Cali Trip Part 1- Sea World

For the past 7.5 years Jared & I have been wanting to go to Disneyland. Maybe it's ridiculous that it took us so long to get there, but at least we finally did.

We drove 10 hours in our van with the three of us, Jared's parents, and his two teenage brothers. We stopped to eat dinner at my sis-in-law's house in St. George. Here is a pic of Megan with Uncle Tyler & her cousin Oriana with Papa:


Megan slept for about one hour the entire way to California because she was very excited to have so many of her favotire people surrounding her. She was quite good until the last hour or so.

We were lucky enough to stay with Jared's brother & his his wife, who live just 20 minutes from Disneyland. We left Utah on a Saturday, relaxed & went to church on Sunday, and went to Sea World on Monday. This post, obviously, is all about Sea World.

Here is a picture of Megan & I before the Dolphin Show began.


And, a picture of Megan & Jared before they got soaked by the dophins. Megan did not want to be covered with plastic and kept trying to get out- until the first soaking. Then she only wanted to be under the poncho. She was not a happy wet girl.


One very cool thing at Sea World was the tide pool where you could touch starfish and other sea animals. Of course, I was too scared to touch anything, but Megan didn't hold back. Here she is touching a starfish:

And, lastly, we took the kiddos on some rides at the park. Megan was apprehensive at first, but the apprehensiveness turned into anger every time a ride was finished. There was some definite "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth" every time we took her off a ride. Here is Megan and Jared & Uncle Tyler:


That's it for my Sea World post. Honestly, I wasn't all the impresed with Sea World. I thought that the price of admission was really steep for what the park had to offer. In my head I imagined it to be this wonderul, awe-inspiring place. It probably is awesome to kids, though. I'm glad we went because now I know not to go again unless we can get cheaper tickets!

Stay tuned for my next post: Disneyland.
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Easter Bunnies

For Easter this year my mother gave us a set of 3 bunny ears for our family to wear. You see, it was kind of a "tradition" growing up (well, at least a tradition since High School, when my mom found the bunny ears at the store... curse you, Hallmark!).

Every year my mother would make us wear the bunny ears and smile for the camera. So embarrassing. Luckily, those years were before digital cameras and hopefully none will ever make it to the public.

My daughter, on the other hand? She's already public, and she'll continue to be humiliated for as long as I'm blogging. Or Facebooking, for that matter.

Now on with the show.

Jared was able to grab a picture of Megan before church, wearing the ears in her Easter dress. She's not smiling because she had to be bribed with an m&m, and wouldn't stop sucking on it long enough to smile. In fact, I love the expression she is making in this picture.

Later in the day we got another, more obliging shot:

We kept telling Megan that she was "so pretty" with her bunny ears on. (She'll keep anything on if you tell her she's pretty.) Here's another shot with her cousin, Kienan.

As if embarrassing my daughter for years to come with these bunny ears isn't enough, I also placed some on Jared's head and forced him to smile (he is so easygoing and wonderful).

And, lastly, a random from my Uncle Al. Ha!

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a lesson learned

So. When I was a kid I thought my mother was pretty. darn. embarrassing.

But, that's what your mother is for, right? You adore her until you're old enough to see that she is old and doesn't know anything about life. Then you grow up and realize she always knew everything and you were dumb for not soaking up her wisdom.

[My mother. Amazing woman. If you know her, you'll know what I'm talking about. Most selfless woman alive. Most generous and thoughtful person you've ever met. Her organizational skills are something to be admired. But, I digress.]

Unfortunately, when I was a kid I didn't see all of my mom's wonderful-ness. I saw other stuff. Like, "oh-my-gosh-she's-so-crazy-I-can't-possibly-be-seen-with-my-mother-while-she's-doing-this" -type stuff.

In particular, I couldn't stand going shopping sometimes. She would put groceries in the cart, and then open something and feed it to the baby before she paid for it!! I thought for sure that the Store Police were going to put her in jail, or at least that the important-and-mighty cashier would scold her about buying things before she uses them. I mean... come on, mom! Were you born on a bus?

(FYI- Mom wasn't born in a bus. She was born in a hospital.)

Well, kudos to my mother. She has taught me a life lesson I never realized until recently. Lesson is this:

Sometimes you just have to open up the Goldfish. Or the raisins. Or even the M&M's. It's just as easy to pay for a half-eaten carton as it is to pay for a full one.

I totally get it now, mom. And guess what? I've seen other moms do it, too. I guess you're not so crazy after all (and neither am I). ________________________________________________

Nursery Rhyme Murderer, Installment 2

In a previous post, called Ode to Lacey's Song Skills, I showed the world my sister's lack of nursery rhyme skills. Granted, it's been probably 17 years since anyone has read them to her, and she only had one younger sibling with whom to repeat them. Maybe that can be her excuse. She's just hilarious.

This weekend she was over, sitting on the coffee table, repeating more nursery rhymes (again, this will be more fun for you to read if you sing along):

"This old man, he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb. With a knick-knack, paddy whack, give a dog a bone. This old dog came rolling home."

(Me): Wait, Lacey. It's This old man...

