Girls Night Out

My mom and dad have season tickets to the Desert Star Theater. (It's a comedy theater.) They have 4 tickets and so they always invite a couple to go with them. Last night my Dad needed to study so Katie, Annie and I went for a girls night out with my mom (my girls love going to plays). As we were leaving I remembered I took my camera out earlier that day to download the pictures on the computer and forgot to put it back - Darn! Oh well. The play was "Nutcracker Men in Tights." The girls eyes were glued to the stage the whole time. After the play the actors do a 15minute singing act and because this is their Christmas play, they sang Christmas songs - and of course Santa came. Our seats are at the very end of the row and right up against the stage. Santa started at the back of the room and wound himself down the isles only to end at our table. When he came out I told Katie that he was here. She turned around and searched. Right when she spotted him, her eyes got big and her smile bigger. He started to come down our row and she stood up on her chair. Right when he got close she reached her arms out to him and gave him a great big hug. Now, I can't even explain how precious it was. I was beaming! After he left, (I barely got to see Annie hug him)the lady next to me said, "What a Kodak moment." I know! I know! Don't remind me I left my camera during the sweetest moment ever!!! Then she said, "That was so sweet I started to cry." You can't even imagine the moment. My heart wanted to explode! I hope I never forget the look on her face. Then tonight my mom told me she was trying to explain it to one of the other kindergarten teachers at school, but her friend - who was also at the play sitting just 2 rows directly behind us, said, "No, let me tell you. I had the best view ever. She had her eyes on Santa the whole time and when he got close her eyes got so big - and her eyes are already big and then she sweetly reached out to him in awe..." and went on to explain everything. She then said everyone at her table started crying it was so precious. You just had to be there! I can't wait for Christmas this year! I love being a MOM!

Why Does Santa Have Daddy's Voice?

Our ward is doing a Polar Express theme for our Christmas party this year. The primary children are singing "When Christmas Comes to Town" from the movie. The other night Annie was remembering the movie and when she woke up she said she had a funny dream. She said that Santa gave her a silver bell. He was in her bedroom and she told him "Thank You" and he said "Your Welcome" in return. However, it wasn't in Santa's voice, but Daddy's voice! Hmmm.

Beauty is...

This year the reflection contest theme was "Beauty is...". We decided that Annie should enter her piano piece that she wrote called "River Waterfall". The other morning while I was doing her hair for school she said, "Mom, I haven't heard if I won the reflection contest. I hope I win." I then gave her the "even if you don't win it is okay and there will be other chances" talk. You know trying to not get her hopes up to high. Well that night after school I was so busy with reading with the girls, piano practicing and making dinner that I didn't even look through Annie's backpack. Later that night after FHE, Ryan pulled out her papers and realized the awards ceremony was that night and we missed it. The following day, the day we played in the leaves at my sister-in-laws, Annie got really excited and said, "Mom, I got a surprise for you!" She ran to her backpack and pulled out a 1st place trophy! I was just as excited for her as she was. I feel horrible that we missed the awards ceremony. Both Ryan and I wish we could have seen her face when she they handed her the trophy. She never knew about the awards night though so that makes me feel a little better. My mom and dad took us out to dinner and Ryan's dad was able to come too. Ryan was sick all week though and had to stay home. I am so proud of her. It makes me smile everytime I think about it. Jeez - I never won out of all the times I entered the reflection contest!

I Love Fall!

November 10, 2009

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. I just wish it would last a lot longer. One of my friends from Texas informed me that the leaves don't change color in Texas - they just die and fall off the tree. How lucky are we! The other day when I was picking up Annie from my sister-in-laws, the kids had a fun time playing in the newly fallen leaves. They had so much fun. We made a haystack of leaves taller than Katie.

Katie insisted on using the biggest rake.

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2009

This morning we had a Halloween primary party. We had a lot of fun playing fun games like fishing for bones in a coffin, tossing rubber bats into a big BOO! sign, decorating pumpkin cookies, coloring and playing a music candy walk. My 3 nieces stayed the night and so I got to take them too.

By the time it was time to go trick-o-treating, I was all Halloweened out! I didn't even do a fun Halloween night dinner. I didn't even want to go trick-or-treating. Bah Humbug! Our friends came trick-or-treating with us. Their whole family was dressed up with the Disney Robinhood theme. It was really cute. Mom was a target with and arrow, Dad was Prince John, Elena was Maid Marian and Leah was Robinhood. We just went to about 10 houses and that was plenty. Annie even said her bag was getting heavy! We saw a mom trick-or-treating with her kids too. She had he own pillow case and everything! They were out about 6:00 and I was sure they were still out at 10:00. Funny.

After trick-or-treating we painted pumpkins. I was too tired to carve them.





Goodbye Halloween until next year! (Go Yankees!)

Another Halloween Party!

October 30, 2009

Grandma Debbie has a Halloween party every year. We all dress up, eat a surprise dinner and play games.



This year Annie made her own pin the pumpkin in the pumpkin patch for her cousins. It was cute. We also played pin the nose on the pumpkin and hot potato.


And we always play the doughnut on the string game.



One more day til Halloween!

Annie's School Halloween Party

October 30, 2009

Annie had her Halloween parade and party today. We had fun looking at all the different Halloween costumes. Katie even wanted to dress up.

Annie as the Butterfly Queen


Grannie was the Thooth Fairy - too cute!

After I got to help with her party. I did a fun witches brew. The kids had to use tweezers to pick up yucky things like mice, eyeballs, bats, spiders, etc. to make a special witches brew recipe. It was fun and the kids really liked it.

They also decorated pumpkin cookies, went pumpkin bowling, made ghost wind socks, and played bingo.

This year I learned how to crotchet pumpkin and spider baskets and made them for Annie's and Katie's school classes. They turned out really cute. I was so proud of myself! (Thanks Mom for teaching me!)

Katie's School Halloween Program

October 26, 2009


Katie had her preschool Halloween program today. She was so excited, especially since she had missed a whole week of school due to her swine flu vaccination experience. She didn't want to wear her ladybug wings and insisted she have me put her hair in a ponytail. Who's the mom here? I obviously gave in - and now wish I wouldn't have. Oh well. Ryan got a great spot to record the program and then right when it started, a guy sat right in front of him. To make it worse he kept lifting his baby up too. Ryan was at least able to get Katie in the video, but I would have liked to see the other kids too. Annie was really sad she wasn't able to go so when she got home we rewatched the program. She was so excited to remember the songs that she sang when she was in preschool. Miss Karen, Miss Kristen and Katie the Lady Bug



This is the only part of her program that I could get to upload. They did a lot of cute Halloween songs too.

2nd Annual Halloween Party

October 24, 2009 Last year I had a Halloween party with my cousins and their kids and it was so much fun so I decided to have it again. I invited 26 people and by the morning of the party (because of sicknesses and funerals) 4 kids came. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun. I kind of did a pumpkin theme and the girls had a lot of fun making pumpkin latern decorations. We did a little pumpkin painting craft, pin the nose on the pumpkin, Don't eat Pete the Pumpkin and the most fun Pumpkin bowling.

We ate pumpkin face pizzas, ants on a log, pumpkin finger jello, string cheese witches fingers and witches brew (sprite w/ dry ice) that had orange ice cubes with spiders frozen in them. Then the kids decorated pumpkin flavored pumpkin muffins. It was a lot of fun.

Playing in the Leaves

October 21, 2009

I took the girls to get their H1N1 vacinations and it was a nightmare! My girls cried/threw a fit the whole time. I tried to explain that they weren't even going to get a shot, but that didn't help. After, I asked Ryan why our kids are so naughty at the doctor's. He said, well they could be naughty at the doctors or naughty at the grocery store. He's right. I'd rather them be naughty at the doctors. I have been so lucky with being able to take my girls anywhere and they behave. I've never worried about getting babysitters because I've always been able to just take them. Anyway, back to the H1N1 - so because Katie was crying so much she had to have the shot. The following week she was so pale she looked DEAD! You could tell ahs wasn't feeling well. She had a green looking complexion and red circles under her eyes. Ryan said, "Could you imagine if she got the full blown Swine Flu!" One day she felt like she had enough energy to rake the leaves that had fallen. You can see how sick she looks. (Well, I just previewed this and you can't really tell. Maybe if you click on her picture.)

Our Trip Down South

October 7-11, 2009

I really wanted to take Annie and Katie to see the play Annie at Tuachan. So Ryan agreed and we made a trip out of it. We left Wednesday morning. On the way to St. George we stopped at the Cheese Factory in Beaver and got some squeaky cheese. The girls thought it was great. (Me too!) That night we went to see Annie. I thought it was really cute and the girls loved it. The next day we went to Brigham Young's house. The girls got to pick almonds and pomegranates off the trees. Dixie pomegranates are really sweet opposed to other pomegranates that are tart and boy they are Delicious! (I wished we would have picked more!) We then went to The Wild Animal Museum. It was amazing. There were so many animals I had never seen before. It was great to see the girls so interested too. We found out that the cheetah actually isn't the fasted animal in the world - it's a type of a goat! It's been clocked at 70 mph were a cheetah has been clocked at 60 mph. The best part is when I told Katie that the goat we were looking at was the fasted animal in the world, she said, "Not the cheetah?" I was so proud that my 3 year would even know that. I then went and told Ryan and he said Annie had said the exact same thing. After the museum we attempted to go swimming. Burrrr! The hot tub wasn't so bad, but Annie insisted on learning how to swim in the swimming pool. That night we went to Pirate Island Pizza for dinner. The girls loved the fun atmosphere and playing the games. Friday we went to Johnson's farm to see the dinosaur footprints. I found it so interesting. It's crazy to think how dinosaurs existed. We then headed to Zion's to do some hiking. The girls did great hiking by themselves, and we enjoyed great weather and ice cream cones. We got to watch a wild turkey as we ate our ice cream cones and even saw a little girl pet it. We hiked to the Emerald pools and then just took the shuttle tour. Saturday we went and saw Jacob Hamlins home and then headed back to do some more hiking at Zion's. We were able to fill almost every moment with something and Annie said it was the funnest (I know that isn't a word - but it should be) trip ever! I would have to agree. We all had such a fun time we didn't want it to end - I could have stayed at least 3 more days!

