Memorial Day

We spent our holiday weekend - and Sloane's first boat trip! - at Pineview. The weather was a little better than expected but the snow capped mountains in the background should let you know that the water was, uh, chilly (yeah - 50 degrees!).

This was our first trip of the season, first trip with 2 kids, and the first time we've had the boat slipped anywhere but Powell so it was definitely different!

The scenery was really beautiful and we loved waking up in the morning to the birds "singing" on the slip buoys. Scott's work crew was awesome and treated us like family - lots of great food and fun in the lodge, in their gorgeous RVs and on the boats. They have a couple of cute dogs that Tagg just loved. Tagg and Sloane were both wonderful all weekend.

Even though we changed a gazillion diapers, carted down a semi-full of gear, and were up all night between feedings and sharing a bed with a 2 year old who kicks, it was awesome! It's amazing how it just gets better and better! We brought some movies and magazines so we could catch up but ended up watching Cars the movie and playing with Cars the cars. A lot. It was actually pretty cute and gave us all ample Sloane-snuggly time.

Amy and Dustin came up on Monday with Greyson and Henry which was fun. Welcome to life with three boys!

Sure, we never left the slips but the boys had a ball dive-bombing off the shelf into pillows and wrestling, feeding fish and birdies, and driving the boat. Scott's work-family had their kids too and they were very cute - and very brave! They jumped in the 50 degree water about 6 times so we could get pictures. I hope they don't get sick but the pictures (and the bragging rights!) were well worth it!





Tagg is really not into wearing hats right now which is tough since he's so blond. We tried every hat - cowboy hats, bandanas, visors, ball caps, a bowl (just kidding). Luckily, lots of sunscreen makes for a good 'do!


And he's fine wearing his sunglasses which he calls "shades." It's funny - he'll point at hats and say "mommy's hat, daddy's hat" but put one on his head? He repeats "Awww...cute" and then yanks it off. At least he'll keep the shades on, as long as he has binky and daddy!

Happy Family!

Well, we didn't get dolled up or anything but finally some pictures that were not taken at arm's length! Luckily, our kids are so cute they make us look good. This is our first official family photo, taken one day before Sloane's original due date. Tagg is wearing his "funny monster" shirt upon request (his...it was that or the Wiggles!). We are so thrilled with life. Tagg is a wonderful big brother and Sloane is the most amazing, lovely little girl. She's very peaceful yet alert, and Tagg is warming up to her every day. We just couldn't love them any more, and yet somehow we do...we love them more and more every single day. Thank goodness your heart is best when it's overflowing with love!

Aunt Tiff finally got her first photo opp with the new baby, too. This picture was taken in front of a 100-year-old family heirloom crib that Jim and Laura Arnold (our VP of Sales and his wife) graciously offered to loan us while Sloane is a baby. They decorated it specially for her and we feel so grateful and privileged that they embraced us and Sloane with part of their family history. Not to mention that it's super helpful to have a place for her to sleep and keep her things that's so convenient. Thanks!

Tiff and Becky had a little photo shoot with the girls. So cute! Harper is checking at 10 and a half pounds so it's no wonder Sloane looks so teeny!

This is Sloane at 9 days. She's just a wonderful, precious little girl.
Tagg has started playing the role of "big brother." He likes to make sure Sloane has her binky, her bottle, her blanket. He was playing peek-a-boo with her the other day, hiding below the crib, then jumping up and saying "peeky-boo, Soan. I lub you." It was about the sweetest thing we've ever seen. Of course, he also tries to give her Cheerios so we're working on that!

Tagg likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Sloane and his cousin Harper, which is really cute because he leaves out about every third word so it sounds like “Twinkle twinkle lil STAR wonder are up above the world so high diamond SKY twinkle twinkle... dinosaur” or whatever random word distracts him at the ending. He often looks at the girls and says "two Harpers or two Sloanes" - buddy, you have no idea! Honestly, he counts to 10, although he prefers to stop at 8 and 4 and 5 are not his favorite numbers so they get left out a lot.


Nana got her Kodak moment too. She got to snuggle with the babies who just love their Nana. Awwww.....

Aunt Lisa & the Swaddle

Poor, poor Harper. It was late, she wasn't in the mood to go nite-nite...so Aunt Lisa busted out THE SWADDLE! Obviously not Harper's favorite! Look at that face! And then look at my face! She was so mad and making these hysterical "are you kidding me?" faces. I laughed till I cried. But in the end, the swaddle prevailed! (whatever...sure, it might have been the late hour, the binky, the rocking. no...no, I'm sure it was THE SWADDLE!) Perhaps this is the reason Tiff has earned the Favorite Aunt title.

