Summer Camping is the Best!

Escalante Trip 2011 was soo much fun!! Everyone say "We Love Camping!"The girls were pretty good travelers and we were so happy to be on the road and heading south for a week full of adventure!Pictures of the scenery on the fly. The ride down is gorgeous!The girls could not wait for the first four-wheeler ride in their new helmets and we of course loaded up the fishing gear and headed to the lake. Cute stinkers!!Miah caught her first fish on her princess pole and it was a beauty! She didn't like the fish flipping everywhere. I couldn't get her to come near it for a great picture. In the background is her nervous sister who after this first fishing experience basically didn't want anything to do with fishing. She just wanted to watch from a distance.You have got to love Poppy with the tiny pink pole in his hand! It's a princess pole!

Proud Fisherwoman!Poppy and the girls. Poppy was great help fishing. By the time we got there Poppy and Ryder had caught their limit.One of the mornings Kayleb stayed at camp with the girls and let me go to lake with my dad and fish my favorite rock and dad and I were busy catching them all morning.There is always a possibility of bears where we camp and fish so this year for safety I carried around a mini air horn that I call my bear horn just in case I got in a tight spot. Everyone laughed at me, but I really think everyone will be carrying one next year:)We also while we were fishing spotted some turkeys across the lake and pulled our poles in and went stalking them. We got pretty close but they are fast. That was pretty fun. I am not the best stalking partner or I guess I'm not that quiet. I stepped on a log that was laying across some other logs and it totally busted and I went down. Ha. I am super stealth.We went to Devil's Rock Garden one afternoon and then went to Calf Creek to cool off in the creek. Mazie was walking around the rocks and said,"It is hot in the desert." Yes it is. The kids had a blast climbing and swimming. We got some great family pics too.Nice farmers tan. I was trying to stay out of the pic. Cute kids though! The water was pretty cold, but so much fun. We walked up and down the creek and spotted fish and cooled off from the desert.Look out that face looks like all business. BB gun shooting with Dad and Poppy. Mazie hit the can too!Parade time and we took our regular spot in the intersection.Grandpa and Grandma Great and Nan and Brittles and Syd camped with us too, but I really didn't get any pics at camp of everyone. The kids had a great time playing with Syd. She was so good to them! Thanks Syd!! Grandma would always let the filthy crew in her trailer to visit and they loved it! We really had a great camp. The weather was perfect and the ages of the kids were so much fun. They are just big enough to really enjoy it. On the way home the girls would cry when we said we were going home. They wanted to go back to camp and sleep in the trailer. Hope we can go again soon! Lots of work, but oh so worth it!

Happy Birthday Girlies!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my most favorite girls!! I am so in love with these two cuties and I can't believe that they are three years old! They are so fun and crazy! They surprise me with what they do, say, and understand. Miah is the Mom of the two and she loves barking orders to anyone and everyone. She gets told a lot that she is not the mom to which she quickly responds with, "Mom, I'm not talking like a mom I am talking like a sister!" Oh help me!! She loves purple and loves to sing in her monotone voice. She is a really good helper and cracks me up with the things she comes up with. The other day we were running errands and she asked where we were going next and I told her then she informed me that she needed to go to the Barbie Place cuz she need to go dere. I didn't even know she really knows what Barbie is. Miah is a little bit of a whiner about everything. She gives the best hugs and is a silly beautiful girl. Mazie is full of life and a sweetie! She loves to dance is a bit of an airhead and just flits around making up random things to say. She loves pink and loves volunteering her sister for whatever I ask someone to do. "Miah do it."she says. She came down the stairs on their birthday and there was balloons and banners and streamers and she asked me if I did the ribbons in the kitchen for her birthday. I told her I did and she said,"It is so gorgeous mom. I love it. It is gorgeous!" She always wakes up with a smile and is generally happy. She is the tattle tale of the two and loves telling on people. Even Mom and Dad. When she gets mad she stomps around making sure everyone knows she is upset. If we ignore her she comes around hemming and haaing to make sure we know she is not happy. I just ignore her so she will do it because it is sooo funny to watch it. I love this sweet gorgeous girlie who gives the best BIG kisses! Now, truly I have to report on them as a whole to because that is what they really are. They are the best friends and the worst enemies. It can change on a moments notice. When they are playing house I will here them calling mom and so I will answer, wrong, they inform me they are talking to their other mom. Oh sorry my bad. They still have some times when they are the only ones that understand each other and they have the most hilarious random conversations and make up silly songs. Both of them have a new love of riding the four-wheeler. They got helmets for their birthday. They watch out for each other most of the time and are so fun. They are so big and clearly not babies anymore...tears. I love them so much and am so grateful for my "precious treasures", because that is what they truly are! Happy Birthday Girlies!! They got to spend the day swimming and playing in the water with most of their cousins that they adore. We had lots of fun with water balloon fights, slip'n slides, and little pools.We had a family party that night were they were spoiled rotten by grandparents and family. Thanks everyone for coming.

