Gone Fishin'

Last Friday the McCleve fam went on a fishing trip to the Black River. It was filled with adventure and just some good old fashion family fun. We left Friday around 4am in the morning. Brittney and I didn't go to bed till 1am (luckily we got some shuteye on the drive up) We stopped by the Circle K in Globe to buy our licenses and Brittney loaded up on some Firery Cheetos (her favorite) and we were off again. We took Highway 8 and then got off in a little dirt road. Dad McCleve, Brittney, Cameron, Devin, and I were all in the Excursion. Uncles, Dean and Loren were with their family in their suburban. It had been raining all Thursday so we were kind of worried about the weather and the road conditon. Needless to say the road was pretty muddy. We were behind Loren's suburban and we could see it sliding around in the mud. Since they didn't have four will drive and a six inch lift, like the Excursion, they decieded to pull over and we all crammed into our vehicle. So Dad, Dean, Loren, Brittney, Chantell, Cameron, Devin, Chealyn, Tyler, Connor, Caden, and I along with everyones packs and gear set off on the seven mile muddy road. There were times when I thought for sure that we were going to tip over or get stuck in the mud, but the Excursion held its ground and stuck true to it's course. We got to the top of the rim and prepared our poles and hiked a mile or two down to the river. By that time there was no rain and a nice overcast. We started hiking up the river and throwing in our lines. Devin caught to first fish, then Brittney, and Chealyn. They day and water turned out to be perfect. The overcast started to clear and the sun came out. The water was a little cold when you first stepped in, but then it was perfect. We continued our journey down river. The fish didn't seem too hungry since i had only caught about 2 by noon. Our little cousin Tyler had worn flanal pajama pants and they had become completely soaked with water. He took those off and Connor gave him some shorts of his, but the shorts were too big so he spent the rest of the time fishing in just his whitey tightys. It was really funny to see! It looked as if he was wearing nothing sometimes. I got to tease him the whole day about running around in his "skivies"! We got pretty far and it was about 3 pm. I had just caught a beautiful 12-13 inch small mouth bass making my total catches thus far 3. Brittney was a little disapointed because she had only caught one fish that was too small to keep, and several that had gotten away. (She hooked some good rocks and trees though) We started hiking back and looked for a good, shallow spot to cross over the river. Dad thought the spot the rest of us picked was too deep and that he could hike a little farther and find a better spot. About two hundred yards and several cuts and bruises later, he realized that the mountain was getting to steep to keep on going, and the water was only getting deeper. (picture at right) Before he called defeat though, he fished for a while and helped Brittney to snag her first real keeper, a fish about the same size as mine. Then, as everyone laughed, dad hiked back to the same place where all the rest of us smart ones crossed.

On the hike back the fish started to really bite. Dad pulled out several whoppers within minutes. Brittney caught the 2nd largest fish of the day. Even little Caden (the youngest on the trip at 8) who only had a few bites, was able to catch a few fish on the way back. He gave everyone who was within listening range an earful of how great his fish were.
We found a nice spot and began to gut the fish. It took me a moment before I was ok with it (it had been a while since I gutted a fish). I loved showing Brittney the insides of the fish. She, at first, was excited about gutting the fish, but when it came time and she saw how it was done, she chickened out.

By the time we had hiked it was starting to get dark. I thought the ride in was scary, but going out in the dark was a nightmare. Dad had the time of his life driving out and scaring the rest of us. We were pretty tired on the way back, but made it home around 11:30. I was driving and Brittney wouldn't go to sleep because she was scared of the curvey, windy roads. She always would let me know if I was going to fast or getting too close to the the edge. Next time I'll know to knock her out with a couple of sleeping pills.

We had a ton of fun telling stories of years past and talking about next year. All-in-all it was a lot of fun!

An Unusual Lullaby

addison is growing up so fast. i'm constantly amazed at all the new things she is learning to do. most are things of a typical baby, but somehow it's a bigger milestone for her. (coming from a biased mommy) her personality is very strong, and she is very happy. everyone who meets her comments on how often and easliy she smiles (oh what a smiley baby!) she loves to talk, and squaks loudly when she likes something, or in protest! but my favorite thing, and most recent, i have to kiss her to sleep! for some reason, kissing her also calms her. i lay her down to nap and let her cry for a few minutes. then i come back into the room and tell her everything is all right and that it is time to go to sleep. as i tell her this, i slowly kiss her everywhere on the face and she closes her eyes. sometimes i have to stay there with my head close to her for several minutes before i can leave. even though this routine can take a few minutes, i don't mind. how long will it be before she doesn't need me at all? it's little things like this that i want to remember and cherish forever.