Annie Loses a Tooth!

September 23, 2009

One day Annie checked to see if any of her teeth were loose, and 2 of them were! One more so than the other. She wiggled and jiggled that tooth for the next month. Finally, it was time to come out so Ryan got his string and was about to tie it to Annie's tooth to yank it out - OOOUUUCH! Luckily I intervened in time and told him to just use a kleenex. Though he thought his way was better, I felt much more comforted with him doing it my way.



The day after, Annie woke up on her very own for the very first time since school started! She was so excited to see what the Tooth Fairy had left - a Gold Dollar! Wow!

The Circus is Coming to Town!

September 26, 2009

For the past year, Annie has been asking if we could go to the circus so when I heard it was coming I just knew we needed to go. Annie invited her best friend Savannah to go with us. They all dressed up like clowns. We rode the train down town and spent the next 3 hours having a great time! My favorite part was watching the elephant disappear. How do they do that! I also liked watching the clowns walk on the ceiling.

Bear Lake

August 28-30, 2009

Every year since we were married (minus 1), Ryan and I have gone to Bear Lake. We weren't planning on going this year, but at the last minute, and I mean Thursday night after the girls had gone to bed, did we decide to go right after we picked Annie up from school the next day. It was so much fun. We arrived Friday late afternoon and found us a camp site right as you enter Garden City. It has a playground and the girls had so much fun playing on it.

We ate dinner and then went to the lake to dip our feet in. Burrr! Saturday we headed to the beach only to have a cold, windy, overcast day.

Katie hunting for seashells.
The girls always like me to turn them into mermaids. They then decorate themselves with seashells.


We headed home early and made sandwiches for lunch. Dad then surprised us by taking us on a bicycle cart. It was the first time we had done that and we all had a lot of fun.
We then went and had some yummy pizza! Sunday we got up and went to church. And of course it was a beautiful sunny day. So after church we hung out at the beach for a few hours so the girls could at least play. It was a much needed trip and a lot of fun.

Spruces

August 21-23, 2009

Every year my mom goes up to the Spruces for a week. This year it only turned out to be a weekend because she had to change tracks. Ryan and I took the girls up. We stayed in our new tent and had a great time. I spent all of Satuday reading and read an entire book - Led By Faith by Immaculee Ilibigiza (I totally recommend it). The kids spent the day with Grandma throwing rocks in the stream, watching the squirrels, hiking and playing in the sand. We had fun roasting marshmallows and hotdogs and making foil dinners in the rain. We also saw a Moose with it's two calves walk right through our campground. It was a lot of fun.

Katie's 1st Day of Preschool

August 25, 2009

Katie is so excited to be going to preschool. She goes to Miss Karen's preschool. All last year when Annie went to school, Katie would just beg me to let her go too. Now she is big enough to go - Yea! She picked out her dress and even told me how to do her hair.




They made these cute hats at school. I was so impressed with how well she painted her schoolhouse. She gave it to Grandpa and Grandma Nigbur to hang on their fridge.

Tumbling Program

August 20, 2009

I had my last day of tumbling today. We had a program for the parents. When I walked outside, all I could smell was tar! My dad was having his parking lot repaved. Of all days! So not only did it stink, but it was loud and noisy. Last year for my parent program, my dad decided to turn the sprinklers on the night before so the grass was wet and slippery. Oh well. It still turned out nice. Annie was really sad when she found out she didn't get to be there for pictures and then for the program.

Annual Lagoon Day

July 30, 2009

Every year for the past 3 years we've gone with Ryan's family to Lagoon. I wouldn't mind it so much but I hate the heat! It is fun though to see how excited the girls get. This was really the first time Katie could go on the bigger kid rides and we had a blast. She would laugh and laugh as we were going around and around. Annie would have a frightful look on her face the whole time until we were finished and then she would say, "That was fun!" with a big grin on her face. They absolutely loved the bumper cars and rode them over and over again.

Annie's 1st Day of School

July 28, 2009

We decided to send Annie back to Welby Elementary again this year for 1st grade. We really like the school and the teachers. (I just wish we lived closer to it.) Annie's teacher is Mrs. Stevenson. She doesn't have anyone from her Kindergarten class in her class this year so she said she is a bit nervous. Her best friend Savannah is in another class and on another track. She is really sad about that. Everyday this week they can wear clothes to match the color of the day. Annie is really excited to plan her clothes out. Can you guess what color is today? Blue - Nope. Red. That's as close as we could get.

Bear World

My mom and dad took Katie and Annie and my neice and nephew up to Island Park, Idaho to look at a cabin that was for sale. They just planned on getting a hotel when they got up there, but didn't realize every hotel would be full. So they just stayed in the cabin they went to look at.





On the way back home they stopped at Bear World. They spent the whole time riding the rides and had a great time. Thanks mom and dad!

July 24th, 2009

The Rest of the Summer

Here is the second half of our summer.

July 1st - Annie's Piano Recital
Because I teach Annie piano, I occasionally have a piano recital for her. This time she played Ode To Joy by Beethoven and then a song called River Waterfall - one that she wrote all by herself. I was very impressed because I don't think I ever wrote a song. One day she just made up a few lines and then kept adding to it. I was going ot put it on here so you could hear it but it's too big and I don't know how to make it smaller.



July 3rd and 4th
For the Fourth of July, Ryan's mom wanted to have a barbecue and campout in her backyard. We had fun playing games - badmitton, Monkey Balls, and bean bag toss. Annie and Katie playing the bean bag toss.

Annie and her cousin Sam - who she LOVES!!! That night we lit sparklers and had a firework show in the back yard.


Katie loved the sparklers until it started to burn close to her hand. Then she would quickly call, "Daddy!" for him to take it away from her.

Watching the fireworks. They started to get annoyed with me after awhile. I guess they didn't like the flash going off in their face every 10 seconds. I don't know why.


This is my picture of the fireworks, using my fireworks button on the camera. I think it turned out quite nice. We were even treated with some illegal ones from the street over. After fireworks, we set up the tent and slept out. Jason and Brendan also camped out with us (in a different tent). It was quite a night - very windy, and I was really glad when Ryan finally got up and took all the chimes down. The next day the slip 'n' slide got pulled out and it was fun watching the girls go down. I put this video on because of Katie at the very end. Look closly - it's quite funny.

July 14th - Annie's Birthday
For Annie's birthday, dad got up and made her a special breakfast. We then had tumbling and she learned how to do a backbend all by herself. I was so proud of her. We then headed to Kearns swimming pool. (One of the most fun swimming places around!) My mom met us there with my brother and his three girls.

Jesslynn and Annie sliding down the slide.


Waiting for the giant bucket to dump.


Eating lunch with her cousins. After swimming, we went to the store and got Annie her birthday present - a new bike! We wanted to let her pick out which one she wanted. She didn't get to ride it right away because we had to hurry home, shower and meet Ryan's parents at Francescos.


Annie and Grandpa.


We then invited Ryan's family over for cake and ice cream. Annie showed everyone her backbend and tested out her new bike. I went to post a picture of it and realized we only had video of her riding it. Ryan's parents bought her a helmet for her birthday and it happened to match her bike perfectly.

July 18th - Annie's Birthday Party
Annie wanted a butterfly party for her birthday. I was going to just have her invite her five friends from school, but then at tumbling one day she invited some of the girls and then she begged me to invite her cousins too. Talk about stressful. 16 girls at a birthday party and she wanted to make wings and antennaes for all of them. Needless to say, that is the first and last birthday party I will have with that many kids. To make things worse, it was about 90 degrees at 10:30 in the morning. I had planned for all the games to be outside, but because of the heat ended up having the party in my mom's family room. It was a bit squishy, but it worked out. Here are some pictures of the fun things we did.

Annie in her butterfly dress - minus the wings.


Decorating butterfly wings with her best friend Savannah.


All 16 girls! They sure all looked cute though.


Playing pin the butterfly on the flower.


Opening Presents.

Blowing out her candles. We made cupcakes in silicone flower wrappers and then put butterflies on them. They turned out really cute.

Some Catching Up To Do!

I know I've been awesome at blogging lately so I thought I would try and catch you up with the past few months. So her it goes -

May 29th - Annie's Western Dance Performance

Every year, my Mom (Annie's Teacher) puts on the cutest western dance performance at school. My mom bought Katie and Annie pink cowgirl boots to add to the occasion. Annie's partner was her friend Connor. They did such a good job and put the biggest smiles on our face.
I know the Macarena is not a western dance, but they added a few others for fun. I had to show you this though because first of all - Annie can move her hips! Second, you just have to check out her hand placement when she puts them behind. It cracks me up everytime.




June 4th & 5th - Annie's Kindergarten Singing Program


At the end of the year, the Kindergarten puts on a singing program for the parents one day and the school the next. Annie got to sit by her best friend Savannah. Here is Annie's saying her part in the school assembly.



June 6th - Moss Ledge

We went with my family up to Big Cottonwood Canyon to Moss Ledge one evening for a campfire. Here is Ryan tending the fire.

