Witches' Night Out!

Saturday when all of our husbands went to the Priesthood Session of General Conference, Samantha, my mom, Hailey and Wendy (two of my sister-in-laws) and my niece Lilly took off for an outing to Gardner Village. In honor of the occasion we wore witchy hats and t-shirts. I couldn't find one small enough to fit Samantha so I ended up making one. As you can tell by the picture Samantha really loved hers:

I went for a modified witch hat this year. My old bedazzling witch had didn't seem to fit very well...maybe my head grew?!? Who knows...here is Samantha and I at one of the cute vignettes around the village.

Grandma Maloney holding a little pumpkin.

Aunty Hailey (aka Aunt Heehee) holding Lilly-bean.

Here are some of the yummy treats we split four ways at the bakery. The white frosting one was a pumpkin cookie....mmmm.....yummy!

Poor Samantha was not a very happy witch. She spent quite a bit of the night looking like this:

I had taken more pictures but they didn't turn out so well. More pictures from my mom's camera are coming soon!

Samantha's latest adventures...

September has been a very busy month for our family! On August 30th Samantha had her blessing. It was a great time to see family and to celebrate Samantha's arrival. Her uncle Andrew documented the event beautifully. Click here to see his blog post. Below are just a few pictures from some of the fun things we've done this month. Chris had a "stay-cation" this past week so we were able to squeeze in some extra fun before the snow flies. Enjoy!
Here is Samantha in the beautiful dress that Uncle Eric and Aunt Maria gave her. She loved putting her hands in the crochet holes!

This is Sam in her new baby saucer. She LOVES it. It helps her to get strong and keeps her from getting bored.
Here's Sam right after a bath. Bathtime is by far the best part of Samantha's day. She likes them morning and night and won't let you forget!
This month we've learned to hold a rattle all by ourselves! Sunday School is super fun now that Samantha rocks the house with her beats.
Here's Daddy and Sammy playing at the ward party.
Sam chillin' in her stroller at the Hogle Zoo!
Waiting for the Baby Elephant to wake up with Mom at the Hogle Zoo!
Pretending not to be tired so she can stay up and play with Daddy in his game room.
Waiting for the Draft Horse Pull at the Utah State Fair.
This is pretty dark but it was taken early in the morning after our first "camp-out" with Samantha in our back yard. It was basically a test run to see if we are ready to go camping for real. Samantha passed the test and slept like a log but Mommy woke up every 15 minutes to make sure that Sammy was okay. No camping trips for us for a while!



This is my first try at posting a video on my blog. It's not the best, since it is from my cell phone, but there is a pretty cute baby smile in the middle.

What a year!

My last post was over a year ago! Now that my sweet baby girl is here I thought I'd better bring the blog up to speed. Here's Samantha at one day old:



She's now 9 weeks old now and has become even more cute (if that's even possible!) These pictures were taken last night at bath time.



Here's Sam (and her Mom and Dad) a few weeks ago at her first baseball game:

Samantha LOVES having her diaper changed. Some of her happiest moments are on her changing table. Here's some of her smiley moments, post diaper:



I'd better post this before I get too distracted. Hopefully I won't wait another year to post again!

Being Lilly's Aunt Jenny....

Last October a little angel named Lilly came to the family! If anything can get me blogging again it is the cutest baby in the world. Below are some of my favorite pictures of "the bean."


This was our first time babysitting Lilly at our house. Back when rolling wasn't a problem!

Even this little Lilly already liked tummy tickles!

Why is Lilly cutest when she's angry?

Uncle Chris likes it when Lilly's pouty!

Yawning? Laughing? Crying? or just drooling? Who knows...it's sure cute though!




Lilly works the crowd at her first BBQ at Uncle Chris and Aunt Jenny's house. What a little hammie!

Spring flowers!

After a winter like this.....


We had a yard full of flowers like these:



Hooray for spring!

Summer Fun...

August has been an exciting month for Chris and me. With my brother Dave's marriage to the lovely Wendy, a change in our housing plans, several great hikes, and my (fantastic) birthday we have stayed pretty busy. Really there is just too much to list...so I won't! Instead check out my honey's blogs here and here.



The picture above is a shot of the delectable fruit pizza we enjoyed at my birthday party. It was divine and happily not too much of an indulgence! Thanks Mom, you really know how to work the fresh fruit!



In this picture Chris only looks like he's behind bars--he's actually checking out the stairs in what would become our new apartment. We've moved back to the Holladay area and it feels like we have come home. We love the location (great shopping) and having more square footage for less rent money hasn't really made us hate the place either! Yeah for new carpet and tiles!



I included this shot because I consider it one of my better pics of the month. Being married to a devoted blogger means that sometimes your digital work surfaces on the pages of your spouse's blogs! I don't mind--in fact I'm glad that Chris is a better blogger, it just means that he will sometimes steal my best shots for his blogs. This one I managed to keep to myself. I think that the path is very inviting. It causes me wonder what lies beyond the bend. I think that August for me, offered up a bend in the road of life. I am glad of it and excited to see what lies beyond on the path.