Wedding Weekend

well, we can add a new addition to the ranks of marriage! last weekend, michelle and jesse got married for time and all eternity. it was a beautiful ceremony at 9:45 a.m. (i told michelle she was crazy for making it so early). it was amazing to be there, and it made my mind flood with memories of (only) one year ago when i was making those same covenants that she was making. there is so much to take in, and looking at michelle i knew that she will remember the most important things. the day was perfect and michelle and jesse were so happy and in love. at the luncheon, jesse sang "it's your love" and played the guitar for michelle. she of course ate it up. they could hardly take their eyes off eachother...

michelle is married!! she picked a great guy, and he is lucky to get such a sweet and caring person. i love them both and couldn't be more proud - LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Her Royal Preciousness

Addison is doing just great. She has become quite the chatter bug and will coo and ahh all the time when she's awake. This last Sunday I took her to priesthood and I could not get her to be quite. She must like the sound of her own voice. She also loves giving out free smiles. There is nothing cuter than seeing her gummy little smile. She sleeps really good too. We'll put her to bed around nine or ten and she wont wake up until 7:30 or 8:30, which we are very grateful for. Here are some pictures of her. Enjoy!

CAR SHOW

Brittney and I this Saturday went to take some pictures of a family at the Mesa Center for the Arts. I was her official assistant carrying props, the step stool, and giving her some ideas about different poses. After the shoot we went across the street to a vintage car show that was going on. I loved looking at all the vintage and classic cars. It makes me wish that those times were still here. Cars were made to last back then and it seems cars now-a-days are just junk. After the car show we went to our favorite place to eat on Main St. which is Pizza Mart. It turned out to be a fun night out on the town.

Midnight at IHOP

At the end of every semester Brittney and I celebrate by going to IHOP late at night and getting some breakfast. We started this tradition when we were dating. After our first semester (which is really hard when your dating and then engaged and making wedding plans...ect) we were so excited to be done with school and have a few weeks of break where we could just take a little breather. We were really happy that now we could spend some more time with each other (which for engaged couples there seems to be never enough time). The first time we celebrated at IHOP we decided to do it at 3 AM in the morning requiring us to sneak out of our houses. I remember crawling out of my bedroom window in my room downstairs climbing out of the window well and getting into my car and driving over to Brittney's. Some of Brittney's family were already up so she didn't have to sneak out ( which I thought didn't make it as exciting). Since it was so early in the morning for some reason we were in a very laughing mood and everything seemed really funny. Our server probably thought we were drunk because we were laughing at everything. This year we went at midnight. We were already at Brittney's parents house and they wanted to watch Addison while were gone. It was great fun and a good way to start the summer.

A Mothers Hands

by: Kyle McKay
In Honor of his loving wife for Mother's Day

Her hands may be a little dry

Her nails are chipped and worn

But her hands wipe wet tears that cry

And gently caress those that mourn

Her hands are clasped each day in prayer

As she pleas for the ones she loves

Such faith to be found on earth is rare

When she supplicates to the Lord above

Her hands will guide through life's dangerous shoals

Catch reaching hands that fall

Helping them strive for higher goals

Coming to the aid of all those that call

Her hands are a sign of selfless devotion

Ever giving to those in need.

They're filled with love deeper than the ocean

Such perfect hands, Indeed!

McKAY TRADITION LIVES ON!