We made foil dinners and the kids had a blast climbing on the rocks and throwing rocks into the small stream.
After all the other kids were down throwing rocks and back to climbing the rocks, Katie was found still having a blast throwing the rocks into the stream. Grandpa then gave her the name "Rock Chuck". She's not to fond of that name and let him know her name is Katie. Each of the kids prepared a short story to tell but it started to rain and so we went back to the house to tell them. It was a really fun night.


June 10th - Zoo Field Trip

Annie was so excited for her field trip to the zoo because she was going to get to ride on the school bus for the very first time. Katie and I met her there. We walked around with Annie's best friend Savannah and her mom, and also Anni'es friends Teia and Devon.
We first went to the elephant show (which I didn't know they even had). It was really neat. Especially since the elephant was about to deliver any day now.

Can you tell? We then went to the bird show. We got to sit right on the front row right in front of the bird handlers. The show had to be cut short though because it started to rain - I mean POUR!!! We took shelter under the merry-go-round for about 20 minutes until it let up. We then headed over to the covered pavillion to eat, but it was closed. All the tables were soaked so we sat under a covered porch on a very dirty floor to eat. After lunch we had to take one of the girls that was with us back to the school bus and decided to go home too because the girls were so cold. I was glad I had taken them a few weeks before. We still had a good time though because we got to see the elephant show that we didn't see before and also the orangetan was out this time.


June 18th - Dance Performance

The girls had there Spring dance performance at Kearns High School. They danced to a new rendition of Zipadee-doo-da. Katie got sick at dinner though and we had to stop at the store and buy some pullups. Throughout the whole recital we were running back and forth to the bathroom. Luckily, she made it through her dance and the finale. I think Ryan's dad got better pictures - but here are some of them posing themselves.

Term of Endearment

This afternoon I was getting Katie dressed in her soccer clothes and happened to call her "Katie Bug" (which I call her all the time). She then asked me, "Why do you call me Katie Bug?" I couldn't tell her it was a term of endearment because she just wouldn't understand. So I explained to her that whenever I call her "Katie Bug" it is like telling her that I love her. She then replied, "So when you don't call me Katie Bug you don't love me?" That went well!!! I then had to explain that I always love her but when I call her "Katie Bug" it is to remind her that I love her.

The Hogle Zoo

I took the girls to the zoo on Thursday. We had such a fun day, but the girls wished Daddy could have come. It was fun to see the new Madagascar exhibit. Here is one of the Tortoises from Madagascar. Pretty cool shell.

We got the peacock to show off for us!
This is the first time we've rode the merry-go-round.

We also went to the bird show. Annie got a coupon for a gallon of free milk (Meadow Gold Sponsors the Show) for answering a question. It is the same question she answered the year before, getting the same coupon.

Water Fun

The girls were so excited to have warm enough weather to pull out the swimming pool and slip n' slide. The bigger they get, the smaller that pool gets. They still have a blast playing in it. Can't wait til the pools start opening!

Run, Kick, Score!

Annie and Katie have had two soccer games so far this year. The first game it poured. I didn't want to get the camera wet so I didn't even take any pictures. I couldn't believe they made us play. I could understand if it was sprinkling, but it was pouring. The kids were soaked and freezing. Annie got two goals that day - one for our team and one for the other! That's okay though cause later on Annie was about to score another goal when someone from the other team kicked it in for her. The second game was on a much nicer day. Annie is a lot more aggressive this year and Katie is a little trooper - running the whole time. She is the smallest and youngest on the team, and when she can keep up with the others, she gets right in there and kicks the ball. They are so excited to have their dad be their coach and he does such a great job. I thought he had a challenging team last year, but this year might beat it.

Annie and Katie - The Blue Rockets!


That's Annie at the front being aggressive!


Annie kicking the ball. I took pictures of Katie but she is hidden by someone else in every shot.

Spending time with Grandma and Grandpa after the game.

Easter

Easter morning the girl's woke up early and found their Easter basket and Easter dresses. Aren't they so cute!


We then went to church. After church we headed to my sister Hillary's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Annie was so worried the Easter bunny wouldn't know her and Katie were going to be there. Sure enough though, he knew! The girls had so much fun looking for eggs. I guess I was so busy helping Katie though that I didn't take any pictures. That night we had lots of fun coloring Easter eggs.

St George Quickie

The Friday and Saturday before Easter, the girls, my mom, Ryan and I headed down to St. George for the night. My Dad had tickets to for the Jim Brickman concert at Tuacahn but ended up having to do a funeral for a friend. So we took the girls. Annie was so excited. She has had many school friends that have said that they are going to St. George throughout the school year and has been wanting to go ever since. I'm not sure what she was expecting, but nonetheless it was fun to get away. We got to our hotel room late in the afternoon and the girls were so excited to go swimming. It was only about 60 degrees so it was not very warm at all. Annie insisted that she tested the water with Grannie and it was warm. She soon found out that dipping your whole body in the water is much colder than just dipping your toe. Nonetheless they had a fun time splashing and freezing.


We then tried to get them to have a nap before the concert - but what was I thinking? My girls never nap! We ate dinner at Chuck-A-Rama and headed to the concert. It was slightly sprinkling at the beginning and so they had to put a canopy over the piano and so were late starting. Katie kept asking when it was going to start and Ryan finally replied, "I hope soon cause then you'll stop asking!" It was literally every 5 seconds she would ask. During the concert Annie asked, "Mom, if I keep practicing, will I be good like that someday?" Katie fell asleep half way through, but Annie enjoyed the whole show. The next morning we went to breakfast at Denny's. I think it took an hour to get our food. By the time we finished it was pretty much lunchtime. We then drove to the St. George temple to show the girls. They were really excited. After we stopped by my Great-Grandpa Bigelow's house. He past away years ago, but my mom's aunt lives there now.


We then drove home in time to go to Grandma D's Easter party. It was rainy outside so the great-grandkids (Annie, Brendan and Katie) got to hunt for the eggs in her living room. She filled over 150 eggs for just the 3 of them. Whew!

The Easter Bunny and Annie's School Easter Party

Back to catching up.
(April 4th)

We were at the grocery store one day and the Easter Bunny happened to be there. They were taking free pictures. The girls were so excited to see him. Annie has since been asking me a dozen questions about him - even yesterday. Her are a few of the many questions she wants to know about. Does the Easter Bunny talk? Is the Easter Bunny a boy or a girl? Was the Easter Bunny we saw at the store the real Easter Bunny or just pretend? Is the Easter Bunny a real bunny? etc. etc. etc.

(April 9th)

I got to help with the Easter party at Annie's school. For my part of the activities we played "Pin the egg in the Easter basket" (which I made - isn't it cute!) and had gunny sack races. It was so much fun. Katie even did a great job hopping along with all the other kids.


Here they are in action!

Sleepovers

So this is not part of my event catching up, but I thought I would insert while I get all caught up. Last weekend Annie decided she wanted a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house all by herself without Katie. I new this wouldn't go over well with Katie and so I asked my Mom if Katie could have a sleepover with her (which is just upstairs). She said that would be great cause my Dad was going to be gone a scout trip. Friday morning I told Katie that she got to have a sleepover with Grannie all by herself. She immediately got sad and and said she wanted Annie to sleep with her. Oh great! I didn't bring it up until it was time to pack Annie's sleepover bag. Katie started to pack hers too and said, "I'm so glad Annie's coming with me to my sleepover now." I then had to explain to her that Annie was sleeping at Grandma Debbie's and you are sleeping at Grannie's. She was not happy. We dropped Annie off and told Katie she could choose anywhere she wanted to go to dinner. I gave her some options because she couldn't think of any on her own and she chose Chinese. During dinner we realized she chose the wrong place because she decided she didn't like any of the food. We've had Chinese many times before and she's always been fine eating it. When we got home, I took her to the front door and we rang the doorbell to drop her off to Grannie. At this point she still was not too happy. Grannie told her though that she was going to take her on a walk to get an ice cream cone. That changed everything. When they got back, Grannie had a brand new movie for her to watch. I think the evening turned out just fine. Thanks Mom! I just find it sweet that Katie loves Annie so much and wants to do everything with her but I can also see how Annie needs time to herself also.

Let's Get Out of Town!

(March 28 & 29)
After Pirate Day, Ryan called and said, "Let's get out of town!" So I called my sister-in-law and invited us to go visit her in Idaho Falls. We left early Saturday morning and arrived at lunch time. We went to eat at Red Robin. I now crave their Teriyaki Chicken Burger all the time. Yum! We then took the girls to a play place. It was a lot of fun for the kids. That night Andrea and I made carmel popcorn and left out the sweetened condensed milk. It was still tasty - just not so gooey. The next morning we went to church with them and went home to a very tasty roast. A storm was supposed to be coming and so we left right after lunch. On the way home it rained on and off the whole way - I mean poured on and off the whole way. It was such a fun weekend and so nice to just get away. Thanks Paul and Andrea!

Pirate Day

(March 27th)
Every year my Mom has Pirate day to end "P" week and all the kids get to come dressed up as pirates.

I was helping in class that day so Katie dressed up too and fit right in. I wish I would have been able to get a picture with my Mom cause she looks just as great as the kids.

It's raining, It's pouring!

(March 25) Katie had her 3-year-old check up the day after her birthday - what a perfect day to try out her new raincoat!

The Last Few Months

Thanks to Ryan for posting the last 2 posts. I finally graduated - yea! Hopefully I will now have time to post more regularly. I decided (for journaling sake) I would catch up on the last few events that I've missed.

March 21st - Katie's Birthday Party
Saturday morning my family and their spouses were able to do sealings together at the Jordan River Temple. My older brother was designated babysitter and watched all the kids. We had a very nice time and after came back to our house to celebrate Katie's birthday. We had a very fun Ladybug party. Happy 3rd birthday - Katie Lady!


