Colorful Week

It has been a super busy and fun week.

Lila's joy school went on a field trip to the Hill Aerospace Museum.  They had a ball.  Lila kept repeating, "museum" like it was a new word. She said this is her favorite plane because it has polka-dots. Another note, is that she was so excited to take a lunch to school like Ellie that she carried it the whole time without a complaint. ;)

We made a stack of rainbow pancakes for breakfast on Saturday since Mom has a 7am meeting on Sunday and couldn't make them on St. Patrick's Day. Look at those smiles. I don't think they cared what day they got them. :) Add a dollop of whip cream for a cloud and we're set.

We then got busy loading bikes and packing a lunch so we could go out to Antelope Island after Ellie's gym class. We were hoping to do a family bike ride together, but most of the trails there are really meant for mountain bikes. So after a little exploring which we saw Antelope run across the road and right out our window and Bison we sent Steve off on his own trail ride.

The girls and I went to the visitor's center and then out to the beach area. Which they love! 

The girls played for 1.5 hours. Steve joined us when he completed his ride (which when we got home both of his tires were flat--serious riding).

Then we had a chance to visit with Mimi for a bit before she headed off to the airport and Grandpa found these mini greenhouses that the girls have planted and are so excited about.

We made our leprechaun trap. It is a "Gold Vault". Ellie actually made gold coins with eagles on them to put down in the trap. We thought once he fell down in he wouldn't be able to get out, but he must have had a friend with him who lowered in our clover decoration that he used to climb out with--spilling the coins Ellie made along the way.  Ellie said, "I knew we should have pulled all the clovers off of that." :)

Then as they escaped through the door they dropped a $1,000,000 that turned into a candy bar. Better luck next year! 

Sun or Glorious Sun!

My Dad told me last Tuesday that in a couple of weeks all of the snow would be gone and I thought 'yeah right'. Well here we are almost a week later and there is barely any snow in our front yard (the backyard may have snow for a bit longer because it is in the shadow of the house, but we take it in strides here). I wish I would have taken a picture of the snow at its height in our yard, but alas I did not so it is just an image in my head right now of the snow so tall it almost reached the lowest branches on our trees, so deep that the girls couldn't walk through it, so deep that it took several passes with a snow blower to clear it. Now the sun has come out and it was a glorious day! We got the girls bikes out and Ellie practiced without training wheels again--she did pretty good a little nervous about turning and there was still some snow encroaching the sidewalks that intimidated her. Lila rode the training wheel bike like a champ. They even wore their helmets without complaint. Then Steve and I got out our mountain bikes and the bike trailer and went for a 10 mile bike ride. WHEW! Steve forgets how used to a bike seat he is--my hiney was sore from sitting on that seat for an hour and my legs were a bit jello-ish, but that means a good workout right. :) Then we went on a date--wahoo! We decided to go to Smith & Edwards and check it out and guess what . . . they had airless solid rubber tires for my jogging stroller for half the price I could find anywhere else. I could sing a chorus of HALLELUJAH! I'm so excited to never have to fix a flat on my jogging stroller ever again! By way of side note, I had the jogging stroller for 5 years before we moved here and only got a flat once. After moving here I was fixing/changing tires every other day. We tried thicker tubes, we tried green goo, we tried the plastic protectors I think we spent more than double the cost of the $20 solid tires just trying to fix the tires--such an exciting investment!! Well other fun things of the day include Ellie starting a new gym class, the girls going to Home Depot with Steve for the kid project-race cars, and just an all around good day. Oh and did I mention my insane desire to spring clean. Since we've been married I've never really 'spring cleaned'. I would tackle big projects throughout the year, but something about being inside all winter and the strong desire to spend as much time out in the garden or cleaning the garage when the weather gets warmer has spurred me to spring clean. I organized our cold storage with shelves and put the food storage away, I cleaned and organized the kitchen cabinets so the countertops are much less cluttered, now I want to do some touch up painting (hence the reason I sent Steve to Home Depot while I was at a baptism, I need some spackle to fill holes). Life is good!

Swimming, Plan B

We had planned to go to Provo this weekend. We have Marriott points from living in a hotel a few years ago and booked a room using points. We thought it would be fun to see a BYU mens' volleyball game Friday night and a womens' gymnastic match Saturday afternoon. We would swim at the hotel and see Jake and Marcee. Then we saw the weather and decided we didn't want to try to travel home in snow with 30 mile/hour winds (they were saying we would get 3-8 inches of snow along with the gusts of wind). So we canceled our room and everyone was disappointed not to see Jake and Marcee. Then the storm turned out to be not as bad as envisioned--probably still not ideal for traveling, but we could have handled it. Oh, well. We'll make it up to Jake and Marcee and come down another time. As for the girls, we had to go swimming so we headed over to the Surf-n-Swim with Nessa and the girls. We were there for two hours and the girls had a ball.

