Falling off the Wagon

I fell hard. I've been in a rehabilitation process for months now. Thanks to the encouragement of a couple stanch supporters... you know who you are... and the addition of a new template - THANK HEAVENS- I'm back on the wagon. I tell you what! Change is my favorite thing. Once I switched my template I had absolutely NO desire to even come to the blog but a little re-decorating and we're in business.
So true to form... I've lost all of your blog addresses again. I'm on a mission to start hoping through sites but if you don't see your link please leave it for me. THANK YOU!!!
My little sabbatical was not without adventure. This is what we've been up to for the past 4 months:

Lots of This! It's no wonder I've been MIA. I've got a whole song and dance routine worked up with the Lyrics "Pee-Pee on the Potty"

The Bruce Peninsula over the 4th with my Brothers family. BEAUTIFUL!

SOOOOO much of this. Thank you Canada for having such great beaches!

It doesn't matter how many times we've been to Niagara Falls, we never get sick of it! Zach's sister came for 10 days with the cousins and then we came back the next week with another sister. PARTY TIME!

The Williams Wild Adventures

Well Family of ours,

The Williams have done it again. We're on another crazy adventure. This is Zach's Spring Break from school and we decided last week we should go see something new. So, we booked a couple cheap hotels, crossed the border, and booked it down the interstate to.... Gatlingburg, TN. That's right. Just a short drive past Pigeon Forge. Now there's a destination! Seriously! You wouldn't believe how much family fun entertainment is packed into that nook of the Great Smokey Mountains. Some friends of ours in London came to Gatlinburg with their family and said it was fun. We got looking around and found that Knoxville and it's surrounding area looks like a PARTY and we'd never been to this part of the country. It was an 11 hour drive which would have been fun enough, but as luck would have it Kaite managed (Zach writing now, as Liza is demanding to feed) to do a number all over the car seat and clothes. Car sick?? We don't think so, maybe just a very sensitive gag reflex, but the sheer volume was incredible. THis really nice, young guy at the gas station in Tennessee bought us some paper towels and jugs of water and brought them out to us as we were cleaning her up and said he'd been there before with his kids. Another guy in the bathroom that couldn't have been more than 25 or so yet saw me cleaning up the aftermath, I apologized for the disaster and he said not to worry, he'd been there before with his 4 kids. The whole event would've made great lyrics for a country song. The people may tawk kenda fonny but ye shore caint beat da hauspitality.

We are currently in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. The Smokey Mountains didn't disappoint. We would definitely go back. Gatlinburg is a gem of a town, a mix between cozy ski village and a family theme park with plenty to do. We spent St. Patricks Day there and didn't have to shield Kaitlyns eyes from anything. We kept the kids out late which left them wound up for a night all together in the hotel room. During the hour of getting to sleep every time Liza would make even a peep Kaitlyn would whisper loudly " Liza, be happy!!!" and then Liza would become quiet upon which Kaitlyn would whisper "Tank you!!"

After arriving this evening we spent a little time at the beach to Kate's delight, and tomorrow we had promosed Kaitlyn an entire day at the beach which she talked about all the way over the Appalacian mountains. That and the big, big slides at Mickey Donalds are definitely highlights for her.

Zach and Mar

My 2 Sweet Girls

My great friend Kristen came over this morning and took pictures of the girls. WHAT A SWEET THING TO DO BECAUSE THESE PICTURES ARE KILLING ME I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
THANKS KRISTEN!!!

I just can't get over this look on Liza's face.. I'm not sure what she's trying to say but she tries to say it a lot. :)

This expression is NOT hard to interpret on the other hand. I'm thinking: "You may get me to sit here and even hold Liza but her crying is so not my problem."

My sweet Kaiters

This is the Liza that I know and love. She is really such a sweet happy little baby.

This is the happiest picture we got of them. It's shocking that about a hundred of pictures later, we end up with 1 picture that has 2 smiling girls. It's like a special gift children possess.

My favorite.

Our Recent Family Fun

I think it would be fun to include a "great hair" picture for Kaitlyn in every post. There is obviously a theme going on here. I think I could do a book of pics from her life thus far just of crazy hair. She's got the market cornered

Grandma Bentley came to visit 2 weeks ago and we just sent her home :( Boy we had great times. These sugar cookies were a highlight. This is Melanie's sugar cookie recipe from the Garden cookbook and talk about DELICIOUS!!! She's not kidding.

We all decided Liza looks like my mom from the eyes up. Probably more than that but the eyes and forehead are really a like. Smart girl, Grandma's a babe. I love this picture of them.

Daddy-daughter time is the greatest. Zach's such an incredible Daddy and it shows. Kaitlyn woke up from her nap today and immediatly wanted Daddy to be home to play with. He and Kaite have a tradition of being thrown around on the couch and playing every night. We're lucky

ahhh Grandma and the girlies.

More cookies! I have a cookie fedish lately. these are actually Melanie's cookies again but in their suggested ball format which was equally delicious. Kaitlyn is really sweet with Liza, she especially loves to see Liza's toes. Go figure.

First things first: Bumbo chairs are miraculous. Liza's been sitting in one since she was 2 months old and yet it somehow still fits Kaitlyn. Liza fell asleep sitting up in it. It was HILARIOUS. Plus, this is a great shot of the cute Mary-jane tights. love them.

"Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo" She can't actually say that but I'm working on it because I think she makes a fantastic fairy princess. Zach's sister Jessica gave her these dress-ups for Christmas and she uses them EVERY SINGLE DAY. What a cute princess.

My little peach fuzz. Just these last couple weeks I've started feeling like I'm coming back into myself if you know what I mean. the first few months with a newborn is rough. I am always trying to catch up and stay afloat but I finally feel like atleast some days I'm alert and coherant. Always good news.

FACT!!!

So, once when my family was all together at my parents house and we were getting a little bored or slap-happy or something, we came up with a game called... FACT! The best part of the game is when you say FACT you have to do it with extreme matter-of-factness and swing your index finger up to the sky. You might have to be there, but I'm bringing it to you for your reading enjoyment. So a FACT! can be virtually anything that others might not know about you or others. Yeah, we were a little desperate for some fun, but now it's a tradition.

FACT!: I have a thumb sucker! Last night was her first full-on fist clenched, thumb inserted moment that I've seen. Ahhh gee. Good thing Zach's in an orthodontic residency.

FACT!: Liza is 3 1/2 months old and laughing and smiling like crazy. I thought the hair would fade, but it's not really going anywhere yet. Her blue eyes are adorable.

FACT: when Kaitlyn wakes up she has the GREATEST hair on the planet. The sheer volume is covetous.

FACT: When Kaite speaks she sounds EXACTLY like a Britt. Just try saying Mommy and Daddy in your mind with a Brittish accent and there you go. It is CRACKING me up. She also has impecable spanish accent skills. Any word in spanish sounds fantastic, but in english she's still tough to understand sometimes. Living in a foreign country is apparently rubbing off, even if it is Canada.

FACT!: Siblings are born with an inate ability to create the most work possible for their parents. Example: When Liza is screaming in the car for an hour for no apparent reason, Kaitlyn has knocked off to sleep. Right as Liza's starting to slow and Zach and I are allowing our eyes to uncross, Kaitlyn wakes up crying and proceeds to throw up twice all over herself and the car. That's not an accident, that's a perfectly syncronized performance my friends.

FACT!: In stark contrast to the plane ride to Utah for Christmas, the plane ride home was LOVELY. No tears, no spit-up, no worries. Thank Heaven. This is us STILL SMILING on the last leg of our plane ride to Detoit.

FACT!: This shirt makes me look like Where's Waldo... I kind of wish I had it for a certain dance back in High School. Those who participated will appreciate the look I'm sporting... you kno who you are.

FACT!: (All parental bias aside, ofcourse) This is the cutest 3 month old on the planet! She's just hit the phase when she stops eating to look at me and smile... KILL ME!

FACT!: I would love to hear some exciting FACTS! about my friends. The playing field is WIDE open, there are no rules to what constitutes a FACT! but the wierder the better.

P.S. FACT!: I cannot remember a time when I was able to touch my toes. Seriously. Sad but true.

Family Traditions

Kaitlyn is SERIOUSLY impressed by Duma the waterskiing dog! Who wouldn't be?
Here's the fam, living out our fantasies... yep, this is the level we're on.

Yesterday morning, Mary and I set out determined to uphold a long standing family tradition of attending the annual boat and outdoor recreation show. This year took us to Toronto Canada and I must say that we were not disappointed. Owing to the plentiful and large bodies of water there was an assortment of massive cruisers and also our favorite lines of competition wakeboard and waterski boats. Kaitlyn was like a kid in a candy store with all the lights, color and dauntingly massive yachts that each had their fair share of interesting buttons and spiral stairs to play on. Her favorite trick was to turn off the lights on everyone inside or lock herself in the head (means bathroom for you non-boaters, or washroom if you are in Canada). We enjoyed the indoor wakeboard show that was on a giant hockey rink filled with water like a swimming pool with rails and ramps for the riders to launch from. Lots of Ooo's and claps from Kaitlyn made it all the more enjoyable. Her favorite however was the waterskiing beagle from Chicago who nicely posed for a photo with Kaite on his board. Liza just mostly slept and barfed all day. After 6 1/2 hours of carting around kids all over the show we headed for home. Winter in this part Canada from Toronto to just north of London is brutal due to the snow belt. We ended up driving through a storm on our way home so our 2 hour drive turned into a 4 hour drive. We stopped for dinner only to have one of our children decide that they wanted no more driving in the snow storm and decided to cry to the point of losing the Wendy's dinner she had eaten an hour before all over the car. When she wasn't crying the other one would start in, I think it was just to fill the peaceful silence. So we had dirty pants and pukyface that were tag teaming the parents the last 90 minutes of the drive. All said and done we would do it again for the Boat Show. Sick, but true... it was that fun... and memorable.

Day of Faith

This video link is of a Harvard religion panel that took place last month. 5 students with different religous backgrounds talk openly about their beliefs. I love religious and cultural studies and really enjoyed listening to each of the panelists. This link is for the "Mormon" that was interviewed. If I had the opportunity to express my faith my answers would be right in line with hers. She explains about the temple, sacred garments, Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. ENJOY. http://vimeo.com/2120177