Nigbur Family

Something Funny

2010-12-15T21:31:00.002-07:00

Today Annie asked me if all Chinese people squint. She was so serious. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

This picture makes me smile too. I think I've already posted this before, but I will again. It makes me sad at the same time to think my girls have grown up so fast. I think that is why some people have lots of kids - so they can keep having little ones.

It's Already Built!

2010-12-12T20:01:00.007-07:00

I know I haven't finished blogging about our Disneyland trip and Halloween and Thanksgiving, but as we were waiting for Annie to get her reading done tonight, Ryan told me to find a picture on the internet to show Katie what the baby looks like as of now (seven months). So, I found this one and she said, "Wow, it's already built!" How funny. I guess I haven't showed her a picture since it has started looking like a human!

Our California Adventure

2010-11-19T08:16:00.009-07:00

The "Boring" plane ride!

We're Here!

After we rented our car we stopped at Subway for lunch and then headed to the Beach.

My girls are such posers!

It was slightly cold...I opted to stay out of the water except for my feet. Katie was mostly interested in collecting seashells. Annie was more daring and played in the waves.

Proof I was there!

After tons of seashells later, we headed to our hotel. It was really close to Disneyland which was nice. We had dinner and then the girls wanted to go to the swimming pool which was shaped like Mickey Mouse. We stayed in the hot tub most of the time because it was quite cool outside. (I must of forgot to take pictures of us swimming and the cool shaped pool!)

Fly Sweeper

2010-11-09T21:01:00.003-07:00

Yesterday Katie told me she knew what she was going to get me for my birthday. She told me it was a secret though. Then she said that since my birthday was so far away she would tell me but I must not write it down and I must forget it. She then told me she was going to get me a fly sweeper so I could sweep the flies. I asked, "You mean a fly swatter?" She said yep and that was it. Can't wait for my birthday now!

Disneyland/California Fun

2010-11-02T10:05:00.003-06:00

We knew for about a month that we were going to Disneyland. I'm really good at keeping secrets, however, for some reason I kept blurting it out to the girls that we were going to Disneyland (I blame it on pregnancy brain). For example, Annie asked if we were going to St. George this year and I said without any thought, "No, cause we're going to Disneyland instead." You can imagine her reaction - "We're going to Disneyland!!!" Oops, no, I mean Bear Lake. I did it 3 times!

The night before we left we were having family prayers and Annie asked if I was going to her Fun Run at school the next day. (The Fun Run is a PTA fundraiser where the kids get sponsors for how many laps they run.) That was the perfect in. I told her that was a great idea and maybe we all should go watch her run. She then freaked out and said, "I don't think you can come (parents don't usually go), I'll ask Grannie tomorrow." She went to bed all nervous thinking we'd all be going and we weren't invited. The next morning, I let the girls sleep in. It was way past time for Annie to have left school, but I gave her the shpill that Grannie said we could watch, so we all were going to go together and Grandpa Dave was even coming. (He was our ride to the airport.) She was still nervous and was asking if it was okay with the school coach and everything. I assured her it was.

Now the fun part was on the way to the airport. For about 2 years now, whenever we would go somewhere, usually it was on the way to Ryan's parents house for Sunday dinner, Ryan would always suggest we go to Disneyland instead. Side Note: Annie is sooo excited for the Fun Run. So we get in the car and start driving and Ryan goes, "I know a more fun place to go than the Fun Run," and Annie in her most annoyed voice goes, "I know, Disneyland." (She's put up with it for 2 years now and the Fun Run is at the top of her list at that point.) I pipe up and say, "Yeah, raise your hand if you want to go to Disneyland instead." (That was also part of the game Ryan would play after suggesting we go to Disneyland instead of wherever we were heading.) Everyone raised their hand except Annie. As we keep driving, Annie says to me, "I've never gone this way to school before." Later Katie looks out her window with the widest eyes ever and sees an airplane just taking off. "Wow!" Annie says, "I didn't know their was an airport by my school." We then pull up to the curb at the airport and start getting out. All confused, Annie says, "This isn't my school." I asked if she knew where we were at and she said the airport. It hadn't clicked. I had to keep questioning her, "Why do you think we are at the airport." Annie - "Cause we are going somewhere?" Me - "Yes, where do you think we are going?" Annie (still super confused) - "I don't know." I finally had to tell her we were going to Disneyland. At that point between Katie and her they were estatic and Disneyland was much more fun than going to the Fun Run. The next best part was that Katie has been wanting to ride on an airplane FOREVER! When we landed in California she says in a matter of fact voice, "Well, that was boring." It cracked me up.

Pictures to come!

Summer - What Summer? - Part 2

2010-11-02T03:48:00.008-06:00

It's 3:30 in the morning and I have a migraine. Ryan kept twitching (weird) and it was driving me crazy so I had to leave the bed. So I decided I should try to catch up on my blog-since I'm obviously not very good at keeping up to date. I feel like my short term memory has left me so I'm not sure if I can even remember what I was going to post about. I'll give it a try though.

July 24th
We have a tradition every 24th of July (Pioneer Day) to light fireworks and do sparklers (which my mom always provides) in front of our house. My mom always makes popcorn - this year she bought everyone a shake too - minus me due to being sick. I found out as I was taking pictures of the girls doing sparklers that as they waved them, it would make fire streaks on the picture. We then started making letters in the air - pretty cool, huh?! "A" for Ann

"R" for Ryan - I will save you from seeing my picture that Annie insisted on taking - I look like the walking dead!

July 26th
Annie started 2nd grade. I can't believe it...makes me sad. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Blanchette. It took me months before I even met her being so sick. I sent Ryan with the girls to back to school night, while I went to the Olive Garden with my girl friends - I could only eat bread sticks, but at least they are really good :) Ryan made Annie a special breakfast to celebrate her first day...I barely made it to get her hair in a bun - nothing special.
A little to bright outside for so early in the morning. She could barely open her eyes. It was funny. We finally went inside for some pictures, but I liked this one as she tried to keep her eyes open long enough for a picture.

July 31st
Annie lost her first top tooth. More signs of growing up too fast! The tooth fairy brought her markers - something much needed :) The girls thought that was so funny. I thought this picture was so funny.