Lila once again took some convincing that it was fun. We found a nice small wave she laid her head back and I thought she might fall asleep. Then she got to hold baby Siena. :) Izzy was not a fan of Siena with Lila. She kept saying, "Get out." and pulling on Siena.

Can you find Ellie & Steve? Ellie loved it and braved right out in the middle with Dad.

We got burgers on the way home and they were eating and riding in style in Dad's car. :)

It Feels Like a Party Everyday

Those are lyrics from a song on our new Just Dance Disney game. The girls love the game and so the song is stuck in my head and seems to be fitting for the week. We've had gym, Sasssassfras club meeting, 100 day of school party that I helped with, and of course today--the celebration of love.

Here the girls are looking at their valentine's from us, new swimsuits and my little ponies. They gave Daddy the card they made for him.







Venessa and her girls came down for our traditional fondue dinner. When we explained to Ellie what we were having she said, "Oh, I love fondue. We usually have it in the summer outisde." I told her we have it on Valentine's Day every year, but in Tucson it was warm enough to eat outside. :)

After dinner we played Just Dance Disney--everyone got in on the action. :)

Then we had dessert and watched Madly Madagascar. It was a fun evening with everyone! Lots of love!

Lila Funnies

As we were working on Valentines she said, "I love valentines because I love kissing and love."

Monday night after we put the girls to bed Lila comes out to the top of the stairs, in her little ballet tutu because that is what she wanted to sleep in and frankly I thought--no big deal (which I'm trying to do more of). Anyway, she said, "I need to ask you a question. First, I really really love you. I don't want to go to bed. I want to stay up all night with you."  :) I told her if she stayed up all night she would be too tired the next day and couldn't go to our friend's club meeting she has been holding on Tuesdays and she quickly scrambled off to bed.

Today at Joy School they had a little valentine party and the host Mom passed out cupcakes at the end and said I thought they could eat them after lunch. Lila, "I'm not having lunch."

Seriously where does this come from, this quick-witted fast thinking keeps us on our toes and a smile on our face. LOVES!

Well, she just finished eating the cupcake and was spinning around on the floor in the crumbs. When I pointed this out she hopped up and grabbed a little broom and dust pan and swept up the mess. What a cutie!

A Perfect Saturday

Last Sunday Steve received a phone call asking him to speak in church. We were both fighting that head cold this week and not functioning at full capacity. So I knew I was going to need to plan some activities to keep the girls busy all day Saturday so Steve could work on his talk and to be honest I was looking forward to a Saturday of focusing on the girls. 

We didn't really get out of bed until 8:30 and then we made aebleskivers, a family favorite for breakfast. Then Ellie and I practiced her piano songs for an hour while Lila played happily upstairs. When they got restless we worked on 100 project for 100 day of school on Tuesday, and then we finished up Valentine's for class parties. It was about a noon at this point so I pulled out some finger painting for them to do while I fixed lunch. After lunch they played for a bit while I cleaned up.  

Steve decided he needed a break so we took the girls sledding--it had been snowing off and on all day. We told the girls to put on warm clothes and their snow clothes because were were going sledding and my heart could sing every time I reflect on how well they worked together to get ready and let me tell you they are pros now at putting on their snow gear--I didn't have to do a thing. We went to a place recommended to us by a friend and the girls had a blast. Steve and Ellie accidentally went off a jump--you couldn't see it from the top of the hill and Steve hurt his tail bone pretty bad so he took a rest and then tried going down on his stomach a few times. Lila was a trooper going down several times and then decided she would be our hot chocolate holder. She was so sweet and asked everyone if they wanted a drink as they approached the top of the hill. We were their for 1.5 hours which we had to tell Ellie was longer than an hour because she wanted to stay for an hour. ;) 

Then home to baths. I quickly showered then ran over to a reception and then back in time to get them out of the tub. Made them dinner and then we played Just Dance Disney (I'm counting today's workout as sledding/climbing up and down the hill and this dance game). Then Ellie read us a chapter of their new Lego Friends book. (I was going to help them build their Lego Friends Cafe, but we ran out of time so maybe this coming Saturday.) I love days when I can just be with my family. I love my calling and all the children in primary, but sometimes I wonder what the balance is . . . and greatly appreciate days like today!

