Adventures In Grocery Shopping

Yesterday I made my weekly trip to the grocery store. Had I known beforehand how stressful it was going to be I would have stayed home. As we got there I put Livi in the cart and started to walk in while I was looking for the straps to buckle her down. I realized that one end was broken and wouldn't latch. At this point I should have turned around and got a different cart. But being lazy and not wanting to waste any time I decided it would be fine. Shortly after reaching the produce department Livi begins to climb out of the seat, so I stuck her in the basket. Not smart I know, but she usually sits down and plays with what I put in and has a great time. Not today. I put in some peaches and apples, she proceeded to throw them out. I put in some zucchini, again, overboard. I decided to carry her until I got more things in the cart for her to play with. Once I had a few things in there she could touch I put her back. She was playing with some peanut butter and a bottle of salad dressing, all plastic bottles. All of sudden she has the jam (in a glass jar) in her hand. Before I can get it away from her she hurles it over the side shattering it into several pieces and leaving a nice trail of raspberry jam. I picked up the largest junks of glass and then made my way to find an employee who could clean it up. It took me forever to find someone, when I finally did I led him back to the scene, apologized, offered to help and was told it was no big deal and continued on my way. At this point I should have just gone home, but I was already half way done. I put Livi back in the seat and ended up tying the waist straps in a knot so she couldn't budge. Incidentally, seconds later I came across a lady who said I should win the mother of the day award because I had my child strapped in. She said it "drove her crazy" when mom's let their kids stand in the basket. Oops. I picked up the rest of the items on my list without further incident and made my way to the check out. I always feel sorry for the people that are behind me at the grocery store. At this point Livi is usually screaming to get out of the cart, and on top of that I take forever because I do price matching. For those that don't know, Walmart will match any stores sale price as long as you bring in the ad and show them. There are three big grocery store chains here and every week I bring all 3 of their ads with me to Walmart in order to get the cheapest price. For example, yesterday HEB had red peppers on sale for .79 while Walmarts regular price is nearly 2.00. You can see how it would add up. Anyway, I could tell the lady behind was getting annoyed because I was taking so long. Finally I was finished and loading my bags back in the cart when I notice a can of pepper in a bag with my milk. I tell the cashier that it isn't mine so she goes to take it out and it pops open and gets pepper all over the milk jug and the counter. Then she has to go and get paper towel to clean it up. Then she tries to refund me for the pepper but can't figure it out and has to call a manager. I am not exaggerating when I say it took me over 30 minutes to check out. In the mean time the lady behind me packed up every one of her items and went to another register. I didn't really feel bad for her because she was kind of acting snotty, but I did feel bad for the cashier. I know how frustrating working a register can be. It can get confusing. I could tell she felt bad that it was taking so long to figure out the refund. When she finally finished she handed me a receipt and apologized, still obviously a bit flustered. I was just grateful that she was finished that I thanked her and left. I only realized today that she gave me a receipt but no money! Luckily, it was only 1.66 or I would have been upset. All of that work for nothing. It was a perfectly suited ending to a memorable trip to the grocery store.

15 months!

I took Livi to her 15 month check up this morning. I still can't believe she is that old. It seems like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. She is doing great and growing like a weed. She had fun showing the Dr. her tongue and belly, two of her recently discovered body parts, and giving him high fives. She is 32 inches long and only 22 pounds. Meaning that she is in the 90th percentile for her height and about the 8th for her height to weight ratio. She seems to be getting longer and skinnier. Every time we go in for a check up her height percentage goes up and her weight percentage goes down. (Don't be alarmed however, she is well within a safe range). I can't say that I am surprised about her height though. The shortest person in Phil's entire family (including his mom, aunts and grandma) is 6 feet. The average height is probably 6'4". I am the tallest girl in my family, yet when I am with Phil's family I feel like a midget. When Phil and I were first dating one of the first questions his grandma asked about me was my height. She didn't want any short genes creeping in. I'm so curious to see how tall Livi is going to be.

Also, yesterday I watched my friends 3 kids while she went to talk to her sons teacher. Livi and Lucy are only 2 weeks apart and Livi absolutely adores her. They were speaking their little language back and forth to each other and having a great time. Livi was constantly trying to kiss Lucy. She was so desperate for a kiss that while I was changing Lucy's diaper Livi leaned down and kissed her on the nose and left a nice ring of yogurt around her little nostrils. At one point Livi hopped in her doll stroller and Lucy would push her around. Every few seconds Lucy would stop and pat Livi on the back and say something to her in their native tongue. By the expression on Lucy's face in my mind I imagined she was asking, "Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything?" To which Livi would reply enthusiastically, "dadadadadada!"

Triathlon

I am so incredibly proud of Phil. He participated in his first triathlon on Saturday. We woke up at 4:30am on Saturday morning in order to make it down to the park by 6:00 for Phil to check in. He started out with a 750 meter swim in Clear Lake, then a 30K bike ride and finished off with a 5K run. Wow. That makes me tired just writing it down. He wasn't expecting to do very well, he hadn't trained at all, but he did such a great job. He took 11th out of his heat of 40. He came out of the water and I almost missed him because I wasn't expecting him for several more minutes. I had to run to get a picture of him. He was too fast! I couldn't believe how emotional I got over the whole thing. Whenever he finished a leg I had to fight back the tears, I was just so proud of him. When he crossed the finish line you never would have known he had just spent an hour and 39 minutes in sweltering heat performing crazy feats of strength. He looked fabulous. Afterwards there was a nice spread of food. What I found ironic was the 100's of boxes of pizza and piles of doughnuts for all of these super athletes who look like they haven't eaten a carb in years. But I sure enjoyed it.
Phil has even inspired me to participate in my own triathlon. I don't know when that will be, but I am definitely going to do one.

