Meet Oscar

The baby skunk. They are actually keeping it as a pet, since it's been away from its mother so long now that it has no chance of being released back into the wild. Brandon's dad says that if they love it enough, it won't stink. All I know is that I love Violet and she still stinks, so I don't see that working.

And here is our little hippie family in our tie-dye shirts. Violet's onesie is my favorite. They turned out rather well.

Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone on Wednesday. We saw bison, elk, a bald eagle, and a wild swan, but Violet was by far the wildest beast. She screamed all night in the cabin and peed all over the bed in the morning. When we got into the park, she had a blowout that got all over the car and the smell would have scared off any predators in a 10-mile radius. (That's why she's naked in the 3rd picture) She loved the hikes but had to wear her peed-on jammies from the night before. She also made it very clear that she did not like being in the car. Anyways, we still managed to have a good time and here are some pictures:

At Yellowstone falls

At artist paint pots
With the bison

We also got a call from McKay when we were there telling us that he had caught a baby skunk. I am not kidding. It was there when we got home and it is going to be the family's new pet. That's weird even for me. I will post pictures of that escapade later.

Family reunion and Father's day

This weekend was Brandon's family's annual reunion, so we went camping at Crystal Springs in Utah. Violet loved being outside, slept through the night, and had lots of fun in the pools. In fact, she got so used to being outside that she threw a fit on Father's day when we had to stay inside all day. It was very reassuring since in 5 weeks we will go on a very long camping trip with her.

Father's day was also fun. I made Brandon a pavlova (an Australian dessert with a meringue crust and fruit). It kind of collapsed, but what can you expect, I'm not a very good cook. It was nice to do something special for him and appreciate what a great daddy he is.

Idaho

Here is what we have done in Idaho so far:
-Brandon and I went on a date without Violet
-Violet learned how to crawl
-I sewed a pillow for our bed
-We are sleeping on a California king-sized mattress
-We went to the Idaho Falls temple
-Yesterday the high was about 55 degrees and I was very upset about it
-We bought shirts and a onesie to tie-dye
-Brandon golfed 18 holes with his dad
-I found an apartment vacancy, but it's for June 28
-There are 11 people in this 4-bedroom house
-Violet has 4 kitties to play with whenever she wants
-Since I don't let Violet touch the kitties with her hands (she pulls on their ears and whiskers) she tries to step on them and laughs
-We have watched the Fifa World Cup and NBA finals
-Violet refuses to go to bed at night since it doesn't get dark until 10:00
-We are going camping today
-And so far, Brandon has only worked for a few hours.

On the move

Brandon and I are going to be pretty transient for the next few months. Here is a look at our schedule:

Tomorrow: Move to Idaho. No, this is not a joke. Brandon is going to be designing a grocery store with his dad, and since we don't have any other employment options, we get to live with my in-laws for 3 weeks to a month. Go ahead and laugh, again. At least we will have free babysitters and a pillowtop mattress.

Mid-July: Move back to Provo, briefly.

July 26: Leave for Canada!!!! Spend 2 weeks on the most awesome vacation ever.

August 7: Return from Canada, hang out with Mom after she finishes the Provo half-marathon.

Sometime between August 9 and August 17: Move to Houston. If we're lucky, we might even get to move into our own apartment. However, I still haven't found an apartment vacancy.

August 23: Brandon's first day as a grad student.

And somehow, we have to squeeze in renting a moving truck, packing, cleaning, and possibly moving another family along the way (if we decide to share a truck). Awesome.

Sweet freedom

Violet got loose while I was changing her diaper yesterday. She has decided that she likes the freedom of mobility, and now I'm sure she likes the freedom of being naked.

She even figured out how to get from a crawl to a sitting position. Anything is possible when you're naked!

Grandma's 80th

We got to hang out with family this weekend at Grandma Fagg's 80th birthday party at the Lion House. Here are some pictures from it.
Brandon looking ponderous at the temple reflecting pool

Ashley dipping Violet's feet into it Me falling flat on my butt because my shoe was caught on the table leg. That's uncle Kay helping me up; Brandon was too busy taking pictures to give me a hand. Cousin Wes made sure to make fun of me for that later.

And finally the painting I am almost finished with. It's of the courtyard of the myrtles at the Alhambra in Spain. There are parts that I really don't like but I think it turned out pretty well.

It was a busy weekend. I remember when Ashley visited me while I was pregnant, Violet refused to kick for her because she didn't like being bossed around. Well, she did the same thing this weekend. I've never seen her so calm and un-entertaining as when Ashley was around. But she did like chasing Annie around the Lion House. One of my favorite moments was when cousin Jordan asked if Ashley wanted to see the chicks out back. Ashley answered, "No thanks. I'm not really into girls." And Jordan said, "Ashley, they're chickens."

Funny but so sad

This is what I was talking about in the last post. Stuck.

Memorial day

Sleeping babies are so cute. Too bad I found Violet sleeping on her face like this tonight:

It really freaked me out. I flipped her on to her back. Going to bed has been quite a struggle lately. Normally we let her cry herself to sleep, but she has discovered rolling over and mobility. So, I will put her down on her back, and she will roll over to her belly, back herself into the side of the crib, and get her legs stuck between the slats so that she can't roll back over. It was even harder this weekend at Brandon's parent's house where she had to sleep on a blanket on the floor. There was no way to contain her.

We had fun in Idaho this Memorial Day. We went to a ranch where they tag hummingbirds. I ran around with Violet pretending to chase people, and she thought it was really funny.