Spring Break- Logan

For Spring break, we decided to take a trip up to Bear Lake. It's been a while since we've been there, and it's one of our favorite places to visit. On the way up, we stopped in Logan to visit Melissa.
First, we stopped at the temple grounds.

 Such a beautiful temple...

Then we tried to find our way around campus to go see Missy at her work. We found her!

Then, we went out to lunch at a great place Melissa recommended- Angie's Diner, "where the locals eat".

We HAD to get the kitchen sink ice cream sundae. We didn't think it would be too hard for all of us to finish it, but it was tough. We were SO full from our yummy lunch, there wasn't much room for ice cream.

Luckily, we were able to finish it off and earn the bumper sticker.

Thanks, Missy, for letting us interrupt your day. We had so much fun. We love you!

Sunday pictures

Last Sunday was such a beautiful day. After church we ran around in the backyard for a little bit and discovered that we had crocus blooming!! That was actually what inspired me to get the camera, take some pictures, and get this blog updated. I love my beautiful girls and I love spring!

Dr. Seuss Day

We absolutely had to have Green Eggs and Ham, again, for Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2. Kimee and I acted out the book. Audrey now can "read" most of it too. It's pretty cute.

President's Day Weekend

We had a super fun and busy President's Day weekend. It was my Dad's 70th birthday on Feb. 20, and we had a family reunion and big birthday celebration for him. My brother from Boston and my sister from Arizona and their families flew in for the festivities. We did a temple night, Bouncin' of the Walls, church together, dinners on Saturday and Sunday, and a special birthday meeting with tributes. It was really fun to visit with my siblings and nieces and nephews, and to have lots of time for the cousins to play.

We also get some snow that weekend. On Monday, we stayed home. Kimee made me promise that we wouldn't go anywhere that day (since we hadn't been home to play all weekend). The girls went outside and made snowmen.

Happy Birthday, Dave!

I think Dave had a great birthday. He was able to take the day off work and stay home with Maddi, who had a fever. SO, he got to watch NCAA basketball all day, especially during her 4 hour nap! Then, he got to watch BYU win their game!! Yeah! We had lasagna for dinner and red velvet for b-day cake.

Maddi has been talking so much. Her sentences are just a few words hooked together. During dinner she said, "Mom.... like.... noonoo" (Translation: Mom, I like noodles).

Audrey said the blessing on the food for Daddy's birthday dinner. It was really cute, and quite a lengthy prayer. In part of it she said, "Bless that we don't get pinched and that people all over the world won't get pinched." I wish I could remember more.

The kids were soooo excited for St. Patrick's Day. I bought these matching shirts at the beginning of the month, but they would not wear them until St. Patrick's Day. They were so excited to try and catch a leprechaun and to wear green. Kimee made a leprechaun trap before bed on the 16th. She set a fool's gold rock in her shoe and then wrote a note. It said:

"Dear, Leprechaun

Can you please give me something like money in return for the gold. 

Sincerely, Kimberly

PS. I'm not trying to trap you (the truth)."

In the morning, she found four quarters in her shoe. To be fair, I put four quarters into Audrey's shoe too. (Sorry, Maddi. You don't really care about money yet.) It was so funny, because Kimee asked me if I was the leprechaun, and I told her yes. But then she went and told Dave about it, including that I was the leprechaun for Audrey, but a real leprechaun came into her room.
That day at school, the kids went on and on about seeing and catching leprechauns. It was pretty crazy. I'm sure glad that next year, March 17 is on a Saturday.

  Audrey took this picture while we were looking at Kimee's camera.

Happy Birthday, Dave and Daddy! We love you!

I have to tell this story...
On the night of the 15th, Maddi threw up all over Dave and our bed. They were snuggling and watching TV. I had just gotten home from RS meeting and had gone in to help Kimee and Audrey get to sleep. Dave said he had just rolled Maddi over and put his arm under her, so I thought maybe she had thrown up because his arm pushed on her tummy in a weird way. He said there was no warning, like coughing,  squirming, or crying to indicate she was about to throw up. That night she didn't throw up again, and she was very perky and happy in the morning. So I thought it was just a fluke and took her to the sitter. Well, at the sitter she got a fever and was not feeling well. Luckily, the sitter was able to keep her through the day, but we knew someone might have to take the day off the next day. It's usually pretty hard for me to get a sub on short notice, and with it being St. Patrick's Day, I really didn't want to leave my class with a sub. So I called Dave and told him the situation with Maddi. I asked if there was any way he could take the day off on Thursday. Whenever I ask this, he usually responds with how behind he is at work and how difficult it would be for him to be gone. But to my surprise, he responded with (in a slightly excited voice), "Yeah, I might be able to do that. You know, the NCAA tournament starts tomorrow at 10am. There will be games going on all day." I was thrilled, it worked out great for all of us! And Maddi did have a fever throughout the night, but by later on in the day it was gone and she seemed to be back to normal.

blogger blues

I don't know what's gotten into me, but for some reason I lost the desire to blog the past few months. I think I've got the blogger blues, or just the regular winter blues. Why blog when you're not really doing anything exciting anyway? My kids are still cute and fun, but we haven't been going anywhere.

I have been trying to figure out what changed this year that has left me without as much time to blog. One thing is the dog. This dog does take up a lot of my free time. I have also been trying to put more time into my calling and do a better job on churchy stuff. Other than that, I have no excuse. Things are busy, but I still have a little free time. I just haven't put blogging at the top of my list.

