The One Hundred and First Blog Post

     Yep, in 15 months we have had 100, now 101 posts to this blog. Huh.

So, the video: did you know Lowes has race car shopping carts? Riley thought "driving" was the best thing that ever happened to her. Then Dave kind of crashed it into a grill and gave her a jolt, and from that time on Riley was maniacally jolting herself, as seen here. We all got a good giggle, again and again. Your welcome, Lowes people, for your morning entertainment.

One more video for you. The only segue I can think of is "Tomorrow is Monday and if you aren't looking forward to the work week, you might want to yell dramatically like this guy." Not strong, I know. But I want to share it anyway because it made me laugh. Dave finds some real gems!

*You may want to remove small children from the room before watching this. Not because it would scare them so much as that they might want to reenact this really long, obnoxious death scene a lot and, you know, it might get old. Probably not, but it might.

Have a good week, everybody! xx

I Like Utah! Our "staycation" - right in our own back yard.

We got a four-day weekend! And boy we made the most of it:

Thursday, not too exciting - Riley got shots. She was so mad about being held down she didn't notice when they stuck her. So that was good... We did a little shopping and relaxing and Dave had softball games.

Friday:
 We finally visited the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake! There was...

Carousel riding

SCRAT!!!

Shoulder-riding.

 Quality time with Aunt Andrea.

 My favorites: sea lion and polar bear. Love, love, looove! Could have stayed here all day.

This guy knew how to work an audience - I got knocked on the head by one of his groupies at
the window, not even kidding! But I might have knocked into someone myself, scrambling for a good view.
 

We found a nook to relax in.

Speaking of relaxed...

Elephant family dancing to African safari music. It was awesome.

 These next two pictures were NOT from the zoo, but driving into the city we saw Jafar and Eago. And guess what! They drive a BIG AS-TRO! (If you aren't a McClure, that was a joke from 

back in the day when we had a big as-tro)

Saturday:

We packed a picnic, purchased the new "Mumford and Sons" and "Fun" albums, and ventured out to Nine-Mile Canyon. Which is actually more like 160-mile canyon - the name has a story but it's boring.

The nickname is much cooler: Longest Art Gallery in America. It has tons of petroglyphs (Native American rock art) that are right by the road and if you aren't too lazy (we mostly were) you can even get out of the car and TOUCH them! I guess the rangers figure that if the art has survived the elements for hundreds of years, it can survive your curiosity.

FYI: those ancient artists were really, really cool. They created the trippiest depictions of deer you ever saw.

Onward!

The landscape was gorgeous, if you could remember to pause from scouring the rocks for petroglyphs.

                               




                              "Balancing Rock." But you can call it,
                                           "The Laughing Piggy."
                                                      We did.

 Our wildly inaccurate interpretation of the Native American gang grafitti. I mean art:

"Better step off before I pop a cap in your, ahem, bum."

"I killed all these antelopes."

"Psht - I killed REINDEER. In friggin UTAH."

"I killed so many goats that I couldn't even draw em all. Also, these tall turtles."

Indiana Jones' aliens. And "The Scream" on the right.

This is just craziness.

"My parents are wierd.  I don't have the heart to tell them they're just looking at rocks.

Riley and her daddy in Daddy Canyon.

                                                                                       It got cold unexpectedly. Luckily we had a Snuggie in
                                                                                     the back. Coincidentally, the ancients made Snuggie art to
                                                                                                                            pose by!

TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR!!!!!

Riley likes to bump up that base:

Then it cleared up as quick as it started. Weather!

"The Great Hunt"

Puddles! Finally - something to be excited about! She is so silly.

I don't know where she gets it from.

Whew - sorry for the longest post ever! It was the longest drive ever, though. Riley showed amazing stamina for a toddler, but apparently her limit is fifty miles less than what we drove. There was extreme melting-down. Till we fueled up at Wendy's and then she got her 2nd (or 26th) wind and became so hyper it took about an hour after we got home to get her to go to sleep. Now, my turn! xoxo

Babies.

He looks like Bruce Willis. Has a little more hair than him though - Joe's head feels like a very soft tennis ball. 

It's nice.

"Yipee-Ki-yay, Mr. Falcon!" (Dave's favorite made-for-TV edit from Die Hard, in case you were dumbfounded.)

 Joe likes to suck, no, slurp on his fist a lot. And guess who is super-observant and has started to do the same? No, not Dave - RILEY. sheesh - you are silly.

Riley's super good at playing hide and seek.

Riley has taken to cuddling bottles. I tried once to replace a bottle with her baby doll and she was furious. She even tries to sleep with them.

Pretty Pictures, the Sequel

Saturday we went back to the foliage to get some quaint family shots. Riley started us off by face planting in the dusty dirt road:

 Luckily, we carry baby wipes with us at all times.

 And luckily, she is never in a bad mood for long.

 Riley with her ZiZi. Don't you just want to eat her?? Riley, that is. Though Suzette is adorable as well.

 This is how we tricked Riley into holding our hands. Then we would flip her around like this, all happy:

 You better believe she slept good that night! We just had too much fun.

Sunday:
We went for a drive on the Nebo Loop and spontaneously decided to hike the "Grotto Trail."

 There were beautiful trees and a river and then this cavey waterfall (?!), a delightful surprise.

    And I have high hopes she will sleep well again tonight.
    Weekends are tough acts to follow - we are just a little grumpy around here on Mondays, without grandparents to dote on us or Daddy to make us blanket forts. (I use the term "us" loosely, obviously:)  I look forward to the day when Joseph can join Riley's games (ie defend himself against her exuberant friendly advances). I also look forward to the day that they are both sleeping through the night. Then maybe I'll get my brain back. Funny story, so on our way home tonight we were discussing what we are going to do with Dave's 4-day weekend that is coming up and I said, "We should finally go to the four corners - we could each have our own state - Utah, Arizona, Wyoming..." at which point Dave did the palm to the face move that I've come to know and love. Woops - guess I got that wrong. We both had a good laugh, but 10 minutes, maybe two conversations later, Dave says, "Do you want to know what states make up the four corners?" I think he is a little concerned about me sometimes. Well,  guess he shouldn't have married a trophy wife then. hahaha. I kid.
    Anyways, if you have any suggestions for a weekend getaway, something with in an easy days drive, send them our way! Please, thank you.