Week Two (finally the update)

Last week we took a trip to El Paso to enjoy some time with family. Here are some highlights:

*Stone ate popsicles & played with cousins (Danny, Sebastian, & Luke)
*Hung out with our parents (both sides of the family!)
*Shopped at the outlet mall and watched Stone play in the “random interactive fountain”
*Swam with my dad and Lisa. Stone jumped off the diving board.
*Stone played with the Jessup’s dogs
*Played at the park with Marcy (Cliff’s mom), Sebastian, and Luke
*Cliff and I spoke at the University ward for our church (the congregation that the college kids attend)
*Took a Sunday nap with my mom and grandma on the same bed. So what if it’s a little Willy Wonka.
*Ate LOTS of Mexican food
*Hung out at the Brackens (my cousins)

*Went on a walk along the Rio Grande
*Bennett hung out with Stone and Stone had a blast with him
*Went on a desert run with my Dad. I am an avid runner, and this was HARD, but I loved every second of it. Something about running in the desert after a night of rain. Just fabulous.
*Cliff hung out with his dad at their family ranch and shot an AK-47.

*While at the ranch, Cliff and his dad found hundreds of petroglyphs
*Saw my Grandma, whom we decided to start referring to as Grandma Dotty for Stone (her name is Dorothy)
*Saw Cliff’s grandpa, whom we refer to as Abuelito for Stone.

Altogether, we had LOADS of fun. AND, despite all the Mexican food we indulged in, I didn’t gain as much weight as I anticipated (and always plan on when we go home).

Sheldon (Cliff's brother) and Sebastain (below):

My cousin, Bennett with Stone (below):
Marcy and Luke (below):


Grandpa Jessup put the sprinkler on outside, and Stone just HAD to run through it:

And so we stripped him down:Stone and Danny (below):
They had a blast w/Marcy's luggage. So long!
My cute grandma (below)

When you tell Danny to smile, this is what you get:
Ding Bumps with Grandpa Jessup & Danny (below):
And now it's Stone's turn: And then "Papa Dan" (my dad) throws him (below):
In case you can't tell, Stone is a FISH. He looooves the water. Here he is at the random fountain at the mall:
And so we bought him some dry clothes while there. Maybe a little big. (I stole this from you, Deborah).

Too cool for school... 4 generations (below):
A walk along the Rio Grande:
What a beautiful place I'm from!
Umm, yes. That is my dad dipping Stone in the Rio.



We indulge in Mexican food every single trip. If you notice below, we have to pull EVERYTHING away from Stone. Look at his empty placemat.
Cousins on Clay's truck (Cliff's brother who is currently serving a mission for our church)Sebastian, Luke, Danny, Stone (below):


And now, in Cliff's famous truck (below).
Cliff took a trip with his dad to their ranch and took some time to study the petroglyphs that are on their site:

Flashback Friday: My Self Portrait

You must read before you glance down.

DON'T PEAK YET!!

So I have NEVER been a good artist when it comes to drawing.

I took art my senior year in high school, and I had a love-hate relationship with my art teacher. Looking back, I really did like her, but we'd often make jabs at each other. She'd make fun of me for being a cheerleader, and I'd be as sarcastic as possible with out getting ISS. All fun, of course. She even wrote me a note that she'd miss the banter.

Well, one day, I was walking to class with a few of my friends. We passed my art class, and all along the wall outside the classroom (up above the lockers) were self portraits students had drawn (a mandatory assignment), and MINE was one of them. I was MORTIFIED. My teacher KNEW I struggled and hated my self portrait. I wanted to throw it away, but instead, MY portait hung high. My friends started laughing, and I ran in begging the teacher to remove it. She didn't.

I had no idea my mom had hung onto it until just before I got married and she pulled it out to show Cliff. I thought it successfully made its way to the dumpster.

Welllll..... I've been storing a bunch of my mom's things, and we met up in El Paso this weekend. I'm passing her things off, and Cliff and I were going through it all last weekend, and this is what we came across (my mom refuses to throw it away, and Cliff STILL gets a KICK out of it).

Really? I mean, really?! Must we hold onto this? I won't tell you the awful things that have been said about this masterpiece. But really? I could have thrown it away, but I guess we have to keep the bad projects along with the good. NOW you can laugh, because honestly, I can't stop laughing when I look at it.

Finally, some vindication.

Usually people say Stone looks like my brother, Tanner (when he was a baby). Lately, I hear more of Cliff, but as for looking like me....I don't usually get it.

HOWEVER, Cliff's facial recognition software on his computer regularly confuses me and Stone. And it's a pretty precise program. The program is actually quite incredible, but for some reason, it always confuses Stone for me. Finally, some vindication. Stone looks like me. See the confusion for yourself (screen shot from Cliff's computer):

The top three are "Kendal". The bottom pictures "may be pictures of Kendal."

Week 1 of Daddy's 2 Week Summer Vacation

It's been too much fun having Cliff home for his two week summer vacation before he begins his summer job and then his third (FINAL!) year of law school. This is what we've been up to this week....

Went to the Drive-In TWICE (double feature each time). Stone enjoys this car in the concession stand (he's crazy for cars):

We've been swimming just about every day (below is his Super Man suit which he has worn for THREE summers now! Jordan and Rachel gave this to him as a new born. If you know Cliff, you can appreciate it).

Jordan and Rachel with their gift....Stone's first swim (summer 1)....Stone's trip to to beach (summer 2).





Doesn't this pool look fun?! There's a kiddy section (shown above) and the big pool.

Can you tell swimming wore this boy out? Stone in his swimming diaper (not speedo):

We played outside with sidewalk chalk just about every day:We went to the Science Spectrum (T-Rex wasn't as scary this time):



Went shopping and had corn dogs at the mall (Stone ate that WHOLE thing. Look at that stick. I thought I'd get a few bites).

Got a hair cut from Daddy:

Followed by getting in Mommy's stickers:

And wrapped up the week with none other than a trip to Rosa's:

If you couldn't tell, we're having a blast.