Last Weeks Happenings

We have had a busy last couple weekends. First, Randy & Holly's Shay came home from her mission and is now engaged! We are so excited for her. Holly is such a hostess and always thinks of everyone. She has bottles of bubbles fof the kids...they were in heaven. I always realize when we go "home" that family isn't just people you are blood related to but people you love and they love you for who you are good and bad. That makes Randy & Holly our 2nd parents they have been there throughout our whole lives and continue to include us.

 Gracie was thrilled when she got her own bottle...although it didn't last long before she dumped them out.

 The other day the girls had gone down to play and it was very quiet I went down and found them on Hallie's bed reading and eating fruit snacks. Warms my heart...love my girls

 Friday my parents got her for a fun filled weekend. It just so happened that Friday was also Nic's 24th birthday so before we got settled in for the night we met at Nic's for some cake and ice cream. The kids had a great time pulling all the cushions off Nic's couch into a pile to play in while the adults visited and hang out.

 Happy 24th Nic...love ya girl

 Kyle did a great job making Nic's cake. We had to laugh because he wanted it to be a surprise that he made the cake so he made it at Jills on his way home from work. Nic's favorite cakes are rainbow chip and german chocolate. I guess when Kyle went to the store all her could find was funfetti so he bought cherry chip. On Friday when Kyle and Nic were out for the day he said, "what's your favorite cake....say cherry chip with cream cheese frosting." I'm still not quite sure if he believes us that there is such a thing as rainbow chip

 And when grandma is around you better believe the kids aren't far behind and there usually isn't free space on her lap...Friday night was no different.

 Saturday after Hallie recital(post to come) we hung out and bbq'd it was just nice to relax and let the kids play and well grandma even got in on the action and showed the kids just how to act like a monkey on the tramp needless to say they spent a lot of time laughing as did we as we watched.

 Hallie has really become interested in her dr kit, assessing, and fixing people. She quite frequently makes whomever is around her patient. Which often times is fine with me because I get to lay down and she "takes care" of me. Rigs and Kimber became her next victim...I mean patient.

  We had some late nights enjoying time together and our kiddos showed it the most poor Luke fell sound asleep while eating and didn't change.

Mommy Times

With Matt so busy with work and school we have a lot of mommy time. The hospital has also been so crazy busy I have also been working a lot. But once in a while we have to get out and have some fun and the weather has been very helpful with that too. The girls are at a fun age and I really enjoy most of our time together. Hallie remains a sweetheart and usually very appreciative of what Matt and I both give her and do for her. Which makes it a lot easier to give her more. She is also very diligent at making sure Gracie is involved and part of everything...which really just warms my heart. So of coarse when  she realized Gracie had never rode in the helicopter at the mall she insisted Gracie needed a turn.  Well Hallie loved it and Gracie lasted about 10 seconds and looked pretty nervous.

Hallie and I have also been refinishing quite a few pieces of furniture during Gracie nap time they turned out really well. We just sold the last one so I guess that means its time for another batch but I think we will wait a little so I still enjoy doing it.

 The girls and I headed on a "roadtrip" to Logan to buy and sell some things off of Cache Valley Classifieds(a major passion of mine currently). We had a picnic and I think I was the only one who ate. The kids were having a ball. Hallie attempted to teach Gracie how to roll down a hill...but it was really cute. I realized while doing this post Gracie is experiencing lots a true interactive 1sts this year...and I love it. There are the endless green spaces and running in them.

 And it wouldn't truly be becoming spring without slurpees. Grace wouldn't even look at me she was very into hers.

 Throughout our drop off and pickups we also stopped at 3 different parks. The kids had a ball and made new friends at each one. It was fun since each has different toys as well.

 Then we came home, picked up daddy from doing home work and headed to the hospital for free dinner for  nurse appreciation week. The girls were both more concerned with the geese and their babies as well as the water fountain.

Oh living life through the eyes of a child is priceless and something I will ever be grateful for.

Safe Kids Fair 2013

Last weekend was the safe kids fair at the weber county fairgrounds. Hallie was so excited to go and take her bike. Matt was busy doing Elder Quorum stuff so we decided to brave the rainy weather and see how it went. Hallie rode her bike to all the exhibits and was super excited about it.

 Gracie was content to ride in the stroller and accept candy at about every stop.

 One of Hallie favorite booths was the sleeping booties the knock off disney princesses that stand for something. They gave her a book that is so cute and funny. We are looking into going to the princess festival this summer.

 We got a little wet waiting in line for a couple things Hallie didn't seem to mind...Grace on the other hand preferred to be inside.

 They were smart and set up the bike coarse inside. Hallie got to go multiple times since she had her own bike which made taking it totally worth it.

 Enjoying the candy hand outs while Hallie got her face painted.

 This was actually one of the only things that we waited in line for and Hallie really wanted to have it done. She loved her butterfly and was extremely picky with the colors the girl used.

We had a great time and after quickly packed up and headed to Kyle's surprise party. It was a lot of fun with all of their friends and all of our little kids. It was a fun ad exhausting day.