Oh, okay. So, "this old man went rolling"... no, "this old man ran rolling", no... what?

(Me): This old man came rolling home....

Right. "This old man, he played five, he played knick-knack on my spine."

(Me): Lacey!! It's "He played five, he played on my hive! You crazy girl!"

Then I asked her to sing more for me (for the purposes of this post, of course). Here were some of her other recollections:

1. Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard looking for curds and whey.

2. Little Miss Muffin sat on a tuffin... oh, wait. Dang. How does that go?

3. (Take 1) Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the frog and the spoon.

4. (Take 2) Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. When he got there the cupoard was bare.

The only one she got right was, of course, not a real nursery rhyme. It was the "Cat's in the Cradle" song:

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon.

Little boy blue and the man on the moon.

When you coming home dad? I don't know when.

But we'll get together then.

You know we'll have a good time then.

Yes, Lacey, We'll have a good time then. That is, when you finally learn your nursery rhymes. Though, I must admit, the hilarious-ness of your lack of nursery rhyme-ness makes for some really silly blog-ness.

Mission-agin (with a hard "g")

My little bro, Ben (or, "Benjamin Bunny Boy", as we lovingly still call him), used to call Michigan "mission-agin". I'm not sure exactly how he came up with that pronunciation, but I think it had something to do with my oldest brother being on a mission when Ben was learning how to talk.

I have waaaaay too many pictures from Michigan. I won't post them all, even though it's tempting. I'm fairly certain Megan is in every single picture. I know I'm obsessed. I know every stinkin' post is about Megan. But, I don't care. That's just the way it is! Honestly, I really don't think about anything except what I'm making for dinner, and how cute Megan is.

In a nutshell, it was great to be in Michigan! Megan was incredible on the planes, of course. Everyone we sat by on both flights commented on how good she was. I was very grateful for the baby carrier I brought with me, because it was the only way I could get Megan to fall asleep on the plane- strapped to my front with her arms stuffed inside the carrier. Granted, she only slept for an hour the whole day, but at least she did sleep.

Instead of explaining everything we did in Mission-ah-ginn, I'll just post a few memorable moments with pictures and captions: (but not 100 pictures; just 11.)

This is Megan with her St. Patrick's Day outfit on. She is such a little cutie-wootie! Also, Megan was in love with the plant behind her. Anytime she got near it, she would grab it like it was the last bottle on earth. My mom was even worried that Megan would tear it apart!

This is Megan in her St. Patty's outfit, with St. Patty's stickers on her face. The stickers were from Grandma Paulson, though I don't think Grandma intended for them to end up on her face. Better on her face than in her face, right? I love that she just sits there and lets me do anything I want with her.


On St. Patrick's Day, my friend Kimberly (aka Kimmie Jo, Kim, Kimmie, KJ-squared) came over. We went out for beer. Just kidding; we went out to TCBY and talked for about 3 hours. It was so fun! I love how, with your best friends, you can talk for hours when you haven't talked for months, and it's like nothing ever changed. The pose in the picture has special meaning, but I won't tell you what it is.

This is Megan in the exersaucer (which she LOVED) conversing with Ben's Taco Bell dog. The dog had a button, that when pushed, said in things like "I think I'm in Love" and "Can't this boat go any faster?" Everything was said in the Taco Bell Dog voice. I thought it was hilarious. I can't lie.


This is Megan with her cousin Isaac, who lives in Cincinatti. My brother Colter, his wife Kelly, and their 5 boys, drove up to Troy to see us! We felt so special and I was so happy they came. (Notice in the picture that Megan has her hand in Isaac's mouth. Apparently she wanted to share her tasty fingers. Yum!)

When people would come over to see Megan, my mother would strip her down to her diaper to show her off. My mom is convinced that you haven't lived until you've held a chocolate baby. I totally agree with that statement. Also, this picture makes me laugh, because we put Megan in this chair to take a picture, and she held up her left leg and placed her hand on it to pose for us. She kept it in this position for about 10 minutes straight, and I'm not exaggerating! It was sooooooo hilarious! We were all laughing our pants off, and Megan actually had her pants off! Poor baby...


This is Aunt Kelly & Uncle Colter enjoying some Megan Time. Megan sure loved that exersaucer. We're tempted to get one for her, but we don't really have a place to put it. I suppose it'll have to be a Grandma-&-Grandpa's-House-novelty.

These are Colter & Kelly's other 4 boys, enjoying a bowl of popcorn. Aren't they handsome boys? Megan didn't want to look at the camera because she was too interested in the popcorn.

This is Grandma P. playing with Megan. My mother loves babies like nobody you've ever seen. If babies really were made in a factory, you can bet my mother would be CEO.

This is Megan chillin' with Uncle Ben. Don't you like how they are posing the same? We didn't even plan that one! Uncle Ben had a lot of fun wiping Megan's drool off of his homework.