P.S. Steve's talk went great! He got several compliments and the Bishop asked for a copy of it. ;)

Reception, Swimming, & Tubing

Jake and Marcee had their reception on Friday, Feb. 1st. The reception was in Midway so my parents' booked a hotel which the girls were excited about because they knew that meant swimming and since we were in Midway Venessa had the great idea to go to Soldier Hollow on Saturday. So for one night away I managed to pack 3 bags--I had to have swimming stuff, dress stuff for the reception, tubing gear, and then the usual pajamas, bathroom stuff etc.

We arrived in Midway just in time to change into our reception clothes and head over. We had a few family photos and then the girls quickly helped themselves to cinnamon rolls and the hot chocolate bar with the works, marshmallows, carmel, butterfinger pieces, whip cream. I think Lila had 3 cups of hot cocoa and Ellie preferred to eat the toppings a la carte. 

We left a bit early so we could take the girls swimming at the pool. Which of course they loved! We then went to bed so we could get up early and head to Soldier Hollow. Before making a reservation I was worried about how Lila would do. We checked in, got our tubes, and got hitched up to be towed to the top of the hill. Lila loved that part. Daddy and Ellie found a run to go down and Lila and I went down the first one together. I have to admit I was surprised by how fast we got going and of course Lila was not all too happy. We towed up again and I told her I would drag my feet the whole way down--which I did, but she was still not all too happy so I hiked her up the hill and then convinced her to go down one more time. I wish I would have tried another run, but I was afraid the other runs were faster, but as it turns out the first run had a little hill at the end that kind of makes your stomach jump which she didn't like so she played with Izzy and Grandpa on the little hill. We all traded off so all the adults could take turns going down. Ellie never got out of the tube. She loved it we would just tow her over to the rope tow and then tow her to the run and down she would go.

Just as we finished I received a phone call from Jake asking if we wanted to meet him and Marcee for lunch in Midway. I'm so glad they called because I thought we wouldn't get to see them again and you know you don't get to spend too much time with the honored couple at a reception. It was an enjoyable meal and fun to just chill together.

Then homeward bound.  We had a GREAT time, but man did my van need cleaned after that trip. So after a quick cat nap I cleaned the cars and we ran to the car wash and got the outside cleaned. I was cutting Steve and Zoe's hair when the rest of the clan showed up and we played our new Just Dance Disney game for the Wii--Grandpa killed us, but we all had fun!

I somehow managed to get up for my 7am meeting and survive primary, but as soon as we got home I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Steve and I both got a head cold that knocked us down. We hope to be able to keep it away from the girls. I seriously miss the sun and health! We did enjoy some sun in Midway yesterday as we tubed down the mountain--hopefully that will get me to spring and healthier times.

(I didn't take any pictures this weekend, but hope to scavenger a few from family--hint hint.)

Groundhog Party

The girls and I decided to throw a groundhog party. This winter has been super cold and snowy and we wanted to have a party with our friends to brighten our spirits and we thought maybe a groundhog celebration could nudge the little critter into bringing us an early spring.  :)

 
As our 22 (yes I'm crazy) guests arrived we had them tell us what their favorite winter and summer activity is. Then we went to Groundhog Weather School courtesy of a library book.  After which each child got to pick whether they thought Phil Groundhog would see his shadow or not on Saturday and then we tallied the votes.

Snack time with our special groundhog snacks was next (the idea we saw for this treat used pudding cups, but Ellie said, "I don't like pudding. Can we use brownies instead?" I loved that she provided a solution to the problem and accommodated her request--they were delicious).

Then off to play.  They could go downstairs and draw their shadows with chalk or go upstairs to the toy room. 


Ellie and Lila each helped make the snacks. They have been so excited about the party! Ellie would ask me every day to see our online RSVP count. Lila told everyone about our hog party and how if he saw his shadow it would mean more Christmas. :)

Life can get super crazy sometimes, but I'm so thankful that I was prompted to do this party and followed through. These memories with my girls are so special to me and hope they will out shine my not so brilliant moments. It was a fantastic time and we are so glad that so many could come and we could get to know one another better! Now hopefully Phil agrees and will bring us an early spring. :)

I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty

Today as I was doing the girls hair for church and I told Lila that I thought the heart barrette Grandma Moore sent for Christmas would look cute with her dress. She said, "Oh yeah." And then kept digging through the barrettes. I asked her why not the heart barrette and she said, "Because you said it would be cute and I want to be pretty." Oh my! Fortunately, a quick grammatical change and she was wearing the heart barrette. :)

Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

So our dishwasher broke a week ago. I have never really liked the thing, but couldn't stomach buying another appliance after buying several major appliances to move in. I noticed it getting worse so I was basically washing the dishes before I put them in and then last Friday the dishes came out dirtier so I started shopping. Saturday it really gave up the ghost and we ordered a dishwasher that couldn't be delivered for 10 days.  Hmmm . . . several people suggested paper plates, but that doesn't help with the dishwasher full of already dirty dishes so I took the opportunity to show the girls how to wash dishes (and we have been washing by hand ever since--just never made the transition to paper). They thought it was pretty cool to have a sink full of bubbles and scrub-a-dub-dub. Well, last night I went upstairs to find them washing their kitchen dishes in the bathroom with the nice OnGuard soap that Mimi gave us. Later I put the correlation together of me teaching them how to wash dishes and I felt bad that I got upset because they had used up most of the soap. Good thing kids are so forgiving when you tell them you made a mistake and don't mind them washing dishes just not to use the nice soap.

