Summer Daze at the Cabin and misc. pics

We were able to spend a much needed break at the cabin for a week. It was a lot of fun, mostly just 'cause we relaxed and spent time together. We went into Yellowstone 2 days and had a lot of fun spotting animals. One day we saw a herd of bison and Tori was very excited. She even saw a baby taking a drink from his mama and thought that was cool. Laeni heard Tori talk about it, so Laeni kept saying, "drink, drink, yook, drink."

Here is a picture of part of the herd crossing the river.

We also saw a mama bear and 2 cubs VERY close to where we spotted a bear last year. Here is a picture of one of the cubs. We drove down the road a little farther and saw another bear. Then we saw a grizzly bear through the scope (a long ways a way) hanging out in a field very close to a herd of elk.
After the first day of driving, the girls started to settle down and not whine so much. They loved coming back to the cabin for a little time in the sandbox, or blowing bubbles.

We swam in Gardner River (I think that is the name). There is another river that cascades into it with HOT water - so you just need to find the right place to sit that isn't too hot or too cold.

One of the favorite things for the girls was climbing up to the loft to sleep each night. Laeni especially enjoyed being a big girl and climbing the ladder (although it scared me every time!).

Another favorite stop was the candy store in Virginia City. The girls each got to pick their own stick sucker. You would have thought it was a race to see who could finish first!

Here are a couple of other misc. photos.
The girls dressed up in their princess dresses - they taught themselves to hold them like that - I swear!

And just so you don't worry...we still bake around our house and the girls still LOVE to help. Look at Tori's tongue sticking out in concentration mode (just like a Parry).

Laeni was the first to pull the chair over. Anything in the kitchen she tries to help with.

This last weekend, we went to a storybook birthday party and the girls were able to dress up like their favorite storybook character. Tori wanted to be a witch, so we re-read "Little Witch's Big Night" before we left, and Laeni just wanted to be a ladybug - we don't have a story about a ladybug yet. This other cutie in the picture is my girlfriend's daughter who can sing The Star Spangled Banner all by herself!

Festive 4th

This was another festive 4th of July - spread through the whole weekend. Saturday night we went up close to BYU to watch the Stadium of Fire (3rd annual). We played tag on the grass and had a good time before the show. Sunday, Brian and Tia spent the whole day with us - a rare treat! They came to church at 9am and then we had a BBQ and a few naps, then a ping pong champion tournament, where Brian and Bryan were neck and neck! That whole day was so much fun for me - even though we didn't do a million things, it was just nice to be together!

Monday, we went to the parade. Bryan left the house earlier to run his annual 10K Freedom Festival Run - and then we met up with him at the parade. Dad and Laeni at the parade

Tori giving her parade wave.

The girs were enthralled by the "princesses"...

...and they LOVED the floats.

After the parade, we all went home and took naps then went to Grandma & Grandpa Shirley's house for a BBQ and family time. Tori and Laeni gravitate to the piano. Here they are playing a duet apparently with Tori on vocals :)

This one is just for me since I changed the blog photo - I think this is so cute of my little babies! I sure do love these girls! During the parade, I was trying to explain to Tori that when the military trucks come by with soldiers, we need to stand up and cheer. If it wasn't for these soldiers, we wouldn't be able to go to church, or parades, or do lots of other things. I tried to explain "freedom" but I'm pretty sure nothing stuck.

I will try again next year - I want my girls to grow up appreciating the sacrifices our service men and women have made for us - so that we can be a forever family.

I am proud to be an American, I am grateful for all of my freedoms and the ability I have to stand up for my rights and be heard. I am grateful for my family and the many activities we enjoy daily because of our freedoms. God Bless the U.S.A.!!

Lazy days of summer

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures of these lazy days, since I've been working my tail off at work...but for a good cause. Our hospital is transforming our patient meals to room service. As the educator, I have been re-writing the room service manual (we have been doing room service for our new moms for a year), training on healing connections, etc. But I have also been in charge of getting the call center up and running, which has meant rewriting the job routines for the new call center (combining those tasks with the present diet tech positions), training on the computer system, training new staff with a LOT of help from the current diet techs, etc. It has been B-U-S-Y!

Nevertheless, it has finally gotten warm in Utah - go figure, the end of June!

The beginning of June brought Tori to her 1st "dancing class" - she LOVES it! Here is a picture of Tori right before we left for her very first class. She showed the teacher her shoes and told her, "these are my mom's favorite shoes."

Because all of their performances are parades in the summer, we didn't need to get her "dance shoes." Here is Laeni on the 1st day of Tori's dancing class.
Before the rest of the class showed up...

