Catch up

So a lot has happened since my last post- sorry about that. We had a major ice storm, we've moved, and I have spent a few weeks in Utah (where I am writing this post).

Mackay is getting cuter every day. It is so fun to see how the wheels in her head have begun to turn in interesting and mischievous ways. This day, for example, she was eating crackers, and thought they looked like something she could place on her eyes. While I was taking a series of pictures of this, she got off the couch and was walking towards me. I kept snapping shots until she was just out of focus. As soon as I took the camera away from my eye, not realizing just how close Mackay really was, I got clobbered in the face with a cracker.

Our ice storm was interesting. It is nothing like snow. You can't say, "I'm experienced in driving on ice" because you can't drive on ice--it is impossible. Luckily, (or unfortunately), Nate lived 0.1 mile from work, so he had no excuse to take a day off to play with his family. All the schools had the day off, and I watched out the window as kids were treating the road as an ice rink, sliding all over the place in their shoes.



Later that day it warmed up, though, and Mackay and I decided to go out for a walk. I bundled Mackay up tightly and we walked up and down the street (the only street that I feel comfortable walking on by myself). This is also the last picture of this stroller because I accidentally left it on the front porch and it was gone in the morning, along with a camping chair. Fortunately, I hated the camping chair, so thank you for taking that. And luckily I was cheap and found a jogging stroller on Craig's list for $40, instead of paying the $160 at the store. And the tires were flat.

Some of the ice in the garden looked a little like snow, so Mackay played in the "snow" for a while. I should of got a picture panned out more because what you see is all the "snow" that there was.
Moving is always an awful experience. Interesting though, is how every time we move, I make this resolve of getting so organized and packing so well that it is a joy when we move and have to unpack. But, it always ends with throwing whatever you can find into a random box or garbage bag because you are out of boxes. I hate moving. It's worse with a child because you get things out that she never gets to play with, but you are so busy that you just stop caring. One year in Vail with Nate's sisters we made a kit of props that you can use to sing primary songs. It is really fun when it is well controlled--a mess when it isn't. Well, when we were moving it wasn't controlled, but Mackay had a ball. Here she is sporting her "bling".

I made Mackay's shirt immodest so that I could suction little ducks on her belly. I told her to go stand by the couch so I could take her picture, and this is the pose she struck. Oh, and the reason why she is wearing those little bloomers over her diaper is because when she takes her naps, the heat blows right on her and she gets sweaty, so I take off her pants, but she knows how to take off her own diaper. So this was my ingenious solution.

Mackay taking my picture with her play camera.

Cute little feet with legs crossed.

Grandma Barker came to visit a couple of weeks ago (heaven sent!), and they were playing with a sticker book. Mackay put two and two together that she was putting eyes, a nose, and a mouth on the book, and she has eyes, a nose, and a mouth. This was all her idea.

She did Grandma's "makeup" too.

Now on to Utah. Mackay loves her uncles. Especially when they leave her unattended with markers. She also loves chapstick. This is what happened with such a dangerous equation.

Notice the colorful teeth.

Mackay especially loves Chad. She says his name backwards, "Tach." When he comes home from school she instantly becomes hyper and runs to greet him, and then never leaves his side until bedtime.

This is the first time Mackay has really seen and played in snow. She loves it, and is always wanting someone to take her outside to walk in the fresh powder. I love Utah!

St. Louis

We went to St. Louis on New Year's Eve for Nate's brother, Matt's wedding. We got to the hotel at about 11:45 pm, just in time to welcome in the new year. We had a blast spending time with family, though! During a little bit of free time we went to the Arch in St. Louis. It was freezing cold, definitely different than the 80 degrees that it was here in Texas yesterday.


Nate was trying to teach Mackay how to roll down the hill, but she just didn't seem to want to lay on her face in the cold grass.
Mackay did learn how to put her hands in her pockets to keep her hands warm, which she loved to do and looked very cute doing it!
Matt and Rebecca got married at the St. Louis temple. Nate forgot his temple recommend, but all turned out okay. Mackay had a great time playing with grandma through the glass door while we waited for Matt and Rebecca to come out after they got sealed.
There's the happy couple!
Congrats, Matt & Rebecca--thanks for letting me get some pictures!

