Into messes

Miriam has started into destroyer phase. On July 7 Miriam began her artist career on the wall. If you look carefully there is red pencil scribbles on the wall beside her.She has also turned in a cyclone which I'm sure all moms are familiar with. I documented her messes to prove to her later. These all happened in the same morning. I started feeling desperate at this point of how to keep up with her and this last miserable stage of pregnancy. My sister Jennifer came to the rescue, she came down till the baby comes. We sure appreciate the help in chasing Miriam, taking her for walks, and some help around the house. Thanks!!

Independance Day Celebrations

We hurried out the door eating our egg breakfast as we went to the Provo Freedom Festival Parade. We ended up watching it in a similar place as the last 2 times. Poor Eric hardly got to sit down as Miriam just wanted to wander around. She was a good garbage picker upper. We decided next time we need to bring better snacks. Miriam's favorite parts of the parade were the marching bands, she loved dancing with them and the great big balloons, maybe she could see them better.

After it was over we took our gear over to Eric's work to drop off. Miriam was being a big helper by carrying a chair cover, never mind she dragged it all the way and obstructed traffic, but she was pleased with herself. We then headed over to the Colonial Encampment that Crandall museum does every year. Miriam was tired and didn't want to let us watch any of the entertainment until she fell asleep. We then headed home for naps. It was kind of odd that we didn't do anything with anybody this year. We tried a few folks, but they all had plans.

We had a picnic in our backyard- grilled hot dogs (Miriam's first taste, loved it!), watermelon, the sweetest corn on the cob, chips and dip, and carrot sticks. Miriam and I bathed then set off a few fireworks out front. She liked the colors, but didn't like the noisy ones. We kept seeing random fireworks so in effort of putting Miriam asleep we went chasing fireworks and saw a few here and there.

Briscoe Family Reunion

On June 24 Miriam and I caught a ride to Rigby with Mom and Jennifer to spend some time and go to the Briscoe reunion that Dad was in charge of. It was a late journey, but it was nice to just be there the next morning. Dad ended up having some appointments fall through on Thur so we went to the 'rock' park waiting for others to get up and Miriam had a ball.

Most of our time in Rigby was spent having Grandma and Granddaddy enjoying Miriam, we didn't do much that was very exciting. Both of them expressed how fun it was to either wake up to a smiling girl or come home from work and have her light up when she saw them. Miriam took right to Granddaddy and was always dragging him off outside. We did watch several movies including Fireproof- an excellent show I would recommend to anyone.

In my Dad's family for reunions they have gone to having a one day affair and alternating with a bigger more exciting one. This year it was the one day. We went up to Ross Park in Pocatello and had a picnic lunch with some games. My dad also prepared a presentation about his grandmother Briscoe- Eldora Hanson. Then we moved to Aunt Marie's church for a potluck dinner and a missionary meeting for my cousin Nathan who was leaving the following week for his mission. I think it went well and had a decent turnout.

We also got to be there for my sisters birthday which was fun. Miriam got to help blow out candles and we really enjoyed the yummy birthday food.

What Sound Does 'Nessie Make?

We were at a relative's home in Blanding for a family reunion, when Miriam found a toy box of lego parts. We pulled out a couple of dinosaur heads; this dinosaur makes the sound "ROAR", and so on. Then we pulled out a critter that looked like the 'Loch Ness Monster' (I realize their attempt was probably a long neck like Apatasaurus (Brontosaurus) or Brachiosaurus, but it didn't really look like them). I said, I don't know what sound 'Nessie makes, do you? she replied, "yeah, yeah, BROAR!" There are those times I don't think she is understanding what we are saying, but she surprises us by showing us she knows exactly what we are saying!

Pahvant Butte Camping Trip

On June 12 & 13, we took our only camping trip this summer to Pahvant Butte (or Sugerloaf, or 'the volcano near Delta') with some friends. It was still during the rainy part of June, but we didn't get any rain the first night. We were able to set up, fix dinner, and have a good fireside chat with everyone. We had Krista & Zane, Dustin & Angelica, and Nate come out with us. That evening we also found a Horny Toad, which I liked to call Dusty (but Zane liked to call Howard). Miriam liked to pick up and play with it, and Angelica was very close to bringing it home with her...

The next morning a few of us went to hike to the top! Unfortunately, this was when our luck on the rain ran out. We put Miriam in the backpack and she went to sleep before we got 10 feet out of camp. We started in a very slight drizzle, which felt quite refreshing, as the sun had come out prior to this and heated things up quite quickly. The rain slowly increased in intensity, and while it was still pretty light, I pulled out my poncho and covered myself and Miriam. When we were getting close to the top of the mountain, the rain became a full thunderstorm! Miriam woke up and was very upset at being covered by the poncho, and the rain when she managed to get it off. We ran the remaining 5 to 10 minutes to the top to seek shelter in the concrete structure on the summit, where we waited for the storm to pass. If you click to see the large view in the picture below, you can barely see the concrete structures. After 20 minutes or so, we decided the rain was light enough to run back to camp where we played a few games in our tent.

Hugs for everyone

Miriam continues to be a great hugger. We went to a Grover Family reunion this weekend (more about that later) and when it came time to say good-bye she would always give everyone a hug good-bye. Mon night we had all gathered (Eric, Ryan, Jennifer and I) in her room for family nightly prayer. After we were done with the prayer I told her to go give Aunt Jennifer a hug and then Ryan on around the circle. When she finished the round she decided to go around again. Thanks for the great hugs Miriam!!

Obediant child

Saturday morning we had German pancakes. Miriam was as usual wondering around my legs while I was trying to finish up breakfast. To try and distract her I told her to go get in her high chair not really expecting her to do anything. She does climb up in her high chair to play or signal she is hungry. To my great surprise she went right over and climbed up in ready for breakfast!

She really does listen to us and when we tell her not to touch something lately she has been giving us a look then backing away from it. She really is into walking backward lately, its pretty funny.

Sleeping Beauty

Yesterday Miriam went down into the basement to cool off and work down there. I had been very tired all day and couldn't keep my eyes open any more. I sat on the floor leaned against the water bed mattress (not there anymore) and dozed while Miriam wondered around. She finally got tired of that and came to poke my arm to see if I would come play. When that worked she kissed me on the cheek to see if that would wake me. :) OF course who can resist that?!

Hugs and Kisses

Miriam has become quite the good hugger and kisser. She will at least give Mommy and Daddy hugs when asked and most of the time my mom, others not so much. In past her kisses were just putting her face by ours but now she's got it. She puckers and makes the sound, in fact some of them are quite wet. :) She absolutely loves to give kisses these days. The other night she could hardly focus on eating dinner because she had to keep giving kisses to everyone around her. She would grab my arm to kiss it and reach out for Granddaddy and Grandma to kiss them too. Also, whenever she sees Eric kiss me she has to kiss me too (sometimes I feel a little smothered-lol). Another fun thing she is learning to do is blow kisses, they're a little harder to distinguish and she is just starting to do that. We're so glad that she is so affectionate! We love you Miriam!!