August 5th-9th
Every year since Ryan and I have been married, we've gone to Bear Lake (minus one year - I think it was the year Katie was born...not sure though. I'll blame forgetting on the migraine...and being pregnant). It's one of our favorite traditions. Sometimes we go by ourselves...other times we invite people :) This year (Year 8) we went with all of Ryan's family and Scott and Jill brought her dad's boat. Ryan learned how to surf behind the boat.
It was a lot of fun watching him. I was sick the whole time. I was still on my diet of bread and bread and soup and bread. I can't remember if I had mentioned that before, but that is all I could keep down. (How thankful I am that we have such varieties of food. Could you imagine eating rice everyday?!!) I love bread, but after 61 days - it gets pretty old! I enjoyed watching the girls play in the water while I stayed in the shade the whole time. Ryan's dad brought boogie boards and the girls loved it! It was their first time using them and they thought it was great when dad and grandpa floated them out to the buoys on them. I did take a little time to help make them into mermaids - something they love to do at the beach. They don't look as great as years past, due to the fact that I couldn't last much longer.

Katie spent most of her time collecting seashells to bring home and put in our sandbox. Sunday early, early morning I got a migraine. The first of this pregnancy. (I had migraines 24-7 with Katie for 10 weeks-not fun!) Because of the migraine, we didn't make it to church - something I really enjoy while up there :( Sunday night Ryan and I were in charge of dinner. I ruined it and we had to go out to eat. Monday morning we packed up and left. I was so sick. I felt bad watching Ryan doing most of the work as I sat by the side throwing up...how I couldn't wait to get home! I so looked forward to the hour and a half car ride (hear my sarcasm). Before we left we stopped at the gas station for treats and drinks for Ryan and the girls. Ryan so graciously bought me an orange juice - unbeknownst to him...it was one of the things I had been throwing up all morning long. I don't hold it against him since he was so busy packing up by himself. I actually thought it was kind of funny.

I told you there would be a happy ending to all this complaining :) (It's inherited - the complaining.) Anyway, Ryan came home one day from work and said would you rather fly to Disneyland or Drive? It was more of a how much money should we spend question verses "Well duh, fly." He said JetBlue was having a deal on flights - I think they were like $65 (That's part of my short term memory I don't have any longer.) We got a Disney credit card years ago to start saving up points to go. We've wanted to go in the past and just haven't been able to. Ryan made it a New Year's Goal to go this year. So we discussed it a little, but didn't really make a decision - me not realizing how serious he was about going. It always was more talk when we would discuss it. He went back to work and later came home and told me he booked the flights - what! He had gone back to work and the flights had gone down even more - I think like $50? So he booked them on a whim. I was really excited. We decided not to tell the girls though. I'm going to try and go back to bed though since it is after five now and I do have to get up in a few hours to get Annie ready for school. Wish she could do her own hair! Disneyland blog to come...

(Sorry for any mistakes, bad writing, bad grammar, etc. I'm to tired to read through it all!)

Randomness - Not Part 2

2010-10-27T22:22:00.007-06:00

I should be in bed right now. I have been so exhausted the last few weeks. My house looks like a tornado hit. (My family room is actually nice and tidy though. That makes one room out of 8!) I have a zillion projects laid out waiting to be finished for my sister and mom and for the girls Halloween parties. I had a presidency meeting at my house this week and was completely embarrassed as the entire kitchen table was covered with Pennies by the Inch stuff, sharing time lessons, the girls school work, the water pitcher from the last presidency meeting, Ryan's papers and notebooks and about 50 other things. My ironing board has two weeks of clothes on it - that doesn't include the laundry I need to do this week which will add to it. Ryan had to iron himself a shirt today. I was planning on grocery shopping today. It's a rare occasion lately. I was too tired though after going to the chiropractor (my hips constantly go out while I'm pregnant), picking up some things for Annie's school Halloween party and getting my nails done after about 6 weeks of growth. I wouldn't even have had them done, however, I'm having a piano recital for my students on Monday (at my house that looks like a tornado hit - no stress there) and am playing duets with the students for one of their songs and needed my nails cut super short so they wouldn't tap, tap, tap as I played. After a long morning, Katie and I had lunch and I told her I was so tired. She said, "I can tell - you have your tired face on." That made my day. She then told me I could take a nap. I asked her what she was going to do while I napped. She wouldn't let me know - hmmm - that could mean trouble. I then decided I really needed to get her Halloween treats for her school class made for tomorrow so she helped me make them instead of me taking a nap. My mom is so sweet and crotchet my girls the cutest pumpkins and spiders for the girls to take to their school classes. I was going to do it, but since I have been so sick with being pregnant my mom surprised me and did it. Aren't moms the best! (I will post a picture soon.) I've been suffering from migraines. I get them during my 2nd trimester. I have been of 4 other medications. I finally got on one that worked. I also got Ambien. I'm still so tired. I wake up with migraines and dream I've gotten up to get medicine and then wake up later and really I only dreamt it. I've also been having lots of nightmares - not due to the Ambien. Sometimes I don't know how I can last another 4 months. People ask me all the time how far along I am. (I just had to figure that out!) I don't even keep track - that's too depressing. We are having the sex be a surprise. Ryan's not excited about that, but after this pregnancy I don't think I can ever be pregnant again. He's even taken on naming it. So I haven't really thought about it. I honestly don't care if it is a boy or girl. I told Heavenly Father that I couldn't do this again so if there were lots of kids waiting for me up in Heaven he better send them all down this time. Only one. It will definitely be testing my faith if there are more for me. I told Ryan to video tape me in my sickest times vowing I would never do this again. I said that after Annie. And then after Katie. You'd think I'd learn. And each pregnancy has been worse than the one before. And - I feel like a teenager. I swear I get a new zit or two or three everyday. How ANNOYING. I did weigh myself though and being over 5 months, I've only gained 2 pounds. Not that that is really bragging because I just started early on the weight gain and spent the last 2 years gaining the extra 15 I needed to support the baby. But it does take off a little of the pregnant blues. Katie has been so sweet lately and tells me (and her dad) that she loves us 3 or 4 or 5 times a day. It's so sweet. I hope she will never stop. Now that I am an hour past when I said I would go to bed, I guess I should. I still have my scripture reading to do. It might end up being one verse - my favorite scripture: Alma 26:12. I don't think I will even read over this to check for mistakes. Anyway, I know this is such a random post, and I don't even know how much will make sense. Just thoughts from a beyond exhausted pregnant mom who can't wait for it to be all over.

Summer - What Summer?

2010-09-21T21:47:00.009-06:00

I had big plans for summer - swimming everyday with the girls, picnics, bike riding, splash parks, library, hiking, fun vacations...well that certainly changed - before it even began.

