4th of July

McKenzie at the parade

Bodie after the run

McKenzie's tumbling at the park

Bodie started out his 4th of July holiday with a 5K run with his friend Cole. He really hasn't run much since high school, so I am very proud that he even finished! Also, he proudly wore his Topham T-shirt. McKenzie and I watched the parade at Cole' s house, which is conveniently located on the parade route. We had a lot of fun. McKenzie got help picking up candy from Cole and Lindsay's family. by the time we left, her purse was full to the top. I think she was wondering how things could get any better!

After the parade, we went home and got re-grouped before heading off to the park where McKenzie was doing a tumbling performance. We got there a little early so she could play before the performance and we were glad we did. There was a bounce house and huge blow up slide for her to play on until it was time to do her tumbling. She of course was the best tumbler there, it is always fun for me to watch her. When the tumbling was over, we were in line to get a balloon flower when we saw some friends that have a daughter McKenzie's age, so we stayed a bit longer so McKenzie could play in the bounce house with her friend.

After the park we went home and had a BBQ, just the three of us. Then, we loaded Conan into the car and went to the top of the mountain to the Kennecott overlook. We watched all the fireworks shows in the Salt Lake Valley. McKenzie fell asleep on the way up there and when she woke up the next morning, she asked when we were going take Conan up in the mountains and watch the fireworks. Luckily she hasn't said anything since then!

McKenzie's 3rd Birthday

I know I am a little late posting this, but McKenzie is now three years old. She was so excited for her birthday because she wanted to be 5 so bad. She is now dealing with the fact that she has to be three first. It has only taken a few weeks! Bodie made McKenzie a doll house for her birthday. It is big enough for her Barbies to fit in and McKenzie thinks she can fit in it too. She loves to crawl in the rooms on the bottom, but makes it very clear that I am not to try to get in because I am too big and will break her doll house. She had a fun birthday party with family and friends on saturday night, complete with a pinata and an Ariel cake.

McKenzie painting her doll house

On her actual birthday, we went shopping with Leslie and her girls and my mom. It was a perfect day. I was happy to be shopping and McKenzie was happy to be with her cousins! We came home and made her favorite dinner, chicken nuggets and corn on the cob and ended the night with cupcakes and more presents. It was a good time for all of us!

"Camping"

So the other night, we decided to take Conan up in the mountains and let him run around a bit. We also decided to take stuff to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. McKenzie thought this was great. All night she kept saying "Dad, this is really fun camping." She especially loved the part where any food that fell on the ground, or anything we didn't want to eat, we got to throw to Conan. While we were roasting marshmallows, I took the top burnt/ashy layer off hers and not thinking, left the sticky part on the end of her stick. She didn't want it and thought she would throw it to Conan. It was so funny because she would try to throw it and it wouldn't come off her hand. She took it with her other hand to try to throw it, and then it was stuck to that hand. She ended up getting it on her finger and it almost came off when she tried to throw it, but she gave up and finally went and wiped it on Conan's ear. So now, she has two really sticky hands, and Conan has a marshmallow stuck to his ear. She thought she was the nicest kid ever to share and she went and patted Conan's back...with sticky marshmallow hand...and said "there you go buddy". She tried to lick her hand clean, but stopped (thankfully) when she saw all the dog hair stuck to it. It was so funny, all three of us were laughing so hard. I tried to get a picture of the marshmallow on Conan's ear, but it had fallen off by the time I got my camera.

Life is good again!!

The weather is finally nice enough (again) to lay in the hammock in the evening! Now that it is warming up McKenzie likes to spend time outside playing in her sandbox or driving her pink Barbie Jeep. She also likes to throw the ball to Conan and then get mad at him when he looks at her like are you crazy, I'm not getting up just to get that ball! She loves her puppy, but he is a little clumsy and I don't think he knows really how big he is an often knocks her down. She usually gets mad and calls him a naughty puppy and then five minutes later she is chasing him down again so she can pet him!

