Our Crazy Life

Snowman making

2012-01-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

I kept promising Addy that once it finally snowed we could go out and build a snowman. Well, that day finally came last week. We were getting ready to go to the library for story time and I opened the front door to start the car and realized it had been snowing and quite a lot. So instead of going to the library in the snowstorm, we shoveled the driveway and then made a snowman...or three.

She was so good about rolling the snowballs and then I would help her stack them.

Here are our Daddy, Mommy and Addy snowmen.

Sadly, they only looked like this for about 30 minutes and then my neighbor drove past and the Daddy snowman fell down. We still blame her for his death. It just couldn't have been the great construction job we did! The next day the carrots had fallen out and someone with a lot of creativity took all the sticks and stuck them in the momma's head like crazy hair. Then the day after that the little snowman got knocked over.

She wanted me to take one with her posing...notice the knee popped and the toe pointed. I promise she didn't watch Miss America so I'm not sure where this came from.

Once we got too cold, we came inside and Addy continued with the snowman making by creating one out of marshmallows. She was also in a pretty silly mood and did not want to show her face for the camera!

I just love her craziness.

House

2012-01-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Definition: a. A structure serving as a dwelling for one or more persons, especially for a family.

I think a couch makes a great house. Each of those pillows she said were her rooms.

b. Something, such as a burrow or shell, that serves as a shelter or habitation for a wild animal.

The laundry bag definitely makes a great shell for a wild animal!

Gotta love the imagination of a three year old.

It happened...

2012-01-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

So you know how sometimes you hear horror stories about things other kids do and you think, 'oh my kid would never do that'. Well when I'd hear stories of other kids cutting their own hair, I always thought 'Addy would never do that'.

Imagine my surprise when I walk into the bathroom to clean and find a glob of hair on the counter. My first thought was 'Oh my goodness what has she done' then I tried to calm myself by saying at least it wasn't that much hair so it was going to be okay.

Then I turn around to clean the shower and I open the curtain to find, you guessed it ...more hair!!! I couldn't believe it. I was completely shocked that my kid would do something like this but I wasn't all at the same time. It was a strange feeling.

So of course I yelled for her to come this instant and I tried really hard to find patience and when I saw her...I couldn't help but laugh (inside of course because I didn't want her to think it was funny). I can't even remember what I told her but I really hope this never happens again.

So this is Addy's new look. Pretty great and oh so sad because it was finally starting to thicken up and look so cute. Oh well I guess we just take the good with the bad.

Later it dawned on me that she'd told me a couple of times that her bangs were bugging her. And I should've realized that since this is the kid who freaks out when the seam of her socks is poking into her foot(seriously freaks out about that, we have to turn the socks inside out or she won't go anywhere...it is madness) or when her sleeves get stuck in the arms of her coat or if any cloth item is scratchy...you get the idea. So of course she is going to be bugged that her hair is in her face and since mom hadn't done anything about it, she was gonna do it mineself.

Hardware Ranch

2012-01-12T08:34:00.000-08:00

For our last adventure of the week, we drove up to Hardware Ranch. They have a bunch of elk that come down to feed in the winter. We learned that they aren't a refuge because they don't care for the elk or fence them in, they just feed them to keep them out of the Cache Valley.

So we road out in the wagon to get an up close look at the animals. This was for sure the closest I've ever been to an elk. Well, an alive one. They taught us a lot about elk of which I don't really remember much but Mitch did make sure to teach me exactly where to shoot them, you know just in case I ever get that chance (no thanks).

While we were waiting in line, a whole new herd came walking in so we got to see about 150 at least I think that's what they said. A few days earlier they had about 350 but with the warm weather not as many had come down from the mountain.

Addy enjoyed looking at the elk, but she was WAY more interested in the horses.

This was lot of fun and I think it would be neat to go back out when there is lots more snow so we can see the whole herd. On the way home, we stopped and saw my brother in Logan and then went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. One of our favorites but since it was also new years eve, it was soooo busy. As for the rest of the evening, we pretty much went back and were so tired we all went to bed early. So we were party-poopers on New Years Eve but I was one of the few people at church the next morning who wasn't tired!

Jazz game

2012-01-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

Another fun thing we did while down in Utah, was going to the season opener for the Jazz. Since it was their first home game they did an extra big opening. I was really surprised when they started lighting off a bunch of fireworks but it was pretty neat. As for the actual game, well I'm no sports critic but they won so in my book it was a good game!

Girly Girls

2012-01-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

I'd say the dress ups, hair stuff and makeup were a huge hit this Christmas. These two spent a lot of time in the bathroom making themselves beautiful. It was serious business.

Banana Derby

2012-01-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

My mom got a banana derby kit in her stocking for Christmas and luckily Santa also left a lot of bananas in the pantry. So on Monday night we had lots of fun decorating our bananas for the races.

Alex was our bracket producer. He made sure it was random and official.

Addy and I shared a banana. She decorated and I put the wheels on. This may be why we didn't do so well in the competition.

She was pretty proud of that sticker-covered banana and yes, she wears dress ups all day every day.

Let the games begin!!!

Our cheerleaders! We banned them to the stairs and they may have even been yelled at to keep there hands and feet off the wood floor. It was a pretty intense race!

Our overall winner! His banana even did a little wee-lee turn action.

The best day of the Year!

2012-01-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

BEWARE: this may be the longest post of all time!

Christmas morning has to be the best morning of the whole year. Addy came running into our room at about 7 "i think santa came, santa I heard him". So we all went to check the milk and cookies and since they'd been mostly eaten, we turned on the lights in the living room and Santa had surely come. I showed Addy her stocking and she picked up the pink bear and said, "Santa remembered" it was so cute. Then she sorta got distracted because everyone else was looking at what they got and she wanted to see too. We slowly would pull things out and she'd go show Gracie or someone else. This year some of the things Santa brought were: Chutes and Ladders, the book Pinkalicious, clothes, a christmas dress, black boots, barbie fairy, small toy story figurines, bracelets, minnie mouse coloring pages, fairy paper dolls, princess lip gloss and nail polish, the pink bear, and some treats. Santa knew we weren't going to be opening our presents from under the tree until 4:00 so he kinda loaded up the stocking this year.

Coloring our minnie pages before church.

Gotta love the two sides of my kid!

Sadly we never got pictures in our Sunday clothes before church. Addy was having a super-duper meltdown because her dress was too scratchy. It took her a good half hour to calm down which was about 2 minutes before we had to leave so we thought we would just take some when we got home. Of course we remembered after we'd all changed and Addy was taking a nap. So it goes.

We spent the afternoon playing games we'd gotten from Santa, doing our nails with this awesome kit my sister got, and coloring with the kids.

Then at about 4:00 my brother showed up so we gathered for presents. I didn't take any pictures of us sitting on Santa's lap but we all did it.

This is Addy's song. She made it up so you really can't hear or understand the words but it was still cute.

These kids were just a little excited!

They helped grandpa santa pass out all the presents.

And then we each took a turn opening them up.

a pink bah-bie.

Mitch didn't want Chelsea to be able to guess what was inside the box so he tapped two boxes together with lots of duct tape.

Bah-bie makeup, hair stuff and a dress up. Yes, barbie is quite important at our house right now!

Addy gave Mitch a Dremel tool. He was pretty thrilled with her choice.

Princess dress ups from grandma and grandpa.

She was thrilled!!

Mitch got spoiled with a new sander and skil saw. He totally deserved them!

I got a yoga mat and yoga socks. Now my carpet won't get sweat soaked anymore.