Silly Faces

Recently Matt and I have both been finding multiple pictures of Hallie making many different faces and is quite comical so last week after Matt and I's date night. Hallie is at such a fun age. When I told her we were going to date night she asked if she could help me pick out my clothes. She climbed in my closet and quickly picked out the coral top I was wearing and said she hadn't seen me wear that in a long time and that I needed to wear it and picked out my black shoes. Once I finished my hair she informed me I looked like a princess and was the most beautiful ever. She is such a sweet girl..most of the time.

 Love this picture of Gracie dancing while Hallie was trying to take pictures of us.

Love our silly little family

A Day at the Laundry Mat??

I haven't been to the laundry mat since before Matt and I had kids but I had made Gracie a rag quilt for her bed and everything I read said it was better to take it to the laundry mat so it wouldn't clog your machine. So we decided to make a fun trip out of it. We picked up lunch after running some errands and headed to do the wash.  

 Gracie loved her cheese sticks and watching all the washers and dryers go in never ending circles.

 Hallie loved the video games and the laundry cart I let her ride in(I'm sure its against the rules but we were killing time)

After about an hour we finished and headed home for naps. It was a lot more fun than I had anticipated and definitely something new that we hadn't done.

Puppies

Yes we did it again! We decided to get the girls a dog. The Friday of conference weekend we headed to Preston to get Matt and road bike. I had actively been looking for puppies for a couple months but neither Matt or I was sure we wanted to cross that bridge again. We finally decided that it was mostly selfish reasons not to get a puppy and while in Preston decided to go see some puppies I had seen on ksl the week before. I called ahead and the guy said to come anytime we had quite the time finding his house in the middle of no where up by cub river.  Just before getting to the house I jokingly said to Matt what if we got 2 puppies one for each of the girls and then they would have a buddy. Matt gave me a look and we didn't discuss it further. Hallie was automatically in love with all 9 of them plus the mom & dad. They were a golden retriever/boxer mix but somehow ended up black with the boxer white markings. Some how after about 30 minutes we ended up with 2 puppies and 1 very happy Hallie. Gracie was a little unsure and would occasionally swat at it but once the showed her interested she wanted to be held away from them. We only paid 30 bucks for them which was a big prerequisite to getting them in the first place.

 Sunday we made conference cake, I attempted a gluten free batch that tasted pretty good but lacked some fluffiness and some regular ones for the rest of my family. We like ours covered in sugar and lots of whipped cream. We enjoyed conference just our little family. The girls were great and either napped or quietly played while we listened. In between sessions we played with our new additions and Gracie's favorite part...a lemonade.

 This is Gus-Gus he is named after Cinderellas mouse friend and is somewhat of a coward. He is pretty laid back and is "Gracie's" puppy.

 No they aren't dead but they sleep in the sun on the lawn like this quite often. The other is Oreo "Hallie's" puppy the more active energetic one. Gus-gus is bigger and wears the blue collar where oreo is the smaller one and wears the red. They are both boys and are the smartest dogs I have ever come across. They came pretty much potty trained the owner said they had been following the mom out to go potty so we designated an area for them and they would get out of their kennel up the stair and out to go potty. They don't walk very well on their leashes they prefer to be free spirits but we are working on it. They have been sleeping in the garage in a kennel it has been cold but we are currently building them a nice large dog run in the backyard with a dog house for them both. So far so good but Gracie now loves them and they are probably permanent fixtures at our house.

A Day at the Zoo...or Not! How about Gateway?

We headed off to go to the zoo and get out in the sun. About half way there we realized it was Spring break and a couple different school districts were out of school. We could tell about 1/2 mile from the zoo that we weren't even going to attempt the zoo so we quickly decided to head to Gateway to eat our picnic and play by the water. We more watched the water than played in it the weather isn't quite warm enough to get wet yet.  

 The kids got pretty brave and lucked out a few times and didn't end up wet. They loved the music that made the water "dance."

 After we had at least attempted to feed everyone(they mostly just wanted to play) we headed to do some shopping.

 After picking out a few things at Old navy we decided to brave the trax line. I haven't ridden it for probably 5 years but Hallie and Rigs were fascinated so of coarse we had to do it. Neither Nic or I knew what we were doing so we asked some teenage boys and they were able to give us some direction. It was an adventure for sure we ended up where the train stops and then goes back the other direction. Were weren't quite sure what to do so we decided to walk back to the next station which was probably not the wisest. 2 girls with 4 kids majorly out of their element in the ghetto. Luckily we got to a safe place and stayed together everything was fine.

When we got back to the car we put Rigs and Hallie in and then buckled the babies in after buckling Gracie in I looked in the back seat to make sure Hallie had gotten herself buckled only to find she wasn't even in her seat. I asked Nic where Hallie was and we immediately panicked looked throughout the car and around the car. A million thoughts went through my head as to what to do next. Nic stuck her heads over the back of the seat and Hallie was laying quietly on the floor. I wanted to kill her and Nic and I were shaking from our panick attack. I quickly pulled her up and not very nicely told her to never hide from me again. I don't remember the last time I was so frantic and terrified I had actually lost one of my kids. Oh man I love them and don't know what I would do if I didn't have them. It was a great day that was pretty laid back and time spent together. I love the relationship that Hallie, Rigs, and Grace have its like their own little club.