Wacky Wilkins'

Classes

2012-02-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

We've been getting creative with ways to pass the time during tax season so I started taking my kids to a few local classes. I found out the Museum of Art at BYU has free preschool and family classes once a month. Last Saturday we took advantage of the family class "Art Tales" and had such a fun time! We started by talked a little bit about France and then she read a version of Cinderella (did you know it was originally written by a Frenchman? I didn't). Then we went down to the J. Alden Weir exhibit and they would dress up some of the kids to look like someone from a painting who also could have been a character in the book. I thought it was pretty creative. For example, they dressed a little girl in a black dress and black hat and then we went and looked for this painting. She represented one of the stepsisters.This was Cinderellaand this was the fairy godmother. I really thought it was a pretty clever idea. Then the kids would observe the painting for a little bit and share any observations they saw. I really thought it was a good intro to art appreciation and I'm glad we went (not that my kids appreciated it. They both complained that it was boring and that they don't want to go back. Too bad! We're signed up through April!).Afterward we went back upstairs to an art room where the kids got to make their own puppets. Here's Lilly's Cinderella and Mabel's Rapunzel.Sophia is working on Jasmine. Lilly with her finished dollsand Sophia with her finished Jasmine. I'm taking Lilly back to the preschool class in a few weeks and I'm excited about it. I'm glad I discovered this.

We tried out another class today. I took Lilly and Mabel to Kindermusik.

I hope I don't offend any Kindermusik lovers out there but I thought it was a little on the goofy side. I felt like i was in an episode of Barney. Lilly wouldn't do anything and preferred to just lay on the ground. Mabel loved it and was definitely getting her groove on. I'm not sure we'll go back but if we do, I'll just take Mabel. It was fine and all but I thought I could accomplish the same thing in my own house. I was glad we tried it though and now I know what it's like.

I also started going to some exercise classes in town and have enjoyed them for the most part. They have a child care so it's nice that I don't have to go super early! I'm tried yoga a few times and have had a hard time getting into it. I kind of have the same thoughts about it as this woman. Have any of you discovered her blog yet? She is a hoot! You should seriously go read her posts right now. If anyone has any other ideas for classes (or just ways to not go crazy while getting through the February blah's) I'd love to hear them!

Latest Fun

2012-02-10T15:46:00.001-08:00

First off, can someone please tell these guys to stop! It's only the beginning of February. Knock it off!And these guys too.For Christmas my siblings and I got my parents a Harry and David fruit of the month order. Here's Mabel enjoying one of their honeybells (it's a cross between a grapefruit and tangerine). She didn't so much like the outside but I thought the inside was super juicy and yummy!

Here's a shot of my newest fun thing. I got this clock at Seagull Book for really cheap. I like how it looks and that we have clock that actually tells time on our wall (the old clock we had was from our wedding. It was hardly ever set to the right time but it ran off a satellite and so you couldn't manually change the time. It was a little annoying).

Here it is up close. Love the quote.

Last weekend we went to Jumping Jacks. Mabel totally loved it...once she found the little kid toys.

This was one of my favorite shots from last week. I love quite moments like this when they'll sit and look at books together. Too bad it only lasted about 15 seconds before Lilly threw a book at Mabel's head.

We also had fun painting the heart boxes we made at Home Depot.

Today we went to Sophia's class for their Valentine party. They made some fun foam bookmarks and such,

Lilly played Starfall,

they frosted a cookie, did a Valentine word search,

played steal my heart,and shot arrows through a heart target.

It was a pretty fun party and I'm sure glad it's over! Here's this little cutie trying on a mustache that came with one of Sophia's valentines.Finally, here's a sweet little valentine Sophia gave to her "friend" Judson. I thought it was pretty cute.

Dancing Video

2012-01-30T18:43:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize that the video didn't post with that last post. Oops! Here's the video of the cute mice dancing.

The latest and greatest

2012-01-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

Here's Lilly at her dance recital on Saturday. They did Alice in Topsy Turvy land and she got to be one of the absent minded mice. It was so cute!

Here she is before the show. Her teacher did such a good job with this show. I totally loved the backdrop. I think this dance was the flowers.Here she is after. She did awesome!And here she is with Alice. We also had a lot of fun with food this week too. On Friday we got to have friends come over and decorate yummy cookies!We also had a dessert night for our ward and had a crepe bar. It was really fun too.Doug and I had to speak yesterday and somehow we talked our girls into singing. It only took a little dollar store makeup but I think it was worth it. Don't they look beautiful!?Finally here's some shots of a quilt my mom recently finished. She asked me to take pictures of it so she could have them but of course I had to include them on here too! It was kind of a like a chain letter quilt thing (I think) where you make a certain number of the same block and then send them to everyone and then they put their quilts together however they want. Here's what the quilting looked like. So beautiful!
This was her square. I think she did an awesome job. Way to go mom!And for one final random picture, here's two of my beautiful friends I was lucky enough to see this month. Jen (on the left) lives in CA and was nice enough to come and stay with us after Christmas. It was so fun to see them again! While they were here we opted for a girls night out and met up with Anabelle for some shopping and frozen yogurt. It was a lot of fun! So good to be with them again!

More Disney Pics

2012-01-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

Because I know you've been dying to see more! JK. These are ones that Doug's mom sent today off of her camera.

Here's the two amazing people who made the whole trip possible! We love you and will be forever grateful!!!!!!More fun at the beachGrandpa in a skull jailOne of the nights we were there we had an ice cream party in Grandpa and Grandma's room. It was pretty fun!Sophia and James at the crazy ball place at Universal.I love this one of Mabel in front of Grandma Ivins' condo.Here's one of our family at the Mormon Battalion museum. They take your picture and then print it out like this for you to take home. You don't even have to pay a million bucks for it either!I thought these were cute too. Here's the kids watching a movie about Disneyland after the big announcement. And here they all are in their jammies on the stairs. 19 grandkids (and counting - not me, Leda) all 12 years old and under! In case it's not obvious, Mabel was so happy to be there.

Fortunes

2012-01-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! We had a fun time celebrating tonight (except for without Dad - boo for tax season!). The girls had fun wearing their crowns grandma gave them on New Years Eve. We had Chinese noodles and baked egg rolls and wantons (I baked them in mini muffin cups - they turned out pretty good), Chinese noodles and of course, fortune cookies!

Here's Lilly with her crown

And Mabel had fun trying Sophia's on.And here's our fortunes. My first one said "Any rough times are behind you." and then I got this one.Looks like things are looking up! I'll take it! Lilly's said "You will live a long life a eat many fortune cookies" Yup. Sounds about right. Mabel's said "Happy news is on its way to you". Can't wait to see what that is. Sophia's was something about having good friends or something.

We hope you all had a fun Chinese New Year too because I know you're all crazy like us and celebrate it too!

This is random but our ward executive secretary took these pictures for our new ward directory. I think it turned out pretty cute. These are my girls' best friends in the ward too so it made it even better (minus Lilly looking bored out of her gourd)!

Fun with the new camera

2012-01-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

We finally got a new camera and have loved every minute of it! I'm glad we can document moments like these.And these - look at those eyes!

Here's the feature where it only picks our one color or something. For some reason Sophia looks a little creepy in this one.We also discovered that it has this awesome fish eye lens feature that does crazy things to your house.And to your faces! We were cracking ourselves up last night!

It also has this feature that takes video in high speed so that when you play it it's in slow motion. The lighting is super crappy and there's no sound but it's kind of cool to see.

Cookies

2012-01-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry for being so post happy lately! I don't know what's gotten into me! Anyway, Lilly came home with this cutest recipe from preschool today. They sure look yummy! I think we'll have to give them a try.
It's kind of funny because my favorite chocolate chip cookies to make have cinnamon in them (and sea salt sprinkled on the top). They're delicious! You can get the recipe here (it's the 4th one down - Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies). They seriously are the best chocolate chip cookies. (Although these are good ones too!) You should probably go and make some right now.

Cute Note

2012-01-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

Sophia came home with this cutest note from her little friend Judson the other day. It's hard to see because I took this picture with my phone but it says, "dear friend I hope you can come to my birthday. it's going to be at 12:00 am". So cute! Also, here's a few of the whole family shots we got at Disneyland. 33 people in all! We were quite the group!

Day 7 (last day) - Old Town, LIttle Italy and the Beach!

2012-01-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

Our last day in San Diego we tried to squeeze in as many things as we could. We started by going to Old Town. A few of us went anyway. Some of us thought it would be fun to go and get a new tire that we should have replaced before we left. Thank goodness for awesome grandparents who take children that don't want to go to the tire store with them! After that fun adventure Doug and I met up with the rest of them thereWhile we were there we went to the Mormon Battalion Mueseum. It was pretty cool. They redid the tour a few years ago and it was awesome. It was really interactive and fun. I'd definitely recommend it if you're ever in the area. Here's the kids panning for gold after the tour.After that the sun came out so we hurried and ran over to Coronado to take advantage of sunny skies and the beach. I love this picture of Sophia. This girl is ready to conquer the world!While we were on the beach we found a lot of these and brought home a fun collection.We also got plenty dirty. We weren't planning on being there for 5 hours and I really didn't think my kids would get in the freezing water so I didn't bring their swimming suits or anything. Unfortunately I could not keep them out of the water so they got plenty wet and dirty. Luckily the only thing we had in the car was the suitcase full of dirty clothes. After a day of playing at the beach they were cleaner than what my kids were wearing anyway! This poor skirt. It was a definite sand magnet. How cute. Someone carved our initials in the beach. This little baby was not so sure what to think. She was a little apprehensive but warmed up eventually. She definitely would have nothing to do with the water though. This girl would not stay away though! I love sandy baby toes and hands! So cute!Here's Lilly in her second dirty outfit of the day. She had so much fun playing on this sandbar. So did these girls. In the background you can see the condos where Doug's grandma had a condo for awhile. They would come down every year during Jan or Feb and stay the whole month. Doug's mom had a lot of memories here and it was sweet to feel Grandma Ivins' spirit while we were there!Here's the girls making sand angels. Yes Sophia is on her 2nd change of clothes also. Look at those feet! They blend in with the sand! Here's Lilly's attempt.She finally warmed up (she's also on her 2nd outfit) and loved walking in the sand.After awhile the kids discovered if they dug deep enough they could find mud. They seriously dug for a few hours.Logan found a pretty good stash of mud as well. While the kids were playing a few of us took a minute to go and explore the Del. Such a fun and fancy hotel. Here's another shot from our honeymoon taken on the same beach. Overalls? Really? What was I thinking?Here's the courtyard of the Del And the crown room. It was fun to hear Doug's mom's memories of a birthday dinner they had for Grandma here once. She was also telling us this room was designed by L. Frank Baum (who wrote the Wizard of Oz). I guess they incorporated crowns into this room because of the book.One thing I could not get enough of the whole trip was the beautiful foliage that was everywhere! I loved seeing Birds of Paradise all over the place. After the fun at the beach (and sunburns and dehydration) we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We made a quick stop at Winchells to get their crullers since they don't have one of these in Utah anymore. Why not? It's probably a good thing though. After we got all cleaned up we decided to show our kids a few of the places we went on our honeymoon. Here's the hotel we stayed in 8 years ago. Pretty fancy, I know. We also took them to Little Italy (the girls kept thinking we were saying Lilly (lilitly) for some yummy pizza and pasta

Here's Sophia in front of the signAnd Doug in almost the exact same spot almost 8 years ago. After that we drove them by the maritime museum and the place we ate at on the first night we were there. So fun to relive the memories.

On the way back to the hotel we drove by the San Diego temple. Gorgeous! So fun to see.When we all got back to the hotel we immediately crashed. I think all that sun finally did us in! We got up early and loaded up the car the next morning and then came home! Here's the girls enjoying their Mickey suckers from Grandma on the way home.Overall it was such an amazingly fun trip. The whole thing was totally magical and something we will treasure forever. We feel totally spoiled and blessed to have been able to go. Thanks again Mom and Dad Wilkins!

Day 6 - Sea World!

2012-01-18T13:57:00.001-08:00

Are you getting annoyed with these posts yet? Sorry for the abundance of photos and details but this is mainly for me and a future blog book.

Our first day in San Diego we headed to Sea World! It was a lot of fun. My kids were too chicken to take a picture with this guy but I wasn't!I thought it would be fun to include this one as well. This was when we went on our honeymoon 8 years ago! I haven't changed at all right?!The first thing we did was go to the Sesame Street 4D show. It was a pretty good one and we had fun getting wet.

Then we headed to Shamu's show. Here's the girls outside of Shamu's tank.
Waiting for the show to start. Can I tell you how nice it was to get a sunburn in January?! That never happens here!
During the show.We also went to the sea lion show which was pretty funny. Here's one of the sharks in the shark exhibit. This was probably one of my favorite parts.And we also went to the dolphin and bird show. It was definitely a lot better than I thought it'd be and my girls loved it! They had these awesome acrobats dressed like birds and high divers and everything. I wasn't expecting much so I was impressed.Here's Lilly at one of the tanks. This picture was crazy because even though you can't see Lilly's face very well her reflection makes it look like she's in the tank. Kind of crazy.Two cute girls with the fish.We also took a ride on the sky coaster thing. Doesn't Doug look so excited?! It was nice that it wasn't very crowded but it also meant that a lot of the rides were closed so this was about the only thing that was open. It was pretty cool though to see a 360 view of the city.They also had a super fun Sesame Street play area. Here we are on Elmo's Flying Fish. And Lilly got to meet these two! She was super excited!We also got to ride on the sea stars. It was pretty much like the tea cups at Disneyland but I thought they went a ton faster. Here's cute Carson and Lilly. I just love these kids! And Sophia and Bridger. All she wanted to do at Disneyland was ride the teacups with him. It didn't happen and she was a little bummed so we were so excited when we saw these and they got to ride together. They had a blast.Overall it was a successful fun day at Sea World!

Day 5 - Universal

2012-01-17T18:03:00.000-08:00

The City Passes we got for the trip included a day at Universal Studios so we decided to take advantage of it. We debated if we should or not but are glad we did. It's pretty much for older kids so there wasn't much for my kids to do but they still had fun.

