Antelope Island

The Olenslagers invited us to join them on a picnic to Antelope Island this evening. We have never been and really enjoyed the experience. There was a light breeze so it kept the pesky bugs to a minimum and we enjoyed a picnic dinner and the kids loved playing in the water.  They could wade out for quite a distance without getting past mid-calf. After they were done playing in the water we drove around the island a bit and saw a lot of buffalo and had a good view of downtown Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun and something we may do more often.  Thanks O's!

The kids were picking-up rocks to skip.

The men chatting--a nice picture of the landscape behind them--a good view altogether. :)

Lila walked several yards away from us she was on a mission to get to that big rock protruding out of the water.

Nice shot of Ellie skipping a rock.

Once again Lila just wanted to keep going and see what she could see--notice how it still isn't very deep.

Show and Tell

Today is Ellie's show and tell day at school and the instructions are to draw a picture and write a sentence.

"This is the boat and it is called the Disney Magic (continued on back)."

Yesterday I told them they could watch a movie and relax so I could hit the treadmill (got to lose those pounds we packed on enjoying all the yummy food) so they began looking through their picture/autograph book and talking about which movie they wanted, "Princess Aurora, No Tiana, ooh what about Peter Pan."  It was so cute to watch.

Bon Voyage

Steve's parents offered to take us on a cruise after Steve graduated--in December we booked a Disney Cruise for the end of April and have just returned from a wonderful vacation. We told the girls that we would be going on a big boat with Mickey Mouse and of course they were excited and then we explained that we would have to ride a plane to get to the boat and the excitement level doubled. Lila would flap her arms and say we are going on a plane to get to a big boat and then she would add, "but I'm a little scaredy of the plane."  I asked her what she was worried about and she said, "well do Ellie and I have to sit in the back?" (I think she was comparing it to riding in the van). I told her we could all sit together and she was more comfortable with that idea.

We began getting ready on Saturday after Steve's half-marathon. I was worried that it would take me a little longer to get ready due to the fact that Steve was not moving at all--I was worried about how he would be able to move on the cruise and even suggested buying a crutch. Ellie was a huge help gathering things to take, cleaning, and entertaining Lila when I asked. After school on Tuesday, April 24 we had a quick lunch and headed to the airport.  We decided not to take a stroller this time and the girls were excellent--Ellie even pulled a bag for us which was a huge help since Steve was still limping around. Occasionally Lila did get tired and would want to be held, but over all I think we are glad we didn't have the stroller. As we got close to the terminal we ran into some friends from Rupert, Jim and Melanie McBride and enjoyed visiting with them for a while.  We also sat with them for the first leg of the flight to Denver where we didn't have to get off--that plane went on to Orlando. We got to our hotel around 10:30pm EDT so we tried to get the girls to sleep, but they were restless from traveling and with excitement about getting on the boat the next day.  We got up around 8am met Carole and Russ (who had taken a red-eye) in the lobby and had breakfast. Our ride out to the port came at 10:30am and we were off to the boat.  We got checked in and Minney Mouse was available for photos and Lila insisted that we see her even after I explained we would see a lot of her on the boat so Carole and Russ stood in line while we registered the kids for the kids club stuff. When we got to the front of the line Mickey traded Minney and we got our picture with Mickey--the girls loved it and it turned out to be a great picture so I'm so glad that Lila insisted.

Once on the ship we had lunch at the buffet, took the girls to the clubhouse to see what it was like, and then at that point our rooms were open so we put the girls down for a nap. We had a wonderful trip and for the sake of time and space I won't do the day-to-day breakdown, but I will let you know that girls loved the characters! I had purchased them autograph books before we left that allows for pictures on the side next to the signature and they loved meeting the characters, getting autographs, and their pictures taken. I already have the printed pictures in their books and they are a treasure. The shows were great! Disney fun with the characters and the girls were very enthusiastic about them each night--I think a lot of the people sitting next to us enjoyed watching my girls' reactions more than the shows. Lila's eyes got the size of silver dollars and she would loudly proclaim "MICKEY MOUSE!" We don't even have the Disney channel, but there is something magical about Mickey and the gang. We enjoyed our rotating dinners and our server who rotated with us and took great care of his princesses as he called the girls--he even had some good magic tricks that had Grandpa stumped.  And we can't forget the Mickey ice cream bars with Mickey sprinkles that were a hit and dessert every night--even the adults ordered them a couple of times.