The girls and I had a fun time painting styrophone balls to make ladybug antennaes for Katie's party. Thanks to Grannie for providing fun ladybug decorations and partyware to make it just perfect!


We also had fun making ladybug cupcakes. I think they turned out way cute!


We played "pin the ladybug on the flower".


and bean bag toss - tossing the black spots onto the ladybug.


Grannie gave Katie this really cute ladybug raincoat and bag. It was such a fun party.

March 24 - Katie's Birthday


Daddy made special chocolate chip pancakes for Katie's birthday. A "K" and a heart. Ryan took the day off and so we went to lunch and then took Annie to school. Ryan then took Katie to the store while I worked on some homework. She had dance later that day and passed out cucpcakes. She insisted on waring her ladybug dress to dance in.


After dance, Grandma and Grandpa Nigbur took us out to dinner at Francesco's.


I had school that night and so after dinner they dropped me off at school and waited until I got home to finish opening the rest of her presents.

Annie on a Bike

Only 3 days of practicing and look at her now!

Congratulations Hayley

We love you and are proud of your accomplishment!
Love Ryan, Annie and Katie

Jumping Jack Kids

We took the girls to Jumping Jack Kids while Annie was off track. It has a lot of the large blowup slides. When we arrived, Annie's friend Devon showed up with her family. A few minutes later, Annie's best friend Savannah showed up. Savannah's cousins were there so she didn't really play with Annie and Devon, but they had a fun time together. It's a great place to take your kids if they need to get all their energy out.

Haircut Time

The girls both got haircuts for the spring. Annie wanted to grow her hair to her waist, but at the last minute decided she wanted hers cut too.

Go Utes!

Annie and I had season tickets again this year with my mom for the Utes Gymnastics. We have so much fun going. This year my sister and her little girl Emma got tickets too. If you have never been, you wouldn't believe it - the whole stadium is completely filled. The last meet of the year was March 13th. They put foam light sticks on all the chairs. I was getting Annie's ready and could see a little girl come stand right behind me. I was thinking she probably wanted the light stick. After I got Annie's turned on, I turned to look at her. She was just staring at me. I then got the thought that she looked a lot like Katie. She kept staring at me. I looked further back to look for her parents and saw Ryan standing there. They had come to surprise us. The funny thing is that I didn't even recognize my own daughter. I guess part of it was because I didn't expect them to be there. I did get her ready before we left too, and she was wearing something different. Anyway, it was a nice surprise.

Soda Springs

The week of Presidents Day my family spent time Snowmobiling at Soda Springs. On the way up we stopped at my sister's house to pick up some things. My Dad was carrying a bin out and stepped on the edge of her door mat and broke his foot. We stayed in a large lodge. It snowed a lot while we were up there. I was excited for a nice vacation, however, the first night we were there, Katie threw up. And the next day she threw up. And the next day she threw up. Then Annie threw up the next day and on our way home. Fun Vacation!!!
Grannie brought up play dough and the kids had a blast - one day they played with it for over 3 hours straight!
Katie did get dressed for a short period of time to get a picture and to ride the snowmobile around the lodge a few times.


The kids had a lot of fun being pulled behind the snowmobile on sleds around the lodge.

Valentine Party

I helped with Annie's Valentine party at school this year. I made a really cute apron for her teacher and had all the kids draw their faces on it. It made for a really cute class picture! Katie came along with us and had so much fun playing all the games.

Annie's VIP

Annie had her school VIP the day before her Valentine party. She was so excited. We started the day off by going to lunch at McDonald's. It was snowing outside so between walking to and from McDonalds and the school, her hair went from super curly to somewhat curly. We put together five gift bags (since she is 5) and put different things about her in each bag. One had pictures of her family, one was filled with her favorite things, one had things that she was good at, one had things she liked to do and the last one had things that you might not know about her. She then brought her favorite treats to pass out - skittles and starbursts.

Here is a little bit about Annie -

Annie has two nicknames that her Grandpa Kirk has given her - Annie Bananie and Annie Einstein. She prefers the latter. Annie is very smart and has loved to learn since she was born. She was never interested in watching tv and would rather be coloring or reading books. Annie started to read a month after she turned 3 and is now reading on a 3rd grade level. She loves reading the Magic Tree House series and many other chapter books. At 3 1/2 she begged me to give her piano lessons and has been playing since. Annie is very creative and is always drawing, coloring, cutting, punching and writing books. Her favorite color is Luggen Blue (Blue-Green), her favorite food are carrots and if she could have anything for dinner it would be chicken and rice. She loves to dance and wants to be a dance teacher when she grows up. She is also in gymnastics and is looking forward to playing soccer again this spring. She is the one who you will see dancing and doing cartwheels on the field instead of kicking the ball, however she says she loves it especially because her dad is the coach. Annie is a great big sister to Katie. She is very good at sharing and taking care of her. I feel so lucky to have Annie - We Love You!

Happy Valentines Day!

For the last 3 years, we've delivered Valentine cards to the residents at the Golden Living Center (it's a retirement home) on Valentines Day. We make over 100 Valentines. The girls have so much fun passing them out and the residents love it.

Ryan's Birthday

Ryan celebrated his 29th Birthday on February 7th. His morning was filled with church basketball games. The girls and I had a primary party to go to in the afternoon. The activity day girls were putting on a puppet show. I was in charge of the desserts. When I arrived, the primary room was PACKED!!! I don't think we could have fit one more person in. We were only planning for about 30 kids. Unbeknownst to us, the activity days leader invited all of the girls families, her family and some friends of hers who had 9 kids - would have been nice to know. I quickly ran to Smith's and bought $40 worth of cookies and desserts. I walked in just as they were ending the closing prayer. I was afraid I over bought, but when all was said and done, we had 1 cookie left. That night we went to dinner at Applebees. We were planning on surprising Ryan and taking him out for pizza, but he ate pizza for lunch. The girls gave him a new fly fishing reel (but are letting him pick it out). I got him a frame to put his state quarters in that he has been collecting. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RY!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

January 18th I celebrated my 28th birthday. Where has the time gone? I feel like I could still be 24. My birthday fell on Sunday so I celebrated going to church. Annie had planned a surprise party for me at Ryan's parents house. They invited my mom and dad which made it really nice. I wish I had a picture to show how cute she decorated everything. I guess we didn't get one picture of the day. Ryan made my favorite dinner. It was really nice and very delicious. Cheers to being 28!

Island Park

We have a tradition with Ryan's family going up to his sister-in-law's mother's cabin for New Year's. This year it seemed as though it snowed almost the whole time. It was beautiful sitting in the cabin looking out. We enjoyed reading, playing card games and braving the cold in the snow. Here's a look at some of the fun inside activities.


The infamous giant bean bag. The kids love to play, jump, roll and get thrown down on it. They could play with it for hours!


Andrea brought up a fun hot potato game. It was fun watching the kids get so excited when the music stopped and they were holding it.



My mom bought gingerbread houses/trains for us to take up. The kids had a ton of fun decorating them. I think Katie's favorite part was the frosting.



Here's a look at some of our outdoor activities.



Here's Ryan Snowmobiling. The snow was really powdery so it wasn't much fun. (I don't snowmobile - I banned it a few years ago due to all the accidents I was involved with when I was younger!)



My mom sent up snow throwers for all of the kids. They had a lot of fun tossin' snow at each other - and at Grandma.




Because the snow was so powdery we had to make our own sledding hill. We all enjoyed going down!

Savannah's Birthday

Savannah is Annie's best friend. She invited her to her birthday party. It was fairytale themed. They had a professional come paint their faces. I couldn't believe how amazing they looked. Some of the girls had beautiful butterflies. I wish I had a picture. Anyway here is Annie as Tinkerbell.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning I lied awake waiting for my girls to wake up. They are not early risers. It was so exciting to see their faces when they realized Santa had come. It was a fun morning seeing how excited they were with each gift they received. We spent the evening at Ryan's parents house. They always cook a wonderful full course dinner. It was nice to spend time with everyone.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve began by eating lunch at Chuck-A-Rama with my family.

We then headed back to my mom's house and enjoyed singing and dancing from all of the grandkids. We then exchanged gifts. Grannie gave all the grandkids funny Christmas socks.

We then watched a really neat movie of my Brother-in-law's trip to Africa. The girls and I then made cookies for Santa. Annie had a peanut butter Hershey Kiss recipe she wanted us to try. They turned out really good.

After cookie making, we headed to Ryan's Grandma Nigbur's Christmas party. The girls had fun ringing bells while singing Christmas Carol's and being part of the Twelve day's of Christmas. We ended the night at our home opening the gift's we got each other.

We then set out food for the reindeer and the cookies we made for Santa. We also thought we'd give Santa some variety and set out chocolate milk instead of plain old white! (Though at our house he usually gets Dr. Pepper or Egg Nog.)

Soup Night

My Grandma Coffman has a "Soup Night" at her club house every year a few weeks before Christmas for our Christmas party. There are all kinds of soups and yummy food. We also have a program and exchange presents. This year for the program each family was given a Christmas carol and had to make up new words to the song. It was a lot of fun. Especially listening to every one else's song!

Elvis's Reindeer

Annie and Katie had their Christmas dance recital at Kearns High School. They danced to an Elvis reindeer song and were the cutest reindeer I've ever seen! My two nieces also danced that night too.

Principle Pride

Annie received a Principle Pride award December 12th. Every Friday morning before school the Principle awards all of the students that received the award for the week. Boy did we have to get up early! I don't know how we are going to make it next year when Annie goes to school at 8:00! (For those that don't know my girls are not early birds and usually sleep in till 8:30 or 9:00. They don't stay up late either. They are usually in bed at 8:00.) After the ceremony was over, Annie told me that the whole time she was up receiving her award she couldn't stop smiling. How would that be to have more moments like that. We then went to Celebrate by eating breakfast at IHOP.

