I heart Leap Day Gnomes!

Did you know about these guys? I sure didn't. But let me tell ya, Leap Day Gnomes are just about the cutest little workers I've ever seen. Ty came home to this note on the door:
Here is what they did at our house:
-They cleaned the bathroom. They organized the shelves and even got all the hair from the shower drain!
-They cleaned our bedroom, which was was quite the task. They organized the desk, straightened the closet and picked up every single article of clothing that I had on the floor. Wow! It must have take them a good chunk of the morning to get that done.
-They took out all the trashes. Ty was so happy about that one, since I never take out the trash. Bless their little gnome hearts for giving him a trash break!
-They made us pre-dinner appetizers.
-They made us Spaghetti Carbonara, which only Ty likes.
-And they splurged and bought macadamia nuts so they could make us sin pie!

But the funniest past of it all this is that our little gnome friends kinda jumped the gun. They must have gotten confused on the date or something because they showed up at our house yesterday, instead of today. Oopsie! But maybe they did that on purpose so they would have more time to visit all of your houses.

Happy Leap Day everyone!

Gimme a "best friends" box!

Nothing but love for this song and video.

I find myself wishing I had a box labeled "best friends" out of which all my girls would magically appear and then we could all float down the river (the Provo, of course) together. Wouldn't that be a perfect day?

To my lovley ladies, "how I love ya!" And here's hoping this will be us one day soon.

I love yous, ipods and identical twins

I know it's a little late, but here is a glimpse into our valentines celebration.
After a delicious dinner made by your's truly (and a little help from Whole Foods) I totally scored big in the Valentine's gift department. Ty totally outdid himself. An ipod and a portable video player! Ty has been telling me for ages that he really thinks I should have an ipod, so my sweet man spent his birthday money on me. What a guy! Sorta makes the 80's CD I bought him look lame, but he did make me promise to not buy him a thing, so he was pleasantly surprised.
And Valentine's wouldn't be complete without a homemade cuppycake dress for my li'l cuppycake now would it? She had a matching hair clip, but as you can see in this picture, clips don't last too long in her hair these days.
On another note, we made a discovery this weekend...
Archie and Kenneth are totally twins! Who knew? From the plaid shoes, to the cords and striped shirt. It's a good thing Kenneth has eyes or else there is no way we would have been able to tell them apart! There was the embarrassing moment when Emily high-fived Archie instead of Kenneth after she rolled that five though. It's OK Em, it could have happened to anyone.

Sacco's Bowl Haven

I can't believe we have lived in Massachusetts for two and a half years and we haven't been Candlepin Bowling before last night. Especially at a place called Sacco's Bowl Haven where the decor hasn't changed since the 50's. We were totally missing out! For those of you not familiar with the sport, it is like bowling, as you know it, but different. Here is a better description of the ins and outs, but basically, it's10 skinny pins (about and inch and a half wide), you get 3 balls (four and a half inches in diameter), and you have at it. It seems like with 3 balls you would be able to get all the pins down every time, but not so (and not just because I lost and came in "penultimate place" the second game.). You can roll the ball right down the middle, a shot that would definately be a strike in regular bowling, and only knock down one pin because of the way the pins are placed and because they are so skinny. Kinda frusterating, but so super fun! I think we may have found a new favorite date night activity!

What do you say guys, don't you think this photo belongs right next the the photos of the ol' dolls bowling league?
Thanks "Tiki" and "Randall" for giving us a run for our money! Speaking of money....

"Daddy!!"

"Little China Girl"

Gong Xi Fa Cai!
And you thought I was going to forget about "First FHE of the Month" again didn't you? I totally spaced it in November and December with all the was going on and we were still in Utah for January's first Monday. So the long wait is over. You can now rest easy.

Every Chinese New Year since Ty and I have been married we have had a party of sorts. The first year was a MAJOR production, complete with "Chinese Dice Game", lantern making contest, killer decoration and costumes to boot. It was pretty fabulous.But every year since, the parties have been less and less elaborate. I think last year we may have just ordered Chinese and called it good. So naturally this month's theme had to be New Year related. Partly because it is always fun, and mainly because Mckinlay had the prefect outfit for the occasion.
This little gem was mine as a babe. I might just put it back on her today so I can get a better picture. There are little matching pants, but somehow she managed to spill my cup of water all over them...

We kept it pretty simple this year. We danced to a little Bowie while I decorated and she un-decorated.
Had some good eats. Thank you "Trader Mings".
And, of course, we enjoyed festive cookies. Some of them are a little more yin than yang (or vice versa), but I'm overall pleased with my yin-yang making skills.
It was fun to get both our Chinese New Year and our FHE traditions back on track. And thanks, as always, for the vinyl Mom. It always make our celebration that much more festive!
Happy New Year everyone! The year of the rat is going to be a good one. I can just feel it.

