New Discoveries

As she approaches month 7 of her life, Macy is growing and changing too quickly for me! She found her tongue a few days ago, and made us all laugh with the faces she was making.

Mace just started clapping (yesterday)... SOO CUTE. I feel my favorite "stage" coming on! Actually, honestly, all stages of Baby are really fun for me. Although, I never tire of the interactions that happen with an older babe.

(Sorry for all of the "YAH-ING"; that is her prompt :)

Gone Fishing.. and to the Circus..

Greg had last week off, and had no where to go! (The exclamation is for the rare occasion that this will ever happen.. I was thrilled). I loved having him around, and so did the kids. There were times, however, when he wanted to scream from being so bored. (I guess life with two small children is not adventure enough for him.) I tried to keep him busy with a list of "to dos" around the house, but somehow washing the windows and watching the kids didn't elicit the same type of thrill as heli-skiing or rafting down the Grand Canyon.


Tyson loved having his dad around the most, though. One early morning he and Greg snuck off to go fishing. Tyson was so excited. He didn't even mind waking up before the sun.. although he did point that fact out to me when I got him up for the trip.

Here he is catching his first fish! (And the first fish of the trip, too). Be patient.. he really does reel it in ALL BY HIMSELF.

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So, in addition to fishing and motorcycle riding, we also went to the CIRCUS while Greg was home. We had lots of fun. Those elephants are quite amazing!

And those tigers were frightening!!

Our seats were in the FRONT ROW (of the balcony). This allowed the kids a little extra wiggle room for things like....dropping their popcorn, toys, and suckers onto the POOR unsuspecting heads of those below us. Good thing we never ran into those people!

Happy Birthday Mace-Face!

(FYI: If you'll notice the date this post was started was just about a MONTH ago. It took that much time for me to get G to upload some pics from his phone... Sweetness will be 7 months old in 10 days. Now I really can't believe that!)

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6 months has come and gone... CRAZY. My little Macers is 6 months old! She has been such a fun addition to our home. She is becoming very vocal and loves to roll around. Just recently she began to sit. Her girthy center keeps her perfectly balanced.

Tyson LOVES Macy. He says that she is his "best". Best as in friend, sister, wrestling partner, etc.

Just two weeks ago at her doctor's appointment, she weighed in at exactly 21 lbs. She is 27 inches long, which puts her in the 95th percentile for height and weight. I was kind of sad to see her drop from the the 100th percentile... although it is probably better for her heart to loose some weight. Her doctor discovered that she has a heart murmur. Since the fateful discovery at her 2 week appointment, we have been monitoring her little heart.

It is very common for babies to be born with heart murmurs. Most of them resolve quickly after birth on their own, and those that remain are usually innocent. It is uncommon, however, for a baby who has a real, legitimate murmur, to "thrive" as Macy has done. Thus, the testing. Mace's murmur sounded very small, so her Dr. thought it would have resolved on its own by this point in her life. Because it hadn't, he was a little more concerned and ordered an echo cardiogram just to make sure that it was not anything serious.

After sedating our little babe, and a 2 hour ultra-sound of her heart, we learned that Mace does in fact have a hear murmur. It is relatively small, like the doctor suspected, but she'll probably have it her whole life. She will most likely live with it with no problems. So, I am glad we know... I may think differently when we get the bill from the hospital!!

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Here I am trying to comfort my poked and drugged baby on her way to dreamland. She was a trooper...she did really well getting the IV, but did not want to succumb to sleep. She knew something was up!

(Isn't she a delicate little thing!)

There were no complications during the sedation. Once Mace was under, we could hear her light snoring while the tech did the ultra sound. I just wanted to squeeze her... she looked so peaceful.

Mace was as stubborn waking up as she was going to sleep.

It was our most peaceful ride home. Mace was pretty out-of-it for the rest of the day.

THANKS TO AUNT FAITH FOR WATCHING TYSON!!

Time for an update??

We’re back!!! Actually we have been here... Tyson. Mace-Face and I have been busy with nothing really, other than LIFE. Fall is here (well, it has been for the past few days), and I am LOVING it. I have to say one of the perks to living in Utah (I'll be honest, I thought there were none), is/are the season changes. Just when you get tired Summer, Fall sweeps in to rescue you.



We did slip away this past weekend to the Coral Pink sand dunes with our dear friends the Mohlers. Camping was never fun until I married Greg and had a baby boy. Tyson LOVES being outside, so I happily give up my bathroom and bed for a few days of sandy, dirty, unsanitary fun for him. Greg (who is the scoutmaster in our ward, might I add) is great to take care of everything camp oriented once we arrive at our destination.

