More from Temple Open House

 Macie would not cooperate.

 Oscar at the swim meet.

 Don took the kids to Amazing Jakes while I went to women's conference.  From the looks of it, they had an amazing time.

 I have absolutely no idea why, but one night the girls decided to use all of my blush and turn themselves pink.  You can't tell how pink they were, but wow. They were pink.

 Macie was pretty ticked off that I found her fluffy hair to be so funny.  Macie gets furious if anyone laughs at her when she is not trying to be funny,

 And Oscar...he is a stud.

 My family went to Disneyland without me (so mad! Just kidding)  and this picture is amazing.

 Grandpa loves playing with Baby Oscar.

To be this flexible...

Phoenix Temple

This past Saturday we took the girls to the PHX Temple open house.  We didn't take them to the Gilbert Open House so I was glad we had a chance to take them to this one.  Macie's favorite part was the bus ride over to the temple.  We rode in a bus to the temple from the parking lot, that had American flag seats.  On the way back, the bus was different and she asked me what happened to the "America Bus."  I was pretty impressed.  I had not taken notice of the seats, but she certainly had!
Before going into the Temple, we watched a short video about Temples, and Chloe did a great job of paying attention.  She was really excited to get to see a Temple. I think Macie thought it was a castle.  Afterwards we took this wonderful picture where we all looked our very best, and not hot at all.

Fall Break

Chloe had this past week of school off.  I loved having her home and tried to do something fun every day.  Monday she played with her friend Bella.  Tuesday we went to the children's museum in Mesa, as did everyone else in the state of Arizona.  Wednesday seems to have vanished from my memory. And Thursday we went to Prescott, AZ to visit Rachelle and her kids.  It was a pretty ideal little trip.  I got a little taste of Fall.  We took a little visit to Mortimer Farm outside of Prescott.  We sampled fresh pressed apple cider (amazing), tried to find our way through a corn maze (and decided just going straight through the corn was easier), picked pumpkins (and I got to hold Macie's pumpkin and a sleeping baby for about an hour, which was super relaxing).  

 The kids took a "train" ride.

 I can now say I tried a mechanical bull. I won't be doing that again.  Those types of things should be strictly avoided by people with a lack of physical coordination and a propensity of getting injured.

 Oscar enjoyed himself.

 Macie LOVED holding the baby bunny. seriously this girl loves animals.  Well she didn't like the goat.  Poor goats. who likes goats?

 There was this awesome spinning ride thing.  Macie freaked out when it started spinning around.  when I watch Macie, I say to myself, 'Yep, that is exactly what I would have done as a kid." (aaaaaaaand sometimes as an adult.)  Macie is my shadow child.  She loves to follow me around and will often choose sitting by me over playing with other kids.

That's little Oscar over by the kids.  After viewing the pigs, I lost my appetite for pork.  Something about the flies and poop...I doubt it will last long.  I really like bacon.  

And on another semi-related thought...the fact that Macie now uses the potty, is actually more inconvenient for me than her in diapers.  Of course at the farm is where she decided that she must go #2.  She refused to go before we left my friend's house, even though she told me she had to go.  So I grinned and bore those nasty porto potties.  And there is more to the story, but I will end it there.  Suffice it to say that I spent a significant amount of time on the trip dealing with Macie's potty issues.

We actually really did have a lot of fun at the farm. I have never seen a real pumpkin patch before.  We had to leave the farm in a rush to get back into town for Chloe's swim meet.  We put her in a swim club for the Fall. The swim meets are more enjoyable when it is not 100+ degrees outside.  I am really impressed with all the improvements Chloe has made with her swimming,  We have so much fun as a family watching her compete.  

 I found this Elsa dress for 13 bucks on Amazon which I am pretty stoked about. It is Macie's new uniform.  Macie complained the original dress I bought for her, itched.  This one is actually soft and comfortable.  I am trying not to think of the sweat shop in China where it was made.  It is sold by a company called "Pettigirl." They must not  know that  "petti" is not a high compliment here in the States.

The governor of Arizona sent me a congratulations card on the birth of my baby and a friendly reminder to immunize my kid.
I especially liked that the card was delivered to "Not Named Mortensen."  Guess that's what happens when you take too long to name your baby,

Oscar's Baby Blessing

 I've been waiting 5 months to finally put Oscar in this seersucker suit.  I bought it while I was still pregnant and have been saving it for his blessing.  Oscar is 3 months and some change now.  He is finally filling out nicely.  He still likes to wake up 23 times a night,  I have discovered that the kid is happiest away from home.  He is actually easier out and about.  If I try to put him down and get things done around the house, he lets me know that he is not happy about it.  I am biased, I know, but I think he is a perfect looking little boy,  And his smiles warm my heart.  He laughed for the first time last week.  Don put Chloe's glasses on while he was holding him, and he cracked up.  It made the fact that I am losing brain cells from lack of sleep worth it.
We blessed Oscar yesterday at church. And he was a perfect angel all through church.  I am pretty sure he loved all the attention and cuddling he received from so many people.  It was a really wonderful day.  Both of our families came to the blessing, and after church we had a luncheon at our house.  I told Don that we needed to take a picture at the church of our family before we left, but he said that we could just do it at home.  And as one might predict, said picture never happened.  So for the momentous occasion I have 4 whole pictures.
Lunch was pretty  delicious, we did a burrito line, and we somehow managed to fit over 30 people in our house.
We all went to bed happy. well except chloe, she has had a sore throat for 3 days now.  On the plus side, she got to stay home from school.

Grandpa makes that car seat look like it weighs only 1 pound.