The servers made character hats one night and another night there was a pirate party. Lila still likes to make a hook with her finger and say, "ARR!"

 
They met, Mickey and Minney Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Chip-n-Dale, Cinderella, Snow White, Tiana, Aurora, Belle, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Smee--here we are a few of the character pictures:

Carole and I went in to port at Key West on Thursday, April 26 and did a lot walking and shopping.  She bought the girls some finger nail polish and some adorable Mickey hair clips from Del Sol that change color in the sun.  Steve and Russ ventured ashore for a bit also.  The girls were in the kids club with Snow White learning to Do-Si-Do.  After dinner we ventured up top to watch us pull out from port.

 
The next day, Friday, April 27 were were at sea all day so we spent the morning at the pools, where they were playing Jungle Book, and eating pizza from the pizzeria. The girls went to the kids club one more time to have story time with Belle.

When we reached Nassau on Saturday, April 28 we had a port adventure to Atlantis with a tour of the facility and aquariums.

Sunday, April 29 the last day of the cruise we were at Castaway Cay--Disney's Private Island. The weather was not great, but we still managed to venture out and enjoy the island for a few hours. Steve and Carole went snorkeling and the girls spent the whole time playing on the beach.

After two days without a nap Lila could not make it through dinner. The girls also enjoyed finding a different towel animal in our room every night--they loved the monkey pictured below and a dog where they used the Sleepy (from Snow White) chocolates for eyes and put my sun glasses on him.

 




Monday, April 30 we were docked at Port Canaveral again and the girls were not happy to be leaving the big boat with all the food (they ate a ton this trip) and characters and attention from Grandpa and Grandma.  We made it back to the airport around 10am and had several hours to kill before our 2:20 flight. Carole and Russ weren't scheduled to leave until 5pm so we hung out before security for several hours. Grandpa and Steve made airplanes and were flying them around. Grandma let Lila color on her phone and played a tag game with blankets. Then another nice family from the cruise showed up with their five girls and they all played together for a couple of hours. 

We finally said our farewell and went through security around 1pm. Just as we got settled the notified us that our flight was delayed until 5. They re-booked everyone's connecting flights to later flights which meant we would not get into Salt Lake until midnight--grrr! This did mean that we would be able to hook up with Carole and Russ again in Phoenix since we both had layovers there. When we got to Phoenix they told a few passengers if they hurried they could still make their original flights so I told Steve we should just let everyone get off since we weren't in a hurry so we were the last ones to saunter off the plane. I headed over to the monitors to see if I could find where Russ and Carole were coming in only to realize our original flight said Boarding. So we hustled over to a desk and asked if we could still make it. He said probably, but our luggage wouldn't--I said forget the luggage I'll go back and get it--I wanted to go to Costco any way and the airport is only about 10 minutes past that and getting my girls to bed 3 hours earlier was a done deal. The problem was it was miles away in the Phoenix airport so we tried running with Steve's limp still and then a nice guy with a cart pulled up and told us to hop on--he sped us through the airport, we checked in, walked on and they shut the gate behind us. The girls were sad not to see Grandpa and Grandma again, but so happy to be in their own beds when we got home.

 









On the drive home, the light was red after getting off the freeway and I told the girls in an attempt to keep Lila awake that we had to chant, "one, two, three, green." It didn't work so Ellie said, "No. No. It's Bippity-boppity-boo!" And the light changed she was so excited and changed every light with those magical words.  
Thank you Carole and Russ for a wonderful vacation full of magical memories for our girls and us! WE LOVE YOU!

Sillies

Mimi and Grandpa gave the girls dream catchers they brought back from Texas.  The girls love to tell everyone about these things that catch their dreams (imagine big hand motions catching something while talking).  Ellie explained that it catches bad dreams.  We asked Ellie if she has ever had any bad dreams she said she had one last night.  She had just seen a pretty butterfly outside, but could not go outside to play with it because it was stormy.  We have had a lot of rain storms lately and I know she has had some dreams that really do scare her to the point of waking, but I thought that was such a sweet concern of hers because she truly loves to play outside.