Funny story. On the way up we were having some snacks. It's kind of hard to see but Sophia pulled this cookie out of the Nutter Butters. She couldn't believe how much peanut butter it had in it! It totally cracked all of us up. Here we are outside.

When we got into the park we had fun meeting characters like Curious Georgeand the Lorax! Sophia was especially excited about this one because they had just read this book in school.

I then took the girls on the Studio Tour because there was no way Mabel was going to wait in that 45 min line. The tour was pretty fun. After Disney everything was a little underwhelming but it was still fun. Along the way we got to see Whoville

The Bates Motel and the house from Psycho in the background.
and a set from War of the Worlds
The best discovery we made though was Curious Georges jungle! It was this huge room full of foam balls and all sorts of machines and devices that you could play with. I think we honestly spent 2 hours in there. My kids loved it!

There were so many balls!Here's Mabes at a little splash pad outside the jungle.

Before we left we stopped to see the animal show where they show you how they train animals for the movies. My cute niece Cassandra was chosen to come and do something with some birds. She's so cute! Sophia really like this guy.
After that we headed to San Diego for a few days. This sign was waiting for us at the hotel. It cracked us up. There were 32 of us staying there so it was fun to be welcomed. We even got a little swag bag and everything. It was a fun surprise!
We got there kind of late and the girls immediately fell asleep. Once again, I just loved seeing them all tucked in with their dolls.

Here's a little clip with my niece at the animal show.

Day 4 - More Disney/CA Adventure

2012-01-17T16:25:00.000-08:00

For our final day in Disney we decided to hit up rides we missed or ones we wanted to do again in both parks. Here we are on Main Street getting ready to start the day.And again folks, this is the magic of Disney. This is the exact spot where the Christmas tree was the night before. Seriously, not more that 10 hours before this picture was taken there was a 60 foot tree in it's spot. Crazy!

They even planted new sod and flowers and everything! There are definitely secret fairies behind the scenes.

Since the park was totally dead that morning we headed straight for my favorite ride Big

Thunder Mountain (side note - bummer of the trip was that Matterhorn and the Haunted Mansion were closed. At lease Space Mountain was open though!) While Doug and I took turns with Sophia on Big Thunder Mountain the other girls got to meet these two.

They both were not so much impressed with Jesse. And this is Mabel's way of saying "No thanks Woody. Why don't you keep your distance."

Here's Doug and Sophia on the ride. They're kind of in the middle.

After that we headed back to Fantasyland to meet Tangled! It was so fun to meet her and she was so cute. She asked Sophia what she liked to do for fun and Sophia told her ride bikes. Rapunzel asked if it was fun and if it was something she could do with 70 feet of hair. Pretty cute.Then we headed up to Toon Town. Here's Lilly playing Mickey's piano

And the girls at Toon Town.

Then we headed up to the Fantasy Faire to meet the Princesses. So I guess the way that they do it is that they have 3 princesses there a the same time and they switch every 45 min. The thing is they don't tell you who's there or who will be up next. Lilly was really dying to meet Cinderella but when we go there we found out it was Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine. We were ok with that but sad Cinderella wasn't there. Lilly suddenly had to use the bathroom so we left for a minute and got back in the 30 min line again. It worked out perfectly because they stopped the group right before us so that they could switch out the princesses. When we finally got in we got to meet Belle,

Mulan

And Cinderella! We were so excited! Lilly was seriously speechless. It was so cute. She was super sweet to her too. Right after I took this picture Cinderella gave her the biggest hug! I was so sad that I missed snapping a photo of it. It was a sweet moment that I guess will have to live in my head.

And nothing says princess like eating a giant turkey leg! I can totally pull off the whole graceful thing right? After that we headed back to CA Adventure so that Lilly could finally ride Soaring over CA. I'm so glad I took her back because she loved it! After we got off she said "That was incredible! Sophia said that it would be fun and it was!" Doug and I also took advantage of our fast passes and did CA Screaming one more time (we thought about doing the Tower of Terror again but once was enough. It was pretty fun though). We seriously have to thank Doug's sister Leda for sitting with our kids so much! She's pregnant (hooray!) and so she really couldn't go on anything. It worked out though because her husband really wanted to ride everything so we were able to go with him. Here's our "screaming" picture. When we were looking at this there was another one up of a guy reading the comic book on a ride. It was hilarious. I wish I would have thought to take a picture.

After that ride we rode the carousel a few more times and then Lilly and Mabel were ready to go home. Sophia and I stayed a little longer to enjoy the park a little more. We did Goofy's Pilot School (kind of like the Wild Mouse at Lagoon) and the swings a few times. Here we are on the swings. This was probably one of Sophia's favorite rides. She would have done it again and again.We also rode the jellyfish a few more times and at one point we were the only people on the ride. It was awesome. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. It was so fun to just be alone with Sophia and watch the joy and magic in her eyes.

Before we left we told the girls that they could earn some money if they were good in the car and that they could buy something before we left Disneyland. My awesome brother also secretly slipped us some cash before we left so we told them they could get something from Uncle Jason too. Here they are with what they picked. Sophia got the Tangled doll and Lilly picked Tinkerbell. Doug said when Sophia went to take her doll out of the box she said "Is this a dream?" Doug assured her that it wasn't and she said "oh good. Because I really want this moment to be real." I thought that was pretty sweet.I love that they tucked their dolls in with them at night. Those eyes are a little creepy at night though.

Day 3 - Disneyland!

2012-01-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we got up bright and early to take advantage of the "magic morning" where they open the park an hour early. One funny thing from the first day at the parks that I forgot to mention. Sophia was a little nervous about the rides and wasn't sure what to expect. We kept assuring her that they weren't going to be too scary and that she was going to be just fine. She thought about it for a little longer and then said, "I'll just be like Esther. She had to do something scary but God helped her to not be scared. I'll she be like she was so that God will help me to not be scared." Thank you Veggie Tales!

Once we entered the park we hit the Dumbo ride first. It was such a fun ride and the kids loved it! Well at least some of them did. Some others were still a little sleepy.
We then hit up all the other rides in Fantasyland including Grandpa's favorite Mr. Toad's Wild Ride or as my nephew put it "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to Hell". Pretty much summed it up. Here's a fuzzy picture of Sophia and I on Peter Pan. I didn't remember this one from previous visits. It was super fun!The teacups.And here we are in line for Pixie Hollow. Once again, one of us was not as excited to be there as the rest. The girls with Tinkerbell. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip for Lilly. She was in heaven! I was kicking myself though that we had forgotten her Tinkerbell costume at home. Oh well. The family with Tink. We also got to meet her fairy friend Iridessa. That was pretty great as well.After all that fun we headed over to ride the submarines. Definitely not as fun as I remembered as a kid. I think I got claustrophobic so that didn't help. That and the stink coming from the guy sitting next to Doug. That didn't so much help in closed quarters. Here's the girls with Uncle David.And Doug and I on the ride.I didn't take too many more pictures of us on rides but we definitely rode some! This was definitely the year to go. My brothers and their families went the week between Christmas and New Years and Disneyland reached capacity. They were turning people away. We had seriously no crowds. We pretty much walked onto every ride. It was awesome! Sophia's favorite ride of the day was Pirates of the Caribbean. She loved the dogs. She seriously rode it about 4 times. We also took everyone (except Mabel) on Splash Mountain. I couldn't believe my girls went on it! I went to Disneyland for the first time when I was about 9 and there was no way I was going near that ride. They both totally had no hesitations and went right for it. They loved it too. Right up until the last drop. They did great going down it but then the "splash" totally drenched Lilly and she burst into tears. We were sad that that ruined it for her but it was still pretty fun. Here's some other shots from the day. Sophia in front of the castle.Lilly in front of the island.And Mabel on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Not sure she's a fan. It was kind of weird though so I think I'd have to agree. Those hefalumps and woozles are spooky!Here we are on the Jungle Cruise. This one was ok. I had about enough of the "guide's" jokes after a few minutes but Doug thought it was great. Here's the Tiki room. I really liked this one but no one else did. The Dole pineapple whip we had after wasn't too bad either. Quick not about the food at Disneyland. Yes it was ridiculously expensive but I was surprised at the quality. It wasn't nasty carnival food and was actually pretty good. I had a fried green tomato sandwich one night. Who knew that had those at Disneyland?After all the fun of the day we headed to Small World to see their "The Magic, The Memories and You" show. Here's the cute wreaths they had hanging on the way to Small World. I though they were cute. I loved the mini sombreros. Here's the ride all lit up for Christmas.Here's part of the show they do The project different things onto the ride that make it look really cool. They also flash up tons of pictures they took in the park that day. It was pretty fun.After that we headed back to the hotel for some much needed R&R! Here's the Disneyland Christmas tree we saw on the way out. It was huge! It was seriously probably 60 ft tall. Sophia on Main Street in the dark.Doug and Sophia at the famous Mickey face.
And a very tired Lilly at the end of a fun day.

Day 2 - CA Adventure

2012-01-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

On Monday we left bright and early and headed to CA adventure. We hurried and snapped a picture with Sophia and the Mickey flowers (from a distance) before we went in the park. Here we are getting ready to go in!When we first got there all the rides weren't open yet. Soaring over CA was though. It was definitely a good first ride. We loved it! Lilly wasn't tall enough to ride though and she was pretty bummed. She was just under the limit and I couldn't believe they wouldn't let her on. I was bummed too though because I was pretty sure it meant that she wouldn't be able to ride anything the whole time. The next day we put taller shoes are her and she was tall enough to go on everything. We took her back to Soaring again so that she could do that one. It was definitely the time of year to go too! We pretty much walked on to every ride and got to do a few of them multiple times. Here we are getting ready to see Muppet's in 3D. It was a pretty fun show.And here's Sophia with her bug eyes to see Bug's Life. This one was a little scary. My kids were not fans.Here's the girls with Grandpa and Grandma on Heimlich riding through Bug's life.
This was a pretty fun ride in the Bug's life area too. I thought the little cars were way cute.Mabel was not as impressed though.Here's Lilly with Mickey on Paradise Pier. So cute.Here we are enjoying a quick Coke float before hitting more rides!One of the fun things we discovered was this building that had cool things in it like Turtle Talk with Crush and an animators studio. You got to sit in here with a real animator and draw one of the Disney characters. Here's Sophia getting ready to draw.During this session they just so happened to be drawing Pluto. Here's how Doug's turned out. I unfortunately had to leave before it was over because Mabel decided it would be fun to pass out after she got upset because I wouldn't let her draw on Sophia's paper.That night we went to Boudin's bakery on Paradise Pier for some yummy soup bowls for dinner. The girls also got to enjoy this yummy Mickey cookie.After dinner we headed over to watch the World of Color water and light show. It was amazing! I couldn't believe all they could do with water and lights. It was seriously awesome. Here's the pier before the show began.During the show they would project images from Disney movies on the fountains of water. It was seriously incredible.Here's a scene from Pocahontas.

The Pirates scenes were pretty cool but I forgot to record them. If you want to know what that looked like you can see it here. Mabel however was not so much impressed with the show. It may have had something to do with the fact that it started after 8:00 (9:00 UT time) or that we dragged her around the park all day and didn't take her back to the hotel for a nap. I dunno.After the show we called it a day and headed back for the hotel.

Here's a little bit of the magic of Disney. I took this picture as we were leaving the park that night around 9 pm. When we came back the next morning at 8 am the sign was totally gone. Seriously there was not a hint of it anywhere. It was crazy! For a minute I thought I had dreamed it was there. Here's a little video of Mabel after we got back to the hotel. She was so exhausted! We were totally cracking up at how she would still do her Mabel dance even though she was so tired/sleeping! What a silly baby!

Day 1 - Church/Newport Beach

2012-01-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a fun and warm week in sunny CA. We had such a fun trip and did not want to come home! Right before we left we were lucky enough to have some amazing friends come and stay with us. They also have 3 girls that are about the same age as our kids. Each one of my girls is older than their girl that is about the same age but their kids were all taller than mine. It was hilarious! I knew we were short but I didn't realize how short we were (plus both of their parents are super tall)

Here's Mabel with their little Olivia who just turned one. Mabel was completely terrified of her. It was kind of hilarious. She would seriously scream if she came near her (it did get better at the end though). I think someone was not a fan of sharing their personal space. Sorry Olivia!Here's Lilly and Camilla. Once again, Lilly is a few months older than Camilla but definitely a few inches shorter. So funny.

Here's Sophia and Emma. Emma is in Kindergarten and Sophia is in 1st grade. These two had such a blast playing together. I just wish Sophia didn't have school so that they could have had more time together!

After our fun with the Belnaps we got up bright and early to drive to Anaheim. We got there in the late afternoon and hurried for a quick dip in the pool. It felt so nice to swim outside in January!We did a little grocery shopping to get ready for Sunday and then got up bright and early the next morning to head to church with Doug's mom's cousin. This little cutie got her first little hair do with multiple ponies. Too bad it only lasted about 5 seconds. Why won't she keep anything in her hair!?3 cuties ready for church. They loved this window for some reason. They could not keep their little fingers away from it.After church we went to a nearby cemetery to see the graves of Doug's great grandpa and grandma.

The cemetery was really neat and had a whole section that was reserved for LDS people. I thought that was kind of cool.

Cute daddy hugging a cute baby.

Here's Doug's mom telling a little bit about her grandparents (the ones who are buried there).

After that we went to drive by the Newport Beach temple. Unfortunately the grounds were closed but we were still able to get a picture. It was beautiful! We were cracking up though because the chapel next door was the fanciest chapel I've ever seen. It seriously looked like a Tudor estate. The parking lot was full of BMW's and Mercedes too. We felt right at home with our Honda minivan. My sister and I joked that the Payson temple is probably modeled after this one since the areas are so similar. JK.

After the temple we went to the actual Newport Beach to show our kids the ocean. They had so much fun and were excited to go to another beach in a few days!

