Turning 29, again.

So, I just turned 29! Again. For the second time.
Ok, I'm 30.

I could have opted for a simple three and zero candle, but I wanted the inferno. 

I love having my birthday so close in the year to three of my best friends, two of whom I got to celebrate with! All of whom turned 30, like me. (L-Dub, sorry I couldn't party with you on your big milestone day!)

Laura and Biffy, you each rang in your thirties in a way that was very you. And you both have given me inspiration for birthday traditions I need to start. For example, Laura: I LOVED how your mom read the parts of her journal that were about you on your big day, what an amazing woman she is! I am going to start keeping a journal of all the crazy things my kids do too. Included in this journal will be how Penny is such an amazing baby. She goes to bed at 7:30 pm and sleeps till 7:30 the next morning, but every night, without fail, she takes a midnight dump in her diaper and wakes up the whole house screaming bloody murder. Also included: the time Finn fell off of the porch at the new house, grew a lump the size of a unicorn horn (he thought I said acorn) and cried for Santa to come give him love in his heart. He made me role play with him, pretending to be Santa and telling him that I know what it's like to fall off stuff, I fall off roofs on Xmas eve all the time.

And Biffy: Every party needs your sisters. And the cadaver dog was pretty awesome too!!! That's what I said. The friend who had the party for Biffy, her husband is a Police Officer with a dog trained to find dead bodies. He has a chunk of dead person he keeps in the garage to help the dog practice. He gave us a demonstration! 

My husband has arrowheads... and pot shards... 

Not even as cool. 

For my big day we had a party at the new house. I had fun preparing all the food (I really do love it) except the cake. Trying to make a beautiful, impressive cake is the worst. The worst. Ever. Pineapple upside down cake is my FAVORITE, but my attempt at a double decker was a disaster. It looked like barf. Nobody but Laura was brave enough to try it. So not all bad... MORE FOR ME! Bwahahahahaha!

I especially enjoyed digging the fire pit! Thank you to my neighbors for the awesome company and for the rocks they gave me to line it. It rained a little, but we roasted marshmallows and had friends hanging out from lunch until bedtime. My dream come true! I love a full house, no lie. The roasting of marshmallows turned into just throwing them into the fire to watch them bubble up all huge and burn and get all crazy looking.

 29 round two is gunna be rad. Ready, set, go!

Penny!

So Penny Alberta is here! She was born on the 28th of September. I was trying for the 27th (Gwyneth Paltrow's birthday) but it was not to be. My stalker-ness falls short just this once. She was 8 lbs 7 oz, exactly one pound heavier than Finn.

Just hangin' Sid Vicious style.

Also, she is extremely hairy. Along with a full head of red hair, she was born with hair on her ears. She also sports what Jacob calls a "squirrel tail."

Anyway, good for her, I say! It's cold in Utah, she'll be needing the extra fuzz. It's just kinda a bummer when you have to wrassel the poo out of it at diaper change time.

Here are some slightly sweeter pictures of my little Ginger Bean. We have been calling her any and all red head slurs we can think of. I know there are mean slurs out there...ugh, poor girl, but we are trying to break her in gently. Feel free to add your own, kind-ish, contributions in the comments section below. Jacob and I love to hear any new possibilities.

Below: one of Penny's favorite ways to sleep. Finn never did this. Poor Mr. Finn. I think he could sense I was afraid of him and sleeping anywhere near me made him nervous.

Finn and Penny, love from day one! A month later... a different story?

Pregnancy Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-changes:

This last one was taken a week before Penny was born. I allowed no photos after this. I did get bigger, it WAS disgusting.

Penny Bump

29 week (7 month +) Penny bump, and Finn as the chopstick master:

Facebook free and owner of an iPhone. Big life changes taking place over here!

So Far This July

Here are some pictures from the last week:

At the pool

 The Pollock Boys trying on each other's work boots (at Rachel's beautiful wedding)

 Two of my beautiful sister-in-laws (helping me with my iPhone questions)

Finn's radical shag (at Rachel's wedding)

The Bow-Tie Boys throwing rocks in Fish Lake (at Rachel's wedding)

Fishing - 3 Generations of Mayhem 

Finn and Grace enjoying the chalk wall

Finn's Birthday

Just some pictures from his party, and our Disney Land weekend. Thank you again SO MUCH Larene and Wayne for the hotel stay, it was so much fun for all of us!

   At dinner our first night at Disney Land

On the flight to California

Breakfast with the characters, which BLEW Finn's mind!

On the carousel with Aunt Brittany

On Finn's actual birthday:

Finn soaked because for some reason the park sprinklers turned on at noon.  One was broken and aimed right at the play ground.

Raccoon Finnley

For Finn's last day of school the kids got to dress up as whatever they wanted. Finn, having just spent a weekend at Disney Land (post on that soon to come), and having had breakfast with the Disney characters one of our mornings there, knew exactly what he wanted to dress up as. I have only seen the movie Pocahontas once, but you fans out there might remember a raccoon named Meeko. He was at the character breakfast and made a HUGE impression on one shaggy haired little dude we all know.