We have taken advantage of the warm weather a few times...

Marvelous May

We have been busy doing a lot of the usual stuff, but some of the highlights from May include a quick trip to visit J and Jan and watch "the boys" run the Huff to Bluff Marathon and Memorial Day festivities... The marathon route was the highway...fortunatley, it was pretty safe. Here's Bry - this was a tough marathon for him. His legs started cramping up about mile 15 and gave him fits the rest of the race - at one point, he went down...but he never quit - he got up and finished the race! We were both suprised to learn that with all the leg trauma - he was only 2 minutes behind his Tokyo Marathon time...woot woot. Go BABE!

"The Boys" after the race at Twin Rock (I think that's what the rock formation is called in the background :)

And then there was Memorial Day weekend...I took the girls to Thanksgiving Point to see the animals. It had been raining, but it only sprinkled on us a couple of times when we were there - then it got nice and warm and the sun came out!

Tori rode on the pony all by herself! Laeni and I were right behind her, trying to get Laeni to sit on her pony - but that wasn't happening. At one point she sat down in the saddle for a couple of seconds, otherwise we just walked in a circle like we were one of the ponies :).

Laeni was also afraid of several of the other animals - there was a cow behind the bars that she wouldn't walk past - hence the scream face. She wouldn't budge. It was really funny. She was even wearing her farmer's overalls!

We had a picnic, which the girls actually ate most of...Laeni ate Tori's cheese and Tori ate most of Laeni's sandwich. It was a pretty good trade for both of them :)

Tori wanted to feed the cow, but only let the cow eat off of her hand once. The rest of the time she would put the corn down as fast as she could on the wall and run away. In this photo you can see how she is alreay starting to move back, and the corn isn't even out of her hand yet :)

It was a fun trip to see the animals. On Monday - Memorial Day, I wanted to take them somewhere else, but it was raining again. I thought about the Bean Museum, but Bry's mom called and reminded me that because of the holiday, it probably wouldn't be open, so we went to Cabela's instead - hehehe...free animals to see and a giant fish tank. The girls had a good time there too. For dinner, we went up to Bry's mom and dad's for a BBQ of hot dogs, chips, salads, and of course S'mores. We lucked out for good weather for the BBQ.

Origionally, I was going to take the girls up the canyon, but was grateful I didn't when the girls were all over the backyard, Laeni crying for multiple reasons, Tori wanting to throw things in the fire, etc. Our BBQ turned out perfect in the backyard - Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

2011 Easter Edition

Happy Easter (a few weeks late). We had a fun Easter season with FHE lessons and egg hunts and coloring eggs, etc. We started the week earlier with our FHE Easter Egg Hunt. There were 11 eggs and each corresponded with a picture and part of the story of the real meaning of Easter. The eggs contained different things like white cloth, rocks, nail, 30 pieces of silver, etc to help share the story, but the 11th egg was empty - I wish I could download Tori's face when she opened the egg. It was a neat experience to explain the empty egg representing the empty tomb. After my little testimony about the resurrection and the Savior, I asked Tori what song she would like to sing. She looked at me, kinda sad, and just signed and said "more." "Tori, more what? Do you want to learn more about the story?" I don't think she even knew what she wanted more of, but I think she felt the Spirit and wanted more of that. My most favorite part of being a mom is to see their testimonies of the Savior start to grow. I am grateful for the empty tomb, grateful for the Savior's sacrifice through the Atonement, so that all of us might be saved. He IS risen, just as He said he would be!

The Saturday before Easter, we went to Kim's house for an Easter Egg Hunt and you can see below the number of eggs "hidden" for the littlest kids. Laeni would walk past 10 to find the one she wanted...she didn't quite get it this year :). Tori was picking up more than her share :)

Then...playing single mom, I decided we still had to dye eggs, so I got the girls "dressed" for the occasion and I think they did a fabulous job. Here are some pictures of their creativity.

Easter morning, Tori came into my bed with me and I asked her if the Easter Bunny had come in the night...she had forgotten all about it. I heard her walking down the hall and probably looking all over for her Easter basket full of goodies, when all of a sudden I heard her little shriek of excitement and "mama, he did come, he did come, the easter bunny brought me a lot of treats and a book."

Here they are enjoying some of their treats - not sure why the Easter bunny brings Peeps, but he used to bring them to me too when I was a kid and I've never liked them. Apparently, my girls do like them!