Swearing In

2012-01-04T15:46:00.000-08:00

Last night we had the privilege of watching my dad be sworn in as one of the newest Provo City Council members. It was a pleasure to be there and we're so proud of and happy for him!

Here he is addressing the audience. After getting sworn in (my cute mom held the Bible while he was being sworn in).The new 4 members. The supporting family.The newest council member and his sweet wife.For the family who was not there, here's part of his address to the audience.

Way to go dad! We know you'll do great and it's even more motivation for us to move back to Provo!

Ringing in the Year

2012-01-01T09:23:00.001-08:00

We had a fun time last night celebrating the New Year at my mom's house. She had a ton of fun Chinese New Year stuff for the girls to play with like these awesome sparkly dragon stickers. She also had these really fun dragon crowns for them to color.
Mabel got to take part in the coloring too and loved it!This cute princess was ready to party!The delicious spread. My mom always puts out the yummiest food! It was so good! Can you go wrong with bacon wrapped shrimp and pineapple though?Here's me and Lilly getting ready for the countdown (at 10 pm).Sophia was nervous about all the poppers so she kept plugging her ears. Here's Jeffy letting off a popper.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! I know this is a weird picture but it's the sign of a good party. Remnants of sparkling cider and poppers. Thanks for the fun time Mom and Dad!

Here's a random video of Sophia and her Mega Block car wash that she built this morning. I must say I was quite impressed!

First Grade Love Update

2011-12-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was teasing Sophia about her boyfriend Judson. She said "he's not my boyfriend". I affirmed that was right and that she was too young to have a boyfriend. She then said "Rees is my boyfriend. Judson likes me but I really like Rees." I had no idea such love triangles existed in first grade! I love how it keeps getting so complicated.

Christmas Past is Passed

2011-12-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

I think it's safe to say we had a visit (or two) from Santa this year! The day started off great. I thought it would be fun to have everyone sleep in the basement but Doug and I were the only ones who ended up there. Sophia was too afraid that she'd see Santa so she opted for her bed.

Here's the girls checking out the stash Santa left.

The classic stair picture.

Both of these pictures turned out so well. I can't decide which one I like better. At least Mabel was totally cooperative for both of them.

Here's the stockings. I totally did not have time to make on for Mabel this year. Doug threw in one of his socks with a piece of candy in it and a Post-it with her name on it at the last minute. Poor third child.

When did my baby become this little girl?! She's changing so much!

Here's Doug with his Paper Jamz. He really wanted a guitar this year but I told him I didn't have time to get one and this was the best I could do.Luckily I have a brother who is amazing and let us have an old one they weren't using any more. Doug loved it (and it was fun to trick him)! (Side note: I love the Twinkie shirt Doug has on. It says "It's whats on the inside that counts."I got an awesome pair of slippers and some Toms! I told Doug that was all I wanted this year. He did a great job picking them out and even picked the color I would have chosen!

Here's the aftermath.

I'm not sure if she's sad because the unwrapping is over or because Santa didn't bring her what she wanted.After church we headed to my parents for some more fun present (and stocking) opening.

My parents completely spoiled my girls! You can't see it very well but they gave them this awesome princess tower that is as tall as Lilly. You can see if better in the picture at the top of this post.

Here's all the princesses. Lilly loves them and was completely disinterested in opening any other gifts.

My mom gave Mabel this super cute and cozy blanket that she quickly discovered was perfect for putting your fingers through.

Sophia got this really fun bubble bath basket that had this cute princess towel in it.

After my parents we headed to Doug's parents for more present opening.

After all the fun and excitement (and yummy food!) there we went to my brother Dylan's for some delicious prime rib and even more gifts (his family had our family for presents this year). Lilly got these awesome red sparkly shoes

And Sophia got these beautiful pink ones. Doug and I got Brian Reagan tickets. We can't wait! Thanks again guys!

Sophia and Lilly also got these beautiful porcelain dolls from my mom. They love them!Doug's brother had our family and they gave the girls this awesome house that they can color. This picture does not show how big this house really is. It's about 5 feet tall and honestly takes up about half of the room. The girls are so in love with it!

He also gave us this fun game. We've seen it but have never tried it. The girls love it and we're excited to use it more when it warms up!

This little one had fun outside too while everyone was playing. She enjoyed eating some snow

and mud.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We know we certainly did!

Happy Christmas Eve and Such

2011-12-24T18:00:00.000-08:00

We've had such a fun time getting ready for Christmas this week! Most of this has included spending a lot of fun time with cousins! On Thursday we got to go to BYU to my dad's lab to see his pigeons and learn about the studies he does with them.Sophia loved having a turn holding Frank the pigeon.The other night we got all bundled up (I can't get enough of Lilly's hat) and headed to Spanish Fork for the... This one was definitely our favorite.After that we came home to make a gingerbread house.Unfortunately it only lasted a few minutes before it turned into this.
Yesterday we took advantage of our Pass of all Passes and took the kids mini golfing at Trafalga. It was kind of a nightmare. Mabel was definitely too little to go and Lilly cried every time she didn't make it in the hole on the first try.Here's Mabel stealing everyone's balls out of the hole.Here's a cute princes that decided to grace us with her presence. For some reason she looks really weird in this picture. She refuses to wear anything besides dresses and skirts these days and I love the addition of the purse.We also took a quick minute to watch the cool 4D movie they had going on. It was pretty great!
Last night we made the fun snowflake tortillas that were on Our Best Bites. The girls had a blast with that.This is random but I always like to take a picture of the cards we receive during the month. Thanks for thinking of us everyone!

This morning we went to my parents house for a yummy Christmas breakfast provided by Jeff and Lexie. They also gave Doug this awesome Gun Mug. I love it!

This is just a cute random shot of Lilly on the way to Grandmas.

After that we went to Doug's parents for a yummy lunch. We also got to celebrate December birthdays. We also got to find out a big surprise. Back in August Doug's parents gave us a challenge of "walking" a certain amount of miles (they wanted to walk a certain distance to a certain place - the surprise) as a family. Our family had walk about 432 miles. We could also get "miles" for going to the temple, having Family Home Evening and reading the whole Book of Mormon. We finished a few weeks ago and were glad to meet our goal! Here's grandma with our big surprise.

The kids could not wait to see what it was.

Here's Lilly just waiting in anticipation.They finally opened the box and here's what came out (it's balloons with Disney characters on it)They figured out that the surprise was a trip to Disneyland and they were all so excited! Here's Sophia's happy face.And more happy faces.They also gave all the kids Disney jammies which they were pretty excited about.This doesn't really have anything to do with anything but we thought it was cute that she found this drink and could not get enough. I love this baby!Anyway, it really was a great Christmas Eve and we are SO grateful to Doug's parents for the fun surprise. We can't wait to go!

Shelly's Wedding!

2011-12-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

Warning: This post is mainly for my sisters so sorry if there's too many boring wedding details. At the beginning of the week I was lucky enough to escape the kids for a few days and head to sunny Arizona for my cousin Shelly's wedding. It was such a great time and I'm so glad I got to go! The night before we met up at the temple to see the lights. It was so cool to see how they did them up in the palm trees!Here's my cute nieces, nephews, cousins (and cousin's roommate) at the lights.Me and Lexie at the lights. My brother had to stay back at the hotel to do some class work so she was nice enough to let me hang out with her!

My cute nieces and nephews.

The cool lighted wise men and camels.

The actual wedding day was beautiful! We got to go to the temple early and do a session before the sealing. It was really neat. Here's her cute bridesmaids. The one in the middle is her older sister. I always thought that she was like Sophia and that Shelly (the one who got married) was like Lilly. I totally love their outfit choices! They're colors were teal, red and candy apple green. I love it!

Here's the happy couple.

Isn't she beautiful!? I love her bouquet too. It had these really cool teal jewels in the roses and fiddle head ferns. I love those! If I had known about them when I got married they totally would have been in my bouquet.

Here's the gorgeous temple. It really was a beautiful day!After the ceremony we headed over to the luncheon. It was at the prettiest place! Here's Jeff and Lexie in the courtyard.

Later that night they had the reception. It was so beautiful! Every little detail was so fun! Here's the cake.

And some of the food. They had bread bowls in the suitcase on the table with delicious soups.

There was also a sweet stop which was really cute. I love the look of the bench and chairs on the table. So fun!

Here's a close up of the books on the bench. So cute!They also put all these cute frames on the table that they served the treats on. I thought that was a super fun touch.

This picture is kind of blurry but here's my cute dad dancing with the bride. Her dad passed away a few years ago so my dad got to sit in for the dance. It was really sweet. If you look at her cute groom in the background you can see his awesome green shoes. His trademark is that he always wears green sneakers so he made sure to have snakeskin green shoes for his wedding. All of his groomsmen had matching pairs as well.Cute picture of the cute couple.

I thought it was pretty cute to put their presents under the tree.

They also had a hot chocolate bar which was pretty fun.

And then they left through a parade of sparklers and floating Chinese lanterns.Overall it was so fun and so beautiful and I'm glad I got to go! I was especially glad to see my grandma and bring back some of her delicious citrus!

First Grade Love

2011-12-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

Sophia sits by this cute boy and talks about him everyday! Whenever I ask who she played with at recess it's always this boy. I went to help with the Christmas party in her class today and they were so cute. They were dancing together and having a crazy time. The aide told me that she's pretty sure he has a little crush on her and that she's seen him write S and J (his name is Judson) in his notebook! Yikes! Should I be worried? They're only in 1st grade! I thought that this didn't start until at least 2nd grade! Ah young love.

The Big 3-0

2011-12-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

My favorite Man celebrated 30 years yesterday! The day started off rough (Sophia forgot her booster seat for a field trip so I had to rush up to her school with wet hair and a stinky baby) but ended great! We hurried and set up some decor before he got home from work. Do you love the pink streamers? That's what you get when you have a houseful of girls! Here's his (poor excuse for a) cake. I almost got the Cheesecake Factory Reese's cheesecake at Sam's club but decided on another one of his favorites instead. The bottom layer is ding dongs, the middle layer is chocolate covered Twinkies, the third layer is a Twinkies and it's topped with a Reese's PB tree. Maybe I should have gone for the cheesecake.Here's one of his gifts. They're night vision goggles. He was so excited about them but they don't work! We're going to get a fresh set of batteries today and keep our fingers crossed that that does the trick.

Happy Birthday Douglas! I hope it was a good one for you. We're going to celebrate for real at Ruby River tonight (thanks to the GC from work) so hopefully that will make up for everything yesterday).

Finally, here's our Christmas card picture for the year. We only had enough to send to family but know that you are still loved. Happy Holidays!

I love my mom!

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Oh Santa. Please bring me a camera for Christmas. These cell phone pictures are super crappy and not cutting it anymore!

Oh well. Anyway, we invited my parents over for a Swedish meal last Sunday and my mom brought me the cutest things. A lot of my Christmas decor is red and white (we like Scandinavia I guess) and apparently Joann's had a lot of cute red and white stuff this year like these CUTE salt and pepper shakersand this awesome cutting board. I'm so not going to use it as a cutting board but I haven't quite figured out the perfect thing to do with it yet.On Monday for our FHE activity we played Roll a Snowman. I thought it was a super cute idea and my kids loved it.I loved it too because I built my snowman first!See how bad these pictures are? Oh well. The girls recently discovered the Elmo chair my awesome sister gave me a long time ago and they love it! Especially this little one. It's just her size!

Ivins Christmas Party

2011-12-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

We just got back from the annual Ivins Christmas party and as always, there was a good time had by all. Here's some cute angels getting ready for the nativity.This little angel was there too.It was a great time and we loved every minute of it. We had a visit from Santa (Doug's brother took a picture of our family with him so I'll get it on here when we get it) too which is always fun! Here's the girls opening their Santa presents. Sophia and Lilly got Walkables (they were so excited about them!) and Mabes got a pink Zhu Zhu.

A few days ago we made salt dough ornaments as one of the things from our countdown box. Last night the girls got to paint them and hang them on the tree. They're really hard to see but there's a bell on the left and a star close to the bottom of the picture. I think they're the perfect touch for the tree!

A few I forgot

2011-12-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

I forgot to include a picture of our tree in the last post. We haven't had a real tree since the first year we were married so we decided it was time again. We went to Baum's in Provo and found a pretty good one (I think). It's a little Charlie Brown-ish but it'll do. Everything is a little haphazard because it keeps getting rearranged by all the little helpful elves in our house. Also, here's our photos all ready for the holidays! Ho ho ho!

More Randomness

2011-12-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

Get ready for some random pictures! We finally cleared off the camera and it's fun to see what was on there. These first few were obviously taken in the hands of a camera thief. It looks like she got some good ones though.

A few weeks ago Sophia found these curlers that we had not used in forever. She begged me to put them in her hair (she used to hat when I used to do it so I thought that was kind of funny). We put them in on Saturday night and she looked beautiful for church the next day! And yes, looks like it's time to cut those bangs.The other day I found the girls watching TV like this. Apparently they took to higher ground to escape the Mabel monster. Their very favorite game is to pretend she's a monster. Kinda drives me (and Mabes) nuts!

My mom saw this cute idea in a Christmas book and recommended that I try it with my acorns. I think they turned out ok. Not quite as cute as the example but they were using different types of acorns.

Here's the girls with their paper chain countdowns for Christmas! In case the other 8 countdowns we have are not enough, we decided to do these ones as well.

Here's a Bird of Paradise (I told you these pictures would be random!) Sophia created from a picture she saw of one in a kids encyclopedia. I love all her little creations (and yes I'm pretty sure she did have help from Dad on this one).

Last week we had our ward Christmas party. My amazing friend was in charge and asked me to help. I mainly did the food (it was really hard to call and place orders) and had fun doing it. (We also had people sign up to bring desserts from around the world so that made it easy). It was the night before Lilly's party (I really don't know why I planned a birthday party for the next day - aside from the fact that I'm crazy! - but it worked out.) Here's the cultural hall all decorated. Our RS President has some sort of hookup with a guy who has a bunch of lights so we strung them throughout the whole room. It's kind of hard to see but they stretched from wall to wall.