"I got a new way to walk..."

This is by far my favorite Sesame Street Video. I remember singing this as a kid all the time.

Looks like someone else decided it was time to get a new way to walk.

Isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever seen? Now all we need to do is work on the walking "with confidence" thing. I'll keep replaying the song. I bet that'll do the trick.

Birthday Festivities

This year, I vetoed the traditional birthday cake. Since Ty is kinda picky when it comes to desserts, I figured it was safe to make, what he called "the best treat he's ever eaten." Melanie made these peanut butter chocolate chip ball thingies the other day and Ty fell in love (with the thingies, not Melanie). They are basically peanut butter rice krispie treats on steroids.

We spent Ty's birthday night watching the long awaited LOST premiere. Needless to say we were disappointed when we discovered that the first hour of the 2 hour premiere was a recap. LAME. But otherwise, a good start to the season.

Friday Ty didn't have school so we devoted the entire day to celebrating! We went to the Children's Museum in the morning. I'm not sure if Ty or Mckinlay had more fun. It was equally as thrilling for me to see how excited they both were to be there! OK, so maybe this isn't the best "excited Mckinlay" picture. But trust me, she was excited. This little contraption took some serious muscle power! I know Ty makes it look like it is easy-peesy-lemon-squeezy, but I'll admit I darn near broke a sweat on my turn. Yeah, yeah I know the words "pathetic" and "weakling" are probably coming to mind. Go try it for yourself and then call me names. Or maybe don't try it for yourself...
We had some quality dress up opportunities......then our camera mysteriously stopped working. Mckinlay and I climbed into a canoe and then I handed Ty the camera to take a picture of us so that "I could prove that I came too" and nothin'. The camera would turn on, but that's about all. Then magically it started working again this morning. I guess I wasn't meant to have my picture taken. But believe it or not, I was there.

Last night, thanks to the Fillmore's excellent baby monitor listening skills, Ty and I went out to the Texas Roadhouse. It was our first time there, and we were quite pleased. But maybe not as pleased as the table next to us. They were very obviously not from the US and were so pumped when the waitresses started line dancing in the isles. They pulled out their video camera and everything. Pretty funny.

We decided it would be fun to have a camp out in our living room (sleep on the air mattress so we could watch a movie). We got all of 5 mins into the movie and then decided it was bed time. What a bunch of old fogies we are turning into. All the partying lately did us in, I guess. It's kinda sad to think my birthday isn't until September! I guess were gonna have to find some other things to celebrate in the months between now and then.

Here is the treat recipe if you want to give it a try:

Chocolate Chip Ball Surprise
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups creamy peanut butter
3 cups confectioners' sugar
3 cups crispy rice cereal, crushed (recommended: Rice Krispies)
1 cup semisweet mini chocolate morsels
2 (12-ounce) packages semisweet chocolate morsels

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, sugar, rice cereal and mini chocolate morsels. (I first creamed my butter, sugar and peanut butter, then added the rice krispies...) Roll mixture into 1-inch balls and place onto a parchment lined sheet pan in the freezer. In a double boiler, (or you can use the microwave like I did), melt semisweet morsels. Stir constantly until melted and smooth. With fingers, dip half the frozen balls in melted chocolate. Place on a cool cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in freezer for 5 to10 minutes until the chocolate has set. Store the balls in an airtight container at room temperature.

"Ha-Ha-Happy Birfday!"

Happy birthday to the cutest guy we know! Here's hopin' one day we have a little clone of you too!

XXXOOO,
Your gals

Bittersweet Farewell

We will miss President Hinckley so much! We all knew he couldn't be here forever, but somehow it seemed like he always would be. We're so grateful for the legacy our prophet left for us. Let's all "stand a little taller" in his honor.

To find out more about our church, click here.

Silly Costumes & Spilled Milk

It has been SO stinkin' cold here lately! A few weeks back we had a wonderful week of warm temperatures. I'm talking 50s and 60s. The trees started to bud, the birds came back and I got major Spring Fever. It was glorious. I was so caught up in the excitement, then I remembered, IT'S ONLY JANUARY! We still have another good 4+ months of winter ahead. Shoot.