Annie's school ended the beginning of June. I started teaching tumbling...my cute class (minus a few kids). My friend invited me to a "Mom's hiking group". They go on different hikes every week with their kids...so much fun. We only made the first two the whole summer :(
One of the many trails up Little Cottonwood Canyon

Donut Falls

Then everything went downhill from there...I was so sick...in fact for the next 61 days I was sick - I counted! I found out I was pregnant. 4 days later I was called to be the new Primary President. Next day I headed down to Fish Lake with my family. The funny thing is we had 3 nieces in the car with us. I was for sure when we got down to Fish Lake they would have told their moms that Aunt Hayley threw up the whole way down - nope, not a peep. And to make it worse - we went on a full-moon weekend. Who would have known that stuff is so true about the fish and the full-moon. I caught a whole zero fish...and took a whole 3 pictures.

Still no swimming with the girls...

Ryan and I got to go to the Awards Gala again this year with my parents and sisters down in Prove. They give people who have done amazing things for freedom the Freedom Award (it's connected with the whole Stadium of Fire festivities). I felt sick the whole time and went to throw up in the bathroom, but grossed myself out thinking I was throwing up in a public toilet that I was able to hold it in...think it just made me feel worse. The next day we (as in my whole family and their kids) all went to the Stadium of Fire and saw Carrie Underwood - that was one of the best shows in years! (She is one of my favorites.) And of course...I didn't take any pictures.

Still no swimming with the girls...I finally had to tell Annie our little secret so she could help out more and know why mom was so sick all the time and just layed on the couch all day long and why we hadn't gone swimming YET. She was ecstatic! She has been waiting for a baby brother (not sure if that is what it is) for 3 years now. She eventually told my mom she knew a secret why her mom was sick all the time. That didn't give it away at all. It was probably good though since everyday when my mom came down for some reason or other I was in the same spot...laying on the couch. She probably thought I was the laziest mom in the world!

Tumbling got hard to teach, but luckily my cousin was there to help out - Thanks Nicole! I cancelled half of my piano lessons and finally after weeks of pressure from Ryan and Neti telling me I needed to cancel my aerobics classes - I did.

Next came Annie's birthday...I didn't do a single thing - in fact I was so sick I didn't even get her presents. (Luckily I had an outfit I bought back in March sitting in the closet to wrap and give her.) I felt so bad. We had to buy her other present the day of her birthday (The American Girl books) while she was their - and then they didn't even have them so we had to order them. That night I felt so bad I didn't have anything else to give her for her party that I took one of my childhood dolls I had told her about and gave it to her. That night she told me it was her favorite present. That made up for a little of my guilt. Thankfully my mom took her school shopping for her birthday - I never felt well enough to do it. Though I really missed doing it - one of my favorite things to do is go school shopping.

Gosh I'm not even half way through and this is becoming a novel!

On top of being so sick I had the stress of being a new primary president and trying to get things all put together. I was thrown into helping build a float and get everything ready for the Days of '47 Children's Parade in only 3 weeks...glad when that was over. Annie got to be on TV when they were broadcasting it. I tried to get Katie in but it got too crowded.

Ryan ended up driving the float as 3 days before the driver quit. He had to leave after the parade to take the float to the Southtown Expo. We stayed around though and the girls had fun playing giant bowling, sliding down the big slides and watching a Polynesian dance. The girls even got to go up and learn dances and play instruments. It was fun watching them try to move their hips like the Hawaiian girls.

Part 2 - "Summer - What Summer?" to come - there is a Happy ending :)

Happy Birthday Annie!

2010-07-23T10:24:00.005-06:00

I cannot believe I have a seven-year-old. I keep looking at Katie and think that is what Annie should still look like - 4! This year we decided just to have a family party. I think last year with 16 girls it did me in for a year. The morning of Annie's birthday I had to teach piano so I hurried and made Annie a pancake cake.

After piano lessons, Annie opened a few gifts and then I did my sister's girl's hair for pictures. Katie decided she wanted curly hair too. So almost after two hours of doing hair, we were ready to start our day. As we were looking for Annie's shoes, Ryan walked in from 3 days of scout camp. We were excited because we didn't have a car and were going to walk to Wendy's for lunch, but we were glad Dad go to come with us.

After lunch I took the girls to get their fingernails and toenails painted while Ryan went and washed the car.

(Annie's Cute Toes)

We then went and got Annie the box set of the American Girl - Kit. She loves those books and has been waiting to read Kit because they've made a movie of it. She wanted a store bought cake this year - which I was actually fine with since I hadn't been feeling well, so we went and picked it out - Hannah Montana. I don't get it since she's only seen it a few times. After buying the cake we came home and watched Tinkerbell. Annie then chose to go eat at Morelia's - my favorite Mexican restaurant. We then came home and had Ryan's family over for cake and ice cream.

Primary Bike Parade

2010-07-23T10:05:00.003-06:00

We had our annual Primary Bike Parade in June. It is always so much fun and the kids love decorating their bikes. We get a lot of inactives every year to this activity so it always feels like a success. After the parade we served hot dogs, chips, watered-down lemonade (my fault-I guess it was just more like diet-lemonade) and brownies - the hit...except maybe for my healthier rendition ones.

Father's Day

2010-07-23T09:49:00.005-06:00

For Father's Day this year we wanted to do something different for Ryan. I remember when I was young my mom would make candy bar posters for my Grandpa's and Dad. With her help, this is what we came up with.

(If you click on the picture you can read it better)

The girls had so much fun putting it together and were so excited to give it to him. They were even more excited when he let them choose different candy to try that they had never eaten before.

Fancy Nancy

2010-07-23T09:37:00.003-06:00

My favorite children's books are Fancy Nancy. I love them. Not only are the stories beautifully created but the illustrations are just as amazing. If you have girls you definitely need to read Fancy Nancy. Anyway, my sister had a Fancy Nancy birthday party for my niece. It was so cute. They had fun making fancy jewelry, fancy sundaes, fancy flip-flops and playing fancy games.

Don't they look so Fancy!

Soccer

2010-07-23T09:13:00.004-06:00

The girls played soccer again this Spring. Ryan opted out on coaching this year. He was a great couch, but I don't blame him - it's a lot of work with those 3 and 4- year-olds. Katie's team were the Blue Ducks and Annie's team were the Wild Orange Jaguars. Katie was more concerned about how fast she was running instead of thinking about kicking the ball. It was entertaining. Every time they had a break she would tell Ryan and I how fast she was going to run i.e. "This time I'm going to run faster than a shooting star..." It was something different every time. As she would run she would glance at us as to say, "See how fast I'm running!" as she's running right past the ball. She did score 2 goals however. The last game it was into the other teams goal but I didn't care I was just so excited for her as she broke away from everyone and drove it into the goal at the other end. Annie was put into the wrong age group, but we didn't realize until a few games in so she was the youngest and smallest on the team. She still loves soccer though and even got to be goalie a few times. Her favorite position is defense. I watch her play and see myself in her when I was a child. I never played soccer, but if I did I'm sure I would have played just like her!