It's About Time!

The last time I really blogged was way before Thanksgiving. (Ryan wrote the blog about seeing Santa. I wasn't able to go because I was giving a piano recital that night for my students.) So I decided I would try and catch you up with what has been going on.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed going to see "Madagascar 2" with my sister's family. I thought it was really cute and had some great laughs. After the movie I dropped Ryan and the girls off at his parents house and I went home to take a nap. (I only got a few hours of sleep the night before.) I woke up just in time to make my salad and head over to Ryan's parents for dinner. All of his brother and sisters were at the in-laws this year so it was just us with his Aunts and Uncles. After dinner we did our rounds of what we were Thankful for. After Ryan was finished saying what he was thankful for, he said, "And Hayley has announcement." I don't think I've had so many pairs of eyes look at me so quickly. There is no announcement, but it was funny.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

This year we decided the girls were old enough that we would draw names for Christmas. Ryan drew Katies name. A few days later as we were sitting at the dinner table he asked, "Katie, what do you want Daddy to get you for Christmas?" She looked right at him and said, "You not Santa Claus!" A few nights later, Grannie and Grandpa Kirk were eating dinner with us and Grandpa was going to say the prayer. He asked the girls what he should say in his prayer. Katie immediately answered, "Amen." I don't often write down the funny things my girls say, which I'm sad about but it always makes me smile to think of them. When Katie was first born, I told Annie I was going to feed her. She immediately headed towards the fridge and said, "I'll get the milk for your armpit." That cracked me up. Yesterday I was doing her hair and she said, "Mom this elastic is camouflage on the counter." It's fun to hear them use such big words.

Christmas Wishes

This last Monday we were invited to the Pettingill's to make gingerbread houses and have a special guest arrive. When Santa arrived Annie practicly jumped out of her shorts, she was so excited. Katie wasn't too sure what to expect. I was worried about Katie since last year she screamed bloody murder when she saw Santa. Leading up to this day I have been preparing Katie to see Santa. I would tell her how nice he is, and that he gives her a treat if she sits on his lap. I also reminded her that Santa brings her presents if she is good.

Santa asked for a helper to lead a christmas song. Annie was picked. The only way I could describe the moment of how Annie reacted when she was picked is a young girl picked to go up on stage at a Jonas Brothers concert. It must have been the best moment of her life.

When Katie saw the other childern sitting on Santa's lap and then getting a candy cane Katie began to creep towards him. When she noticed an opening between kids she quickly ran up to him to be next. She told him she wanted a dress, a purse and a present for christmas. After each child got his/her turn they took off to another room of the house. Katie and Annie couldn't keep their eyes off of Santa the whole time he was there. After Santa left Katie was visibly upset. When I questioned why she responded "Santa left and didn't give me a present." Oops! I guess she thought when I told her Santa brings her presents on Christmas the 'Christmas' part didn't register in her 2-year old way of thinking. She assumed that at that moment Santa would give her a dress, a purse and a present.

That night was fantastic. Thanks Joyce!

Gratitude Day 20 - The Gospel (All Encompassing!)

Where would I be without it. I'm grateful for my testimony. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm grateful my family can be Together Forever!

Gratitude Day 19 - My Mom and Dad

I'm so grateful for such wonderful parents. My parents are both very giving people and I really appreciate all they have done for me throughout my life. They have provided me with many wonderful opportunities and I thank them for that. I especially want to thank them for allowing us to move in with them so I could stay home with the girls. Thanks Mom and Dad for all you do. I love you!

Gratitude Day 18 - My House Is Still Clean!

Gratitude Day 17 - Ibuprofen

Gratitude Day 16 - A Clean House

The girls spent the day with my mom today so I spent the day cleaning. Does anyone want to come over right now? (Does it always seem that people stop by when your house isn't clean?)

Gratitude Days 13, 14, and 15

Yesterday I was so busy all day long, I didn't even have time to write my 3 days worth of Gratitude so I decided I would let my family do it! Last night for FHE we wrote the things we were grateful for on Turkey feathers.

Ryan - Katie, Annie and Hayley
Annie - The world, our bodies, food and our house
Katie - Annie, toys, church and Dad and Mom

Gratitude Day 12 - A Dishwasher

I'm so grateful I have a dishwasher. I really don't like washing dishes by hand. The worst part is when you wash so many dishes and then your hands get really dry - I hate that. Thank you to whomever invented the dishwasher.

Gratitude Day 11 - 2 Weeks Left!

I'm so grateful I only have 2 more weeks of this semester left - Yea!

Gratitude Day 10 - Ryan's Parents

(Their Halloween picture - Noah and his Wife)

I feel so lucky to have such great in-laws. They are so kind and so gracious. They throw great parties and we miss when we aren't able to go for Sunday dinner. But the best part is they are the best grandparents ever! Grandpa Dave is always so willing to push the girls on the swings and play games with them. He also makes the best popcorn to watch a movie with. The girls love when Grandma Debbie sings and reads to them in the rocking chair. They are both very supportive of all the girls activities and I'm so grateful my girls are so close to them. I love you guys!

Gratitude Day 9 - Disposable Diapers

I know I don't have to deal with diapers right now, but I am so glad I live in the time of disposable ones. Bless our moms and grandmas for ever having to rinse out those cloth ones - Yuck!

Gratitude Day 8 - Delicious Food

I'm so glad we don't have to eat bugs and worms and stuff like that. We are so lucky to have so many varieties of food and I am grateful for that!

Gratitude Day 7 - Katie

Katie is such a joy to have around. She is constantly cracking us up. She is happy most of the time but will definitely let you know when she is not! She loves to dress up! 10 times a day - at least. She loves her big sister Annie and always wants to be doing what she is. She is taking dance with Annie and gets excited every Tuesday when Annie announces that they get to go to dance. Katie is my little snuggle bug. I love that she will cuddle with me whenever. I love when she says to me, "Mom, I love you." I'm so grateful to have such sweet girls.

Katie's New Friend

When Annie turned 2, my mom bought her this big Cheer Bear. Katie in the last few weeks has become very fond of it. She even sleeps with it - which is quite hilarious because she sleeps in a toddler bed and the bear takes up half the bed. Every morning she can be seen carrying Cheer Bear into the living room. One day she was sitting on its back. She told us that she was riding her sheep. It cracked me up. The other night I heard her grunting and turned around to see her carrying it up the stairs. To say the least, we have been very amused the last few weeks.

Gratitude Day 6 - Being Able to Stay at Home

Even though we have had to sacrifice a lot for me to stay at home, I wouldn't trade anything in the whole world for it to be any different. The other day Annie said, "Mom, when I grow up I want to be just like you cause you are the nicest mommy ever!"

Gratitude Day 5 - Having Someone To Take Care of My Girls Cause I Can't Handle It!

Believe it or not - I am CPR and First Aid certified. But does that really matter? It killed me to go to class every day. I just don't do well around things that just shouldn't be (open wounds, broken bones noticely broken, blood, dislocated fingers, a toothpick sticking out of an eyeball, teeth sticking through someones lip, etc, etc, etc). I don't even like to look at pictures. So is my CPR or First Aid training really going to be useful? I'm afraid not! Don't count on me to help out. Oh wait, I'll call 911 - in the other room. Anyway, so the reason why I am posting this is because I'm grateful Ryan is able to handle these things. We haven't had many times that the girls needed taking care of, but the times that we have, I've been lucky and Ryan has been home. (Except once when Katie skinned her knee extremely bad and it was pouring blood and I barely could get it all cleaned up and bandaged and I was wishing the whole time Ryan would walk in the door any second but her never did, but I made it - whew!) Anyway, last month when I was getting my fall decorations out, I pulled this out:


It has little styrophone balls on it. One had fallen on the floor. Katie picked it up, squeezed it and it flew across the floor. It became the neatest thing in the whole world to her for the next four hours. She even named it and called it her snap. The next thing I knew, she came to up to me and told me her snap was stuck in her nose! Oh great! Luckily, Ryan walked in the door right then. (I seriously already had a plan to call my Dad to come home from work (he just works right behind our house.)) But holding Katie's head still while Ryan attempted to remove the snap, that was painful. Luckily after the fourth try it was done. So, I'm so grateful that one of us is able to take care of our children when injuries occur! Thanks Ry.

Gratitude Day 4 - Annie

Annie is the sweetest and best behaved girl ever! She is very smart (she started reading a month after she turned 3, and has been playing the piano since 3 1/2!) She is very mature and sometimes I forget she is only 5. She is such a great big sister to Katie. I always tell her that is why Heavenly Father sent her down first. She is eagerly waiting for him to send her a baby brother. She is very creative. She is always drawing, coloring or making something. She likes to dress-up, play with her baby doll Sara, and read the Magic Tree House books. She is in dance class, gymnastics and piano lessons. She is very excited to turn 6 (July 14th) because then Grandma Debbie (Ry's mom) is going to start teaching her how to play the violin. She is such a joy to have in our home, and I am sad she is growing up so fast. I love you Annie!

Gratitude Day 3 - Vanilla Mint Toothpaste

Grateful for Vanilla Mint toothpaste? You see, I don't really like mint. Especially if it is really strong. It makes me sneeze. Tic tacs, gum, peppermints, Altoids. But Crest's Vanilla Mint Toothpaste - just perfect. Very mild, not too strong, and I never sneeze. Thank you Crest!

