Three Month Catch-up in pictures

July 4th "Weekend"

Mark and his family came for a fun visit...

Although about 6 months apart, Ezzie and Sora are about the same size!

Walking out to get our place on the field to watch fireworks...the moms are taking pictures.

Tori and Laeni doing some kind of show for Sora and Gracie.

Went on another quick cabin trip - here we are floating down the river.  My first river ride by the cabin.

Ezra the "trucker" with Mark and Anne.

The boys solving the world's problems...We didn't tell them to stand like this...we came out to roast marshmallows and they were twinners!  

May / June 2013:

Camping in Capitol Reef (or really really close - in the back country)

Awesome hike to Surprise Canyon - the girls walked the whole 2 mile round trip (mostly on their own)

Sora was so cold the first night that she slept in my mummy bag with me - not super comfy, but a LOT warmer.  The second night, I was sure to bundle her up warm.  We didn't hear a peep out of her.

Tori graduated from preschool.

Miss Cameo was telling a little bit about Tori...she looks really serious!

Sora getting into things and brushing her teeth!  She loves her toothbrush! (She pulled it out of her mouth to say "cheese")

I took the girls to Thanksgiving Point's animal farm for FHE and needless to say, Laeni's excitement to ride the pony faded real quick...she finished the ride with me and Sora holding on to her, but she refused to go again :)

Cute lil' Sora ready for church...too bad she can't tap dance yet!

Laeni's 1st day of dance class. Tori did dance camp this summer, but I forgot to take a photo :(

Laeni's 1st dance class and Tori's kindergarten preview day!

Trip to Billings to play with Dylan and see Brian and Tia.  Ended up getting some pretty serious dental work done as well.  Thank you Dr. Francis!  Dylan was very intrigued with Sora.  He was so good to her. 

Quick trip through Yellowstone from Billings on our way to the cabin. 

Lewis and Clark Caverns

Cabin fun

Father's Day breakfast in bed (of course the girls couldn't be left out)  About a month later, I made the girls their own breakfasts in bed because I wanted to say sorry for making so many cakes and not playing with them the night before.  Pictures below...

Our garden!  The last few weeks since the photo was taken,the garden has about doubled in size.  Corn, pumpkins, peppers, watermelon, crookneck squash, tomatoes, baby tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, peanuts, zucchini, potatoes, and more pumpkins.Max has been hating it since he has been locked in his kennel/doggie run for a month.

April 2013:

Devin got his mission call - we gathered at Grandma Shirley's, Kristen scanned the call to Devin, Darren face-timed from Afganistan and Kristen skyped in from Texas...here they are as Devin talked to them after opening the call... to Argentina.

Tori's 5th birthday cake.  Sister Brown and I made all the decorations before we left for Disneyland.  Bless her heart for taking all that time and using all of her resources.  Tori really wanted a mermaid cake :)  

The big 5!

Lots of friends for the party.

Our stake did a "walk to the temple" - the girls and I didn't walk from the Stake Center (because they were still sleeping) but we did walk from our house.  It was fun...too bad you can't see Sora.

Disneyland 2013

We had a blast at Disneyland with our cousins.  We rented a house that was very close to the parks and spent very little time there since we were having too much fun!

The two babes.

Getting ready to ride the "tea cups".  Apparently the girls were starting at someone else.

Sora did fantastic, even without a bed the whole day.   She was a trooper and had as much fun as a baby can at Disneyland.

Breakfast with the princesses, courtesy of my mom.  They had breakfast with TONS of food, crowns to decorate, princesses to meet and autographs to get.

The lighting was poor, so this was the best photo I had with the princesses - all 4 of them :)

Bumper bugs

We met lots of characters.

"Aurora's castle"

Chip and Dale

Mickey Mouse

When the girls were talking to Tinker Bell, the fairy asked Laeni if she had seen any characters and Laeni told her Tigger, then proceeded to tell her that tigers eat fairies.  Tinker Bell asked Laeni if Tigger told her that? Laeni's reply - "no, I just know that."

 We also spent some time at the beach - mostly finding shells and walking down the pier to eat lunch.

Sora, not really liking the water or the sand.

Laeni, the only one who played in the water and had fun.

Tori working on her masterpiece.

We had a fun trip.  The weather was perfect - started raining the day we were leaving.  California was missing us already.

Easter Celebrations

Not sure if she's a Chip or a Dale...but she definitely looks like a dancer of some sort :)  She gets that from her dad!

Tori and her new scripture bag that was in her Easter basket.

Elaenia and her new scripture bag.

Laeni and her loot at Kim's Egg hunt.

Tori and her eggs.

Sora started to catch on...mostly is was shaking the eggs to see if there was candy inside, and then trying to get the candy :)  The finding part wasn't as much fun for her..but she was so small last year, this was her first real official Easter Egg Hunt!

Decorated eggs.

Grandma Shirley's Easter Egg Hunt was also a huge success!

Happy Easter!  He is Risen, He is Risen,  Tell it out with joyful voice!

 We are excited for the fun celebrations of Spring, but more grateful for the true meaning of Easter - the atonement and resurrection.  If nothing else, I hope the girls remember these important events from history, not only today, but throughout their lives.  That we can live again with our loved ones because Christ unlocked the door to death - in Tori's primary talk, she said she was grateful for the atonement and the resurrection and was grateful that she would be able to see her Grandma Weaver again.  Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives!

Payson Temple

Sora is ONE!

I can't believe my baby girl is already a year old.  She has been such a blessing to our family.  We all love her very much!  Even Laeni enjoys playing with her these days!  We had an owl party for her and she didn't really know what was going on, but if there's food, she has a good time!  

Here are some pics of her party...

Owl party cake.  The first thing she grabbed off was the Thin Mint eye ball...too bad we didn't get that on video!

Cute Sora Jane.

Have to have a birthday picture in front of the birthday ladder.  We just had to snap a shot before she could walk off the porch!

Sora wasn't sure why everyone was singing and staring at her :)

Needless to say, she LOVED her chocolate cake.  Chocolate cake with strawberry bavarian cream  filling was all over her face and tummy and paper plate...but she couldn't reach her tongue to her tummy, so the paper plate had to do.  She was literally sucking it clean :).  Just like her mama!

Happy Birthday baby girl!