Last of all, Addy got to open the biggest present of all time.

A dollhouse for all her barbies, made by her dad! Have no fear, I will be posting more about this amazing house later on because it truly deserves its own post.

/sigh of relief/, She LOVED it.

After playing and cleaning up a little bit, we gathering in the kitchen and opened our poppers, adorned our crowns, told our jokes and ate a delicious feast.

I'd say it was a Christmas to remember.

Decorating with food

2012-01-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

Addy was such a great help this year with our neighborhood goody plates. There was still a lot of licking of spoons and fingers which meant a lot of washing of spoons and fingers, but I was pretty impressed with her patience with all the baking we did.

Just look at the concentration while she helps with the cherries.

These melting snowman cookies were a new addition this year. I loved how they all turned out.

We also decorated a gingerbread house a few weeks ago for FHE. Addy loved it because I didn't care what she put on her side of the house. So she just put on as much candy as she possibly could. While saying, "This is so much fun!"

Christmas Eve Eve and Eve

2012-01-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we went down to my parents and ended up staying for the whole break! We weren't planning on staying so many days but we were just having to much fun being spoiled. The first night we got down, we went to a cemetery in Ogden who puts out luminaries. There were so many, it just went on and on. I couldn't get a good picture but it was pretty neat-o.

The kids loved it because they stuck their heads out the window the whole time (even though it was freezing) yelling at "us" in the car behind. After seeing the luminaries, we went and drove around south weber looking at christmas lights. We saw a couple of houses with the lights that went with the music and I think it sparked some ideas in Mitch. Maybe in 5-10 years we will have musical lights!

On Christmas Eve, we went over to visit with my grandma for a bit and then on the way back we stopped at the Layton lights. I knew Addy would love them. On the way I asked what she wanted to see and she said, "an angel by a christmas tree" and I said and angel and a christmas tree and she corrected me and said "by a christmas tree". Luckily they had an angel with a christmas tree so it was a happy day.

Back at the house, we had some hot chocolate with pink marshmallows and whip cream. This was heaven for Addy. Then Addy opened up her Christmas jammies.

And totally loved them because they had princesses all over them! I think she has worn them every night since.

Then grandpa read the Christmas story and Addy used the nativity pieces to show us what happened in the story. For the next hour she played with that nativity while we read a couple other stories. She would line then all up with the baby Jesus in the front and then she would put the baby Jesus in the middle and gather everyone around as tight as possible. It was really cute to watch.

After stories were read, we put out our stockings for Santa, along with our cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. Then it was off to bed for the little ones.

It's Party Time

2012-01-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

So here goes the first of many Christmas posts to come. This was our friend/neighbor party that we do every year. Always a fun time but it is getting a lot harder to think of new fun and exciting games we can play. Don't worry I searched long and hard and came up with several quite humorous ones. The first was turning your partner into a snowman by using a full roll of toilet paper, a scarf, hat and a few circles for buttons.

Once your snowman was completely built, together you had to sing "Once there was a Snowman".

Our 1st place winners!

For our next game, each pair had to blow up 10 balloons,

then stuff 5 balloons into each leg of a pair of nylongs,

Then put the nylons on your head and sing "Rudolf, the red nose Reindeer". I also was going to have a red clown nose for each 'reindeer' but I couldn't find the safe spot I put them last.

Of course we had a reindeer fight as well!

For our last game, we played christmas pictionary. Instead of using dry erase markers, we used frosting instead. We also were drawing lyrics to well-known Christmas songs instead of just christmas words. It made it a little more difficult.

Then of course we had our white elephant gift exchange. This year I gave a fish. It was a great gift which nobody wanted because we were all going out of town for Christmas so no one was going to be around to feed it!

Thanks to all our fantastic neighbors who aren't afraid to put nylon antlers on their head and be a little crazy. We truly are lucky to live where we do!

Christmas is coming

2011-12-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

and if you can't tell, this little girl is just a tinsy bit excited!!!

(Feel free to skip this next part, it is just my random thoughts and things I want to remember. I'm sure it is really boring for the rest of you!)

This is such a fun time of year, especially when you are a kid (or mom!) We have been doing lots of fun Christmas stuff lately and it is all exciting and fun.

One of my favorite things is listening to Addy sing christmas songs. Her favorite is Santa Claus is Coming to Town. When it comes on the radio she always says, 'Yipee, my favorite!" and tries to sing along. Here are two links since I can't get the videos to upload on blogger. The first is her practice try but I thought it was too funny. This one is a little bit better!

I also love that she isn't afraid of Santa (it could be the fact that she gets a candy cane). She's gone a couple times to sit on his lap and she just walks right up and tells him she wants a pink bear and once it was a pink barbie. Hopefully she doesn't come up with anything else because I'm all done shopping.

This year I've also started a tradition of reading a christmas story by the tree every night and then we take off a day on our advent calendar. Tonight Addy turned to me as I was reading and said, "this story is too long." I think she was ready for her treat in the calendar.

We've also gone on a couple drives looking at christmas lights around town. It is one of my favorite things and I'm glad Addy loves it too because then it is easier to convince the hubby. Since we are just going slow through the neighborhoods, we don't make Addy sit in her chair. So she goes back and forth from window to window looking at all the lights and saying, "ohh I love that one", "let me see, let me see", "this is sooo much fun", "more lights", "i love this", etc. On one of our drives we saw a house with a blow up Grinch and for the rest of the time in the car she kept asking to go back to the "winch house".

Lastly, the other day Addy had a friend over to play and I was upstairs tidying up my bathroom and bedroom when I hear Addy telling her friend about Mary, Joseph, the Wisemen and the baby Jesus. I really wish that I would've written down what she was saying because it was so cute but I didn't and now I can't remember. So sad.

Well I think that is all I can remember for the moment.

Till next time.

11-11-11

2011-11-16T08:17:00.001-08:00

At 11:11 on 11-11-11' we celebrated with a little last minute brunch. Complete with a hot chocolate toast to this once in a lifetime day!

Mitch only worked for about an hour in the morning and so after our celebratory feast, he spent the day checking things off his honey-do-list. It was a great day!

Halloween the final chapter

2011-11-14T11:16:00.001-08:00

On Halloween day, I took Addy and one of her friends to the library for a special story time and trick or treating. Sadly, I didn't have my camera so no pictures. It was a good little practice for Addy to learn to say 'trick or treat' to get a candy and then thank you.

Later in the afternoon, we went over to the church for our big neighborhood trunker treat.

It is so nice to have friends that dress up with us!

After the trunker treat, I had Addy take our traditional Halloween picture with the pumpkins. Too bad this year's pumpkin is a little wilted and moldy.

Then we went over to a neighbors for some pizza and mingling. It was kind of weird not to be at our house handing out candy because I'm one of those crazy people who actually enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up. But it was also fun to socialize and Addy had fun playing with all the kids.

I'm not going to say much about these next two pictures, accept it wouldn't be Halloween without a little trickery!!!

Cookies

2011-11-14T11:06:00.001-08:00

The Sunday before Halloween, I'd made some sugar cookies for my YW as part of my lesson. With the left over dough, we made some halloween cookies. After dinner we had fun decorating them.

Addy sort of ate as she decorated. She would frost a cookie and then eat it. No sense in wasting time.

Don't these look professional!

We made quite a team. I would frost them and Mitch would add all the extra faces and such.

Addy really wanted me to take pictures of her silly faces while she held her cookies.

This one is her cat.

And this one is a bat.

