Chaotic Fun (from which we need a vacation)

We are alive. After a month without the internet, and three months of no possible time to post anything (so long naps. Addie rarely takes them anymore.) I have at last found a minute where Addie is crashed on the couch I have no other things I need to do (besides laundry and five things for my church calling). Last Saturday a group of us (Walkers, Thompsons and us) went to the Great Salt Lake for what I thought was free admission day. Whoops. Apparently that was only for National Parks. Anyway, after a paying a small fee and driving across a long causeway we found ourselves in the magical tree-less land of roaming buffaloes, bounding antelope, and salty air. We spent somewhere around four hours stalking the wildlife and taking pictures. We also took a tour of the old ranch. We followed it up with a kicked-back BBQ in our backyard.

As soon as Addie saw this buffalo she knew it needed a hug. I would too if I had to sit in the corner of a visitors' center and collect dust my entire existence.

This is a watering hole filled with diving beetles, weird white larva worms that squirm on the surface, and bird skulls. I don't know what Addie is standing on, but its job is to float around and be danced upon by brave/unaware toddlers. That's right, she danced on it. At the time of this photo she had become distracted by a " huge hoop" or, in adult human terms, a huge poop. Which, having been left there by a buffalo, was indeed a huge poop. Good call, Addie.


Shortly after the dancing and classification of droppings, this big bull wandered over for a drink while we were standing there. Buffaloes are very noisy drinkers and I would not recommend inviting them to dinner at fancy restaurants (unless of course its one that does not serve soup).

Don't get too close to wild animals because they are unpredictable and may charge? Pshaw, I don't believe that. Get closer honey, I want everyone in this shot! Shoulders touching!

The creature for which Antelope Island got its
namesake. We had to take a picture, even if we will never look at it again.

As soon as Addie saw this "giraffe" she ran for it and was determined to tame it.

After a successful horse taming, she turned her focus to the escaping cattle. They didn't stand a chance and they knew it. They froze in their tracks, afraid of what Addie was capable of.

I think this is the first tree Addie has ever been in. It was a pretty good tree for a first climb, a tree she can be proud of for the rest of her life.

A few weeks ago (September 11th) the plans we've been so carefully and so sneakily working on since January of this year finally came into fruition: a smashing surprise 50th birthday luau for Tricia (Jason's mom). I spent most of my time throwing a party instead of taking pictures, but I know they exist because we put disposable cameras on all the tables. And my sister's-in-law took pictures. I will steal them and post the loot here.

As soon as we secretly arrived in St. George Addie let the party animal out and took a screamin' ride on this baby. It goes up to 70 mph and belongs to Aunt Megann's sister. Good thing Addie didn't know that, so she was content to just sit on it in the living room.

This is what I found Addie doing just before the party started. The nerve! Didn't she know we had a lot to do?! Notice her big girl panties. I thought, "Yeah, I can throw a party and potty train at the same time!" I spent Saturday running in and out of the house, taking phone calls, making cupcakes and wiping up numerous accidents. Awesome. Shortly after we got home we decided to take a long break from potty training and try again when she's more ready and willing.

For some reason all the pictures I took (which was about 4) came out blurry. In this case I think it looks cool because they were dancing fast...although not fast enough to become blurs. We had six dancers that performed dances from all the different Polynesian Islands. They put on an awesome show and even taught me how to dance the Hukilau. Just ask me next time you see me and I'll gladly show you.

This picture is awesome because it looks like flames are coming out of her hands, like she has super powers. Yeah, we hired mutant dancers. (Okay, there was a tiki torch in the background.)

Please enjoy the following photos of party madness (and a large thank you to Megann for taking them):

(I just wanted to point out the dog rump. I know you wouldn't want to miss that.)

This is a complete photo of the Original Eight Utleys.

Okay, the third to last photo is the only one that looks like party madness. But it was all party madness...I guess you just had to be there.

It seems a little weird that I have a picture of everyone but the birthday girl, huh? She was too busy dancing on the tables and throwing cupcakes around to be in any photos. (Actually, if she was doing that there would be many many photos of it.) I will get a picture of her at the party and post it here to prove that she was invited to her own party. It was a fabulous party, if I'm allowed to say so, and I think it served it's purpose: to make Tricia feel special and loved (which she is). And it was a lot of fun planning it, too (not that I am offering to plan any more, though.)

A few more weeks before that we went camping with my family at Strawberry reservoir where it rained like a monsoon and I ate my first crawdad. I forgot my camera at home and so I used my dad's camera to take pictures. I guess I will need to obtain some of those to post them here.

The weekend before that we went to Lagoon where Addie drove a car by herself. And a boat. And a plane. And a horse while asleep.

She was so excited to go on all the rides and showed absolutely no hesitation or fear in going on any of the rides, even the ones by herself. "What? A stranger is going to take me and buckle me into a small car that will then take off to who knows where? And my mom isn't coming? Okay, I'm in." (Just and example of a thought she may or may not have had).

She rode a few rides with Luke, the son of one of Jason's co-workers. He was nervous to go on the rides by himself but felt much better about it all if Addie was there. And Addie didn't really care, so they made great ride buddies. They are pretty cute kids, if you ask me.

