Somebody loves dolls....

I just had to post this picture - Poppy just loves her dolls. Isn't she just so cute.

Happy Birthday "Grandma T"!

On Tuesday we headed to Poppy's favorite park (they have a really big slide) to celebrate Anna's Grandmas 80th birthday. It was a fun evening and we were having a nice time, until Poppy -ever the daredevil - fell off of the picnic bench and whacked her head on the cement floor. Not good. I don't know if we've mentioned this before but Poppy is quite the sensitive little girl. She takes a really long time to get over things and will often still be gently sobbing a couple of hours later (I kid you not, she can even do it whilst asleep). So I'm sure you can imagine how well the banged head went down. She was beside herself and only calmed down when Aunt Tracy let her hold Gaby's little blue dog that Poppy loves (she ended up bringing it home too). I am amazed that she is looking somewhat normal in the picture - Eduardo must've taken this between heart wrenching sobs. Luckily Poppy did no major damage, other than a big goose egg and bruise. I am hoping she has learned her lesson about climbing on and off of things all the time - but I am thinking she hasn't.
It seems that this is the week of illness/injury for the Leggetts. The very next morning I am all ready to go to work, just brushing my teeth and I bend down to rinse my tooth brush and put my back out. Not fun at all. I have never hurt my back before, but goodness me it really hurt. I am just recovering thanks to some icy/hot pads and Anna being a great nurse. Hopefully it will be all better for Friday when I, finally, get all 4 of my wisdom teeth out. Wish me luck! Actually you'd better wish Anna luck - I am not a good patient.

A day at the lake

A couple of weekends ago we all headed up to a lake in East Canyon and had quite the fun morning. Poppy has become quite the little water baby and really seems to have no fear of water (not such a good thing) - what with all her water parties and trips the pool - I guess it's no surprise. Poppy was the first one in the, slightly cold, water - quickly followed by Daddy. She strolled merrily in and spent a whole bunch of time splashing around and hanging out in her little ring/boat (which she also uses as a kind of baby recliner when watching 'In The Night Garden' - and other equally entertaining shows). We really are lucky to live so close to so many great outdoorsy places, who'd thought you kind a beach in Utah (not me!). The beach was fun and great preparation for our Bear Lake trip - only two weeks to go!

Midweek trip to the zoo

I can't seem to remember how this happened (that Anna and I were both off of work in the middle of the week), but we took a little trip to the zoo. Poppy really does enjoy the zoo (as do I) and always seems to have lots of fun. She especially enjoys the giraffes (so if Hogle Zoo would stop letting them die - that would be great), as can be evidenced by her clapping in the bottom picture! We also took her to see the bird show for the first time, which I have to say, was great - even if I did think that an owl was going to fly into me at one point. Poppy wasn't so keen on the show as it meant she couldn't snack (I feel her pain) just in case one of the birds tried to steal her food. We really had a great day, just relaxing and spending time together as our little family.

4th of July part 2

I thought it was about time to finish up posting the rest of our July pictures - seeing as the month is almost over. We'll start with the rest of our holiday weekend pictures. On the actual 4th of July we all headed over to Alison and Darren's new house for a lovely, tasty dinner. We (maybe just I) did eat quite a substantial amount of food, but that's what a holiday is all about - right? Anyway we had a relaxing time just spending time hanging out, that is until we decided to try and take a picture of all of the cousins.
Anna's Mom had made cute matching skirts for all of the girls (Poppy is modeling hers above) and bought matching shirts for the boys. They all looked so cute and sweet, so it was decided that would should try for the holy grail of family pictures and get a cousins picture. It all started out well, the 3 girls did really well and we got some really cute pictures. However, when it came time to getting all 6 of them in one picture, things didn't really pan out so well. In the kids defense this was before they ate, so I completely understand their lack of patience. After many attempts and some quite hilarious pictures, we got one with all 6 of them kind of looking (if you ignore the fact that Maia is looking down, and Poppy is about to cry). This seriously was the best one, in the very next frame Cullen has bolted and Poppy is breaking down. Oh well, it's cute enough and far better than the time we all went to Kiddie Kandids (all i'm going to say is that I am not surprised they went out of business).
After dinner we all went to the park and had fun on the zip-line and swings (that is until the sprinklers came on unexpectedly). All in all it was a lovely end to the holiday weekend.

Could Poppy be any more cute?- I submit that she could not

New post

FYI - there is a new post below the 4th of July post (it posted in an odd order). Enjoy!

This haughty foe is not in dread silence but is reposing!

Happy July 4th! Today is July 4th and currently everyone is taking a nap - so I decided to post a couple of pictures from the Murray Parade this morning (this is Paul by the way). Thus far we have had a lovely relaxing day, we got up and headed over to watch the parade, which Poppy loved. She was quite enthralled with all of the floats and enjoyed watching all the people walking by. Luckily Grandma went over early and got us a good spot in the shade (although we did have to sit next to some really cranky people who really did not seem to be into the holiday spirit). Poppy got lots of candy (which she kindly shared with us) and seemed to have lots of fun. After the parade we went over to Tracy and Eduardo's and hung out at the pool for a while, then it was time for some delicious lunch (you can't go wrong with Artic Circle), and that brings us to right now. I am just waiting for everyone to wake up and then we are heading over to the park to partake in more of the festivities. I have to say although I am not American, and technically this holiday is all about the US beating England, I still love this holiday. It is so relaxing and fun, we basically just get to spend the weekend relaxing and hanging out - GLORIOUS!

Luke's birthday party & fun in the sun!

Discovering Chef Boyardee - officially the messiest food around

Enjoying the birthday cake & ice cream at Luke's party

Poppy with the other grandkids at Luke's party at a park in Daybreak

Waiting for the pool party to start!

Poppy's new favorite way to watch TV, along with climbing up into the recliner, which she is also very fond of!

The classic engrossed VanDenBerghe face

new splash pool

Enjoying a popsicle, sporting the Einstein look

Summer temperatures are here to stay!! Which is great if you're planning a pool party with your cousins, but not so much fun otherwise. We got Poppy a little splash pool at the salvation army store for $12, so we decided to have a little party with her cousins. We've also been over to Tracy & Eduardo's condo's pool twice, which was great because both times we had the pool to ourselves!! Poppy loves swimming, and we're excited for our Bear Lake trip next month.
Other than that, we have been enjoying the 4th of July festivities (pictures to come), including a parade and extra time off with Mummy & Daddy.
Poppy recently received a little summer outfit in the mail from Great Nannie Mary, and some little shoes and a duck from Great Gramps that he got on holiday in Spain! Thanks, family! We're hoping to visit England soon, because Poppy has plenty of relatives that she hasn't met yet, including Paul's grandparents & Uncle Adam and Aunt Louise and their new additions which will make their appearance late November sometime. Poppy is so excited!
Last week, we applied for a passport for Poppy (thought we'd better hurry since we read in the newspaper that fees were going up!), and had an interesting experience. There was a couple in the marriage & passports office that asked us to be their witnesses, since I guess it must have been a spur-of-the-moment idea. We agreed, even though that meant waiting an extra ten minutes for the clerk to come out into the hall in her black gospel choir-esque robe and sneakers to perform the ceremony. It was weird that they didn't even have a room to do this in; we just stood out in the hall while they exchanged vows and kissed for 5 minutes - awkward! Anyway, best of luck to them, I guess.
Next up: I (Anna) have a work trip coming up in two weeks to Denver for work, which won't be very fun away from my family!