Slacker!

Okay, I have been getting a lot of comments in recent family parties that I have been neglecting my blog. Really there hasn't been much to blog about. The girls and I have just been waiting for the weather to make up it's mind. We have been attempting and failing at potty training. Many tears have been shed, lots of puddles were made, and it mainly consisted of me on my knees with the spotbot cleaner fuming and mumbling under my breath when I wasn't yelling at my darling girls. I think I have aged ten years. I have new wrinkles on under my eyes and I found an unsightly gray hair on my head and plucked it immediately. We have attempted potty training again and this time with success. The girls in potty training round 1 were offered a fabulous prize of their very own bike if they would fill their potty chart that I made them with stickers to which the response was, "I can't want a bike Mommy, I just want diapers." Great. No matter how pretty the panties were or how great the prize was or how sweet the treat was I could not persuade my stubborn sweethearts. I don't know what happened, but a few weeks later they just decided and after a week of intense work we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and enjoying it thanks to all the help of Grandma's and Grandpa's and Dad and my sweet sister-in-law who understands my pain and brought me a much needed refreshment on a stressful day. We are doing well and both Miah and Mazie have their bikes now and they were the cutest things going shopping for them. I love them so much and to see how excited they were brings tears of happiness! I am so proud of them and can't believe how fast they are growing up. I loved to see how they supported each other and never failed to tell each other "great job" and say "what a big girl you are." Priceless moments. Pure joy when Miah finally got the chance to get on that super cool bike! Sadness when she figured out she has to make it go on her own power and it is hard to do. Then the whining began again and more training and yelling. I told Kayleb I had done the hard work and this was his department. He only lasted about 5 minutes. We are still working on how to pedal. Does it ever end...Ha Ha! Cute little stinker!Mazie earned her bike a day later than Miah and so the anticipation of getting it put together was so exciting. She was soo cute. Miah was a good helper too.
Mazie was thrilled to get on her very own bike and then just as her sister did, realize to her disappointment that it requires more learning. She is practicing hard to make it work. She is such a cute girl!

Time With Dad!

Kayleb got new tires on his four-wheeler and the girls were out "helping" him put them on. Afterwards they got to go for a ride around the yard. They loved it! It took Mazie a minute to get brave enough to go for a ride, but once she saw Miah and Dad drive away she wanted on and she wanted to sit by Daddy. Miah thought she was really driving and that she was in charge. She thinks she is always in charge. She pointed to the gas cap and said it needed more soup. When I got home from the grocery store she came immediately up the stairs to ask me if I got more soup for the four-wheeler. Who knew that is what ATVs run on. Silly girlie! They loved hanging outside with Dad for a little while or until the four-wheeler ran out of soup. Great Saturday!

Snow Day!

Well the winter blues were not so blue today. The girls and I this morning decided that we would get all bundled up and go out in the snow. We had a really great time building a snowman, throwing snow, and just being outside. The girls don't really have any "snow clothes" but we made due with our pajamas, coats, hats, gloves, and boots. Snow boots are the only thing as far as snow clothes that they have. The gloves they have are too small and soak up the water but, we made due. Buddy had fun playing with us too. He only had to go to his kennel once for being naughty. I think he had the blues too because we don't go out to play with him very much in the cold. Anyway we loved the snow today and I had to talk the girls into coming inside after an hour. I could see that their pajama pants were getting pretty wet. Thanks for having fun with me today in the snow girls!

Winter Blues!

Okay, since the day after Christmas we have been battling ear infections and colds one right after the other. We have been couped up in our house and missed 2 weeks of preschool and church and we can't go to anyone else's house so we don't share our sickness and needless to say we were ready to get OUT! Last Monday my mom didn't have work so we gathered bouncy balls and basketballs and Ryder and Jax and went to Jeano's church and just let the kids run. It was a good 20 minutes until they even got a little tired and took a rest. The rest didn't last long and they were off again. It was so fun to let them just run and play and work some energy off. We are so ready for warmer weather and cleaner air so we can go play outside. Meanwhile in the weeks of being couped up in the house I decided to learn to french braid since I was running out of ideas for the girls hair. I got on youtube and found a video that taught me how to french braid and since then I have been trying to perfect it. My first few attempts were not pretty but, I am getting better and for the most part it holds well in the girls hair. We did go to church one week to listen to Kayleb speak. He did a great job. I got lots of comments on what a great talk he gave. I am very grateful for him and his worthiness to hold the priesthood and for his testimony. I hope that spring will soon be here and the blues go away and we don't get too stir crazy until then. Most gorgeous girls ever! This is one of my french braid attempts. This one so far I think is the cutest

Going to church. Look'in Good!

