Summer Fun!

Baseball games, swimming pools and boating...all the good stuff! We've been having a great summer with the kids. We got some VIP treatment at a Bees game with Amy, Dustin, Greyson and Henry.

Henry and Sloane are now boyfriend and girlfriend judging by all the open-mouth kisses they were sharing! Tagg really loved the Bee mascot, once he saw Greyson so stoked about a 7 foot tall talking bee! For the next week, it was all about bees!

Thank heaven Tiff has a pool at her place! It's been so much fun to take Tagg! He loves to jump in the water without notice, even though we're trying to train him to say 'ready, set, go' before he goes in headfirst! The kid has no fear of water! We don't let him in the gate without his life jacket on. I remember when Tagg was just a week or so old, the summer Olympics were on TV and as we were watching this amazing, really tall young man who swam like a fish break every record imaginable and walk off with 8 gold medals, I would whisper to Tagg, "You're going to be my little Michael Phelps someday." Maybe, maybe...

We got a new little toy for the summer...yep, we're back to having a ski boat! Woo-hoo! It's red and yellow (hey, sometimes you gotta sacrifice for the good deal!) so Tagg calls the boat " Lightning McQueen." We've a sweet tube so we can take the kids out and still get back to our roots! It'll be like learning to wakeboard and waterski all over again. Bring it on!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, after almost a year away, we finally made it back to our home away from home - Lake Powell! It was heavenly! Liquid Courage (that's the name of our boat) was in pretty good shape, although we did have a few mechanical troubles with an engine that put us in the slip with some wrench-turners for a half a day. Hey! The ol' girl was a little rusty...I know the feeling.
We had wonderful time and found a really nice beach (a rarity for a holiday weekend).

It was baby girl's first trip to Powell and she loved it. The rocking boat (yep, it was a little windy), the warm weather (okay, it was over a hundred most days) and lots of people to cuddle with (and feed her...thanks Aunt Tiff) put her in a pretty good mood! She did great! Woo-hoo! Another Lake Powell baby!

Tagg had a ball! An absolute ball! He got to play "cars" on the boat, play in the sand and the water, and was super good about wearing his life jacket all weekend.

Probably his favorite part of the trip was the "tubby" in the plastic bin with his cars. He splashed in that thing for an hour, laughing and squealing. It was hysterical. Dude, there's a whole lake out here and you want to play in THAT?

And, since we can't get him to wear a hat anymore (sad...he has so many cute, overpriced hats) we tried a bandana. It lasted for awhile but he sure doesn't look happy about it!

Since it was 4th of July weekend, we stayed in the slips the first night and watched the fireworks from the back of the boat. Both kids slept through the festivities but we all had fun. And the fireworks were surprisingly good! Who knew you could get a good show at the Bullfrog launch ramp.

We indulged Scott with his favorite activity...wakeboarding? No. Tubing? No. Walking the docks checking out the boats...YES! Tagg enjoyed it about as much as mommy. I just didn't have a stroller to sack out in.

Other than the busted engine and a dead battery, the only real drama we had was a classic Lake Powell wind storm on Sunday. Hate those! It was crazy with boats losing anchors, a rope twisted around a friend's props (required scuba gear, a fishing knife, and someone who knows how to use it), beached wave runners and a lost raft or two. The kids and the boat made it through just fine. Me? Clocked in the forehead, bleeding like a pig. Luckily a Bandaid fixed the problem, no stitches required, no black eye...just a nice scab and bruise to come home with.

Wasatch Back 2010

Call us crazy but we did it again! Team Rustee-Joints took 12 people, 2 SUVs, lots of water and ibuprofen and ran 188.2 miles in 2 days. I had the first leg this year so I was in Van 1 with Lori, Brad, Tiffany, Jack and Paula. A little intimidated at the start because everyone else looked like serious runners. I, on the other hand, had been sick from mid-April till the week before Sloane was born so needless to say my training regimen was less than appropriate to get me through two 8 mile runs and one 5 miler. Ouch. 21.3 miles in 24 hours! We started at 9am in Logan with Sione from the Biggest Loser counting us down (not gonna lie, that was kind of cool!). The weather was gorgeous, the runs were challenging and our van was hysterical. Brad was up to his usual antics - Lori talking to him about directions and instead of answering he says "hey, do you think those are pelicans? No (keeps talking)." So the joke for the next two days was that any time Brad had ADD, ignored Lori or was power-talking we would all yell "PELICANS." The things you do to amuse yourself! Brad also had a half-open GU in his pocket that ended up leaving a suspicious and sticky stain on his thigh. Brad quote: Oh man! I gu'd in my pants. Classic!

Our favorite team of the race this year was the "butts." Their van said "doe this race make my butt look big?" I actually heard one of them say "hey, you have a dent in your butt" to her teammate. I was like, huh, at my house we call that cellulite! We missed the Xenas and the Piggy Girls but people were fun and very nice as always. The Backcountry.com team outdid themselves running with their props in the heat.

