Our Summer Vacation . . . . At Home

This year we made no plans to go on a big vacation. The last two years have been big ones (Europe 1 month, Boston 3 weeks) and I'm feeling pretty pregnant. So, lucky for us, the vacationers came to us. We had a GREAT time with everyone here at home.

My sister, Jessica, arrived from New York City. We were SO EXCITED to have her hang out with us. We don't see her very often and she is great to be with. Ava is still asking about her. We went up the canyon to roast hot dogs, went to the Thanksgiving Point gardens, died laughing watching Blades of Glory and watched her go in and out the door to see all of her other people. Man, I wish she lived closer. She even overlapped a day when my other sister, Laura, arrived with her family. We had breakfast at Silver Fork Lodge up Big Cottonwood Canyon and then hiked/walked around Silver Lake. Then Jess was off to the airport and back to crazy life in NYC.Ava determined to get in with the ducks.
Brie in her own personal musical. She was singing and dancing all over the boardwalk.
Ava climbed in the stroller to play peek-a-boo with baby Lila. Talk about a love affair, Ava LOVES baby Lila!
Every day with the Skinners was packed and I was not the best picture taker. If you've ever tried to take a picture of my girls you would know why. It's like pulling teeth!

One day was Wheeler Farm to see all of the animals and go on a tractor ride. My sister-in-law, Sarah, and kids were able to join us here. Aiden, Anne, Ava and Brie are feeding ducks.That evening was a walk (or a chase the kids around) around Temple Square.
One day was spent at the Ancient Life Museum. Davin loved it. I think my kids were the wrong age and gender, but they had a good ol' time playing in the sand.

All the cousins (except the Hughes fam)!!Ava had a hard time being ok with her hands being sandy.What you don't know is that Brie accidentally peed on the floor right here. She just couldn't tear herself away from the fun I guess. I was shocked. She hasn't had an accident in a year and then there she is peeing on the museum floor. She had to go commando because I had no back up clothes.Kea giving a great scared look running from JAWS!And Brie, happy as a clam sitting bare bummed in a new sand pit. Gross. Lila saved the day with her diaper cover up that turned into panties.Our last day was a hike up to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was still beautiful. The kids did GREAT on this hike, especially baby Lila. Scott had a new audience for his tutorial on how to skip a rock.
The hikers!
It really was so fun to have everyone here. We miss them. Now we are just waiting for the next round of visitors when my parents and sister show up on Tuesday. Yahoo!

Open For Discussion: Boy Names

I went to my 30 week appointment this morning. I'm actually quite shocked that I am 30 weeks pregnant. This one has gone VERY quickly and we are feeling like baby boy Buchanan will be here in no time. And guess what . . . we still have no idea what to name him. I know a lot of people don't want to tell their name choices until the baby comes so you don't get lots of comments about it, but that is exactly what I am looking for. I want to hear new ideas and I want to hear what you think about our ideas. We need some help here. We both do want something that is more on the traditional and classic side. I think that is important for a boy's name. So here we go:

Top Four Favorites (that Scott and I agree on):

James Scott: We have both always liked this name. It's classic and strong. Only negative is that it was one of our president's name and he wasn't so great. That's fine though.

Reid Scott: Scott's name is Scott Reid, so it would be a nice way to name a son after him. Reid is a good Scottish name and it means "red", so that ties in to my last name being Allred. Kinda cool. And I love what our baby name book says about it, "Reid somehow manages to make preppiness sexy, which is a good recipe for success in life."

Luke Scott: Luke just sounds like a really cool name to me. We both really like it. It has good history in Luke from the New Testament and Luke Skywalker.

Zachary Scott: Another just cool name that we both like. I think Zach and Luke go well together, if we were to ever have another boy.


Individual Favorites:

Beckett Scott: Scott really likes this name. At first it was because of the Red Sox pitcher, Josh Beckett. The nick name would be Beck. I like it. I do think it is a cute name for a boy and a cool name for when he's older. It is just a little too different for a boy's name for me though.

Alexander Scott: This has been, and may always be, Alicia's favorite. I think it sounds so classy. It is a name that has always been popular. I love, love, love the name Xander as a nick name for when he is young. Then as an adult he can be Alexander. Older people (and Kamber) think Xander sounds weird.

I also like Thomas. I've noticed I like all the biblical names. We both like Lincoln, but our good friend's named their son Lincoln Scott 5 years ago. And Scott of course would love to go with Big Papi or Youkalis.

So, go ahead and give us your opinions. If we can't come to some conclusion Scott is planning on selling the naming rights on Ebay or to my Dad. Neither would be a good idea. Thanks.

A Perfect Saturday

Last Saturday was the perfect Saturday. I have a list of things that I want us to do this summer and we were able to check two things off of the list. Hooray!

We woke up, had breakfast and then drove right up our canyon (Little Cottonwood Canyon) to hike Cecret Lake. I wanted to do this now because it is wildflower time. And it certainly was wildflower time! The flowers were blooming everywhere, all over the mountains and it was beautiful! I'm sad to say that our camera died when we got to the lake, so there aren't too many pictures of the flowers or the mama and baby Moose that we saw on the way back down. We really did try to take a family picture too, so that I could be in one, but that is when it died. Too bad.

Scott helping the girls across the river.
Brie and the wildflowers. Brielle hiked the full one mile up and one mile back all by herself. Never carried. It was an elevation gain of 450 ft. She did GREAT!! The whining started just as we were finishing. Perfect!Scott in Cecret Lake. I was wishing so bad we could jump in. Nope. Watershed.
Brie and Ava LOVED throwing rocks in the water. Here they are showing off the rocks they are about to chuck.Scott teaching the girls how to properly skip a rock.Ava really liking her granola bar.
Snacks for the Red Sox duo.

We all came home from the canyon, took baths and went to bed for naps! Glorious naps!

That evening Scott and I had a babysitter come over to be with Brie and Ava. We went on a date. We got subway sandwiches and went to an outdoor Peter Brienholt concert at the Sandy Amphitheater. It was a beautiful summer night, a good concert and so fun to be with Scott. Loved it.What a day!

Catch Up

I'm catchin up a little bit on our summertime. We certainly have been busy. I love the summer!

Brielle had her first swimming lesson classes. We went every day for two weeks. She had fun and Ava and I got to sit by the pool and watch (and snack). She is a real swimmer now. Swimming lessons just made her a lot more confident (and she was already too confident) in the water. She loved her teacher and loved getting to jump off of the big diving board on the last day. The girls and I went on a hike around Silver Lake with our play group. Silver Lake is the perfect kid hike. It's pretty and it's easy. It was fun to be with all of our friends.All the kids stopping to throw rocks into the lake.Checking out the fish.They sweet talked a squirrel into coming VERY close and then got scared.We also had the excitement of welcoming a new baby neice into the world. Ella was born to Brian and Rachel on July 22. We went to the hospital to visit and there was quite the fight over who's turn it was to hold her. She is a GORGEOUS baby girl. She really is so sweet and pretty. It made us very excited for our baby to come.