Christmas Day Fun!

Christmas was lots of fun with a couple of two year olds that were just beginning to understand. They were excited to set out some cookies and milk for Santa and of course some carrots for the reindeer, but after we set them out and were posing for a picture they decided they were hungry and grabbed the carrots and started chomping down on them. I said "Hey wait a minute what are the reindeer going to eat?" Miah said,"These carrots Mom." Pointing to the few carrots left on the stool. I just had to laugh at how stink'in cute these two are! We had a great Christmas and yes Santa found our house and we had a great relaxing morning. Poppy and Grandma Jean came over and had breakfast and played with us. It was fun to just spend the morning home and enjoy playing with the girls! After the relaxing morning we got ready to make the rounds. We went to Papa and Grandma Walters and it is always so much fun to play with all the cousins and Nel. After a few hours they started to get tired so we left and made a stop at Great Grandma and Grandpa Greats and then finished with dinner at Poppy and Grandma Jean's house. We had such a great Christmas spending time with family and enjoying our little family. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and it was so great to hear from a lot of you through cards and letters. We tried to teach the girls the true meaning of Christmas and if you ask Miah, "Why do we have Christmas?" she will say, "To remember Jesus." We are so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and know that our Father in Heaven knows us and watches over us and is with us to guide us if we put our trust in him and he sent his only begotten son to set the perfect example for us and to suffer and to die for us so we may return home someday. He lives and loves us and we are so grateful for his presence in our lives.We hope you all feel him in your life as well. Merry Christmas!Carrot eaters! Poor reindeer had to split the leftovers!The exciting moment of coming down the stairs! It took them a minute when they got downstairs to realize that there was some toys for them. They once again got hung up on the cookies and milk stool. They couldn't believe they were gone and that Santa had eaten the cookies and drank all the milk! WOW! They are just cute little maids. Good thing Grandma Jean and Poppy got them some cleaning tools. I get lots of help cleaning now.They got an awesome tent maze from Papa and Grandma. They love it!!I love this pic of a very tired Mazie zoned in a whatever game Cole was playing. Sweet Cole just letting her lean on him and watch over his shoulder. Cute kiddos!
This is our attempt at a family photo. Too bad the video camera wasn't rolling, I'm sure that would have been some comical footage!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent in two places. Grandma and Grandpa C had everyone over and we spent it eating, laughing, and reflecting on our Savior's birth. We had great food and it was fun to see everyone. The most fun though was when we got to talk to Toddie! We ran from the party up to my moms to talk to him on the computer. He was able to see us and it was so great to hear his voice. He is doing so well and is such a great example to us. All the kids talked to him and I think he was blown away on how much they have all grown. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for everything. We had a great time! I didn't get any great pics I am really bad lately with the camera.

Christmas Parties!

We had lots of fun at our family Christmas Parties. We had two on the same night. At the Christensen's Party the girls had a blast playing with all the kids and getting to meet Santa and get a present from him. Mazie was excited to see him, but no way was she going to sit on his lap. You can't blame her though. Miah was all for it so she could get a present. After dinner and Santa we went to the Greenwood party for dessert and of course the famous snowball fight and some classic white elephant exchange. Scott made off with the best. I only got a picture of the first doozy he got. He got traded and picked the best white elephant of all time!! Jenny came with some winners. I didn't get any good pics of the girls we were all too busy throwing snowballs at each other. Thanks to all of our great family for great Christmas memories. Scott with his first prize which was swiped by Meg who was planning on scaring the primary kids into being quiet with the creepy puppet. Also doesn't he look snug in his pink snuggie?
Everybody was gearing up for the snowball fight. We all had our tins of snowballs. We only broke a few ornaments.

The girls were so excited to open their first present from Santa. Tinkerbell and a grasshopper. They loved it. So much fun!

This is as close as Mazie would get to Santa.

Miah never smiled really while she was on his lap, but was super brave especially because he had a present for her.