H is for Happy Family

End of the School Year

2011-08-29T14:11:00.009-04:00

My goal was to have caught up on the blog by the time the girls start school next week. I better finish up last school year before starting on the new school year. The girls had an end of year Program and graduation for the 4 year old classes. My girls tend to get shy in large groups and if you remember the post from the Christmas program, Audrey freezes up and won't look at anyone but me. We decided we were going to work on that before the program. We asked the girls to sing the songs from school to us and then Tom kept encouraging them to sing it louder. During the program when the 2 year old class came out Audrey took it to heart and screamed out her songs. We couldn't stop laughing. She stumbled over words and kept singing even if the song was done. Of course her two little buddies, Katherine and Brayden just kept going right along with her. We have a video from the school made and I wish I could upload it but it is too large to upload. A couple of my other favorite parts were after a song Audrey would shake her bum and then one time after everyone started clapping she beamed, gave a fist pump and said "YES!" loud enough for all the audience to hear. Ella was pretty tame in comparison. She sang great and loved being up "performing" and trying to be SLY and wave at me. Audrey is standing next to her best buddy Katherine and Ella is posing with her best buddy Alexandria. Both are going to different schools next year and I hope the girls adjust. They had such a great year and such amazing teachers.

Dog Rulez

2011-08-04T19:19:00.003-04:00

Today our neighbor's dog, Lucy, got out. We saw her wandering and so we put her in the backyard with Daisy until the neighbor could come home and get her which was about 1/2 hour later. The dogs got along great, running around, both eating and drinking out of Daisy's dishes. When they decided to stay inside Ella decided there better be some dog rules.

1. No peeing in the house

2. No jumping on people

3. Do not let the dogs get the markers and use them on the walls.

Audrey also had me copy these rules down but she added one more.

4. Do not eat animals.

All in all, very good rules.

Mixing Business and Pleasure

2011-08-03T14:06:00.010-04:00

Tom and I rarely take trips unless they are somehow related to visiting family or combined with work. In May both NC and SC have their dental conventions at Myrtle Beach. We decided to take the girls with us to the SC show. I had to be there a day early to help train some supply reps so while I was working Tom spent the day with the girls at the beach. Our hotel was right on the beach so they just walked down.

The girls running to the water.

Running away from the waves.

Playing in the waves and Audrey in the mud. Their favorite game is when Tom and I would lift them up and into the crashing waves.

We took the girls to Broadway at the Beach, which has a bunch of stores, food and rides. We thought since we were taking the girls to Disneyland later in the summer we would see how they did on these ride first. They LOVED them. The car ride seems tame from the pictures but they go in an oval and at the turns it whips the car around really fast. The girls couldn't stop giggling. I have also yet to meet a carousel the girls don't like.

The big conference center in Myrtle Beach is at the Kingston Plantation which is a Hilton Property. The conference center is part of the Embassy Suites. Adjacent to Embassy are Hampton Inn, Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort, and Hilton Timeshare Properties. All the hotels have their own pools and beach access since they are beachfront properties. When you stay at any of the Hilton's you get access to any of the hotel pools. Each of them have fun pools to play at and a boardwalk that connects all the hotels together. The Embassy has an amazing water park type pool and includes a kiddie pool and lazy river. My girls love the water park even though they don't love going on the slides and getting water dumped on them. The lazy river was their favorite. Our hotel has the pool with the rock and waterfall and sandbar in the pool (yes the sandbar is meant to be there). Besides being a little windy and a chance of a tornado that never came to fruition, we had a great vacation and the girls got their first tan lines of the season.

The Boy Cousins

2011-07-30T15:27:00.003-04:00

In April, I took the girls and headed out to AZ. My brother Tim was opening his dental practice and asked me to come out to help set it up. I spend most the day in his office training his staff and getting his software setup. While I was working, the girls spend the day with Cindy, Ethan and Janae. They know Tom's brothers kids as the girl cousins and since Tim has 4 boys and just one girl they just called them "The Boy Cousins". On Friday we took the kids to the Pheonix Zoo. The zoo has this water area for the kids to play and everyone loved it.