Gratitude Day 2 - Fall

I'm so grateful for the fall. Not only is it absolutely beautiful, but it gives me a break from all the other seasons I don't care for. (Those seasons include any that contain temperatures below 40 degrees and above 70.) I love the the things that fall brings too: the beautiful colors, sweaters, pants (although I wear them all year long anyway, but now at least I'm not sweating in them!), Halloween, Thanksgiving, really good Thanksgiving dinner, crunching leaves, did I mention the beautiful colors, General Conference, day light savings, fall decorations, soup, the beautiful colors....

Gratitude Day 1 - Ryan

Every day I feel like the luckiest girl in the whole world to be married to Ryan. We've been married 6 1/2 years and we've yet to have one fight or one argument. We are just so much alike that there is nothing ever to fight over or argue about. Sometimes as we sit and watch "Everybody Loves Raymon" we think, "Gosh, we need to be more like them." (Sometimes being so much alike can get a little boring.)

Ryan still makes me laugh just like he did when we first met. He is very supportive of all my adventures I attempt (school being the latest), and spends many Saturday nights alone as I work on Primary stuff cause I procrastinate and can never do anything simple.

He is such a great dad and has taken on many of my roles this last year as school has kept me from doing them. I can't count how many times he's made dinner, taken the girls to dance, Annie to gymnastics, done the laundry, cleaned the house and put the girls to bed by himself.

He takes such good care of the girls and I and I am so grateful he is part of my life. I love you Ry!

21 Days of Gratitude in 7

My friend Anna started back on November 7th posting her 20 days of Thanks up until Thanksgiving. As I was reading them, I thought it would be fun to post my 20 days of Gratitude. However, Thanksgiving is next week so I am going to do my "21" days in 7!

Turkey Making Day

Today I took the girls over to story time at Barnes and Noble Bookstore. We haven't really been since Annie started school, but since she was off track we headed on over. After the stories they always have a project for the kids. Today they got to color a turkey and also make one out of foam. It was really cute. When we got home we decided to make some more thanksgiving things because Annie said she didn't have any decorations for her room. A few years ago, Ryan gave me books for Christmas that had fun craft things to do with your kids. I was so impressed that he would even think of something like that. It has been such a great present and we have had a ton of fun the last few years making things. Anyway, here are the results of our fun turkey making day.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

I got this link off of my sister-in-law's blog. You can put your picture in it and it calculates which celebrities you look like. It's actually a lot of fun. I spent hours playing with it - you should try it. I even did Annie and Katie. Annie came up looking like Shirley Temple and Carrie Underwood. Katie came up looking like Madonna as a little girl and even had Cameron Diaz, Barbara Bush and Fred Savage. I came up looking like Reese Witherspoon (Which several people have told me throughout the years) and Jessica Simpson (which I really can't see - it must be the blond hair.) Ryan did a normal picture and came up looking like Trent Reznor - Who the heck is that! Oh, the lead singer of Nine Inch Nails. Others that came up were David Arquette, Ben Stiller and David Schwimmer. We then did this picture and thought it was hilarious that Tom Brady was his first pick. Ahhh, funny.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Playing in the Leaves

This year I never got the chance to play in the leaves with the girls. Ryan's dad raked his leaves all into piles and so I took the girls over to his house today to play in them. They were wet from the rain, but we had fun nonetheless.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

The girls were so excited to wake up to snow.

Ryan took Katie out while Annie was at school.
When Annie got home, they went back outside. They tried to build a snowman but the snow was too dry and wouldn't stick. I stayed inside and made dinner. It was much warmer!

Grandma's Halloween Party

Every year Ryan's mom has a Halloween party. For dinner we choose 3 items off a menu and then get served. There are crazy things like "Fried bat wings", "Dracula's blood", and "Shrek's Ear Cleaner". You can end up getting chips, ketchup and a spoon. You then have to wait until everyone receives what they ordered and then you get to order 3 more things. This goes on until you have your full meal. It's pretty fun.


We also play bingo and pin the nose on the pumpkin - which all the kids did a ton better than the adults - at least they all got their noses on the pumpkin! But the most famous game is biting the doughnut off the string without using your hands. The couples do it at the same time for competition. It's great fun watching everyone. You can't help but laugh.

Happy Halloween!

The cutest Scarecrow and Witch there ever was!

Trick-or-Treat

Ryan's brother and sister-in-law came down from Idaho Falls Halloween evening so we went trick-or-treating in his parents neighborhood. Annie and Katie were so excited to go with their cousins.

Halloween Dance Party

The girls had a Halloween party at the end of their dance class the week of Halloween. They decided to pass out pencils and Halloween straws instead of candy. They are getting ready for their Christmas recital and are very excited.

Carving/Painting Pumpkins

For FHE one night we Carved/Painted pumpkins. Ryan had the girls close their eyes and put their hands inside the pumpkin. They both thought it was really gross. I tried to get a picture of the reaction on their faces but our camera is too slow!


Annie and Katie both wanted to paint their pumpkins. Katie's is a Scarecrow - Can't you tell! Annie's is a rainbow pumpkin.


Katie helped Daddy carve his pumpkin. I love the look on it's face. I think I was still scooping out the guts by the time he was finished. We probably should have turned out the lights to see it better.

Annie decided she wanted to help me carve my pumpkin. She drew the face all by herself. I can't believe how cute it is. Great job Annie!

Halloween Party

I had a Halloween party with my sisters and two of my cousins and their kids. Annie and I had so much fun planning it.
We played Don't eat Pete, Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin and Halloween Bingo.

For lunch we had mummy pizza's, hot dog snakes, dirt cups with worms, and spider's on a log.We also made green and orange icecubes and froze spider rings in them. The kids thought the dry ice was amazing and kept asking me, "How did you do that?" After we made scarecrow and spider cookies.

It was a ton of fun - I can't wait til next year. It might be a new tradition!

Feeding the Ducks

I took Katie to feed the ducks and geese over by Salt Lake Community College. I kept her in the stroller because they can get pretty fiesty. Sometimes they even scare me. They are definetly not scared to get right next to you. There are always the ones that start fighting eachother too. One of the geese even nipped Katie's finger.

A House Visitor

I was startled one night as I went to use the computer and saw a praying manthis sitting on the monitor. Ryan caught it and put it in a jar with some twigs and leaves. The next day Annie took it to show her class. They all thought it was so neat and wanted to keep it as a class pet. She left it for the morning class to see the next day, but then released it that night.

It's kind of hard to see it with the glare of the jar - but it's in there somewhere!

St. George

I know it has been quite a while since I have posted anything and I really don't have any excuses. I've spent the last few days catching up reading everyone's blog. It's taken me hours I was so behind!

So here's me catching up on some of our events the last few months. Ryan and I celebrated a belated anniversary in September. I wanted to go see Les Miserables at Tuachan in St. George for our anniversary but didn't want to go during the extreme heat. Plus, opening night was on our anniversary (June 12th) - the weekend was sold out anyway. So I got tickets for us during September. Unbeknownst to me, it still is way hot in St. George in September. It averaged between 95-103 degrees while we were there. Way too HOT!!! Where was the nice 75 degree weather? Four days before we left I came down with a terrible cold. Of course, we haven't had a vacation with just ourselves since before Katie was born and I get sick. Besides being miserable, we had a fun time. We left Thursday afternoon and arrived in St. George just in time for dinner. We both didn't have an appetite so just ate at McDonald's and then went to Tuachan. We had great seats right in the center and 6 rows from the front. The even better part was that no one sat in front of us-it can be a problem when you're short like us. (Those were the seats I tried to purchase too, hmmm?) I loved the play so much! I've been waiting to see it forever. I was supposed to see it in England, but ended up at The Phantom of the Opera instead - which was terrible (long story). Friday we went to Zion's and did some hiking. I love to hike and wish I knew better of more places to go.

This is a picture of us at the top of Angels Landing. It's a crazy, steep uphill hike. It was beautiful though and I'm glad we did it. You can't really tell, but we are standing way on top of the Mountain. It has an estimated time of 4 hours to hike it. Ryan and I did it in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Yea us! We did some other little hikes too.

There was this hidden hole in the side of the mountain just off the trail. I decided to climb in it. I don't know why.

Here's Ryan at the Upper Emerald Pool. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful here. I wish we could have spent another day in Zions. Maybe next time.

That evening we had dinner at Red Lobster. YUM! Ryan said he could start having 2 anniversaries a year. (We went to Red Lobster on our real anniversary - it's the only time we feel okay to spend that kind of money on food.) Saturday we went to the temple. We weren't sure what time the session started, and so we ended up waiting for 45 minutes. Next time, I will definetly find out when it starts. That night we finally saw Batman. (We attempted twice before when if first came out but never made it.) Ryan's liked Batman his whole life so I've kind of gotten into the movies too. I loved the movie - minus the girl. I couldn't believe how amazing Heath Ledger was as the Joker. I kept trying to picture it being him and I just couldn't. We left Sunday morning, excited to see our girls, but returned to find them in Kaysville for the evening. So much for rushing home! Besides being sick, it was nice to have a vacation. And thanks to Ryan's parents for watching the girls. They got to go to Idaho Falls for their cousin's birthday party.

Week Long Camping Trip

Every year my mom goes to the Spruces for a week over Labor Day. She has my Dad park her 5th Wheel up there and then she just relaxes. I've gone up with her ever since Annie was born.

Annie and Katie filled up buckets full of sticks and pinecones and loved throwing them in the stream by our campsite. One time, while pinecone hunting, Annie was stung on the hand by a bee. Well, at least we know that she's not allergic.

Grannie bought the girls little painting projects. They had so much fun painting and even found some friends one day to come paint with them.

I just had to put this picture in. Isn't she so cute!

Grandpa and Grannie taking the girls for a walk. I got to stay back and work on homework. Yea!

Grannie always brings up all her sand toys and we spend hours and hours playing in the volleyball sand pit.

