Milestone Week

Tabitha had her 6 month appointment on Monday... only one month late since she's already 7 months old. She was 16.2 pounds, and 25 inches long. That's in the 40th percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height. I surely hope she doesn't end up being the short, fat, bald girl. She'll grow into those cheeks, right?
Tuesday was a day of milestones. Three things happened. First, she climbed onto her knees to pat my quad while I was sitting on a chair. Second, I noticed she cut her first tooth (FINALLY!), and third, she went from scooting to sitting up all by herself. What a big girl! It's like she grew up all in one day.
Oh, and she started holding her bottle on her own during the past week. Hooray!

Downward Facing Dog

It's instinctive for her. This Yoga pose is one that Tabitha does hourly. She's pretty good at it too.

SMILES

Smiles is one of Tabitha's many nicknames. Here's why:


I adore that gummy smile that's FULL of cheeks (and drool).
Some of her other nicknames:
Tabs
Thumper
Baby Cakes
Pretty Girl
Beautiful
Sweet Thing
Stinky Pete
Sugar
Sugar Dumplin'
Pretty "and Smart" Girl
Sweet Baby Girl
Sweet Pea

Bathing Beauty

Michelle took this picture WEEKS ago, but I keep forgetting to post it. It's TOO cute.
We were hanging out in Michelle's pool and I noticed Tabitha kept trying to put her face in the water. I thought she was just trying to taste it. Finally, I flipper her around to ask her if she liked how pool water tasted. She was totally falling asleep. Who falls asleep in the pool? She's such a sweetie!

Extra Extra!! Big Brother Changes Diaper!

Daxton loves to carry Tabitha around the house. I don't allow him to carry her up or down the stairs, or over the hardwood floor. But other than that, he's got free reign.
So, last week I was sitting here at my computer and he brings her on in to me. He says, "Mom, Tabitha needs her diaper changed." "Great," I said. "You'll learn how to do it."

Oodles of giggles came out of him, and she kept kicking him in the head, but he learned how. I couldn't resist the pictures... since this proves how much he adores her. He usually does all sorts of dramatic gagging when I even ask him to throw away a dirty diaper for me. Imagine my surprise when he willingly changed her diaper... and hugged her afterward.

Sitting Pretty

Well, of course she's pretty, but now she's sitting too. She started while we were in Utah. After two weeks of not really putting her on the floor (in Italy), we had no idea she could do it. When we got to Utah and finally got a chance to play with her on the floor, I tried it, and she did it. I guess she learned while we were vacationing, and didn't even have to practice to do so. The boys are THRILLED with this new trick. They couldn't wait until we got on the computer to talk to Grandma so they could show her.
Daxton says, "sit Tabitha, sit" about 25 times a day. I want to tell him to stop because of the "sit Ubu, sit" from the TV, but I can't bring myself to do it. He loves her.

The 4th in Utah

If you've ever spent the 4th of July in Utah then you know that it doesn't even compare to the 4th in Arizona.
I grew up on Bettina Lane in Sandy. One of my greatest memories as a child is attending the street party on the 4th of July. Everyone would roll their grills up to the top of the street. We'd eat (I specifically remember caramel rice krispie treats) and watch the dad's set off the fireworks that they'd driven to Wyoming to buy.
There wasn't any driving to a huge park somewhere to fight traffic and try to get a good view of the fireworks. And when you can't get through traffic, you just pull off to the side of the road to watch.
I LOVE spending the 4th in Utah. I wasn't going to miss the opportunity this year. We returned from Italy on the 1st, did laundry on the 2nd, and flew to Utah on the morning of the 3rd. It was a quick turn-around, but there was a deadline to meet.
My sister and her husband very generously offered us a place to stay. We had a wonderful time at their cute house. Here's some of the happenings:

4th of July breakfast in the backyard jungle (give them a break... they were in Italy for two weeks). We had Creme Brulee French Toast and were joined by some of Brandon's brothers and my brother Cole. From L to R: Steve, Brandon, Grady, Daxton, Dayton, Kayson, and Austin.



Watching Fireworks...

It seemed to me that the Cole, Brandon, and Steve were really excited to be the one's in charge of the fire. They were like little boys at a fireworks stand.


Grady wanted to set them all off at once. When we told him no, he picked out a few of the biggest ones for the finale.

Grady with his finale pack.

We took advantage of the fire pit and roasted marshmallows over the fire. Of course, we used a duraflame log, so they couldn't eat those marshmallows. That probably defeats the purpose, but we just microwaved our smores... and they were still really yummy.

We hung out with Chris and Dallen. The boys went swimming in their little pool. Dallen got to get re-aquainted with Tabs.


My Aunt Jen came down to Chris's to visit with us and she snapped this picture of Tabitha wearing her swimsuit in a very non-tradition, non-ladylike kind of way:


I took the boys to play with Dawson and Haydon:

Chris took my boys one day, so Jessie and Tabitha and I headed up to Park City to do some major damage at the outlets (we were very disappointed though). We had to go to our favorite Deer Valley restaurant first at the Stein Eriksen Lodge. This is a view from the lodge that was just stunning. I love the ski resorts in the spring and summer WAY more than the winter.

