Fall Pictures

I got a new lens for my camera (FINALLY!!) right before we left for our D-Land vaca and I decided to test it out on the girls out in the backyard. I saw the leaves had fallen from our huge tree in the back and decided I couldn't resist as it made for such a great Fall background. These were just a few or my favorites.

1st Day of Kindergarten...

Ok, so our day begins with a fun breakfast full of Em's favorite; pancakes and chocolate milk. She was so excited about going off to school she kept asking, "Is it time? Do I go yet mommy?" I had to just laugh at her. I thought to myself, "This isn't going to be so hard. The kids been in pre-k the last 2 years and those were just a few hours a few days a week, how hard can sending her off to Kindergarten be, really? It's about the same thing, right?" Yah, little did I know what awaited me at school. We get to school and Em immediately gets into line behind the rest of her class as "photography mom" goes NUTSO taking pix. I was doing great, no tears, so strong. Then, Em's teacher (Miss McGary) says to the kids, "Ok, boys and girls, say good-bye to mommy and daddy because you won't be seeing them for quite a few hours." That was it, I lost it. Tears were streaming as I turned and walked towards my car. I passed a few mothers who were apparently feeling the same thing. (Luckily I had my sunglasses on, otherwise I'd REALLY be embarrasing myself with black cat eyes). The whole way home I was just crying and thinking "How in the world did my mom do this? Now I totally know how all my friends who have older kids felt sending off their first to school." To top it all off, I don't know how I'm going to do when she actually starts FULL day next year. (One step at a time, right?)... Anyhow, needless to say, when Em got home from school that day she was so thrilled that as soon as she hit the door she was playing make believe Kindergarten Teacher, mommy, and child with Lilly and I (Em being the mommy, Lilly being the child going to kindergarten and me being the teacher). It was so cute and I was so glad she had a great first day...

Lilly would have missed her sister even more had she not had nap time while Emma was away (thank goodness for aftnernoon kindergarten)...

She's off to her first day of school... STOP!!!Waiting in line with her classmates. How fast time goes...

I didn't get a pix with her teacher quite yet as she seemed to busy with other parents and teachers when I got there. This was when they were getting ready to walk inside.

Life gets crazy!!!

Our story begins with our moving. For those of you just tuning in, we have moved AGAIN!! Where you might ask? Back to SLC, and who knows if this will be the final destination. One more year of school and then from there, nobody knows. In any case, we moved for work (no more work to be done I guess down in St. George; we go where the work is... so here we are again). As we get settled in another home in NSL for another year, we find ourselves starting a new kind of adventure with our girls. Emma, now kindergarten bound, decided she HAD to play soccer and wanted to try and be on her cousins team. Thus, here are the 2 "BFF's" ready to begin their first soccer game of the season. I have to admit, I went a little crazy on pix, but considering Nana and Papa weren't there to enjoy the scenes, these many photo ops are for them. The rest of you can scroll down to the next set of adventures...BBQ.

Em & her cousin Shelby (GO STINGERS!!)
Just daydreaming before the big game...

Kick her in the shins.. I mean... get the ball!!

Surprising how nobody was there to take the ball from her... normally they're all in a cluster!!

Taking a breather, it's sure hot out there!!

Em's #1 Fan!! She SO wanted to get out there with her sis...

Friday, August 28, 2009... Emma turns 5.

For Em's big 5 year birthday, considering we had just moved back and hadn't had time enough to throw anything with friends, we decided to nab a few family members and throw a small BBQ Birthday for our birthday girl. Emma had a great time playing with her cousins. the first thing she asked for that morning as she woke up was "pancakes that daddy makes" (which means crepes) and chocolate milk. She also woke up asking what to wear to her lunch with the princesses (we are taking her as part of her birthday gift this year to Disneyland later in October). Later that day we had to meet with her kindergarten teacher for testing and then came home to get ready for the festivities. It was a blast. Auntie Gretchie made her a castle cake which Em absolutely loved...

5 castle cones for a bee-autiful 5 year old!!

Aunt Gretchie and Emma; look at that amazing cake!! Love you Gretch!!

Emma and her cousins... she sure has fun being around family.

Thanks to all who helped make Em's special day all that more amazing and loved.

3 months and rolling over!!!

Yep, you read that right... Just over 3 months and our "eat, sleep & poop" -ing little baby is making waves and rolling over. I had just finished feeding her and had laid her on the floor. I had the tv on at the time and had glanced up to see some news feed and there it happened. For one split second I'm watching the tv and she had been on her back, I looked back down at her and all of a sudden she's on her stomach.. So, I wanted to catch it on camera and this is what I got (silly little thing). Ok, so I can't figure out how to get video feed on yet, but here's a few camera shots of her...On our way to church... just Alice & I (Nate and the other 2 girls are up in SL working and playing while I'm down here in St. George packing and getting ready for the big move this next weekend). Chillin with the skillet...

I found a few pix on my camera from the trips we took this summer. We went down to Arizona and saw Brett & Bonnie for their baby blessing as well as up in SL with family for my cousin's wedding and our own baby blessing.

Alice & her cuz Gi-Gi.. (Can you find Kaleb making his "traditional" family photo funny face? When Kaleb was about 10 we had a family photo done and it was during the time that digital wasn't quite up and running yet... well, good ole Kaleb had his tongue sticking out on a majority of the family photos, thus picking out a "good one" was impossible. So that's how we remember him and that's what he'll pose as for family photo ops. By the way, any girls that are the least bit interested, I can't say whether he'll take descent photos or not for engagement or wedding, so good luck).

Crazy Summer wrap up...

