Welcome to this Wild World Little Millie

Amelia Ann Castleton
8.18.2012
7.3 lbs
19"

A Little Bit of Heaven

When you move away from the place you grew up you expect to miss certain things; family, local restaurants, the mountains.  One thing I truly did not think I would miss is bread.  There is no bread that even comes close to Grandma Sycamores out here in the midwest.

Funny enough Sara Lee owns Grandma Sycamores, Sara Lee's head quarters are about 10 miles away from my house.  I wrote to Sara Lee when we first moved here to see if there was a place in Illinois that they sold this delicious bread.  They wrote back and told me no, it is a regional item.  I was heart broken, never again would cinnamon and sugar toast (coast to coast) taste the same.   But thankfully every time my parents, or Chelsea come to visit they bring us bread.  The last time my parents came, they brought us the mother loaf  (get that loaf not load).  We have a freezer stocked full of chewy, dense, delicious white bread.  I could not be happier, everything just tastes so much better with Grandma Sycamores.

So the moral of this blog post is....August 5 is my birthday and if you are looking for a something to send me I will accept bread as a gift.

Good News Minute

Izz's first day of Ballet. Oh how she loved it.
Max is done potty training, I think we could officially say he is trained. He sleeps through the night with unders, he poops and pees very successfully on the toilette. I have to say it is pretty awesome. No more diapers for us for a couple of months.

The picture is of Max and Izzi eating doughnuts at Dinkels Bakery in Roscoe Village. A very delicious bakery if you are every in the area.

Last of all the good news, the new baby is going to be a girl. We are super excited (especially Izzi). Send all of your girl names our way.

Wonder Lake, the Great Outdoors

Having good friends in life makes everything so much better. On Saturday, we went to a lake house on Wonder Lake with a bunch of our good friends. We went canoeing, roasted hot dogs, made smores, exhausted the kids and had a fun time. I love being outside, and I love being by water, so for me it was a perfect day.

Yes, in that last picture Izzi is putting the moves on her friend Micah. She told me the other day she has a crush on him.

Pictures of Lake Powell

Lake Powell is truly just one of the best places ever. I love the pictures Dave took while we were down there. They remind me of how perfect Lake Powell is.

Hulk Hogan or my Dad, you decide?

The Hair Cut

Yep, that is me. I chopped all of my long locks off. It is so nice not to have long hair, it is the easiest style I have ever had. Yes Dave loves it.

Pure Exhaustion

Let me just start off this post by saying my parents are pretty awesome. They are the ones who have instilled in me the love of going, doing, discovering, learning and craving good food.

When I was younger we would do these weekends called marathon weekends. We would usually start out slow on Friday night by going out to eat, little did I know then we were just saving our energy for the next day. Some might consider it carb loading. Saturday morning hits, and we are off and running. Activities included in any given marathon day would be; Farmers Market, Ski jumping, lunch, movie, a museum or two, maybe the zoo, a play at Sundance, a bike ride through Park City, swimming, Alpine slides, shopping, haunted houses, and dinner. They were seriously fun, but seriously tiring.

I found out first hand that through the years my parents have not changed the way they live their lives and plan their activities. It is truly amazing none of us have died from pure exhaustion of fun. While we were in Utah for 3 weeks I am pretty sure we did not stop to rest for more than a day the whole time, and that was because we were all sick.

Izzi and Max walking through the Chicago Airport.
So lucky for me, Max fell asleep on take off.

I am missing some pictures so I will just fill in the blank with words. First day we were there we took a tour at the Sweets Candy Factory.
That night we had a girls night and went to the Grill at Sundance and then went to the Sound of Music also at Sundance.
Waiting for the play to start
Eisley and her best friend Grandma Sue

The next day Dave flew in. We picked him up and went to a concert at Deer Valley. It was so much fun, the kids loved being outside and dancing to the music.

The next morning we woke up and headed to Lake Powell. I have to say it was one of the best trips down there, minus the fact we lost my parents on the jet skis and had to ask the lake police (I don't know what they are called) to help us find them. That was pretty awesome. Other than that it was a perfect trip.
The wonderful Hogel Zoo.
What Utahan doesn't have fond memories of the lion fountain
We rented a van to go down to St. George so we could see the Little Mermaid at Tuachan.

The Little Mermaid.
Izzi exhausted coming home from St. George.

In between all those days, we swam and played in the water, visited with lots of friends, ate delicious dinners, had family parties, went shopping, went to The Help, and enjoyed being with each other. It was a fun 3 weeks. It was so much fun to be able to see my friends and family that I have not seen in a year.