What Else...

2010-06-16T22:23:00.001-06:00

Rock hit our windshield today...

Crrrrrrash!

2010-06-06T21:13:00.001-06:00

The Saturday during Memorial weekend Ryan was sitting at a red light and the next thing he knew he was hit and part of a 8 car accident. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt. He got whiplash really bad which is scary because it can be longterm. He is still in lots of pain. It is suspected that the car might have been going 50 mph and possible that the kid was on drugs - not a for sure thing though. The car is unfixable. But it's amazing how material things don't even matter when a loved one is involved. I wish I had that attitude towards everything everyday - realizing the things we have on earth isn't what gets us into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Ryan was hit first. You can see that his car was pushed all the way to the left side of the lane. All the cars in each lane were hit.

The car that caused all the damage.

Strep Again!

2010-05-19T10:19:00.002-06:00

Sunday night I started to get a soar throat. Monday at 1:00 I got a migraine. Monday night I still had a soar throat and the migraine even after taking 4 ibuprofen and a Lortab. Tuesday morning I woke up at 6:30 with a temperature of 102.8! I felt awful. 9:00 couldn't come soon enough for me to call the doctor. Surprise! I had strep. This is the second time this year. I can't remember having Strep since I was a kid. Ryan stayed home and took care of Katie while I slept the afternoon away. That night after dinner Annie made me a get well card and put it in a gift bag with some things to help me feel better - The Book of Mormon and the Friend magazine. How Sweet! The Friend actually came in quite handy as a fan during one of my sweat spells. I still feel awful today. My throat feels swollen and my neck hurts, but at least the headache is gone. Maybe though this is something I've needed. I feel like I have been going 110 miles the last month - hence the neglect of keeping up with both of my blogs. I finally feel like I can rest and catch up on my blogs. I only wish I felt a lot better.

Katie's Spring Preschool Program

2010-05-19T10:02:00.003-06:00

Katie with her Teachers Miss Karen and Miss Kristen

My favorite thing about Katie's preschool are the singing programs. They are so entertaining to say the least. It's so fun to see all the children's different personalities. I love her teaches too. Miss Karen was my bishop's wife growing up and Miss Kristen is her daughter. Katie's favorite thing to do at school is paint. She gets so excited to tell us that she painted that day or in her sad voice say, "We didn't paint today." Annie was sad she didn't get to see Katie's program, but enjoyed watching the recording of it. Annie tries to sing along with the songs that she learned when she went there and then says, "We didn't learn that one!" in a Not Fair! voice to the new ones.

Off Track

2010-05-19T09:47:00.003-06:00

Annie was off-track for 3 weeks in April. We spent a lot of time just having fun. We went on a few picnics, went on some bike rides down the Jordan Canal Parkway, spent a day dipping chocolate strawberries and drying apples, started soccer, celebrated Annie's accomplishments with her reflections (she didn't win state), played at the park, flew the new kites Grandma and Grandpa Nigur gave them, spent 4 hours at Old Navy shopping for summer clothes - yes I waited in line to be one of the first 50 to get 50% off my whole purchase and so worth it I will do it again, avoided piano practicing and school work, went to story time, visited cousins, and so much more. Annie was excited to go back to school when it was time, but Katie and I sure enjoyed having her home with us!

Easter

2010-05-19T08:46:00.006-06:00

The night before Easter, I made the girls help pick up the family room before they went to bed so the Easter Bunny could come. I told them they had to stay in bed until 8:00 or else the Easter Bunny wouldn't come. I didn't want to have another experience like Christmas with them waking up at 5 a.m. Plus Ryan had a meeting that morning at 7. The funny thing is his clock changed to daylight savings automatically and so he actually woke up at 6. (It's an older clock and is programmed to automatically change for daylight savings, but since the goverment changed daylight savings to happen a week earlier, it changes a week later than it is supposed to.)

As I was about to hide the eggs, I thought of a great idea to have the Easter Bunny hide all the eggs upstairs since my parents were in China. That way, the girls would think the Easter Bunny didn't come. I thought I was going to be so sneaky but when the girls woke up and Ryan told them to look for there baskets, the first thing Annie did was run upstairs. (She thought the Easter Bunny would hide her basket in her favorite hiding spot which is in my mom's bathroom.) So much for making them think the Easter Bunny didn't come. Later she asked me, "Why did we clean the family room if the Easter Bunny wasn't even going to hide eggs there?" Well, at least I had a clean house!

After finding their baskets and opening their eggs, Ryan opened the window to find the ground covered in snow. What crazy weather we've been having. The Easter Bunny also brought the girls a butterfly habitat. We sent away for the catapillars, which come only days old. It has been so much fun watching how much they grow everyday. Right now they are chrysalides. We are just waiting for them to open up. It has been perfect as well because Annie is learning all about the butterfly cycle at school. It is so neat I would suggest everyone to do it! (The Easter Bunny found it at Target in the toy section. You can even raise a tadpole into a frog.)

We spent the rest of the day enjoying General Conference and coloring eggs. We then headed over to Ryan's parents for dinner. They also had an egg hunt for the kids. The kids couldn't wait to get started and after they got all of their eggs, they started hiding some of theirs for the younger cousins to find.

It was a nice Easter, but we missed Grannie and Grandpa!

April Fools

2010-04-23T23:01:00.003-06:00

I forgot to post about our experience with April Fool's Day this year.

The morning began with Ryan making waffles for all of us.

Sign #1 - I walked in the kitchen and Ryan was mixing up more batter - there were waffles already made. My thought, "That's weird, he always makes enough batter the first time."

Sign #2 - Annie wants more whip cream. Ryan says no. I give her more whip cream. He's not happy. Boy he woke up on the wrong side.

Sign #3 - Katie says, "I don't like these kind of waffles." What kind? "The sour kind."

I look at Ry, what's wrong with them as I take a bite - uck! uck! uck! They are full of SALT! (I like Katie's description of them being sour.)

Ryan - "April Fool's"

Ha, Ha, Ha. He got us. So I think, "We've got to get him back. Let's invite him to meet us for lunch with the intention of not even going." The girls are so excited, he then walks in the door. Dang it! Next Year Ry, next year.

