My favorite Christmas Moments...

What were your favorite moments from Christmas? Hope you had a great one!

Happy Halloween to everyone! We are having such a fun night. I even dressed up as a newborn's mom - in my pj's and robe with crazy hair and black circles under my eyes. Kate is a carebear, Bryce is Tigger and Kira is Hannah Montana. So fun. Also, here is a song for your listening pleasure from the one and only Hannah Montana!

Halloween is one of my FAVORITE holidays. I love the pumpkins and the spookiness and everything. One of my favorite parts is carving pumpkins and so here we are carving our pumpkins this year. The kids had tons of fun. The girls actually got to do some of the carving this year and Bryce love playing in the pumpkin guts! Hope your halloweens are going well and are especially spooky this year.

PS. My frames are not selling as quickly as I would like and, while I am still making them, in order to satisfy my cravings for being creative, I have decided to design my own line of personalized stationary and invitations. It is at pinkinkdesign.etsy.com and I would love love love to know what you think about the designs I have come up with so far because it will help me to design better ones in the future. I would also love to design something especially for you. Thanks!

I thought this was so so cute. It is all the creative genius of Brooke from Little Wonders. She made this for her brother for his wedding. She has a free download to make it on her website if you would like to make one yourself. She does the most amazing things.

SHE'S POTTY TRAINED!!!!! I can't express my excitement enough in words, but Kate is finally potty trained!!!!! She just woke up one day and she knew what to do. I couldn't believe it...the doctor was right. I am so happy. So is Kate. Now she gets to wear big girl undies and go to preschool! YEAH!

Yesterday we went to the corn maze at the American West Heritage Center. It was so much fun. There was a hay jump and a train ride and of course the corn maze and other little mazes. We were pretty much the only people there and had the run of the place and the kids had SO MUCH FUN! Here is a video on the Super Slide!

Fall photo shoot at the playground!

I am finding that it is hard to come up with something to blog about everyday since Kira has been in school and it has gotten so cold outside, so I guess my 365 day challenge is not going to happen, but I am still going to try to see the beauty in things everyday and blog as often as I can. :)

This made me laugh! Kira came in and asked me to write this sign for her, "Club at Kira's house. Be there and you'll get your own napkin!" Then she went and taped it to the mail box and started yelling "CLUB, CLUB." She never ceases to amaze me at the things she thinks up:)

I am SO SO EXCITED!!! I pooled all of my birthday money and bought a FLIP digital camcorder. (I am not so good with thank you cards, so here's to all of you who sent me cards and gifts for my birthday - THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love you all:) I'll still try to remember to send the cards) I have been playing with my Flip all day and, just to see how it worked, I thought I'd show all of you my Halloweeny House. Sorry if it's boring. Happy October to you all.

Lately I have been busy making more frames and after leaving the garage a huge mess for several weeks I decided to clean it up today. The girls were out playing, but Bryce was more than willing to help me:) Here he is swooshing around the sawdust that I JUST swept up and then he started throwing it all over himself. It was funny. Don't you just love how they love to help you out with things that you just really need to do alone!

Picture this: my little 5 year old, out in front of the neighbors house yelling, "vegatables for sale, vegatables for sale" as loud as she can. Then her uncle Ryan pulls up out of nowhere to visit and gives her a quarter for her veggies. She was so happy. CUTE!

What a wonderful day for a birthday! Yes, today is my 31 birthday, can you believe it? I, myself, cannot. I am now "in my 30's". Oh my goodness, time flies. Well, I couldn't have asked for a better day. I slept in and stayed in my jammies all morning (okay the jammy thing is an everyday occurance:)) got to go shopping and take a very small nap, read one of my favorite books - Twilight - and then I went on a date with my cute hubby. We went to see "Love Happens" the movie and then went to my favorite restaurant, which happens to be Blimpe, for dinner. I ate my favorite sandwich, had my favorite chips, and then ate my favorite frosted sugar cookie* (*see "things I love" on the left side of this blog). What a fun time. After we got home I went to get us all shakes - I got a fresh peach one - to end the day. My cute kids and hubby got me some fun gifts too. Some halloween socks, a magazine, and MAMA MIA the movie. I just love my birthday. Now we're off to watch MAMA MIA. Goodnight!

I am feeling so domestic today and I am excited about it! For the first time ever I canned something. And it worked, YEAH! Peaches and Pears were my fruit of choice, and my mom came and "helped" (meaning she did most of it:), but I was there too putting peaches in jars and filling them with the sugar juice stuff. What a fun thing. I was not at all excited about learning to can things, but it really was fun and so rewarding. At the end you have this finished product that is something that you made that is beautiful and yummy and can't talk back to you and call you "the worst mom ever!!!" It just is there to be admired and devoured. Thanks mom. I love you.