Now that it is freezing again, we have had a few days where Mckinlay and I didn't want to go out and brave the cold, so we have had to get creative at home. We have made up new games, new songs, started dancing a lot, and one of our new favorite things is dress up time.
Also, I thought that it might be fun for Mckinlay and I to start baking together. So I pulled up a chair to the counter for her to stand. She loved helping me stir and pour all the dry ingredients into the big bowl. Everything was going great until I poured the milk in. This girl L-O-V-E-S milk. I should have known it would be a disaster. And I somehow always forget that her arms grow 8 inches longer when there is something naughty waiting to be done.
OOPSIE! Ingredients all over the floor!
I wish I got a picture of the floor (because the counter doesn't look any different that it normally does when I cook, right Ty?) or that somehow someone got a video of me trying to clean it all up while holding her to keep her out of the mess she made. I picked her up and held her right in front of my face, in a moment of frustration, and said "Mckinlay Marie!" And she just giggled and gave me the biggest grin. Ah man! How could I be mad at her!? It was, after all, my fault for letting her get close to all the temptation.

I'm beginning to better understand what my mom went through whenever she would get mad at me. She is always telling me how when I was young and she would try to punish me I would just look up at her and say "I love you Mommy!" or "You're so beautiful Mommy!" And she couldn't help but laugh. I think as I got older it turned into me saying "What flab?" Right mama!?

Anyway, kind of a random post, but I guess I've learned my lesson...stick with the Groucho glasses and hold off on the baking.

Old Mckinlay Had a Farm...

E-i-e-i-o!
And on that farm she had A PARTY!!
Barnyard vinyl, check.Lulu lamby cake, check.
Goodie bags and cute napkins, double check.
I totally spaced taking a picture, but luckily I forgot to give Evelyn hers before she left. Sorry about that sweetie! I"ll bring it on Sunday. But somehow I think you'll make it until then since you are only 3 months old.
Barnyard toys, check.
Super fun party guests, check.
Sorry I didn't get a picture of everyone, but I thought this picture was so funny! Hello little Josh, little Kurt, little Jonathan and little Meghan! Is there any denying who these kids parents are? I mean really?
I gave Mckinlay the hoof cupcake and she very gingerly picked off each and every marshmallow and each and every chocolate chip. Then she picked it up, held it out, and dropped the bare cake on the floor. So different than last time.

Thanks to all Mckinlay's little friends (and my BIG friends) for coming and celebrating with us!

Oh yeah! Here is the best part of the day for me. Mckinlay and I were watching Baby MacDonald (of course, didn't you get that there was a theme for the day?) with her new little boyfriend.
It warms my heart that she loves these little guys so much! She picks them up and gives them big hugs and kisses. If I were a little quicker with the cameras I could have caught her with both Olive and Archie in a giant bear hug!

One Today

I can't believe my little girl is one today!! Ty and I were talking last night about how it seems like she has always been here in our little family, and on the other hand she still seems so new. Then Ty said, "but if you think about it, if she had a warranty--it would be expired by now." There you have it. Thanks for putting things into perspective Ty.
Here are some of Mckinlay's favorite things:
Favorite foods - pears, bananas, raisins, strawberries, ravoli, frozen peas, and any sort of treat
Favorite games - loves patty-cake (she is really good at "roll it"), giving five, and playing peek-a-boo
Words - "Mama", "Daddy" or "Dad", "men" (as in "amen"), and "a-nah-a-nah-nah" aka "e-i-e-i-o"
Favorite books - "Animal Kisses" and "Where is Baby's Belly Button?"
Loves - waving, "Family snuggles", smiling all the time, and giving really wet kisses

It's crazy to think how much life has changed in the last year. We love our little girl so much and feel so blessed to have her. Life is definitely more excited and there is never a dull moment. I know this is just the beginning. She has already earned the nickname "Hurricane Mckinlay", just like her mother--"Hurricane Meghan." And sadly, if she is like me, she may never grow out of that. While we were home I looked around my mom's house and I had stuff everywhere!! Sorry about that Mom, but it brings back good memories, right?
Mckindee, we love you so much! Thanks for being such a delight and for all the joy and smiles you bring to us. Happy first birthday!!
You have all our love...even if you don't have a warranty.

Jiggity jig.

We're home! We had a fabulous trip and loved spending so much time with our families. There are so many of you that we wanted to see and never got a chance to. I'm so sorry we weren't able to connect, but know that we love you!

