To the Barber

Ever since Connor heard about his friend going to the Barber and getting a lollipop after his haircut, Connor's been itching to go to instead of having Mom or Dad cut it. So we decided to have him get a special haircut a little more complicated than usual so it was worth the money. We decided on a fohawk. So we waited for his hair to grow out a bunch and then took him to a local place, thinking it would be easy for them. Well he was very excited. 

And very tired, poor kid he kept nodding off, and I can't blame him it had been a long day and it kinda took forever. But his lollipop at the end sure made up for it.

To be honest I totally regretted going here, it wasn't as cheap as I thought and they had no idea what they were doing,  and weren't the best with kids, I was frustrated and I plan on fixing it once it grows out some (I'm going to attempt an undercut, wish me luck!). 

Just Another Sunday

Surprise Visit from ...

GRANDPA AND GRANDMA STANGER

Bella ran to the door and with hands on her head screamed in pure excitement when greeting Grandma and Grandpa Stanger, she ran around screaming not believing it. Connor bursted from the bathroom realizing something was going on and he stopped dead in his tracks mouth gapping open and then rushed to one wall and then another back and forth back and forth too excited to stop and too shocked to speak. "WHAT??? Is this for real!

Yep kiddos it sure was. I know you loved every minute with them. And they loved every minute with you; getting to know baby Piper and joining us in Piper's baby blessing and helping Dad out while Mom was away and sleeping over and playing games and sipping "tea" and reading stories and watching movies and eating all our favorite foods and best of all I KNOW they loved spoiling you with gifts and attention and treats.

It was quite a fun surprise!

And hard to say goodbye.

"But Mom think of something to make me happy,
 I can't on my own when they aren't here"

Out to UTAH

My Grandpa turned 100 years old this past December and the Martin crew all traveled out to visit him!

I had lots of help the whole way there flying out with my Mom, Dad, and Joseph.

Of course she was an angel and slept the entire time not even waking to eat, I wish I could have slept like that...

When we arrived she happily greeted everyone with nothing but smiles.

We stopped right away to visit Grandpa Kotter! 

And of course I got a break from Piper duty with all the, eager and willing, attention she was getting.

It felt like old times driving around with this crazy crew again, except Ryan was our driver and I stole passenger seat most of the time.

Nights with Piper weren't too bad either, although she slept with me the whole time which made me worry I was starting a terrible pattern.

Sunday came and during church with Grandpa Piper stole the spotlight of course, and insisted on being heard. She unfortunately remained a bit fussy for the rest of the trip.

The way Grandpa lights up around babies and turns into his old rat-a-tat-tat self eager to hold and soothe them always makes me smile.

Amberlee and I stole a few minutes to attempt a sister shoot...

And I even left her with a few dozen candidly gorgeous selfies to remember me by ...

Sunday we had dinner with Grandpa, Aunt Nola, Uncle Wade and Janet.

Monday we spent the morning at the Distribution Center saying HI/BYE to Aunt Nola, and then visited Grandpa as everyone passed around a hungry girl.

Grandpa fortunately was able to hold her again as I literally prayed for her to stay happy as he played with her. And fortunately she did! This was so important to me because I knew this was my last visit with him before my flight the next day.

Amberlee snuggled her and fed her while we finished up our visit.

Unfortunately the feeding didn't end well...

And after Amberlee got covered in spit up Ryan elected to keep his distance for the rest of the time.

After a quick clothing change.

We had a very short walk just inside temple square, to see the visitor center and admire the gardens. 

Yes I stole a flower to take home to Bella!

Then we were off to the City Creek Mall to ... walk around aimlessly,
Take a bazillion pictures,
Annoy Daniel to death,
And read a Book ;)

That night we finished watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding and said goodbyes.

That morning Piper and I woke early to get dressed and ready to go, but not before getting a visit from Ellie and my newest nephew baby Jack Jack (as he is lovingly called around our house).

Jack reminds me so much of Connor as a baby it made me sad missing that little guy.
Jack is the sweetest boy ever and filled with smiles, and even reached out to grab Piper's hand, (I tried to reenact it for a picture...)

Before long our visit was over and Ellie was taking me to the airport and Piper and I were flying home. Piper was hungry but did well the flight attendant was quite a comedian so it made for quite the ride :)

Not going to lie my favorite thing in all the world was getting the biggest squeal and jump out of Sydney who was more than a little thrilled to have Mom home. (Connor and Bella were more happy to have Piper back then me, and still quite enamored by Grandpa and Grandma visiting, so I was happy to give her all my attention!)

And I even spoiled her with a night snuggling with Mom in bed.