Scarlett's Visit.

We were thrilled to have Britt and Scarlett come back to CO with us to spend a few days.
I loved being a part of a few of Scarlett's FIRSTS.

#1 A trip to Colorado to visit Grammy's house.

We had to stock up on a few baby items, since Britt and Scarlett were flying back to UT and couldn't haul all the necessities. I figure it's a great investment as I hope to have many grandchildren stay with us in the future.

#2 - FIRST TIME in Grammy's tub.

Mar loved mugging on Scarlett before heading off to school for the day.

Last Wednesday, Britt had arranged to meet up with her two of her bff's from high school, Tara and Lizzie.

Tara was cute when she came in the house. She said she felt like they were back in high school... except they both had babies! 

 #3 - Scarlett's FIRST TIME meeting chunky hunky Landon.

And of course I couldn't resist a quick blast from the past of these girls, which really wasn't that long ago.

That night we attended Mar's choir concert.

#4 - Scarlett's FIRST (choir concert, that is. She is a seasoned j.wride concert attendee).

#5 - Also Scarlett's FIRST TIME in a middle school (Britt's first time in Cimarron).

It was super crowded, so we found a place to sit on the second level of the school. As Grandpa walked around with Scarlett, they discovered a couple of Mar's art pieces displayed for all to see.

(I recently received an email from Mar's art teacher, praising her work AND her work ethic in class. I love, love, love receiving good news like that from a teacher, and I so appreciate her taking the time to send a personal note!)

 (This is the same piece, different angles.)

The concert was excellent, as usual.

Can you spot Mar? Second row, smack dab in the middle in the picture below.

Scarlett slept through half the concert, thanks to Grandpa's magic touch.

Mar and Mrs. A., post concert.

On Thursday Austin came to visit for a few days in between work trips, so Britt waited to feed Scarlett her FIRST rice cereal (#6) until daddy-o could be there, too. I believe it was also Scarlett's FIRST TIME in a high chair (#7).

Hmmmmm... not sure how she liked it.

It was such a beautiful day Saturday, we decided to head out to Castlewood Canyon State Park for lunch and a hike.

Scarlett's FIRST TIME at the park (#8) and hiking (#9).

(Billy-my-hero is such a good sport. I ask him to jump, he does. Love you, baby!)

This was not only Scarlett's FIRST non-zoo rattlesnake sighting (#10), but the rest of ours as well.

 This little guy was just a baby, so his rattler wasn't fully developed, but literally crossed Mar's and my path. We could have stepped on it, had Mar not been so observant. Kinda scary, kinda cool.

This was our second rattlesnake sighting of the day. This snake was full grown, head up, rattle rattling when we first spotted it. I was quite disappointed with the one-and-only picture I managed to snap, but it probably didn't help that when the rattle started rattling a second time, I screamed and ran away. By the time I had the courage to get any closer, the snake was slithering away.

Kinda scary, kinda cool.

Towards the end of the hike, Scarlett became bored of the Bjorn (and was maybe a little hot and sweaty), so her cute mamita carried her for the remainder of the way.

 It couldn't have been a lovelier day, or a more beautiful and thrilling hike.

I love fall!

That evening we attended Meet the Mormons with the Yoshikawas. (Loved it!)

#11 Scarlett's FIRST movie at a theater.

Britt and Austin sat close to the exit and reported that Scarlett did "pretty good." Britt had to stand up with her for a lot of the movie. Afterwards we had dessert at the Yoshikawa's, and enjoyed their awesome fire pit as we visited.

Sunday evening we invited some of our friends over for a little "Meet Scarlett" dessert night.

Austin headed out again for work on Monday.

Britt, Mar and I shopped on Tuesday, mainly for a Halloween costume for Scarlett. We initially came up with the idea to have Scarlett be a three-armed baby, then Britt could be a two-headed woman... and Austin could be another mutant of his choosing. We thought Austin would love the idea, only to discover that he wanted his little princess to be something {cuter}. Since Scarlett is a HUGE fan of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, we searched the closest Costcos for Minnie costumes, finally finding one just a size larger than she needed, figuring we could alter it a bit.