Daddy came up on the weekend. The girls were excited to show him everything.

Grannie and the girls found this fallen down tree on one of their walks. They called it the "bouncing horse". It actually was a pretty fun ride - and very bouncy!

Saturday morning we hiked to Doughnut Falls with Grandpa.

Katie and Annie walked the whole way up and back. Grandpa stayed at the bottom of the falls with the girls so Ry and I could hike to the top to see inside. That was the first time I got to do that. It was pretty cool.

Bear Lake

Between semesters I told Ryan we had to fit a vacation in for me. Every year since we were married we have gone to Bear Lake (minus one). This year we invited Ryan's family to go with us. His parents and younger brother Scott and his wife Jill came. Scott and Jill brought up her Dad's boat and we had a blast!

Summer Tumbling

This summer I decided to teach tumbling in my back yard. It was so much fun. I had two classes, 3-5 year-olds and 6-11 year-olds. The younger class was my absolute favorite. It was so much fun to see each child's progress. Most of them could only do a forward roll (somersault) coming in and at the end they were able to do cartwheels, handstands, arch ups, straddle rolls, and more.

Here is a picture of my younger class. A few were not able to make it the day we took pictures.

Annie and Laney - They became really good friends.

Annie doing a handstand.

Lagoon Here We Come!

Last Friday we had Ryan's 2nd annual work party at Lagoon. Ryan and his Dad own their own business and are the only employee's so the whole family gets invited. That makes it a ton more fun. All of Ryan's brothers and their families came. (Except Scottie and Jill - she's 8 months pregnant.) Annie had school so she and I met everyone in the afternoon, just in time for the sun to come out. We spent most of the day going on rides with the kids, however, we did sneak in a ride on the Colossus, and two on the Wicked. That was my first time to ride Wicked and I loved it - so much I went on it again right after. Annie's favorite ride was the Log ride. I however, have not been on it in who knows how many years and forgot how dumb it is. It wouldn't be as dumb, but the hour wait-not worth it. I did however, enjoy my $3.00 ice cream cone but wished I hadn't ridden the Tidal Wave right after. I decided I don't think I'll ever ride that ride again. Not only because of the ice cream, but after the second time of going up I'm about done, but the ride isn't. I swear it goes like 20 times!
To Mandy - From Ryan

Annie's First Day of Kindergarten

I can't believe I already have a kindergartner. Boy, does time fly! For the last few months, everytime I look at Annie I can't believe how much she has grown. I now look at Katie and feel as though Annie should still be that little.

Annie goes to Welby Elementary out in South Jordan. It's a year-round school so they started this last week. And yep, that's her teacher - Mrs. McDougal. How many kids are lucky enough to have their Grannie as their kindergarten teacher, let alone both Grandmas at the same school! Ryan's mom works there too as a resource teacher. I wouldn't have it any other way though. Plus I'm not so fond of the school by us. I may be prejudice but I think my mom is the best Kindergarten teacher in the whole world! However, I'm not the only one who thinks that. Just ask the parents of all her students and they'll tell you the same.
I couldn't be emotional taking her to school for the first time knowing she was going to have the time of her life. Katie on the other hand had a hard time letting Annie go. She cried, "My Annie, my Annie, I need my Annie" as we left. It was so sad. I then asked her if we should call Daddy. She then saw someone at recess wearing cargo shorts and a polo shirt and insisted it was Ryan. The more I told her daddy was at work the more she got mad at me - she just knew that was him on the field. Once I got Ry on the phone and explained to him what happened he was able to calm her down. It made me sad, but I'm glad to know she loves her sister so much and the next day she did just fine.

Belle's Blessing Day

Sunday was the blessing of my sister Hillary's 4th child. She lives out in Stansbury Park. I thought the girls looked so cute with their sunglasses on.


We walked to Hillary's house after church. Tessa, Hillary's other little girl, was so cute and had to hold Annie's hand the whole time.

We love our Grandma Coffman!

Belle just woke up and was really hungry. Her dress was so slippery she slipped right off Annie's lap.

Annie's starting Kindergarten, so that night Ryan gave her a blessing. I wanted to record it so I could type it up and put it in her scrapbook for her to read throughout the year. After the blessing, Katie wanted a turn so Ryan gave her a blessing as well. After, I sadly figured out that the recorder didn't work. I did get cute pictures with their dad though!

Good Old Ward Picnic

We had our ward picnic up Milcreek Canyon. It was 102 degrees in the city as we left around 5:30. When we reached the campsite at about 6:00 - it was a lovely 92 degrees. Yeah, I'm definetaly a 72 degrees type person. So if anyone knows of a great 72 degree place to live, let me know. (I can't afford California!) Anyway, it was still fun. The girls got to go fishing and both got a punch balloon. It was fun watching them try to blow it up.

Oh no, just like Annie!

Annie got to go swimming with Grandpa Kirk and her cousins so Katie and I built a castle. I built the castle, Katie built the tower. The funny thing though is I told Katie to smile and the next thing I know she puts her hands on her hips and points her toe. It cracked me up. Annie poses for every picture and it has finally rubbed off on to Katie.

I'm Boycotting Taylorsville Pool!

Thursday was one of the most horrifying days of my life. But first, a quick preview of a few weeks before. I signed Annie and Katie up for swim lessons. Katie and I swim before Annie. We got in and the teacher did and said absolutely nothing! She just sat there. (The year before, the teacher we had was so interactive with Katie.) Annie then had her lesson and happened to have the same teacher. I was busy taking care of Katie and didn't really pay attention to Annie's lesson. When it was over, she asked me, "Mom, how come I didn't do anything today?" Puzzled, I questioned, "You didn't do anything?" She said, "We just did bobs and played the rest of the time." Hmmm???? I then went and asked her teacher if it would be alright if Katie and I joined Annie's class the next day because I teach tumbling during Katie's class. She said that would be fine. So the next day I'm in the class. The first thing the teacher says is, "Do some bobs." A little boy asked what bobs were and she said, "You go up and down." Now I'm thinking, okay, a 3 year old does not comprehend that you put your entire head under the water and bouce up from the words, "You go up and down"! Show the kid! The rest of the class was a nightmare. She had took no control of the class and didn't teach them a dang thing. She just sat there and when she did say something she spoke so quiet you couldn't even hear. I went home and shared my frustrations wiht Ryan. The next day we show up to class and what, we don't even have a teacher. I talked with some of the other moms and found out that they were pretty upset with her too. At that time, Ryan came to see how it was going and got the manager's phone number and email. He went home and wrote a letter of complaint. Annie had a teacher during her class and I went and asked if she was the new teacher (hoping the other girl got fired). She said she was just the sub and her teacher would be back tomorrow or Monday. Oh, great! The next day there was a sub and on Monday, we showed up and Yea! A new teacher. My favorite one from the year before. She said it was supposed to be her vacation, but they were in desperate need for her to return. It turned out to be a great week. I then went to sign the girls up for the next session, but it was full, so we had to wait two weeks hoping we would get our favorite teacher again. Nope, we didn't. Sad to say, it was a complete waste of money and Annie didn't learn a thing. Which, brings me back to the most horrifying day of my life. The girls and I were at swimming lessons. It was the last day, therefore, play day. The girls and I were constantly going up and down the slide. I would go down with Katie, and Annie would go down by herself and when she got to the bottom, one of the swim teachers would catch her. (Since she was never taught to swim!) Annie wanted to show me how she would go down on her stomach so she went before Annie and I. So we climbed up the stairs to the slide. There was a little boy in her class that went before us, and about 4 or 5 kids behind us. We saw the little boy come out from the bottom and strangely he tipped-toed to the edge. Annie then went. As she went down, I was looking over the edge to see when she came out so Katie and I could go. The next thing I knew, Annie was doggy paddling-no one was there to catch her and it was too deep for her to touch! (That's why the little boy was tip-toeing-all the teachers had left.) There's nothing worse than to watch your child drowning and not be able to help her. I started screaming, but the water from the slide was too loud. Panick struck me and all I could do was look for someone to notice her and help her. All of a sudden, a mom, who was in an entirely different pool saw her and rushed over and saved her. Meanwhile, a swim teacher who was 10 feet away from Annie did nothing. I immediately went down the slide. I was FURIOUS!!! When I got home I told Ryan what had happened. I was so emotionally upset and I knew he could take care of it. He went and talked with the manager. Later on the manager called. I answered the phone. We conversed about what had happened for about 5 minutes and then he asked if he could speek to my dad!!! I said, you mean my husband! I know my voice is high, but I don't carry on a conversation like a 5-year-old. He claims the teachers closed the slide (they put a lifesaver across the stairs so you can't climb it)and the little boy in front of us must have moved the lifesaver- yada yada yada. However, when they close the slide, not only do they put the lifesaver there, but they also turn the water off. If the water is off, you can't go down the slide. HMMMMM! Whatever, the lifeguards lied to save their you know what! And that is why I am boycotting Taylorsville Pool! (Kearns is a thousand times more fun anyway!)

I prefer to use the bed as a pillow!

More often than not, we find Katie sleeping like this. I find it adorable.

The other day I was wiping off the counter and set the crayon box on the window sill. The next thing I knew - the crayons were melted!!! That's when you know it's too hot!