Happy Birthday 4-year-old

2010-04-05T20:31:00.006-06:00

(Cake from her preschool teachers)

Katie woke up the morning of her birthday, came in my room and said, "Mom, am I four today?" She was so excited when I told her she was. We dressed her up in her new dress Grannie bought her and headed off to storytime. Daddy surprised us and came too. She was so excited about being 4 that she wanted everyone to know. She told me to tell Miss Michelle (the lady who reads the stories) that she was 4. I told her that she could tell her it was her birthday and she said, "No, that I'm four." As we headed out the door Miss Michelle came running after us and gave Katie some stickers. How nice :) After storytime we went to Target to look for a white sweater for her dress. We didn't find one she liked though so we headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch. After, Ryan took Katie out to ride her new bike. That night we went with my parents, Ryan's parents and Ryan's grandma to Chef Tom's. I don't think Katie ate much - she was too excited to open presents. Her favorite present were the headbands Ryan's grandma gave her.

Katie's Birthday Party

2010-03-30T08:25:00.012-06:00

I can't believe my baby is 4! I didn't want to throw a big party for her and all since she doesn't really play with any of the kids in the neighborhood so I was trying to see how I could get around it. Then Annie had mentioned that she really missed my 3 nieces that used to live with us so I decided to just invite them over for a sleepover and have the party with just them. Then my sister asked if I could babysit her 4 kids that night and later my sister-in-law needed me to watch her 2 kids as well. It was a real party :)

Because I we were only inviting my three nieces, I had fun and made each one of them an invitation. It was probably completely unnecessary, but I thought they turned out cute.

We started out by bowling in the kitchen. You wouldn't believe how much fun that can be.
Then we ate ham and pineapple pizza - request of Katie's.
The boys then went upstairs to play because they weren't too excited about a Tinkerbell party and the girls then played "Don't Eat Tink" and "Pin the Star on Tink's Wand." All day Katie asked me if I would help her so she would win. I didn't do a good of enough job so after she saw where she stuck it she moved it onto Tink's wand.

She then opened her presents. Grannie and Grandpa gave her a new princess bike, she got a new baby doll from my 3 nieces, little petshop from her other cousins and Annie gave her nail paints (Katie had those picked out for months!).

And we ate cupcakes.

We then watched "Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure."
Katie said she had a lot of fun. My 3 nieces slept over that night and the next morning my mom took all of us to go shoe shopping. It's a tradition she started a few years ago. She takes all the grandkids to get 2 pairs of new shoes around Easter. She then bought all the girls new dresses.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2010-03-30T07:45:00.009-06:00

The day before St. Patrick's Day, Annie came home and said she needed to see if Leprechauns were real. She said her teacher said they were but some kids in her class said they weren't. She called my mom at school and asked her to bring home a black pot of gold. (My mom gave all the kids small pots of gold). Annie then cut hundreds of small pieces of yellow paper and made a trail from the back door to her room.

Ryan and I were discussing what we should do. Do we let her believe in them because her teacher said they were real or do we tell her they are not real? Well, we didn't get a chance to decide. Grannie brought pots full of gold (Werthers, Rolos and chocolate coins) and she even got them Zhu Zhu pets. Great - now they're getting presents from the leprechauns. Ryan did put a funny message on her door though using the gold pieces she cut out.

Here they are with their pots of gold from the leprechauns and their Zhu Zhu pets.

St. Patrick's Day morning started out with green pancakes and green milk."

My mom asked if I would bring Katie and help in her afternoon class for their St. Patrick's Day party.

The Queen of the leprechauns even came! (The Principal)

For dinner we probably had enough green food coloring to last the whole year!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Valentines Day

2010-03-24T03:23:00.007-06:00

I can't believe I forgot to post all about Valentines Day. I'm not sure I can even remember that far back these days. Anyway, because V-Day was on Sunday, we had a whole weekend of celebrating.

For school, the girls took Valentine Snakes filled with goodies to pass out. The card says, "Happy Valentines for Goodness Snakes!" (The one project I can sew!)

Katie's party was on Thursday and she came home with more than enough candy.
Katie and I were then able to help out at Annie's school with her party. We made cute hand print frames. After Annie's party, Katie and I went and helped out in my Mom's class and Katie received even more candy.

Saturday we took the girls out to dinner to Red Robin.

Then we headed over to Hollywood Connections to go miniature golfing. After spending a fortune, then realizing what a dump it had turned in to and listening to Katie whine and cry because we wouldn't let her ride the $5 carousel, it didn't quite turn out how I would have liked.

Valentines morning Ry and I opted for a completely nontraditional Valentine breakfast - orange rolls, however Annie mentioned while we were eating that we should have had pink heart pancakes - oops! The girls secretly went with my mom and got Ryan and I a gift card to the movies. It was a real treat especially since we rarely go to the theater. My mom said it was Annie's idea, so I have to thank my mom for helping them out.

For Idaho and Andrea

2010-03-24T02:54:00.004-06:00

I always have good intentions of writing down some of the funny things my girls say, but I'm sad to say I hardly ever do. So as it is now 2:56 in the morning and I have been lying in bed awake for at least a good hour and a half, I have decided to get up and write down one of those funny things. This actually happened over Christmas vacation, but at dinnertime as I removed the lid to the whole grain rice I was cooking and a great big whiff of farm went up my nose - yes, I am saying the rice smelled like farm - I was reminded of a conversation I had with my girls. We were heading up to Idaho Falls and right as we turned off onto the Idaho Falls exit this conversation occurred.

Katie: Oooh! Someone tooted.
Annie: No, it is just a stinky car in front of us.
Mom: No, it's actually the cows.
Katie: The cows tooted?

Yep. All 50,000 of them at the same time. Thanks Idaho for such a memorable moment!

Underwear Face

2010-03-11T22:20:00.004-07:00

This morning as I was trying to get Katie ready for school, I was completely frustrated because she wouldn't do anything I asked. For example, this is just one of the things, I told her it was time to get dressed - so what does she do? She dances in front of the mirror for 5 minutes. That's what she does. So finally, I tell her we really need to get dressed or she won't have time to eat lunch before school. I pull out some clothes for her to wear and I turn around and see this:
She never fails to make me laugh. I still laugh evertime I see it. Thanks Katie for always putting a smile on my face!

You Could Be a Winner!

2010-03-11T09:55:00.004-07:00

Take the poll on my health blog and you could be a winner! Go to hayleyshealthblog.blogspot.com or go to the bottom of the right hand colomn and you can click on it there. I obviously can't figure out how to link it. So if anyone wants to inform me - that would be awesome!