Since my cousins and I were little, we've always loved it when someone in the family would get married. The gathering together, the food, the dancing were some of the things that we enjoyed, but the real reason why we loved weddings was trashing the Bride and Groom's car! It's what we lived for and were bred for. It all started when with our cousin Marie marrying Matt. We were young and new the the whole car trashing gig. We were too little to go to the store and buy supplies so we improvised. We raided the church's custodial closet and found a large stash of TP and paper towels. We then scoured all the garbage's around and came up with a some soda cans and string. With a little bit of wedding cake ( ok maybe it was more than a little) we were set! Matt's little ford truck was soon covered in TP, with cake smashed all over, and some cans tied to the back. Since then we've improved with each wedding. When it came my turn my cousins got me pretty bad. They had opened my sunroof and fill my car to the very top with balloons, crumpled newspaper, and shredded paper. When I opened the door for Brittney there was a landslide! We could hardly find room to get in. Today my cousin Bobby got married to Stephanie and I can say we've perfected the art of car trashing. We were armed with balloons, streamers, oreos, saran wrap, news paper, shredded paper, wedding cake...... ect. This time we tried something a little new. We lined his truck bed with a painters tarp and then filled the bed with water. We added some rubber ducks, toy boats, and some foam noodles just for fun. It was our best job yet! Everyone was in awe by our artistic genius. I think Bobby and Stephanie were even more awestruck. Topping that will be difficult, but we are up to the challenge.

A Little Bit of Everything...

argh! there is so much for me to blog about!! well, maybe not "so much" but a few little things here and there. we are still babysitting for the olson's (from may 1st to the 13th), which means we are ending tomorrow. bittersweet. i will miss having house cleaners twice a week, wow what a difference they make! i have loved being in a home with more than two rooms and will miss nick and laren a lot - good thing they will probably be over a lot this summer. i think addison has a sort of attachment to lauren. she saves some really big smiles for her, and then throws up on her. but she only throws up on the really special people, so that says a lot. but our job ends tomorrow so i guess we will have to settle on visits.

like kyle said in his post, michelle went through the temple today. yesterday she took her bridal portraits and in two days she will be mrs. woodbury! it has been so much fun to watch her take the same steps that i took (last year!) i wish i would've recorded more of my thoughts and memories down at that time, but seeing her getting ready has helped to jog my memory. she made fun of some of the things kyle and i did and it's funny how i see her doing similar things all the time. the other day i asked my mom if i talked to kyle funny when we were engaged, and she said that i did (although i have no recollection). side note: i was reading another blog, and a girl said that her and her husband have their own language that they communicate in. her psychology teacher told her that most married couples have their own baby language! how funny. coincidentally, kyle and i have a language all our own that i implemented not too long after we were married. i thought we were the only ones!! do any of you do that? what cute things do you do? in mckay language you = yous; kyle = kyles kay; i'm = in's; brittney = bwittney just to name a few. i love it.

jen and i are having a contest to get to our ideal weight by june 1st. i am really excited and so far have lost weight and gained it back, lost, gained, etc. so even though i am not doing particularly well right now, i am better than when i started and hope to get even better. i just got new running shoes and can't wait to try them.

so like kyle said in his post, pete's was good, but not good enough to break tradition. maybe we like pizza mart the way mccleve's love pete's because they are traditions. my dad got bummed that he couldn't go (he has been going since he was a kid). but ever since the heart attack in december, he has been watching what he eats and exercising. last i heard, he lost 55 lbs and had 55lbs more to go. his goal is to weigh 185 i think, his post mission weight. he looks amazing. for my wedding he got new teeth, and for michelle's he is losing weight. what will he do next?!

my mothers day was amazing. i literally have the best husband ever. saturday night he stayed up until two forty working on my present. even though he went to bed so late, he got up early to take care of addison (who woke at 6:30) so that i could sleep in ... yummy sleep. he then made my breakfast of choice - grandma brown's whole wheat pancakes with fruit toppings. on my plate was my gift. first i saw my card. on the outside he wrote about 15 adjectives that he thought described me, telling me how much he loved me! on the card was a sweet four stanza mother's day poem (i didn't realize until later in the day that the poem was one that he had written for me. this is the reason he was up until 2:30 a.m.) i looked into my gift bag and pulled out a steel stapler. i thought it looked like a really nice stapler but couldn't understand why he chose to give this to me. then lauren said, "you can't give her our stapler!" then i understood. the stapler was just a paper weight, i looked back into the bag and noticed a folded paper. i unfolded it and read. "let's have a WICKED time!" oh my heck, he is taking me to see the musical wicked!!! isn't he sweet? ladies, eat your heart out! don't be jealous i snagged him first! the rest of the day he wouldn't let me lift a finger. he is so good to me!

