Home criteria

Brian and I have different priorities when it comes to our home search.

I want a kitchen I love, new durable carpet, no cat/dog residue, proximity to school and running trails, double master bath sinks, dark newer appliances, functional laundry room with mud room off garage, stairs that are easy to block off from baby, easy yard maintenance...
and Brian wants....
a zip line.

Silly Lily

It's fun living with this cute little niece of mine! She is exactly a year older than the twins, and 18 mo younger than Brianna.
It works out well for playmates, most of the time :)
Lily ADORES the baby. She's totally fascinated with her. Especially when I'm nursing the baby- she always wants to get close and ask what I'm doing and how the baby gets milk that way.
Lily is kindof used to running the show here as the only child, but she seems to be adjusting to the long-term visitors really well!

Free haircuts!

Who needs to hire movers...

This manly stud, with the assistance of his wife only on a few items, just emptied out our entire uhaul! 
4 hours.

Baby on back

Playroom

First on the agenda....

COSTCO!

Spent $327 just on food - a new record.
So nice to have our fridge and cupboard well stocked in our little apartment.
And nice to know, whenever we run out, there's a big house full of food just a few stairs away :)

50,000 Silver Dollars rest stop

I can't even remember if this was in MT or ID.

I was so totally exhausted and the kids were stir crazy and the baby wanted me and I wanted to be DONE and my phone didn't work and I was sick of travel snacks and Brian was an hour ahead of me and I looked like I had been thru a tornado...

So the obvious solution was to pull over at the gift shop of a cheesy casino and try on the tourist hats.

Charity's first bottle

After 5 hours of pulling over every 30 minutes to sooth a sad baby, I got desperate. We stopped and bought a manual pump and I expressed (yes, while driving), then gave the bottle to Brianna to try and make Charity happy. It worked...kindof. Brianna said Charity just sorta chewed on it. Which made a little milk come out.
A familiar taste from a foreign object...whaaa?! Poor confused baby.
But that bought us some time so we could stop less frequently.
$20 well spent.
We won't be making this a regular thing though. I've learned that unnecessary pumping doesn't equal more convenience for me - it creates more problems than it solves.

Sugar trip

When we made our 5th stop in the journey at Lima, MT, I found Bennett happily licking his bouquet of lollipops.
Ugh.

When we get to our new home, we are all going on a detox. 
There has been a mass sugar consumption lately with Grandparent visits, Easter, friend's treats, and me not caring because I'm so focused on moving.
Time to put on the brakes and get back to satisfying sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) with FRUIT!

High class accommodations

Motel 6 in IF.
Not Brian's first choice (he's a Hampton/Marriott/Hilton guy), but I won out on this one.
I prefer to not waste money on fancier complimentary toiletries and greasy  continental breakfasts.
 Though I do have fond memories of running the halls of Embassy Suites as a kid.... 
Well, we slept well enough and are back on the road!

I love to see the [idaho falls] temple

Dinner picnic

Brianna's Buddies

They're dressed up as "Frozen" characters, they said.

Brianna has some great gal-pals here in Bountiful. As do I.
This is the hardest part about moving - leaving these wonderful people we've come to love.
I'm not too worried about myself - I can keep in touch with amigos pretty easily. Thank you FB and blogs.
But for Brianna... I just hope and pray she'll make excellent new friends in her new school/ward/neighborhood. Friends have SUCH a HUGE influence on children.

"Choose your friends carefully. It is they who will lead you in one direction or the other. Everybody wants friends. Everybody needs friends. No one wishes to be without them. But never lose sight of the fact that it is your friends who will lead you along the paths that you will follow. While you should be friendly with all people, select with great care those whom you wish to have close to you. They will be your safeguards in situations where you may vacillate between choices, and you in turn may save them." -Gordon B. Hinckley

LLL Love

I'm just barely getting off my Lactation Helper's High. Last night was awesome - I got to help teach our semi-annual Breastfeeding Twins class at LDS Hospital. We've been doing this for a couple years, and it's been fantastic. And by fantastic - I mean crazy. Just crazy. Some women show up with their itty bitty newborn twins, and need triage care ASAP. Some show up in a daze, having just discovered they're pregnant with twins. They may or may not be happy about that. Some show up with their husbands, who have a grumpy I-don't-wanna-be-here glare. Some women show up with that look themselves. It's such a tricky balance leading a discussion that emphasizes the facts while presenting them with tact. Oftentimes people are easily offended, especially with breastfeeding being a sensitive topic for some. But I hope we drove home the SOCO that LLL is here to help families with THEIR breastfeeding goals, whatever those may be. We provide support and information. We genuinely want to help those who WANT help. And I get an overwhelming happiness from the times I'm able to do that. It makes up for all the times I come short of providing the help needed.... because I still have so much to learn! I'm looking forward to checking out LLL of Spokane and seeing if there is a place there where I can serve. (But not right away - gotta get settled in and buy a home first :)

Chia seed jam

I'm so excited to have a healthier, yummier, and less expensive alternative to store bought jam!

