Let's face it: My 9 month old has more attitude than most people I know. I don't know what to do with her. Fortunately, the
Baby Bible (yes, I swear by it) tells me that it is a good idea to start disciplining your child at 9 months. I just haven't quite figured out what that means yet, other than telling her "no" when she does something naughty. I will probably have people instantly hating me and get all sorts of hate mail for saying my 9 month old needs discipline, but please read on before you judge me too harshly.
Exhibit A: Hallie refuses to sleep regularly all of the sudden. She has been a terrific sleeper her whole life and has taken regular naps and had regular bedtime always. But now, bad bad news. For example, two nights ago, she was up from 3 am to 6 am, just because she
could. She finally went back to sleep at 6, but then woke up about an hour later and was ready to go for the day. Devin and I were exhausted, but she had a hay day all morning long playing and laughing and refused to take a nap until 2 pm. Ridiculous. Before we pull out the teething excuse, let me just say that she has 4 teeth and we never even noticed they were coming in, it was never really a problem for her. I really just think she is asserting her independence in all ways possible.
Exhibit B: Hallie refuses to eat anything unless she has two different items to choose from. And, it can't just be any two foods, it has to be two foods on opposite ends of the spectrum. Example. Yesterday morning, I tried to feed her bananas and pears for breakfast. Two foods she has never had problems with, in fact, two foods I daresay she has loved. Well, before she would even take one bite (meaning she didn't even know what it was), she clenched her jaw shut and turned her head to the furthest corner of her high chair in obvious refusal. After trying to let her feed herself (she usually likes that), I finally decided to get something that contrasts the fruit. I got some crackers out, and after having a bite of the cracker,
only then would she take a bite of the fruit. What?! This is becoming an every meal occurance. How does she figure these things out?
"Yes, I just stole Sadie's toy. What are you going to do about it?"Exhibit C: Hallie absolutely
has to have attention on her 100% of the time if there is a group of people around. When she is home with just Devin or I, she is usually fine to just entertain herself, play on the floor, or do whatever. BUT, heaven forbid we are around others and she is not getting all the attention. If eyes are diverted for too long or if someone is not playing with her or holding her, she will let out the most ear piercing screams known to man. I know- I have been personal witness to far too many to count. Its like a "Excuse me? How dare you look at/converse with/play with someone else" scream. NOT PLEASANT!
Exhibit D: The woman has manipulation down to a science. For example, she refuses to say "mama" unless she is in dire want of something. Every other time, she says "dada" when I request that she say "mama" (she thinks that is funny too). But, say I put her down for nap and she really wants out of the crib, she will call out "mama" just as I am leaving the room. Rude! Terrible torture. So then I don't know if I should praise her for being so awesome at saying "mama" or if I should just leave her be since I know she busted it out due to manipulation tactics. Hmmmmm?
Where this child comes from, I don't know. Now, I don't want anyone to read this and think that I am ungrateful for my dear, sweet Hallie. I am very grateful for her and she is hilarious most of the time, but man alive, why don't these kids come with some sort of guide?! This new age is bringing on challenges I fear will not go away anytime soon!
Aunt Mari Ann "sharing" her diet coke with Hals. Perhaps that is the problem???
Here the family gathers for a shot. We were almost all photoed out at this point as they have one of those sketch a picture things and of course we had to have every combination of people cramming in to get themselves sketched. The best deal in the place, by far!
Mason and Avery had a good time, that is for sure. I think Mason should be the next Chuck E. What do you think?
Sadie and Hals got to ride a few rides. Sadie clearly thinks its funny and Hals is trying to figure it out, or figure out what part of the contraption she can put in her mouth is more like it.
Is this not creepy!? Hallie and Sadie again enjoying their time. Hals was up past her bedtime, so she thought everything was a riot.
Does Hallie not look like a toddler in this picture?! However, it is cute nonetheless.
The whole crew munching on salad and pizza. You better believe we employed every strategy possible to get our money's worth. We concluded that the fruit on the salad bar was costing them more than the vegetables, so we scarfed down as many plates of fruit as possible, to the point that many of us will not eat another canned peach for months to come.
