San Francisco!

Wow it's been a while since I blogged. I am sure you all missed me and Scout's shenanigans. So, we recently did a little road trip to the great state of California. Our niece Adri graduated high school with honors:
She will be going to UCLA this fall majoring in graphic design or something close to that........ She is very excited and we are happy for her!
We left last Wednesday and drove (with Grandpa Pugh) to Reno that night. Scout is an awesome traveler and it was a great ride. We drove on to San Fran that afternoon (actually, Rob's sister Natalie lives in Mill Valley which is just a 10 minute car ride into the city, but you would never know it, it feels like she lives in the woods. It was very nice. Perfect scenario if you ask me, to live in an out of the way place so close to a major city. I like that. After we got there, we just bummed around the house a little bit killing time until the graduation ceremony and then attended that (Scout slept the ENTIRE ceremony, bless her).
The next day we went to the Golden Gate Bridge and I got this lovely shot:It was a wee foggy that day (foggy in San Francisco? Shocker...) I like the fog, Scout knew exactly where we were thanks to Baby Einsteins. Funny how matter of fact she was about where we were. Then we went to The Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito which was lots of fun. Not unlike the Salt Lake children's museum, except instead of milking cows and picking wooden fruit from trees, you get to catch fish and send them to a fish market and be a fish monger. They had one room that looked like it was under water and they provided assorted sea creature outfits for the kids to wear and pretend they lived in the sea. Yes, right up Scout's alley. She was a crab:She stood there looking embarrassed for all of 20 seconds, then dropped to the floor and got into character. It was funny.

After the museum we took the ferry across the bay into the city:I'd like to point out my slant, trying use Scout as a device to keep my hair out of my face for the pic.Scout and I learned an interesting fact: ferries are very windy places. This was Scout's very first boat ride so naturally, was very exciting. Then we did the tourist walk around pier 39 and Fisherman's wharf (is that how you spell that? Looks weird.). Good San Francisco stuff.... Then Scout and I broke from the group and took the BART and then a train (very exciting stuff for Scout) to Tracy, Ca where I visited a friend of mine I have met through my molar pregnancy. She went through one at the same time and we have gotten pretty tight, helping each other through that, so it was nice to meet her and her family. They were all really nice and friendly and Scout got to go swimming with her two little kids, and Lori and I got to talk face to face which was fun.

