Mabel's tricks

Here's a few of Mabel's latest and greatest.  Here she is performing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"


And "The Wise Man and The Foolish Man".  Funny story about this.  We were sitting at my nephew's Seminary graduation last week and one of the speakers said something like "just like the wise man who built his house upon a rock".  Mabel immediately started pounding her fist into her other hand and then she did "the rains came down" part.  It was hilarious. 

Last Days of School!

Here's a little of what we've been up to as the school year winds down.  We've discovered this little creature in our garden and the other day I caught him feasting on my flowers!  Doug put some "stuff" on the flowers after that and we haven't seen him since.... Hopefully that took care of it!

We celebrated the night before the last day of school with dinner outside.  It was a really nice evening and fun to eat out there.

 We also enjoyed some girl time on our new yard swing.  I love it!

I found this little note Sophia wrote for one of her little friends (his name is actually Judson) that she gave him on the last day of school.  I love it!  Doug said I wasn't allowed to take a picture of it or put it on here (because it would embarrass her later apparently) but I told him I've earned the right to do what I want as a mother!

On the last day of school Sophia got to be the president of the class on the last day of school.  She was pretty excited about that!  It was neat to see how far she's come this year.  At the beginning of the year she wouldn't go near the microphone around her neck with a 10 foot pole.  It's fun to see her confidence grow.  Here she is leading the class in "Today is Friday (tap your shoulders), yesterday was Thursday (push your hands behind your head) and tomorrow is Saturday (wiggle your fingers with outstretched arms in front of you)". 

She also got to help count the straws for how many days they've been in school.  They got to 180!

 Here's she is with 2 of her best buds Judson and Reese.

 More friends playing in Mrs. Frey's backyard

More of her favorite buddies Karen, Lizzy Kate and Brooks.

Mrs. Frey was nice enough to have a party in her backyard!  She's pretty brave but the kids loved it.  Here they are doing a relay.

Sophia's turn.

The nest was that she had a cotton candy machine!  The kids were pretty excited about that.  I saw a friend post pictures of the first and last day of school side by side to see how they've changed.  So here she is on the first day of school and the last day (with her yummy treat).  I think she looks pretty similar with the exception of bangs. 

We let her pick that night where she wanted to go for a celebratory dinner and she chose Wendy's because they have macaroni and cheese now (for the record, it's not very good - surprise, surprise - but she loved it!)

 Here's a final picture of Lilly with a super cute chef's hat my mom just got her.  Thanks Grandma!

Bring on the summer!

May Flowers!

Just wanted to share some of the latest flowers that have come to our home.  This bouquet arrived on my doorstep on Sunday morning (or may be Sat night).  It just so happened to be the same day Doug was being sustained into the bishopric and these are from the new Bishop's wife.  Isn't she sweet?!  I couldn't believe it.  I think this is going to be a good bishopric already!

I spent about 5 hours in my yard yesterday planting, fixing sprinklers, mowing, weeding, etc. Needless to say I was tired at the end of the day!   It is fun to see the fruit of my labors though and I'm excited to see how this fills out during the summer (I hope).

I also planed my first potted arrangement.  I think it turned out ok.  I'm kind of wishing that I had bought the purple grassy stuff.  Oh well.  There's always next year.  I'm excited to see how these fill out too.  The trailing stuff in the front is Fuchsia.  The picture looked really pretty and I'm hoping that I get the same result!

Finally, we've also had some tigers in our house!  This is for her dance recital next month but she got the costume yesterday and wouldn't take it off all day!

More Camping Adventures!

This weekend we went camping with the tax department at Doug's company.  One of his bosses owns some property in Grover (just outside Capitol Reef) and has an annual campout there.  We've gone the last 4 years and have always had a great time.  This is what his property is like.  I think it's beautiful and relaxing.

When we got there it rained for a good couple of hours but luckily one of his co-workers had a pop-up trailer and was nice enough to let us hang out in there.    Here's a funny moment from the trip.  While Doug and I were setting up the tent in the hail and wind the girls waited in the car.  When we got back in Sophia was in the drivers seat we told her she was now Dad and we'd act like the kids.  She said "ok.  I know how to act like dad.  'Shut your hole!'" Even though it was not very appropriate it sure gave us a laugh!  Especially because that is not something Doug says very often.  Aside from being a little chilly at night we all slept pretty good.  The next morning while Doug and I put the tent away the girls entertained themselves in the car.  Apparently Mabel came across some markers.

After breakfast and packing up we headed into Capitol Reef to hike down the Sulfur Creek Trail.  It was a lot of fun.  Here we are getting ready to head out.

 Mabel did ok on my back but definitely preferred riding with her daddy.

 Here's Sophia with a flower she found by the trail.

 A happy Bones!

 Strike a pose Sophia!

At a few points we had to climb down some waterfalls like the one below.  Here we are at the bottom.