The girls don't get to spend much time with Tim's family so it was good for them to have some one on one bonding time with them. And I think Janae loved having more girls around too.

This and That

2011-07-30T15:15:00.004-04:00

We had our friends, the Hansen's kids one night and the girls were having a ball with them because they even out the odd number they usually play with. Earlier that day Audrey was using a chair as a slide and she ended up getting rug burn on her face...not fun.

This year for General Conference, I tried to get the girls more involved in watching and listening. We made candy buckets and since the girls can't read I printed pictures of things like a Temple, Prophet, Family, etc. Whenever they heard that word, they got to have a piece of that candy. We had to start limit it to once a talk. The girls had fun and they actually listened.......somewhat.

We started our first garden this year. So far tomatoes have been great, the peas were divine. Even the neighbors liked them.

80's Prom

2011-07-30T14:53:00.003-04:00

Our friends that always host the Christmas party decided this year to hold an 80's Prom. It was a ton of fun to get dressed up and boogie on down!

Christmas

2011-07-30T13:28:00.007-04:00

On Christmas Eve, we did some of our traditional things, like go to see the Bears at Birkdale, but I didn't get any pictures of that this year. This year one of our friends, the Boles invited us to their house to make Gingerbread houses. Travis had made all the walls/roofs homemade and put them together before we got there so all we needed to do was decorate. The kids had a great time. We came home and let the girls open one present, their PJs. They LOVED them.

That night after the girls were asleep Santa brought us a super special gift. Grandma and Gramps! We got them settled in and went to bed. In the morning the girls got up and woke up me and Tom. Before we let the girls leave Tom snuck a knock on the spare bedroom door. As we were almost to the stairs with the girls the spare room door opened. Ella backed up about half a foot pretty nervous because you couldn't see anyone. The she heard "Hey Punky-Poos" and ran into the room knowing it was Gramps. They were so surprised! The girls loved all their gifts but just having Grandma and Gramps here really was the BEST present we could ask for. We even made THEM breakfast this year.

We ended up having a late day White Christmas! It snowed and actually stuck for a few days. We let the girls go out and play in it. Grandma and Gramps even helped us make a snowman. We had to cut the fun short when we realized Daisy had enjoyed our fun too and took off on her own adventure. A neighbor called to tell us she was in the adjoining neighborhood. We found her and she didn't get to go out with us again for a while.

While Grandma was here, she fixed some of the girls costumes they had torn. I LOVE this picture. If you want to know what it is like when Grandma visits, here it is. Wherever Grandma is you will find my girls pretty much attached.

Not sure how this video will turn out. This is the first time I have tried to attach a video to the blog. On Christmas Eve Tom decide to learn a few Christmas songs and the girls were enjoying every minute of it.

Early December

2011-07-30T10:04:00.012-04:00

My lack of blogging is starting to take its toll on pictures. I have hardly taken any this summer so I am making an effort here, but if blogger doesn't start working WITH me on some level that I am DONE.

December is always a busy month. Here is a little glimpse of our life in pictures.

These pictures are mostly for Grandma. She made these headbands for the girls. It warmed up too much for them to use them last year, but this year they got lots of use. I love the second picture. I told the girls to hug each other so instead of turning around Audrey just put her arms around Ella's back.

Our favorite time of year is when the neighborhood has the Little Blue Choo Choo and Santa comes! The girls saw Santa so many times this year that Tom taught them to respond when he asked what they wanted "The same thing I told you last time.)

Their was a dusting of snow so we got the girls all ready and it had stopped by the time we got them outside. I love the one of Audrey goofing off. It shows her true personality when normally she just scowls at people she doesn't know well.

Audrey reading directions to make sure we put the tree up properly.

I let the girls really help me this year get the tree set up. They loved it. I like to call it "Cluster Decorating". Every night after they went to bed I would have to go even out all the decorations again. PS. On the picture of just the tree I would like to point out the cream ball in the top left side. That is Tom's Jazz ornament. He says I always hide it high and in the back. Proof that is not true.

This is our very first gingerbread house. We had been promising the girls that we would make it for several days but didn't read the directions until we sat down to make it. You are suppose to make the house a day or two before decorating it. Since the girls were too anxious at this point, we just used the hot glue to put the house together. (Don't worry, no candy was consumed off the house once it was put together, just from the pile of treats we were using to decorate from.)

