hazel pic dump.

since i've been a crappy documenter lately, i felt the need to post about our recent adventures, and also use the opportunity as an effective pic dump. because i really only have pictures of hazel in my phone. so.

a couple weeks ago we went down to st.george with my mom's family. they have a pool and a park with a great splash pad, and we mostly stayed around there the entire time. i'm still trying to figure out why we went all the way down to st.george to do stuff that we could have easily done up here, but it was an epic cousin sleepover. 

since then we have frequented the neighborhood pool. hazel is loving eating raspberries and currents out of my parents' garden.

on monday my dad and two sisters went on pioneer trek. so my mom, hazel, my brothers and i drove up to island park for a few days. there was the usual fun- boating, atving, yellowstone, board games, and hanging out with the brunts. i'm glad we finally made it up there for a few days. and that my mom could come, so i didn't have to do the drive all by myself. 

1. ponytail hazel

2. sleepy hazel

3. naughty hazel

4. hungry hazel

5. REALLY hungry hazel

6. floating hazel

timpanogos cave.

monday was my parent's anniversary. and instead of going on a mediterranean cruise like most couples that have been married for 25 years, they dragged us all with them to hike up to timpanogos cave. and believe me, we weren't complaining. hazel rode in the carrier on papa's back:

she was a complete gem on the hike up and down, but a total pill in the cave. we couldn't take the carrier with us, and she was tired, and hungry, and her normal stubborn-self. my sister has a few hazel furious in the cave pictures on her phone, but i was too busy being mortified to take any. this girl, she challenges me daily! i love her so.

the inside of the cave was amazing. john and i saw a similar cave in china but it didn't nearly have the diversity of formations that this one did. i only wish i had taken my "real" camera so i could have captured decent cave photos!

an island park 4th + unexpected boo boos

the fourth started off like any other. john flew in thursday night and we left right from the airport to go to idaho. i even had an alberto's breakfast burrito in the car waiting for him, because that's the nice kind of wife that i am. 

we played lots of games, and john wake-surfed while hazel and i watched from inside grandpa's boat. 

we went to the sand-dunes, (the boys) put on an amazing aerial fireworks show, and ate truly homemade ice cream.

hazel's cousin lily put a million band bracelets on her cute little arms:

randi took family pictures for everyone, and we went to the rodeo. it was all so much fun!

and then, somehow, as i was trying to prevent hazel from falling off a picnic bench simultaneously with other tasks, she fell the opposite way of me, and i couldn't catch her in time. she fell, and started crying and acting like her arm hurt. i was (still am) riddled with guilt. usually when she's hurt, she rallies very quickly. but this time, she didn't. and as we drove home our plans went from putting her to bed to taking her to the ER in rexburg, the closest one to where we were. 

i'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that they didn't find a break in her arm, and we went to idaho falls to sleep, feeling lame and very, very tired as we all went to bed at 2 a.m.  

the next day, i could tell hazel's arm was still hurting her, but she was still playing so I thought the doctor must have been correct when he said, "she's probably just a really tired baby that bruised her elbow." but by sunday evening, when hazel started crying and grabbing her wrist, i could clearly discern where she was hurt, and that this was no bruised elbow. we made a makeshift splint out of a popsicle stick and a ripped-up dish rag, and headed straight to instacare. 

she indeed had a buckle fracture in her left radius and ulna, and the doctor we saw was so kind and much better than that idiot in the ER. hazel is so much happier with her splint on, and we've been dosing her with tylenol and ibuprophen the last few days, although she hasn't acted like she's needed it. that splint will stay on except for during baths and the occasional pool time for at least 2-3 weeks, and i can't tell you my dismay at having a hurt child, especially when it feels like my fault. but, i am relieved that the break was discovered, and that she is now back to her happy self.  truly, she is on the mend.

we made it!

after about ten stressful hours in the dallas airport, complete with many tears and toddler tantrums and wiped noses and a ridiculous amount of money later... 

we made it to utah! happy to be back with family. they are glad to see hazel - and have even witnessed a costco tantrum - lucky them! 

we have gone on lots of walks and have gone swimming every day. 

she is definitely john's daughter:

and this is hazel in the airport play area:

and we've been enjoying the big backyard:

life lately!

well, the past couple of weeks have been filled with lots of socializing and exploring(as per usual in a new city). we went to the nasher sculpture museum and watched an outdoor movie with the hursts and the maloufs, had friends over for dinner, fed the missionaries, went to the summer block party in downtown dallas, ate fake cafe rio with the rabes and the hursts, and went to the dallas temple for my first time. i was surprised at how small the endowment room in the temple was, but it is so great to feel the same spirit and love from Heavenly Father in that temple, as i did so many times in the provo temple back home.

we also did quite a bit of swimming over the past two weeks, and i have a picture to prove it: