Catch Up: MacKay visit

as usual, the photos from my camera phone have the consistency of potato soup, so that's nice. haha. and as usual, the photos from my actual camera have been DISTORTED by my computer. i literally do not know how this is happening, but my photos look FINE when i first put them on my computer from my camera, and then when i upload them to blogger or facebook, they get minds of their own and the contrast goes wonky. 

sorry. i tried. 

So a couple weekends ago, Allison and the kids came to visit!

I know, I'm way behind, just love me, alright? 

Natalie bonded over watercolors, as usual. she drew Harry Potter in our backyard, naturally:

we spent a lot of time outside. (i promise these pictures used to be rotated correctly. i'm just 1000% done fighting with my photo editor, so these horizontals will have to do. sorry again. )

seth is perfect. he's so squishy and cuddly and i adore his big blue eyes and happy smile. I've loved this sweet little boy since this time last year when we found out he even existed! i loved him because he was a miracle. and i loved him because i knew he would be the balm that his family needed. and i love him now for being a calm and soothing peaceful baby. and i love him for bringing such joy. 

 see what i MEAN about the wonky contrast? ugh.
but anyway, the pride of crossing the monkey bars completely by yourself for the first time:

the little princess restored to her throne of old:

and my dear Natalie, i don't know why she's turned incorrectly :/

this shirt just CRACKS ME UP. every time she wears it. 

 and the next couple pictures just make me laugh because they are SO. NATALIE. JEAN.

and some toe head love:

we spent some time inside, too. and i tried to say "yes" to as many things as i could:

"aunt wissa, i wanna pay a dame wif you. wanna play cahs?"

"aunt wissa, wanna play stwatego?"

"aunt wissa, wanna play guess who?"

"hey Melissa, will you play Hogwarts with me? you can be Neville."

"Melissa, let's have an art class!"

*Jenna points to the backdoor and tilts head with a smile* "side"

so glad i did.

 just realized that nasty Toto made it into the picture below. sneaky snake, Natalie. I shouldn't call Toto nasty, Natalie's poor heart would be demolished if she read that. i'm just not a huge fan of tiny dogs. or petri dishes of germs stuffed animals in general. and Toto somehow made it right next to my face, haha. 

but you rock on, girlfriend! love what you love! i'm not about to tell you not to love toto, because that's your thing! believe in yo dreamz, jumper.

and i love these because i feel like they're entirely indicative of our relationship:

bed head. judge me. also, this picture is almost identical to THIS one, taken almost exactly one year ago. 

and please enjoy these (incredibly unattractive) so-full-of-love photos:

i have ten (one on the way!!) nieces/nephews and i LOVE all of them. more than i can explain!! I truly do!

but i feel guilty because Natalie and Caleb are so much like my brother and sister instead of my niece and nephew, that it looks like i just love them more than the others. 

which is not true!!

i just love them differently. 

because we've been through a completely different set of experiences together. 

I love ALL 10.75 of my kiddos equally! 

it's just a strange line with Natalie and Caleb, because we lived together for so long, that the roles are fuzzy. 

these two are such an extension of me, it's unreal. 

 apparently i am unable to take a selfie without cutting off half of my face.

and oh, hi, can Natalie NOT have the hair of a pantene model? thanks. 

I'll be framing this one for when they're teenagers who don't think i'm cool anymore. because can we just LOOK AT ALL THE LOVE IN THIS PICTURE? makes me teary-eyed. 

my Bub and Bean forever:

thanks for the visit!

End of Summer

Right before i came up to school i spent 2 weeks with my sister Allison and her family. I love them. I helped Allison with the kids while she was very very very pregnant. I got to help out at Natalie's 6th birthday party (it is NOT okay wit me that she is growing up, by the way.) which was adorable and 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' themed. and a bunch of other things. these kids. i can't. 

i honestly can't say how much i love these little wiggle worms. 

SO excited for little baby to have joined the family since i've come to school, but more on him later :)

here's a bunch of random pictures. what else do i post?

MY little twin, Natalie Jean Jumping bean. love her. 

this was at her birthday dinner. her shirt. "I wear this shirt periodically" she picked this out. 

her LEGIT birthday cake. Allison and I made this and i am so flipping proud of it. hahaha I painted the backgrounds, and then i did the wardrobe side and the lamp. Allison did the Narnia side! 

sadly, we left the cake out over night and ants got ALL over it. so we didn't eat this cake. luckily we had taken pictures with natalie and the cake the night before.

still a bummer.

Bub's tough face.

TELL ME JENNA'S CURLS ARE NOT THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER

that pout, though.

In other news, Caleb is slowly becoming an actual kid. he's three and he needs to stay that way, okay?

Also, on like one of the last nights at Allison's i slipped on a blanket and tripped up the stairs and fell right on the edge of one of the stairs with one shin. like, 100% of my body was in the air, and then all 100% of the force fell onto the edge of one stair via my right shin.

SO. PAINFUL.

I kind of yelped/gasped/shouted. well, i made a really weird sound. haha. Jenna was near me and her eyes got huge. she looked at me like she was gonna cry, so i tried not freak out too much while calling for Allison. i immediately grabbed my shin with both hands, applying pressure to distract me, i guess. Well, when Allison ran over, i lifted my hands away from my leg to see if i was bleeding and i was already swelling so badly that there were clear puffs formed into triangles fro the spaces inbetween my fingers. I was shaking and trying not to groan because Jenna looked waaaay freaked out, but i was crying. Allison helped me to the couch and then she ran to the kitchen to get a bag of ice. I gritted my teeth and pressed hard against the swollen skin to feel my actual shin bone, because i just wanted to make sure i hadn't broken it. It hurt to touch at all, and it was so swollen that i couldn't even feel my bone at all, so i didn't try. but i just figured if i had broken my bone, i would know.

the rest is kind of a blur of me trying not to let Jenna see my face, and then not being able to hide it because i was like, hot and sweaty and shaking. finally, the ice got the swelling down enough that i could feel my bone if i pressed hard enough. i knew i didn't break it, but for some reason i just HAD to feel it to be sure. 

that night, after the swelling had gone down considerably, thought to take a picture. 

this looks very mild. ha. but those two bumps were on the edges of a long red line that marked exactly where the edge of the stair hit. once my shi was numb from ice and medicine, my pinky toe was on FIRE. i hadn't noticed how swollen it was, or how tight the whole right side of my foot felt. I pulled on my toe (probably a dumb thing to do) and it popped back into what felt like a right place, and immediately my foot felt (well, not good but better) not...tight. if that makes sense. and since then, my toe will like, send a little tiny *sPREEEE* up through my foot. haha if that makes sense. like, it hurts every once and a while if i step weird. 

i should ave documented the rainbow progression of my bruise, but it was gross. haha and i HATE pictures of bruises. ugly and weird. but literally my shin has been every color possible in the past two weeks. and It's still really sensative in one area, i'm guessing the initial impact spot. the skin on my shin was like, ripped off, too, so the new skin is really shiny and sensitive and pink. 

kind of cool, over all, though.

it was an interesting addition to my Khazad-dum (which is a bridge in the LOTR, by the way) summer.

I went home a few days later, because i needed to pack and get all ready for school.

just so you know, my room and the bathroom right next to my room have been without power the whole summer, which was interesting. lots of candles and flashlights.

Finally, I replaced two beloved items of mine. My Rapunzel watch and my wallet.

I won a disney store gift card at a good friend's birthday party last summer and i used the money to buy a super cute purple rapunzel watch. BUT it's a child's watch. hahaha so it cuts off my circulation if i wear it too long. My grandpa gave me a new watch, so i was going to give this one to Natalie. Natalie wasn't too impressed with my old, torn up watch, but she thought it was cute because of rapunzel. haha. but then it broke! the insides just all fell out! sad day! so i retired it.

 and my wallet (on the left), that i got at the thrift store for like 25 cents, was ripping on the inside like crazy. i was worried that my debit card or license would fall out and i wouldn't even know. so i got a new one. the one on the right at same thrift store,  for 25 more cents. i like it.

SO LONG, KHAZAD-DUM SUMMER.

good riddance.

you were rough, but i learned a ton and that was the point, and your namesake. 

yesterday was the first official day of Fall and BOY, did i welcome it with open arms.

and now, i'm in Rexburg, Idaho and my heart is happy.

Since I've been home

 I've been home since the third week of July and Since then, I have...

• Helped Jenae out on her farm

So my little sister is a hard core aggie. So straight up planted her own vineyard at our high school's farm. And it's really big! she planted it, set up all the wire things (I know nothing about farming, don't judge me) and water drips, and she tied almost all the vines by herself! (we went out and helped her finish the last couple rows so she could meet her deadline) I was honestly impressed on my first trip out there

while tying vines, my mom found a tiny baby bunny! then my Dad touched it, and i bet it's mom ate it because it had my Dad's scent on it -_-. Way to GO, dad.