We have a butterfly!!! Meet Sarah the butterfly. The crysillas turned black this morning before church and by the time we got back it was a butterfly with dry wings trying to get out of the bottle. So here we are letting her go. She flew right to Kira's window - we think she was saying goodbye:) - and then she flew off into the sun. What a beautiful sight. Kira is a little sad now because her butterfly is gone, but we have assured her that we will get another one next year. Goodbye Butterfly!

I thought I'd update on Sarah the catepillar. We saw her hang in a "J" shape like the top picture and then she started to make her chrysillas (sp). Now she looks like the bottom picture. What an amazing miracle to watch this process happen. The kids have also loved it and can't wait until it turns black and then into a butterfly.

Today was Kate's first visit to the dentist and she did SO GOOD. She just opened her mouth and let them do their thing ... and.... she didn't have any cavities!! I was so happy, considering that Kira has had more cavities than I can count. I don't know what the difference is because we brush and floss their teeth the same amount and I KNOW that Kate eats more sugar than Kira. Wierd. But anyway, I am so proud of Kate and the good girl that she is. Now if we could just get her potty trained:).

I absolutley LOVE a rainy day and what could be better than splashing in the puddles! So Fun (Kate was running around somewhere:))

Well, Peach Days are over but we had so much fun at them. We went to the parade yesterday morning and it was SO LONG - as long as the Days of 47 Parade - but the best part was Bryce's cute wave to every float that went by. He just sat there waving and I was eating it up. He also loved the candy and would get out with all of the big kids to pick it up off of the street. What fun. We also had more Peach Cobbler and Perry Ice, but the BEST part of the day was when Bryce got to go on the Merry Go Round. His smile was bigger than his face and every time he would see us as he went around he would just laugh and laugh - of course I didn't have my camera for that - I could just die that I missed that photo op. Oh well, we had so much fun. Thanks Peach Days.

Okay, I now know what put the "Peach" in Peach days here is Brigham. It is the delicious, fabulously famous peach cobbler. Of all the things I could blog about Peach days -- the carosel and other rides, the kids parade, the booths full of fun things to buy, the peaches on every rode side stand, even the perry ice -- my very favorite thing has to be the peach cobbler. It was so rich and tasty that I couldn't even finish the last bite...rich, creamy (because there was vanilla ice cream melted into it), peachy, cakey, with a touch of cinnamon on top...oh the yumminess! Too bad I didn't have my camera to show you my new found love:)

They sold, they sold!!! I sold 3 frames and my window shelf!!! I can't believe it and I am so excited. Ahhh - the sweet smell of success - just kidding:) I am far from becoming a frame selling expert :) but I can now say I at least sold some. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!

Reading to her brother and sister - warms my heart:)

Meet Sarah the catepillar! Can you see her there on the leaf? What a beauty! One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of each school year when I was growing up, was going with my family to find monarch catepillars on the side of a country road and then bringing them home to watch them grow and turn into butterflies. My dad is such a nature person and loved to show us all about the wonder of nature with this experience. Each year we would also take one to school so that our class could watch the wonder of a catepillar change into a butterfly. What a fun tradition to pass on to my own kids. This weekend at the cabin my dad took Kira to go and find catepillars. They found this one and Kira named her Sarah. I am so excited to keep the tradition alive, and so is Kira:)

Well we're back and what a very fun weekend we had. Sleeping over at the cabin with grandpa and grandma, yummy food all weekend long - including grandma Jane's famous chocolate chip cookies, new toys for the kids to play with - barbies for the girls and a little garden set for Bryce (but he liked the barbie hair brushes the best:)), bear noises outside at night and a momma and baby deer walking past the window this morning, hummingbirds, camp fires and roasted marshmallows, movies and pajamas all day, hiking and a beautiful scenic drive to see the red koakanie salmon fish at Strawberry. Thank you to grandma and grandpa for a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! We loved it! (This picture is at Strawberry Res. looking at the fish and Bryce was LOVING walking with Grandma).

YUMMY! Can you smell the deliciousness! (sorry the pic is blurry:) After a LONG LONG week of Dave being gone to work A LOT and us all getting used to bus riding and school going, the kids "made" me make cookies for a fun treat. They were just the thing to start the weekend. We are also getting away and going on vacation this weekend so I'll see you next week.

I was in the house cleaning it up for the ump - teenth time today when I looked outside and found my cute Kira and her friend building this fort. Those were the days weren't they - coming home from school and playing with your friends for hours, not worried about anything except what you will have for an after school snack and who gets the best side of the fort. Enjoying the fresh air and the green grass and just letting your imagination take you away into whatever adventure you can think of. I miss those days when responsibilties were less and relaxing was more...funny thing is, I wouldn't trade those days for what I have now (most days:)) because even though I am always cleaning and picking up toys and never getting any time to myself, I love watching my own kids enjoy this time in their lives when they have no worries and are able to be themselves. It's so fun to watch them learn and grow. I just love them.