Adam's Canyon

2011-11-14T10:36:00.001-08:00

While we were down in Utah for the weekend, I convinced Mitch to hike up Adam's Canyon with me and my mom. He really didn't want to go because there was a BYU football game on in the early afternoon and he didn't think we would make it back in time for kickoff. I promised we would hurry so we could make it back.

So we started out and I'd totally forgotten just how steep that beginning part of the trail was. We were panting from the get go while my mom was running up the switch backs.

It was so pretty this time of year with all the changing colors.

The bridge marks the half way point!

I'd totally forgotten just how steep and rocky some of those places are on the trail.

Hooray!!! We made it to the waterfall. Since we were in a hurry to get back, we literally took a couple of pictures and off we went back down the trail.

Taking one quick break.

This man was a serious trooper.

We didn't quite make it back in time for kickoff and it was a little more strenuous of a hike than I remembered. So I'm not sure he is going to trust me and my choice of hikes for awhile. I'm just glad that we were able to get out and enjoy the fall colors and scenery.

Halloween Party

2011-11-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

It is the annual family Halloween party!!

This year we came as Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell.

I'd say we are pretty dang cute.

Here we have a blind referee, mulan and two witches.

Two little pumpkins.

These costumes were also handmade and they turned out so cute.

A zombie and a very dapper young man.

Two big booty teachers. They also gave out stickers if you were good!

And this is everyone on my side of the family.

Pretty scary family photo!

My mom loves to be creepy and scary on Halloween.

For the party we mingled and mauled the baby.

Ate lots of delicious food and played bunko.

Had our donuts on a string competition.

Just as a side note. I told Addy she couldn't use her hands when started the round. So she decided to get a head start by taking an early bite.

Then the first thing she does when we say go, she grabs her donut and just starts chowing down.

And we also sang Happy Birthday to my dear brother.

Check out the cool spider cake I made for him. It looks really tilted in this picture but that could be because we drove three hours with it sitting on the floor of the car. I was pretty amazed to just have it standing.

Like every year, we had lots of fun. It is always nice to see some of the extended family that we don't get to see too often. And it is always nice to have something else to wear our costumes to.

Annual Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

This year for our pumpkin carving we decided to just do one pumpkin. When we did two last year it just took way too long. So I thought lets do one now and another one just before Halloween. Sounds great, except it never happened. We ended up with only one carved pumpkin that was all wrinkly and molded on Halloween. Oh well, at least we had one.

These are the only two pictures I took of the actual carving and they make it look like Mitch did all the work. Rest assured that really it was all me! I even cleaned out most of the guts.

And the kids ran around playing and eating treats. Maybe next year Addy will be able to help/care a little more.

Our weird looking pumpkin! He kinda fits in with us.

Stylin'

2011-11-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

This girl has some serious style! I love to see the outfits she picks out in the mornings. They are usually rocker-ish. I've tried to teach her about matching and show her what shirts and pants go together. Sometimes I'm just happy to see her be so carefree because I know it won't last forever.

This is the face of someone who just got caught drawing in the living room.

We quickly fixed that problem and got situated at the table.

Her new favorite thing is to do faces while I take pictures so she can look at them after. So although it looks like she is sticking her tongue out at me, it is just a silly face.

But check out the leopard pants, jammy shirt, church shoes, one glove (my guess is she couldn't get the other one on), and baby headband.

We are very proud parents!

Canning

2011-11-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

This was one of those super duper proud of myself moments. I actually followed through with something that I'd been saying I was wanting to do for a couple of years. Mostly it just took a couple years to get the courage up and a neighbor letting me borrow all of her stuff, but I finally taught myself how to can spaghetti sauce.

I kinda forgot to take a picture of all the tomatoes in the bags and the pile of skinned/cored tomatoes. So here they are after being pureed. Aren't they so pretty?

Here is the sauce after I'd added all the seasonings and such. It smelled and tasted soooo good. This is the recipe I used.

This was the scariest part for me. I had no idea how to use a pressure cooker and I was so worried that it was going to explode because it really sounds like it might. My neighbor may have gotten just a few random silly questions. Like how do I keep the pressure from getting too high? Duh...turn the heat down. But I learned so I won't have to be afraid for next year. Just as a side note, it really is okay to wear your jammies and totally not be ready for the day when you are canning because it makes a real big mess and who wants to get spaghetti stains all over your nice clothes.

And for those of you wondering what Addy was doing in the midst of all this chaos. Well she was outside playing with a roll of tape that she'd found. I guess the swing set needed a little fixing up.

My finished product.

Yes it is beautiful and I let it sit on my counter for quite awhile so I could admire all my hard work.

I know what I am asking Santa for this Christmas.

(hint, hint)

Mitch's Birthday

2011-10-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

We celebrated another birthday a few weeks ago! It wasn't nearly as planned or as fun as last year. I guess turning 31 just isn't as cool as turning 30. Oh well. He did get a great cake made specially by me.

I took it down to where he works and we had a surprise party with family.

After the party, Addy went and played with her cousins while we went shopping for a suit which turned into suits. Now when he gets ready for church he always asks if he can wear his birthday suit. Hehe...I'm sure you are laughing just as hard as I was...or wasn't. Gotta love that man of mine.

Snow

2011-10-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yep, that is right.

We've already had snow this year.

I really shouldn't be surprised because it happens every year.

But I was.

Just like every year.

So we stayed in our jammies all day because there really was no need to get ready. Then once it stopped I pulled out the winter coat and gloves and let Addy out to play.

At least someone in our house was having fun. Maybe next time I'll be a better mom and go out and play with her instead of just standing in the doorway. Just maybe,

the BIG girl bed

2011-10-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

You know how when you first get married you think you know everything about each other. Then it really doesn't take long before you realize that was not the case. Well, probably about a year ago Mitch told me he has always let me say that again always wanted to have a wood shop. This was news to me. In the 6 years we'd been married I'd never heard anything about wanting to build things. Being the great wife that I am (hehe) I said something along the lines of 'keep dreaming'.

Then just last month, we realized that we were going to need to move our twin mattress into Addy's room to make room for another bed in the guest room. I started looking online for a bed frame that we could get but I just wasn't finding anything that I liked for the amount of money I was willing to spend.

In my searching, I came across this website ana-white.com. It is a wood working site that has tons of different plans and projects of things to build around the house. I started looking at the beds and found a couple I liked so I had Mitch check it out and it was like a dream come true. Next thing I know we are at Home Depot buying wood and then he came home from work with a new saw and the project was officially started.

Seriously, he was in heaven.

While we sanded and painted, this little lady ran around playing and having a great time.

The almost finished bed. Just letting the last coat of paint dry.

The finished product.

We absolutely love it. Now I am just waiting for my new bar stools!! I guess the garage has turned into our new wood shop!

Our trip to Utah

2011-10-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Addy and I went down to Utah last week so we could meet Katelynn. She is my new little niece and we just love her to pieces. I couldn't believe how tiny she still was at 4 weeks and how good of a baby she is. I swear she never cries...even when you try to make her cry, she still doesn't...not that I tried or anything!

Addy even thought she was pretty cute. Although she would start saying something about her and then stop and say, "what'n her name again?"

Let's be honest though, I think she was most excited about playing with Gracie.

We had a really fun visit, as you will see in the next few posts, and were able to spend lots of time visiting with the family.

Swimming

2011-10-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

One of the afternoons we went over to the Clearfield pool and swam around. It was such a fun pool because they had a big area for the kids to swim around and I didn't get any pictures of the actual play toy part but it was pretty neat. They also had a small little lazy river to float around and a big slide that we found out the kids could sit on our laps and go down. Plus a hot tub so my mom was able to run back and forth between swimming with the kids and keeping herself warm. The kids weren't allowed in it so I would occasionally take Addy into the warm shower to keep her from freezing. Anyways we didn't stay long because we forgot to bring snacks for the girls so when dinner time came around we had to leave.

These girls sure loved the big slide!

Back up they go for another round of sliding.

And little miss Katelynn was an angel baby and just slept the whole time we were swimming.

the Dinosaur Park

2011-10-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

While we were down in Utah, we went over to the Dinosaur Park. It had been forever since I'd been and I really thought Addy would like it. Turns out I she really didn't like looking at all the dinosaurs, they were just a little too scary. Although it was mostly my fault because when we were driving in the car I told her to be careful because the dinosaurs might come to life, etc.

From the parking lot you can see some of the dinos so trying to take a picture by the sign was impossible. I tried several times but they all turned out the same so I gave up on getting a good one.

Another part of the problem why she thought it was scary was right when you walk in is the big scene where one of the dinosaurs is getting eaten and they have loud scary growling sounds playing. Needless to say, she was not to excited to turn around for this picture!

After awhile she figured out they weren't really real so she actually touched this one.

Then we came around the corner to this beast of a dinosaur and she was back to being scared. She's not even posing in this picture.

We walked around a little bit more and then she started whining lots and told me that "I not like this place" so we went and dug for dinosaur bones. That was a lot more fun and not so scary.

Once again, she wouldn't stand under the dinosaur but this is the entrance to the kid playing area. I just love how huge the dinosaur is.

These girls played all over that kid land area. I think it changed Addy's mind of the dinosaur park. It really was a fun place after all.

Of course the pink dinosaur was a favorite. I think I have 5 different pictures of this one dinosaur!

Hehe...she makes such a cute caveman, doesn't she?

More of the Birthday Girl

2011-09-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

So these pictures were from Addy's actual birthday. We went out for dinner at Winger's because of the popcorn. When you are three, that popcorn is pretty cool. Then we came home and she opened her presents from us. I think we picked pretty good because she still plays with them, which is the true test.

I still can't believe she is three...yikes.

I don't think she was too excited about her presents...haha!

And the anticipation of another present was just too much, so we are quickly onto present number two.

Which just so happens to be princess dress ups.

We have one cute little runny-nosed princess on our hands now.

Nacho Party

2011-09-26T10:13:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had some friends over for a Nacho Libre party. Yes, call us weird but we LOVE that movie and some how we found others who love it too! The party really wasn't much but we did eat nacho's and dressed up in our stretchy pants while we watched the movie. I only remembered to take pictures before the guests arrived but I promise we were not alone in our craziness!

This is truly one crazy chick. This is just Addy being Addy. I did not tell her to stand like this, there was absolutely no prompting by her parents. When I said I wanted to take her picture, this is just the pose she struck and it was perfect and still makes me laugh.

Showing off her muscles.

Pretty cute cape I whipped out of my fabric scraps.

This might just be where most of Addy's craziness comes from! He decorated his own cape (I may have helped just a little with the sewing). The bottom says "for the little nino's".

Watch out world because these two make quite a pair.

Sadly, there are no photo's of myself (that may have been on purpose) but I was there with my cape and stretchy pants as well.

Boating

2011-09-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

One of the times we were down in Utah visiting with family, my wonderful sister in-law's family invited our fam to go boating. I was soooo excited because I love to go out on the boat. We had a boat growing up but it died a long time ago so it had been since high school that I'd last gone. Truthfully, I don't think her parents were prepared for all our craziness. Although with my brother as their son in-law, they might have been a little more prepared than I thought. It was seriously so much fun and I hope they invite us again next summer!

We made Tyler and Chelsea go first on the wakeboard so Mitch and I could watch to see how it is done. I'd only been once before but it was like 10 years ago so I was a little worried about if I would even be able to get up.

Thankfully it was like riding a bike and came right back to me! I got up on the first try and even made it over the wake a couple of times.

Mitch, on the other hand, had never been wakeboarding before so it was all new for him. It took him a couple of tries to figure out how to get up but he did it.

Then he crashed! And that was pretty awesome as well.

Seriously, I can't look at this picture and not laugh. I think if he would've been able to try again later in the day he would've been much better. It takes some time to figure out the balance.

After Mitch's boarding experience we decided to pull out the tube.
This is my favorite part of the boating adventure. I just love a wild ride and this drive was not afraid to give us what we wanted!!

This is Tyler and Chels holding on for dear life.

Mitch and I gave it a try after I'd already ridden with Alex. My arms were already really sore so I kept falling off. After a couple runs Mitch decided to just do it himself.

Alex and Jaquel went with the little girls. As long as we went real slow they liked it.

I think they just enjoyed playing on the beach the most!

Oh and sitting on the boat when it wasn't going too fast!

The Party!

2011-09-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick snap shot of Addy's carnival birthday party. I put a slideshow with all the pictures we took at the end of this post so you can look at the one's with all your kids. This was such a great party and I just loved planning it!!!

These were some pictures from our photo booth. This was probably my favorite thing at the party just because it was a fun way to remember everyone who came, or at least those who were willing to be a little silly.

The cake that started off the whole party idea. I saw this is our cupcake book and thought it was so cute but knew we were never gonna have something to make it for...hence the birthday party idea. I know crazy that it all started with a cake!

This was the best picture I have of the food table and backdrop. I'd made a really cute birthday sign but of course I never got a picture of just it so here it is in the background. I also loved the lemonade cart which I borrowed from a neighbor.

Our prize table where the kids redeemed all their hard earned tickets.

This was the entrance to our carnival. I asked Mitch if we should make a sign to put out front welcoming people and he whipped this up in a matter of minutes. Turns out he is quite the handiman.

In front of each of the games and booths, I'd made up this signs on the computer. I was super proud with how they turned out.

One game was the bean bag toss. I found a picture online and then we sketch it out and then painted and cut out the holes.

Another booth was facepainting. These girls were awesome!

The fish toss. I really thought it would be fun to have actual goldfish in little baggies but to keep it simple, we just went for little baggies of goldfish crackers.

The Clown Craft. It was a fun one for the younger children.

Circus Golf.

My mom taught Addy how to hold the club and how to stand sideways, etc. Anyways this gal picked it up so quick. She was a natural and her grandpa would be so proud.

The water squirt game. Check out that bottle holder Mitch made me, pretty impressive!

These were the little bags I put together for each kid so they'd have a place to put all their prizes!

Singing and blowing out the candles on the cake. This was the thing she was most looking forward too. She couldn't wait for people to sing the birthday song. Since the party, she will dance around the house singing it. Yesterday on her actual birthday, I probably sang it 20 times.

We had a special visit from Mitch (he needs a clown name, any suggestions?) the clown! He had no idea what he was going to do so I told him just to go be his goofy self and he would be just fine. I was hoping he would do a little juggling act for us but he decided to pass on that. So he just told jokes and helped pass out the cake and ice cream. He tried to do some balloon animals but all of the balloons kept popping from the heat so that was a bummer.

Opening presents.

This was such a fun party to put together, a lot of work but it was totally worth it. Thank you to everyone who came and showed this little gal some love. We hope you had a fun time celebrating because we sure did!

Photo's from the Party

2011-09-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Addy!