Me On TV

2010-03-04T14:10:00.002-07:00

There is this really cute 7-year-old Vietnamese girl in our primary. I sat next to her Sunday during sharing time and she said, "I saw you on tv." I replied with surprise (not realizing I'd been on tv), "You did?" She replied, "Yes on the movie Legally Blond." Too cute. I don't mind when people tell me I look like Reese Witherspoon - I think she's quite cute, however, she has a much cuter nose than I do!

A Grown-up That Lights Up

2010-02-28T20:35:00.002-07:00

The girls like to play "I spy" while driving in the car. After 5 minutes I start to get bored. I decided to teach them how to play 20 questions. Much more fun. So yesterday, as we are playing, Katie comes up with something. Annie and I start asking questions. With Katie though, being 3 and all, she helps you out. For example, she immediately tell us its far away. I asked her if it was a person. She said, "Yes, it's a grown-up." We then ask her some more questions and she gives us, "It's a grown-up that lights up and is far away." What!? So I ask if its a boy, she says yes. I started to get distracted for a bit while Annie continues to ask her questions and all of the sudden I hear, "Yep, Annie you got it. It's Jesus." Well duh, that makes sense, of course Jesus lights up and is far away.

Happy Super Bowl Birthday Ryan!

2010-02-23T21:52:00.005-07:00

Ryan got to celebrate his 30th birthday this year by waking up early to go to a church meeting, making his own breakfast - waffles with strawberries and whip cream (I did buy the stuff for it with intentions of making it but his meeting just got done sooner than I expected and I was in the middle of doing my hair!), then going to another church meeting, then attending church and then watching the Super Bowl! What an exciting birthday.

I was hoping to make it more exciting like going to Hawaii or on a cruise or something...didn't happen. Maybe when he's 40.

The next day we did celebrate with brownies - which I made - which I made incorrectly - which I hate making brownies! (He just likes them made "cake-like" and I forgot there was such a thing.) Anyway, here's to 30!

The girls decorated the brownies with all the candles we had - not quite 30.

I'm Back!!!

2010-02-23T08:51:00.006-07:00

I just wanted to announce that "Hayley's Health Blog" (the link is at the bottom of the sidebar) is back up and running. Check me out for health tips and facts, recipes, Super Foods, kids health, etc. If there is anything you want to know about let me know - what foods are best to help boost energy, best foods to help you get in the mood, best exercises to improve your posture, etc. Also, if you have a healthy recipe that you love, or anything pertaining to health, let me know and I'll be happy to post it.

Region Reflections

2010-02-20T09:47:00.005-07:00

February 4th

We invited Ryan's parents and my mom to the Region reflection contest (My dad had a scout meeting). They started out by announcing the Certificate of Achievement, then the Award of Merit and then the Award of Excellence. So if your name wasn't called during the first set, that was a good thing. If it wasn't called at the 2nd set it was even a better thing and you knew at that point you were going to be called during the 3rd. I can't believe how nervous I was. My heart was pounding out of my chest.

Music was the second category to be awarded. They called the first group. Annie's name wasn't called. They called the 2nd group. Annie's name wasn't called!!!!!! Aaaaaah - she made it!!!! They called the 3rd group. Annie Nigbur!!! I was so excited. I'm so proud of her. There were 24 music entries at the Region level and only 4 got Award of Excellence. The scoring is the same for Regions too. We never know what she got, but we know it is between 27 and 30.

Scoring: Each entry is scored in 3 different categories equaling 10 points each for a possible total of 30 points. Every entry with 25 points or less gets a certificate - Certificate of Achievement. Each entry with 26 points gets a ribbon and Award of Merit. Each entry with 27-30 points gets Award of Excellence, a medal and their entry is now sent to STATE! How cool is that. State Reflections won't be until April. I'll keep you posted!

This time we celebrated by making ice cream cones at home. Annie wanted strawberry ice cream, but when she tasted it she decided she'd rather have sherbet.

I wish I could figure out how to post her song she wrote so you all could hear it. I'll keep trying.

Bear Lake

2010-02-20T08:41:00.006-07:00

January 14th-18th

Every year my Dad takes us on a snowmobiling trip. This year we headed to Bear Lake. We arrived at the cabin late Thursday night and got all settled in. There wasn't much snow up there so that was a little dissappointing. The next morning, Ryan, Tom (brother-in-law), Hillary (sister), Jeremy (Hillary's husband) and Hunter (Hillary's son) went skiing/snowboaring at Beaver mountain. The kids spent the day drawing on large pieces of papers my mom brought. They were actually for a school project for her class, but the kids were so entertained drawing on them that she just let the kids have them. Grannie also brought up play-doh which is always a big hit and entertainer.

Saturday was snowmobiling. I HATE snowmobiling so I opted to stay back with Katie and the rest. Annie went with Ryan and the others.

My dad brought some of the little kids back and said the snowmobiling wasn't that great and they were mostly just sledding. I decided to take Katie and some of the kids to go sledding. We made lunch to take all those who were already out. It took us a while to find them. While we were waiting, Katie found a big chunk of snow. It became her friend.

People next to us let us borrow some sleds as we waited and the kids started sledding down the hill. At first I took Katie half way up the hill. (She brought her snowchunck with her to ride on the sled with her. I convinced her to leave it on the ground so it wouldn't get smashed or fall off.) We headed up the hill again and she told me she wanted to go all the way to the top. I asked her if she was sure and she was so we went to the very top. I was a little nervous but I let her go. My dad was at the bottom to catch her. He said she giggled the whole way down. She absolutely loved it - not scared at all!
We found the rest of the family and snowmobiled to another hill/mountain that we practically had to ourself. The kids would sled down and the snowmobiles would pick them up. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday we went to church, which was nice to get away from all the hustle and bustle and noise and screaming and runnning around that goes on with 15 grandchildren :) .

Monday was my birthday. We went sledding again. It was a lot colder and a bit windy, but I had a lot of fun. My mom came with us this time. She was in a car accident years ago and the cold causes her neck to hurt. I convinced her to sled down the hill. I said it wouldn't hurt her neck. My nephew decided to go with her so they held on to eachother's sled. It was fine till they got to the bottom of the hill. My dad was on the snowmobile picking up some kids and wasn't paying attention and my mom and nephew flew right into the snowmobile backwards. I'm sure she has a huge bruise across her back. Sorry mom.

After we were done sledding, I took the kids home while the rest went snowmobiling to Hardware Ranch to see the elk. The kids played in the hot tup for almost 3 hours until I told them it was time to get out. They probably would have stayed in there for the rest of the night if I would have let them.

Ryan had to work the next day and I had a doctors appointment so we left that night. We had a great time though. Thanks Dad!

