Jackson Hole

Last thursday Valerie and Justin invited us to go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with them to go swimming. They say that there is the best swimming pool for little kids there and their kids just love it. So, I decided at the last minute to go. They waited for Jeremiah to get out of school and then waited for us to get something to eat, then waited for us to go back home and get our camera... so, we got a kind of late start. We finally got out of here at about 2, 2:30ish. Joel, Whitney and Ellie came also. The drive is pretty long and Wren was not completely loving it! Because of the delays that we had she was very hungry about half way there. Luckily we were stopped by road construction so I climbed into the backseat and fed her while we waited for our turn to cross the bridge.

When we finally arrived at our destination we found that the pool was closed!!!!!! They had some problems with the chemicals in the water and it was not going to be open until 4 o'clock. We went ahead and paid so that we could get right in at 4 but then they checked the pool again at 4 and said that it may be ready by 5 or 5:30. We decided to just head back home and maybe stop at Heise to swim since the kids were so excited to get in the water.

On our way back Wren was hungry AGAIN! I don't think that I am producing enough breastmilk for her because she is hungry all the time and even when she waits for three hours or more she will attach and then pull of and scream at me then reattach and start that whole process over again. I had remembered to bring some formula with me but unfortunately I forgot a bottle! We stopped at a gas station and they said that they did not have any bottles but the gas station down the road did so off we went and finally got the screamer under control! I guess that was a good lesson on being prepared! :)

We arrived at Heise to discover that their pools were closed except for their hot pools which the kids would not have enjoyed anyway so we went and ate some pizza and let the kids run some of their pent up energy off. When we were getting ready to leave the pizza place us girls went in to find the bathrooms and the owner was standing at the door holding it open for us. When we walked in, he said "Restrooms?"in this really creepy voice. It was quite funny and we were all glad that we were there together and not alone with him!!

Here are some of the pictures that I took of Wren on our way to Jackson



She looks a little worried in this one:

This is what Valerie, Justin, Joel and Whitney rode up in, a really really old suburban!! We kept calling them the Klampits! The poor old beast had so much trouble getting there with all the hills and turns that they had to take another way out to save the brakes! I'm hoping that they did not carpool in this thing to save on gas 'cause I think it only gets about 2.5/3 mpg!!!

Yeah, I just had to add this picture of Valerie because she is lookin so great here!

just one more Memorial Day post!

Here is me and my girl!

I love her!!

by the way, I can see you back there Mary!! :)

More Memorial Day

The kids had so much fun at Kathryn's house! They love to go over there because she has so much fun stuff to do!! All of them that have bikes brought them over and we spent one afternoon out front riding bikes and riding in the motorized mini car that Kathryn has. It was hilarious when Kevin got in on the action by riding Daria's little red tricycle! Even the neighbors down the street came out to watch the action! Mom and Dad came over each day. Grandma Aldridge had Aunt Marjorie and Uncle Vernan Hogge, Shalon and Schyler MacDonald and Doug Hogge and his family over at her house because they always come on Memorial Day to help her around her property to get things done like stabalizing her fence and hand rail to the front door. So, all of them came over on Sunday afternoon to have dinner and visit with us. It was a lot of fun! Luckily, it was a very good weekend with a lot of sunshine and we were able to spend most of our time outside!

1st Annual Memorial Day Weekend at Kathryn's House!

Memorial day weekend we went over to my sister Kathryn's house and "camped" the whole weekend! Valerie and her three kids came; Kevin, Kali and their four kids and Mark and Mary with their three! It was such a blast! Jeremiah and I slept in the very downstairs basement bedroom with Wren. Kali slept upstairs in the guest bedroom with Trey, Mark and Mary and their kids slept in Kathryn's room. Monster (Ethan) slept in a pack-n-play in Kathryn's office and Kathryn and Valerie slept on foam mattresses in her living room while Kevin and the rest of the kids slept out in a tent which was totally tricked out! He hooked a tv up out there with a dvd player and they watched movies each night! Kathryn bought all of the food and actually prepared a lot of it herself also! She was so patient with all of us and I hope that it was as fun for her as it was for the rest of us!!

Sunday, Valerie Mary and my families all went to Kathryn's ward to church and this is what Wren wore, unvortunately, I did not get a picture of her when she had her bow on but she was looking sooooo cute!

