Last date night for a while

Last night Joe and I went on our last date night for a while. He leaves on Monday for 5 WEEKS to Alabama for Air Force Officers Training. Ryan and my mom were nice enough to babysit McKinley for the evening. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and finally went and saw Pirates 3. It was so fun to spend time together, just the two of us. I am going to miss him so much!

Ward Picnic

Family enjoying homemade ice cream

enticing McKinley to crawl- it still didn't work!

enjoying a bottle with Aunt Alysha

Brent sharing his KFC- McKinley loved the chicken!

My parents' ward had their annual ward picnic at the park by Timpanogos temple. We had KFC and the ward had a homemade ice cream contest. It was delicious and McKinley loved the vanilla!

We have a house in Las Vegas!

This weekend mom, Alysha, McKinley, Joe, and I drove down to Las Vegas to look for housing. We were a little nervous because everyone we contacted beforehand said we would have to pay for July's rent too if we wanted the house in August. Some helpful dental students helped us find two wards that have many dental students in them. One ward was in the north west part of Las Vegas on Durango and another ward in an area called Aliante. We looked for rental homes in both areas. The first house we looked at we found in Aliante on Rentclicks.com. The home was in a pretty nice gated community, was a new home, but the previous renters were disgusting. We walked in and it was filthily. The house was awesome but so dirty. The rental company had just received the house and hadn't been out to clean it yet. We really liked the house and talked to a wife of a DS2 (2nd year dental student) who lived up the street. They had about five dental students in their ward and we planned on renting that home. We were going to meet with the rental agency on Saturday and attend the ward on Sunday.

However, the bishop of the other ward had been emailing us and gave us the number to the executive secretary. I decided to call him and see if he knew of any rentals in his ward. He told me of some communities to look into. We decided to check out Centinneal Park and we loved it. The houses are really close together but most of them are. The best part is that there is a huge park in front but instead of grass it is all astroturf! Hilarious huh? They can't plant that much grass because of water restrictions. We thought it was so funny. Anyway, we found a few homes for rent and called them. We got a hold of one lady who told us to go look at the model of her home and then she could meet us on Sunday if we liked the layout. Well we loved it so we called her.

After looking at the model homes we drove down to the Las Vegas outlets. We spent a good six hours there shopping our little hearts out. McKinley, and Joe, were quite the troopers. After that we went down town and ate at Caesar's Palace New York Cheesecake Factory. It was delicious!! On Sunday we met Mary Turner at the home in Centennial Park to look at the house. We fell in love and it just felt right. Mary, the owner, is just adorable and wants long term renters. She loved us! She had four other people wanting the house but she said if we wanted it, it was ours! We are so excited that Joe can leave for Officers Training and know we already have a home. She didn't even make us pay for July's rent! It is so cute- 3 bedroom and a loft, over 1900 square feet, and only a year old! Hooray! If you want to see more of our home and the layout click here. (I can't get it to link directly to our home layout so if you care, click on Centenial Park and it is the Tahoe model. Just note instead of the fourth bedroom it is open, like a loft or family room.) We attened the Meadows 11th ward that we will be on Sunday and had a great time. The bishopric is awesome and there are currently 18 dental student families and some DS1 families may be moving in soon! Three minutes down the road is the Centinneal Hills commumunity center with a gym, and pools, and waterslides, hooray! We are so excited about our new home and I have been decorating in my head all day!

McKinley with no helmet!

Tropical Smoothie Cafe- a new favorite

hotel pool

McKinley loves swimming

Grandma and McKinley napping

McKinley and Dad at Chilies

We love Las Vegas Outlets!

girls shopping

Joe entering win $100,000 motorcycle

McKinley worn out from shopping

still sleeping

we could frequently visit the outlets

Dad and McKinley watching Caesar's palace show

in front of Caesar's Palace fish tank

eating at New York Cheesecake factory

in front of community

entrance to Centennial Park

in front of our house

our cute house

Teething is hard work

McKinley is getting teeth like crazy. She already has her two bottom teeth, her first top tooth came in on Wednesday, and her second one started coming in this weekend. She is pretty grumpy when teething so Tylenol has been our good friend. She loves chewing on things so apple slices are a new favorite. Teething is hard work!

Girl's Lunch

Thursday afternoon I went to lunch with my two friends Jonelle and Rachel and her baby Davis. Jonelle lives in California for the summer and Rachel lives in Nephi for the summer until they move to Ohio for dental school. Jonelle was visiting for the weekend so we all went to Cafe Rio in Lehi. It was great to spend time with them and Davis and McKinley had fun laughing at each other. Thanks for the fun lunch girls!