Birthday, Graduation, Baptism, Mother's Day...That's One Crazy Week!

Where to start?! First, there's a random but sweet photo of Tagg and Morgan. Hard to come by! She looks happy, right? ;-)

Then there was Nikelle's 5th birthday party (and it was actually in April but we're taking

some creative license here!). It was an epic party at the Lander estate complete with a traveling zoo and about a hundred kids. As a matter of fact, there were so many kids running around we never got a picture of Tagg with the birthday girl! We did however get pictures of his first dunk (thanks to a little help from Uncle Marc!) and his first time on a trampoline. Cute!

Marc and Becky graduated from the Univ on Friday May 7th - Marc in Communications and Becky got her Masters in IT something. Sorry, Beck! I should know the actual degree! It was great day and we're so incredibly proud of both of them! It was really cute that Harper got to see both of her parents graduate (well, technically, she slept through Marc's graduation).

That Sunday, Harper was baptized. Tagg was not interested in the service, even the music, but he was excited to have Papa read books to him or to run around ouside It was a beautiful day so we did a full on paparazzi moment outside of the church with the whole family. Afterward, we went to Mothers Day brunch at Oyster Bar which was a joke. Seriously, if you make reservations for 1pm you would expect to be seated within the hour! Tagg was not happy about missing his nap time but he finally gave up and curled up with mommy for a little snooze at the restaurant which was the best mother's day gift ever!

And finally, to wrap it up with another random photo, here's one of Tagg at the park!

Tagg-a-saurus

I know...how many pictures do you need of Tagg at tubby time? Lots! That's my answer! Check out the hair. Grama finally got him distracted enough to cut it but we did get one good hawk out of it.

Call me crazy...

Photos of Sloane and Tagg on their birth days. Don't they look a lot alike?! I don't think it's just me...other people have commented that they share a resemblance. Yes, yes..."all babies look alike" but it seems like there's a little hand of fate at work here in many ways!

Welcome Home!

Big brother, little sister. The first picture of their first hug. We were glad to see Tagg so happy. Since we brought Sloane home on Monday he was calling the teddy bear Shayne gave her "Sloane" so we were a little worried. Of course he was trying to feed the bear his muffin so that gave us some hope! Since we finished Sloane's room and started telling him about his little sister, he's gone into her room and pulled this teddy bear off the shelf. He walks around hugging it and calls it "Soan Bear." He puts the bear in the rocking chair, covers it with the quilt mom made and rocks it. Sometimes, he crawls into the chair and cuddles with the bear. Now that he's making the connection, we have visions of the kind of big brother he's going to be. And it's pretty sweet! We were sad he couldn't be with us this weekend but maybe this is a less traumatic way for him to adjust to the reality of being a "big brother."

The car ride home was...interesting. Sloane was awesome but the "infant insert" in the car seat was no match for Utah highways! We had to pad her head with burp cloths and blankets to make it less bumpy so we promptly got another insert when we got home! Her little jammies were so big, we couldn't find her hands half the time.

Sloane got to meet Grama and Bompa and Auntie Leese who had been watching Tagg for us. He was almost as interested in Sloane's toes as he was in the books he found at Grama's. (he's not actually reading - yet! ;-) but he did start learning his states by looking at the pictures) She also got to meet Aunt Biff which caused Tagg to have a little jealousy attack. He held up his arms the second Tiff took Sloane and said "Tagg turn Aunt Tiff." It was cute. Happily, he thought mom was a nice back up plan!

Probably the funnest introduction was between Sloane and Harper. The two girls are so cute and it's amazing how much larger Harper is considering she's not even 6 weeks older than Sloane. How fast they grow! Becky says Sloane makes Harper look like a linebacker! We got some really cute pictures of them together. Doesn't this look like they're already telling secrets?! They are already sharing clothes! Yes, Sloane is wearing Harper's going-home outfit in this picture - and it actually doesn't drown her unlike most of her outfits! Harper actually brought her over a handful of little outfits that she's already outgrown which was really sweet. Who cares if they're hand-me-downs as long as we know where her feet are! Marc (my brother) and I are pretty proud of our little girls! Poor Tagg! It's going to be like having twin baby sisters to torment him - and to torment! We're pretty sure that he'll also be their biggest protector!

We need to get some photos of me and Scott with the babies! Those self-portraits from the hospital just are not cutting it! Once we get settled in a bit more, it's paparazzi time!