Our theme was "Joy to the World". We had people bring Christmas items from around the world to display. This was our contribution from Sweden. My friend also put out papers that told about different traditions in other countries. We gave the kids a passport and they got to put a sticker on the country where the item in the display from. We also had little paper crafts for them to make representing different things from around the world. I think it turned out pretty good.

My friend also had this awesome collection of ceramic Santa's from around the world that she put out. There must have been about 30 of them. They were awesome!

We asked someone from our RS Presidency to do the table decor. As always, she did an amazing job! We kind of wanted to create the feel of a global bazaar and I think this definitely helped!After dinner we had a program with people either performing something or telling about Christmas from different parts of the world. Everyone did a great job. We even had a former bishop play his ukulele and sing an Australian Christmas song. It was awesome. At the end my friend and her daughter played "Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella" on the piano and french horn. It was beautiful! I guess the song is about little milk maids and shepherds going to see the baby Jesus. We had a couple in our ward (and their new baby) stand up on the stage while all the primary kids wandered up to visit them while they played. It was pretty neat.Overall it was a great party but I'm so glad it's over!

And for the final random picture, my cute little baby has discovered the garbage can in the bathroom and puts EVERYTHING in it! On this day it happened to be all of Lilly's party hats and a few dice. I'm always finding things like sippy cups, laundry, toys, etc in there. She's such a stinker! I don't know how to stop her (aside from keeping the door to the bathroom shut - which I always forget to do) and I'm tired of checking the garbage for things before I throw it out!

Lilly's Birthday!

2011-12-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hooray for a new camera cord! Now I can finally put pictures on! Last Saturday we celebrated Lilly's 4th birthday! I can't believe she's already 4! We celebrated with a Luau party (per her request). Here she is all dolled up for her party!Some of the decor (and Lilly demonstrating the hula)We thought it would be fun to spread a little warmth the snow in the front yard. Thanks for all the fun decorations mom! We loved them! The girls affectionately named this flamingo "Flamingoey". They love him.

Here's some of the treats we served (again, thanks Mom for the Samoa's and fun mints!)

And here's the spread (thanks mom Wilkins for the fun fruit!)

Present time!

We also played some fun games including pin the surf board on the surferand pineapple bowling.

Here's the birthday girl blowing out her candles.

and cute Mabes enjoying some cake.

Thanks to everyone who came and made it a success! Her actual birthday was on Sunday. Here she is after church with her lunch of choice" heart shaped PB&J's, Cheetos and a juice box.

We sure love our Lilly!

Christmas Countdown

2011-11-30T20:15:00.001-08:00

I can't believe tomorrow is December! Thank goodness I finished this countdown just in time! I can't wait to give it to my girls tomorrow along with the traditional chocolate through the paper window countdowns. (Sorry these pictures are really bad. We need a new camera cord for our computer so I had to take these with my phone. My awesome kitchen lighting doesn't help either.)

Anyway, I saw this cute idea in a scrapbook catalogue a few months ago and was so excited to make one! The wording around the star says "Days 'Til Christmas * Countdown to Christmas"It's this awesome little box that opens up to hold 24 perfect little chipboard cards. It makes for the perfect Christmas countdown. I love it!

Here's how some of the cards turned out. We'll see if we actually do everything on each card but at least it gives us options.Wow. I can't believe how bad these pictures are. Maybe I'll try taking them again when we get the new camera cord. Anyway, if you're interested here's the list of things I used. I also have the countdown stamp set too if you feel the need to take this project on (not sure I can say I recommend it). It did have a bunch more really cute stamps that I may get brave enough to add later. For now though, this is as good as it gets!

1. Make paper chains to count down the days until Christmas
2. Have a holiday movie night with popcorn
3. Walk or drive around to look at Christmas lights
4. Make edible ornaments for birds
5. Make Christmas trees out of construction paper
6. Read about holiday traditions around the world
7. Bake Christmas cookies
8. Make scented ornaments
9. Sing Christmas Songs
10. Participate in a charity drive
11. Make a Christmas craft
12. Make popcorn balls/Rice Krispie treats with little piece of candy canes in them
13. Sit outside and drink hot chocolate
14. Go shopping to pick out gifts for others in the family
15. Play pin the nose on Rudolph
16. Make a Christmas treat
17. Donate used toys you longer play with
18. Make gingerbread houses
19. Visit Santa at the mall
20. Sing and dance to Christmas music
21. Read some holiday books
22. Make homemade gifts for the family
23.Make and decorate paper stockings
24. Open a present on Christmas Eve

My mom is the best!

2011-11-26T09:28:00.000-08:00

I have the best mom in the whole world! Here's the amazing Christmas pillows she made for my siblings and I this year (keep in mind that there are 8 of us!) So much work! She never ceases to amaze me!Here's another amazing thing she did. A few years ago she let me copy this cute and awesome nativity cross stich. I got the manger scene done but for some reason got totally caught up in the blue border. I just could not finish it! I begged and pleaded and she very willingly agreed to help me finish it. My dad said it took many late nights and early mornings. I seriously love this lady! Thanks again mom! I know I never would have finished this without you!She also gave Sophia this really fun advent kit. Sophia painted and decorated the whole thing with stickers. She loves it and so do I!

Finally here's a little of our Christmas decor this year. Doug thought it would be fun to display all my 12 Days of Christmas books on the piano. I think it turned out pretty good.

I bought all of these ornaments on clearance at Target after Christmas last year. I think they turned out pretty fun.This year we decided to put our fake tree downstairs for the kids to enjoy and to get a real tree for upstairs. I think they did a pretty good job decorating it!

Finally my cute friend Erin gave us this fun countdown last year. The kids can't wait for December to start so they can start pulling out the ornaments!

Our Turkey Celebrations

2011-11-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

We had such a great week and had fun with all of our Thanksgiving celebrations! Here's a little of our decor. And a cute pilgrim

Here's the girls curled up to a movie. It was so cute to see Mabel feeling big enough to be one of the girls. She's so cute!

On Wednesday Doug and Sophia had the day off so we decided to head back up to Salt Lake. We had such a great time walking around Temple Square and going to the Family History Museum. Here's Doug and the girls at the reflecting pond.

Mabel is contemplating whether or not to take a swim.

And these two cuties loved any excuse to pose. Lilly has been very into dressing herself these days. I love this outfit she chose for this occasion. The valentine socks and pink sparkly shoes are my favorite!We were glad to see that they already had the nativity set up too. It was nice to not have to wait in a huge crowd in the freezing cold to see it either!

The girls had such a fun time at the museum. We didn't like that it was so crowded but they still had fun. Here's they are by their beautiful quilt creation.

And here's Lilly doing some fishing on Nephi's boat.

After a fun day at the museum we headed to Doug's parents for a delicious Thanksgiving meal with his family. His mom made this awesome fruit turkey. I totally love it! Those red pepper feet are the best.

This cute little Indian made this fun hat at preschool. She said she could pick which hat she wanted and she chose to be an Indian instead of a program (Pilgrim).

Here's a cute Program getting ready for the Thanksgiving play at Grandma's.

Here's all the cute cousins after the play. They did such a good job!

On the actual Turkey Day we headed to my brother Dylan's for an amazing feast! I am definitely thankful for these two!

We also decided to give our Pajama Clause gifts a little early this year. I think this little cutie looks pretty cute in her new jammies!

And so does this sweetie. I didn't get a shot of Lilly but she got a pair of these same jammies. So soft and warm! We had such a fun time celebrating and sure are thankful for all we're blessed with!

Being Thankful

2011-11-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law passed this along to us last night when we had our Wilkins Thanksgiving Dinner. She said she got it from someone at the MTC. I thought it was too good to not pass along and definitely reflects some of my own thoughts by putting things into perspective:

Things I am thankful for...
The mess to clean after a party because it means I am surrounded by friends.
The taxes I pay because it means that I am employed.
The clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
My shadow who watches me work because it means I am out int he sunshine.
A lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, gutters that need fixing because it means that I have a home.
The spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.
All the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.
My huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
The alarm that goes off in the morning because it means that I'm alive.
The lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.
The piles of laundry and dishes because it means that my loved ones are nearby.
The weariness at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Slidin' Down the Stairs

2011-11-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

Last night we let the girls take turns sliding down the stairs in their sleeping bags. Aside from being a little dangerous (don't worry, there was ALOT of padding at the bottom) it was really fun! I totally have memories of doing this in silk pillowcases down my parents stairs when I was little and I loved it! Here they are getting ready to go down. At the bottom.I love Sophia's victory arms in this picture.Just in case the pictures aren't enough, here's some video of us in action.

Happy Earlyversary

2011-11-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Even though our Anniversary isn't until next weekend we decided to celebrate a week early to avoid all the craziness associated with Thanksgiving. We picked up Sophia from school, dropped Mabel off in American Fork (thanks again to Mom and Dad Wilkins) and then headed to Salt Lake. Sophia and Lilly made us this beautiful heart to help share the anniversary love.We dropped the girls off at my brothers (thanks again Jeff and Lexie! You guys are the best!) and then headed to this place.We've never stayed here before but it was really fun. We hope to be back again someday and may even bring our kids with us. We totally loved how big the rooms were. It seemed so spacious and was very comfortable. The breakfast buffet was completely worth it as well!

I love this guy!

After checking in we went out for some good eats in Salt Lake. My brother told us about this place. Apparently it's been on this show. They're famous for their cheese steaks and they did not disappoint. So yummy! They also had this jalapeno sauce (it was kind of like a thin Jalapeno mayo or something) that was so good. Definitely a place we'll visit again.

Afterward we went and walked around the planetarium a little. It was pretty fun. We took a quick trip to Marsand the moon. No biggie. All in a days work.

After that we went for dessert at Gourmandise. I love this place! Oh so yum and so hard to choose what to get!We settled for a chocolate raspberry porcupine (love these!), a choux a la creme and a cannoli. They were all equally delicious.

This morning we went and walked around temple square a little and ended up at the Church History Museum. I'm so glad we went there. It was awesome! They had this really neat creche display too which was fun to see. This one was from Sweden. I totally loved all the detail and hand painting.

Sorry this is a really bad picture but this one was from Nigeria. I love how there was a lion (you can kind of see it on the right).And this one was from Mexico. It was awesome as well. They're really hard to see but it had Turkeys in it. We thought that was pretty cool.

The museum also had this really cool interactive Book of Mormon exhibit for kids. We will definitely be taking our kids back sometime soon.

Overall it was a wonderful (and very relaxing!) weekend. Thanks again to all you amazing people who watched our kids and happy 8 years Douglas!

Thankful Turkeys

2011-11-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Last night for FHE we talked about being grateful and early Thanksgivings in America. A few years ago my awesome friend Nancy gave me a book with different traditions and ideas for each holiday. I LOVE it and I seriously pull it out for every holiday. Thanks again Nancy! One of the ideas that it had was to get different colored feathers and go around and have everyone say something they are grateful for that is that color. We didn't have colored feathers but colored paper sufficed. We also read Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation. I didn't even know this document existed! It was pretty cool to read. It was also interesting (and a little depressing) to think that the President would never be able to deliver a speech like this in this day and age. Way too many religious references and that's kind of sad. Anyway, we also made our Thankful Turkeys. Mabel's looked more like a Thankful Dove but that's ok. It was fun to see all the things we're thankful for:

Mabel: Milkies, sisters, my bed, Critter (her little turtle that plays music that she sleeps with)
Lilly: Friends, family, sisters, house, treats
Sophia: Apples, mom and dad, sistirs, firends, orangiis (her spelling, not mine)
Me: The Gospel, my amazing Douglas, my sweet girls, my warm home, my health and body
Doug:Plan of Happiness, Joanna, 3 crazy girls, health, music.

I thought it was kind of fun to see how many of us shared the same the top 5 things we're grateful for. Looks like it takes pretty much the same things to make all of us happy.
Here's a random shot of some cuteness during FHE. This baby cracks me up!

And here's the 3 beauties enjoying their breakfast before church on Sunday. They all wanted to eat on the same chair (Mabel insisted on having a straw even though she had no milk in her bowl). After I got them all settled Sophia said, "Mom. You have got to take a picture of this. I think this is the first time we've all eaten breakfast on the same chair". She was right. Definitely a moment to document and I'm glad I did!

Mall Fun

2011-11-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Sophia was out of school so we took a trip to play at the Mall. We had to go exchange movie tickets that I had accidentally bought for the wrong day. Side story: My dad offered to take the girls to Puss and Boots on Friday since there was no school. I gladly accepted the offer but wanted to buy the tickets before hand so that he wouldn't have to. I bought the tickets on Thursday and am almost positive that I selected Friday before looking at the movie times. When I was checking my e-mail on Friday however, I noticed there was one asking how I liked the movie. I double checked the tickets and had bought them for the day before. Seriously though, no good deed goes unpunished! Luckily they were nice enough to let me switch them and it all worked out.

We took advantage of our trip up there with some pretzel bites and an Orange Julius (it has seriously been years since I've had one of these and they were not as good as I remembered). We also took a minute to play in the play area and the girls had a blast!I know this is kind of a weird picture but I was trying to cut out the lady behind Sophia. Sophia's also making that face on purpose. She was trying to be crazy.

I love my 3 silly girls!

Party Time

2011-11-08T14:53:00.001-08:00

Lilly set up this party for Mabel this afternoon while she was napping. It was a pretty fun one!Here's the party planner with her magic wand. All the guests taht were invited to come.This part is my favorite. This is a "hut" that she built. She knows that it involves blankets, chairs and books to hold the blankets. She hasn't quite figured out how they all work together though. My favorite part is that she kept referring to it as a "hood". Quick update on this cutie. We changed our lives around a little and she is now doing dance. This picture was taken post nap after dance yesterday so sorry it's so beautiful. Yesterday was her first day and she did great! I seriously was amazed at how well she followed the teacher and how well she did in general. We were debating about whether or not to do dance and I kept going through all the options with her. She finally said, "but I just need to learn those dance moves!" You know those ones that are so vital that you just need to learn? I'm glad that she's learning them and I think she'll do great!Here's a quick picture of the banner I made with the leftovers I had from doing the Boo one. I thought it turned out ok. Not really my favorite but it will do.Finally, here's the video from the recital this weekend:

Fun on the Floor

2011-11-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we went to Doug's parents house for fast Sunday dinner. They're in the process of getting new carpet and so their carpet was all ripped up in the family room. They let the kids color all over the floor and sign their names. It was pretty fun!Here's Mabel's contribution.And Sophia's beautiful tree hand.