Fruit, honey, chia seeds, food processor, done.

Sisters. Pink. Happy.

Barley Treats

Despite how non-appetizing that title may sound, these were seriously delicious.
Organic puffed barley, coconut oil, and marshmallows. A healthier and yummier version of rice crispy treats.

Couzin Kellie

I'm so grateful Lindsay came to help me pack last week. Biggest lifesaver ever. And so fun to be w/ mah sistah! She got SO MUCH done!!
I had to sacrifice one evening with her though, so she could go hangout w/ her favorite cousin Kellie.
Why does the baby look bigger than Kellie here??

Grandma wanted to braid my hair...

And when grandma wants to do something, you just let her!


I will miss my Sunday visits with Grandma. Definitely feeling guilty for leaving her. I'll probably stop by just once more before we leave. It will be very sad.

HUGE NEWS!!!

CHARITY GOT HER FIRST TOOTH!!!






oh, and we are moving to Washington in 6 days.

Candy hunt in backyard w/ Grandpa

Grandpa's been visiting more now that he knows we're really leaving. He hid the candy around the yard and the kids had fun searching for it. This is proof the kids CAN *find things* if they're motivated enough!

My last Bountiful Nickel Auction [sniffsniff]

I volunteered to host, for obvious reasons....SO MUCH STUFF!

I will miss my nickel auctions!! I wonder if I can get one going in Spokane...

BUY OUR CRAP!

Ugh.
I love GOING to yard sales.... but I do not love hosting one! So much work!
It's been worth it for us with the chunka-change I've made....but man - busybusy!!
Though I have enjoyed seeing my belongings go to friends and neighbors that want it. Everything has been given away free or super cheap to my ward family, and that feels good to do.
What will feel even better is when it's all GONE!!

Post-French-Braid hair

Lindsay did 2 tight braids and I left them in for 2 days.
This is how my hair looked hours after taking them out!

Happy Birthday Papa!

Laundry helper

Oh, this boy.....

His cheesy smile melts me.

Late snow....last snow? [crossing fingers]

Treasures from Boondocks

I hosted a ward Nickel Auction a couple weeks ago, so Brian took the kids out for that evening.
They returned with these lovely additions to our way-too-full playroom.
Apparently they got lucky, and a bunch of teens were at Boondocks on a group date and decided to give the cute kids with the single dad all their tickets!

Huggies

These were taken over a year ago, but I just found them.
I'm pretty sure I never posted it, and I'm pretty sure my blog would be incomplete without it!! So cute.
However, I don't want to give the impression that we're the Huggies-elitist type.  We buy whatever diapers I can get for the best price. Generally that ends up being store brands. Cuz seriously... they're just going to poop in them. And my kids don't have crazy sensitive skin that requires the purchase of diapers 3x more expensive.
And there I just blew my chance of getting the Huggies company to pay me for this free promotional blog post....

Baby Shower for Jami

We headed down to Spanish Fork Saturday for a baby shower for Brian's brother Mark's wife Jami. (whew, mouthful). It was scheduled between General Conference sessions, kindof awkwardly, so we missed a little of the morning and afternoon. But I'm so grateful that the messages are so easily accessible now immediately after GC.  Someday I'll be telling my grandkids, "back when I was your age, we had to wait until the following month's Ensign magazine to hear the conference sessions! And we had to drive all the way to the Stake Center to watch them live!" Kinda crazy, huh?

So the shower was fun. I reallyreally enjoyed catching up with a few of Brian's relatives - Aunt Brenda especially. She has to be one of the kindest people alive.
Charity is lucky- she will have two girl cousins close to her same age on the McKell side!

A necklace for Charity

A paper-chain necklace, that is.

Made by a proud big sister. 

Our dentist has a brilliant marketing team....

Flys, inverted leg press, & playtime

UtahRunning.com baby

I'm sure I already posted this.... but I just love this picture!

The morning crew

This is what a work-from-home mom looks like....

Have you ever seen anything sexier in your life??!!








*Photography credit: Brianna O. McKell

*Hair and makeup credit: my bed pillow 

Why I have ratty hair sometimes...

She grabs, clenches, and twists!!
And it seriously makes my hair gross cuz she does it with her little fists that she's usually just slobbered on.  
So I wear my hair UP 95% of the time.
Brianna took this picture - she has a fascination with my camera on my phone.
Guessing that will only increase with time!

Seriously though...I adore my hair-grabbing-chubby-baby-monkey. I want to munch on her all day. Minus nap times. I love nap times so very much.