Here are some other pictures I thought were cute to post

My Nephews Ethan and Hunter and their Cheese Puff Mustaches.

Katie and HER cheese puff bag. She was very nice and shared.

My niece and nephew Kaleb and Belle. They are only a month apart.

District Reflections

2010-02-20T08:27:00.004-07:00

January 3rd

We went to an open house for the District reflection contest. As we headed in the room, Annie's name was posted on the door for Award of Excellence. Ryan and I kept it a secret from Annie though until we went and picked up her certificate. She was so excited as the lady pulled out a beautiful medal. It even has her name engraved on the back. We then looked at some of the other entries and then headed to Grandma and Grandpa Nigbur's to show them her medal. We celebrated with Banana Splits. Yum!

Scoring: Each entry is scored in 3 different categories equaling 10 points each for a possible total of 30 points. Every entry with 25 points or less gets Certificate of Achievement. Each entry with 26 points gets a ribbon and Award of Merit. Each entry with 27-30 points gets Award of Excellence, a medal and their entry is sent on to Regions.

Congrats Annie!

A Trip To Idaho Falls

2010-02-20T08:03:00.005-07:00

December 27th - 30th

The last few years we have gone to Island Park (Idaho) to my sister-in-laws mother's cabin for New Years. However, we are getting too big as a family to fit in the small cabin so this year we just headed up to visit them in Idaho Falls.

The dads took all the kids to shoot a bow. Ryan came home in not such a good mood. He said it was my fault cause the girls are perfectionists just like me and were whining because they couldn't get the arrow right in the middle. What can I say? It's true.

We also went and visited the Idaho Falls Museum. They had a Christmas display going on. My favorite part were all the Nativity scenes from everywhere in the world. They had hundreds from all different countries. They were really beautiful. They also had a play place for the kids. They probably spent a good hour in there playing. Their favorite was the replica of a pioneer house with a butter churn, play dished and bonnets and aprons to dress up in. We couldn't take pictures in the museum - hence no picture posted. The boys also took the kids to my sister-in-laws father's farm to see a real cow and some horses. The girls went shopping at the mall instead. The highlight of the trip though was when it started to snow. The kids were so excited to be able to play in the snow.

Thanks Paul and Andrea for having us! (Katie keeps telling us she wants to go to Kylie's house :) )

Christmas Day

2010-02-08T08:19:00.008-07:00

If you know my girls, they definitely are not morning people. They have always slept in til 8:30/9:00. Christmas morning they woke up at 5 AM!!!!!!! I was like are you kidding me! We told them it was still bedtime so Katie crawled in bed with Ryan and me and Annie slept next to us on the floor. Needless to say, I never fell back asleep. Katie is a bed hog/wild sleeper and Annie got up every 10 minutes to look at Ry's clock to see if it was time to get up. Finally at 7:00 I told her she could get up. I told her to go make her and Katie's bed. She left and 10 seconds later was back in the room. I asked, "Did you make your bed?" She said, "We made them when we first got up. I just had to put my pillow back on my bed." Seriously! They made their beds at 5:00 in the morning!

Ryan grew up with the tradition of getting their favorite cereal for Christmas and we've kept it up. (It starts with Ryan's on the left and ends with Katie's on the right.) It makes for an easy Christmas breakfast, however my sister-on-law says she makes cinnamon rolls every Christmas - mmmmm! It's still only a thought.

The girls enjoying their cereal and the oranges that they found at the bottom of their stocking. (Another tradition)

Annie got her ice cream play-doh machine she wanted, a puzzle, game and a matching dress for her and her doll (which Mrs. Santa proudly made!)

Katie got her Elmo dress (which she forgot to inform Santa that she wanted a "twirling Elmo dress" - oh well.) She also got a hamburger play-doh set and a game too. Their stockings were filled with bubble bath, fingernail stickers, treats and a giant lollipop - request from Katie.

After opening presents, they happily played with there new toys, which included a bath with the new bubbles, until it was time to go to Ryan's parents for Dinner and more presents.

We had a really nice dinner. The kids were ready to open presents as soon as they were finished. Annie and Katie both got bathtub Disney dolls along with a fun bathtub slide/swing set for the dolls to play on from Grandma and Grandpa. Great Grandma D. knitted the girls each a pair of slippers. It was a very nice Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2010-02-08T07:32:00.007-07:00

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with the McDougals.

Ryan's Grandma is German and she knitted the girls traditional German dresses. They are a treasure!

The last few years we've gone out to lunch so we don't have to worry about cleaning up afterwards - makes it quite nice.
(Katie, Annie and Emma)

We then head over to our house and open presents from Grannie and Grandpa, watch all the kids perform (singing, telling a joke or poem, playing the piano, etc). Annie played Jingle Bells on the piano and Katie said a poem. The poem is really cute so I put it on here so if you have never heard it, you can get a little chuckle out of it.

I made a little snowball as perfect as can be. I thought I keep it for a pet and let it sleep with me. I sewed it some pajamas, and a pillow for its head. But late last night it ran away but first it wet the bed!

Grannie and Grandpa gave all the grandkids blankets and Bendaroos this year. They loved it!

Grannie reads a book every year (usually a Christmas one) and then gives it to the families. Then the kids act out the Nativity. Annie and Katie love being angels!

After everyone left, Annie and Katie were excited to play with their new Bendaroos.

They got really creative.

That night we opened gifts from each other. At the beginning of the month we drew names (a tradition from when I was a kid) and Christmas Eve we open them. Ryan gave Annie pj's, I gave Katie pj's - she loves the footsie ones, Annie gave Ryan some computer games and Katie gave me some books.
After opening presents, the girls sprinkled reindeer food out on the lawn and then we got the girls ready for bed and almost forgot to get the cookies and milk out for Santa. Luckily Ryan remembered as we were saying prayers. We gave Santa chocolate milk this year - a change from Dr. Pepper. We also put some carrots out for the reindeer too.
The girls sporting their new pajamas! Annie was so excited she couldn't sleep. She kept coming in and out of her room and finally a little after 10:00 she fell asleep.

December Fun

2009-12-22T09:55:00.007-07:00

We've had a lot of fun this month of December.

(Dec. 7th) We started out with a piano recital for Annie and another little boy that I teach. Annie played a fun rendition of Jingle Bells and then a Mexican Folk song called Clap Hands.

(Dec. 9th) Annie got "Principal Pride" award from the Principal for a story she wrote about Rudolph.