We are all doing better since the last time I posted. Most of you know by now that I had a miscarraige (I was 10 weeks along) a few weeks ago. We were all a big mess for a few days, but we are okay now. Thanks to everyone for all your love and support (that sounds kind of cheesy!) but really, we have the best friends and family ever. It has really helped to have McKenzie around to focus on, she has gotten pretty spoiled the last few weeks. Bodie and I felt so bad that she was so scared because of how upset I was and how "sick" I was that anything she has wanted has been hers. We are trying very hard to get her over that now! I guess we kind of shot ourselves in the foot when we started doing that, but it made us so happy to see her happy. She is a great kid. Yesterday was memorial day and Bodie got most of the day off, so I asked Mckenzie what she wanted to do and she told me she wanted to go shopping. Then today she asked me if I wanted to play "money buying stuff". She told me that the way you play is that you pretend you are going to the store and buying everything. Yeah, I think we're in trouble!

I went to Lily's preschool graduation last week with camcorder in hand so grandma could see it when she gets home from China. Lily did so good. I am so proud of her. McKenzie watches the video everyday and tries to sing all the songs with them. She is getting excited for her birthday coming up in June, but is a little frustrated that she is only going to be 3 because she really wants to be 5!

Anyway, there is our little update. Not much going on (anymore), but that is a good thing, I think! Again thanks to everyone. We love you all so much!

McKenzie and her friend Blake...all he wanted to do was be spiderman, but she made him be her prince!

A Fun Day

We all had a really bad day on Wednesday, especially McKenzie. We felt really bad, so we decided to take Thursday last week and just focus on her. Bodie took the day off work and we went into Salt Lake to the Gateway. We told McKenzie we would take her to Build-A-Bear so she could make a piggy like Lily's. Well, we got there and there were no piggys. She wasn't upset or disappointed or anything and she picked out a turtle instead. Then when we were looking for clothes for the turtle, she came across an Ariel outfit. Most of you probably know that she loves Ariel anything and had to have it. So...we bought her the turtle with the Ariel costume. I have posted a picture so you all can see how "cute" it is. She loves it though and it made her happy, so it was worth it!








After we made the turtle, we went to Taifoon for dinner...it was so good. Thanks Melissa for turning me onto that restaurant! Then, we spent about an hour or so just playing in and around the fountains. McKenzie's favorite part was throwing money into them. She had such a good day, it made everything better to see her so happy. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful kid!

This is the BEST therapy!!

Playing in the fountain with Dad (I didn't want to get wet!)

Oh yeah, she ended up getting soaked and I wasn't prepared, so she also got a new outfit because it was too cold to get all the way back to the car with wet clothes. It was a good day for her!

Vegas again!!!

Bodie and I in front of the Paris...I think!

Me and Amanda outside the Paris

Amanda and David

So, we went back to vegas last weekend. My sister and her husband and bodie and I all went down with no kids. It was great. We went down to see the Bodies exhibit at the Tropicana. It was so cool. Other than that we mostly just walked to strip to get cheesecake from cheesecake factory and eat at the seafood buffet at the flamingo....sooooo good! We met up with Bodie's sister Jordan and her husband and kids for some shopping at the outlets. We found lots of good deals and it was so fun to see the Cecil's. They have the cutest kids. It's amazing how fast they grow. Mostly it was nice to have a weekend without kids and hang out with Amanda and David since we only get to see them about once a year.

Vegas!!!

So, I just got back from Vegas on sunday, and there are no pictures becuase I found out about a day before I left that my camera was broken, so you'll just have to use your imagination! I went down with my sister and three other friends. We all left husbands and kids behind...it was so relaxing and very much needed! We got down there on friday and did our shopping on the strip...we had to get that out of the way so we could go to the pool all day Saturday. We had spray sunblock and it was kind of breezy, so we all got really wierd sunburns (lots of patches of sunburn). We headed back up to our room at the excalibur around 3 to get ready for the Bon Jovi concert which was at the MGM grand. We also had to give ourselves plenty of time to go to In-n-Out Burger for dinner before the concert. The concert was awesome. I was a Bon Jovi fan before, but now I'm a huge fan! Sunday we spent the day shopping more and then decided it was time to come home. By the way, Jordon, sorry I didn't get a chance to come see you, but Bodie and I will be back down in a couple weeks!

McKenzie had a fun daddy-daughter weekend. She got to spend friday with Lily, Lucy, and Luke. When I told her they were coming over and I would be leaving she said that was okay and she volunteered to babysit Lucy and Luke and Lily could be in charge. I still haven't really asked (nor do I want to) about how that turned out! Then Bodie took her down to spend the night at Grandma Topham's. I am glad they got a chance to go down...McKenzie was crying for her Grandma Topham the other day! She also got to see her Leavitt cousins and see their brand new house. Overall...it was a good weekend for all of us!