Addie is waving goodbye just before the ride started and just before Luke started crying.

Addie rode these cars twice, once to drive by herself and then again just to look at the scenery.

The line for the carousel was so long that Addie actually fell asleep. So what do we do? No way we are just going to get out of line after being in it for that long! We decided she was riding it, whether she knew it or not. I'm sure we left an impression on everyone who watched us buckle our sleeping kid onto a horse.


This is the moment when she woke up and found herself going around and around and up and down on a brightly painted pony. This is another one of those wake-up moments that I wish I could experience once in awhile. Why doesn't anyone transport me around while I am asleep so I can wake up in cool places? I'm telling you I'm up for it.

We rode the train at Lagoon and a large tiger roared right at us. I think it was saying, "This is an amusement park, not a zoo! It's ridiculous of them to think they have the resources to take care of me properly! Look at me, for crying out loud: I pace day in and day out in a small cage that has a cement floor! This is no where near my natural habitat!" Or something like that.

After Lagoon, as is becoming tradition, we headed across the street for the county fair.

Addie rode a horse all by herself (she really is such a brave kid) and she made horse sounds the entire time, which was about three minutes. She may have actually had a conversation with her horse .

After the horse ride we went to the petting zoo section where she wasn't afraid to touch anything...apparently not even goat bums. Or the bums of headless goats. ( Just kidding, it had a head.)


I swear if they had a starving polar bear that was foaming at the mouth in there she would run up to pet it. Fortunately they only had a few goats, pigs, and a tortoise.


"Stop petting me, little girl, and help me find a way out of here! Crikey!" (The tortoise's thought, with an Australian accent, of course.)

Pretty much any pig in a movie looks more appealing than any pig in real life. This one was friendly and clean, however.


The weekend before that (we are now back to August 7th. Stay with me!) was our 6 year anniversary for which we celebrated by a high five in passing. It was also the day Caitie was baptized. Woohoo!

And then, intermixed somewhere between all the previously listed events are some other moments: a new haircut for Addie, lunch with aggressive turkeys, a fire station visit, and instructions for a DIY greased pig chase (or child chase if no pig is available).

Just being cool while waiting to go get some dinner. She cracks me up.

I took Addie to the fire station for a look-around a few weeks ago, which may have confused her into thinking that she was now a fire fighter. We see and hear fire trucks just about everyday since we live by a station, so she was pretty excited to get a grand tour. She sat in the driver's seat of a fire engine and refused to get out so other kids could have a turn. It didn't help that the seat is about 5 feet 2 inches high and so made it very difficult for me to make her come out. In this photo she's staring at a firefighter wondering why he's not getting in so they can get on with the job.

Then the kids took turns hosing down the other kids with a fire hose. Addie didn't want to hold the hose, but she did carefully consider all the pros and cons of running under the water stream...

...and then decided it was an opportunity she should embrace. She was the only kid out there for awhile...even after the hose was turned off. Yeah, she's hardcore.

We went to the Ogden Nature Center one Saturday (because it was free) and found that the most exciting thing to do there was to try and eat lunch. The turkeys there were really friendly aggressive. Sitting down I found myself eye-to-eye with gross brain-covered bird heads. They have a weird little soft horn on their heads that they can inflate and deflate at will. It scares me. And I can speak for Clare on that, too. As for the boys, they enjoyed sharing their chips and grapes and making them feel like part of the family.

Addie didn't seem too bothered by birds bigger than she is and happily threw grapes for them to eat. We didn't find much else there to entertain us (except for some exciting birds of prey and memorable facts about ravens), but I will always remember the scariest lunch I ever had.

Addie got her second haircut of her life a few weeks ago. I wanted a haircut that didn't need much more than combing to make it look good and would stay out of her eyes, so we went with a bob. I thought it was cute but Jason's first comment was that she looked like a little prince boy.
The picture below is pre-haircut and looks like an 80's rock band 'do, so even a prince haircut is improvement, I think. And I still think its cute.

And as promised, the instructions for your very own all-out family fun greased pig (or child) chase.

Step 1: Make sure pig or child is undressed except for a diaper.

Step 2: Leave a large tub of vaseline somewhere in view and reach of pig or child.

Step 3: Leave pig or child unattended for five minutes. That's it! Simply sit back, wait and voila! Your pig or child will soon wander into the room having completely greased himself/herself.

This is where you get the family together and the camera out and let the fun begin. In this case, Addie had greased even the bottoms of her feet, so she was easy to catch. She had globs of it in her armpits and on her knees. We wiped off the gunks as best we could and then put her in a bath. Three times. And then cleaned the tub. Three times. And then scrubbed the carpet violently and despaired repeatedly that it will not ever ever ever come off. She looks so guilty. I think she was turning herself in when she came and found us.

Whoa! I almost forgot the most exciting news of all! I FINISHED THE HOUSE! What? You don't remember hearing about the house that I posted all about a year ago because that's when I started that project? The house that has sat half-finished in my front room for a year crying at me to please finish it already? That's okay, I'll post more pictures to remind you...in the next post though, because this one is way too long already.