2011-09-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

It was about this time (early morning) three years ago that I went for a walk/waddle around the block. We were waiting for the doctor's office to open so we could go find out if my water had really broken. I couldn't sit still so a walk was the next best thing. After a quick ultrasound at the doctor's office, we headed up to the hospital around 9:30am. It was a long and tiring day in which you did not want to cooperate. So at 4:45pm I was prepped for surgery and at 5:15pm you were pulled from my belly with your big brown eyes wide open.

I can't believe it was three years ago. I've already shed a few tears over this fact and I'm sure there will be more to come. You are the silliest and most of the time the sweetest little thing around. You love to laugh and dance and sing. You sing the alphabet song AOPEFGHIKLPTM...pretty much anyway you want. When I try to correct you by singing the right letter, you look at me and say, "I know mom" but you always sing it your own way. The numbers are the same way, 1 2 3 8 9 13, 12teen, 18...and so on. You have at least conquered the colors! For lunch you always want a sandwich rolled up with jam. Grandma even bought you your own little roller so you can, "do it mineself". You still love to dump out all your toys especially all the baby doll stuff. I am told often to "Shhh, baby seeping" while you are busy at play.

You truly are the cutest kid around and I am so lucky to have you as my little friend! I feel so blessed that you chose to come to our little family and I try everyday to be the mom that you deserve. Happy 3rd Birthday my little fancy pants!

LOVE YOU!

Pasture Fun

2011-08-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

One of Addy's favorite things to do is play with her cousins. Whenever I tell her we are going down to see them, she gets so excited and starts naming them off one by one to make sure they will all be there. It is pretty cute.

On this trip down, they were flooding their pasture. All the kids went out and ran through the big puddles. They all had shorts on so they didn't get too wet. Addy however was in pants and got soaked but she had a lot of fun.

Softball

2011-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Over the summer, Mitch played on a city softball team. One of the guys in our ward puts a team together so it is fun to go and watch and visit with the other wives. I kept forgetting to bring my camera or else I would bring it and leave it in the car. Finally I brought it to their last game but I still forgot to take pictures during the actual game so these are on the way out to the car. Of couse, he wouldn't give me a normal picture so here's the butt shot.

Addy loved to go and watch dad play too. We had many late Wednesday nights at the ball diamond but she loved it. She would run around with all the other kids and then run over and yell "go baseball" "go dad" and then run back and play.

Picnic at the Falls

2011-08-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I went down to pick Mitch up from work. We (more like I) thought it would be fun to go get some food and have a little picnic by the falls and then feed the ducks. Well Addy ended up being a little pill through the picnic part and would not eat anything.

Mitch kept telling her she wasn't going to be able to feed the ducks unless she ate. Which was probably a good thing but of course I said some comment that got me in trouble and a short lecture on parenting. I took this picture mid-lecture and then started cracking up because it was just too good of a picture!

That is the look I get when I'm in trouble! hehe

You have no idea how hard I had to work to get this picture but it is sure a cute one so it was all worth it :)

After a few pictures we pulled out the bread and the ducks just kept coming.

The geese started getting a little too close and it made Addy really nervous so Mitch ended up holding her until the bread was all gone.

Then we walked over to look at the falls. If we lived closer, that is where I would go running because it is just really pretty.

I had Mitch take a picture of us here because back in the day when we were just dating we came to the falls with some friends and took a picture in this same place.

And do these two look alike or what?

Then I had Mitch take just one more picture (I begged) before we headed back home.

I think next time we need to go with some friends and take each others family pictures. So any takers on the idea?

Pwetty Wipstick

2011-08-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when I leave my purse out on the table.

I think she was originally searching for gum (her new favorite treat) but came across some of my lipstick in the process. It was just as great!!

When I finished the breakfast dishes, I look over and just see brown covering her face and ask what she got into. She responds, "It's my pwetty wipstick". I chuckle and say, "Yes, you just look so pretty but please don't get into my purse without asking. Let's go get in the bath."

Puddle Fun

2011-08-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

We have been having quite a few afternoon/evening thunderstorms lately. I love them. They have been great because they cool things down so the house doesn't ever get too hot plus I don't have to water my lawn quite as much! One of them was so close that the electricity in the air made our fire alarm beep really loud and the thunder was shaking the house so much that I thought pictures were going to fall off the wall!

Anyways a different storm dumped rain and left a big puddle in front of our neighbors house so Mitch and Addy ran out in the rainstorm to splash in it. I didn't want to get the camera (or myself for that matter) all wet so I huddled under the house and took some pictures.

I'm really not sure who had more fun, Addy or Mitch?

Ahoy Matey!

2011-08-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

I was able to go up to girls camp again this year!! I just love it up there and look forward to it every year. This year our theme was being a treasure seeker which meant we were PIRATES!!!

I especially had fun with this but so did all the girls. Here are a few pictures from the leaders skit on Wednesday night. Mitch and my mom helped me come up with an idea and thankfully the ladies were all good sports about it....hehehe. Sometimes I think it is just too much fun being a yw's leader.

We found us some pretty good booty!

Family BBQ/ Totally Awesome Cake

2011-08-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

The same weekend Alex and Jaquel were up visiting, the Robison's were also up for a family reunion. On Sunday we all got together for a BBQ and a little celebration for Isaac's 12th birthday. I thought it would be fun to make him a cake. So with the help of Mitch (and Alex and Jaquel playing with Addy) we created a pretty awesome shark cake.

It definately doesn't look as good as the picture in the book but I was still please with the end result. So Happy Birthday Isaac!

Then here are just a few pics of the kids playing and doing relay races. I just love how Addy thinks she is just as big as the rest of them!

Jackson Hole

2011-08-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago, my brother and his wife came up to visit and they wanted to go to Jackson Hole. So we went up Saturday morning and spent some time wandering around the shops. I just love the western old time feel and all the fun artistic shops, you know the ones where you walk in and your afraid to touch anything for fear of breaking something. Anyways in one of the cowboy/western stores we had everyone pick out one crazy item and we took pictures.

Alex choose a rattlesnake cowboy hat. It had real rattles tied on the front.

I choose an awesome red cowgirl hat.

Mitch tried on an extremely expensive leather jacket that of course he wanted to buy.

Jaquel had the best pick with some lamb skin vest. I can't remember what kind of lamb it was but it made a pretty sweet vest!

Addy thought this store was neat because of all the animals hanging on the walls but she was pretty afraid of the bear.

After awhile we started to get hungry so we went to the little park and had a picnic and relaxed. If you look close, you can see the cookie that is still covering Addy's mouth. She sure had fun playing with Alex.

Then we went to a few more stores and ended at the ice cream shop!

After ice cream, we got kind of tired of wandering the shops so we went out to the Elk Refuge. Sadly, we saw no elk but it was still really pretty and Addy was able to run around and throw rocks into the river, although I don't think any of them made it that far.

Around 3:30 we headed over to wait in line for the Bar J. We knew it was going to be a packed house because it was the 24th of July weekend so we made sure we got there in time to still under the shade.

On the way there, Jaquel was nice enough to share her 'lipstick' with Addy.

Once we got in through the gate, we were ready to stretch our legs so we wandered down the little path. Alex and Mitch ran into some Indians and decided to make friends!

Addy wanted to ride this little horse or else I just made her sit there to take a picture. I can't really remember which it was.

There is just too much resemblance in these two :)

Enjoying our delicious dinner!

It has sorta turned into a family tradition to make it up to the Bar J Wranglers every summer because it is just a fun show. It is even funner when we go with someone who has never been before so thanks Alex for bringing Jaquel up and letting us tag along with you!

Miss Fancy Pants

2011-08-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

So I am super behind on my blog and hopefully in the next couple of days I can get caught up.