New Year!

We had such a great time this Christmas at Jenn and Chad's house this year! On Christmas Eve, Nate wanted Mackay to open a present so that she would know what to do the next day and be really excited. We let her open some bath crayons, and she loved them! She insisted on a bath that night (she HATES baths normally). She had a lot of fun drawing all over the bathtub...
...and putting on lip stick...
...and putting makeup on Daddy. Nate also enjoyed drawing Indian warpaint all over Mackay.
On Christmas morning Mackay first saw the table and chairs she got, as well as the candy. This is her saying, "Cheese!" with chocolate all over her teeth.

The day after Christmas we went to downtown San Antonio's Mexican market. It was so beautiful! But it was a really hot day!! We found some cool walls to get Mackay's picture by.

We also made some time to see some friends that we met in Rexburg that are living in San Antonio. This is Mackay with their little girl, Natalie. They had fun playing together, and the grown-ups had fun playing the Bean game like old times.

An update on life

This is quite possibly the last post of the year! I, of course, will center it mostly around Mackay. What a cutie and joy she has been in our life this year. Each day is usually exhausting with her, but it always includes at least a few laughs.

On this particular day, I was in my room getting ready, and Mackay was going through a hamper full of clothes I needed to fold still. She is always trying to dress herself, but ends up crying from frustration. This day she put one of my undershirts around her neck, and got her own shirt on top of her head. She was so proud of herself!
Nate loves Oreos. We have an unspoken code that if they reach $2.50, I am to pounce and buy them no matter what. Nate usually rations them throughout the week, but this time I wanted some, too. I got Mackay her own cup full of milk, and taught her the art of dipping an Oreo. She loved them, and they only lasted halfway through the week, to Nate's dismay. Nate thinks of himself as pretty brilliant for coming up with this new game to play with Mackay. When Nate gets home from work he is usually pretty tired and just wants to relax. Mackay, on the other hand, is ready to play! The game: Nate lays down and starts to cry. Mackay, playing the "mom", will run and get a binkie to put in his mouth. Nate then gets to close his eyes and pretend to be sleeping (that's where the brilliancy comes in). Mackay also brings him a stuffed animal and a blanket, too--since that is what you need when you take a nap. Mackay will then say "shhh", and walk quietly out of the room, closing the door behind her. What a good mom! Nate will intermitently start crying because he has lost his binkie, and Mackay will hurry back to help out her baby. It is so cute seeing Mackay try to calm him with her "shh"-ing. If Nate doesn't stop crying, Mackay will then stand up straight, point a finger at him and yell, "No! Don't!" (I swear we don't do that to her when she is crying.) But it is cute to see her get fed up with the noise.

It's official. We had to get our registration renewed, and we officially have Texas license plates. We delayed the outrageous fees as long as we could, and it was a perk having out of state plates to get a little leniency when trying to navigate the city. But all is still well.

Florida Keys

Nate had 8 days of vacation time to use by the end of the year (it is now mid-December). So, a few of those days we took advantage of free flights and decided to go to the Florida Keys. We also took advantage of Nate's sister living a 39 minute flight from Dallas to watch Mackay--thanks Jenn!

The trip turned out to be less than ideal, but it was still fun to get away. When we got there we were in the middle of a huge storm. So all we could do was stay inside because it was too windy and rainy to do much else. Luckily we got to watch our Thursday shows still--Survivor and The Office! When the rain calmed down we went outside quickly to see our "beach side resort". It was a small man-made beach, since there really are no beaches in Key Largo. The trees are so incredibly thick that they go right up to the ocean. Oh. We managed to get some quick pictures while the sun was going down. These pictures below aren't too great because of how long I had to keep my shutter open.