Side not about all the water.  I thought we would be crossing the creek just a few times and didn't realize we would actually walk down it for most of the hike.  When we came to the first crossing I had Doug carry the girls across.  Then at the next one I made them take their socks off and then we walked through it. After that they pretty much walked through the river for awhile and then Sophia started to get blisters on the backs of her heels.  We stopped to put her socks on and found out they had fallen out of the backpack.  We tried bandaids but they kept falling off and she pretty much was refusing to go any farther.  I was wearing a GPS watch and knew we'd only gone about a mile since they took their socks off. We all stopped for lunch and while they were eating I decided (because I'm a genius) to run back up the trail to find the socks (mine had fallen out too and the back of my heel was starting to bleed as well).  I started running and immediately tripped and went flying.  I banged my shin up pretty good but kept running to get the dang socks.  Luckily they were only about 2/3 of a mile back.  I grabbed them and then hurried to run back to join everyone so they wouldn't have to keep waiting for us.  Doug said they wanted to wait for us because we would need help getting down some of the waterfalls.  We definitely needed the help and I was glad they waited (even though I felt bad holding them up!)

2 cute sisters with soaking wet pants and shoes.  They actually did really well on the hike and though it was pretty fun to walk through the water.

This little one finally tuckered out and decided a nap was a good idea.

 This is pretty much what we walked through the whole time.  It was actually pretty refreshing.

 Here we are toward the end of the trail with The Castle in the background.

Overall it was a fun hike and another successful camping trip!  P.S. We also stopped at Mom's Cafe in Salina on the way home which definitely made the trip worth it!

End of Year Stuff

Here's a few end of year things that have been happening in our house.  Sophia had an animal report where she had to report on an animal that started with the same letter as her name.  She chose sea lions.  She did the poster all by herself and I think she did an amazing job.

She also had an end of the year gymnastics recital. Here's an action shot of her running down to do the vault.

At the end with her trophy.

Lilly also had her preschool graduation which was a lot of fun as well.  I tried to get a good picture of her after (do you love all of her necklaces?  She insisted on wearing all of them).

 and then I tried again,

 and then I finally had some success.

Here's her big name posted that she made for the graduation.  Also, her award was "most imaginative".  Definitely true.

This is a little random but I also had a fun surprise come in the mail.  My chocolate of the month for May arrived.  These beauties were from Belgium.

They had pralines in them and were absolutely delicious!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day.  I definitely felt spoiled around here! 

This first picture was supposed to be with the last post.  This is our sad looking side flower bed.  We just planted the Japanese maple in the right corner (in memory of Doug's grandma - he loved the one at her house) and a few other shrubs to try and help things out.  I can't wait until everything starts flowering and it all fills in!

Doug and the girls woke me up yesterday with breakfast in bed (coconut french toast.  It was delicious!)  They then proceeded to give me their homemade gifts.  I loved them!  Lilly did this one at preschool.  I'm sure she loves me but the picture sure doesn't look too convincing.

 Here's a little thing she wrote about me too.  I love how my favorite thing to do is "I don't know what".

These all came from Sophia.  I also got a fun card from her after primary that included such gems like I weigh 80 lbs and I always say "kleen up!"

Doug and the girls also gave me this fun set to do with the girls over the summer and an iTunes card.

Also the jury is still out on whether or not my husband still has something up his sleeve. He told me last week that I couldn't check the bank account and on Sunday he informed me I still can't check it. I'll keep you posted.

He also is amazing though and surprised me with a dishwasher!  It's a new to you kind that we got at a funny warehouse place in Orem.  The prices were so cheap and we are the king and queen of cheap so we don't mind that it's used! Hopefully it runs (and thank goodness it came with a warranty!).  Because the price was so good we actually ended up picking up a oven/range there also.  The best part is that the oven is a convection oven!  I have always wanted one and we've needed a new range since this injury a year and a half ago so I was kind of freaking out when I saw it and saw how cheap it was.  They showed me that it works and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it (fingers crossed).  I'm so excited and kind of freaking out over the fact that we got 2 appliances for less than the price of 1!

Anyway, moving on.  Here's what we gave our mothers.

I also made these cupcakes (chocolate with PB frosting dipped in chocolate.  They were kind of yum!) for my Sunday School class to celebrate all they birthdays we've had lately.

I also made this cake that is totally worthy of cake wrecks to take to my brothers house. My sister-in-law totally made the cake though when she added baby squinkies to the carrots to resemble this cake.  It was awesome!

This is a random picture but I found this juice box when I was getting something to make the cake.  Do you think it's safe to drink?

Here's a few shots that we managed to take before church.  I have to brag about my skirt for a minute because I made it (thanks again for the help Jen!)  I totally love it!  Ruffle fabric is kind of my new favorite thing and I was excited that it turned out ok.

My and my cute girls!  Just a disclaimer.  I promise I don't spray tan.  I have no idea why I look so orange in this picture.  Must be the lighting.

 Me and my babe.

Overall it was a great day and I am so blessed and lucky to be a mother!  And to have an amazing mother!

This last shot is of Sophia before school this morning.  They had "spy day" at school this week.  Do you think she pulled it off?