Labor Day

This year we felt like going outdoors for Labor Day so we packed up and drove a couple of hours, past Park City, to Mirror Lake.

 Surprisingly, it was chilly when we arrived! I should have brought boots and warmer clothes for Georgia. But it warmed up soon, so it was fine. 

This girl loves shoulder rides so much! She is so happy up there.

 And she LOVES the water! If we let her, she would jump right in.

 There was a path leading around the entire lake and we had plenty of time, so we decided to walk it. Some of the path was boarded up like below, but most of it just a gravel walkway. Super low key and fun to walk and talk! 

And take selfies.......

 And in case you were wondering, Zach IS wearing his FAVORITE YELLOW BASKETBALL SHORTS. He doesn't go a day without wearing them. He wore them today. And everyday. I purposely crop them out.

To top this fabulous day off, we stopped at Sammy's Bistro on the way back, outside of Park City and had the most delicious dinner!!! I am always nervous about picking random restaurants without a recommendation but this was the perfect find. I had an amazing Mahi Mahi sandwich with mango coleslaw and creamy orange sauce on it with the best french fries. And I am a french fry lover. And now I am hungry and salivating again. Obviously Zach had the $5 special - a pulled pork sandwich and it too was nothing short of delicious.

It was perfect weather to sit outside and enjoy the scenery. We missed family this Labor Day, but it was fun having our own little family time too!

Miss Boobadoo's Room

I laughed today, good and hard, because I realized when I laid in bed and waited for Zach to run to get Georgia after waking up from her nap, that he still walks into her room and the first thing he says is "boobydoo....my boobydooooo!!" hahaha every time. 

Anyway, we finally finished her room. And I am seriously in love with it. 

Ps. the midde frame is from none other than Swiss Days!! Of last year. Yep, I kept that baby for a whole year knowing I'd use it for her room :)

Swiss Days 2013

I love Labor Day weekend!! This holiday always ensures some of my most favorite things: family, big spending on lots of over-priced goods and some under-priced steals, and fatty yummy fair food. What could be better?? 

Every year Frank and Cathy come up to Utah for the Swiss Days fair in Midway and usually bring some Hokes with them. This time, Kristen & Aaron came! I got to stay at the Provo house for a few days so I could go early in the morning with Cathy (a Swiss Days veteran & EXPERT). We leave the house at 6:30am in time to find a good parking spot and then pick over each booth multiple times going up and down the aisles... It's basically a man's worst nightmare. So they always go golfing while we practically throw our money in the air like we are millionaires. Jk. But seriously, I spent most of my "budget" in the first 20 minutes. And I set my own budget so obviously I went waaaaaaaaaay over.
Papa & Georgie:

She is such a stinker and has to warm up to him these days. A shock since he's so sweet, is always clean shaven, and never without a smile on his face. They are getting along here, but maybe just because the TV is on in close quarters. Just kidding ;) I'm pretty sure Fox News was on so nothing that appeals to 25 yrs and under hahaha.

About 1/3 of my Swiss Days loot: 

The home decor at Swiss Days gets me every time! I always spend a good chunk of money on frames and cute things that I really don't need... Just to give you an idea, we had Georgia in a stroller and then a separate stroller just for making trips back and forth for our purchases. We made at least 2 or 3 trips. 

I was straight up worn out by the time we were done... about 1pm and just in time to meet the guys for lunch. It was nice and cool all morning and then the sun came out and just about melted me! It was ridiculously hot. 

And believe it or not, I came back for round TWO with Kristen the next day:

But only to show her the good booths and spend time with her. I was basically cut off from all money the minute Zach looked up the evidence online. And then asked me why I spent $100 over what I told him... but clearly I wasn't finished shopping when we had that conversation!! 

To ease the pain, I got a charm in his honor... one for Zach and one for Georgia. Oh wait, he didn't care. 

 

Flash forward a few weeks (taken today actually)... and here are the matching mini-me skirts I bought for Georgia and I just because it's ridiculous and cute and funny and seriously ridiculous to match with your baby!  I also had hot red heels on that made this twice as awesome, but they are not pictured :) 

I just love her so much. But I have a history of matchy-matchy behavior.... I once matched my little sister for an entire church history tour. And people thought we were twins. In high school. Even though I was 21 and married. hahahaha I guess I am just a dork like that! 

A major dork who LOVES Swiss Days and needs to COOL IT! But not until after next year... my sister reminds me on a monthly basis how bummed she was about missing it this year and how she is going to WRECK Swiss Days 2014 haha! Can't wait. 

Julie & Ryan Come to UT!

There's a new baby around! Meet Beverly Michelle Hoke:

Julie and Ryan had a couple weeks left of summer and wanted to get out of the house so they made the drive to Utah! I couldn't believe it with just a two week old babe! But I was so happy to see them, I love their family and miss them so much. Julie (who is always effortlessly beautiful) was camera shy (although I remember hating all the pictures of me right after I gave birth...yikes) so this is the best I could get haha.

I loved holding her! Bevie is so small and I just forgot that Georgia was ever that small and fragile. She is such a cutie and I miss her already, especially her little grunts! She is such a little noise maker, so funny. 