More hands

Doug and I. Oh how sweet.

Lilly's hand

Thanks for the fun memory Grandma and Grandpa! It was really fun!

We love Music!

2011-11-05T15:12:00.001-07:00

Last night we were lucky enough to have some friends come and play! We put some Youtube videos on and the girls had fun dancing to Tooty Ta (a favorite song from preschool) and the Chicken Dance. We love this one too.

After all the dancing we went to Sophia's fall piano recital. She did a great job! It's so amazing to see how far she's come from last year! I tried to upload the video but apparently I'm having issues. I'll try again later.

Let it Snow!

2011-11-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

First off, we updated our pictures to go along with Thanksgiving! Sorry the picture is really crappy. I should have shut the blinds first. Oh well. Don't I have cute pilgrims and Indians?This morning we woke up to a bunch of white stuff. This one pulled the stool up to the window and looked out longingly. She couldn't wait to get out and play in it!

I love this picture and how it shows her cute little profile. I love this baby!

We decided to bundle up the kids to let them go play. Doug was a good sport to go and play with them.

Here's their snowman that they built. They affectionately named him "Snowy". Unfortunately it warmed up right after they built it and he tipped over in about 5 minutes.

Oh well. Sophia really liked his hair.

I loved comparing the picture above with this one. Mainly because I just really love this picture. It's amazing to see how much she's grown in 3 years!Mabel was excited to go out and join them but unfortunately, she only lasted about 5 minutes.

It was all fun and games until she tripped and went face first into the snow. She wasn't quite sure how to maneuver in the cold stuff and so it made her really mad. Poor little lamb (name that movie (if you said "Dennis the Menace" you win!)).

At least some of us had fun in the snow today. Maybe her next experience will be a better one.

The Costumes

2011-11-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

Halloween night turned out pretty great. Unfortunately our camera ended up in a trick-or-treat bag (I know Doug. It's my fault) and is now not turning on. I even charged the battery again and it still doesn't work. I dunno. Fortunately his mom snapped some pictures of us! This year we had Cleopatra, Tinkerbell, a little stinker and Bob Ross with is "happy little trees". We totally stole the Bob Ross idea from someone in my sisters ward. She was telling me about their party over the weekend and a couple who dressed up in these costumes. I thought it was so funny so I hurried and called Doug at work and asked if he'd be willing to do a last minute costume. Luckily we were able to throw it together thanks to Doug's creativity and expertise! He honestly glued part of the wig onto his face for the beard. It was awesome. The "happy little trees" part was easy. I just taped some leaves to my shirt and used a leftover leaf wreath from our wedding. It was pretty fun and it got Doug 1st place at his works costume party.

After his work party we hurried and ran to both grandparents and then hit up a few houses in our neighborhood before calling it a night. We were so exhausted by the time we got home. It was worth it though! This morning I quickly took down all signs of Halloween and put up Thanksgiving decor. The snow would have sufficed as a reminder that Thanksgiving is next but it's fun to have some decor too. Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!

Spooky Weekend Fun

2011-10-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend leading up to more fun celebrating today! On Friday I went to Sophia's Halloween Party at school. We made Tootsie pop ghosts, witches brew stew (you suck up Halloween shapes with Halloween straws and put them in a bowl), black paper plate spider webs, monster munch and played toss the spider in the cauldron. I took a lot of the ideas from her class party last year. The monster munch was really fun. It had earthworms (cheetos), lizard eggs (kix and cocoa puffs), bat toes (sunflower seeds), bug eyes (mini m&m's) and bug brains (mini marshmallows). One of the mom's also brought homemade root beer with dry ice which was pretty fun.It was a really fun but kind of crazy party. 26 students + 1 teacher (and an aid) + 7 parents = a lot of noise!
Here's Sophia getting ready to throw the spider in the cauldron. It's kind of hard to see but that's her teacher in the very back. She had the best Egyptian costume. It was complete with an awesome wig that had braids and gold things on it. She's such an awesome teacher. Sophia was excited to be the same thing as her teacher. Too bad her costume was a little on the homemade side. I love the cute Sacajawea costume behind Sophia too. This little girls mom always makes her costumes and they are always awesome!Here's Lilly and Mabel playing with/eating the toys while the rest of us partied.On Saturday we took advantage of the last bit of warmer weather and spent some time outside. And we also carved pumpkins. Mine in on the left and it's supposed to be sideways. I was trying to be clever. Lilly's is in the middle and the thing above the left eye is supposed to be a bow. Sophia and Doug did the other one. Sophia drew the face and Doug did the carving.Thank goodness we added more pumpkins to our porch! We just did not have enough! This is random but this is Lilly's skeleton that she drew in preschool a few weeks ago. This was before her haircut and her hair was up in buns. I love how she made sure to draw them. Last night we went to my brother's house for a delicious fall dinner and to see some of my cousins. It was a lot of fun. Cleopatra was there again too.So was spiderman. Man I love that spiderman.Tinkerbell made an appearance too. Funny story about Lilly's costume. For weeks and weeks she couldn't decide what to be for Halloween. Then she decided she didn't want to dress up at all. I kept suggesting things that we already have like a princess or Tinkerbell but she still didn't want to be anything (one year Sophia didn't want to dress up as anything and Lilly saw a picture of it a little while ago so she didn't want to be anything as well). Anyway, last week totally out of the blue she said "I know! We have lots of dress ups in our dress up box. Maybe I could be something in there." I said "That's right. Like maybe Tinkerbell?" "That's a great idea mom! That's what I should be!" Anything I can do to help sweetie. She cracks me up.Also this weekend I did this. It was definitely not my favorite race mainly because it started so late in the day and it was so stinking crowded (3700 runners). At least I got a cool shirt though! The shirt is a little misleading though. It was just a half. I will NEVER run a full marathon.

These are my awesome friends in my ward that ran with me. I still can not get over Melissa's (the one on the far left) bangs. She definitely knew how to wear the 80's. It was the first half for two of these girls which made it even more fun. Thanks for letting me train with you girls!Here I am at the end. Sorry this is not a very flattering picture. I was just so glad to be done! I think that 2 half marathons in 1 year is too much for me. I am definitely looking forward to a break!Here's the final random picture for this post. I was cleaning up on Saturday and found this that Sophia had made. I love her imagination!

Lilly at the Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the patch here's a few random pictures from this week. Lilly was playing when I heard her yell out, "Mom! Turn on a show for us!". I came out to find her like this. I love how she has them all tucked in. She's going to make a great mom!This one's kind of blurry, but I don't think this little stinker likes her costume. What do you think?Now onto the patch. We got to go the the Big Red Barn for a hayride to the pumpkin patch with Lilly's preschool yesterday. It was so fun! Here's the kids playing around before we got on the hay ride.

She looked pretty excited to be in the class picture. What a cooperative child.

Here's the girls getting ready to ride out to the patch.

Here's Mabel exploring a little bit. It was pretty bumpy so she kind of had a hard time walking around.

What a cute pumpkin! They had a maze too which was pretty fun.

Mabel tried so hard to pick up this pumpkin. It was totally cracking me up!Love my girls! So fun to be there. I love how Lilly's legs look like my other leg in this picture.

Is the sun bright Mabel?

Thanks for the good times the Big Red Barn!

I think we need a few more pumpkins...

2011-10-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

What do you think? I'm just not sure we have enough on our steps.We've been having a fun time getting ready for Halloween by making some fun crafts! Sophia made this spooky caterpillar on Sunday. I think it turned out pretty good.

We also made cheesecloth ghosts. I ended up using equal parts of glue and water and I think they turned out great! We also made paper mache pumpkins but they didn't turn out so hot so I didn't take a pic. In fact, we didn't even bother finishing them.Last night for FHE we made these delicious Apple Cider Floats. They were sooooo yummy! It was like driking a caramel apple. We used caramel ice cream which may have made them even better. We also used this which definitely made them better. It's freshly pressed apple cider that my parents squeezed on Saturday. So fresh and sooooo delicious!Finally for our last treat my mom got Mabel this cutest outfit at the Dollhouse Festival this weekend. I seriously think it is so cute! It's hard to see because she wouldn't hold still and I took the picture with my phone. The pants are my favorite. They are seriously so cute! The ruffle around the arms is so cute too! Thanks again mom! P.S. Liza - it's hard to see but Mabel has the cute shoes my awesome friend (thanks Donace!) gave me on her hands. I seriously love them. They're so cute!

Wonderful Wales Weekend!

2011-10-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time at the Wales House this weekend for fall break. Before we left we made some pumpkin spice playdough. The kids had fun making faces with it before we packed it up. I'm sorry but this might be one of the cutest pictures of Lilly I've ever seen! I am a little biased though!Here's a scary monster face.and another one. This one she made for our whole family using all of the pieces. She wanted to take a picture of the whole family with it since she made it for the whole family. Mabel looks happy to be here.

When we got to Wales we got to help Grandma decorate the house for a surprise party for Bridger. It was his birthday so she wanted to make it special for him.

Here's the cutest monster cake his mom made for him! I totally love it!
And here's Sophia with the birthday boy. She made him the two wonderful birthday "posters" that are behind him as well.
After dinner the kids all went outside for a scavenger hunt grandma put together.
It was pretty great!
I also took the kids out for a ride on the gator. Once again, Mabel looked happy to be there. So did Lilly.Here's the kids down at the reservoir. I have never seen it this clear before. And it was so blue! It was beautiful! There were so many birds too so it was really fun.Here's all the kids getting ready to head back.We took the long way back and found these beautiful trees over the trail. It was so pretty! You can barely see Sophia in the middle of the trail.
Overall it was a fun weekend but it always is at Wales!

Pics of the Girls

2011-10-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

A few months ago my amazing friend Kristi took the cutest pictures of my girls! I keep forgetting to post some of them so I'm finally getting around to it. She got some pretty cute (and a few silly) ones! I seriously wondered if she had photo shop built into her camera with some of the smiles she got for Lilly. So fun!

Haircuts and Jumping!

2011-10-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

While I was thinking of things to do during fall break, haircuts were definitely at the top of the list! I have not cut my girls hair since after Mabel was born and it was deinfitely time. Sophia kept telling me she didn't want her hair but because she wanted it to grow as long as Rapunzel's. I hesitated telling her that I made an appointment until the day before. I expected to hear her complain when I told her but she said, "yes, yes, yes!" I asked her why she was so excited to get it cut and she said, "because I want bangs!" I had no idea about that one but at least she was excited. Here they are before we left.See how long and scraggly? It was time. I usualyl cut their hair but I've finally realized they're kind of at an age where they might need to have their hair straight and not cut all crazy. We went to my friends aunt (who I've gone to the past few times) and she was awesome as usual! I seriously think she does the best job! I was so happy with how they turned out.

Here they are after. I was trying to convince Sophia to just to a little swoop of bangs but she insisted she wanted ones like this. On the way home she said, "I don't really like to have hair on my forehead". Sorry sweetie. Those are bangs! Remember how you begged for them? Guess you'll have to just get used to them because they take FOREVER to grow out!

After the cuts we went and got our annual Square Pumpkin meal and then headed to Jumping Jacks. They love that place and so do I because it makes them tired! This was Mabel's first time in one of the toys.

Here they are going up the big slide.And coming down.

Overall it was a good first day of fall break. Also to add to the fun, we through in flu shots at the doctor this morning. I really know how to party!

What a helpful sister!

2011-10-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Doug and I spent the morning working in the yard. When we came in we found this lunch that Sophia had made for Lilly. Apparently she got hungry and didn't bother with her slacker parents (who never do anything for her anyway). Sophia got out the peanut butter and jelly and even cut the sandwich into a pumpkin shape. I love that she got her cheese slices, a straw in her cup and everything! What a good sister! Good thing someone makes up for their poor excuse of parents!

Latest Fun Finds

2011-10-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this funny video? I love my husband but seriously, can any of you relate?

Last week we checked out this book from the library. I totally remember reading it as a kid and I was happy to see that they had it! My girls loved it too! So fun!

For the last fun find, the other day the girls were twirling and dancing around and we noticed Mabel joining in. It was so cute! I love to see her try and twirl!

More Spooky Delights and Slippery Fun!

2011-10-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a few more of our spooky decorations. Sophia came up with these ones all on her own. I love them! I also saw this idea in a decor book and thought it was pretty cute.Here's some other fun plant signs.LastSunday we had pumpkin waffles (Doug made them on the panini press) and red velvet pancakes with buttermilk syrup (thanks for the idea D&T)! They were delicious! We let the girls make pumpkin faces out of their waffles. They turned out pretty cute I thought!

Last night for FHE we went to a local park that we drove by last week and the kids have been begging to go to ever since.

Oh this sweet child. She's getting new teeth and hasn't been super happy lately. Doesn't she look like she needs a hug?

She also had a fun time climbing up the stairs and going down the slides by herself. Such a fun age. Ready, go!

We then came home for a yummy oven smores FHE treat.

Here's one of the girls going down the slides. Pretty fun!

Latest Pictures

2011-10-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to quickly share a few of the latest pics from the camera. This sweet girl came home with her school pictures the other day. I'm debating about retakes. Thoughts? Seriously though, why do they not encourage a smile or fix a hair here or there? Here's the girls enjoying a treat during the awesome BYU/USU game last week. The treats were good and so was the game (barely).This was Lilly's conference project. She would repeatedly load the animals on Doug (they all were going into the car) and he would shake them off. It seriously kept her entertained for about the entire last session.

The other day Sophia got in trouble for teasing Lilly in the car. I told her when she got home she owed me a few minutes on her bed. When she came back up she had these notes in tow. They totally crack me up.

What do you think? Am I forgiven?

We love you too Sophia.