(Dec. 11th) Katie got to sing at the mall with her preschool class. She told me as we were leaving home that she hates programs. I asked her why and she said, "Because you just have to sing all day!" We first had dinner at the mall and then watched her sing. She actually was really happy when she sang. After her program we headed to the Forgotten Carols for my Dad's work party. Annie liked it but said it was kind of confusing. I tried to explain it to her as it went along. Katie was entertained the whole time by playing with a small Cinderella doll my Aunt Lisa had given her before the show.

(Dec. 12th) We went to the Symphony with my whole family. My brother wasn't able to come and so Ryan's parents got to come with us too. My dad ended up having to work so he wasn't able to make it - thanks for the tickets though! It was really fun and the kids really liked it. Santa even made an appearance. We then headed right to my Grandma Coffman's for her annual Soup Night (afternoon this year!) It is always a lot of fun. After the girls went home and played in the newly fallen snow. I made a track around our backyard and pulled them on the sled. After about 10 times pulling them around, my calves were burning! Luckily they were getting cold and wanted to go in.

(Dec. 18th) Katie had her preschool Christmas program and Santa and Mrs. Claus came too. Katie asked Santa for an Elmo dress. I don't know where she ever got the idea, but she thought about it for months.

(Dec 19th) The girls had fun decorating gingerbread houses - for some reason though, I never took a picture of their finished products. They even sat on our kitchen table on display for weeks, but I just realized I don't have pictures of them done.

Ward Christmas Party

2009-12-05T13:28:00.005-07:00

This morning we had our ward Christmas party. It was the Polar Express theme. Our activities committee did a really nice job. I couldn't believe how many people were there. It was so packed. For breakfast we had a cheese, hashbrown, sausage casserole, cinnamon roll and hot chocolate - with marshmallows! After breakfast they had a polar express play entitled the Spirit of Christ. The children sang "When Christmas Comes to Town" from the movie - and at the end, Ryan and I got to be Mary and Joseph. After the play Santa came! I was so surprised at how shy Katie acted. Annie tugged on his beard - and it sure was stuck on tight! He was the real Santa Claus.

Humanitarian Aid

2009-12-05T13:17:00.004-07:00

Instead giving presents to each other this year between my brothers and sister, we decided to take the money we would have spent and use it to put together humanitarian kits.

The kids had lots of fun helping put them together.

We were able to put 20 kits together and because I wasn't paying attention and bought 60 extra toothbrushes (How do you do that!?) we were able to donate some extra toothbrushes too!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-05T12:54:00.005-07:00

November 26, 2009

For the last 7 years, we have gone to a movie Thanksgiving morning with my family. However, this year we didn't so I voted to be lazy and read all morning long. I did manage to practice the piano with Annie. As she was practicing she all of the sudden stopped. I asked what was wrong and she reached for her mouth and pulled something out. I looked at it trying to figure out what it was and then realized it was her tooth! (It had been really loose the last week or so, but she wanted this one to fall out on it's own.) She started to cry and I asked her what was wrong. She said she didn't want it to fall out yet. Mom to the rescue though, and I told her how cool it was that she lost it on Thanksgiving. She would never forget. And then she was really excited.

We were having Thanksgiving dinner at Ryan's parents house this year. Before dinner I made Turkey hats with the girls. They turned out really cute and they actually even wore them. Dinner was really nice and my favorite part was listening to what the girls are thankful for. Annie said she was thankful for Jesus and Katie said she was thankful for the snow and that she could play in it. I now realized I took pictures of the rest of the family and didn't get one of our family. Oh, well.

Girls Night Out

2009-11-17T20:42:00.004-07:00

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?

2009-11-17T20:32:00.003-07:00

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...

2009-11-17T10:29:00.004-07:00

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!

2009-11-17T10:17:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-11-16T15:15:00.005-07:00

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!

2009-11-16T14:45:00.006-07:00

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

2009-11-16T14:29:00.005-07:00

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

2009-11-16T12:45:00.008-07:00

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

2009-11-16T12:06:00.004-07:00

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

2009-11-16T11:52:00.003-07:00

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

2009-11-16T11:03:00.002-07:00

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!

2009-11-16T10:57:00.004-07:00

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!

2009-11-08T16:58:00.003-07:00

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

2009-11-08T16:21:00.005-07:00

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

2009-11-08T16:04:00.006-07:00

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

2009-11-08T15:52:00.006-07:00

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

2009-11-08T15:52:00.001-07:00

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

2009-11-08T15:35:00.002-07:00

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

2009-11-08T15:05:00.003-07:00

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

2009-11-08T14:36:00.006-07:00

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

2009-08-21T08:38:00.014-06:00

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!

2009-08-13T10:52:00.022-06:00

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

2009-06-02T20:41:00.002-06:00

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

2009-05-23T09:38:00.005-06:00

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

2009-05-23T09:33:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-05-23T09:10:00.003-06:00

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

2009-05-23T08:43:00.005-06:00

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

2009-05-23T08:11:00.004-06:00

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

2009-05-19T08:07:00.006-06:00

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

2009-05-17T13:34:00.005-06:00

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!

2009-05-16T22:18:00.005-06:00

(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

2009-05-16T22:05:00.005-06:00

(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!

2009-05-16T22:01:00.004-06:00

(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

2009-05-16T21:13:00.007-06:00

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

2009-05-09T21:10:00.005-06:00

Only 3 days of practicing and look at her now!

Congratulations Hayley

2009-05-08T20:17:00.003-06:00

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

Jumping Jack Kids

2009-03-24T08:35:00.002-06:00

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

2009-03-24T08:32:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-03-24T08:08:00.006-06:00

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

2009-03-24T07:47:00.005-06:00

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

2009-03-24T07:39:00.003-06:00

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

2009-03-11T16:45:00.004-06:00

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!

2009-03-11T16:32:00.003-06:00

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

2009-03-11T16:19:00.003-06:00

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!!!

2009-02-23T21:58:00.003-07:00

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

2009-02-23T21:03:00.006-07:00

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

2009-02-21T23:07:00.004-07:00

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

2009-02-21T22:19:00.006-07:00

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

2009-01-11T14:25:00.009-07:00

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

2009-01-07T14:53:00.006-07:00

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

2009-01-07T14:46:00.007-07:00

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

2009-01-07T14:37:00.004-07:00

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!

2009-01-07T14:25:00.006-07:00

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!

2008-12-19T09:00:00.003-07:00

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

2008-12-04T19:34:00.004-07:00

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!)

2008-11-27T00:35:00.004-07:00

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

2008-11-27T00:31:00.002-07:00

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!

2008-11-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

Gratitude Day 17 - Ibuprofen

2008-11-25T21:34:00.000-07:00