I just got home from watching the movie Julie and Julia. What a great idea. I loved the concept behind this movie and, even though it was really long and slow moving in some parts, I thought it was inspirational and I'll tell you why. Here are two women that want to do better, be better, and make something of their lives, and after searching they find something they love and they follow it. That just speaks to me. I don't know about you, but I feel that way every day. I want to find the thing that makes my heart sing and follow it. I think that we can do that in all sorts of ways and for me it is not in cooking, but in creating things. I love to create. So for me, it is finding that thing each day that I can put myself into and make better. What is it for you? What makes you feel alive? I love that we can rediscover ourselves everyday and do the things that help us to become that person that we know we can be. What a great thought to end the day. Goodnight:)

It's official! She's a kindergartener! Yea! Here she is checking herself out in the mirror, giving me the "no more pictures, mom" look, and the classic 'on the front porch' pose. We had such a fun morning getting ready, and the bus just couldn't come fast enough. I think Kira asked me about 20 times when the bus was coming and funny enough, it never came. Turns out the driver was there 20 minutes early and when no one got on he just left! Wierd huh. Oh well, we'll be ready earlier tommorrow. She got home okay and told me she had "so much fun!" playing with friends on the playground and doing things in class. Oh my, what a day!

As I sit here blogging my emotions are running wild. Tomorrow is Kira's first day of Kindergarten and I just can't believe it. I can't be old enough to have a child in school, can I? This feels so surreal.

I am so excited that she finally gets to go, for lots of reasons:
1. she is SO SO ready - she is so creative and loves to learn,

2. she can't wait to go and meet new people and have "so much fun mom" so I am excited for her socially,

3. I am excited to have 3 hours with only 2 kids - one of which will be taking a nap so really only one child:)!!!! (I know I am not the only one who feels like this:))

I am also so scared...what if she hates her teacher, what if she doesn't make any friends, what if she won't get on the bus because she is so scared herself, what if she has homework that I can't understand, what if, what if what if...

Oh well. I guess it is here so I will have to be a grown up about it. I am just so proud and excited and scared and nervous and seriously in need of some chocolate to calm me down. I'm off to the pantry.

Today we celebrated our last day of summer before school starts by going to Bear Lake. It was cloudy for most of the day but that didn't stop us. We played hard and laughed lots. What a beautiful place and so much fun! We love Bear Lake, and its Raspberry Shakes:)

I have been looking for some things to do with the kids because summer is winding down and I am all out of ideas. I feel like we've dinosaur parked, zooed, swam to death and I just needed something new to entertain them with. Then I found this list a week or two ago on simplemom.net and I loved the ideas on here for things that you can do inside. (She has more info on each of these if you want to head over there for the her original list.) I know that inside things are more for fall and winter, so here is a head start for next season.

1. Read a book
2. Write a book
3. Act out a book
4. Listen to a book
5. Make a clubhouse
6. Perform a puppet show or play
7. Have a carpet picnic or tea party
8. Make homemade playdough
9. Have the kids help you with chores
10. Bowl down the hall with toilet paper rolls as the pins and balled up socks for the ball
11. Dance around the house
12. Craft on an outdoor table cloth - paint, etc.
13. Write a letter to a friend
14. Have a simple playdate - invite a friend over
15. Play house, shop, restaurant, etc.
16. Rearrange the kids bedroom furniture
17. Make different things out of cardboard boxes
18. Go on a treasure hunt
19. Have the kids help you cook
20. Nothing - have the kids entertain themselves!

One of our favorite things to do as a family is to all climb into mom and dad's bed and cudddle or wrestle or just goof around. Usually this happens on Sunday morning, but today Dad was reading and we all piled on. Everyone was having fun at this exact moment except for Kira - Bryce just head bonked her on her head. Ouch! What are some of your favorite things to do as a family?

Perry Ice in our Pajamas at the Park - what could be better:) Have I blogged about Perry Ice before? It is the best shaved ice in the world!!! That's no lie either. I don't even like snow cones or shaved ice all that much, but this stuff is yummy. They fill up your cup with thinly shaved ice, fill that with as much juice as they can, then they top it off with a cone of more ice and cover that with even more juicy flavoring. They are DELICIOUS! If you come to visit us, remind me and we will go and get some so you can taste a piece of heaven on earth:) Kate's favorite is blue!

This has been my day - babies hanging onto my legs and ketchup on the ceiling - what more can I say?:) Is it betime yet!

One little monkey swinging in a tree, teasing Mr. Alligator can't catch me...Along comes Mr. Alligator quiet as can be a...n..d... snaps that monkey right out of that tree:) Kira loves to climb the tree in the backyard. She is always up there trying to get higher and higher.