Ok, so it's been quite a while since I've gotten on here to blog, but it's been a really crazy tail end of a summer, let me tell ya... Here's a little of what we've been up to since I blogged last..
July 10th Nate's company downsized and literally had to lay off all it's employees minus the family members working for it... JOBLESS AGAIN!?!?! (sigh)...
We then take off for SL because there is NOTHING in St. George hiring in construction; needing to stay close to a major city (Nate is finishing up his last year of school thus needing to stay here in Utah otherwise out of state will only make him start fresh in their program, quite silly I know). Good news though, we found a job (we'll see how long this one lasts). Bad news, we're moving AGAIN!! Those who know me know I'm SO sick of moving. (sigh), life happens I guess.. but we have really been blessed in not having to go too long without a job and I have been blessed with being able to stay home still with my girls, as so many go months without work and then start to lose everything. My heart goes out to those who have had to experience that...
July 26, we were able to bless Alice with family while job searching up in SL and then headed down to Arizona for Brett & Bonnies baby blessing. The girls loved seeing their cousins and enjoyed a few days with aunts, uncles and nana & papa (Emma esp loved seeing nana again considering she had just spent the month of June with her). We then headed back up to St. George for a day before heading back up to SL to look for a place to live, again. (sigh) After finding a place, I am headed back down to St. George to wrap up the house items and bring them back down, just in time for Emma to start school. I don't have pix of our many adventures as I forgot our camera, so documenting our fun loving CRAZY summer adventures just didn't occur. I'm looking forward to settling down (once more) and will be up and running in no time to tell of how things are going. (Alyssa!! I'm looking forward to getting the kids together on a more regular basis and will be calling you soon to hook up, promise!!)

2 MONTHS!! Where has it all gone?!?!

Yesturday was Alice's 2 month check up. She did really well. She didn't make one peep the whole time and was very intrigued by everyone at the Dr's office. I cannot believe she is growing SO fast!! She is still a bit wibble wobbly in her neck, but she managed to lay on her stomach for Dr. Barton and hold her head up high (which I didn't get a shot of...). We were so proud of her...

She weighed in at 10 pds 8 oz (from 7 pds 4 oz) thus putting her in the 39%. She's shot up length wise from 21.5 to 23.5 (tall skinny little thing) putting her in the 86%.
She even managed to smile at the Dr.The girls had a great time playing with toys while there.... Other adventures Alice is taking on are starting to arch her back sideways and ready to roll over (not quite all the way, but her feet are super strong so she ends up pushing her whole body upward, thus leaving it hard for me to leave her anywhere unguarded). She LOVES smiling and "talking". The best part is she is sleeping for sure thru the nights (going down at 9:30 and waking up at 6:30 is pretty good sleep to me). When she wakes up she smiles and just jabbers for a bit and then is finally hungry. She loves her swing and takes a few long naps in her crip thru out the day. Not all is hunky dori however. She does have her moments of wanting to just cry and whine; but for the most part, we are doing really well (considering). Emma is back home and loving every minute she has to get to hold her baby sister. She and Lilly are back to role playing princesses and having their on-going sibling moments.
(sigh...) I love being a mom of GIRLS!!

Happy 4th of July!!

For the 4th of July, we (minus Emma; she is still in Cali w/ Nana and Papa & the boys) decided to spend it down in Arizona (crazy I know... what with how HOT it is down there). We went and spent the weekend with my bro & his fam. It was a ton of fun. We left Thursday and stopped at a historic Navajo Bridge along the way... it was overcast that day and thus made for GORGEOUS pix taking along the way. It made me think of how grateful I am to live in such a beautiful country and the freedoms I have that most don't.

Lilly & cousin Claire had a great time cooling off in the backyard in their blowup pool. As did the rest of them once they saw what the two mischief makers were doing...

The kids enjoyed spending 4th of July at a park where they provided free water rides for everyone to cool off in (what a novel idea!!). The kids enjoyed just a few rides as the lines were SUPER long (did I mention it was free?). We later enjoyed food by the carside as we watched the parks fireworks show. The kids enjoyed it (Lilly & Claire had to get used to it from the safety of the car and Morgon and Mae-Mae had to cover their ears at first (thinking it was going to be TOO loud). (I didn't get a pix, but Morgon ended up falling asleep during half of it, it was too funny). Claire & Morgon were the only ones really to get into the free water rides... Of course, they all got into a little mudhole (below)...And of course little Ali & her cousin Gi-gi enjoyed relaxing in the stroller. (Bonnie and I went shopping Friday and I had our double stroller with the 2 babes in it; people thought I was toting around twins (yah right!!)...Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!!

My friend's mom sent these newspaper headlines via email & I thought they were pretty funny...

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
(This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible! They put in a correction the next day.)

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
No crap, really? Ya think?

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!

Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing, lazy so-and-so's!

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!

War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Ya think?!

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!

Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?

Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Do they taste like chicken?

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!

And the winner is... Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Did I read that right?

Lulu without her sidekick Emma...

So Em has been gone the last week and a half at Nana & Papa's in Cali. When we were kids we used to go to our Gma & Gpa's house for a few weeks (even as long as a month) during the summers and really get that one on one with the grandparents. (Those were memories we still remember to this day and will forever and ever...) So, we decided to do that with our kids, at the request of course of Nana & Papa.. So, Em has another week and a half before she's due to come home and boy is Lilly getting anxious. She def. misses her sister, but still finds things to do either around the house or outside. We came home and set up the girls' swim pool in the back and Lilly went right down to business pulling out toys and getting in. She had a blast, but still found time to ask, "Where Emma?" Poor thing, all alone in her own little pool, she sure misses her sis!!
Once she hears her sis is coming home soon, she's happy for at least a while longer.

We MISS you Em, but we know your having a SUPER fun time with Nana & Papa & the boys...

XOXOXOXOOX