Grandmas are Magic

McKinley can't fall asleep anywhere but her bed. She never, ever falls asleep on your lap which makes anywhere other than her bed during nap time very, very difficult. About a month ago Joe's mom watched McKinley while we attended my cousin's wedding. She said McKinley just sat on her lap and then fell asleep. I couldn't believe it! She never does that. However, while at the Winwards this evening, McKinley was being fussy because she was tired. I already had her jammies on because she thew up on her clothes and then her onesie. I was helping clean up while Grandma was trying to keep her entertained. I gave her her binky and blanky and she cuddled with grandma. I was downstairs and asked Joe's little brother Nate how Grandma and McKinley were. He said, oh, they are taking a nap upstairs. It had only been like 10 minutes but sure enough, McKinley was dead asleep in Grandma's arms. Lucky! I told her later that we need her to come to church with us. Grandmas are magic! (Sorry the picture is kind of fuzzy, I didn't want to use the flash!)

Fathers Day!

Pops' new grill

Emma and Nate's fort with the grill boxes

McKinley threw up everywhere after playing too much on a full tummy

Singstar Pop- Joe and Steve

Singstar Pop- Pops and Sid

Singstar Pop- Karrissa and Steve

Singstar Pop- Steve and Emily

Our fathers day was very busy. First we went to my friend MJ's mission homecoming talk at 9:00 am. At 11:00 am Joe and I had to speak in sacrament in my parent's ward and at 12:15 pm had to teach my mom's Sunday school class. At 1:30 we left church a little early to go up to Winwards in Kaysville. At 4:00 we presented Pops with his Fathers Day present from the entire family- a new, awesome grill! At 5:00 we all sat down for a nice dinner. At 6:00 Pop gathered everyone around him to say how much he loves us and his testimony of families sealed in the temple. At 6:30 we played this awesome new playstation game- Singstar Pop. It is like Guitar Hero but you sing into mics. It really was so fun and so funny because you get points by hitting the right notes. At 9:00 we left Kaysville and drove to Orem.

It was such a busy, fun-filled day. We sure are blessed with such great fathers and grandfathers. And seriously, who is a cuter dad than Joe? We are grateful for our dads and everything they do for us! Thanks Dad and Pops, hope you had a wonderful Fathers Day!

Playing Tennis

Joe wants to have a family sport so bad! He always tried to get me to play tennis at Utah State. He would always play with friends but I usually ended up taking a book and reading while they played. I actually always wanted to play but I was too embarrassed. If you know me, you know I am not good at sports. However, a few weeks ago we went with my family to Northridge Park and played. I actually really liked playing and I wasn't horrible! So Saturday evening- after it cooled down a bit- Joe, McKinley and I walked down to the park for more tennis. McKinley did great for about 30-45 minutes playing with her toys on her blanket. It was so fun! We really had such a fun time and I actually think this may be a sport I can be semi good at. Tennis- maybe the future Winward family sport!

Typical Me

I have posted before about things I have spilt- namely, ketchup and maple flavoring. However, this time I spilt something that didn't just affect me and the floor. My mom and I signed up to cook a lasagna for girls camp. I cooked it for a few hours, took it out of the oven, and covered it. I put McKinley in the stroller, hot pads in the stroller basket, and ran back in to get the lasagna. I was going to just walk it over to the lady in my ward who was taking them up to girls camp tonight. I could feel the tinfoil container bending in the middle so I tried to set it on the counter to adjust the pot holders when it twisted and spilt everywhere!! I was so mad! Other people were counting on this lasagna for dinner! Luckily the lady said she had enough but I still felt horrible. I should not be made responsible for things like this, I will just spill them!

what the lasagna is suppose to look like

what my lasagna looked like after the spill

Want S'More Family Home Evening?

For FHE last night we had a lesson outside and roasted marshmallows for smores over the outside fire pit. It was such a nice night and so fun to spend time as a family outside. Smores were followed by soaking in the hot tub and jumping on the tramp.

Funny pictures with Uncle Brent

McKinley loves her uncles Ryan and Brent. These pictures are of Brent tickling McKinley and I thought her faces were funny! She really is laughing, even though it looks like she is crying!

Orem Summerfest

Yes, we braved the crowds and attended the Orem Summerfest parade. The first five minutes were fine because we had front row seats. However, as most parades go, the front row soon became the back row and children, and parents too, moved on up. The policeman in charge admitted to not being a 'real' cop yet and felt as if his job to enforce the parade crowd boundaries was not worth it. I don't blame him, it was out of control! Of course I had more fun watching the people around me and McKinley was happy playing with her buddy Luke and the toys we had on the blanket. However, I have to admit, I was pretty impressed by the parade this year- they had giant balloons. Now, I am not talking Macy's Day Parade balloons but for the Orem Summerfest, they were a impressive change from the usual city parade patrons. We also got to see Alysha cheering on the THS Cheer boat. After the parade we ate a delicious meal from Wingers, including Asphalt Pie, and watched the fireworks as we drove home. Hooray for the Orem Summerfest! (No, we did not make it over to the carnival! Carnivals scare me!)

{Luke and McKinley watching parade}

{Alysha cheering- Go THS!}

{McKinley and Dad watching parade}

{Mom and McKinley}

{Ryan and McKinley watching balloons}

{Grandpa giving McKinley a ride- this is my favorite face she makes!}