We had to get ready for church a little earlier than usual today because our home teachers were coming by (they are truly wonderful men and we appreciate their friendship and service--they gave Steve a blessing today for his knee).  Ellie found a few spare moments and managed to draw this picture of us walking to church, except I wasn't ready so that's why I wasn't in the picture and then she decided I hurried and was just leaving the house to catch-up with them (just to clarify this never happens--I am usually the last one to the car, but it is because I'm grabbing bags etc--ask Steve he'll back me up on this one).

 After church I gave the girls a bowl of cereal, put gimpy Dad in charge, and then ran to my sisters to deliver her a home-made coconut cream pie for her birthday (she has been craving one since Thanksgiving when she was too sick to enjoy any so . . . here it is April and I thought she deserved one after the week she has had--her daughter got RSV, strep, and croup all at the same time).  When I returned Lila ran out to greet me and showed me her pretty nails she had painted--yep she managed to find the nail polish and paint her nails where the paint had fallen off from the paint job I did on Friday.  She managed to not make a mess so I just smiled and said please ask first next time.

Oh and Lila managed to buy an app on my phone while playing a game this evening.  Steve has now tightened security on our phones after this little incident--good thing it was only $1.99 and I got 400 extra coins in my game that I will probably never use.  :)

Steve Survived!

Steve and his co-workers decided to run the Salt Lake half-marathon today.  Steve comes from a running family--his Dad, Russ, has ran several 100 mile races and he had two sisters and a brother-in-law run the recent Boston marathon.  However, running is not Steve's thing.  He felt compelled to get in shape because he gained 12lbs while he was writing his dissertation when we were apart so he signed up.  The concern came a few weeks after he began training when his back started hurting him (which is a major concern for Steve since he broke his L1 vertebrate almost 10 years ago and now has a manufactured vertebrate and two titanium rods) so we made sure he had good shoes and had him lay off the training a bit.  This week his right knee started bothering him and he was worried about being able to run.  Yesterday while eating breakfast he said, "I haven't felt this anxious since I graduated."  His goal was to complete the race around 2.5 hours and he just called to say that he is ok.  He said him and his co-workers ran the first 3 miles together and then he dropped back not wanting to push too hard and then around mile 9 he said his knee started hurting pretty bad so he had to slow his pace again to pretty much a walk.  The pain continued so he decided to sprint, as best he could, the last mile.  He still managed to meet his goal finishing in 2:18:39.  Way to go Steve, we are so proud of you!!

He just got home and he can barely walk.  So he will be taking it easy the next couple of days, lots of rest and ice and ibuprofen.  I'm glad his desire to get in shape has motivated us both, but I think this summer we'll do something with less impact for his back and knee--we'll try biking and ultimate fribee.

Moore Firsts :)

Ellie is on her first field trip today to the Gateway Discovery Center.  She was also very excited to get to ride a bus for the first time.  She brought home a permission slip a few weeks ago and I signed it and put it in her back-pack and told her to turn it in.  She looked at me with wide eyes and said, "You're gonna let me go!?"  I was a little nervous when I realized her teacher would not be able to go with them because she is out with shingles (poor thing) so we went over some safety rules and then told her to have fun!

I managed to get a picture of her getting off the bus when they arrived.

Here are a few other fun moments:

Saturday as we were out running errands as a family I overheard the girls talking in the back of the van.  Lila said, "I'm going to marry a prince.  Are you going to marry a prince Ellie?"  Ellie, "Well my prince is called a king which makes me a queen."  Lila, "Oh yeah, I'm a princess so I get a prince."  What sweethearts!  It is a little interesting to me that Lila is the one who is always interested in the marriage situation--she is the one to point out in movies whether the prince or princess get married.