Jen and Sadie. Sadie is so nice and innocent...oh how would it be??
The not-so-innocent-angel. Love her nonetheless.
Uncle Lynn and his grandbaby Kate posing with Chuck E. himself. Lynn was totally at home at this place. When he gets uptight, he just hops on a plane and heads to Disneyland as a form of relaxation and rest. Yes, he is a grown adult and yes, he has had a season pass to Disneyland all on his own for years.
This is a completely un-related picture, but I have to throw it on too. The next weekend after the ChuckE ordeal, we were able to go as a family and do some temple work in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was a really special experience that I will not soon forget. I love my family and being able to be in the temple together is one of the utmost privileges I have had. We were sad that some people couldn't be there, but it was really an amazing day.
Our bedroom after
Add a few furnishings and we are in business!
Hallie's room before- look specifically at her floors so you can see how bad the wood looked
Hallie's room after, plus her crib and such. We decided to keep her walls white since we aren't going to be living here forever. It wasn't worth it to paint them pink or something since the resell would not be as good, I am sure. 
We rented a boat for the whole day, driver and all toys included. So fun!! Me, Dev, Kirston, Ryder, and Brelynn ready to hit the water.
This picture is too hilarious to pass up. We had a birthday cake for Tyge and Keegan kept getting caught shoving it in with his hands. So funny.
Devin and his sister Shawna. Devin was having the weirdest chest and back pains all day, so since I am not a good wife, his sister stepped in and gave him a back rub to ease the pain. What a good sister, thanks Shawna for taking care of him! :)
Hallie playing in the sand with her cousin Cole. She got so dirty, it was ridiculous. However, she had fun, and that is all that counts. That is her new crawl too, by the way. She walks on her feet like that with her hands on the floor more often that not. It's funny. Sorta monkey-ish?
All of Devin's sisters, minus Kirston. I don't know where she was, probably on the boat? L to R: Mesha, Alisa, Shawna, and Jana. Gorgeous girls. I can't hold a candle to them. Funny story, though. When I first met Devin, he was living with Shawna the summer after we graduated from high school. She had their most recent family photos on the wall in her house and I remember looking at them thinking that they were the most perfect looking family. Hmmm, hopefully I didn't ruin that for them! 
I thought this was a cool picture. Two of the girls, Brelynn and Brooklyn playing in the water. 
All of the grandkids posing with their sign for Grandma and Grandpa, who couldn't be there of course, due to the fact that they are on a mission in Russia. Hallie, Samara, Katelyn, Brooklyn, Brelynn, Trey, Kayden, Tyge holding Megan, Tade, Cole, Jonathan, Trex, Keegan, Sean, and Ryder. 
Devin was in charge of an FHE activity that night. He taught a lesson on "Letting it Go" that was in the Friend recently. So then we each got our own balloon and wrote things that we had been holding grudges about. We all then let our balloons go at the same time to let those things go. It was fun and the kids loved it.
We decided that our first stop should be Intercourse, Pennsylvania (yes, I know, but I didn't name it, so don't blame me) where the Amish live. We saw some pretty authentic looking Amish and a lot of commercialized looking shops as well as a few that looked real too. After touring some shops, we decided to head to Ed's Buggy rides, that promised to be a real treat, taking us to an Amish farm.
Here we are on the buggy. Jennifer was so delighted, she had to shut her eyes.
Hals loved petting the horses. She is an animal woman, don't ask me why since her father and I are not so much.
Jennifer decided to buy Sadie a bonnet. How cute is that? Really, the whole experience was pretty cool to see how simple the people live, even though it has been totally commercialized.
By then, we were starving, so we hit up Cici's Pizza Buffet. A little pizza and A LOT (like 4 pans worth) of cinnamon twists later, we were ready to hit the road again. But only after Che' got to decorate Hallie's face in the most hideous way possible. Poor Hals. No, we did not allow her out in public like that.
We then dashed across the street to the Capital for our next tour, right in the middle of a huge rainstorm. For some reason, Che' appeared alien-like and blurry in every picture we attempted outside. Isn't that supposed to mean something???