The rest of the family went to a Giant's game (that's baseball for anyone (me) that didn't know), and we all had tickets for the ferry to get home. There is a special ferry for the stadium that just leaves whenever the game is over, I was informed of the time frame I had (it was about an hour long trip to get there) and that there was fireworks after yada yada yada and after visiting a while and about the time I figured I should get going, I got a call from Rob telling me the game was going extremely fast and I need to leave right then. So I bustled everything together fast and we headed out. I was very nervous about getting there in time as the alternative would pretty much ruin everyone's night (I had the car keys with me). I talked to Rob in Lori's car and he was very nervous too, so when I hung up I put the phone in Lori's door, which is what I do in my own car (I do absentminded things when I am nervous!) So we get to the BART station and I fly out of the car get Scout and leave my phone. Let me stop you all here and let you know, I don't know what the stadium is called, nor do I know where it is located, I don't know where the ferry dock is, or the BART stop I take to get me to this unknown stadium. I was relying on calling Rob........ So after boarding the subway train, and a prayerful search of my backpack and every nook and cranny of it (3 times) I come to the conclusion that my phone is with Lori. So I got off at the stop I got on at (Lori told me to take that one, but it didn't sound like what Nat had told me to do this morning, so I was freaking), I found a metro after seeing the cab line and talking to some kind souls that pointed me back to the subway station) this metro took me to the game, but these people had just been to the game, so I now know that the game is well over (yikes!) I catch the metro and get off at the stadium (hey it's called AT&T) and fyi, no one that works at the station at the stadium knows that there is a ferry there. They kept trying to get me back on the metro to get back on the BART. I stood my ground and a girl in line offered her phone to call Rob (bless you kind girl, bless you for all your days). The ferry hadn't left, but Rob said it was leaving NOW) a cop finally pointed me in the direction (Clear around the stadium of course) and I high tailed it with a 30 pound child and a back pack filled with an entire days worth of stuff you need in a big city with all kinds of temperatures, swimming stuff, snacks, it was HEAVY! I heard the ferry honk too while running and I thought it was out to sea. Rob and Nat met me close to the dock and Nat grabbed Scout to give me a little relief and we got on and it took off. They had been begging the ferry guys to wait, I was on my way and they were getting impatient (and right they should, since we were holding up 600 plus drunk angry Giant's fans (they lost). So, anyway, we made it. It was a total miracle, and totally intense. I shook for like an hour from a combo of nerves and fatigue. I have to thank Lori for her advice, without it Scout and I would have spent the night on a park bench under some newspapers.
We discovered on the BART that we had also left kiki.................... That was secondary to the phone panic, but important none the less. It was too close to losing kiki before, so Scout hasn't handled it as well as last time. But we know where it is, and she knows that her friends have it and took good care of it and the mailman is bringing it really soon. Still, there is some anxiety there for her. We just left Lori's too fast and shh....... mommy is a little flighty. I do my best to hide that fact, but there it is, I'm flighty. You all probably know that!
Ok, onward and upward. The next day, we went to the other side of the city and went to Golden Gate Park. That was awesome. I had never been there. I left my camera in the car, but Nat got some pics, I need to have her email them to me............ We went to a flower conservatory and saw the coolest orchids Rob and I have ever seen (we are orchid lovers). We also saw some really weird and exotic plants and flowers and they had a butterfly room, much to Scout's delight. Scout became extremely tight with Nat's significant other -Chris (she calls him Crist) and she was not to be separated from him all day. We also saw the Japanese Tea Garden. That was really neat. Never mind that we went DOWN the stairs of enlightenment, so we visited the pagoda before we had been spiritually prepared, but I think we will be ok. We then went to a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant that is where the actual Chinese go to eat (as opposed to the touristy China Town), these are the perks of being with people familiar with the city you are visiting. Amongst other things, we had a whole fish complete with eye balls. (Nate and I touched them) I also touched it's lips on accident and they stuck to my finger and WOULD NOT come off even with a lot of scrubbing. That was gross and disturbing, but that's what I get for touching fish lips. But that is what I do.
We went home and Scout and I wanted to go to the beach (I am unable to to go to a beach if it is anywhere in the vicinity that I am in). Everyone else was tired, -no, I am going to use the term "poops" here-, so we got instructions on how to get there, and went alone. The drive was FANTASTIC! The road was woodsy and windy and had cliffs. We listened to In Rainbows and I was in heaven for the 15 minute drive, very nice for the soul.
The beach was pretty cold and the water was colder, but I knew it would be. Scout was very scared of the waves (this dates back to last Sept, when we went to Portland for Haley's wedding and me, Scout, Matt and B drove 2 hours to visit the beach there) Scout was loving it (it was night and it was freezing) and she got in the way of a devious wave that knocked her backwards and drenched her from head to toe. That little episode was not forgotten, so I had to hold her the whole time. I really wanted pics, so I had to get creative and take them with her in my lap, but it made them turn out really cute!
So that's about it. Except that Rob and I experienced Nintendo Wii for the first time and had some good bowling times every night. You get to make yourself a character and it gives you the means to make it look like you, and I wish how I wish I could show you guys the character Rob made for himself. I will say this, it looked like an evil rendition of John Lennon from the Yellow Submarine art work. It made me (us I should say) giggle every time he was up. It was a classic Rob stunt and one of the many reasons I love him. (Speaking of classic Rob stunts. While proof reading this, Rob got home from a little b ball and took a shower and shaved. He came in and I was busy at work on the laptop, and he walked across the room and got to his dresser and broke out in a serious case of the giggles. I looked up and he wouldn't turn around and I couldn't figure out what his deal is, then I noticed his handy work. He had shaved himself a nice little hick style motif. He is WELL aware of my aversion to mustaches. He had (has) a really bad goatee complete with flaring sideburns he just pointed out that it isn't really a goatee since the mustache doesn't quite connect. Oh, I'm so scared. He was trying to get me to kiss him, but was too delighted in himself to even do that properly, not that I want anything to do with him with that thing on his face. Oh yay, he is letting me take pictures:
He wants a big truck and a pack of smokes rolled up in his sleeve to make his transformation complete. Oh the fun he has when he hasn't shaved for a while). Anyway, more classic Robby-ness, or what I live with). I love him.

Back to the trip.
We did the drive on Sunday, with no overnights. It was a long drive, but worth it. Scout again was an angel. Man she is a good traveler. Yay Scout!
Wow that's long! I knew it would be but I am still shocked. Sorry! But I haven't posted in a long time, so I am making up for it.
If you would like to see more pics of the trip, go here.