Last night we let the girls have a sleepover in their igloo tent.

I think they had fun and they actually slept pretty good too! Also yesterday I pulled out all the winter clothes since it's been freezing lately! I hope they're serious with those 70 degree predictions for next week! Here's this cute baby in her "new to you" winter jammies!Speaking of new to you, we were lucky enough to get Doug's grandma's washer and dryer set. Even though our super old ones have of course been nothing short of fantastic lately (thanks again for the washer Kimber!) it was nice to replace them. They're the fanciest set we've ever owned too! I love them because they're super capacity! I can seriously cram so much in them. We feel very blessed and hope that they're something that will last us for many years to come!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2011-09-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

almost. I consider this the most wonderful time of the year though! I love fall and Halloween! I know it's totally cheesy to post my decorations on here but it's my blog so I'm doing it anyway!
Lilly is totally scared of the picture in the upper right corner. I know it's mean but it totally cracks me up. I'll hide it in random places and she freaks out. I'm the meanest mom ever. Sophia apparently does not share the same fear since she wanted her picture taken with it.

So excited to finally hang up the countdown calendar! I love it!

More spooky stuff.

This is the first year I've really done anything with our patio. I did switch out the porch light for a black light like I usually do though. Our pumpkins are still totally green but I'm planning to put them up eventually. I also want to steal some cornstalks from my parents sometime...

It was good to see this wreath survived a year in storage. I think I need to hit up the dollar store for another black crow though. Those things are great.

I also let the girls make some pumpkins to hang in the window. I think they did a pretty good job.

My steps look so sad without pumpkins. Turn orange already!

My awesome friend did let me have some of her little white pumpkins. I love them!

Finally, we had a good time trying on the spooky glasses.Well, some of us did anyway.Mr. Potato Head seemed fine with it though.

Play date

2011-09-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Sophia's school has had parent conferences all week. Because of that she's only had half days at school. It's actually been kind of nice. She was able to have a few friends over on one of the days for a playdate. They had fun making booksand bouncing Squinkies in the bathroom. I know, everyone's favorite party game. They are such cute girls and she's so lucky to have such fun friends.

I forgot to include this one in my last post. Sophia gave me this note after I took them to Spring Lake (and we got attacked by geese). I love all the "he he's" at the bottom of the page.And here's a random one of the Mabe's enjoying some delicious licorice!

Angry Birds and Such

2011-09-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

The other day I ran with a friend around Spring Lake. I had no idea this lake was so close and that I've never taken my kids there! Doug was gone this morning on a camp out so we decided to go there this morning to feed the ducks. The minute we got there all these geese and ducks started pouring out of the water and coming straight for us! The girls freaked out and ran back to the car. I hurried and threw all the bread out that I had and hurried into the car too. It was so funny. I hurried and snapped a picture to remember the funny memory.After that we decided to head to Salem Pond where we could play and not be attacked by aggressive birds.

Mabel had a fun time trying to figure out the slide.She finally made it up with the help of the stairs.

After we played a little we decided to walk around the pond. The girls had a fun time helping Mabel walk.

Here's a picture of Sophia on the bridge. She's a tiny little thing you can see in the second full square from the right.Lilly was so terrified to go on this bridge. I love how she looks like she's going to fall through at any time.

Here's a few fun things we did this week. I made this fun Halloween banner. I've resisted putting out all the other Halloween decor so far but I couldn't wait on this one.

I love my children but get a little tired of the "I don't know what to do..." that I hear constantly. I finally came up with this and hung it on the fridge. Now when they ask "what can I do?" I refer them to the fridge. So far it's gone ok and I'm hoping that the novelty doesn't wear off!

Sophia has been really into jump roping at school. Her teacher teaches a jump rope class (that happens to be during gymnastics and she's way bummed about it!) and so the kids are all way into it. She gets to bring one to use at recess and she loves it. Here's my messy baby giving it a try.

Random shot of a freshly bathed babe who wanted her picture taken.

Sophia came home from school one day and told us about a dad who came to her class who's in the military. She said that he could do push ups with his son on his back. Of course we had to give it a try. Go Doug! I told her teacher about this and she said she felt bad for all the dads in the class because they would all be doing the same thing that night.

Lilly was looking through the friend the other day and found these funny apple smiles to make.

We made them for a treat on Sunday and I think they turned out pretty good. They were actually pretty tasty too!

Finally, last week we went to a dinner honoring all those who passed the CPA exam this year. It was a fun night and a nice break from the kids. Unfortunately this was the best picture I got! Oh well. Still proud of my husband though. Way to go Doug!

Mabel Walks and Lilly Reads

2011-09-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about Mabel is that she is obsessed with shoes. She seriously knows when we're gettting ready to leave because she heads straight for the shoes and tries to get them on. I finally got pictures of her doing this the other day. Yes she is still in her pajamas (no we were not getting ready to go somewhere. Don't worry, I do dress my kids (usually) when we go somewhere). She seriously tries and tries forever. I love how determined she is.Sometimes she gives up and she thinks that it's really best if you wear them on your hands. But then she tries, tries again.And for more Mabel, here's a little clip of her taking a few steps today! Where did my baby go?!

And here's a video of Lilly "reading". I had no idea she could do this until she showed me the other night. Sophia has been reading these books to her and night and has been determined "to teach Lilly how to read". She's so funny about it. Apparently Lilly's been listening though. Pretty funny kids.

Untitled from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

More Grandma Ivins Remembrances

2011-09-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went with Doug's family to Grandma's House one last time to take a few pictures. We were coming from a baby blessing and weren't quite prepared so all of these are taken with my phone. His brother took a good long video of the house and hopefully we'll be able to get a copy of it (hint hint Brian. JK). Here's the front of her house (and Leda and David).

This is my cute niece Kaleen sitting on the rock where my father-in-law first kissed my mother-in-law. It was pretty cute to hear the story. My mother-in-law said that after that night her dad told her that she could have that rock someday. I thought that was cute and I hope she actually does get it!Here we are in front of her house.We went through the house and took a few last pictures of some of the treasures. This is her wedding dress. My mother-in-law said she bought it for $9. She also weighed less than 90 pounds when she wore it! We're pretty sure that Kaleen (pictured above) would be the only one who would fit in it now.This is her wedding dress and Doug's grandpa's army suit that he was married in. It was kind of fun to see these side by side.

This arrangement as from Doug's mom and her siblings. The birdhouse is one that she hung outside in her beautiful flower garden. I know it doesn't look like it but the beautiful Lilly in the middle (pink with white edges) was bigger than my opened hand. It was gorgeous!

This is one her curio cabinets with some fun treasures.

And this kids had fun playing with her awesome car track one more time. This was the definite toy of choice for any child that came to her house. I wish I would have taken a picture of this whole room because I have so many memories here. There were many showers, celebrations and parties held in this room.

Monday night we went to Doug's parents house for Family Home Evening. We talked a little bit about Grandma and Doug's dad asked us all what some of our favorite memories of her are. He encouraged us to go home and write them down as well. I thought this would be the perfect place to do that.

-Sophia remembered that she always had a piece of candy to share.

-she had beautiful flowers and took great care and pride in her beds and gardens. A few months ago we were up by her house and stopped by to see her flowers. It was so fun to walk around with her and have her identify everything. She was so proud of it and you could tell how happy it made her. This is part of the reason why Doug didn't want to say goodbye to her at the hospital. He wanted to remember her this way. I think that's great!

-I love all the bridal and baby showers that were held in her great room. It was so fun that even though I wasn't one of her "blood grandchildren" it was fun to still be included in this and to be honored at a few of these events.

-there were many Halloween, Christmas and Easter parties held at her house. I loved waiting for Santa to make his big entrance in the big room and egg hunts in the backyard.

-one of my favorite memories was seeing her dressed up as an AF cheerleader (I think) for Halloween. She was even complete with a pony tail hair piece. That woman loved to party! I loved how she got into each and every holiday and would do anything to make people smile.

-I also loved going to her house mid-morning on Christmas for finger foods and to see her beautiful tree! Of course the real reason why any of us went (aside from picking up our restaurant gift card) was to get a piece of her toffee! She made a mean toffee. No matter how many times I try I just can not replicate it! Apparently I'm not adding the right amount of love.

I know there are many more memories that I could share but I'll stop now. One of my brothers-in-law mentioned the time that he first met her. He said she was so impressed by how immediate her love was. Even though she just met you, you knew that she loved you and that you were welcome into her family. That's so true. Her door was always open for everyone and she definitely had not prejudices. She really was an amazing woman and set and incredible example for all of us. We love you grandma!

We love Grandma Ivins!

2011-09-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

We've had a great last couple of days celebrating the life of an amazing woman! I feel so blessed to have known her and so lucky to have married into her family.
Doug's mom had the idea for this arrangement as a gift to Grandma from her family. She got a rose for each person in the family and then attached this cute seed packet with a picture of our family. The seed packet says "Grandma Ivins Planted the Seed" and there's a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants about reaping a good reward if you sow a good seed. She did a great job.Here's a few things from the display tables at the viewing. The little brown rectangle at the bottom of the picture is a quote she carried around in her wallet. They made lots of copies of it and had them out for people to take a the viewing. It was really neat. The quote says "I believe that only one person in a thousand knows the trick of really living in the present. Most of us spend 59 minutes of an hour living in the past with regret for lost joys, or shame for things badly done (both utterly useless and weakening) or in a future which we either long for or dread. The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is - a miracle and unrepeatable" - Storm Jameson. Such sound advice.

This is a painting of her cabin up at Tibble Fork and the quote is a really cute thing that she really liked so she wrote it down. I love it. It says "Remember me with smiles and laughter, that is the way I'll remember you. and if you only remember me with tears, you must not remember me at all." So cute. I think that totally sums her up.

This was a cute picnic basket they had displayed with her dishes, silverware and flowers - her favorite.

After the funeral (which was amazing) we went to the graveside service.Here's Mabel with cute Aunt Leda.

Here's all the men leaving their boutonniers on the casket.

All of the girls were given a daisy when we got there.

They also got to place them on the casket.

After the dedication of the grave they gave each of the kids a balloon.

Then they gathered all the kids together and had them send their balloons to grandma in heaven.

I loved how the casket looked with all the daisies on it. So pretty. She would have loved it!

Here's Doug's parents with all their children.

And our little family. Don't mind the hair in my mouth and me giving Lilly the death grip so that she'd hold still. Doesn't Doug look nice though? I think this is the first time I've seen him in a suit since he had to wear one to the first day of the accounting program.

Afterward we went back to the church for a wonderful luncheon. I loved how they decorated the tables. It was so grandma. I think she would have definitely approved.

These were the beautiful flowers. Doug's mom told me they were donated from the yards of some of grandma's greatest friends.

Mabel had a good time but enjoyed putting this basket on her head the most.Here's Doug's mom with a few of her siblings. The sweet woman in the middle was my Grandma's housekeeper for the last 35+ years or so. She is a very sweet lady.

Finally I just wanted to post her Obituary so that I'll have it for a future blog book.Virginia Mae Woodhouse Ivins
1925 ~ 2011
Our mother, grandmother, sister and friend, Virginia Mae Woodhouse Ivins passed away, Monday, September 5, 2011 from a sudden illness. She was surrounded by many of her family and friends. Virginia was born February 24, 1925, in Huntington Beach, California. The 5th of 7 children born to Elliot and Mariam Almira Peel Woodhouse. She grew up in California and on July 15, 1943 she married her handsome soldier, Heber Grant Ivins, Jr. Their marriage was solemnized one month later in the Salt Lake City Temple. At the end of World War II they moved to Utah to raise their family and where Grant could attend Law School. She was the mother of six children. Cathleen (Stanley) Street, American Fork; Leslie (Leslie) Chapman, Taylorsville; Christine (Craig) Wilkins, American Fork; Jeffery Grant (Kathy Hansen) Ivins, Cedar Hills; Timothy Scott (Ingrid Lapinell) Ivins, Cedar Hills; and Anthony W. (Rebecca Stewart) Ivins, Highland. Grandmother of 29, Great Grandmother of 73, and Great-Great Grandmother of 9.
A few of her favorite things were ...Christmas parties, Group Lunch on Thursdays, gatherings at the Ivins house, St. George condo, trips to Coronado, the cabin, family reunions, her poke-a-dot robe, chocolate chip cookies, jelly bellies, Swedish fish, traditions, toffee making, watching the children play, bridge, Nelsons Frozen Custard, hugs, flowers, visits from friends and family, the Friday Night Gang, caring hairdressers, the temple, dressing up for Halloween parties, and traveling around the world with Grant.
Virginia was a humble, elect lady, who devoted her whole life to the service of her children and grandchildren. She made everyone feel as if they were the most important person in her life. Her arms and home were open to all who wanted to enter in. This is a true testament of a life well lived.
She is survived by her children, grandchildren, brother, Don Woodhouse, brother-in-law Guy (Norma) Ivins and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, 2 great grandchildren, 2 sisters and 3 brothers.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 11:00 AM in the American Fork North Stake Center, 13th Ward, 975 North 60 East. A viewing will be held Friday evening at Anderson & Sons Mortuary, 49 East 100 North, American Fork from 6-8 PM and at the church Saturday from 9:45 to 10:45 AM. Interment in American Fork Cemetery. Online condolences and memories may be shared at andersonmortuary.com

Labor Day and the Latest

2011-09-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

The other day I hadn't heard from this little cutie for awhile. I went to check on her and found her here. She had totally gotten some books and climbed up on the chaise in her room to read them. She's getting too big! I took this last week in the middle of the day. She had been begging me all afternoon to make popcorn and when I finally went to get her some I found her like this. I seriously don't know how she could sleep like that.Now onto the weekend. We had an okay weekend. We put up the fall decor (we'll wait on Halloween for a few weeks) which is always funAnd noticed that our flowers have been loving the cooler weather. I'm so happy to see them finally bloom! Too bad they'll probably freeze in a few weeks.
We also took advantage of a few Golden Onion Days festivities. Doug had to work on the holiday but the kids were begging me to go to the parade and the carnival so I got brave and took them by myself. Here we are waiting for the parade to start.
Here were a few of our favorite guys we always love to see in a parade.After the parade we headed to the carnival. I was totally disgusted by the price of tickets for 1 ride so I made them pick one ride they wanted to ride. I know I'm mean like that but I'm also cheap like that.
They picked this one and had a pretty good time. After that I let them play on the swings and slides in the park. It was free and like I said, I'm cheap like that. They had fun all the same.
After the fun in the park we came home to bottle some peaches. It was fun to have a few helpers this year!Today this little sweetie started preschool. She goes to one in our neighborhood and was so excited to start! In case you can see the beautiful shiners on her nose and forehead, no we don't beat our children. She fell twice on the way to church Sunday. I promise! We did have one sad thing this weekend. Yesterday we lost this sweet lady. Grandma Ivins was Doug's grandma.We're so happy for her that she's back with her husband after 21 years and with a brother who passed away the day before. Even though she'd been declining it happened kind of suddenly. Doug's parents were at our house for the game on Saturday when they got a call from one of his aunts saying that grandma wasn't feeling well and that they were going to get her checked out. We thought she'd be okay but knew that it was in the Lord's hands. She lived a great life and was an amazing woman. Last summer she went back to the temple after 67 years. She accomplished a lot in her life and left an amazing legacy. She will definitely be missed and as Doug's sister said "the world will never be the same without her." One of Doug's cousins (hope you don't mind that I share this Amy) said this about that sweet lady "Christmas Party, Thursdays, gatherings at the Ivins house, St. George, Coronado, the cabin, family reunions, polka dot robe, chocolate chip cookies, JellyBellys, mini rocking chair, tradition, Live-Love-Laugh, toy room, beauty, bridge, hair appointment, ice cream cones, hugs= Grandma." I couldn't agree more. Even though she wasn't my grandma by blood, I felt lucky to have married into this family and to claim her as my own grandma. We told our kids about it and Sophia said "She was a nice girl." Well spoken Sophia. We love you grandma and can't wait to see you again!