Jack and Paula - the newbies to our group - had a couple of grueling runs over Avon Pass. Paula's downhill was so dusty that this is the only picture where you can see her through the dirt. What a trooper (and so glad I didn't take that leg!). Brad's last run was a doozie up the south end of Jordanelle in the heat. He actually had salt stains on his shirt from sweating so much! My last 2 legs were non-support so no pics of the beautiful sunset run down from Snowbasin into Mountain Green but it was lovely. And let me just say - thank god for gravity!

What a great run this year! The biggest bummer was that we didn't catch up with Natalie and the Control4 team but they did have a 4 hour head start on us! We made most of the exchanges without trouble, no injuries, no puking, and got to run across the finish line at The Canyons in Park City 33 hours after we started in hot pink striped tights and furry hats (don't ask!). Can't wait for next year!

Pretty Baby

Is it too early to think she might be a model? Probably! Jeanette Soffe took these beautiful photos of Sloane, and a few with her somewhat willing (aka jealous) older brother. He's such a sweet boy. He was giving her "kisses and loves" in these pictures.

If you see the bracelet Sloane is wearing in some of these pictures, it's from her birth father's Sioux tribe. Pretty cool! And it fit (adjustable, of course!), which was a big bonus. She's so lovely and sweet and bright-eyed. The pictures are fabulous but they still don't quite do her justice!

ps...if you see any red splotchy stuff on her skin, this was the day she started breaking out in hives. Allergic reaction to regular formula. Even though we had to spend some quality time at the doctor's office we did get to find out that she was 8 pounds 10 ounces on her 1-month birthday and 21 inches so she's growing! She's all better now that she's moved on to soy! And you'd never know she was uncomfortable based on these photos, huh? Yep, that's just how she was the whole time. Don't hate us but we are suuuuuper lucky!

More Kodak Moments...

Tagg still loves to read. Maybe that's why he's so chatty! He likes to throw his books (Cars books, usually) in the laundry basket, climb in, read each one, and then chuck it out of the basket; then he climbs out of the basket, puts them all back in and does it all over again. It's pretty adorable. Of course, we read to him a lot and he loves story time with Grama and Ashley. You can never have too many books!



Tagg is a big helper in the yard. Apparently he's been watching daddy scoop dog poop in the yard. I was on the phone and looked over to see him eyeballing "stinky Morgan poop" which I told him to leave alone. Next thing I know, he's got the tools out to take care of the situation. I know he didn't learn that from me! The other thing he learned from daddy? Dirt. The kid loves dirt. You can't really see the extent of the dirt but it was EVERYWHERE! He spent about an hour in our garden picking up dirt and pouring it over his entire body. Awesome!


We know we're super lucky but when the double rainbows appeared out the back door last week, we have to admit...did do a little digging for that pot of gold. Luckily, we found this adorable angelic little girl...treasure for sure!





Nana made Sloane a very special quilt. Not only is it butterflies to match her bedroom, but it's also the exact same pattern as a quilt that mom received from her family when she was a baby. She still has it, in different colors, but mostly the same. It's amazing and we'll have to get a photo of them together but, for now, we thought the pictures of Sloane on her Nana-quilt were pretty sweet.



Lunch with the girls (Mommy, Nana, Aunt Becky, cousin Harper) and Tagg the token male at the mall. Not sure where this face came from because this is BEFORE shopping. I usually make that face after! Harper was trying to give Becky the same face, by pulling on her hair. As you can see, Harper can still take Sloane in a wrestling match. No matter how much we feed Sloane, Harper always seems to have her by a few. As of today, our little girl is 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long. Not bad for a 1 month birthday!

Nikelle looooves Baby Sloane! She's very good at holding her and feeding her, just like with Tagg. Cousin Ashley is really enamored of Sloane too but we never seem to have our camera out!

Baby's First Photo Shoot

Sloane had her first official photo shoot with lights, props and the works last week. These are just a few of the initial pictures. She's a beauty! And just as bright-eyed and alert as day one...we couldn't get her to sleep no matter how hard we tried!

Cute Baby

Sloane's first trip to the lake (not Powell...Pineview, nice but definitely not as warm which is why you can't see her super cute swimsuit!)

Nana made this beautiful quilt for Sloane. She found the butterfly pattern which not only matches the bedroom theme but is also an exact replica of a quilt that mom has from her childhood. This one is way cuter of course! We'll have to get some photos of Nana (my mom), Sloane and the quilts. It's so great to have these family traditions!






This is Sloane keeping herself out of the spotlight. Sometimes, we're just too much in the paparazzi vein!

And a picture of cute teeny girl. She weighed in today, at her 2-week appointment, at 7 lbs 13 oz. She was a good bleeder for her PKU test (is that a good thing?! It was nice that it went fast but could be scary in the future....paper cuts gone wild!). She's had some discharge from her eye which leads to a stuffy nose, which freaks us out! The doctor says it's just a clogged tear duct which is very common and works itself out but you sure hate to hear the stuffy baby nose at night. Doesn't make for lots of rest-filled nights for mom and dad!