And, lastly (and only "lastly" because this was taken the last day we were there), this is Megan with G & G Paulson. Megan really loved my dad's moustache. Just sayin'.
One more note: On our way back to Utah, we were stuck in the Denver airport. There was a crazy snowstorm and the planes couldn't be iced off before they would ice over again. Our flight was supposed to leave Denver at 7:00, after a 2-hour layover. We finally boarded the plane at 9:00, only to stay on the runway for another 2 hours before taking off. When we got to Salt Lake at 12:30 am, they had lost our luggage, which they finally found- still in Detroit. Unfortunately, that luggage included our car seat, and the airline had run out of car seats we could borrow. They finally found one, after searching for a long time. We didn't get home until 2:30 am.

Extra side-note: Megan is the most amazing baby in the entire world. You can never talk me out of that statement. You see, on the day we flew home, she only slept one hour from 11am-9pm (she normally would have slept 7 or 8 hours during that time). Yet, she never complained, or even cried. She just sat in her umbrella stroller. She just looked around and sat there. Amazing. A-MAZE-ING. Again, everyone around me commented on what a good baby she is. Two ladies even said she looked just like a little doll. Just sitting' there all cute & adorable-like.

That'll do, donkey. That'll do.

Ode to Lacey's Song Skills

Here is a picture of my sister Lacey.
Isn't she gorgeous? I'm sure she probably hates this picture but I think she's so dang beautiful, and, frankly, I'm surprised she hasn't been snatched up by some hot boy at BYU.

Anyway, that's beside the point.

Lacey joined Jared, Megan & I for dinner tonight at Jared's folks' house. On the way home, Lacey started singing a song, and here's the conversation that commenced: (if you sing along, it will make this reading experience much more enjoyable for you)

Lacey (singing): "Old McDonald had a farm and BINGO was it's name-o." Wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense. Why would he name his farm Bingo?

It's because the dog is Bingo.

Lacey: "Old McDonald had a dog and Bingo was it's name-o. B-I-N-G-O, B-I,-" Old McDonald had a dog?

No, Lace. There was a farmer who had a dog...

Then, how does the McDonald one go?

E-I-E-I-O.

So, "there was a farmer who had a dog, E-I-E-I-O."

No, Lacey. "Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O."

"...and on that farm he had a dog?"

Close enough, Lacey. I guess you're not going to be teaching Megan her nursery rhymes.

We love you, Aunt Lacey!

Family Frenzy... WARNING: lots of pictures!

Our house is a bit too small for 7 adults and 3 kiddos. Just sayin'. At the beginning of November (yeah, I know... I'm really behind on this post), my mom & dad flew in from Michigan, my sister Jasmin & her baby Charlie flew in from Texas, my sister Desiree & her baby Tommy flew in from Washington, and my sister Lacey (who lives in Provo) came to stay with us! Count us all... yep, you guessed it! 7 adults and 3 kiddos. It was so fun to have them all here. It's not very often we get together with my side of the family. Unfortunately, we were missing a few siblings, but we were happy with what we could get.

In fact, here's a picture of all 10 of us:

Essentially, everyone came to meet Megan. However, my sister Lacey thought everyone came out to Utah to celebrate her birthday, and we'll let her believe whatever she wants :) .

The get-together might not have happened if it weren't for my sister, Jasmin, who just moved to Bahrain with her family. You see, my mom was just going to come out, but then my sister Jasmin realized she wouldn't meet Megan for a very long time, and my sister Desiree jumped on the bandwagon as well. It was the one last "hurrah" before Jasmin left the country for a while.

It was so great to see everyone. We didn't have enough beds in our house, so here's what the sleeping situation looked like:

Well, just kidding. Lacey didn't sleep on the coffee table. But, she did sleep on the couch, and my parents slept in the basement. Both Jasmin & Desiree each got their own room to share with their sons.

Megan's baby blessing was on Noember 8, which just happened to be exactly one month from the day Megan was born (and Lacey's birthday)! I think most babies are usually blessed when they're a little older, but since my family was in town, we thought it would be the best time for the blessing. Here is Megan in her Blessing Gown (which is the same gown my father was baptized in almost 58 years ago!)
This beautiful photo was taken by my mother. What a great shot!

A few other pictures, just for fun:

This is at the Lunchoen at my in-laws' after the Blessing. In order: Charlie (belonging to Jasmin), Kienan (belonging to my SIL Andrea), Megan, Jae (belonging to cousin Mikensi), and Tommy (belonging to Desiree)
3 cousins together (Tommy, Megan, and Charlie)

Then, there's my parents with Megan.

I really wished we would have gotten a picture of Jasmin, Desiree & I with our babies. We planned on it, but I guess just never got around to it. The weekend went by much faster than we thought it would!

Lastly, as an ode to a doting Grandma, here's a picture of Grandma Paulson and baby Megan. My mom stayed to visit for a whole week! She was able to spend lots of time with precious Megan, especially during my piano lessons I taught. It was just so nice to BE with my mom. Like I said, I don't get to see her very often, and so I really enjoyed my time with her.

(Megan apparently had ants in her pants during this picture)

Our next get-together with the Paulson Clan will be some time next summer in Michigan. So, until then, adios family! (a special shout-out to my sweet sister Jasmin who is across the world in Bahrain!)

Harmony. Out.