My disclaimer about the Blog photo: church starts at 9 am and playing single mom is tough when there is so much to be done by 8:45. I didn't get a picture of the girls when their hair looked cute before church, but I managed this one after church (or maybe even after their naps). They don't always look homeless :)

You say it's your birthday....

du na du na du na....well, it's Tori's birthday too - at least the party anyway.

We celebrated Tori's 3rd birthday today - and it was fun. Tori had a couple of friends/neighbors over and they decorated crowns and magic wands, opened presents and ate cake and ice cream. I think it was as fun for Tori as it was for me :) When I was tucking her in for her nap (with her new treasures - dance clothes on, bunny, "Tangled" doll, and her new quilt), I asked her if she had a good time. She replied in the affirmative. When asked about her favorite part - "my cake." Yep, pretty much - it melted my heart! Good answer Tori! :)

Tori has been wanting a "doll" cake since "hers" sold at the Blue & Gold dinner. Although Bryan didn't really say it, he's still trying to figure out why the dress is so big and round.

One of Tori's favorite presents was her dry erase board from Gracie. I didn't get a picture of that, but I thought the way she was holding Gracie's picture was cute. Lucy, Tori's friend was sitting down watching Tori open presents and Tori kept trying to tell her, "thank you Gracie!" I guess the dark curly hair confused her.

I did get a couple of videos of her opening up some of her other favorite presents - the videos are at the end of this post.

Tori's friends sat like this the whole time Tori was opening presents - it was so cute. "Gracie" is the one with dark hair on the right :) Julie and Jill are her other friends - and of course Laeni, in the left corner, trying to be helpful. Having just finished decorating their crowns, they begin on their magic wands. Thanks to our lovely birthday assistant Shelby!!

There were a few tears shed...

But overall, I think the princesses had a ball!

Happy birthday Tori. We love you! We love you for lots of things:

your spark for life

the way you spread out your pink blanket on your pillow before you can go to sleep (not one piece of blanket awry)

the way you sing to Laeni when she's sad

your excitement when you see President Eyring in Conference

your constant singing and dancing

the way you can remember every detail of all you take in

we love you for a million other things, but most of all Tori, we love you because you are Tori!

Happy Birthday Tori Deedle-doo!

...and we're back...

So, after a long lull in blogging, I am back to try it again. About a month ago, I was posting something and my computer went on the fritz and basically stopped working when on-line...turns out I have had several viruses that were prompted to attack my computer only when connected to the internet...we bought an anti-virus and voila' we are in business again...

I have so much to catch up on though - so I'll just share cute pics of the girls :) and start with the most recent.

Bry just ran a 1/2 marathon on Saturday. Darren, J and our friend Brian Benett also ran the race in Riverton. The weather held out for us, although it was pretty cold and very windy for the runners. Here is Tori giving the congratulatory kiss :)

Tori is a HAM. She sees the camera and this is what she does these days!

Little Laeni girl is growing up so fast - this was after church one Sunday, and I couldn't help but get a picture of this cute little girl. Laeni's hair is getting longer and longer, but we don't always make it super cute - here is a rare occasion when she actually gets to have "girl hair." Makes me think that's why she's giving me a thumbs up. Looks like we have another birder! Tori and Laeni like to stand on the couch and look for birds outside our front window. Laeni is really good at picking them out on the tree.

The eccentric artist in her paint shirt- crazy hair and all. Tori has been into art lately. She loves to paint, color, write her name, etc. We should probably be better at letting her be creative. For Valentine's Day, she sent all of her cousins a valentine, which her mom made her sign each one (legible or not :) Tori is actually really good and writing her name. It helps that she has easier letters in her name and there are only 4, but still, I'm a little proud of her accomplishment at 2 years old!

Tori and Laeni both received aprons from Santa Claus - and although they both wear them, only Tori really get's to use hers - I'm still a bit nervous about Laeni standing on a chair to help me at the counter (especially when a jealous sister will be standing on the same chair or one very very close :) Here Tori is making orange rolls. She's a really good helper in the kitchen. I'll let her put ingredients into the bowl, here she is rolling the dough, and if I mark a sheet of parchment paper, she can help me tray up cookies because she knows exaclty where to put them. She's going to be a fine baker!

P.S. The header photo is of the girls in dresses that used to be mine when I was little. Laeni seems to look kinda like me in my old clothes because she fills them out like I used to - it's fun to see them in the old clothes my grandma made for me!

The video was taken when Grandma and Grandpa Shirley came for dinner. Grandma does a little thing called, "little mice" and the girls are so funny doing it. I think it will be fun for them to watch when they are older - but here it is for you to smile about today :) Enjoy.