Out in the water waiting for the gun!
Still smiling.

Showing his enthusiasm

Finished!

She ate two slices of watermelon, seeds and all. Granted, much of it ended up on her shirt.

Opening the Door

This morning I asked Livi if she wanted to go outside and she got a huge grin on her face and ran to the door. I told her to get her shoes, so she ran over to them and pointed. After I had put them on she again ran to the door, this time trying to get out. Luckily it was locked. We didn't last very long in the out of doors though. It's still a little too hot to really enjoy it.

Recap

We are finally back in Houston after nearly 3 weeks in Utah. I had such a great time. That was one of the best times I have ever had with my family. We ate a lot, played a ton and laughed till it hurt. Michael looks so good and is the same hilarious, freakishly talented young man that he was before, only more sensitive and mature. He starts school tomorrow so he doesn't have much down time, but I'm excited for him and know he is going to go far. Since it would take forever to go through everything we did I will let the pictures do the talking.

Eating raspberries. They were a tad sour for her liking, but she still managed to eat enough to get them all over her face!

The first night I was there my step siblings came over to my Dads and we had a little picnic. Livi and her step cousin Ander. She is two months older than him.

My pink eye cleared up considerably so we made it to Seven Peaks. Sweet Livi, I think between the new schedule and the elevation she was zonkered.

Everyone trying to huddle under the umbrella towards the end of the day. There is only so much sun we can handle.

I would have to say my favorite part was floating down the lazy river with Livi.

Getting to know each other at Seven Peaks.

After Seven Peaks we went back to my Dads and barbecued hot dogs. Delish!

Her first time experiencing watermelon. She loved it. I'm not a huge fan of watermelon so she never had occasion to try it, but I may have to start buying it for her.

I could not tear her away from this slide in my Dad's backyard. I would help her climb up, then she would slide down...and we would repeat this over and over again.

Maddie and I took the chilluns for a walk while I was staying at Randi's.

I was able to see one of my old (favorite) companions from my mission. It's hard to believe how much has changed in the 4 years that we have been home.

Livi absolutely loved being outside. She figured out how to open doors while we were there and a few times I caught her just as she was attempting to escape.

A peaceful moment.

Their little tea party. They had a severe love-hate relationship. One minute they were hugging and kissing, then the next minute Livi was pulling Evie's hair or stealing her binki or bottle. By the time we left Evie was pretty terrified of Livi. Whenever Livi would start to walk over to her, Evie would cry, "no baby, go see mama!"

In an effort to get ready for Michael's homecoming, they were attempting to pick up all of the apples that had fallen off of the tree. Livi and Evie loved helping Maddie throw the apples in the wheel barrow.

Livi could not get enough of this little car. I'm not sure what she found so amusing right here. It may have been Evie chugging Mountain Dew in the background unbeknownst to all of us.

My mom dressing up in some of my grandma and great grandmas old apparel.

We went to the Aspen dinner and concert one of the first nights I was in Loa. Livi decided she didn't like it when I cut up her pork, she preferred to shove the whole thing in her mouth.

Livi waiting patiently for Michael at the airport.

The sisters. Nate just told us that he is getting married on October 9 so the next picture will have one more girl!

Mom and Don

With Dad and Kathleen and Grandma Hofer.

Michael and his brothers. When he got off the plane Roly was one of the first people he saw and he stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Holy cow! You're huge!" I wish I had caught it on video it was hilarious. It's hard to believe that when he left Roly was several feet shorter and had a lot higher voice.

Michael with his nieces. It's hard to believe he had never met Livi or Evie. They both adored him. He was so cute with them and instantly fell in love with them.

Michael is literally one of the most talented people I know. Anything he tries to do he does and he picks things up so quickly. He plays the piano and drums amazingly well (and any other instrument he picks up.) When Don and my mom first got married Don had an old trumpet. Michael literally picked it up and just started playing. He is an amazing artist and he is crazy athletic. He excels at everything he does. It's crazy. We like to call him Mr. Universe. This picture is of him doing an aerial off the tramp over me and touching my back. He just decided to give it a try.

For some reason every time Livi eats spaghetti it gets everywhere. As I was giving her a bath later that night I found a number of noodles stuck in her hair.l

Don took Phil for a four-wheeler ride up Thousand Lake Mountain to see some trees that are reportedly older than Moses. He came back covered in dirt, but he had a great time.

We had such a great time at the parade. I loaded up on so much candy. Afterwards I told Phil, "That's a parade."

Phil's brother Jason and his friend Des drove down for the weekend. We had a blast hanging out with them. They seemed to get a kick of out the small town life and festivities.

Demolition Derby. Was it just me or did this years' derby seem a little slow? It seemed like there was a whole lot of starting at the dirt watching the back hoes clear the tires. But it was still fun. Phil had never been to a derby before so it was worth it to see what a kick he got out of it.

Family picture. It's hard to believe we are missing 11 people! (including Nate, and step siblings)

After the farewell we went back to my moms and ate lunch. I love talking with my Grandpa. He is such a fascinating, hilarious person. I wish Livi could get to know him better.