We Love Our Cousins!

It was so fun having Laura, Issac, and family visit last week! They were only here for a few days, but we always love seeing them! We have a trail that follow a stream close to our house, so we had fun exploring with the kids. 

So cute that the kids were walking like this on their own, I just caught the picture!

Happy Birthday Brynn!

       Since Brynners was born on Leap day, we get to choose what day we want to celebrate her birthday. We are choosing March 1st as her birthday, (until her ACTUAL birthaday...of coarse)                               While singing Happy Birthday. She was happy and calm.

                                                               Where is my cake?
                                                             Aahhhh... better!
                                                                     Second piece
She knew just what to do, and even climbed into the bag to get the toy and dress in there.

     

    Brynn was hilarious!!! I have NEVER seen a kid stuff their face as quickly as she did with her cake. The video helps show how serious she is. The second I put her cake on the tray she stuffed it in her face without ANY prompting. She certainly knows what she wants, and she wants it ALL!! love you, love you Brynners. Happy Birthday! Thank you for giving us big pat-hugs, and lots of love.

   :::Brynn Loves:::

-Being held.

-Eating, especially string cheese, and obviously cake now!

-Mommy! She is definitely a momma's girl for now.

-She loves to climb, and pull down things high up.

-She loves baths, and being in the bathroom when the other girls are in the bath.

-She loves her sisters, and tries to follow them everywhere!

-She loves to throw fits, and she throws her head back and falls back on the ground and actually kicks her legs while throwing the fit...what a girl:)

-She loves to explore, and discover new things.    

REESE

She sure is trying hard to see that little "Oh". What would we do without you my cutey girl?

Just a Sample

Community programs are awesome!

Abbi has been in  gymnastics for the last 6 weeks, and she loves it! She started with zero experience, and has learned in the past few weeks how to do a MUCH better handstand, strattle rolls, bridges, etc...AND she has learned to do a cartwheel, not perfect, but who needs perfect?Yeah for Abbi!!! 

P.S. I know these pictures look like they were taken in some sort of prison, or some other shady spot, but she actually practices at Springville high school, in the basement. They do call it the "dungeon" though, so close to shady...
We try to keep ourselves entertained for the hour ad a half that we watch, and Brynn is always willing to be  adorable. 
Reese is looking suspicious because she was just about to climb the chain link fence when I clicked this.
Abbi loves her leotard, and is showing me just how happy she is to be at gymnastics.
Her favorite station. They practice on the uneven bars, the horse, balance beam, and the floor. This last week her favorite changed to the horse because she was doing so well jumping up on it, but I didn't get a picture of her doing that.  

Good vs. Bad

So we are driving to the gym last week when Reese pipes up, "Mom, ghostes (that's what she calls them) are bad. This is out of no where so all I can think to say without laughing is "really Reese, you think so?" "Yeah, they come at night and snatch you away from your house". Yikes, I'm thinking where is this information coming from? Abbi pipes up in back, "not all ghosts are bad Reese, you know "Casper, the FRIENDLY ghost ( and she heavily emphasizes the friendly), and what about the Holy Ghost (go Abbi), that can't be mean". I love that she calls the Holy Ghost a "that". At this point I can't help giggling a bit. So I say, " Do you agree that there are good and bad ghosts Reese"? She then proceeds to close the conversation by saying, " Yeah there are good and bad ghostes. The bad ones snatch you away, but the good ones don't. I think the one's on the ground are good ones (meaning her shadow)". And with that she had no more to say about the subject. This is why I LOVE being home with my girls. We have some of the best conversations, and they are usually at completely random times, like this one. i sure love you kiddos!

Have A Little Fun

                                          I told Reese to pucker up, and this is what I got.
 Abbi is always finding cute ways to play with Brynn. She LOVED getting pushed in this box!
                                   At one point we had 5 balloon on each of their heads, impressive!

       P.S. I can't WAIT until the weather stays warmer for more than a day or two so I can have pictures of us OUTdoors. (Or maybe I could just get ALL new furniture so the background at least looks different...hey, a girl can dream!) We have actually had a few nice days this week, and by nice I mean 45-50 degrees tops, but sunny, so we went to the park, and rode bikes with friends. No pictures of those outside days, that could have broken up the inside picture thing I have goin' on.  

You had a Birthday shout Hooray!!

Happy 31st Birthday to you Andy, I love you! Tuesdays are incredibly crazy these days so the girls and I decided to heart attack Andy. (don't mind the sparse decorations...it's coming along, SLOWLY!!) Every year I make a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and sprinkles of coarse. Andy I love you so much! The list I could make of the things I love about you could go on for at least a line or two...I joke, I joke, I kid, I kid. You are my best friend, your girls' hero, always there for a good laugh, and you always want to come home to us and be with us, that says alot to me right there. I will stop right there. my 2 lines are almost up. I'm so happy that you had a great day you sexy man...xoxoxo 

Finally......Our family pictures from November 2008

So I had to go to Karen's house to upload these pictures taken last November. So finally...here are a few of my favorites! My friend Karen took them on a crazy dark and cloudy day! they turned out awesome! Click here to check out her work!

shinephotographybykaren.com

Happy 6th Birthday Abbi!

