Rock On!

Leila is destined to be a famous singer (country, rock, reggae, R&B, whatev.)

Lately one of her tricks is to "play her guitar" which means she "strums" whatever she has (a fork, her other arm, her plastic guitar, etc.) and while she plays her guitar she sings "I sing. I sing. I siiiing." Then we ask her "are you singing?" She says "yep" with a look on her face like, duh, you couldn't tell? (She also loves to use the shower head to wash off after her bath - BONUS! - and she "sings" into the shower head as well.)

Weekend in Review

Friday June 24th
* West Fest - Just me and Leila (Kuso was STILL in Wyoming!)
--did a massive search to find a WORKING ATM that wasn't already tapped out by 7pm. I think I found the last one (after 4 previous attempts). Why the massive search? Because I'm such a good wife I NEEDED to add yet another Bob Marley shirt to hubby's massive collection (but I had never seen this one before and it looked nice) - btw...part of the deal of him wearing Bob Marley so much is that there cannot be ANY drugs, smoking, or paraphernalia type stuff. -- it's kinda hard to find SO many shirts that are "appropriate." :)
--bought myself a cute little baby blue Hawaiian print bag to take to places like parks and such where I need to take a FEW things but don't want to use my pockets (after losing the rugby tickets back in February and having to retrace almost a 1/2 mile worth of steps to luckily find them again, I don't trust my back pockets anymore!)
--bought my mom a birthday present! YEP! at West Fest. It's actually something she told me a while back she really wanted (and since she reads this, I'm going to let her stew over it for another month or so when she can actually receive her present!)
--after West Fest Leila and I went home and just vegged.

Saturday June 25
--Kuso came home early that morning because late the night before it was decided only 6 guys were going to work Saturday (even though all 14 had stayed there to work - oh well.)
--went to Costco
--went to visit his parents
--took his mom shopping for some new clothes
--he went to watch rugby (it's his team but since he has been soooo busy working lately, he hasn't had a chance to train/run with them so he didn't play.) Leila and I took a nap.
--went to Taylorsville days. I thought the main concert started at 7, so we were there and seated by then just to see/hear a local acapella band. Then at 8 the REAL main concert started -Abbacadabra - an Abba cover band! It was pretty fun. Then the fireworks started at 10 and went on until 10:35. AND they play them to music which makes it even better.

Sunday June 26
--family dinner with Kuso's parents and his uncles and such. Because there were SO many people and SO much going on, it threw a MASSIVE kink into Leila's nap. Luckily, we were able to adjust slightly and she was still in bed at a moderately normal time (for her.) and SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! (this is getting more and more frequent, but she still has an off night every now and then...)
--Kuso left to go BACK to Wyoming.

ALL of this and I didn't take one.single.picture. Oh well.

You be the Judge

Word on the street is that Leila is STARTING to look a little more like her mom.

I guess with Doritoes in her mouth, maybe she does!(photo courtesy of Jamila)

I've been told by several different people over that past 2 weeks how much Leila looks like me.

I guess I just can't get past her eyes that ARE her daddy's eyes and the dark skin/hair.

You be the Judge.

Wyoming

Let it just be said...I.HATE.WYOMING.

There. It has been said.

Kuso spends most of his time working out of Rock Springs, Wyoming. It's just under a 2 1/2 hour drive from here. This is his busy time of year, so Leila and I went up to spend the night since we hadn't seen him in a week and a half and are not sure when we will see him again. (usually within the next week or 2 for sure.)

When we got there, I needed to take a picture of Kuso for my aunt. She is making a book for my grandpa Taylor with all of the family's pictures in it. He has Alzheimer's and this is supposed to help him I guess. Anyway, anytime Leila sees a camera, you hear "ata." or "cheeeeeese." She LOVES the camera. Leila has also started sticking her tongue out at people. Part of it comes from making silly faces while watching Yo Gabba Gabba and from nursery. But she is also learning to "Hmm" kind of a mean grunt when she sticks it out if she is mad. So now when we try to take a picture of her, she sticks her tongue out too.
"Kisi Daddy."
Leila and Mommy

Uncle Nati

Every night the guys get together and cook dinner and eat and hang out (since they don't have gyms or parks or families or yard work or etc to entertain them.) Kuso and I went to eat, but he also wanted to get some of what the guys were cooking that night, so we went over to the room. From outside you can hear them all singing and laughing. One guy was playing the guitar and Nati was playing his ukulele. Leila didn't waste any time giving Nati loves and then flirting with some of the guys..."tickling them" or "getting them" which really means she kind of scratches their knees then runs away. SUCH a flirt.