Hot and Sticky Adventures In Italy: Days 1 and 2 ROME

Yep, that about sums up our trip... lots of hot, lots of sticky, and lots of adventures. But what a GREAT time we had. This is one of those posts that will be mostly for my family history and probably won't be as interesting to the rest of you. Read if you want... don't if you have better things to do.

I will start by saying that this trip was "planned" about one year ago by my mom, her siblings, and her parents. I have an uncle (my mom's brother Patrick) who has been living in Bologna, Italy for the last 20 years. He served his mission there and married my Italian aunt, Alfonsina after he returned home. Pat is building a home (also called the castle) in the countryside, in a town called Montombraro and the Hopkins's decided that we should all go for a visit and reunion when his house was done. By the time we got there, though, the house still wasn't done.

In the typical year we do not find out where my mom is taking us until Christmas. However, with so many people planning this trip, the cat was let out of the bag early on. I got a phone call sometime in October of last year from my mom. She said, "everyone else already knows where we're going, so we figured we should tell you too." Thanks mom, for thinking of me. I was thrilled... it's just one of those place I've always wanted to visit... so much history.

So, it all began in the wee morning hours of June 18th. Brandon and Tabitha and I (having dropped the boys at their Nana's the night before) were dropped at the airport by Justin to begin our Italian Adventure. We flew from Phoenix to Atlanta and then into Rome where we were very surprised to find the weather much like it is at home. So, right off we knew that it wasn't going to be a break from the heat. We were fortunate, however, to be a little more accustomed to it than the 24 siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and granparents that travelled with us.

Upon our arrival in Rome at the Golden Tulip Ambra Palace Hotel we were informed by the desk clerk that our tour guide was waiting for us. WHAT? We've just been travelling for 24 hours and we have a tour scheduled? I thought I scheduled that for 3 this afternoon, not 9 this morning. Umm, apparently not. I called the guide and asked if there was any way he could come back at 3. Nope... but I'll give you til 11, he said. OK, that gives us an hour to shower and rest. Except that mine and Brandon's room wasn't ready yet so we camped out with my sister and her hubby. Tabitha had been pretty great on the flight over, but she was close to the end of her rope. I knew she just needed a LONG nap. It wasn't to be. We met our guide, Armondo, and hopped on the tour bus with him.
This is Armondo telling my family all about the St. Paolo Fuori le Mura or St. Paul's Basilica. Where is Mandy?, you might ask. I am on the bus with a screaming Tabitha who has HAD IT and isn't putting up with any more of this Italian Adventure stuff. I'm not sure I've ever seen her so upset.

She eventually fell asleep and Brandon and I agreed to switch off for the rest of the tour. I'm sad I missed this church. Here's some pics that Brandon took, with info that he shared with me.


The inside of the church. You can kind of see the marble canopy that stands over the high altar.

This is St. Paul himself. You can see that he is holding a knife and a cloth. Well, it's not really a cloth, it's his skin. Apparently many of the saints are depicted holding the instruments of their death. Paul was skinned. Nice. Moving on...


This pic is not nearly as beautiful as what we actually saw. Our guide took us to a wooden door that was set into a block wall. The door had a small hole in it. When you look through the hole you see a beautiful corridor covered in greenery and the dome of St. Peter's Basilica (in Vatican City) off in the distance. It was stunning.

This is a picture of Palatine Hill as we drove by on the bus. It is as close as we got. Palatine was where a bunch of emperors used to live. It's one of the places I would have loved to explore, but there just wasn't time. We did a four hour tour on the first day, and an 8 hour tour the second day. I feel like we barely scratched the surface of Rome. There is just SO MUCH history there. I guess we'll have to go back someday.

After the tour, and showers, and naps... My brother Chris hangs with Tabs and my cousin Ellie while we wait for everyone to gather for dinner.

Ah, dinner. A wonderful event each and every day of the trip. While we were in Rome we went to the same restaurant every night. I think it was called Cecia and it was about 1/2 mile from our hotel. They had these Gnocchi in four cheese sauce that were to DIE for. Brandon and I LOVE Gnocchi. We got it both nights. But, I also enjoyed my trusty friend, Caprese every night. Here's a picture of her:
YUM. I love Buffalo Mozz. I wish it were'nt so darn expensive here.

This is my Grandma with the family that owns Cecia. They were such nice people. The momma would hold my cousin's son while they ate. Bellisima!

Day 2:
8 Hour Tour with Armondo to all the major sights in Rome.
Load up the tour bus with 18 of us. Grandma and Grandpa opted out of this one. I don't blame them... it was a really long day.

Here's Tabitha all ready to go. She spent the entire trip strapped to Brandon. I only took her once or twice. She was a trooper.