Lagoon Day II

As promised, here are some of the pictures from Tuesday's Lagoon day. Chris, Jeff, Jon and I had a great time. The day was fantastic! We arrived at the park shortly after noon and left at about 7:30 PM. The lines were short and the rides exciting. My favorite ride, the Rattlesnake Rapids, was so refreshing on the 94 degree day that we rode it twice (no lines!) The four of us spent the rest of the day feeling somewhat soggy but it was well worth it. Enjoy the pics!

Chris, Jonny and Jeff hold on tight while riding the Musik Express. Chris was so pleased that they happened to be playing a collection of his favorite summer tunes like "I Like Girls Who Wear Abercrombie and Fitch," and this summer's smash hit "You're Beautiful."

Jonny and Chris dare to risk their lives on "The Catapult."



An arial view of the entrance fountain--a popular "cool-off" zone.

The Colossus Fire Dragon--a Lagoon classic.

Jeff, still going strong after seven hours in the park!

Lagoon Day!

For my little brother Jeff's birthday Chris and I promised him a visit to a local funspot called Boondocks. As it is now the end of June and we still haven't paid up Chris and I decided to upgrade Jeff's gift to a visit to that place that has always held a special place in his heart: Lagoon. In just a few hours Jeff will enter his own personal nirvanna as he passes through the entrance of this famous Utah funpark. In preparation for the day he spent his time yesterday either planning his ride strategy, making a list of things to bring or analyzing the weather (there was a 20% chance of showers but overnight the reports have returned to partly cloudy with a high of 93 degrees.) Jeff rarely likes to talk on the phone but because of the this spectacular outing I was priviledged to receive three separate phone calls from him throughout the day. Each call included a strategy update, weather report and several acclamations of "this is going to be awesome!" I will be sure to post some fun pictures of our day, until then have a happy Tuesday!

Jonny's doom...or delight?

Jonny Maloney, my brother, recently purchased an extremely dangerous death machine. Against the wishes and advice of just about every woman in his life (and some of the men), Jonny bought his personal version of doom at the end of May. Also known as a motorcycle, this perilous contraption actually gets great gas mileage! This is one of the many reasons that Jon has taken the plunge and entered into the realm of bikerdom.

His new baby, the Virago, is not an extremely powerful bike but it has already provided hours of enjoyment for the whole family! Her sleek, amazonian, black body and sparkling chrome seem to be winning over everyone. Just look how happy I am in the picture to the left!

I took my first ride on the Virago (or any motorcycle for that matter, last week. I both loved and hated the ride. I liked feeling the wind in my hair and the raw power of the machine smoothly rolling over the pavement, but the lack of barrier between me and the ground was a little disconcerting. I don't think that I will be repeating my experience for a while but I feel as though I have caught a glimmer of understanding the "why" behind a bike versus a car.

There is something innately sexy about motorcycles. Even fat, old men can have a kind of allure atop a powerful hog. I am still against the beefheaded nerds that ride around neighborhoods on noisy bullet bikes, talking about how much Star Wars sucks, what weirdos! Anyway I am happy for Jon and I hope that he has many many safe and happy rides with his new love. Here's to the open road! xoxo

Our trip to Kolob Canyon...

Kolob Canyon was the place to be over the weekend. In search of that renewal that only leaving town (and visiting nature) can give, Chris and I skipped down to southern Utah this weekend to experience one of the many beautiful hiking trails that Zion's National Park has to offer. We left work early on Friday and made it to Cedar City before dinnertime. (We probably would have gotten there even sooner if a pesky State Trooper had left us alone. Let's just say that my leadfoot got us into a wee bit of trouble!) In Cedar City we stayed at the charming Bed and Breakfast called the Anniversary House. We picked it because it seemed like one of the less, as Chris says "frilly" of the B&B's in town. I really loved it. The decor was tastefully done, the owners friendly, and the food delicious. With a great little restaurant within walking distance for our dinner Friday night I felt like we got a great deal. The thing that I we both liked were the free beverages chilling in the fridge and the Oreo cream cake waiting for us before we went to bed in our gigantic King sized bed! Oh the decadence of it all!



Saturday morning dawned crisp and clear and after a yummy breakfast we made our way to the Kolob canyon area of Zion's National Park. Kolob is located in the northern area of the park and you can only access it from one spot. That means that all of the campers and tourists who are coming to see Zion's usually do not make it up as far as Kolob. Because it is about an hour north of St. George the temperature stays a little cooler as well. When we took our trip to Bryce Canyon and Zion's in February we only had time to stop in Kolob--not really to explore. We promised ourselves that we had to come back and give the canyon time to sink in. This weekend was the perfect time to go! Chris and I both got a little bit of sun--but the temperature stayed below 75 and the scenery was just gorgeous. Spring in the desert is a wonderful thing to experience! As you can see from my pictures the day was just right.