Mama Savage has a camper trailer with a bathroom, so I was really grateful for that. Our tent ended up having a whole in it (thanks, Cosmo!) so we borrowed one from DJ's parents. Lexsi slept surprisingly well between us-- on a queen-sized air mattress. The best part of the night was waking up to hear Jordan say, "Kate! There has to be room for me too!" Apparently she wanted to lay on his pillow, but wanted him to get off the pillow entirely. On Saturday morning, Lexsi discovered she was OBSESSED with playing in the dirt. And she got filthy. Like, seriously so nastily dirty:
She was having such a great time, though, and I knew we were going home that day and would get her in the shower anyway, so I wasn't worried about it. Did she eat some of the dirt? Yes, yes she did. Again, I was completely unconcerned. That's just what happens when you camp with a baby.
After the fun in the dirt, DJ took Lex on a 4-wheeler ride. She had a great time! She's mad in the picture cause she wanted me to hold her, but she really did have a blast while she was out on it:
In the late morning, a storm came in so we all headed back to Lovell, and DJ, Lex and I settled in for our 5-week stay.
Since being here we have had SO much fun playing with our family! Lex is in heaven being around her cousins, A.J. and Jax. She thinks they're the coolest!
She's also discovered the beauty of the trampoline... she's obsessed. Of course we had to let her experience having sprinklers under it. I think it's safe to say she enjoyed herself:
The week after camping was Mustang Days, and I enjoyed experiencing a small town festival first-hand. Vanna and I went to the Follies, which is pretty much a variety show. By far my favorite act was the Dollies, who are basically saloon girls who do little can-can dances. So silly. On Friday we went to Family Fun Night, which was horribly lame with a 1-year-old. There weren't any activities Lex wanted to do, so I used the tickets I had already bought for the carnival and just gave them to the people running the games so I could get the prizes. She got smarties, and that was all she needed to be happy:
Keesh and Vanna competed in an obstacle race, and Keesh dominated Vanna... clearly...
Later that night we went to Minchow's parking lot to listen to the Cowley Boys. It was all very small-town-y... some people danced up by the stage---errr--- flat-bed trailer the band was playing on, the ice cream shop was open, and people just sat around in camp chairs chatting. On Saturday morning DJ went out fishing with his dad, Levi and Adam, and I took Lex with the rest of the fam to the parade. It was bad. SO bad. And so so hot. In case you think I'm exaggerating the lameness of the situation, let me show you my personal highlight of the parade:
Yep. That's a live baby raccoon. On the shoulder of a kid who was a pooper scooper for a bunch of mules. Lexsi enjoyed seeing all the horses, so it was worth it in the end.
Basically, living in Lovell has been good. Life is really laid back. As in, I rarely get dressed and ready for the day before noon. Sometimes not at all. I've become a slug. It's been good for all of us, but especially Lexsi, to get closer to our family members here. DJ got a golf membership and is pretty much becoming pro, as he golfs at least once a day. We took a marathon trip to Billings (seriously, I think we were gone like 10 hours?), which was eye-opening to me. We went and did a session in the temple, then did all our grocery shopping for the month. If I ever move to Lovell, that's going to be real life for me. I didn't LOVE it, but I know I could get used to it, and actually end up spending less each month since I don't have easy access to everything like I'm used to.
And now some updates on my girls:
Lex had a doctor appointment right before we left Utah, and weighs a whopping 20 pounds. The girl is just little. She's finally mastered walking (she figured it out in the middle of May, so she was about 15 months), and is now great at running as well. The only time she struggles is when she's tired-- and that's super funny to watch. She's getting way too big and smart, it's killing me. She still LOVES to read, and particularly likes Dr. Seuss's ABC. She picks it up and says, "A, A, A!" She knows where her eyes, nose and belly button are. She has recently become OBSESSED with Winnie the Pooh. She watches the Winnie the Pooh Movie in Spanish nearly every day. It has a bunch of songs in it that get stuck in your head, and if anyone starts singing any of them she promptly goes to the TV, points, and starts singing, "Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!" and dancing. Her vocabulary is definitely increasing. It's funny to hear her talk in Spanish and English. She clearly understands both, because I can ask her something in English and she responds in Spanish, {"Do you want to play in the water?" "Agua! Agua!"} and when DJ talks to her in Spanish she often responds in English {"Lex, vamos afuera." "Outside!"} She is a total jabberwockey, and just jabbers and jabbers all day, throwing real words in every now and then. She's still in love with puppies, and now thinks that Cosmo the Cougar is a puppy, since her puppy's name is Cosmo. Didn't really think about that when we named her :) She's been crazily clingy to me, which is mostly okay but sometimes is hard because if I have to carry her around all day AND carry Mia inside me all day, it gets tiring. She's getting better though, the longer we're here. Her favorite foods are pizza, pasta, grapes, raisins, Go-Go Squeeze, pretzels and potatoes. The funny thing about her pasta eating is that she loves any noodle just plain, with no sauce at all, and she also loves spaghetti. But if you put spaghetti sauce on something other than spaghetti noodles, she won't eat it. So weird. She certainly keeps us on our toes, and is such a blast to have around!
Mia is a wiggler! She moves around WAY more than Lex did when I was pregnant with her, and I hope it's cause she's getting her wiggles out now and will be super calm when she's born. Bahahahaha I can dream, right? This pregnancy is still flying by (I'm officially in my third trimester already-- what the??), and I haven't been sick at all, which is such a blessing. I haven't had any real cravings or anti-cravings. I feel like myself, only fatter :)
And now, after this marathon post, I'm finally caught up!!!