Cloey, Macy (our Macy's namesake), and Tyson

Mohler Gals, and our Big Lady having a snack

Tyson's FAVORITE Tree. Perfect for his newly acquired skill of climbing.

The Sleeping Accommodations

We had so much fun. We miss the Mohlers, so it is always a treat to spend time with them.

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Since I am catching up a bit... Over Labor Day we ambitiously decided to hike to Timp Cave. Okay, not really that ambitious of an endeavor for Greg and Tyson, but for me and Macers... It was a CHALLENGE. Here are the pictures to prove it. (I am winded in every single picture!)

Here we are at the halfway mark... a bit tired.

We made it! We are standing just outside the CAVE!! Tyson was so thrilled that we were going to go inside a cave. Mace and I were just happy for the temperature change.

The "deer in the headlights" eyes are a result of it being dark, dark, dark in the cave and then the, you know, flash of the camera startling my little pupils.

Not so much for him... those are just excited two-year old eyes

Can you see how far UP we hiked?? Pretty impressive view.

(More impressive that Greg made it with Mace of his front the entire way up :)

Caves are so neat... especially to 2.5 year olds. We had a fun time, and got a little exercise in as well. Too bad Mace-Face couldn't do a little of the walking. That girl is HEAVY. We think she is on the brink of 22 Lbs. We go in tomorrow for an appointment. She'll be just over 5.5 months... so we'll see.

Build a HILL, and they will come....

When we met with our landscape architect to design our yard, we told him that we wanted it to be kid-friendly. Fortunately for us, he had done his master's thesis on kid spaces and imagination. Since the day our last dump-truck load of dirt was delivered, the kids have been in love with our yard. Each day we find new little ones playing on the hill, behind, or around it. Who would have thought something so simple as a HILL would bring about so much imagination and creativity with the kids. I have been told numerous times by the kids in the neighborhood, that "I am sooo lucky to have a mountain in my backyard!"...

Props to Brady, our landscape architect!! (or curse him until we can afford a fence!)

These are just a few shots I've taken of kids on the hill. Two nights ago I got home around 8:30 and our backyard was FILLED with kids (close to 20--no joke). I had to close the shutters before Tyson saw and wanted to join.

Another Zulauf Wedding...

We are down to just two unmarrieds... who ever thought that would happen?? Almost exactly 8 years after Greg and I were married, Court and Carly tied the knot! We are so happy to have another girl in the family. (Jenny is especially pleased to not me the only female in-law anymore, I am sure.)

So, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, LOVE!! and a BIG CONGRATS to Court and Carly Zulauf.

These were the few pictures I was able to get of the Happy Couple. Thankfully, since their wedding was in AZ, IN AUG, they had taken all of their pictures beforehand. They were so kind not to make us suffer.

AND US....

and by us, I of course, mean there are NO pics of me and Greg, because he is he biggest TURKEY about taking pictures. Sad for me. I am going to start taking them alone. Will that make him feel bad?? (probably not)

Forgot to get one of my parents too. Opps. Good thing I was not their photographer. Bad thing no one else brought a camera..

Leticia and Lacey (Josh had to work, so she brought Lacey as her date).

Lacey and her real date Jeffery

(Peek-a-boo Zach!)

Zach and Jenny

Of course I take a bad picture (blinding) of the best photographer in the fam... SORRY JEN!

Faith and Shaun

And the last two singletons... Tyler and Shelb

Here is Tyson Boy with Uncle Zachy. Zach taught him how to give knuckle sandwiches. How will we ever thank you Zach?

And Macer-Facer slept right through it all...

Fun at the B-L!!

Our annual trip to Bear Lake this year was as fun as ever. My family is growing so fast with marriages and births, that every year we have at least a couple first-timers at the Lake. It has almost doubled in a year and a half, which makes for a lot of bodies at any family gathering. It was nice to have a large, outdoor site to congregate at.

We spent just over two weeks at the cabin and were so busy having fun that we failed to get a family picture... Darn. We did get together just a few days later in Mesa, AZ for Court and Carly's wedding, so we snapped a more formal shot of us all then.

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Grammie SPOILS the grandkids with warm pools to swim in. I do not recall ever receiving such treatment as a Bear Lake youngster... Even the "Big Lady" Macy liked to go swimming in those conditions.

Kaden (Leticia's little boy) and Tyson are about 9 months apart. It was great for Tyson to have a buddy.. and fun for us to figure out who the instigator in their little disagreements was. Check out the sandy freckles... Who started throwing sand first??

...And these two. They are 5 months apart and destined to be besties!

Our biggest decison each day was pool or beach.... Oh what a life! I am sad it's over.

It was great having so many aunts and uncles around. Tyson was in heaven with all of the attention.