Concert Week 2011

2011-08-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

We had a fun week filled with two different concerts. When we bought the tickets awhile ago we didn't realize that they were the same week. It worked out though and it was pretty fun. Thanks to everyone who watched our kids!
On Monday we went to Death Cab for Cutie. It was pretty great! The opener was pretty good as well so it made for a good night. I will admit though that they are definitely not arena band. We saw them at Thanksgiving Point a few years ago and they were much better there. It was still ok though. They played Stay Young Go Dancing which is really all I cared about. Apparently he wrote this song for his wife Zooey Deschanel (who aside from being in Elf is also in a band called She & Him. They're pretty good too. Just FYI. In case you didn't know.) Friday night we went to see The Weepies at the State Room in Salt Lake. This was definitely an amazing venue. It only holds about 300 people so it was more of an intimate setting. It was all acoustic too which made it even better. It was seriously like sitting in their living room while they told stories and sang songs. It was amazing. Funny story though. For the Death Cab concert we thought we had bought General Admission tickets and we wanted to be on the floor. Apparently we didn't and we ended up in seats. It was ok though. For this one we wanted to sit (it's kind of like an old movie theater but the seats are old church pews) but we got there kind of late and ended up on the floor. Oh well. I was actually happy to be on the floor though because we ended up being so close to them. It was amazing!

I loved their set and they seriously sounded amazing live. We listened to their cd on the way home and it was seriously hard to listen to. I've become a live Weepies snob now.

Doug laughed at me for taking this picture but I couldn't resist. Did she not have the coolest shoes on? I seriously love them for their totally chill style. Before the concert we were reading reviews about the State Room because I was a little nervous about the whole thing (I'm kind of weird and I was a little freaked about it having a bar and getting "carded" at the door) but all the reviews said it was amazing. Someone also wrote that the highlight of their life was seeing the Weepies there. I would have to agree. Definitely one of the best experiences of my life to date. Thanks again for the tickets Doug! Best birthday present ever!

Sophia's Party Reprise

2011-08-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

I found Lilly's wand so I decided to throw a quick picture of it on here. I thought they turned out pretty cute. Thanks again for the idea and all the stuff mom! Also, I forgot to mention one other game we played. I included those mystery Air Heads in the goody bag but had to by the six pack of Air Heads in order to get enough. Instead of being smart and putting all the other ones in the gift bags as well, I decided to do a little game with them. We had an amazing chorister in Primary who would do a magic potion thing with the kids. I decided to steal her idea. I had the colors of "potion" match up with the remaining Air Heads and had the kids try and guess which color of Air Head the different potions would make. To make the potion you put a drop of food coloring on a spoon and then put baking soda on top of the food coloring. Then when they stir the spoon into the water the baking soda disolves but the water changes color. It's pretty magic. I wish I would have taken a picture but I forgot. Oh well. Hopefully you get the idea! I think that's it for the party. We'll see if I remember something else later.

The first fruits

2011-08-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

We have had fun gathering the first of our harvest lately. We used some new fertilizer this year and bought our plants from a different nursery and I think it may have helped.

Here's a pepper we picked last week. I can't believe it's bigger than a banana! On the right is some green zebra tomatoes. These have been kind of fun too. Here's 1 of about 100 birdhouse gourds that we got from 1 plant. We seriously are going to have a million of these. Anyone need some for decorating?

We've already done a bunch of beans and a batch of spaghetti sauce. Can't wait to start canning some salsa and peaches!

The big 6!

2011-08-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

A few days ago my baby girl turned six! I can't believe she's that old. We had a fun "Magic and Mystery" party last weekend to celebrate. She's been set on this theme for awhile and I kept putting it off because I wasn't sure how to tie the two together. I guess it worked out in the end though. Here's the invites we came up with:And the mysterious cake. And food:Complete with mystery cookies.
The little magician waiting for the guests to arrive.When everyone got there we had everyone put ribbons on magic wands I made previously. My mom had all this awesome magic wand stuff that she got from a friend so it worked out perfectly! I forgot to take a picture of them and now I can't find either of my girls' so you'll just have to imagine. It was a gold glitter letter (the first letter of the child's name) with a bunch of glitter and stars sewn between two clear vinyl stars. They were really fun to make and I think the kids liked them. After everyone got some food we all headed outside for a magic show. Sophia started things off by showing us a fun trick.Then Doug the magician continued to wow the kids with a fun show.After the show we opened presents
And then went on a mysterious scavenger hunt to find the party favor bags. We had taken obscure pictures of random things in our yard. We gave them the first picture which led to another location and so on. When they gathered all the pictures they put them together to reveal a big picture of where the items were hidden (the bathtub). It was pretty fun! Thinking of where the next picture could be hidden.Putting all the pieces together.Overall, judging by this picture, I think it was a successful party.One of her friends gave her this sweetest note with their present. I wish I knew who gave it to her! I love the accent over the e in her name.On her actual birthday she got to celebrate the big day at school! Her teacher gave her this fun poster to fill out about herself. I love how she wrote her name. She did a snake for the S, an octopus for the O, a pig for the P, a hat for the H, an inch worm climbing a tree for the I and an e coming out of an egg shell for the E. Love her imagination. She also insists by being known as "Sophie" and not "Sophia" in her classroom. I love her independence. Her teacher also taught the class the cutest Happy Birthday song complete with twirling around and cha cha cha's. The best though was after the last "Happy birthday to you" when the whole class screamed out "BYU!" I loved it!After school we had tacos for dinner (at her request) and birthday donuts. We had a bunch of family down on Sunday which included more cake and celebrating so we were a little caked out. Donuts were a good alternative. Happy Birthday sweet Sophia (I mean Sophie)! We love you!

She survived...

2011-08-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

her first day of 1st grade! She was so nervous last night and I told her that it was funny she felt that way because I knew she was going to come home and say "1st grade is awesome!" She came home this afternoon with a very sullen look and I asked her how it was. She said "it was boring." Then she burst our laughing and got a huge smile on her face and said "it was awesome!" Then she went on and on about everything that they did and everyone she played with. It sounded like she had a great day. Here she is getting ready to go!I'm so excited for but still freaking out a little that I have a child old enough to go to school all day! Mainly I'm stressing out about this:
How am I supposed to pack a school lunch every day?! Any tips or ideas to make it easier? One of the reasons I love her school is that they have a dietitian with a PhD in Nutrition running the lunch room. All of the food is healthy(er than most school lunch - believe me. I analyze school lunch for a living. I see what kids are being fed). They serve fresh fruits and everything (pizza crust, rolls, pasta, etc) has to be whole grain. It's awesome. The kids think it's gross but I think it's awesome. Because of that, I don't feel bad letting her get school lunch but it does add up and I don't know that I want to pay for it every day. Anyway, I guess I'll grin and bear it like everyone else! Here's to an awesome year! Even if it does mean I have to send her with a lunch every day.

End of Summer Fun!

2011-08-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to squeeze in every last ounce of summer into our lives these past few days before school starts on Wednesday!
Last week we went with some of my family to Seven Peaks. I have really been trying to avoid this place with all my heart for the past few years but I couldn't put it off any longer. The girls had a blast so I'm glad we went. I definitely did not put enough sunscreen on everyone (especially myself) so that wasn't as fun. My shoulders and back are seriously still killing me and it's been 4 days!

Mabel loved the wave pool (especially escaping from it). Lexie and Mabel.

If the look on this face was not enough to make the ridiculous admission, food and rental prices worth it, then I don't know what is. Seriously though, their prices and rules are out of hand. It's worse than a BYU football game. Each person is allowed to bring in 1 water bottle but it has to be factory sealed. How anal can you get?More lounging with Sam and Jeffy. We have also been trying to hurry and enjoy fresh and delicious foods like grilled pizzas and banh mi's. Ever since I heard about them on the Great Food Truck race last season I've been so curious about what they taste like. This recipe was really good and this recipe did not disappoint.The girls got free passes to the local pool as their big prize for the summer reading program so we took advantage of that today. It was pretty fun and we all had fun lounging in the pool.This is kind of random but I had to document this. This is how Mabel eats every morning. I give her a banana broken in two pieces and she picks up one half in each hand and goes to town. I love it. It may not show, but this girl can eat!Finally, we participated in the tell-tale sign that summer has officially ended tonight. The Meet the Teacher Night. Here's Sophia with her awesome teacher Mrs. Frey. Bring on 1st Grade!

Latest Fun Things

2011-08-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a few of the projects we've had going on as of late.
I bought this bench at DI last week for $4. Nothing fancy but I was kind of excited to have something for the kids to sit on in the backyard. It was a boring brown bench and a friend suggested that I paint it. Also after some inspiration from another amazing friend I decided to give it a little splash of pistachio.Also, when I was visiting my sister in New York she took me to see her friend's house that is so cute. I loved the spice rack that she had and have been trying to recreate one like it ever since. It didn't go so well and hers is much cuter but this is the best I could do for now. So I couldn't find shelves or wood thin enough so I deconstructed our old spice rack instead. I took it all apart and used the racks that you put the spices in for the shelves. Then I cleaned out the plastic spice jars and threw away some of the spices we don't use (like savory and mint - those hadn't even been opened since we received this for our wedding 8 years ago! - I also threw away a lot of the spices I use and replaced them with fresh ones. Don't worry). I made new labels and modge podged them onto the tops. I will probably get some little stainless steel containers or something else but haven't quite found what I really like yet. For the font though I used one of the cute ones I found here. I thought it was fun that someone put a bunch of bloggers handwriting into fonts. How cute.

This last weekend we had some awesome friends come over who we never get to see. Tiffany is so hilarious and brought us all our birthday presents for the year. It was so fun! They gave Doug this awesome bracelet. It's like an emergency thing that is made up of braided military quality rope (correct me on this Tiffany). It's pretty cool.

They also gave Sophia this cutest necklace kit that she has seriously not put down since they gave it to her. It's actually pretty clever and pretty cute. The necklace string is made from one of those loop things that you used to weave together on those plastic looms to make hot pads. Remember those? It has a washer attached to it and then each of the little bottlecaps has a magnet attached to the back. It's so cute because it's so interchangeable! The bottlecaps are all way cute too! Also, I saw this pumpkin at Hobby Lobby last week but was too cheap to buy it and thought that I could make something like it with a pumpkin I already had. I asked Tiffany if she'd be willing to print me a vinyl W on her Cricut. Well, of course she did me one better and got me a pumpkin. I love her. So cute! I seriously love it. I love fall and am so excited to have one more thing to decorate with!