This is the entrance to the Vatican Museum. It's set into that big wall that surrounds Vatican city. For those of you who haven't read all of Dan Brown's books... Vatican City is it's own state. It is ruled by the Pope. There are about 500 residents. It has it's own post office, banks, currency, judicial system, radio station, and a daily newspaper. Vatican City also issues it's own stamps and if you buy one there you have to mail it there. All this in only 106 acres. Pretty crazy place.

This was the first gallery we entered and it was lined with busts and sculptures. Tons of marble in this place. You can see Armondo in the foreground speaking into his microphone to us farners (foreigners, spoken in hick).

Part of our group, listening intently to Armondo. We may look bored, but really we're just trying to soak up every morsel of information. Armondo was an Encyclopedia on all things Rome.

Tabitha had a screaming fit in one of the galleries in the museum. It was VERY hot in the hallway that must have been 1/2 mile long with no exits. Armondo just kept talking, and talking, trying to tell us all about the Sistine Chapel before we entered. I thought we might die. She was just voicing the discomfort that we ALL felt. And then she zonked. That is her face covered by her hat.

This is a pic of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. It wasn't taken by me. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Chapel. Here's how the experience went. We walked in the door to the chapel and my first impression was how small it was. In high school I took an Art History class and we talked mucho about Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling. I always imagined it was huge. That is not the case. It is still a very impressive amount of space to have painted such beautiful things on, but not nearly as big as I thought it would be. My next thought was, "how am I going to fit into this sea of people." It was packed. When you walk in the door you are a couple steps above the floor, so you're looking down on everyone's heads. Armondo plowed through though and found us a good spot. We oohed and ahhed (silently, since there was a be quiet policy) til our neck's cramped. We were off to St. Peter's Basilica.

St. Peters is HUGE. You'd think I'd have tons of pictures. I don't. I think I was mesmerized by it's space and all the art that is tucked in it's corners. From the time I studied Art History my favorite sculpture of all time is Michaelangelo's Pieta. It evokes much emotion from me. Michaelangelo created it in 1499 at the ripe old age of 25. Truly a master, that Michaelangelo. The Pieta is in St. Peter's, so I got to see it in person. It is protected by glass because of an attack on it back in the 70's, so this is someone else's picture.

Coming out of St. Peter's. Looking out on the Piazza San Pietro.

Brandon, Tabitha and I in front of St. Peter's. They were setting up for a big event. Thousands of plasic chairs and metal barricades kind of take away from the historic feel of the place.

Next, we took a break for lunch. Armondo took us to this place where we had a sampling of traditional roman foods. It was Yum.

With full bellies and a good attitude restored we moved on to the Colosseum. I'll tell you that when we were driving from the airport to our hotel we drove past the Colosseum and it is a very surreal experience to see such a monumental piece of art/architecture standing in the middle of a bustling, modern city. Wow, is the only word to explain the Colosseum.
Yep, that's me and my video camera. If you look on the left of the structure you can see the space between the inner wall and outer wall.

Still on approach.


The ruined interior wall. The holes appeared when all the metal was extracted from the building during one of the wars. I guess they needed it for weapons.

A better view of the exterior decorative wall and the interior wall.

Our group standing between the exterior and interior walls.


A picture taken to show the Doric, Ionic, and Coriniah columns, but mostly just focused on the back of my head (again). Sure glad I made a trip to Crystal before I left.


Look at those beautiful highlights!


A picture showing where the floor was in the original days. The wild animals were kept under the floor where all those ruins are. In AD 80 there were over 9,000 wilkd animals killed here during the inaugural games. Sad.

Standing where the breeze was.


Soaking in more morsels of information.


Trevi Fountain. Seen in LOTS of movies. The site originally marked the terminal of an aqueduct built by Agrippa in 19 BC to channel water into the baths. They say that if you throw in a penny you will return to Rome someday. We tossed ours in.
Um, I wanted to say that you shouldn't look too close to my bangs. I had an accident with a flat iron that morning that managed to singe a good portion of them. Needless to say, my wal-mart converter was no match for my instant-heat CHI. Hooray, bad hair in ALL my Italy pics!

After Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps (which I didn't get a picture of) we got back on the bus. We were tired and hot and we thought we were headed back to the hotel, since our 8 hours was up. Then Armondo stoppped the bus and started to get out. The look on the faces of my family was priceless. They were all looking at me (since I'd planned this whole excursion) with quizzical and exhausted looks. Griffin, my 8 year old cousin, said, "I'm not getting off this bus." He had more than one adult (5 maybe) volunteer to stay with him. The rest of us plodded off to the next adventure.

Brandon, Tabitha, and Steve (my bro-in-law) outside the Pantheon. It's a temple built in the 1st century and is VERY well preserved.

Another nap on the go.


Inside the Pantheon. The floor is original.


The dome. Solid concrete. Largest dome in the world.

That concludes our 8 (or 9) hour tour. It was exhausting, but I'm glad we (meaning most of us) stuck with it.
One more dinner at Cecia where baby Joshua ate his entire jar of baby food with his tongue sticking out.