This is right before we nearly got the camera confiscated. Who knew that you cannot take pictures in the security check area under any circumstance, but you can anywhere else in the building? Someone explain that to me. The headless me is showing off our tickets to get into the tour. Pretty good shape they are in, huh?
After some begging and pleading on Cortney's part, they did let us in for the tour. Here we are with the statue of Brigham Young. Each state gets to send in two statues for the Capital and this is one from Utah, obviously.
Our tour was rudely cut short due to the August recess by the House and Senate, so we were kicked out of the building before we got too much of a tour. So next, we headed down to the Museum of American History. Sadie got to play the part of the President giving a great speech. She's a natural. 
Here is where President Kennedy is buried. Thank you ladies for your solemn faces for the picture. Only fitting.
Here is the view overlooking DC from the cemetary. Just gorgeous.
We thought we would save ourselves some moo-lah and decided to pack our lunch this day. Our frugality definitely did not pay off as we were stuck with the world's soggiest sandwiches. Don't worry, we still gagged them down.
Our next stop: Ford's Theatre, the very place where President Lincoln was assasinated. This just was renovated and barely reopened. We got to go sit in the theater while a ranger told the story of what happened that day. I learned a lot and was fascinated by the whole thing. I really liked this stop.
While Nort and Che toured the home where Lincoln was taken to die across the street from the theater, we opted out since there were a billion stairs and we didn't want to haul the strollers up them. So instead, Jen and I hit the classiest store I have ever seen. It was all sorts of DC memoribillia, including these gems of glasses and everything anti-Republican that anyone has ever dreamed up. Fun stuff.
After that, Che' had to depart as she had some work to do. Jen, Nort, and I trooped on like true tourists. We then went to the outdoor mall that hosts all the monuments. This first one is the Wolrd War Two monument. Yes, we saw the signs that said don't wade in the water, but everyone else was doing it, so of course we joined in. Only until an old man named Rex came along and kicked us out, that is.
Lincoln's Monument. Notice Hallie's pose- trying to get something from Sadie or eat her, your pick.
The Korean War monument- probably my favorite!
Vietnam War Monument and the long long wall of names of soldiers killed or missing.
The kids wanted to pose by the lake as we were walking to the last two monuments. Again, take note of Hallie's new favorite pose. This time, poor little Max is the victim and he's only half her size.
After the monument tour, we headed back to have a late celebratory dinner for Landon, who was released from the Army that day. Che' had this delightful cake made for him, but when we opened the box, this is what it looked like. What a shame! Good thing it tasted pretty good still. 
Upon leaving the restaurant, we asked a waitress to take our picture. What does this look like to you? Yep, not to worry, Landon told the waitress that we were a polygamist family from Utah. Sure appears that way, huh?
Day five we headed back into Philly to see the downtown historic district. We don't have too many photos of this day, but it was as fun as ever. Here we are in front of the Liberty Bell, rest its non-working soul. 
Since this was the only day that Landon wasn't working, he got to hang out with us. We even let him choose where we went for our must have Philly Cheesesteaks. Well, that was a mistake. He chose this nasty place named Geno's. Apparently famous, huge lines, but none of us liked it except Landon. Hmmmmm? 
What's worse is that in order to get there, we had to risk life and limb and go through the ghetto. Although this doesn't look too scary, believe me, it was a rough neighborhood. Just be thankful that we are all still alive.
Our last day in Philly before we flew out that afternoon, we wanted to make the most of it. By this time, we had to return the rental car, so we got shoved back into Che's car. Yep, all 7 of us. Not safe, I know. At least the kids took priority and got their own backseat while we all got the front. How cute is this, the kiddo's all having a bite to eat together. And by bite to eat, I mean thing to drink. 
Yes, I was sitting on the floor in the back. Most uncomfortable ever. But I volunteered, so I can't complain.
We found this really cool place, the Philadelphia Hospital. It was our nation's first hospital! It is attached to a still functioning hospital, but they just let you in to give yourself a tour if you would like. I highly recommend it. It was super cool. We don't have much documentation of this since we forgot the camera once inside. However, I did take a few pics on the phone.