As for me, I have spent about 8 hours over Friday, Saturday, and Monday digging dandelions out of our front yard.  Our yard did not get water all last summer due to the foreclosure so it is in pretty sad shape.  Everyone says it was a beautiful yard before last summer and several people have said with the right care it will come back.  Well . . . we had some landscaping professionals come out and give us a plan and aerate our lawn.  They recommended over-seeding which means we could not put down a pre-immersion for the weeds.  So we fertilized, over-seeded and raked it in, and sprayed for the existing weeds and some of them are dieing, but there were just so many weeds and the dandelions were blossoming out of control so I decided to take matters into my own hands and now I have a huge dumpster full of dandelions and the yard looks better considering its state.  I'm grateful for the cool, wet spring we are having and hope we will be able to have some resemblance of a nice yard by the end of the summer.  The girls had fun with me because with almost every dandelion I dug up there were two or three worms so they thought it was fun to be on a worm hunt.




Mimi and Grandpa made a quick pit stop here on their way home last night and it also happened to be Mimi's birthday (which is why Grandpa whisked her away to Texas for the weekend) so we celebrated with late night pie & ice cream.

Today after dropping off the girls in carpool we saw that our neighbors llamas were out so we had to stop.  Ever since we have moved in the girls have been begging to see the llamas, but they are never out when we look and our neighbors have said we could come by any time, but you know it's just that time.  So everyone was excited they were out and we spent a few minutes with Kusko (you get it--Emperors New Groove).  They didn't like our crackers, but definitely wanted to get a sniff of the girls which freaked Lila out so I was lucky to get her close enough to take a picture of the two of them.

Spring Break-down

Here's what we did last week over spring break.  Monday was recovery day from a crazy weekend.  We cleaned, organized, and tried to work outside but it was a little chilly with the breeze.  We also started another potty training boot camp.  Lila, Lila, she has been putting #2s in the potty for over a year, but cannot seem to master the other.  She does so well for a while and then loses interest.  I've set a timer and she'll sit on the potty and then 5 minutes later she'll have an accident.  What is a Mom to do?

On Tuesday as we were heading to gym class I overheard Ellie and Lila talking in the back of the van.  The topic was about her favorite pony shirt she was wearing and Ellie said, "This is the third day in a row I've worn this shirt--isn't that awesome!"  Oh the simple pleasures of spring break.  To be honest I think I made her change shirts on Wednesday and then she may have worn that shirt for the rest of the week. :)

Wednesday we packed a lunch and some toys and headed for Salt Lake to play at a park with Stephanie and crew.  Steve's sister Debbie was in town with her two girls and it was a beautiful day to be outside.  The kids played for hours and we enjoyed seeing everyone.

Thursday morning I scrambled to get packed and after Lila's gym class the girls and I left for Idaho to spend some time with Mimi and Grandpa.  We went straight to Burley and had lunch with my Grandpa and Grandma Merrell and then did a little shopping in Burley before heading to their house where we spent the afternoon relaxing and making cookies.

Friday morning Mimi indulged us all with new hair-do's.  Ellie got a trim, Lila got another perm which took much better, and I went short again.  We went into to town for a ranch burger and to visit my Grandpa and Grandma Olenslager.  As we were eating lunch Ellie said, "Hey, Mom they are playing a country song and there are a whole bunch of country people in hear wearing cowboy hats."  She thought that was very interesting--now that we're closer maybe we'll have to go to a rodeo in good ole' Rupert.  Then we spent the afternoon playing with my Aunt's cricket machine and I did some vinyl work for Ellie's room.

We got up on Saturday had breakfast with Mimi and Grandpa who wished Lila a Happy Birthday with a balloon which made her day and then headed back to Layton where we spent the majority of the day hanging some decor on my front wall and Ellie's room and prepping for Easter.  I asked Lila where she wanted to go for dinner for her birthday and she said breakfast so we found this little diner that served scones the size of a dinner plate with their meals and everyone ordered breakfast but Lila.

Easter Sunday the girls woke up to their Easter baskets and surprises.  

  



They each got some skirts from Mom & Dad, hair clips they really wanted--Ellie's includes colored feathers, some books  for their Power Touch, a Strawberry movie, and of course a chocolate bunny.  Mimi & Grandpa gave them each a new swimsuit, hat, and a beach towel--strawberry shortcake for Lila and a unicorn for Ellie.
 