I couldn't believe in the middle of December how brilliant the flowers would look. This picture doesn't do justice how bright they were. They honestly looked over-the-top photoshopped.
Here is a picture from our balcony of just how dense the trees were. I was definitely not going to go exploring in there. This is what the side of the road looked like, too. Driving down the main street all you saw was this; and every once in a while there would be an opening of a driveway or a store.
We scheduled to go snorkeling the morning we had to leave, but on our way down, we got a call that it was cancelled. We called around and found another place to go, but since it was so rainy the day before we weren't sure if it would be the right weather to go. It ended up not working out, and we were totally bummed. Eating breakfast at an IHOP, we looked through a coupon book to find something else to do. We found a kayaking place, and decided to do that instead. It turned out to be a lot of fun.
It was so fun to be kayaking in the Gulf of Mexico. We kept our eyes out for crocodiles, manatees, sharks, jelly fish, and bald eagles. All we saw was a crocodile but it was totally worth it! I picked it out since Nate was doing all the rowing, and immediately Nate insisted that we had to get closer to it to get a better picture. We got a picture, but our kayak kept creeping closer. I started freaking out (even though he was just a baby--about 3 feet long). Trying to push the kayak away I hit his tail, which stressed me out even more. Luckily he didn't turn and attack. This was not good enough for Nate, and he wanted to touch it with his paddle, too. So he backed in since I was not going to get any closer. He not only touched it with his paddle, but continued poking until he got annoyed enough to get off his log. I was pretty stressed out, but Nate stayed up at night thinking of how he should have picked it up to get a better picture. Boys.
After this point, it was really time to get back so that we could get to the airport in time, but Nate really wanted to go see an uninhabited island off in the distance. (Tiny spot pictured below.) So we booked it over there.
We were instructed to pull the boat up on the sand that was not a white sand, but quite dark. We saw exactly what the man was talking about. Nate got out and this is what he stepped into. This was hardly a nice beach at all. There were steps that I took that I could not get my foot out, so we had to take off our shoes and walk through the muck--who knew what was lurking in that mud! Nate started walking around the island without shoes on, but I would have none of that. He took our shoes to another part of the beach to wash them off. While I was standing by myself, I saw plenty of hermit crabs walking around, reminding me to just stay put until I could wear shoes.
After booking it to the island, we stayed there a couple of minutes and then booked it back--rowing into the wind. It was really time to go, but we went back to the hotel to wash off the salt water before we had to sit in an airport feeling all gross and smelly. We made it to the airport, rushed to the gate, saw our plane still there, but needed 5 minutes before the scheduled departure to get on the plane--we were 4 minutes late. Unfortunately, that was our last plane out. So, we arranged to go from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa Bay. From there we were going to go to Houston, but our flight was delayed and we missed that flight by about 15 minutes. So from there we went to New Orleans, and were stuck there for the night. Forced to spend extra money on a hotel, we were not happy. Nate called his parents for hotel rates, and we found a La Quinta shuttle so we didn't have to take a taxi. It was going to be $99 and we were frustrated. When we got off the hotel shuttle, we noticed next door there was another hotel that didn't look as nice--maybe it would be cheaper. We found out it was going to be $40 cheaper, which justified our ghetto ways. We walked by the free hotel shuttle that took us to one hotel, and through a parking lot to a cheaper place. The walk was shameful, but my philosophy is that you are not forced to pay anything, so don't let people think that you are.

The new hotel was funny. You walked in to a very nicely decorated lobby. Leather couches, flat screen plasma tvs, granite counter tops, etc, etc. We got our room number, and walked through the back double doors to...
...this. Sea green on forest green. Are you kidding me? Super ugly. But hey, it was cheaper. We got a cab in the morning and made it back to the airport with time to spare. We barely made it on that flight that took us to Dallas. But Mackay was in San Antonio. So after a short layover we were back on a plane to San Antonio where Jenn and Chad dropped Mackay off. The flight we wanted to get on to get back to Dallas was full...so was the next one...four hours later, we were on our way home.
One highlight to our airport vacation was this: We were sitting in a boarding area that was going to Las Vegas. In walked this couple. Nate inconspicuously took this picture, as was everyone else with their camera phones. This guy was dressed completely in red silk. Red top hat, red-rimmed glasses, red shirt, red pants, red socks and red shoes. He had six very gaudy rings on his fingers, and a huge diamond cross around his neck. His "wife" was wearing a fur coat (the one blocking your view), with a matching fur purse--even the straps of the purse were fur. "Wow, they must be rich" you may be tempted to think. But then you realize that they are flying economy Southwest. Right. I like to think that they had an elaborate scheme to cheat the Casinos out of millions. Good luck in Vegas!
After everything was said and done, we did have a great time. But we will not be flying on a plane any time soon--we are so sick of airports. We will be driving to San Antonio for Christmas to see Jenn and Chad. Mackay had a great time with her aunt and uncle. When we took her out of the car, she wanted us all to get back in, to go back with Jenn and Chad. The next morning I poured Mackay her usual cereal--honey nut cheerios. I put it in front of her and she refused to eat. She wanted what Jenn served her for breakfast. So she is excited to go back, which we will be doing in a couple of days for Christmas. Thanks again, Jenn & Chad!