In the mean time, here are just some silly pictures from a couple weeks ago of our crazy little fancy pants. Hopefully they make you laugh just as much as we did when we were taking them!

Seriously, I'm not sure where this girl came from (okay so I really do) but I'm so glad I get to be with her every day! She makes me laugh and wears me out all at the same time. Especially today when she clogged the toilet after using half a roll of paper to wipe herself! I heard her knocking from the inside of the bathroom door so I went to open it and let her out (sometimes the door gets stuck).

Once I saw her face, I knew something was up because she looked like "oh no, I'm not really sure what I just did but I know it wasn't good". Then I saw all the water on the floor and the water that was still coming from the toilet and then I just started laughing because it was all just too funny. Sadly, I didn't get a picture because my camera was with Mitch. I would say maybe next time, but I kinda hope there isn't a next time!

Our 4th of July

2011-07-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 4th of July this year by driving back from the Anderson family reunion. We were planning on driving straight back to Idaho but decided that might be pushing it a little too far so we decided to stop at my parents house and stay the night and leave early in the morning to finish the trip home. When we decided this, we were driving through Wyoming so we stopped at a firework stand and bought a few fireworks. It would've been a real sad day if we went without fireworks on the 4th of July.

Once it was dark enough, we went outside and the boys had fun lighting the fireworks.

The girls had a fun time watching until one of the fireworks ended up shooting right at our heads. Then it was just a little more scary!

Once we ran out of our own fireworks. We decided to climb up on the roof because there were LOTS of other fireworks going on all around us. Mostly the one's that shoot up high in the sky so we had a great show up on the roof.

And just for comic relief, here is an great picture of me and Addy!
1 bright flash + a little wind + 2 cheesy grins = 1 awesome picture

Anderson Family Reunion

2011-07-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

This year the Anderson Reunion was down in Dutch John which is like 5 minutes from Flaming Gorge. My Aunt Nancy lives there and she was able to rent the house next door so most of the 'older' folks stayed there. The rest of us were tenting it at a nearby campground.

We drove down on Saturday morning and got all of our tents set up just in time for a huge rainstorm. We were on our way to my aunts house to get the raft to go down the river when it hit so we were really nervous that all of our stuff was going to be soaked. Luckily it wasn't!

This is some of us waiting for the rain to stop so we can go rafting.

Only one of us chose to wait out in the rain!

Once the rain stopped, we piled into the cars and headed down to the river. Just as we get to the launching dock, the rain starts pouring again. We were already out of the cars so they all take off and just leave us with no choice but to go down. It was seriously pouring rain and the river water is about 42 degrees so we were freezing. We did wait a few minutes huddled under the roof of the restrooms for the worst of it to pass. Then we hopped on and froze all the way down but because of the storm, the water was extra angry and it made for a very fun and adventurous run. Luckily nobody fell out of the raft but I was really close to slipping out once but grabbed ahold of Mitch just in time. I don't think any of us will forget that run for along time!

After rafting, we had a delicious feast in the backyard.

Followed by lots of visiting.

We, as in my mom, Jamie and I put together some fun games for Sunday afternoon. To get more people involved, we had a sign up sheet at dinner. We still had a lot of empty spots so we ended up just signing people up ourselves.

The little girls loved snuggling up with Tyler in his warm blanket while waiting for the fireworks!

After the fireworks, we all went back and crashed in our sleeping bags. We were pretty worn out after freezing on the river and then staying up late for fireworks.

Sunday we all went to church at 11. Thankfully our campground had a shower so we were able to clean up a bit before. Then after church we had our games in the backyard. They were a hit, even my grandma who is 90 came out to watch and we got her chuckling.

The first game was archery. We put shaving cream on two people (this is why we had people sign up earlier) and then their partner threw cheese puffs at there face for one minute. I think the most was 19 with my mom and Dave!

Another game was ping pong. We belted an empty tissue box with 8 ping pong balls inside which they had one minute to shake them all out.

We called this next game, Hole in One. You place a cookie on your forehead and then without using your hands slide the cookie down and into your mouth.

This was diving. It was a relay race where you put your nose in vaseline and then stuck a cotton ball to it. Then ran down and shook it off onto the paper plate, then ran back and tagged the next person.

We called this 'Breaking Wind' and had a lot of fun teasing Holly and Michael for signing up (even though I'm pretty sure other people put there names down)! It really was one of the easiest and least messy games we played but because of the name nobody wanted to sign up!! They each had a line of 10 cups that they had to slide across the picnic table using the air in the balloon.

Another favorite was bowling. We put six cups in a circle and then put a nylon leg with a ball inside on their head. Then they had to knock the cups over by swinging it around.

Our last game was water polo and we let anyone who wanted participate. One person on each team held a empty juice bottle, with the bottom cut off, in their mouth. The rest of the team lined up on the other side of the yard and then one by one scooped water into a plastic cup, ran down and emptied it into the bottle and then ran back.

Poor Kaylee ended up getting soaked.

Another game we played was fishing. We filled a bucket full of ice water and put little rocks on the bottom. Each team member ran down and with their toes pulled out a rock and ran back to place it on a plate.

A lot of these game ideas came from the minute to win it website and also from youth conference. We sure had a lot of fun and it gave us something to do while we waited for dinner to finish.

After dinner, we headed back to the campground to roast marshmallows and let the kids run around and be as noisy as they wished. Addy was in pure heaven until she decided to grab a cactus. Not so fun. I ended up having to pull nearly a hundred little cacti out of her hand.

I posted the next picture, even though I am mid sentence of telling Mitch to look at the camera, because of Addy. She just looks so cute and this picture was taken about 10 minutes after the cactus incident. She is one tough cookie and I hope she learned her lesson about not touching a cactus.

Monday morning we had breakfast at the house and then rafted the river one last time. It wasn't nearly as exciting as on Saturday but it was still enjoyable. Plus we took a couple of kids with us so it was probably a good thing it wasn't as rough.

Then we packed up all of our camping stuff and headed back to my parents house.

Sprinkler Fun

2011-06-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

To start with, I just have to say that it is the end of June and this is the first time I've had to turn the sprinklers on. Pretty amazing. We've just had a lot of rain this year.

Anywho, I turned them on and Addy thought it was great fun to run around and get wet which I was fine with but I asked her if she wanted her swimming suit on. She said yes. So we went inside I beg her to eat some lunch first and then we put the suit on. We come outside all ready to go and all she wants to do is sit on the chair with her towel.

Sorry I can't get the picture to straighten.

I finally convince her to try it out by turning the water down. As you can see in the picture above, she was not loving the cold water. I'm not sure what changed from when she just had her normal clothes on but now it wasn't nearly as fun.

Look how far away she is standing from the sprinkler, cracks me up! I did get her to slide down the slide and then run through all three sprinklers but then listen to this video to see how much fun she had!

That's My Kid

2011-06-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really get worried when I see some of my not so great characteristics/qualities in Addy. For example this morning as I was tidying up the house, she came in and asked for a bandaid. Not surprising because we are putting a new bandaid on every day. Since I was in the middle of something, I told her to wait a few minutes. Well the next thing I know, she has climbed up on the bathroom counter, pulled out the bandaids and is choosing the color she wants. This is when I walk in (with the camera!) and she promptly tells me "I do it mineself".

Really I didn't think she would actually be able to do it herself, but she totally did. She even threw the garbage away when she was done. I guess you should never underestimate a two year olds determination!

So proud of herself!