I guess another thing is my camera broke awhile ago and so I am a little handicapped in that area. Kimee and Audrey got cameras for Christmas, partially so that they could take on some of the responsibility of taking pictures. They love their cameras. I have kinda on purpose been taking less pictures so that I wouldn't have to blog. I am starting to feel bad that I am not recording the cute stuff that my girls do and maybe some important things that are happening in their lives.

I am excited for Spring: blooming flowers, Spring Break, warmer weather, and the anticipation for summer vacation. Maybe all of this we help me get back on track with my blogging. Wish me luck!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

We celebrated Kimee and Audrey's 1/2 birthday on Friday, January 21. It was so exciting for them. Sorry I didn't take any pictures, but I wanted to tell what happened anyway. Kimee really likes to know when she is officially her age and a half. Now she is 7 1/2 and Audrey is 4 1/2 (even though she looks like she's 6).
Unfortunately, I had forgotten it was their 1/2 birthday. Thank goodness for Chuck E. Cheese email coupons, because I got one that afternoon for their half-birthday. When we got home from school I secretly made cupcakes with sprinkles. I ran downstairs and wrapped a couple of presents that I had set aside for birthday parties or emergencies like this. Then, when Dave got home I announced that we were celebrating some thing very special that night. The girls had to guess what it was with a few clues. They were so excited. After dinner, they got to blow out their candles on their cupcakes. We had to repeat the candle blowing several times because it's just so much fun, and then they got to open their presents.

Kimee couldn't wait to tell her teacher at school and bring treats for her whole class. She was insistent on this, and very excited about it. So we went to the store and bought Hostess cupcakes for the class to have on Monday. In Kindergarten and 1st grade, her birthday was celebrated around her half birthday. But this year her teacher is celebrating summer birthdays in May. I guess they will just get double treats from Kimee :)

Maddi

Maddi has gotten into a bad habit of climbing up on the bar/counter top. After dinner tonight, Maddi climbed up there, grabbed the little dish of ginger sauce for dipping potstickers into, and started to drink it. Dave and I were both on our way to get her off the counter when we saw this. Oh, if you could have seen her face. We wish we had had a video camera on her- it was so funny.
Maybe she'll learn a lesson about climbing on the counter?

Yellowstone: Day 3

We heard from some other visitors that they had seen a LOT of wildlife early in the morning. So we decided to get a much earlier start to our day on Friday, Oct. 15. We headed out around 7:30am, just around sunrise, and it was FREEZING cold out! But they were right, we saw a LOT of animals this morning, and throughout the day. We decided to take the road through Norris, up to Canyon Village first, take the circle around south past Yellowstone Lake, and end our day in the park with Old Faithful. It ended up being perfect.

It was so cold, there was steam coming off the river. It was really cool looking.






We also saw eagles along the way into the park, but I didn't get any good pictures.
We headed first to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was still really cold in the shade.

This is the picture that Kimee took and we submitted for the PTA reflections contest.

As we drove through the Hayden Valley, we came across a big herd of buffalo crossing the road.

 
This really is a buffalo, coming down the hill and then walking right in front of our car.

 Then we got to the Mud Volcanoes. This place was REALLY stinky.

The Dragon's Mouth was really cool.

We saw a coyote walking across a field down to the river.

We stopped for our picnic lunch at a picnic area just off Yellowstone Lake.

Some people had fun feeding the birds.

The lake was so beautiful.

We stopped at the Continental Divide for a quick picture and diaper change :)

When we got to the Old Faithful area, we were in the visitor center when another geyser went off. Apparently it was somewhat rare, because the Ranger quickly announced it and then ran right outside to witness it.

We completed the Junior Ranger requirements at the Old Faithful Visitor center. It was awesome because the ranger made an announcement in front of everyone that Kimberly, Blake, and Derek were officially Junior Rangers.

Without too much of a wait, we got to see Old Faithful blow her steam, and it ended up being a pretty big one!

After seeing Old Faithful, we went to the (way overpriced) gift shop for a little while before heading back to the condo. We saw more animals on the way.

We took one little side trip on our way out threw the Fireside Canyon Drive.

Throughout the days at Yellowstone, we kept saying the animals we wanted to see. Skyler kept saying he wanted to see a wolf attack a buffalo. Well, on our way out we did see this wolf/coyote walking towards a group of bison. Almost, Skyler!

That evening we had another yummy dinner together as a group. Our vacation was coming to an end.
(At some point, Maddi got a hold of the camera and slimed the lens. Sorry these pictures are fuzzy.)

Saturday morning, Dave took Kimee and Audrey for one last trip to the pool. We got packed up and on our way home. What a wonderful trip! We can't wait to go again!

One of the things I have to say about this trip is that, I have been to or driven through Yellowstone several times. But compared to what we saw on this trip, I had seen nothing. I know I had been to Old Faithful and at least one area of hot pots (I don't know which ones). But we were able to see so much due to the lack of crowds and people on the roads, the good weather, and our fine planning skills :) (The only place we saw a lot of people was Old Faithful. And, by the way, they have a brand new, really nice visitor's center at Old Faithful that has huge windows overlooking the geyser, if it was bad weather or something.) This trip really was amazing!