Then we ran into some awesome costumes for Britt and Austin, which meant the pink Costco Minnie wouldn't necessarily match theirs. 

Scarlett needed to be a scarlet Minnie. 

Thanks to Mar (I'm telling you, that girl is a finder), we found a darling cuter-because-it's-custom outfit for Scarlett, then whipped up some ears to go with it. 

Scarlett's FIRST Halloween costume (#12), found in CO, ears handmade by Grammy.

Here's a little preview:

Scarlett loves them.

There you go, Austin: Supa Cute.

On Wednesday it was time to say goodbye to these two beautiful girls.

Mar and I walked them to their gate at the airport (which was good, since Little Mama had her arms FULL).

#13 Scarlett's FIRST plane ride.

Little Mama's first one with a lap rider. And a carseat. And a ginormous diaper bag.

Goodbye, baby!

Goodbye, Little Mama!

We loved spending time with this cute family.

We loved witnessing some of Scarlett's FIRSTS.

Can't wait to see them again at Christmas!

BYU Parents + Conference Weekend.

Here's a quick rundown of the weekend we spent in UT. 

As usual, we packed it in as tightly as possible.

After Bill, Mar and I arrived on Thursday, we all met together to celebrate Lex's birthday at one of our fave family hangouts: Red Robin. I've mentioned before that the Provo location is the best. Because we had to wait a good 30+ minutes to get seated (and we had called ahead - even though WE KNOW they don't take reservations - in hopes of mitigating the wait time), we were met with a boatload of fries, onion rings, and mozz sticks. (For FREE!) Yum.

 Jason drove down from ID that day to spend the weekend with his favorite girl.

Austin was out of town with work, so couldn't join us. Scarlett did great, especially considering the long wait time, and is sporting her pjs because she had a diapy blowout. A restaurant is not Britt's favorite place to deal with such messiness, but she handled it like a pro. 

She is such a sweet, doting mamita!

Taylor and Lynnea were so kind and gracious to let us crash their pad, unplanned, after dinner was over. They are such a fun pair and can always make us laugh. Love them!

 These two sisters were reunited... and it feels so good. (I couldn't resist.)

 Grandma and Grandpa Syddall made the long drive to Provo to join us in the celebration. 

We were so glad they came!

It's always so much fun to have everyone together!

Friday was game day.

BYU v USU

Jill and I thought it would be a fun birthday gift for my Aggie parents to take them to the game.

Our plans were to meet up that afternoon, which left us some time to chill with Sweet Scarlett.

 Prior to the game, and after MUCH deliberation on where to eat (nobody wanted to be the one to choose lest anyone be unhappy with the choice)... we met up here:

 Happily, I think it was a good selection.

Since Lolo is a working girl, she couldn't join us for dinner, so we took dinner to her.

Afterwards, we took a stroll to the stadium.

Our seats = not ideal.

We were sitting directly under a speaker, which eventually led some in our group to improvise ear plugs - it was THAT loud.

 The Aggie crowd was in the corner to our right, and there were a few Aggie families scattered here and there among us. My dad unabashedly cheered for USU.

 My cute dad has a problem keeping his eyes open for pics, so on this THIRD attempt, he made sure they were {open}. Nailed it.

 This was a missed opportunity on my part. Snapped the pic a little late.

Bill and I ran into some old friends and chatted for a bit, returning to our seats as the momentum swung in USU's favor. That Aggie crowd next to us grew loud and proud.

After the game, as we made the drive with my parents back to Taylor and Lynnea's place, Bill cracked a couple of jokes.

"We called BYU and told them we were bringing you to the game for your birthday and asked them to let Utah State win. Just for you. Happy Birthday!"

"These cars are moving so slow because they are full of depressed Cougars."