Today I had such a fun day. My wonderful friend Jodi and her kids came to visit and it was so fun catching up and seeing them all. What a sweetheart she is, talking, listening and bringing me candy orange slices - my favorite. Aren't friends great!

Dancing in the rain...I love a rainy day and it was fun to go out with the girls and their sun-brellas and dance around...it was also really nice to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication today...what a beautiful place and a fun thing to participate in.

The last couple of days have been great for blogging entries - a trip to the dentist where Kira DIDN'T scream or cry or run away, YEA! - a trip to the Hogle Zoo with all of the new babies around: the elephant, the giraffee, the snow leopard, and some monkey babies all of which were completley adorable, although my children were not with all of the whining... - and a trip to the Ogden Temple where the primary children in our ward got to touch the temple wall - so cute! But did I remember my camera for any of these fun things. Of course not. So you get a picture of Bryce hanging in the hammock with daddy. He is a total daddy's boy and they love to just "hang" out:)

We just watched Hannah Montana the Movie and I didn't think that I would like it, but it was really cute. Here is my new theme song - it's from the movie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BWcCbQM5-4

Today is hot - the perfect day for a daddy, daughter date on the waterslide. Kate the daring, Dave the crazy and Kira the cautious! They had so so much fun going down the waterslide, just the three of them - no neighbors and no Bryce to get in the way:). Dave is such a great dad and his kids just love how much fun he is. Thanks to grandma Linda for the slide!

Today we had the chance to go down to Salt Lake to spend some time with Grandma Jane and go to Wheeler Farm. The kids had so much fun running around and seeing all of the animals. They especially loved the little playhouse, which always brings back fun memories of my own growing up years. Bryce loved all of the animals so much that with each one he threw the biggest tantrum when we would leave to see another one. What fun:) But really, it is always a lot of fun to get to go someplace you don't get to see much and we love the farm.

Enjoying a little bit of fruit with the kids from an anonymous neighbor! Yummy Yummy! It just showed up on our front porch yesterday, so thanks to whoever you are - we love a ripe, delicious canteloupe, and sharing it together even more. Happy Monday!

These flowers were given to me late last night, for our anniversary, which was 9 days ago:) We actually both forgot this year - oops! What a sweet hubby I have to finally remember! Happy Anniversary Babe. After 8 years we are both loosing our minds, but at least we're doing it together. I love you:)

I have decided to do a 365 day blogging challenge where I blog about something every day for one year. I'm sure most of the entries will be short and quick, but I think it will be fun to take more pictures and have a record of our entire year, day by day.

The very first one is of my sweet Bryce. He is 18 months on Monday and loves to be outside. He was out enjoying the grass when I snapped this one of him. One of my goals, spend more time outside with my kids enjoying the rest of the summer:)

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our own wings have trouble remembering how to fly."

I don't know who said it, but I know it's true. Thanks for all of your encouragement.

the blahs

Okay, so i'm not just blah about blogging. I'm blah about life right now. I'm not going to go into any more detail than that because I am not ready to share, but I have found some things in the last few days that have strengthened me and my resolve to be better. I thought that I would share them with you. The first is a new website called (in)courage. http://www.incourage.me/ . It is a bunch a faith inspired women (not LDS) who live in courage and I have found strength in their messages. The next are three quotes that have inspired me.
#1
The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. - Anna Quindlen


#2
Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. - Howard Thurman


#3
What is it that excites you, and gets you fired up in a positive way, and makes it impossible for you to sit still? Whatever it is fill your awareness with it. Bright, sparkling, delicious enthusiasm will get you going in a powerful, purposeful direction. Enthusiasm will keep you going strong even when nothing seems to be going your way. There's something, some goal, some dream, some intrinsic purpose that will put you in a state of irrepresible enthusiasm. Get busy, find it and connect with it because when you do your effectiveness will skyrocket. Let yourself dream your biggest, most wonderful and fulfilling dreams. Then reach in, grab the very esscense of those dreams and you'll have a handful of priceless enthusiasm. The best that you can imagine is already within you. So bring it to the surface and let it positivley infect your whole world. Find your own unique, joyful and powerful enthusiasm. And let it carry you to magnificent places. - Ralph Marston

24th of July

I have been kindof Blah on Blogging latley. Not really been taking many pictures either. I think I will take a little blogcation. But before I go, here are my pictures of the 24th of July. We slept over at grandma jane's the night before and got up early to go to the parade downtown. It was long and hot, but also lots of fun to be there with grandma, grandpa, amy and the cousins.
Here is Bryce with cookie on his face.

Here is Kate as her usual charming and happy self:)

And Kira, enjoying the whole thing, especially the princesses. Have a great rest of the summer.