no WREST for the WRIGHTS!

The Californian Wrights came into town for Conference Weekend and let me tell you the action and the food never stopped!

We went to this crazy and FREE museum at the BYU campus filled with stuffed- animals of all sorts. The kids went bazerk! Below is my beautiful sis-in-law and her equally beautiful child- Luci.

Charlie got LOADS of attention. Not that he doesn't already!

My nephew Jake (from Charleston) and -now in college~ what the >!? And my Cali nephews Jeremey (GERM) and Anthony. Liam was in big guy heaven...

Course we gotta eat at Cafe Rio for my MOM in law's sake!

Raquel, Me, Allie (my niece from Charleston- going to college here as well) and DI.

And then ...IceCream!We had a feast of HOMEMADE Chili -thanks to Ryan and Becca- at our house on Sunday~

yeppers, beautiful~

Love this woman I call mom.

My gorgeous niece again, who might I add, is SINGLE! Living in Provo! She obviously is going to be a great mommy...Charlie wanted to be with her all night!

And then, after Southern Georgia Poundcake with fresh peaches and mascarpone cheese cream (let me know if you want the recipe...to die for), we had a little rough housing...

And then it got dirty... spanking butts and all., poor Allie

Charlie hanging on for dear life...he knows what is about to happen....

And when the fun is over ....we are all very sad. Very sad indeed.

here we are at bear river cabin - this is such a great place for our family to just relax and see the beautiful scenery.!

we fed these enthusiastic fish and the kids were in heaven!

they each got a bag of fish food and they were both gone in minutes. the fish were a bit overfilled i presume.
fall colors were incredible, breathtaking actually....

Marty's bro- Ryan and his wifey Becca and their two kids...Lydia and Caroline(exchange student from GERMANY) (super sweet and brave girl) came to stay with us for a night. it was so great to have additional company! we loved it...thanks guys.

one thing to note ....LIAM is potty TRAINED. for all you desperate and scared mommies out there . it was SO SO easy with Liam! i was scared to start and i did try like 2 months ago for a couple days and gave up cuz he wasn't getting it and i was super frustrated. after that we'd always just talk to him about it ...like when we were changing his poopy diapers and such. we'd put him on the pot alot and he'd never ever go. the first time he ever went was the day i actually started on MONDAY this week. i put him on in the morning and he finally went! and he caught on ever since then~!!! i think he was just ready (he's 3 now) and we prepped him enough verbally that he got it and was excited about it. he was pumped to put the stickers on the chart too and we told him he'd get a special treat if he filled up his chart. so here is superman in his undies! yeah , LIAM!

Liam and Time-out.

Liam turned 3! Can't believe he's not potty trained is all I can say...

...and that I love this little guy....he was treated to a trip to the icecream parlor with Charlie and Marty and I while Ruby was in school. He finished every last morsel of this cone. This shirt went straight to the wash!

he had an excellent day...we made sure he felt like a king...that's what matters right? Not the amount of presents because to be honest- he didn't get that many. That's our philosophy. There's already too many things in our toyroom!

we went to "TIME-OUT" for women in Logan over the weekend. It was wonderful!!!! every latter-day saint woman- and any non-lds female for that matter- should go...it was very, very uplifting and spiritual and just what I needed!! For info go here.

we stayed at Jaimi's beautiful house...there was lots of eating, talking, laughing and yes, even a little crying (in this pic above) and not alot of sleep! that's what happens when us sisters get together.!

speaking of eating..i caught this pic of my mom...Diane you always say Charlie looks like Sharon... what do you think now...confirm anything?

1st's and 2nd's ...

Ruby's first day of kindergarten. My Mom took her shopping for a new school outfit and this is what she picked out! You gotta love it. And of course I let her wear it for her first day...along with her light up shoes!

Our second half-marathon. Don't know if I'd ever do a full. A half is perfect,- challenging but not too over whelming .

We did the Top of Utah in Logan. It was beautiful and perfect weather! Loved it. Marty and I ran together the whole way. We decided there are 4 types of people (women) in a race like that. A. the beauty runners- the ones in the pink matching running gear with makeup and diamond studded earrings. They like to look good while running. B. the real racers- they wear all the appropriate/ latest style attire with water attached to their butt and the energy goo's and the GPS watches etc. They trained right and are trying to reach a certain goal. C. the jocks- they wear baggy t-shirts with loose-long shorts that look like their brothers, hair pulled back in just a straight ponytail, shoes worn out- old, have a certain jock running stride, you can just tell they played basketball, volleyball and every other type of ball. D. the amateurs - their very first run ever, wearing whatever and however and are just happy to finish the race at any sort of time. What type are you?

When we got back to my mom's to pick up the kids Charlie was showing off his muscles and endurance...even leg lifts! The kids congratulated us with homemade signs and muffins.

"Not avacado for breakfast!"

You know how you see a picture on a blog and you think- they just took that picture for the blog...there is no way they thought to get their camera out except for sudden thoughts of how they could post about it- start forming in their minds. You know you've seen it. Well this is similar to one of those moments. I had already 'tried' with no success to feed Charlie several bites of his new 'food item' and being a normal Mom, I would have stopped then. But being the semi-blogging Mom that I am -I did it one more time for the camera....torturous I know. Typical male though-even in his moment of disgust and revolt-he can easily be distracted- in this case - a passing car.

...the title of this post is an inside joke among the extended Wright family...I found it suiting for the video.

best place in UT

we went to bear lake with MY family a week after vacation with marty's fam. this is a beautiful hike we were led to by ryan (my bro) it was amazing!

marty rope swinging...can you find waldo....

kendra (family friend) and i braving the ice cold green water...

so refreshing though~ well worth the hypothermia

the water of bear lake itself is a breathtaking turquoise blue...

the beaches stretch out for a good half mile at knee deep depth...

charlie enjoyed his little shaded-tee-pee

nothing makes kids happier than fine sand, water, mud, mommy...

oh the joys of being free...