Needless to say, my parents were pleased with the game.  My mom said it brought back memories of games she attended back in her college days. We were saddened to hear that BYU's quarterback, Taysom Hill, had broken his leg and was out for the season. That is, however, a peril of the game.

On General Conference Saturday, we hung out at Britt and Austin's to watch the morning and afternoon broadcasts, then the guys all attended the Priesthood session together that evening.

I love, love, love hearing the words of living prophets and apostles.

One of my favorite talks was by Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

"God will not act to make us something we do not choose by our actions to become. Truly He loves us, and because He loves us, He neither compels nor abandons us. Rather He helps and guides us. Indeed, the real manifestation of God's love is His commandments."

The day was full of edification and family togetherness. It couldn't have been better.

On Sunday we attended the morning session of conference at the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Conference Center. We were thrilled to have obtained enough tickets for our whole family, but things didn't necessarily go as smoothly as I had imagined. 

First, we left our tickets at home. In Parker.

This required a call to Mic, who had stayed in CO for work, who then had to scour our house for the tickets, and, upon discovery, FedEx them to us. We received them at 1:30pm Saturday, as scheduled. Thank heavens for Michaela. We'll be up a creek without a paddle once she heads off to college.

The second complication: Lex slept in.

We had carefully laid the plan Saturday night that Lex would pick up Lolo and Chey, then drive to Taylor and Lynnea's (where Jason was also staying), then they would caravan to the American Fork Target parking lot where we would meet them at 7:45am. We were supposed to be in our seats by 9am. We had no idea how bad traffic, parking, and crowds would be.

As Bill, Mar and I were driving to Target, Lolo called. Lex had not come to pick them up and Shi couldn't get a hold of her. Long story short, after some panicked calls here, there, and everywhere, Lex had been roused, oh-so-quickly gotten ready, and headed out the door. We changed the meeting place to Taylor and Lynnea's, and only waited 10 minutes for the girls once we arrived.

Traffic was not bad. (We thought it was fun to see others on the freeway headed to conference.)

Parking was a dream. (We had parking passes for the JSMB.)

We were in our seats in plenty of time to take a potty break.

After the session, we took the beautiful stroll back to our cars, snapping a few pics along the way.

We ran into Hailey - who had so kindly awakened Lex earlier that morning. Crazy how you can be somewhere with literally crowds of people around, and run into your roommate. Lex didn't even know Hailey was coming to the afternoon session.

 Right before this shot, Taylor announced that he was NOT enjoying all the picture-taking.

He wanted to let us know that he was tired and ready to GO. In a gentle, polite way.

He still managed to put a smile on his face, so you would never know, but I feel the need to memorialize the moment because it made me smile. 

I love him and I love how honest he is.

 Note to self: When taking selfies, looking down is never a good idea, even if you want the beautiful temple and the sky surrounding it in the picture. The double-chin is never a great look.

We headed to Bountiful to have lunch with Austin and Britt (they didn't want to attempt a live session with Scarlett - which gave us the pleasure of giving out two tickets to a smiley broken-english-speaking man), Matt/Lia and fam, oh-so-briefly with the Feil fam (before they left for the afternoon conference session), and Grandma and Grandpa.

For whatever reason, I have enjoyed taking selfies lately.

There's something kind of fun about snapping a picture without really knowing what you're going to end up with. Did you get everyone in? Is everyone smiling?

 More double-chin shots of me, but too cute not to post.

I guess I can't win. Double chin looking down, double chin looking up.

Maybe I just need to admit I have a double chin.

You know I'm a fan of a good jumping shot, too.

Scarlett was happy for Great Grammy G. Yay!

I think first-cousins-once-removed Christian and Lincoln loved being around Scarlett, too.

After lunch we loaded up the car with Britt and Scarlett, and took the long not-so-scenic I-80 drive back to CO. Scarlett did pretty good, thanks to meeska, mooska, Mickey Mouse!

It was a fantastic weekend spent with family, family, and more family.

Loved it.

Love spending the past week+ with Britt and Scarlett in CO.

More on that soon!