Visitor

The last week of April, my best friend from college Melony came to visit me. Sterling was gone to Vernal that whole week, so it gave me something to look forward to. She arrived on Wednesday and left on Sunday. It was great to see her again.

It was actually pretty funny because when she and her husband booked her plane tickets, they booked it to include May 1st, which was their one year anniversary. When I asked them about it later, Melony sheepishly told me that 'they somehow forgot' what that day was. I guess if it's the first time you're celebrating it it might be easy to forget. I was glad she was there to spend time with me though.

We spent our days sitting around, playing with my kids, shopping, talking the usual girl-talk: clothes, men, shoes, cute jeans, work, more clothes, you get the idea. We went down to the BYU bookstore and shopped there a bit and just had fun being together again. I miss having her live close by, there's just something about having a best girl friend near you.

We realized late Saturday night that we hadn't taken any pictures, so these are the ones that she gave me, and coincidentally are the same ones on her blog. That's what you get when you forget a camera.

Not the most flattering picture of me, but she looks great.
Mel went to see her brother and sister-in-law and their kids while she was here, so, I took advantage of her absence. Since she spent her anniversary with me, I made a cake for her. I had to call her mom and husband to see if they remembered what their wedding cake was like, but neither of them could remember what kind of frosting they had. In their defense, Mel and James didn't get more than the 'feed your new spouse' bite of cake, so I don't blame them for not remembering. Afterward we baked the cake, Sterling and I made another dessert to cover the cake smell. Mel has a nose like a hound dog when it comes to cake. (I learned that while we were roommates and I tried to bake a surprise cake for her birthday once. She knew as soon as she walked into the apartment.)
This was the cake. It's likely the nicest looking cake I've ever made. Sad, right? I'm no pastry chef. Her colors were bright pink and green. I didn't have a green flower, so I made one from construction paper. Tacky, I know. But it's the thought that counts.
It was so much fun to see her again. I have the best friend any girl could ask for. I just wish she didn't live all the way in Arizona so I could see her more often. Mel, I love you girl and couldn't ask for more in a friend. You're the best.

Two months and four years

Today Sterling and I are celebrating our fourth anniversary. Unfortunately, we're celebrating it separately. He's out in Vernal tracking grouse, while I'm here with the kids. However, he took me out last weekend to dinner and a movie. It was great to get a kid-free date with him again.

Also, today, Austin is two months old. It's amazing how fast time flies. He's already gotten so big and he's smiled and laughed. It's so fun when I get my face down next to his, and he looks at me and breaks into a huge toothless grin. Amazing how such simple things can make you feel so loved.

Austin, you're such a sweet little boy, I'm so grateful for you. Two months has gone by so fast, and I've enjoyed every second of it.

And Sterling, thank you for four wonderful years. I hope the next will be even better. I love you.

Haircut

So, Cami finally got her first haircut. I've just been letting it grow till now and haven't really cared what it looks like. She won't let me put pigtails or anything in it, so it just kinda does it's own thing.

Now you ask, if you've been fine with her hair until now, what motivated you to finally cut it? Well, I'll tell you. Before I had kids I often looked at other women with their kids at the grocery store and their kids didn't have their hair done, their clothes were covered with food, their faces were dirty, etc. and I always told myself that I would never be one of those moms who just let my kids run wild and free.

Then, I was looking at Cami one day and I realized: that's exactly what I'd become. She was wearing lunch on her face and clothes and her hair had grown out to a mullet. My child looked like a dirty little hillbilly. I was not happy with myself for letting it get like this.

I hope I don't sound critical of other moms out there, because I'm learning how hard it is to handle more than one child and I realize now that it's really just easier to let your kids be kids and be dirty, but I never wanted to be like that.

So, I sat her down a few weeks ago and finally gave her a haircut! She wasn't too enthusiastic about it. She was far more interested in what was in the bathroom drawers, but I managed to at least chop off the mullet.
Here's a picture of the mullet. It's just a few long strands hanging down the middle of her back, and when her hair dried, it clumped together and then it looked like a nasty rat tail. Gross.

Here's the after picture. Her patience was just about exhausted by that point, so it was hard to continue to get her to hold still. But, the rat tail is gone and it's more or less the same length. I'm so proud of her for putting up with it as well as she did.