Jenae also has two animals that she cares for and is sowing them in the county fair in September. Then she'll sell them to Butchers and make lots of money? i have NO IDEA how the system works, alright? but she devotes a LOT of time to these stinky things. they have names but i call them McDouble and McBacon.

Jenae is not amused...

yeah, she's like an Officer in the FFA. who gave her permission to be an adult? I didn't.

• Harvested Almonds

Some friends of ours have an Almond Orchard and every summer they hire a bunch of kids to come do the in-between jobs that machines don't do. So i the last week of July waking up at dawn to shake almonds and rake them to the middle of the row. It seems easy, it kind of is,  it's also tiring. But it goes by quickly if you're working hard.

Jenae hates me.

Cons: - stupid immature high school boys who wasted the Peruch's money by standing aroudn joking and laughing while the rest of us were working. ugh.

- the heat. luckily we ended at noon, before it got obscenely hot. My body went through a weird thing at first because i was so used to Idaho weather, i was NOT prepared for the 100+ days here.

- my hair getting stuck in EVERY FLIPPING BRANCH IN THE ENTIRE ORCHARD. seriously at least every other tree. most AGGRAVATING thing in the world. awful. 

Pros: - getting to walk and talk with my cousin Teddy, my little Sister Jenae, and our friend Jaise, all morning for a week. It's good to catch up and talk like normal teenage girls.

- I GOT A TAN. a fatty farmer's tan actually. and i'm still ridiculously pale, but i no longer have that 'Idaho Vampire' look.

- 200 bucks. holla.

- arm muscles. seriously, though. holding a giant pole up in the air all day hitting stray almonds has it's benefits. and raking all day is a serious ab workout.

- gospel analogies. seriously! almond Harvest = perfect metaphor for a lot of things. 

• celebrated Jonathan and Derek's 23rd birthday! OLD GRANDPA'S. since I was home with Jonathan, we tried to recreate some old photos. they just turned out awkward and so i didn't put them on facebook. but as you know, i have no problem putting attractive pictures of myself on here :)

• Said goodbye to some of my best pals

they're wonderful. and good looking. I'll miss 'em. they're off to serve missions! Janelle to Brazil, Nicole to Tennessee, and Ernesto to Chile! good luck fellas!

• Enjoyed 3 of my 8 (soon to be 10!) favorite kiddos

My sister Allison and her husband Kent wanted to go on a trip before their new baby comes in just a couple weeks! so they went on a romantic coastal getaway and we watched the kids. i MISSED THEM so much!! they're each so unique and hilarious and i cannot WAIT until their baby brother (please name him Seth please name him Seth please name him Seth) is born!

Friday around noon my mom was still at work, the kids were getting cabin fever and it was HOT. so i sprayed them with the hose. haha just as fun for me as it was for them. haahahahahaha

Jenna has a black eye from an unfortunate run in with a buzz lightyear toy. haha. i was also cracking up at her swimsuit because it reminds me of a wrestling uniform. (by the way, Allison, I LOVE Natalie's suit! her shorts are adorable.)

Jenna HATED being sprayed with water directly. haha so i sprayed down the trampoline and Jenae supervised her splashing around. too cute.

other highlights of the weekend include Peek-a-boo:

grammy's toy closet:

and stargazing!

• other summer events not pictured: 

-where's waldo for Young Single Adult FHE. I was Waldo.

- babysitting. lots of it. hallelujah.

- a baseball game

- going to Brandon's house. happy happy. applying for 235474 jobs in Idaho

- MERLIN. MERLIN MERLIN MERLIN. honestly, it's a sick obsession. the day i finished the fifth and final season, i cried because i hated the ending, and then i cried because it was beautiful, and then i cried because i wasted hours and hours on a TV show and i felt lame, and then i cried because it's over. sigh. and last night i had a dream that Sir Percival asked me out on a date. swoooooon.

- missionary lessons! one of my friends from high school is learning more about my church and is going to get baptized! SO exciting! and i get to go to her lessons with our missionaries,m which is way cool.

- Mal pal. Mallorie Lane Hakanson. late night talks, sleep overs and taylor swift. sounds good.

and that's it so far. Summer's half way over, now.

still don't know how to feel about it.

the ONLY reason why i wish i had stayed i Rexburg was so i could see my brother Donny (or should i say, DON...hahaha) and his wife Christine's baby who is literally due any day. I WANT TO MEET HER SO BAD. I won't say her name in case they wanted it to be a surprise, but i can already picture her brown curly hair and her squishy cheeks.

my thoughts on new niece and nephew will  be coming to this blog soon.