June

Seeing as I've kind of been a slacker this month with keeping up with blog, I figured I would just take the June post from our adoption blog and put it on the family blog.  Enjoy and maybe I'll be better this month!

We have had a fun and busy June. Seeing as it's been HOT already this summer we've spent lots of time in the water. We've also gotten to spend some time with friends and family. So far our summer has been good with just one exception. Mia has started taking herself potty sometimes. While it's nice that she's becoming more independent, it can have disastrous results. At the beginning of the month Mia had taken herself to the bathroom and plugged the toilet. She has managed to do this a time or two but with a little plunging and sometimes a little wait we manged to clear the problem...Not this time. We still have no idea what she put down there but it took a massive plumbers snake (thank goodness the neighbor's dad is a plumber and let us borrow it), two people, and two passes to finally get the thing to clear. It was really GROSS!

Like I said it has been really hot so we have spent some time playing with the neighbors on their awesome slip and slide.

Mia would typically just run down it and manage to slip and fall but she didn't care

She was having a great time and it was a nice way to cool off.

Of course every water girl needs some water goggles. Hurray for the dollar store!

We also pulled our pool over so the kids has some other water options. This particular day we had 8 kids out playing in the water.

This month was our ward swim party at the Roy Aquatic Center. There is so much to do there and Mia had a blast playing in the water. She's doing pretty good this year and wants to swim "By self" most of the time. Thank goodness for her puddle jumper.

After about a dozen times of us taking her up to the slide on the kiddie structure Mia decided you could do it all by herself.

Monty tried out the speed slide.

Mia and I stuck to the slower slide. She kept begging to go down the "Humongous slide." It was really cute. Her little teeth would chatter as she waited in line but she didn't seem to care. It's really funny because now when we drive by the aquatic center she gets all excited and tells me over and over that she went down the humongous slide.

Trying to get Mia to look at the camera isn't so easy anymore...but hey we got pictures of Monty this month.

Mia also checked out the slide in the toddler area but she definitely preferred the bigger slides.

Mia has decided she really likes corn on the cob. It was really funny watching her eat it at Chili's one night.

Two days after the ward swim party we went up to Park City for a BBQ with Mia's birth mom's family. Of course that involved playing in the water some more.

Mia had lots of fun playing with everyone in the pool and it was great to see and spend time with Mia's birth mom and her family.

Brings new meaning to 4-eyes

The following weekend we went to the Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) BBQ. It was lot of fun to meet other families who have adopted and/or are in the adoption process and hear their stories. Mia's favorite part was the play ground. They had a bounce house again this year and she played in that for a little bit but seemed to prefer the play ground this year.

She was brave and tackled most of it all by herself.

Mia would live at the park if we let her.

This month was also the NICU (Newborn ICU...where I work) Summer Reunion. It's a chance to see the kiddo's who have graduated from the NICU and see how they've grown. Also, it is a whole event geared toward little kids...what could be better! Mia had lots of fun on the bounce house slide. She was a little nervous the first time but then decided it was a blast!

They had face painting. Mia held so still to get her face painted. The she wouldn't eat her mac and cheese at lunch because she was afraid she would her face dirty.

She waited so patiently in line to get her pink doggy balloon.

Then we ate lunch and watched the Little Feather Dancers

They were very talented and great lunch time entertainment.

The last dance was the inter-tribal circle dance and they invited everyone to join in. Monty took Mia to dance with them. She didn't quite get the concept but had fun dancing around.

After the NICU reunion it was off to a baby shower for Monty's brother's wife (who had her baby on the 4th of July). I don't have any pictures from the baby shower but it was fun to see friends and family and get to see all the fun stuff Megan got for baby Sophie.

I mention early that Mia likes to take herself to the bathroom and how I have learned that it's a bad idea. Well, apparently I hadn't quite learned my lesson after the toilet plugging incident. Part of it is if I go in to help her too soon she gets mad, won't go, and then ends up having an accident. Anyway, after she had been in the bathroom for a few minutes on her own I went to find her and this is what I found. She had climbed up on the counter and gotten nail polish off the back of the counter and somehow got it open and proceeded to paint her nails. She had one hand and one foot done. She's a quick little painter. Ironically her shirt says "Always an Angel." Anyone who knows Mia knows she's got a devil streak a mile long but I though it was extra ironic in this case.

Really she did surprising well for a 2 year old.

Luckily she only got a little on the counter and on the tile so it was easy to clean up. Shockingly she had none on her clothes. I count myself lucky there!

Towards the end of the month Monty's mom, sister, grandma, and grandma's sister came up and we all went to Antelope Island for a picnic. After our picnic we wandered around the old ranch. Mia showed Nana how to ring the dinner bell.

Mia had fun playing with the dishes in the old wagon.

Mia riding the barrel horse with Nana and Aunt Gina.

Although you were supposed to try and rope the calves, Mia thought it was more fun to sit on them.

Where the ranch hands went "nigh nigh."

Pumping water into the bucket was not an easy task but Mia tried her hardest.

We saw some real buffalo but didn't get any pictures of them so had to settle for the metal one.

A trip to Antelope Island wouldn't be complete without a picture with the antelope. Aunt Gina is much better at looking at the camera than Mia is. While we were there we also got a buffalo burger and all shared it just so we say we had it. It wasn't too bad. Mia was more interested in the fries that came with it though.

The last weekend in June was Heritage Days. We took Mia to her first parade. We found a nice spot in the shade and started our wait. Mia got restless and wanted to go back to her house.

Once the parade started and they were throwing candy Mia forgot all about going home. She had lots of fun waving at the people in the parade and picking up candy and Frisbees and all kinds of goodies.

She rapidly realized all the candy wouldn't fit in her little pocket.

It was a great first parade!