Truth be told, this just reminds me of myself. When someone tells me I can't do something or even just to wait a little while, it makes me just say fine "I do it mineself". Like last night when Mitch told me not to carry the bags of cement into the backyard because they were too heavy, of course I had to carry some. And yes they were heavy; but they weren't too heavy!!

Family Night

2011-06-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Lately, we have been trying really hard to have family home evening each week. A few weeks ago we had a lesson on our family tree and Addy cut out pictures of people in her family and put them on her tree. After the lesson we walked to DQ for an ice cream. While we were there I realized this was probably Addy's first ever ice cream cone (where she wasn't just sharing with one of us)! So we took some pictures to document. I know I'm kinda weird like that.

On Memorial Day, we went minature golfing with some neighbors and then had a BBQ even though it was raining. Mitch was a trooper and drug the grill over close to the back door so he wouldn't have to stand out in the rain while flippin burgers!

After dinner, we had a lesson on moroni and his title of liberty. Then we each made our own family flags!

Up until recently, I never really thought FHE was really that big of a deal for us because Addy is still little. I now realize that was a terrible attitude because she really is learning and picking up on things as we teach different principles. We always keep it pretty short and we try to include some sort of activity to make it as fun as possible but we've been counseled by prophets to make it a high priority so we are trying. And strangely, I almost look forward to it each week. I think maybe tonight we will learn the importance of hard work and get the yard cleaned up and the garden weeded!!!

Civil Defense Caves

2011-06-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

We finally had a very nice weekend (hooray!) so I was really excited to get out of the house and do something fun. I gave Mitch several different options and he choose the civil defense caves because it was the closest and we had never been before.

(sorry the pictures aren't the greatest, our camera broke in cali so we just use the phone)

I was so happy we went because they turned out to be pretty neat and not to difficult so we could carry Addy since she was being a little wus.

I can't really blame her though because it was really dark and cold and water kept dripping on our heads! To me it just added to the adventure but probably not so much for a two year old! Part way through Mitch was tired of hearing Addy whine to "go back" so we turned around. One day I want to go back and find out what they call "fat man's misery"!

Once Addy found out we were heading back out she was way more pleasant. When we got to where you could see some light from the exit, she even got down and walked on her own.

At the entrance, there are quite a few big piles of rocks you have to climb over and she wanted to do those all by herself too. So we will have to go back and see if the second time she does better.

We even took home a small rock as a souvenir!

Grandpa's Shirt

2011-06-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

After Mitch's dad passed away, all the brothers were going through some of his clothes. A couple of shirts were too big for any of them so I took them thinking one day I could make something with them. Well I was browsing online one day and came across this tutorial.

I thought it looked cute and not to difficult so I tried it out and wa la-

a cute little summer dress!

I didn't put the casing around the middle because I just couldn't get it to line up good with the way the buttons were positioned. I still think it turned out great and looks stinkin' cute on this crazy gal. The best part is she will always have something of grandpa's!

California Adventure

2011-05-30T14:26:00.001-07:00

Back to our vacation update. I know this is mostly just for me to remember because I've already started to forget stuff. On Monday, we went to California Adventure. This is where some of my favorite rides are including the Tower of Terror.

We got there first thing in the morning so the lines would be short. As I was waiting outside the ride with Addy, Goofy just happened to be coming out. For those of you who haven't heard, Goofy is her absolute favorite. Anyone who asked about Disneyland hears about seeing Goofy. The funniest part to me was she was so excited to see him but didn't want to get out of the stroller or really even touch him. So I have a picture of them holding hands!!

They also have this really fun bugs land area which was so cute for the kids.

Here are our own little bugs!

Jamie and Ben were kind enough to take Addy with them on the ladybug twirl ride. I can't take those spinning rides..blah. They said she was laughing the whole time which was good because it was really whipping them around.

On the caterpillar ride.

Pretending its "too scary"!!

While waiting in line for the Disney Junior show, the girls were having sword fights with their suckers! This was the cutest little show for toddler age kids. Addy absolutely loved it because they had all the shows from the Disney channel like; Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and one other show I can't remember. She loved calling for "toodals" (sp?) and dancing around. I wish I could've recorded it but it was too dark in the theater.

Waiting in more lines!

Mitch and I took off to go ride a couple big kid rides while Ben played with the kids in the water area.

Another favorite ride was the new "Toy Story Mania". It is a 3D interactive game ride. Lots of fun but also a sorta long line!

Next year is when they are opening the new 'Cars' land. I think we might just have to come back!!
We spent a little while playing in the Brother Bear area.

It was a great place for us to relax while the kids ran around.

The new attraction this year is the World of Color. We got our fast pass tickets first thing in the morning so we could get a good spot and I am so glad we did because it was the neatest thing ever. One of the best parts of the trip I'd have to say. Both kids fell asleep in their strollers about 5 minutes after it started. So the 'big' kids enjoyed the show!

We had such a fun day and just knew that three days just wasn't going to be enough! So we ended up upgrading our tickets to a four day pass!

Singing

2011-05-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

For a quick look into a normal Sunday afternoon at our house go here.

This video was taken a few weeks ago so she now actually says a few more words as she sings so I can usually pick up on what song she is trying to sing. The dance routine is pretty much the same sort of thing each time!

All I can say is this kid loves to sing (which she didn't get from me). I've been trying to teach her a few primary songs like; 'I am a Child of God', 'Follow the Prophet', and 'I love to see the Temple'. Usually she ends up only singing a couple of the correct words here and there and then making up the rest with la's and da's. It is still cute because her voice changes and gets really high and sweet when she is trying to sing the 'church' songs :)

San Diego

2011-05-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

The Sunday we were in California, we drove down to San Diego so we could go to church with some of Ben's family. Mitch, Addy and I took off after sacrament meeting to do some sight-seeing.

Our first stop was the Mormon Battalion Museum/Tour.

It took about an hour to go through the tour but it was such a neat place. They told us they went through and redid everything about a year ago so it was very updated and well put together. After the tour, we got to go out on the patio and experience some of the things the soldiers did.

Such as brick laying,

laundry washing (scrubbing),

and panning for gold!

After the Mormon Battalion Tour, we headed over to this little Mexican restaurant called Fidel's for lunch. When Mitch was in his younger years, their family would get a condo in San Diego and Fidel's was one of their favorite places to eat so I was excited to try it out.

It was very delicious and since it was also Mother's Day, I got a free dessert. Which we quickly devoured.

Our next stop was the temple grounds. Just as we were getting there, it started to rain on us. Luckily we'd brought the umbrella with us but most of our pictures turned out pretty blurry :( Highlights of this stop were; Addy trying to sing, I love to see the temple to which she just said over and over "luv de tempa" but she said it with the right tune and she kept pointing at the temple and saying "Jesus house". I was one proud mama!

I so wish she was actually looking at the camera in this picture because it would've been such a nice shot.

My favorite!

Our final destination was the Point Loma Lighthouse.

One of the best parts was just the view of San Diego. It was gorgeous.

Being the little two year old that she is, Addy wanted to do everything herself. It was so scary because the climb up to the top was on these very steep winding stairs with other people trying to go up and down as well. Once you climbed the stairs, there was then a ladder which pretty much went up to nothing because it was all blocked off but of course Addy wanted to climb it!

It was a very busy afternoon but it was fun to spend time just with our little family. We were going to go down and wander through Seaport Village but we were pretty tired so we headed back to Ben's aunt and uncles for a delicious mother's day feast. Then back to the hotel where we all fell asleep by about 9 o'clock!

Day One of Disneyland!!!

2011-05-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Beware this is a really long post full of LOTS of pictures (and this is only day one!)