A Very Sad Goodbye?

Oh you guys, I think we might have lost kiki and possibly for good (I suppose there is a slim chance some of you don't know what kiki is, it's Scout's beloved blanket). Scout and I went to the outlet stores at Park City this week and kiki joined us of course. We went to a lot of stores and played on the playground there and on the way home, Scout asked for kiki and I couldn't find it. I pulled over and looked everywhere to no avail. I'm not going to lie, this has happened before. When your child takes something EVERYWHERE, they are sure to leave it, no matter how important. Kiki has spent the night at Barnes and Noble, Kid to Kid, and Bruce's house. Some kind soul has always recognized it as being important to someone and turned it in.
Well, I drove the ten miles we had driven before we noticed the loss, and I spent over an hour going back to every dang store we had visited at that huge place and no one had seen it. The very nice ladies at Carter's were very helpful and took my name and a description and explained that the mall's policy on lost items is to turn them into the mall offices (I was worried we lost it on the sidewalk and it was turned into some random store we didn't go to). She offered to call them for me in the morning and call me back. I didn't get a call from her, so I called the mall offices myself and talked to someone who hadn't seen it, but she took my number too and offered to call me if it shows up. That was two days ago and I haven't heard from anyone.
Scout has been totally stoic about it, breaking down only once, last night, she started to cry and said, "mommy, I miss kiki!" I told her we would look for it and explained the possibility that we might not find kiki and wondered what she would think if we bought a new kiki that looked exactly the same (I have seen them fairly recently at Babies R Us) . She seemed ok by this, so we'll see. I've put together a little slideshow of some pictures of Scout with kiki and I have to tell you, I've been crying like a baby since I made it. I had no idea it would make me so sad. The song I added doesn't help. (It's from Toy Story 2)

I thought I would share a few things about kiki. She was a gift from Catherine at my baby shower. I had registered for it and was so impressed with how soft it was, I guess I brought it up a lot and Cath figured she better buy it. She has been Scout's constant companion since day one and was a matched set with a binki at bedtime, you gave her the binki and put kiki next to her face and that was all Scout ever needed to drift off. It inspired us to say, "Smoke and a pancake? Pipe and a Crepe? Blitz and a bong?" (Austin Powers reference, if you're confused) We took the binki away when Scout was 11 months and since then, Scout has clung to kiki as if her life depended on it. It got it's name one day when we were looking through a photo album and Scout would point to pictures that had kiki in them and would go ck! ck! we were like, "she is pointing at her blanket!" This was before she could talk. She had come up with a sound in the word blanket, and applied it. So ck ck eventually became kiki and it has stuck.
Well, this is really sad for me, if you know Scout you know kiki and I can't imagine it's gone forever.
While typing this, Rob came home from playing basketball and saw me sheepishly sitting at the computer bawling. I told him what I was doing and we rehashed the incident and he assured me that people don't always follow through with their notes, etc. So, I have a new hope of just driving out there again and seeing what I can do on foot. It's totally worth it. So wish me luck! I am going to do my best effort to find her!

****Update****

Well, we did our best, this morning Scout and I went back to Park City and asked around. We started at the mall offices and the lady was very nice but had no kiki. She gave Scout a balloon though and wrote a description down in a binder, along with our number, so if it ever shows up, it is in the binder. We went back to all the stores too, but had no luck. Scout piped up every time someone asked if we needed help saying, "We can't find kiki" it was so cute. She was a doll about it and we left the mall determined to buy a new one. We went to the Orem Babies R Us and they didn't have it!! They had every other color under the sun, but only the green and purple would do. Well, the day was devoted to kiki and we had invested most of it anyway, so we trudged up to Midvale to try our luck. Scout fell asleep and I carried her little sleeping body into our last hope and there it was, there was 1 hanging up amidst the others. I snatched it and bought it and was strapping Scout in the car when she woke up. I got in and told her I had a surprise for her and unwrapped it and took the tags and ribbon off and put it over her. Oh, she was just pure joy. It was so cute. She told me about a hundred times on the way home that we found kiki and that she was back, we also remarked quite a bit about how clean kiki was. (Trust me when I say, kiki looked every bit it's 3 years and then some) I didn't correct her about it being back or found, I just let her be happy.
We stopped by the library on the way home and she wouldn't let go even in the bathroom (did I mention she is pretty much potty trained?) She had to do her business with kiki in her hands.
She has mentioned tonight that kiki is new, but doesn't seem to phased about the fact that it is not the original. This does my heart a lot of good. Rob called me a few times during the day asking how I was. When I told him Scout seemed ok with it all, he wanted to know if I was ok too. He's cute. He knew how upset I was last night. I am good today, I re watched the slideshow and shed a tear or two, but I'll be ok.