i have been thinking about father's day for a while, but after mother's day, i want to make his first father's day awesome. can anyone help give me ideas? i'm not good at these things. i'm not trying to out-do him, i just want to make his day as special as he made mine.

addison is growing up so much!! she will stand for long periods of time and loves to work out her legs. she talks to everyone and always has a smile ready. she is still in the 90 percentile for height and weight. she loves to sleep with her hands above her head and has became quite the little Houdini when she gets wrapped for bed. she went swimming for the first time on saturday. it took her a while to get used to the idea of a cold bath, but once she got used to the temperature, she loved daddy flying her around everywhere. oh, and the 12 month swimsuit i bought her fits - at eleven weeks! she has what has been lovingly nicknamed a "budda belly". she laughs more often, so far, kinsey can get her to laugh the quickest by making faces and talking to her. drooling is the new thing. addison holds her head up better than most four month olds. she is amazingly so strong. she recognizes mommy (since about 5 - 6 weeks) and greets me with a smile. she falls asleep in the shower. i guess it's just so relaxing to be cuddled and have warm water running over you. she knows what a "baba" or "bobs" is. (that's bottle for those of you that don't speak baby). she squeals when she is set down or when she is left alone, and loves people. she has rolled over three times. she still has reflux, and as a result, still throws up - even with medicine. when this happens, she just smiles at me. so sweet.

the other day she threw up in the car seat and before i could take her out and clean up she also exploded out her pants. i think she understands that when she does one of these, she gets treated to a bath. there is no limit on how many baths you can have in one day. right now she is working on seven.

thank you to all those who have visited my photography blog. set up a time with me for free pics thru september. tell all your friends. i have posted a few recent shoots and will continue so visit frequently!

Eat At Pete's

Tonight Brittney and I went to the temple to see her sister, Michelle go through for the first time. We are so excited for her and her fiance Jesse to get married friday. So every time brittney and I go to the temple we have a tradition to go to Pizza Mart (home of the large pizza for only $5.50) on Stapley and Main. We go in and order our favorite pizza with sausage and jalepenos. While we wait for the pizza, we play the Original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game. Brittney's always Leonardo and I'm Michealangelo. We kinda stink at the game so by the time the pizza ready we've already died. (We get better each time though). Sometimes after going to the temple Brittney will beg me to go to Pete's Fish and Chips because her McCleve family would always go afterward (though she's never been). So after the temple I let her convince me to break our traditon and we went to Pete's. I was a little disapointed because I love my Pizza Mart, but in the end we had a lot of fun. But next time it's gonna be Pizza Mart!

I didn't get to play the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game, but at least I got to ride the pony.

"For your own safety please do not give money or food to the vagrants."
Brittney modeling her food.... mmmmmm.....delish!

Life of Luxury.

okay, so at this very second i am sitting at the computer posting on my blog. only, i am not at my own house, or even using my own computer! i am not at my parents house, at kyle's parents',  or even at a family member's home. you see, for the next two weeks, i am doing this thing - you might have heard of it. the thing where you

• get to eat other people's food (yum!)
  
• sleep in a king size bed that is as tall as your waist, and comfy
  
• drive a different car
  
• go crazy because dumb cats won't leave you alone and want to sleep with you and/or baby
  
• pretend you are someone else
  
• answer phone calls and talk to strangers
  
• tell teenagers what they can and can't do
  
• chauffeur
  
• blog in a new office
  
• try to find out which light switch belongs to which light
  
• find something for dinner?! make sure it's ready at what time? uh...
  
• pretend you know your way around this side of town, like a pro i might add...
  
• get paid? for reals?
  

that's right, kyle and i are teen sitting/house sitting.  the first thing kyle said when we all sat down to dinner last night ( at 6:45 not 6:00, sorry kris) was that he was laying down some family house rules. if everyone followed these house rules, he continued, we would all get along just fine. first he looked at 15 year old (?) nick and said, " nick, you will rub my feet every night as i drift off to sleep, " then, " lauren (12?) i have a bell. when you hear this bell, it means i want a snack, which you will bring to me. remember guys, we get along just fine if you obey my house rules." what a way to start off. slaves? YES! we are going to be living the life of luxury for the next two weeks...