911--again

I don't have any other children yet, but I think Mackay is going to give me more gray hairs than the rest. I hope I have a boy next. This is why:

Yesterday was a busy day for me. Cleaning the house, laundry, paying bills, and running other errands. Mackay had been so good through it all that I thought she deserved to go to the park. I had to go to the bathroom though, and didn't want to go at the park, so we drove home really quickly, not even taking off our jackets. I was trying to hurry us back out the door when I walked out first to hold the screen door open for Mackay to walk out. Instead, she slammed the door in my face. I opened the door back up and saw her proud little face right before she slammed the door again. This process continued a couple more times. I was starting to get impatient, just wanting to get to the park (everything takes so much longer with a child). On the last door slam, I took a couple of breaths, waited for a few seconds, and then went to open the door and just grab Mackay out-=-except the door would no longer open. Mackay had put up a chain that goes from the wall to around the doorknob. i could open the door a few inches, but nothing more than that. Mackay had recently learned that she is tall enough to reach the chain and doorknob--I didn't think much of it until now. I tried to reach my hand in to get the chain off, but it was not working. Starting to stress, thinking how all the other doors are reinforced and there was no way i could get in, I called Nate--who wasn't answering is phone. Not because he didn't hear it, but because he was in a meeting. he eventually turned his phone off. I called my mom; she didn't answer either. I called my dad and he answered. He gave me the idea of getting a stick. It didn't work. Eventually he said I was going to have to call 911. I started to panic, which made Mackay start to get worried--which made me start to panic more. I hurried and gave my phone to Makcay so that my dad could talk to her and calm her down. It worked. I then learned that I would have to be happy and cheerful of the whole situation. while the firemen were on their way, Mackay and I made funny paces to each other in the window, and when the mail man came, we passed letters back and forth through the slot in the door. That's when I heard the sirens (did they need sirens?). 5-7 men got out and immediately started to try to get the chain off with a pen. I felt a little personally offended, but watched from the window with a smug face at his totally vain attempts. Eventually one of the men found a window that was unlocked, but sealed shut from an awful paint job. he got a razor and chipped away the pain. he got in and carried Mackay out. She had no idea of what happened, and was just looking at everyone with a confused, blank stare. So, about an hour later, I was allowed back inside with my daughter, and we did not go to the park because I was too tired.

Nate called after we got back into the house. he apologized for not answering his phone, and we have a new policy of two calls in a row meaning "emergency".

When Nate got home he had Mackay and I lock him out to see if he could get it open without calling 911. He tried to get Mackay to go get a char for her to stand on so she could reach . She actually got the chair, but didn't understand the rest. I was glad about that, just as i was with the firemen not being able to get in with the pen. I did what I had to do.

Happy Birthday, Chad!

It is very well known that Chad is a magnet for Mackay. Whenever he is around, you can bet Mackay is with him. This is probably because somehow Chad knows exactly what Mackay wants, and he has the patience and love to do it for her. Whether it is pushing her around on a bike, getting her something to eat, racing her around the house, or making Sarah come or leave, Chad's always there. Mackay got to talk to Chad yesterday on the phone to wish him a happy birthday, and when she heard his voice her eyes got really big and a huge smile crossed her face.

Happy Birthday and we love you, Chad!