Arches

2011-08-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

Warning: There are a lot of pictures in this post! I put them all in here so that I can have them for a blog book in the future but feel free to either skip this post or scroll through them quickly.
Last weekend we went with Doug's parents and a few siblings to Arches National Park. I hadn't been there since I was a little kid and it was so awesome! We saw a lot of arches and did a lot of hiking. I will admit that we did not hike to delicate arch. I even forgot to include the picture we took at the overlook. It was way too hot and there was no parking at the trail head so we decided to skip it. Plus (I should probably be shot for saying this) I think that arch is a little overrated. There are plenty of way cool arches that deserve just as much attention. Just sayin. Here we are getting ready to go. Don't we all look so excited! The first thing we saw coming into the park was balanced rock. Seriously though, how has this thing not fallen over.After we got our campsite all set up we went and did some exploring. There were a lot of cool rock and fun trails to explore near our campsite.Here's me and Mabes showing our strong muscles (not!)After going back through these pictures we discovered that Lilly finally knows how to look and smile at the camera! We got so many good pictures of her on this trip.Doug really wanted to get to the top of this little crack. He seriously tried forever and finally made it. He was so proud (as was I). It's definitely called slick rock for a reason! We also did plenty of relaxing in Grandpa's hammock.We were camped right by Skyline Arch. The amphitheatre for the campground was right in front of this arch. It was pretty spectacular. We also did plenty of sitting around in the shade. It was sooooo hot!We also all got plenty dirty and ate lots of good food!Random shot of Lilly. After dinner we went on a hike to a few other arches.The first one we saw was Tunnel Arch. We also went to Pine Tree Arch. This was by far my favorite arch in the whole park. It was HUGE! It seriously took your breath away when you came to it. This picture totally does not do it justice.Another random shot of Lilly on the trail. I love this girl and how she insists on wearing skirts everywhere! I'm pretty sure she was the only one camping in a skirt in the whole park. Oh well. The pioneers wore skirts in the heat of the summer and they got along okay right? We also made it to Landscape Arch that night. This is the one that lost a huge chunk out of it about 20 years ago. They're really not sure how much longer it will be around so we had to see it. Even though it doesn't look like it in this picture, we took this picture around 9 pm. It was so dark! It actually was really cool to hike in the dark and it was definitely a lot cooler!The next day we stopped by a few more Arches on our way out of the park. The first one we went to was Sand Dune Arch. It was pretty cool as well. One of us though had kind of a hard time on the trail. It's kind of hard to see but the arch is right behind Lilly's head and to the right a little. Even though it looks like her head could fit in the arch, it was actually pretty big. Here's one of the "windows" of the Window Arches. Turret Arch. This one was Doug's favorite because he has a thing with turrets.
Sophia and I hiked up to Double Arch that was by the Cove of Caves and Parade of Elephants. I noticed this cool heart shaped cave on the way up to Double Arch. I just had to take a pic of it for Doug. Ah. How sweet. JK. Double Arch. This one was pretty cool as well. Sophia at Double Arch.Here's one of the Parade of Elephants. It actually took us awhile to see these in the rocks. This elephant is on the right side of the picture and is looking straight at the camera.This picture has three (and maybe more) elephants in it. Can you spot them all? I took this one for my sisters. It's of the Three Gossips (not that we do that). Let's just call it the Three Sisters instead. I think this is a better angle of us though. It makes us all look a lot skinnier. Here's a shot of the 2 newest and cutest Junior Rangers I've ever seen! On the way home we stopped at Dead Horse Point. That was a pretty cool place as well. The kids all wanted to hurry and do the Junior Ranger program there as well so we did plenty of this while they all worked on that. Doug had spent most of the night with a screaming Lilly and Mabel in the van so we really didn't get too much sleep. He was tired!The view at Dead Horse Point. Another shot. This place really was pretty spectacular. I guess part of Thelma and Louise was filmed here. Doug's mom said she saw a shot online of a car going over the cliff from that movie.Lilly really wanted her picture taken on this bench for some reason. She has seriously turned a corner. She used to never want her picture taken.Two cute girls and Brian Dean at Dead Horse Point.And finally a huge spider we saw there. Overall, it was a fun trip and we saw a lot of really neat things! We were definitely glad to be home to our cool house and cozy beds though!

Family Week

2011-08-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

We are starting to wind down our summer which means and end to our weekly themes. I can't believe this is the last full week of summer! It went by way to fast!

This last week we talked about families. We did some fun things like reading these books: We also put together our own family trees.We ended the week by having a fun extended family camping trip which will come in a later post.
Yesterday we enjoyed a nice relaxing family day at home. The girls played and played which hasn't happened in awhile. They rediscovered their dress ups and had a blast. They also made these "temple necklaces". Sophia somehow got the idea in her head and wouldn't stop until it was executed.

These girls crack me up!This is random but we made these cute banners at our little card group last week. Apparently banners are in right now. It was so fun to make and I think I'm going to do another one for Halloween. So fun!

Fun with Cousins and Such

2011-08-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have some of our cousins stick around Utah after our reunion in July. The little sweetie on the left had a birthday last week and we all celebrated in style.It was a luau party and it was so fun! We were all greeted with lei's and wonderful Hawaiian music. Her mom ordered the cutest cake ever from the most delicious bakery! I love the hula girls on the side.My SIL put those small glass pebbles in the bottom of the pool and the trick was that you had to pick them up with your toes. The kids loved it!Here's Mabes with my brother Derik (the birthday girls' dad). Apparently I caught him mid-sentence. Sorry about that Bud. The girls also got to play with cousins for a little bit at Grandma's house yesterday. They of course made sure to do their favorite thing which was feeding their neighbor's goat Blackie. We also attempted to get a shot of all 6 girls! I seriously can not get enough of that sweet Bubs and her awesome poses. This shot really is not much better. It was seriously a challenge.We finally gave up and asked them to all make a funny face. For Lilly that meant to still keep your face down.Last week Doug went to Youth Conference. We missed him a lot and were more than happy to welcome him home! I love the sign Sophia made. Here's a close up of our family on one of the pages. I love our eye colors. I especially love that Lilly has yellow eyes.On this page she did some of Doug's favorite things which apparently includes laughing. She also did nothing but dinosaurs on one of the pages because I guess those are his favorite too.Today Sophia asked if we could play Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I told her that if she could figure it out (because I'm an awesome lazy mom like that) they could play. I love what she came up with! She even drew and cut out individual tails. Finally, my mom found the CUTEST Halloween countdown calendar pattern that we just had to make. She was very very nice and kind and supplied me with the fabric by this awesome local designer named Riley Blake. I made it though and it was really fun but took A LOT of time. I love it though and can't wait until October! Halloween is absolutely one of my favorite holidays and this just might be my favorite Halloween decor item!

Gross, Grosser, Grossest (and one Good)

2011-07-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this mainly for my memory (not really sure it's something I want to remember - but the last part's good at least).

So yesterday we got home from playing with friends and I knew that my kids needed a bath. I also knew that the lawn needed to be mowed and that there was impending rain. It may come as a shocker to anyone who knows me, but I'm kind of a multi-tasker (in case it wasn't obvious). Anyway, I threw my kids in the bath and told Sophia to watch everyone and that I was going to go mow really quickly. I should probably win Mom of the Year for this one. Sophia really is good at watching Mabel and I wasn't too worried about it.

Anyway, we have a cherry tree in our backyard that has been dying for the last few years. We attributed it to old age and the fact that sometimes trees die. The grass grows right up to the trunk (really bad for trees, I know) and so I bumped the tree as I was mowing around it. Right then out of a crack of the base of the tree millions of earwigs came pouring out. It seriously was like a scene from a PBS special on earwigs. It was so gross! Those suckers seriously just kept on comin. I did not take the picture above (I didn't want to remember this experience that much) but it was pretty close to that gross. I screamed, freaked out and then ran to get the bottle of insecticide concentrate. I totally poured the whole bottle all over them and down the crack. I'm pretty sure I managed to give myself an early death from exposure but there was absolutely no time to measure and fill the sprayer with water.

Doug of course happened to be at Youth Conference and was not around to witness this wonderful scene. I was trying to do him a favor by mowing so that he wouldn't have to when he got home today and this is what I got. No good deed goes unpunished right?

I immediately came inside and texted him about the fiasco and my body was seriously crawling for hours. So creepy. I realized that we've had them in our house more lately but once again, I attributed that to the fact that sometimes you get a bug or two in your house. I've since realized there's a freaking infestation in our backyard and that it may be more of a problem that I thought! I have a brother-in-law who works for Stewarts Pest Control and he said that they've gotten really bad in the past few weeks. I can definitely attest to that.

Anyway, so after I came inside I realized that my kids were dressed in jammies and playing (except Mabel who was crawling around naked). I forgot that they had been in the bath and I wondered if the jammy fairy had stopped by and gotten them all dressed. Sophia said she washed everyone's hair, got them all out and got them all in jammies (except she didn't know how to get Mabel's diaper on but she did get her a diaper and jammies - side note: she has since made me teach her how to put Mabel's diaper on because I'm pretty sure with a mom like me, she knows the opporunity will arise again when she needs to get her baby sister dressed). I seriosuly was looking around to see who had helped them. I was so amazed and so proud of her. I can't believe how much she is growing. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to leave them with her the next time I go to the store. JK. Kind of.

She's Famous!

2011-07-29T12:13:00.001-07:00

(Okay Stacy, please forgive me for posting this! I should have asked first so I hope you don't mind!)

My awesome friend and neighbor Stacy who has a blog (or two) and who builds her own furniture and who goes on TV all the time was featured in the Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. I'm so proud of her (and totally jealous - not because I wasn't in the magazine but because I'm not that talented!). Anyway, she totally deserves it and I'm glad that other people are recognizing and appreciating her talent. It's in the August issue in case you haven't seen it yet. And Stacy, seriously don't forget the little people when we come to a book signing (or something) someday!

Food Week and Other Things

2011-07-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

This week we had fun talking about food! It was fun to brush off some old things from my BYU Dietetics Program days including this book. I think my mom gave this to me at one point in school and I love it! My kids enjoyed it as well. I know the Food Pyramid is way old school by now and we've moved onto MyPlate (last I knew it was the newer pyramid that was more like a bar graph - apparently I'm not staying on top of things like I thought!) We also made food collages and tried to find a picture of at least one food in each group.We also of course had a little fun in the kitchen. I know this is not a healthy treat but there's room for a little bit right? I've never made cream puffs before and they were pretty easy and turned out ok.A little while ago Sophia asked me what mousse is. We decide to make some and put it in our puffs. They were pretty tasty!

We also talked a little bit about our senses (mostly smell and taste). We did an experiment where you put mustard under your nose and then eat a piece of chocolate to see how smells can effect taste. Sophia said it really didn't taste too different but she loves mustard so both tastes were great for her!

Here's a few random pictures. We were at my mom's house yesterday and she had these cute little tiara hair clips. My girls had a blast with them. I thought Mabel made for a sweet little princess.

She also enjoyed feeding herself yogurt the other day. Not sure how much actually made it in her mouth but it sure made her face cute! Sophia thought she looked like a clown.

Here's a few random pictures that were supposed to be in our last post. When we were in Flowell the girls got a little restless while we were waiting for the next activity. They would not stop asking me for something to do so I finally told them to build a bird's nest with leaves and grass. Here's what came up with. I love the pathway to the arch. That's my kind of bird's nest!

Finally here's one of Sophia and Bridger sharing a ride on the pogo stick at Wales. Two peas in a pod I tell ya.

Recent Reads

2011-07-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've mentioned good books I've read lately so I thought I'd do a quick post about that. Most of the books I read are recommended to me by my mom. She's a librarian in a children's library so a lot of them are young adult fiction. They really are my kind of read though. They're usually short and sweet which is about all I have time for these days! One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Summary: "Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.

When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the mother who abandoned them—an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia."

My thoughts: I love the strength that Delphine exhibited throughout the book. It was such a confusing time in her life and she did a wonderful job staying composed through all of it. She was the mother figure her sisters needed when she was longing so badly to have one for herself. This book was also a good history lesson at the same time. You really don't learn too much about the Black Panthers in school. Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
Summary: "Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.
Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”
Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colorful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town."
My thoughts: This was a sort of coming of age book and Abilene very much resembled a Scout character. The story got a little hard to follow at parts because it kept alternating between what was happening in the present and what happened about 30 years before. Also, it's about a 400 page book and it honestly could have been about half that long. There was a lot of description in the stories and in the end it all came together nicely. The last 30 pages were the best and I couldn't put it down at that point. Overall, I loved hearing about the town's past through the voice of Miss Sadie the Diviner. It was also fun to read about the role of each of the townspeople and how they play into each other. Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper (a Corretta Scott King award winner)
Summary: "Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there's no delete button. She's the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people—her teachers and doctors included—don't think she's capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can't, because Melody can't talk. She can't walk. She can't write.
Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind—that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it. "
Here's what it says on the back cover: "Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes - each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands. Deep within me, words pile up in huge drifts. Mountains of phrases and sentences and connected ideas. Clever expressions. Jokes. Love songs... But only in my head. I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old."
My thoughts: I first thought this book was pretty predictable which was ok because it was a good story full of great characters. It definitely was full of surprises and kept me reading. It was so fascinating to see inside Melody's mind and the way she wanted to present herself to a world that only saw her as a disabled child in a wheelchair. She definitely had a voice and she wanted to make it known. And she did. I was so proud of her and how she had the world figured out at 11 years old. I definitely recommend this one.

My sister-in-law recommended these next two to me. They're the first 2 books in a 3 book series. They were really good and made for some good entertainment reading. They are pretty similar to the Twilight series if you liked those at all. They're written by a first time LDS author (they don't have any churchy stuff in them though) and they really were pretty good. The third book came out last month but my library doesn't have it yet and I'm too cheap to get it.The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum
Summary: "Move over Edward - Dante is bound to eclipse you!" - Emily Watts, bestselling author

His past. Her future. Can love bring them together in time?
Abby's senior year of high school is going according to plan: good friends, cute boyfriend, and college applications in the mail. But when Dante Alexander, foreign-exchange student from Italy, steps into her life, he turns it upside down. He's mysterious, and interesting, and unlike anyone she's ever met before. Abby can't deny the growing attraction she feels for him. Nor can she deny the unusual things that seem to happen when Dante is around. Soon Abby finds herself drawn into a mystery whose roots reach into sixteenth-century Florence, and she uncovers a dangerous truth that threatens not only her future but the lives of those she loves. The Golden Spiral by Lisa Mangum
Summary: "The hourglass door has closed behind Dante, sending him back in time to hunt down Zo, Tony, and V. Abby knows that Dante, as a Master of Time, is the only one who can stop them from destroying time itself. She also knows that he will need her help. But almost immediately, things start to change, and Abby’s worst fears are realized when Zo begins targeting her past specifically.
As Abby’s world fractures around her, she must face a terrible truth: either Dante didn’t make it through the door, or he is lost forever. So with Dante’s blueprints in hand, she begins construction on a new door, a new time machine that will either save Dante—or doom him.
With each new change that ripples into her present, Abby's life continues to spiral out of control. Her relationships with Jason, Natalie, and even her family are threatened to the breaking point—and beyond. Zo’s power is greater than Abby ever imagined, but as she struggles to free Dante, she receives help from an unexpected—and unlikely—ally."
My thoughts on both books: These were very entertaining, quick reads. She did a good job telling the story without leaving too many open ends. It was believable enough and a fun concept to write about. Abby was a little similar to Bella in a lot of ways but there also were enough differences. I can't wait for the third book!

So there you have it for now. What have you read lately that I need to get my hands on? Any recommendations?