The girls had a Christmas Program at school. Yep we can call it a Christmas Program because it is a Baptist school. Audrey would only look at me and scowl at the rest of the audience. Ella did great until she got pushed a little and then meltdown and crying ensued. The last picture is of Ella with some of her friends and teacher, Ella, Cecelia, Ms Melissa, Alexandria, and Cicedio.

This year our group of friends didn't have an Ugly Sweater Party, we did a PJ party instead. This was the only picture that I felt would be appropriate to share so that tells you that it was a pretty GREAT party.

Happy Birthday Audrey

2011-03-03T17:13:00.005-05:00

So I am soooooo behind on my blogging, but we really did celebrate Audrey's birthday. With Thanksgiving so close to her birthday and our busy season for work we decided to keep it low key and went to Chuck E Cheese with the Hinmans and Burtons. When we were telling Audrey we were going to Chuck E Cheese, she would get mad saying it was HER birthday not Cheese's birthday. Her whole attitude changed once we got there. She LOVED it. The kids had so much fun on the rides and the pizza didn't taste as much like cardboard as I remember. Now is it more like edible paper..... anywhoo, the kids had a awesome time. I think the giant horse you could ride was probably the biggest hit for my girls. Audrey asked to go to Chuck E Cheese again every day for weeks and weeks. Sorry about the quality of pictures. My camera just couldn't make up for the terrible lighting.

Audrey, Happy 3rd Birthday sweetheart! You are such a big girl now and I am missing my baby. Here are just a few things I love about you:

You love dressy dresses. Sunday is your favorite day just because you get to glam it up.
You still love to snuggle mom.
You get mad when people call you nicknames. You are Audrey. You don't even like being Audrey Hindmarsh and get very upset when we tell you that is your name.
You love to dance like there is no tomorrow.
You sing at top volume.
You love to play with others but you are just as content being by yourself.
You still love mommy best, but daddy is starting to make some good headway.
You love to torment Daisy.
You are potty trained. Hurray!
You are eagar to share. I love how willing you are to share with others.
You love to feel like you are "big". And I am getting a little sad that you aren't much of a baby anymore.

We love you Audrey!

Knoops! And Thanksgiving

2011-03-03T14:32:00.007-05:00

You know you are pretty special to us to have a whole Blog post named after you. Our BFF couple, the Knoops came out to visit us for Thanksgiving this year. They moved to New Mexico last year and last Thanksgiving was the first in years that we have not spent together. We are assuming they missed our cooking so much they came to have Thanksgiving with us again this year. We had so much fun catching up and hanging out. I don't have many pictures (besides the Poinsettia pictures). We were too busy just having fun.

Travis and Devony

We caught Audrey in the toy box, literally, before Thanksgiving dinner. The Knoops and Manwills came to dinner. I love hanging out with these guys. My girls ADORE Madi and Alex. Before dinner we went to Metrolina Greenhouse and took our annual pictures in the flowers (We missed last year with the Knoops being gone.) Travis has some major hookups to be able to get us into Metrolina!

Riding in the carts.

We DO NOT take good family pictures. There is always someone off. Lately it has been Audrey. She pulls out the tears everytime the camera comes out. Our last family pictures was a 2 1/2 years ago. Sad I know but hey, that kids for you! Thanks for the visit Knoops, we sure miss you.