And Scout? Well, Scout's back to business as usual........

Three Mother Quails

Dale was moving some stuff off the lawn against the fence and under some signs found a little nest of quail eggs. He decided that they were abandoned and dead (for lack of a better word) so didn't put the signs back. Scout and I visited them and talked about them (and I'm not going to lie, grieved a little for the poor quail babies) and a few days later we kept noticing two quails hanging around the driveway. It's the mommy and daddy and those eggs are very much not abandoned! The nest is located very close to where we park our cars, but that mommy and daddy are very brave and will protect those little eggs even with us around.
Rob and I have turned into fierce little mommy quails too. We are also protecting those eggs like they were our own. Some neighbor boys discovered them while retrieving a ball from the backyard and we had to shoo them away. One time, I stepped out of the house to take the garbage out and one of the same neighbor boys had mommy quail captured in a net and when he saw me released her quickly (he hasn't been back and won't be if he knows whats good for him!) If we come home and we see mommy quail on her nest, we whisper and tiptoe inside. We have had long debates over whether to put the signs back or not to give her some privacy, but we have settled with not. We don't want to disturb anything else any further in case she takes that as a last straw and she is such a good mommy, she is doing very well as is. We don't want to rock the boat. We will keep you all informed on the progress. We are excited for the big day and hope it comes soon so we don't have to worry about them so much.

Here is mommy quail on her nest (taken far away with zoom, so not real good sorry)

Farewell, Uncle Keith

aRob's uncle Keith passed away unexpectedly on Memorial day weekend. He was Aunt Doreen's (Rob's fathers sister's) husband. My experience with Uncle Keith are almost solely based on Thanksgivings. Every year we chatted shortly about life and that's about it. I know he was a very nice and funny man and will be missed greatly. He was only 60 and in awesome shape. This was one of those head scratchers, the last person you would expect to have this happen to. He ran track in high school (broke records that are still unbroken to this day), and ran his whole life. He ran everyday, and sadly, that was what he was doing when his heart just stopped. Apparently, it's called "runners heart" and it hit him fast and that was it. We attended his funeral in Green River, Wyoming on Friday and it was a very nice service. Some of you may know this, some not, but I don't handle funerals so well. I could go to a perfect strangers funeral and bawl like a baby. I am just sad for the family and loved ones so much. I am one of those people that cry when other's cry. Anyways, I was making my way in the viewing line and doing very well, I was proud of myself. Aunt Doreen saw us and came over and hugged Rob and then turned to me and said, "Oh Emily, I am just a kid, I don't know how to do this, I'm just a kid" and threw her arms around me. Well, that was just the saddest thing ever. Needless to say, my bravado was busted and I cried with her. They were high school sweethearts (I hear they argued A LOT in those days), but sweethearts none the less. I know she will figure out how to do this, she is a strong women and has her children and family to help her through. She did well and got through the day better then I would have I can tell you that much. Poor Dale, he grew up with only sisters, and Keith was the brother he never had. This was a very sad loss for him too.

Here are some pics from the services:

Scout and her beloved Uncle Travis, helping her climb a tree (she has no tights on because mommy accidentally dropped them in the toilet at the church, kind of a long story)

Travis, Dale and Nathen

Rob and Nathan

Nathan helping Scout blow a dandelion and after a lot of hard work, one solitary piece blew away in the wind.

Is it just me or do my brother's-in-law look like hit men?
Not necessarily a bad thing.

Scout was a super good girl all day. It was a long drive there, a long viewing, then we were crammed in the family section during a particularly long service smack in the middle of the bench. Then she was not allowed to run wild at the cemetery and did she ever want to. We were proud of her of course she got to see her uncles that she adores and doesn't get to see too often, so she was happy with the day. Never mind that she called the coffin a "treasure box" quite loudly during the internment, and saw a spider on a carved lamby head seen here:

and would not stop talking about it for the ENTIRE graveside service. She told anyone and everyone about it that came within 10 feet of her.