Here they are drying and putting away. :)

My Artist

Ellie tells me every day I need to be sure and sign her up for the summer art classes again. :)

Update: I picked Ellie up from school and asked about the library and what book she got. She was so excited they opened a new section to her class--non-fiction and she got a 'how to draw' book. ;)

New Year's Goals

We had our New Year Family Home Evening where we set goals and Steve gives us blessings. It was wonderful! I love how excited the girls get to receive the blessing. Lila was practically falling asleep on my lap and then as soon as Ellie was done she hopped up in to the chair, folded her arms, and bowed her head, ready. It is a wonderful time to feel our Heavenly Father's love and with renewed strength set goals to be a little better. It is encouraging to set goals after Christmas when we celebrate the birth of His son Jesus Christ and have a faith and a desire to be more like Him. Steve and I have made our own personal goals but here are the goals we made with the girls.  Ellie was our scribe.

Can't seem to fit the whole page on with my scanner--the numbers to the left kind of got cut off.

Jake's Married

Wahooo! It was a wonderful day that warmed our hearts from the inside (since it was 12 degrees outside). Marcee's grandfather Brother Woodbury performed the sealing and it was wonderful. We had a nice luncheon afterwards where they were patient and indulged us in giving advice and playing a game. Now they are off to Park City to spend some time alone as Mr. and Mrs. Buckley. LOVES to them!

Sisters

Yesterday Lila came into primary--we were all so excited for her to graduate from Nursery and join us in primary (this may be the only time our whole family is in primary, both girls are in junior primary, Steve is teaching in senior primary, and I'm the primary president--we just need Steve to transfer to junior primary and we would be all together for an hour of church--hehe). During sharing time a game was played where they were asked what they were grateful for and Lila said, "My big sister and my family."  Then today after we dropped Ellie off at school, Lila yelled at me from the back seat, "Momma, do you miss Ellie?" Yes I do!  "So do I." Think she is missing her sister after having her home to play all of Christmas break.  So cute!

Happenings

We rang in the New Year with some friends. They were sweet to have us to their house and we played games, ate, and visited. We were there until 11pm when Lila showed signs of weariness and begged to go home so we came home and Ellie said she had a headache, I'm sure from being tired they never stay up that late. Then Steve and I finished the Narnia movie we had been watching all week (I'm notorious for falling asleep during movies and known to pick a movie based on length hence the reason it was a week long project). The movie finished just in time for us to kiss at midnight and watch some fireworks out our window. The next morning we had our traditional New Year's breakfast of Aebleskivers and just had a nice final vacation day full of relaxing and playing. Then it was back to school and work and I tried to get the house put back together. 

Last night we decided to have our first Family Fun Night of 2013. We took the girls indoor miniature golfing, and Ellie got two hole-in-ones. Lila may be a sport lefty, we kept setting her up right-handed but she kept going back to a left hand position--only time will tell. We picked up pizza afterwords and I asked the girls to finish eating their apples they had grabbed as a snack on our way out the door. Lila handed me a stem and I said, "Where is the rest of your apple?" She looked at me confused and said, "I ate it."  Yes, she at the whole thing seeds and all. :)  After pizza, we made cookies, and watched a movie by the fireplace since it was 9 degrees outside. It was a great start to our 2013!

Below is how she ended up golfing the last nine holes when she was done with our help.

The Perfect Storm

Well our company has left, the Christmas decorations are put away, and the winter storm is here. We woke-up to snow this morning and it hasn't stopped. Steve was beginning to wonder if his purchase of a used snowblower was wasted money, but he has put it to good use now since over a foot of snow has fallen and more is forecasted for this weekend. We're glad everyone traveled to their destinations safely.

I love that we are still slowly taking a few things out of their packaging and letting them enjoy playing with their new stuff including a few rounds of Monopoly Jr.

We did venture out in the storm to do a bit of after Christmas shopping and we took the girls to eat at Cafe Rio. They thought it was the best to eat at a restaurant.