I came down early that day to take Georgia to the pool and then I brought stuff to make dinner (I know - I brought AND made dinner! Turning a new leaf over here...) for Julie & Ryan so they didn't have to go out after driving all day. I decided to go with the infamous CBC (Chicken Broccoli Casserole) and then realized as I was dishing it up, it is delicious but looks like cheesy mushy gushy stuff. Great. Anyone would think I made some white-trash fatty dinner slop. Luckily, Ryan was found cleaning up after any plates that were left unfinished (his girls) and Zach could not stop himself from getting seconds... or thirds... and then polished off the leftovers that I had put away for THEM. Classy.

 It has still been so hot here in Utah, so we walked to the pool at 7 at night and it was perfect weather. Hot air and warm water! 

Georgia had so much fun riding on daddy's back!

I love these two:

And this one! She kills me! 

At any given time or place, Lyla can be found in a secluded spot (tonight it was the little concrete peninsula of the pool) on her tummy, singing the Ariel song "ah--ah-ahhhh-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah....ah-ah-AHHHHH!" She is a total crack up! And loves Ariel... ah a girl after my own heart :)

This picture is important:

Pheebs is CRAZY! She is hilarious and ALL OVER THE PLACE and such a crack up! She has so much energy and never stops. Ryan was heard throughout the night saying things like "I just want to kick her little butt! But she's so cute..." and "Pheebs are you trouble?" "Yeah. twouble-maker..." hahaha I love her.

The next day they came over to see the house and have dinner with us. This little girl got some new jammies (that actuallly fit... YAY!):

And some new clothes (that didn't fit so much...haha):

Georgia had to warm up to Uncle RyRy again... 

Most of the time she looked like this around him: 

And this:

But sometimes she was like:

(oh wait, she's looking at me. ha)

Pheebs was handin out kisses. Love her.

So glad G has lots of cousins to play with :)

And some day she'll be old enough to huddle around the iPhone with the older girls ;)

I love when family visits! Miss these guys so much.

Dinner Up The Canyon

My day started out like this:

 Hahahaha how was yours??

 Once again, I do apologize for the endless ridiculous amount of the same crazy baby photo shots on my blog but really, this blog is for me. So just deal with it, or skip over it! 

 Do you not want to look at this face over and over??

 Oh that's right, no one wants to look at billions of pictures of someone else's kid.

 Especially me. 

But when my baby models:

 I show them off. So enjoy.

  She just makes me laugh so much.

 Ahhhhhhhh!

  This is why we call her Kicky McKickerson:

 Hahaha she is an excited kicker. I love love love it.

Ok fine, I'll move on. 

We have some awesome outdoorsy friends and I have been TRYING to be more like them ;) so we headed up American Fork canyon on Friday evening to bbq some good food and enjoy some dutch oven peach cobbler. Yummmm. Ok I will admit that the main reasoning for this is to go far enough into the mountains to escape this CRAZY summer heat. And wear my boots. And a new camo jacket. And take advantage of some delicious peach cobbler and Morton's steak. I meeeeeeeean, to be outdoorsy!! My plans were thwarted. Turns out the canyon is pretty crowded on Friday nights, so back down the canyon we headed... and ended up here:

Back in the heat. Bummer. But hey, being outdoorsy is about roughin it right? Yay for that.

 And yay for good company (who I didn't even bother to photograph... sorry!!) and eating good food in the dark. I only freaked out a little at the small white spiders and yellow jackets and bugs. Inwardly. 

And this one brought her toys out to meet nature:

 Fist pump! Oh yeah. (hahaha)

  That tongue again.

 Yay for nature!

 I've done it again. I've turned a family outing into a photo session and missed most of the main action. Oops. 

 Try to imagine the deliciousness of that itty-bitty steak grillin back there. And say hello to little Charlie. These two gingers are a match made in...Scotland??? #whoknows

 Georgia is THRILLED about the great outdoors hahaha and on the inside, neither so am I. As you can see, I am without my dear jacket. And I also lost her darn headband (throw your hands up in horror) to the wolves. Well they can have it! I make my own! 

Ok but really, it was a pretty fun night with such good food and great company! The main topic of the night? DOTERRA ESSENTIAL OILS! (Please contact me to learn more about them and sign up for this amazing opportunity) hahahaha I am kidding. I wish I could insert a hundred emoticons right now because I am just cracking myself up (what happens when I blog at midnight). 

After said good conversation and food, we headed home and decided to stop at Sheree & Jared's, home of the Doterra Blue Diamond!! They are like the experts on essential oils and extremely cool with an amazing house and the most well-behaved and beautiful children ever. I love them! And their home always smells good and zen obviously (I am really getting good at this marketing thing).

 We crashed their movie and they were kind enough to hang out with us in their pj's while G suffered through the late night as best she could. Not to worry - like I said, their kids are angels and provided entertainment and love while we selfishly enjoyed our time with family. How cute are these two?! 

Georgia & Miles: 

It is so nice to have family around and especially family who care so much! Enough to let you drop by on a Friday night at 10 o'clock and let you ruin their evening plans. We love them!