Back to the REAL reason I.HATE.WYOMING.

I get speeding tickets there. Yes, I speed. But not excessively. On the straight roads of Wyoming, going 75 is ridiculous...I usually find myself creeped up to about 85. Well, speeding is speeding regardless of the BORING reason, so I get pulled over and get a ticket. The officer was VERY nice, but he could have given me a WARNING.

I wouldn't complain so much if I wasn't in the same area of 2 other cars who were gaining ground on me (meaning they were clearly going faster than I was) but MY license plate was from Utah...both other cars were from Wyoming.

Hmmmm.?

Oh well...I might learn my lesson...I might not. Only time will tell. I just hate speeding tickets when my going a little over the posted limit is not reckless or endangering other vehicles....we live and learn. Right? Maybe.

(btw...I got another ticket around the same area 2 years ago...ON MY BIRTHDAY!)

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

This Memorial Weekend (as most in the past) we went to Southern Utah. Saturday morning we went to Red Cliffs and met up with most of my cousins and aunts. While there, we saw SNAKES! Y.U.C.K.!!! Cousins - Salt & PepperWe told them to hug...I love their "what now" faces below.

Shawn started climbing this tree. Then Kiley wanted to "climb" the tree. Then Kuso decided he needed to climb the tree. So he did.

This rock is where I took most of these next group of pictures.

(Notice Leila's Pebble's hair style. I had combed it so cute that morning. Then we sprayed sun screen on...apparently the sun screen and the elastics did not agree. The elastics snapped. All 6 of them. So I re-did her hair about 4 more times, before I just took the extra "real" elastic from my hair and used it to keep her hair off her face.)This is where people were jumping into the water. So of course, Kuso had to join in.Leila LOVES water. Like Daddy like Daughter.

Tasi, Lua, Tolu, OSO! (1, 2, 3, JUMP!)

Over and Over and Over and Over - luckily I had thought to bring a change of clothes.Someone saw a frog. We watched it jump around. Then cousin-in-law Sarah picked it up and we realized it was TWO frogs. Then Leila in her innocence says "FROG!" BUT...her R sounds like wu and the G sounds like CK...You figure it out. Kinda funny, kinda right, kinda embarrassing. :)On the hike back we noticed this small cave so we took some family photos....Grandpa had high tailed it back to the cars with Leila...Cousin Brandi's daughter Jordyn...she is a nearly perfect child. So good with the little girls and SO beautiful. Leila spent LOTS of time PLAYING on the weekend. Now that we are back home, she gets whiny and bored because there isn't STUFF to play with (as if she doesn't have a mountain of her own STUFF.)
DISCOVERY PARK!
Sunday afternoon we took the girls over to Discovery Park. This park was designed by kids. When I was in college, we were able to help raise money to build one of the towers in the park.Leila learned at a different park to go down slides on her stomach. It prevents her from hitting her head and it makes the landing easier.You can see her peaking through the hole in the slide.Cousin Jace. Such a stud.
This bridge would wobble when you walked on it. I was pretty surprised Leila didn't freak out at first when she felt it move...she just kept walking.Uncle Troy pushing Leila in the baby swing...
Then we had to switch to the big girl swing. Troy is so good with his nieces.

Kiley looking through the hole.Grandma and Leila looking through the hole. Kiley, Grandma, and Leila. NOT a good picture of any of them. This is what you get when you try to take pictures in rain and cold with 2 young girls!Leila and Auntie MichelleHope this is the ONLY Sheriff vehicle she is ever in!

Not Pictured: We took the kids to the Cedar Aquatics Center to swim Saturday afternoon. We had been there for about 20 minutes and someone pooped in the pool! So we all had to get out while they cleaned it and processed chemicals. Leila was getting hungry and because we couldn't entertain her with swimming, we decided to leave and get her some food. Waste of money, but it was a pretty cool place. Maybe we can take her again on another trip.

Other than that, we just spent time hanging out. Eating and laughing. I always enjoy the opportunity to spend time with cousins. The only thing I regret is not taking a picture of all the great grand kids together. This was the first time they were ALL there together.

I'm so thankful for the men and women who have dedicated their time and sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we enjoy in these United States. Although our country is not perfect, I can't think of anything I would want to give up in order to live somewhere else.

God Bless America!