I have been so excited to take Addy to see Mickey for awhile. This trip was actually scheduled for a month or so ago but because of Mitch's dad passing away, we postponed it. Which just gave us another month to get even more excited.

We chose a hotel with a free breakfast which was so nice. This was the bright and early on the first morning because the park opened at 7! Luckily with the time change it didn't feel that early. All of us couldn't wait to get started!

Waiting to get our tickets from the will call. I just love this picture of us :)

This was also the same day as the Pirates movie world premiere. So they had stadium seating all along main street and people were waiting all day to see the stars. It was kinda crazy but it made the ride lines not so long!

Our first ride for the day was Buzz Lightyear. I thought Addy would like it because she loves Toy Story. I was wrong, it was dark and loud and a little scary for her. I asked her if she wanted to do it again and she told me no. Opps.

Then we ran into Pluto which made things better.

I love the Peter Pan ride. Since we've been home, Addy has watched the movie a couple of times and it is now her new favorite! She runs around the house 'flying'.

"The horsies" is what Addy called the carousel. And it was one of her favorites.

Think she was strong enough?

All of them together weren't strong enough!

Snow White's Scary Adventures. Yeah I totally get why Addy thought this was "too scary" and clung to my neck the whole time. At least she wasn't bawling like the girl in the cart behind us!

This was some wild animal train ride, so we were being the animals. I do love Addy's face, "what are you doing mom?"

Mitch, being the good dad that he is, waited in line for the girls to see Rapunzel for over an hour. I wasn't sure how Addy would react to her because this was one of the first 'characters' we met. It was so cute because she ran in and gave her the biggest hug and then ran straight back through the door.

She did come back and talk with her for a minute. Here she is telling her that she is three. I wonder if when she really is three, if she'll tell everyone she's four.

Another favorite ride was small world. One day I'll get her to open her eyes when she smiles!

This was after the ball with all the princesses. I seriously had no idea that they had all these different princess activities at Disneyland. I know it's crazy, but this was the first time we'd been with a kid so we spent lots of time in fantasyland and got to experience it all!

Right before the storytelling with Snow White. I wish I could've heard what they were talking about.

Toontown!!

And yes, these kids had lots of sugar on this trip!

Let us out! Let us out!

Exploring in Mickey's house.

And then we finally got to see Mr. Mickey himself! I wish we would've gotten a family picture with him, but those workers are good at getting people in and out fast. So we missed the opportunity.

Addy couldn't decide if this was going to be a "too scary" ride and close her eyes, or a "not too scary" ride and keep her eyes open!

She spent a lot of time on Dad's shoulders (gotta love dad's, I was mean and made her walk) and thought it was hilarious that she could cover his eyes so he couldn't see anything.

Good ol' Dumbo, this turned out to be Addy's favorite ride. I think it was because she could make it go up or down. But no joke, it was also usually the longest line in all of Disneyland and we ended up waiting in it multiple times just for her!

By the end of the day, we had wiped her out!

And this was only the beginning of our three day pass that we ended upgrading to a four day pass because we just couldn't get enough!

At the Beach

2011-05-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

We just got back a few days ago from a super-duper-fun-filled week in California. We left late Thursday night and drove all through the night so the kiddo's could sleep hence making the drive easier on us adults. It worked out perfectly and we arrived in Anaheim just in time for a breakfast stop and then we went straight to the beach. The day started out pretty cloudy and cold but ended up being a very beautiful day and I finally got some color back into my skin.

Since it was so cold, we left the swimsuits in the car and just wandered and played around the shore.

Here they are digging for seashells.

Then the kids started to feel brave and decided to test out the water.

And even though the water was freezing cold, this crazy gal just couldn't resist and the pants started to get a little too wet. So we went back to the car and changed into our swimming clothes.

We took a little break from playing in the water to build sandcastles. Although we ended up moving it closer to the water to get better sand, but then it just got destroyed before I could even get a picture of it.

The boys were a little tired from driving through the night so they took a little snooze on the beach.

As you can see, Addy (and me) loved playing in the waves as they splashed up on the shore. One time, I held her and we went out pretty deep to where the waves first started to crash over. She loved it until it got too cold and she was shivering uncontrollably.

The rest of the afternoon was spent running back and forth between the towel to get warm and playing a few minutes in the water. I was just happy knowing she could probably be a beach bum like me because that means we will just have to take a few more trips to the beach as she gets older!!

The next couple of days we spent running around in Disneyland!!!

Pictures will be coming soon.

seriously, this girl cracks me up

2011-04-29T15:29:00.000-07:00

One of Addy's favorite games to play is hide and seek. Hence we play it on a daily basis and I always have to give her the last time warning. I know you mom's know what I am talking about. If I don't let her know in advance that it is the last time we are playing then we end up with serious fit throwing.

Anyways, we were playing this afternoon and she was already cracking me up with her counting; one, two, three, eight, nine, ten, thirteen, fourteen, fourteen, fourteen (repeat) until finally 'ready or not here I come'. So I had told her it was the last time and so she goes off and hides and I start counting. Well it is a good thing that she usually starts counting with me towards the end so I have some idea as to where she it or else I never would've found her.

She had hidden herself in here:

The Washing Machine

She had crawled in here all on her own and scooted all the way to the back. Really if I would've just walked into the laundry room, I probably wouldn't have seem her because she is so tiny! The greatest part was that nobody even suggest that it would be a good place to hide (lots of times she just hides where ever we do) She just came up with it all on her own and she was right it was a great place.

Needless to say, I was cracking up like none other. It was so hilarious! I'm not sure she will ever do it again though because it kinda freaked her out when she tried to crawl out and the inside started turning. This seriously made my whole day!

Egg Hunt

2011-04-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday we invited some friends and one of Mitch's cousins over for a delicious easter feast. It is sort of turning into a tradition to have ham, funeral potatoes, baked beans and rolls as part of our dinner. All of which are my favorite so two and two together and Easter dinner is one of my favorites. It even beats out Thanksgiving!

After dinner the boys hid some eggs around the backyard. We had the girls get there shoes on but then we told them they had to wait by the door until all the eggs were hidden. So this is how they waited!! Hidden behind the curtains/blinds and watching their dad's hide the eggs. I just think it is the cutest picture :)

Armed with Easter baskets and ready to go!

And they ran around finding eggs with some slight help from the adults to point them in the right direction.

Addy's skirt was/is way to big for her. Every time she bent over to pick up an egg, her little undies or crack would hang out. I tried to get a picture because I thought it was funny but the only one I got was from a distance and you can't even tell, lucky for her!

"Look at all my eggs!"

I tried to get a cute after picture because she really was thrilled and kept asking if we could do it again. This was as good as it got. I think she was a little distracted with finding the candy inside the eggs.

Easter Morning

2011-04-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Surprise!!

The easter bunny came to our house too!

He brought lots of smiles and happy squeals from a little two year old. Truthfully, we kind of forgot to stop on Saturday to pick up a few little things for her basket. Good thing she was so awesome at potty training that we had left over toys that we used in the easter basket! Also I had already bought lots of easter candy for our egg hunt so that helped to fill in!

As you can see, she didn't even care. There was candy and chocolate and that was all that really mattered!

Mitch, looking to see what treasures the easter bunny brought him?

For breakfast, we made easter pancakes. Addy was even able to help with a couple of them.

We spent the rest of the morning playing, getting ready for church and prepping food for our easter feast. We ended up being so busy that I never took a picture of her in her easter dress. If you scroll down a few more posts you can see it from the wedding festivities. It was such a cute dress we just used it for both occasions.