My baby is 6! Abbi was PUMPED to have her party at Chuck E Cheese's this year! It was her first party away from home. Of coarse there were tons of kids and they had a blast. The second that we walked into the place Abbi and Reese took off to play on anything, and everything. These were the only pictures I was able to take in all of the madness. Hopefully all of the other kids had just as much fun. I tried to remind her to find each friend that came, and play something with each one of them, but in the end I don't think any of the kids cared that much, not when you are at Chuck E Cheese's!! Abbi told me it was her favorite birthday party so far! We LOVE you so much Abbi, you are so much fun! Reese and Brynn are lucky that you are their big sister! You are independent in so many ways, like wanting to make your own breakfast, preparing Reese's bath for her, picking out clothes in stores that you prefer, reading all of Green Eggs and Ham by yourself, the list goes on. But I'm so happy that you still want to snuggle with me, you are so helpful with Brynn, and you just adore your daddy!! You are a thinker, and you often times worry about things  that a 6 year old shouldn't worry about (like if all of the doors are locked). You are beautiful, and a great friend, a great student, and a sweetheart, WE LOVE YOU!! 

Nice Thighs. You Don't Hear That Everyday!

Those are some impressive thighs, and cheeks! Brynn, you are so stinkin' cute, it will be sad when all of those rolls disappear and your cheeks go away, but I will love them while they're here!!            My favorite things about her cute legs are the tiny size 3 feet at the end of them! 

Sparkles

Do you notice anything new? Anything sparkly, and pink? So last week we ask the girls if they both want to get their ears pierced. Why? Why not. Abbi wants to, but is deathly afraid of needles, and she knows that it will hurt, even if just for a second. Reese just does, and worries about the consequences later. So Abbi says she wants to get her ears pierced, so of coarse Reese jumps on board and away we go to the mall (knowing with 99% certainty that Abbi will freak herself out and NOT get her ears pierced). After much back and forth of who will be first Reese finally says, "Oh fine, I'll go" (her favorite thing to say right now). So she gets prepped, dots on ears, and then both ears are pierced at the same time... Then I realize Abbi should NOT have watched! After a few seconds Reese starts to cry. She said it hurt a little, but the sound of the piercing guns scared her. After about 10 seconds she all but forgot what had happened, but that moment was enough to convince Abbi that piercing her ears was not the right decision, and nothing would change her mind! The thing is we don't even care if she ever gets her ears pierced, so we decided that we will NEVER ask her again if she wants her ears pierced again, she can come to us. As for Reese, she has been great with her ears, and likes to tell people, " Look I got my ears apier".

Our Arizona Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in Arizona, and we had so much fun! Laura and Isaac let us stay with them, and it was nonstop fun for all of us. When we came home it took my girls a few days to get used to not playing with at least 2 extra friends every second of the day! 

So here are a few of the things that we did in Arizona. We went shopping of coarse, and here we are at a play area in the mall. Abbi and Reese really wanted me to take these pictures of them!

 

 













We spent some quality time playing or watch guitar hero. Do you see how excited Abbi is to be watching? I played guitar hero for the second time on this trip, and really like it. 

Josh, Amanda, their kids, Laura, Isaac, their kids, and our family went to see the Mesa temple lights. My camera doesn't take the best night pictures, but they were very beautiful and impressive. There were so many people looking at the lights we had to wait in lines at times, or file through smaller walkways one at a time. We really loved going to see the temple lights!

I need to get better at having Brynn in photos like this. She is always hanging out in her stroller, and misses out in some cute pictures like this.

They had scenes set up all over the temple grounds, scenes that led up to the saviors birth. Abbi loved this scene of baby Jesus in a manger. There was a big bright star lit up above the manger.

Isn't it great that they can be outside in t-shirts...in December. In Utah the only time that happens is in the house!

Amanda's mom was so nice to invite us over on Christmas eve to have dinner with them. We didn't just eat dinner though, she had all sorts of activities for the kids to play, they frosted and decorated Christmas trees cones, and Santa even came and gave every kid a present! The kids were fully entertained, thanks to Amanda and her mom!

Decorating foam boards with snowmen and accessories.

The kids are waiting for Santa to come.

Luckily Abbi asked Santa for what she had written on her list, a My Little pony.

Reese didn't want to go anywhere near Santa. Too bad because he had a great gift ready for her. Later she would at least stand near him for pictures, but of coarse my battery died and I don't have those pictures.

Brynn on the other hand had no problem at all with Santa. She was so cute, she would play with his beard, and snuggled right up to him. Santa liked her quite a bit!

And this is where my camera died. the rest of our trip was great also! We had dinner on Christmas day at Laura and Isaac's, and it was delicious! Then on Friday we all went over to Marlissa's. Andy's dad and Dana came out for the weekend, so it was great to see them. Reese loves her papa! Overall it was a great vacation. If it weren't for the 10 1/2 drive we would visit way more often:) We love visiting with Andy's family, and they all made the trip very easy and fun, thanks!