I really don't know where to begin with a post about our two weeks in Utah...so maybe I'll just post some highlight pics and call it good. What say you?We started off the trip by celebrating St. Lucia Day. I made my family start this tradition about 12 years ago after reading about it in one of my American Girl books. We have a family breakfast and such and then we get gifts from Jultomten (the Swedish Santa). His gifts are always our Christmas jammies and an ornament. The funnest part about his gifts are the poems. Each gift comes with a poem that hints to what is inside. This year I got to write the poems. I'll post them if I can find where I saved them...
Happy Jo was in Heaven with both Mckinlay and Addy-Lou there. It was so fun to have Addy and Mckinlay meet, even if all Mckinlay did was poke Addy and try to get her fingers up her nose and in her ear. But Addy didn't seem to mind. I think it was the start of a great friendship.
Try as we did to get a good picture of these two... I think this is the best we came up with. I have decided it is impossible to get a decent picture of a one month old and a 1 year old.
The cool gift to get this year (OK, what we gave everyone...) was a homemade apron. I made one for both Moms and for Bryn (and one for myself) and Ty made this one for Alli! Impressive, no?
My wishes and hopes came true on Christmas when Mckinlay was the happy recipient of an Alli-made Strawberry hat! Oh how I've, I mean she, has wanted one! It is just too darling. We decided on homemade gifts for the little cousins. I made Addy a little dress (one of the secret projects). And look at Archie sitting there in all his cute glory. I DID finish them in time...even if I did stitch his bottom up on Christmas morning.
And sorry you didn't get an apron too Daddy...but Santa DID leave you a stocking full of potato peelings. What? He was on the naughty list! Guess you gotta try a little harder next year Papio!
It was so fun for Mckinlay to be able to play with her Loveless cousins! She fell in love with Jackson, Maci and Maddox. Maci was such a little mommy to her. It was so darling. Next time we need a sitter, we're flying you out Mace! Seriously!
Peyton and Mckinlay got to tickle the ol' ivories together.
And Mckinlay got a lot of quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Loveless. How fun is it that the aquarium is 5 mins for Grandma's house? Pretty sure it's gonna be a regular stop on our trips home with the way she loves it!
While we were in Sandy, we got to meet the Harmon's for brekky. Kristen, how many times have we tried to get a picture of them together where they are both looking, let alone smiling!? What a winner! I'm glad we got to meet up with you guys. Boston is not the same with out ya!

I have a lot more pictures I could post, but I think these will suffice. Heaven forbid you tire of looking at Loveless pictures (is that possible?)! Mckinlay's first birthday is tomorrow and you KNOW there are gonna be lots of pictures to come.

Happy New year everyone! Thanks for checking in with us. It makes us feel loved to know that more than just our moms read our blog. :)

New Year Wishes

We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas. We did. It's been so fun to be with family and friends. We have taken about a million pictures and will take about a million more before we are through. Highlights will be posted as soon as I can get back to my home computer to download them.

We love you and happy new year!!

XXXOOO,
Ty, Megs and Mckinlay

Is this embarassing to admit?

74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Maybe. But I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. Here are my 2 favorite questions:

Have you ever blown off an important task, such as studying for an exam or making a deadline, because you were blogging?

What do you think I'm doing right now? Shouldn't I be packing or finishing my last minute odds and ends? Yes. I should be.

Have you ever come up with a great blog idea while doing something completely random, such as taking a shower or watching a movie?

All the time. When I started "thinking in blog" I knew I had a problem.

Legless Loveless

We had a minor set back in the stuffing process. Archie lost a leg. No worries, it can be easily fixed. I'm kinda nervy to stitch their faces. You are supposed to stitch them after they are all stuffed, and I get why, but it would have been so much easier to do before they were all sewn together and stuffed.

Hmmmm.....what about faceless dolls? Archie Legless Faceless Loveless. That has a nice ring to it don't you think?

Weekend-o-fun

We went to a great gingerbread making party at the Christopher's on Saturday. Brianne is quite the hostess with the mostess! She provided the makings for the houses, dinner, a decorated home, and even an oh-so delicious party favor! Brianne, we give you a 10!
Here are a few of the amazing feats of architecture that we're produced:I think all Fillmore's house needs is a trail of bread crumbs and/or a little old witch lady peeking through the window.
Leave it to the Sprague's to come up with something...uhhhh...interestingly amazing (and surprisingly structurally sound--thanks to Robyn's mad frosting skills!).
Sorry 'bout the crap picture. But you can kinda get an idea of Ty's sweet gingerbread skills. Notice how the front door is in an alcove? Who thinks of alcoving gingerbread? Leave it to Ty.
We got another dumping of snow yesterday! Church was cancelled because of it, so we had a fun family day inside! We "slept in" (Mckinlay watched Cinderella in our bed while we laid there not sleeping), we spent some quality time with the Fillmy's and, since it's not like I have a ton of Christmas projects to finish or anything, Ty and I started a joint art project! More on that later.
AND Olive is coming along nicely wouldn't you say? I popped in White Christmas last night and had me a little sew-fest.
Now all I need to do is stuff her, sew on her face and collar, and stitch up her bottom. And make Archie. And finish my secret project. And the other secret project. And that other one. And pack. And do the laundry. And wrap gifts. That's all.

What am I doing blogging right now...