Last Wyoming Adventure, I Promise, Maybe

I realized after my last post that I forgot about a water story that I will lovingly call "Splish Splash: Braiden and Nana's Bath".


We had been anxiously waiting for Braiden's cord to fall off so he could officially have a bath, so Wednesday morning when I changed his diaper and saw a bare belly button I was thrilled! I had sent Katie back to bed to get a couple of hours of sleep in a row, but I was so excited that Braiden and I had to interrupt her precious sleep to tell her the good news. We let her go back to sleep, but a while later Katie heated up water (it was pre water heater fix) and Braiden had his first tub bath. He didn't appreciate it! This video is after he had calmed down a little and was just doing what I call his "lambie cry".

After the bath I was holding him while Katie took this picture:

He was very content to be wrapped up. Then I felt warmth spreading down my leg and heard splashing on the floor and knew it wasn't from me! This innocent cutie pie made a pretty good sized puddle on the floor!

P.S. You might wonder why I have a Vulcan grip on Braiden. Well I'll tell you. I don't know. I never realized my hand is deformed like that!

Wyoming Adventures Continued

My adventures continued on the walk home from Pizza Hut. About a block from Katie and Aaron's house Katie was pushing the stroller and I was carrying the bag of fabric and the long dowel Katie had bought. Suddenly some seagulls started zooming low overhead. I wanted to say they were attacking me, but if you don't know my relationship with birds you wouldn't understand. Luckily I had the dowel to threaten them with, but I was a little afraid they would "bomb" my head from above. Katie was no help of course because she was laughing and hurrying home. I'm sure birds sense my fear of them and think I'm an easy target. We escaped unharmed (except for my pride) and unsullied.

Luckily Aaron got off early and was able to insure and license a an old truck he'd bought from his cousin that he will drive now and Katie will drive the big newer truck. The old truck looks something like this but is baby blue and doesn't have the outlines on the side:

So Katie went grocery shopping and then Aaron took her for a ride around the block in his old truck. When she got back she told me that it is so high that Aaron had to lift her up into it. The next night when Aaron asked me if I wanted to go for a ride in the old truck I thought it would be fun. We got around to the passenger side door though and I realized that I would have a hard time getting in because there are no running boards. Poor Aaron. There he was standing behind me wondering how he would get his mother-in-law's behind into the truck. Luckily for both of us I was able to find some little finger holds and mustered enough strength to practically jump in. We had a noisy but enjoyable ride where he tried to convince me that since I'd finally ridden his four wheeler and enjoyed it that I would really enjoy riding a wave runner. That remains to be seen. Later, Katie and I were practically rolling on the floor as I recounted the momentary confusion that Aaron suffered in helping me get in the truck. Poor Aaron. He would do a lot of things for me, but thank goodness he didn't have to do that!

Another adventure we had all week was no hot water. Aaron had tried replacing the water heater elements but to no avail. Two nights in a row Katie heated up pans of water on the stove and bowls of water in the microwave to get enough hot water in the tub for Aaron to take somewhat of a bath to wash up from work. The third night there was no bath waiting for him. Instead, Katie, Braiden and I were sitting on the front porch waiting for him because we were locked out of the house! Luckily we only had to wait half an hour. Kent showed up Wednesday night and Thursday figured out the water heater had an electrical problem and was able to fix it. We were so excited to take hot showers and I'm sure everyone else was glad we had too. Thus ended our adventures.

Wyoming Adventures

I just spent the week in Rawlins with the Willdens. Katie and I had some adventures beginning on Monday morning. We had very little food in the house and no car so we decided to walk to Pizza Hut for lunch. We bundled little Braiden up in his stroller (it was warm but very windy) and set out. It turned out to be a longer walk than we imagined and I'm sure the pioneers didn't complain like we did. Little shuttle buses kept passing us and Katie was surprised to find out that Rawlins had somewhat of a transit system but we never saw any bus stops. Believe me, we were looking. We finally made it to the restaurant and had a delicious pizza buffet. Katie was jokingly tempted to ask the young waitress what time she got off work and could she give us a ride home. At least I think she was joking. It turns out that the waitress was excited to be getting a car that day. She'd walked to work all winter. No sympathy there. After doing a little shopping at Alco for fabric for Braiden's curtains and a dowel, Katie suggested we try a short cut home. Between her house and the stores was a field about a half mile long. If we cut through it instead of going around it, it would save us a lot of time. We decided to try it. We didn't get very far before we were carrying the stroller. It was a sandy, weedy, dry mud wasteland. There was a pond with a shopping cart halfway sunk in it and we pictured the last person to use it being in the pond also. Needless to say, we didn't go very far before we turned around and went back. I almost left my flip flop in the mud. It wasn't until we were out of the "swamp" that we saw the sign that said, "Danger - Do Not Enter". We eventually made it home and later I measured the distance we walked with the car odometer and it was 3 miles, not including the trespassing trip.

Here's some cute pictures of Braiden. More adventures in the next post.

Grandson #3!

Braiden Ray Willden arrived safely yesterday. He came 8 days early, much to the delight of his mother. He's just a little fellow: 6 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches long. What a doll. His father can't quit saying, "He's so cute!"

His cousin Logan already loves him, but Ethan isn't sure what to think:

My Red Wall

I finally got my red wall finished in

the kitchen on Saturday

thanks to Kent's help!

Here's a zoomed in part:

P.S. Game on Nanette!

43 Candles Part 2

Navajo tacos have become one of our favorite meals and since I couldn't have rainbow trout that's what we had for my birthday dinner. Katie and Ethan made me a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cake.

After opening some fun presents we played a game called "Last Word" that we'd seen on the "Ellen" show. We had a lot of fun.

43 Candles Part 1

Maybe because turning 43 wasn't a milestone year (it doesn't end in a zero) I was able to really relax and enjoy this birthday. It was really fun to get well wishes on Facebook too.

The day started off early with my three girls, my sister Leslie and my friend Tammy and I going to a taping of the show "Good Things Utah". I think the ride to and from and the lunch together afterward was just as fun with the girls. All together it was a great start to my birthday.

We ate lunch at "Dairy Queen" in Centerville because I love their halibut and fries meal that comes with a scone. "KFC's" cole slaw is better, but since I knew I wouldn't be getting the rainbow trout I wanted for dinner I went for fish and chips.

Kudos to Kent and Nick for tending Ethan and Logan so Nanette could go with us. Strangely enough I couldn't talk Caleb into missing school!

Part 2 is coming when Nanette and Katie send me pictures!