Walk MS and the Phoenix Zoo

We have been taught that happiness in family is most likely achieved by building the foundation of your family on certain principles. One of those principles is wholesome recreational activities. I absolutely love when such an activity presents itself. With full school and work schedules, it seems that most often in order to unwind or spend time together, Ammon and I sit down and watch a movie or a favorite television show. That's not a bad thing. Still, we often wish we made a bigger effort to find something else to do. To spend better, more quality time together as a family.

 

So when Belle and Kent informed us of the Walk MS event taking place in Phoenix, I was pretty excited and hopeful that our little family would be able to join in. This event would allow us to take a 5-mile morning walk through the zoo and botanical gardens. And - *bonus*- if the group as a whole made a sufficient donation, each member would get admission to the zoo for the rest of the day! Awesome! So much amazingness and all for a good cause.

 

Wholesome: check.

Recreational: check.

Activity: check.

 

And-*bonus again*- we went with some of our most favorite people!

The three of us were able to join Ammon's parents, my mom, our Aunt Sue, our sister and brother-in-law Belle and Kent and their three adventurers (Daniel, Levi and Samuel).

 

It was a blast! Belle and Kent have done this in previous years and I am soooo glad that they invite others along. The morning was gorgeous and I just don't think anything could have made this occasion any better.

 

The crew:

 

Ready to roll:

 

The Metcalfs:

 

The guys (just look at those smiles):

 

The cousins (again, just look at those smiles):

 

My sweet little family:

We weren't the only ones having fun at this event:

 

And on to the zoo!

What could be better than the zoo? Well, at 7 months old, maybe grandma time. With both grandmas. And snacks. And juice. Grandmas, snacks, juice. At the zoo. Life. Is. Good.

 

 

Oh, and cousin time! Cousin time is good! In the big-kid stroller.

Samuel: Do you mind if I just stretch out a little up here?

Ammely: Not if you don't mind me stretching out a little down here!



And what is the best way to wrap up a day at the zoo? Falling asleep on Daddy.

It's Always Fun For Everyone, When Grandma Comes

Grandma Breakall came to visit! She was only here for a weekend, but boy oh boy was I glad to see her!

 When Grandma comes a world of fun opens up! She takes me shopping. And gives me snacks that Mommy won't give me (Frost's gelato, Paradise Bakery's chicken stew, etc).

She reads me books.

 She even let me help scope out the best deals at the best garage sales!

And she went on a few adventures with my family - a 5 mile walk for MS (more on that later).

And my first trip to the zoo. And she let me play in the foyer at church on Sunday.

I'm telling you all, there is no limit to the fun I have when Grandma comes!

And it just gets better every time.

This was especially better than the last time Grandma Breakall came to town. I mean, it started out good and all.

We did the usual shopping and snacks. We had some new adventures too.

We dyed Mommy's hair for the first time in her life. We visited the Mesa temple.

We even painted my room!

But then Mommy ruined everything with a UTI that went from bad to worse. They tell me she had a kidney infection. I don't even know what a kidney is. I don't know what an infection is either.

What I do know is that Mommy was gone for 3 days in some place called a hospital.

Grandma stayed with me while Daddy stayed with Mommy. I had to have a bottle before bed. I don't do bottles. I eat with mommy.

Thank goodness Grandma was patient with me. I was not happy. If I'm going to take a bottle, it's got to be hot. It's got to have juice in it. And it's got to be after you've made it very clear that Mommy is not an option.

But Grandma learned. And I survived.

And now Mommy is healthy again and Grandma's visits are 100% fun - as they should be.

Cute As A Cupcake

Long before Miss Ammely was born, Ammon and I had decided on a costume idea for the whole family. This idea was supposed to motivate Ammon and me to work out like maniacs, eat like rabbits and obtain the super hot bodies we've always dreamed of.

Well, we were only sort of dedicated. 



We do NOT have the super hot bodies we've always dreamed of.

So we ashamedly turned to Plan B. (Which, in fact, had never been put in place and resulted in us once again scrambling about at the last minute). 

However, as fate would have it, I stumbled across this beauty of a baby costume:

  Adorable, yes?

Additionally, my mind flitted back about a year to this scene:

Can you believe it's been just about a year since we found out that "it's a girl!"?! My oh my how the time goes by. So I say to myself "This is PERFECT." Only now is the irony of this costume also occuring to me. Perhaps it was those cupcake moments in our lives that prevented us from executing Plan A. Oh well.

This idea is pretty sweet too. Pun intended.

The question then became - how do we turn this into a family ensemble?

No, we don't all want to be cupcakes.

(Picture Ammon in a cupcake costume. It made you smile, maybe even laugh, didn't it? You're welcome for that).

No, we don't really wanna be bakers.

Maybe we could be ingredients?

Yes. We can be the ingredients.

Afterall, we were the ingredients for our little cupcake in real life.

So we had these shirts whipped up:

Perfect, yes?

And how cute does SHE look?

She's the cutest cupcake that I have ever seen.

So for the family Halloween party we donned our outfits and headed to Boyd and Amber's house. Always a great time. Great company. Great food. Great costumes.

Did I mention great food? Ammely thought I should mention it again. Afterall, Aunt Amber did manage to sneak in a bit of spoiling. Chocolate pudding with oreos? Oh yes, that just happened.

 She doesn't seem too upset by this, does she?

 I know, I know - you're wondering why she doesn't look like a cupcake anymore.

Answer: She's 6 months old. She was hot. She was sick. She was a bit on the cranky side.

I was slightly prepared for just such an occasion. If you will note, she is still in cupcake glory.

Sadly, we did not take any pictures of all three of us in our costumes. In fact, we didn't get a single shot of Ammon or me in our shirts.

However, someone else did. Thank heaven for family.

For that, you will have to check out Belle's amazing blog post about Halloween this year.

Here is to hoping that your Halloween was as sweet as ours!

Semi-related sidenote:

Due to sad school schedules and minor sicknesses, we weren't able to go anywhere ON Halloween day; however, Ammely was still festive in this little number. The coolest part? The skeleton glows in the dark!

She is actually sleeping in this picture. She doesn't always fully close her eyes - she gets that from her daddy. The odd position? She fell asleep on me and didn't move a muscle when I put her down, haha. 

Through the Looking Glass

Ammely has always known that the baby in the mirror is a cutie. Almost always we can get a smile from her if we simply let her look at her reflection.

Now that she's a little older though she doesn't want to just look at that cute kid in the mirror - she wants to play with her too!



Half a Year

It has been half of an entire YEAR since our baby was born. I know everyone says it, but let me just add to the repetitiveness: It goes soooooo fast!

I swear it was only yesterday we were at the hospital trying to figure out her name.

Anyhow, she went to the studio for her six month photo shoot. And our smiley, almost-alway-happy baby only smiled ONCE. Sigh.

Good thing that she's cute anyways.