Ironically, it is the third year in a row we have had the opportunity to spend Easter with Steve's brother's family, Doug and Joddy.  They came to Salt Lake for a wedding and decided to make a family trip of it and we are so grateful they made the effort to come see us.  We waited for Doug and Joddy's crew to get here before we did the Easter egg hunt where everyone had their own color of egg to find, which meant the older kids' eggs could be hidden more difficult, but somehow we still lost an egg--we could only find 7 of Lila's . . . maybe it will show up sometime this week.  :)  We enjoyed a light lunch and then got ready for church.  After sacrament meeting we decided to come home because Riggs needed a nap and then we could visit some more--we only get to see them once or twice a year.  Sydney and Ellie played and played and talked and talked--we hardly saw them.  We had a nice visit and yummy Easter ham, with cheesy potatoes, rolls, and asparagus, and a Miami Beach cake for dessert.  

(as I'm finishing this post I realized that I didn't take too many pictures--I wish I would have gotten pictures of the girls with great grandparents and of the park trip and yet somehow my batteries were dead when I did try to take some of the Easter egg hunt--good thing Steve got some of that on video)

Spring is such a wonderful time to celebrate Easter and life.  I know my Savior lives and I am so grateful for His example and sacrifice which makes it possible for us all to live again.

Lila's 3rd Berry Birthday Party

We were going to have Lila's birthday party next Saturday on her birthday, but it just worked out that everyone would be in town this weekend including Steve's parents, Russ & Carole, so we bumped the party up and squeezed it in between Ellie's soccer game and the second session of General Conference. 

We had a spring craft, decorating watering cans made out of milk jugs and a little potted flower to plant.

We are so grateful for everyone that came.  It was so fun to celebrate our special little girl.  Lila had a wonderful time and keeps asking to watch the video where we sang Happy Birthday.  Something cute I want to remember is that while opening presents she found a small candy in the gift bag and then found another one and immediately gave it to Ellie--she loves her sister!  I asked Lila why she is growing up, she said, "To be like Ellie."  I then asked her why Ellie was growing and she said, "To be like me."  :)

Go Ellie--Kick it!

I called a soccer league to see if there was room for Ellie to sign up for spring soccer (usually you register in May for Fall/Spring) and it so happened there was room. We picked up her uniform on Monday and she played her first game today.  On the way to the game I asked her if she was excited and she said, "I'm a little nervous because I don't really know how to play."  We told her to listen to her coach and have fun.  She had a ball!  She was a little timid about getting in the mix when everyone was crowded around the ball, but she had a few good defensive stops, got to throw the ball in, and kick-it off.  She also had a lot of fans there with Mimi & Grandpa, Uncle Jakey, Grandpa & Grandma Moore & Lexie, Mom & Dad & Lila.  It was fun for all!

Getting ready for the game to start.  Her uniform is XS but the pants were way too big so I tied them tight and safety pinned them but she still held on to them the whole time--Jakey pointed out she can't use her hands anyways. :)  I'll sew them before the next game.

Team cheer--they are "The Little Pink Unicorns" which made Ellie even happier.  The coach, girls and their families were all so friendly.

Action shot.

Ellie gave us several large grins throughout the game.

 

We would all yell, "get it Ellie, kick it!" and so of course Lila had to yell for Ellie to get it too!

Ellie wants to practice every day with Daddy in the back yard.

Ellie's VIP Week

Ellie was the VIP in her class this week.  It was so fun to see her get excited about making her poster and telling us what other families had done and what she wanted us to say during the family visits today.  She also gets to do all of the fun class things like line leader, calendar, weather, etc.  She was so sad when I didn't take her to school on Wednesday because she had been up crying and screaming about her ear hurting since 5am.  I took her to the doctor and she didn't have an ear infection, but it was inflamed so they gave me some numbing drops.  This morning Mimi and Grandpa came with all of us to school for the family visit where we all got to tell a story of what makes Ellie a "Very Important Person".  She is very important to us and we are so grateful she is a part of our family!