Annie's Birthday Party

For a whole year now, Annie has said that she wanted a "Luggen Blue Jewel Party" for her birthday. You ask, "What's a luggen blue jewel party?" Your guess is just as good as mine. I can explain the "Luggen Blue" part though. Quite a while back, the neighbors across the street got new carpet. Annie got to see the carpet and came back and said the neighbors got "Luggen Blue" carpet. I had no idea what color she was trying to tell me. My sister Heather suggested maybe it's supposed to be "Lagoon Blue". Anyway, I decided to make it into more of a princess party. She said that she was going to wear her cousins old blue dress which is now in Grannie's dress up box. I wanted something special for her to wear. Thanks to my Aunt Marcie, she made the most beautiful "luggen blue jewel dress." Annie was so surprised and really excited to wear it. (I even made her a hair bow to match-wish I could say I made the dress!) She also wanted a 3 tier, luggen blue jewel birthday cake. What can I say, she knew what she wanted.
We started the party out by decorating crowns. It was a lot of fun and they all turned out so cute.

Next, I read the story of The Princess and the Pea. We then played a game where a supposed princess would turn around while another person hid the pea (really a green tennis ball) under a pillow. The supposed princess then had to sit on all the pillows and see if she could feel the pea. If she could feel it, we all knew she was a true princess. And of course they all were!

We then played "Kiss the Frogs on the Lips." (The princess version of pin the tail on the donkey.)


We then had lunch while Annie opened her presents. We had crackers with ham and cheese. Annie and I used small cookie cutters and cut the cheese and ham into stars and hearts. It was very cute. We also had fruit and vegis. Annie had so much fun opening all of her presents.

My attempt at the 3 tier cake. I thought it looked a lot better until I saw this picture of it.

Annie had a great first friend birthday party and said she wouldn't change any of it!

Happy Birthday Annie!

Annie's birthday was July 14th. We woke up early and headed to the Hogle Zoo. We started out by watching a training session of a leopard. We then headed to the bird show and Annie won a coupon for free Meadow Gold chocolate milk for answering a question. We then wandered the zoo. It was a nice morning and not very crowded. We ate lunch there and I tell ya, you're better off bringing your own lunch - which we usually do. I got a grilled chicken salad. It consisted of a chunk of yellow iceberg lettuce and very dry chicken and the best part was that is was only $6.00! After lunch we rode the train and then the girls played with the water ball. By that time the sun was shining down and we were ready to go home! When we got home, Annie's cousins were over and they played in the water all afternoon. That night we had a barbecue at Ryan's parents house. They have the most beautiful backyard with the perfect shade. Ryan made dutch oven chicken and rice. I forgot the candles for the brownies and by the time some giant candles were found, half of the brownies were gone. Annie loved it though and thought it was great.

Stadium Of Fire!

We spent our 4th of July down at the Stadium of Fire in Provo. Miley Cyrus was the big guest. Annie was really excited, though she really only knows about Hannah Montana from her cousin Tyler. I'm not so sure she's even seen the show. When it was finally Miley's turn to perform, Annie was so tired, she laid down on Ryan's lap. I told her Miley was performing and didn't she want to watch her. She then sat up and got into it a little more. Miley had some pretty interesting moves, besides the fact she was facing her band 50% of the time. My favorite part was the jets flying over. I look forward to that every year. I don't know why I like it so much. Maybe it's the noise and the whole shaking of the earth. I did like the Blue Man Group too. I heard their gig in Vegas is worth going to. And of course, I always love the fireworks.
Annie and her cousin Emma eating at Chuck-a-Rama for our traditional Stadium of Fire dinner.

Annie and Daddy. Katie got to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Nigbur's for a sleepover.

The Blue Man Group - Very Entertaining!
Miley Cyrus-Hey look, she's actually facing the audience.

And of course, the Fireworks were Awesome!

Taylorsville Dayzz Parade

This year we went to the Taylorsville Dayzz Parade with Grandma Debbie. Daddy bought us breakfast to eat while we waited for the parade to start. We got perfect seats this year and were in the shade the whole time. The only disappointment was the absent of horses. What's a parade without horses?

Annie's Dance Recital

Annie had her year-end dance recital at the Gallivan Center. We decided to make it a family outing by riding the Trax and taking a picnic. When we got to there we ate our picnic. It felt like it was 98 degrees and so we tried to stay in the shade. Annie was the 2nd to dance so we only had to sit in the sun for a few minutes. Annie danced to "Walking on Sunshine," and of course I thought she was the absolute cutest! I really like Annie's dance teacher. Katie had fun trying to mimic all the dances and of course eating her liccorice. It was a fun family night out.

My Little Princesses

I took this picture Sunday before church. Katie is in a stage where she gets to choose what she wears each day. After going through all the dresses she has, she finally chose this one. (Grannie gave it to her for her birthday. She wore it the day before on Easter, but didn't go to church because she was sick.) She also tells me how she wants her hair. I'm just glad I had a head band to match!
This is about the eighth picture I took of them sitting together. I couldn't get Katie to look at me. Everytime I told them to "say cheese," Katie would look right at Annie to watch her say it. Then everytime Annie tried to sit closer to Katie, Katie would scoot further away.
Katie helped me take this picture. She likes to look at the screen on the camera after every picture.

Raise the Roof

Ryan's Dad is re-roofing his roof, so all the boys (Jason, Ryan, Scott and Brett) were over last night scraping all the shingles off. The girls just enjoyed themselves by talking much about nothing and watching Debbie plant her flowers.

Kylie's Here - Yea!

Cousin Kylie lives in Idaho Falls so we don't get to see her very often. Ryan decided to take the one set of car keys we have to work today so Annie missed school and got to spend the whole day with Kylie instead.

Cone Heads

It's great to know kids can find so much joy in the littlest things.

Herd Ball and the Sheepherder

Last night after the soccer game, one of the kids moms came up to me and asked if Ryan was going to be coaching next year. I told her he probably would. She then asked if there was anyway she could request him as a coach. That made me smile real big inside. He has been a really great coach and is very good with the little kids.

Pre-K soccer is frequently termed as "Herd Ball", referring to how all the kids run together in a herd. Annie is what I like to call the Sheepherder. She likes to run behind the pack and seems to be very content with that. This is a rare picture and doesn't show her in her normal position. The kids are quite spread apart too. Go Silver Wolves - Awroooooooo!

A Sprinkler and a Trampoline

What do you get when you put a sprinkler and trampoline together? Pure entertainment. This is one of Annie's and Katie's favorite summer activities to help them cool off (next to popsicles). It cracks me up to see and hear their excitment as they run and slip through the freezing cold water.

Ready, Set, Kick

The last few years when you asked Annie what she wanted to be when she grew up she would say, "a soccer player." She was excited this year when I told her she would be able to play. She was dissappointed though when her very first game was cancelled due to it snowing. She has now played two games and thinks it's so much fun.

And yep, that's Ry. He's the coach. I over heard two mom's at the first game say what a cute coach he is and how well he works with the kids. It made me smile.

Attack of the Seagulls and a Racoon

Sunday my Mom sent Annie and Katie outside to feed the quail that live in our yard. However, it ended up being attack of the seagulls instead. It was really kind of cool to see them all in our yard and luckily no one got pooped on.

Last Fall my Dad saw 2 racoons in our yard. He had a trap set for them. We think they must have went into hibernation for the winter. This Spring, they came and took the trap back because we never caught them. Last week Ryan found animal droppings in our window well and heard an animal in the middle of the night. He borrowed his Dad's neighbors cat trap and the next night caught us a racoon. It was delicious! The other one has yet to be caught.

Cinco de Mayo

Right after Annie turned 3, she begged me to teach her how to play the piano. I told her she was too young. Finally, after months of begging I decided to give it a try. To my amazement, a 3- year-old can be taught how to play the piano. She has now been playing for a year. While making New Year's goals, Annie said she wanted to learn a Disney song. After that, I decided I should plan a recital for her. We ended up choosing May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, for the date. We decided we would theme her recital after this day so family wouldn't come for 3 minutes to hear her play and then leave. She ended up playing, "A Whole New World" from the movie Aladdin and then a song called "Fiesta". She did a great job. I was so proud of her. Vamanos a la Fiesta!


After the recital we went outside and had a Fiesta. We played games, listened to music and ate a lot of enchiladas.
You definately can't have a Fiesta without a pinata. Whack!
Grannie and Grandpa went to Mexico a few weeks ago and brought back all the grandkids maracas - perfect for our Fiesta. Grandpa and Grannie weren't able to make it to the Fiesta though - they were on an airplane coming back from a trip to Ireland and England.

We ended the night with ice cream. We had rainbow, pineapple and peach sherbet. If you haven't tried peach - mmmmm good! Adios!

UofU Gymnastics

Annie and I had season tickets to the UofU Gymnastics. We had so much fun.

Go UTES!

Meeting the Cheerleaders

Annie was able to get a picture with a few of the UofU cheerleaders. She was soooo excited.

Easter Morning

Annie and Katie were so excited to look through their Easter Baskets. They then searched the family room for hidden eggs.

Easter

The girls were excited for the Easter Bunny to come. Annie got a lot of needed Spring clothes. Both the girls were sick which made for a very solemn day.

Coloring Easter Eggs

We had a lot of fun coloring Easter eggs this year. Ryan was in charge of dipping the eggs. The girls and I were in charge of decorating them. Annie even made one for the Easter Bunny.

Vrrooom Vrooom!

This was Katie's birthday

gift from Mom and Dad.

Katie's 2nd Birthday Party

We played "pin the nose on Elmo" and had an Elmo pinata.

One of my favorite things about Birthdays - Decortating the cake!

Katie's Birthday

Katie had an Elmo party for her 2nd Birthday. It was fun watching her sing Happy Birthday to herself and watching her blow out the candles.

Still Spinning

We are still alive and well. Annie is heading to Kindergarten and Katie just turned 2.

Here is a picture of the family from Halloween after painting pumpkins. We learned that painting pumpkins can be, if not more, fun than carving (especially for kids).












One great thing about having children is you can easily exploit them into wearing anything you want. Classic case is this picture of Katie for Halloween. Annie was JoJo as you can see from the above picture.