Smiles...

So very cute!!



This is the first really cute picture that I have taken where Wren has been smiling and I just had to post it! She is such a cutie and I am so lucky to have such a good baby.

Since I haven't posted in awhile...

Mothers Day was wonderful!! It was the best Mothers Day that I have ever had! ;) We went over to mom and dads and had dinner there and celebrated with all the mothers in our family. Dad bought Mom flowers on Saturday which is when all of us kids who live in town went over and did a list of things that she was wanting to have done. That was our gift to her for her birthday. Dad also bought flowers for me for my birthday, that was very sweet of him! I am so lucky to have him as my father and really just lucky to be in the family that I am in. Even though we have issues from time to time it is nice that we are able to "talk" (okay, yell) it through and then we are the best of friends again. It is a real testament to the way that we were raised that we are all still as close as we are and I just hope that Jeremiah and I will be able to raise our children to love one another and be each others best friends as they grow older because family really is the best medicine for anything! They won't dump you for no apparent reason... they won't let other people talk trash about you... they know all the bad about you and can somehow get past it and love you despite that and in fact, not hold it against you!

Anyway, on anther note, Jeremiah has started back to school and is stressing out about all of the work that he has to do. He is taking a pre-algebra class and an english class. It is surprising how much you can forget when you have not been going to school for awhile!! Both him and me! :) I am so proud of him for taking this challenge "by the horns" and trying to make a better life for our family. It is pretty stressful not knowing how we are going to pay to stay afloat for the next couple of months but I know that we will make it through!

Leg Warmers

Okay, so I bought these last Christmas at Fred Meyers. Today is the first day that she has worn them. I LOVE them! They are still a little big on her tiny little chicken legs, but still, she is so CHIC!

How could anyone not love this face?? I just think that she is the most beautiful child I have ever seen!

Movies and more...

Wren went to her first movie on Friday with Aunt Kathryn, Aunt Valerie, Jeremiah and me. We went and saw State of Play. I wanted to break her in slowly and not take her to a huge action packed movie that was super loud and she actually did really well... considering... I had pumped right before we left to go to the movie and then fed her a bottle right as the movie was starting. When she got done with the bottle (in record time), I sat her up to burp her and half of the bottle had dripped out onto the burp rag!! So, she was still hungry for most of the movie and I had nothing to soothe her with! She sucked on her binks and Aunt Valerie held her for the majority of the movie and she actually only squealed 2 or 3 times so I am very proud of her and she is cleared to go to other movies! I know, people with no children hate me, but what can I do?? :)

We also went to the Art Museum of Idaho Falls on Friday to see art work that Drew had on display there. It was pretty awesome of him. It was a polar bear and it was amazing!! We all then went out and ate at Bajio. Kevin and Kali don't often go out with us so it was nice to have them there. Mom and Grandma Aldridge also came with Valerie and her kids, Kathryn and Me with Wren.

Jeremiah got up with Wren all of last night and I feel like a new person today. I do wish that he could do it for a couple of weeks but I guess that would mean that I would need to get a full time job so I am okay with him doing it on Saturday nights! ;) I was pretty stressed out when I finally went to bed at 3 a.m. because I was worried that I would wake up whenever she cried, but I did not hear one sound until 11 a.m. and then I just rolled over and went back to sleep for another 30 minutes!! It was great! When I went to bed Jeremiah was asleep on the recliner with Wren on his chest. I was worried that she was going to roll right off of him and fall on the floor! That was after I asked him to not sleep with her on the couch all cuddled up next to him 'cause I didn't want him to suffocate her. Although, I do it all the time (sleep on the couch with her, not suffocate her!!!)! So that was another thing that I thought would hinder my sleeping abilities... not so much at all!!! Jeremiah did tell me later today that he would wake up whenever Wren made any noise at all, even a sigh because he was worried that she was going to suffocate or stop breathing. I told him that he probably needed to spend more time with her at night so that he could get used to her sleeping noises and it would also make it a lot easier to sleep if you are a little more deprived! I am very grateful that he is willing to be so involved with her and so willing to help me whenever I need it. He is the best husband and father that I could have ever imagined!