Nice day for a ...white blessing

We finally blessed Lucy at church this past weekend. Jon's folks and sister Emily came out for the occassion. The group picture was taken by the very large Polynesian man in our ward who got in a fist/crutchfight during Sunday School a few weeks ago.



We have better pictures of Lucy, but this one seems kind of Vogue.

This is what happens when you let a bald man do your daughter's hair.

This is Jon's sister, Emily. She's single, she enjoys long walks on the beach, pretzels and sacrificing children to her heathen god.

COPS

This post is actually being written by me, Becky. I think this is the first one I've actually written, but I have good reason this time. So yesterday I needed some "alone time" so I ventured out on my own to Wal-Mart to get an oil change on my car and to waste some time looking at bath towels and things. So I drop the car off with the ever-rude 16-year old working in the automotive department who tells me that it will take 60 minutes. That alone was annoying, but he failed to tell me that the 60 minutes started AFTER the entire automotive department was taking an hour-long lunch break. You'd think by going to get an oil change at 3 pm you'd miss the company-lunch break, but not at our "friendly" Wal-Mart. So anyways, I decide to wander around the store, check out the Clearance aisle, fun things like that. So I'm walking down the main aisle in the back of the store, the one with a right and left side with bins and displays down the center, right? So I'm walking, wondering what I'm going to do to pass the time when I remember that the Clearance aisle is to my right in this store so I make a somewhat sudden jolt from the left side of the walkway to the right side. Just as I do this, I look up to see that the person walking toward me is a police officer. So we make eye contact as I'm quickly crossing to get out of his way and into the right aisle. I thought for a split second about how it looked funny that I looked up and right as I saw him I bolted out of sight, but I didn't think about it too much as my eyes caught a handy foot stool that I've been needing.
I stop to look at the footstool and as I do, I see that the officer has followed me to the aisle and has stopped innocently at the end to all-of-the sudden stare up at the ceiling. So as I am examining the footstool and seeing how it folds and unfolds to fit nicely under my sink, the officer turns to get a good look at my suspicious person.
Anyways, I didn't get the footstool. I didn't even have a cart. Apparently this made me look even more guilty. Normally I get smiles and comments and feel very motherly as I shop at Wal-Mart with my two little girls, so it felt weird that he would even target me as suspicious.
So I finally make it to the clearance aisle where I thought I had lost him. I took my sweet time looking at everything from the opened bottles of lotion that they try to re-sell to the sheets and bedspreads. I actually found some things and had my hands loaded up with toys and junk as I moved my way on to find a cart to dump them in. As I walk away I see that indeed, I had not lost the nice officer, he was just waiting on the other side of the aisle until I was done, which now I was, so he slowly turned to follow me to the front of the store. Of course on this day no one had decided to abandon their cart so I had to go to the doors at the front and again, as my luck would have it, the only free carts were on the other side of the detectors that beep if you take things out without paying for them. So I walk to the other entrance to see if there are any carts there, again, no luck. So this cop is still behind me and sees me go to one entrance, stop, turn around and go to the other entrance, with the still un-paid-for items in my hand. Anyways, to wrap things up, there was no arrest and no pat down. I eventually lost him. I did however, get two house keys made while I sat and waited for the oil change on my Toyota Corolla.

Hurl

Lucy's been fairly pukey for the last couple weeks. We don't think it's because we let her watch "America's Next Top Model", but we're not ruling it out as a possiblity. She has an uncanny knack for throwing up at the precise moment you're switching her to your other shoulder or right after you've changed her into a clean outfit. I suppose vomit is as good a fluid as any to express spite.

"Target sited. Emessis armed."

Sam can hold and aim her like a Gatling gun.

This has absolutely nothing to do with ralphing. This is the amazing lemon merigue pie that Becky made. So sweet. So sublime. Or is that sublemon?

Company

There's been a fair amount of traffic in and out of the Kansas City area. The ever-enthusiastic Aunt Chrissy showed up for a while to add both joy and chemical dyes to her beloved family. Her visit was eclipsed by both the Ralston clan and Samantha's "Favorite Uncle" Mel and Aunt Sandy. More visits are expected in the coming weeks, assuring us a continuation of this superb, familial bliss.

Zoey Ralston is four months younger than Sam. She's obviously put forth more effort into growing hair, but that didn't help her when we tried out the toddler-sized brass knuckles.




Cassie Ralston was more interactive with both our daughters. This one on the left shows Samantha doing her impression of a dementor.


Fine. Zoey's cute. What do you want from me?







Posers.








With all these people coming over, Samantha pitched in with the chores. This is the aftermath of helping to empty the dishwasher.







"Favortie Uncle" Mel with his super-human nuzzle.







Grandma Deanna made Lucy's blessing dress and bonnet. We tried it on. You can place orders at http://minkpoop.blogspot.com/ I think they cost about a million billion dollars for non-descendants.






Cooper, Ethan, and Max all test their mettle against Sam's superior intellectual prowess. She switched to red to throw them off.
That little girl is going to make a lot of powerful people uncomfortable one day.

Our Young Gets Less-So

We celebrated Sam's 2nd birthday this weekend. She won't actually be two years old until the 22nd. Her cousin Maxwell is two weeks her senior, so Grandma and Papa Thorne were kind enough to gather the entire herd to their backyard for a celebration. Like any other kine in Missouri, we mostly lounged in the shade while we grazed.
Sam's favorite gift was a makeup kit, which will only be used under strict supervision from now on.
Apparently, there's a limit to the number of pictures you can include in a single posting, so keep scrolling. I like candid shots.

If anybody can guess the nature of that brown blob next to the spoon, you win a special prize.

More

birthday movies

These videos do a decent job of demonstrating our little Samantha's varied social skills.

Chin Up

Salutations! That's my fancy way of saying "Hello."

This is Sam's "Daddy farted" face.
Hot sweaty girls should always try to keep their legs moist.




These two pictures show the gorgeous shawl that Great-greandma Ashe made for Sam. It's too bad we're in the middle of a Missouri summer. It should still fit in the fall.


Aunt Rachel made us another scrumptious quilt. We get one every time we procreate. If that isn't motivation to get busy as soon as possible, I don't know what is.