Random Thoughts

2011-03-02T23:31:00.002-05:00

A couple things have happened the last few days that have made me love and appreciate how my mother raised me. As many of you know I am the Primary President in our ward and Tom is the Executive Secretary. That means that we are at the church a lot, especially Tom. He has meetings every Sunday from 10am-1pm then we have church from 1-4pm. Twice a month we have Ward Council and it is from 11:45-12:50 then church from 1-4pm. That means that we both have to be there for those meetings. My kids are getting a little church overload. They love love love church and Primary but they by the end of these long Sundays they are DONE! (And they do not love the pre-meeting time. Not that they don't love to play, it is just too long of a day for them.) I am starting to send my counselors to some of the meetings, but unfortunately I have to go to at least once a month. There is another family in our ward that both couples need to attend Ward Council so we are not the only ones in this position. It means that we need to have a nursery for ward council so our kids are taken care of. The YM/YW organization has taken on the responsibility of "Ward Council Nursery". I have a lot of gratitude for these youth that so often give so much service. I also think what wonderful lessons they are learning about unselfishness and serving in the church at such a young age. Thank you so much! I know that when I was young and had opportunities to serve my parents encouraged me to participate but never forced me. I watched as my parents served in their callings even when they had reasons they could have said no. I remember my mom serving in the Young Womens organization, even when she was going through harsh chemo treatments. How easy would it have been to say no??? I never even gave a second thought to it at the time. Now that I am an adult and know how much work goes into callings, especially those involving the youth, I am amazed. I am also humbled and grateful that she DID accept and magnify her calling. Without saying a word, she taught me how to look beyong myself and think of others by serving in the church. Our church cannot function without those that belong to it serving. No one gets paid in our church. It requires sacrifice, but also makes me appreciate it so much more. Thank you so much mom for teaching me to serve at a young age! Only now can I truely appreciate how small of a window we have to teach our children and especially how short of a time she had to teach me. And I am grateful for a church organization that gives us the opportunity to serve in our youth. I know it taught me so much at the time, but even more is that it prepared me for serving now.

I laid in bed last night thinking of how amazing my parents were about always alway serving in the church, serving in the community, and helping others. I can remember my mom helping those in need. Whenever we saw people outside the grocery store in need, my mom always gave. Many times she would stop to talk to these needy people to find out there circumstances and how she could really help. On one occasion I remember my mom bringing a couple home who had been homeless outside Smith's. They ended up living in our travel trailer. My parents helped them look for work and they eventually bought the trailer from my parents and moved into a trailer park. Quite honestly I don't know that I would feel comfortable bringing strangers into my house, but that was just how my mom was.

On a lighter side, I saw a friends facebook post where she was ranting about someone she saw smoking while pregnant. For some reason it reminded me of a story my mom used to tell me about when she was pregnant with me and I wanted to make sure to write it down so I wouldn't forget it. Back when my mom was pregnant was with me there were no "clean indoor air acts". You could pretty much smoke wherever you wanted to, including GROCERY STORES! I can't even imagine that now and how that would have to taint the taste of all the food in the store. But I guess growing up in Vegas has its disadvantages. Anyway, my mom was very pregnant with me and in line at the grocery store. There was a long line and the person standing in line behind her smoking away. My mom politely asked her to not smoke because it was making her sick. The lady made some rude comment to my mom, something along the line of "no way" but not nearly as nice, and then blew smoke in her face, and continued to smoke. Within a couple of minutes, my mom turned to her and threw up on her. That was so typical of my mom!!! I know that the woman helping the homeless couple and the woman who would throw up on a stranger doesn't sound like they would/could be the same person. Both are typical of my mom. She would help someone as much as she could, espcially if she felt they were doing their best, but if she thought that someone was being unjust or rude, she would also put them in their place. I need to have the guts to step out of my comfort zone to help those around me........and to stand up for what I think is right. I hope I can be just a small portion of the person she was.

Giving Up

2011-02-28T12:48:00.004-05:00

I try to think that I am not a Quitter. I am more of a Never Starter , especially if I think I won't follow through on something. But I am losing the passion for blogging. Mostly because I am so behind. Notice no Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, fun playdates? The winter months are my busiest for work and I don't have time to do much. Now that I have time it is hard for me to want to blog when it is 80 degrees outside. (Yes, it is February and 80!) So I am really going to make an effort to sit and write out my blogs for the last few months. Be patient with me and hopefully someday I will be caught up.

Tattoos

2011-02-10T21:48:00.003-05:00

I know I haven't blogged in a while and need to do a major catchup but I thought I would quickly blog this before I forgot.

Today Ella and Audrey had a Valentine's Party at school and later swapped Valentine's with a friend. The friend (who I will not name to protect the innocent) gave the girls Valentine's with tattoos. I am not the biggest fan of the temporary tattoos, but the girls really wanted to put them on. Ella decided to do it while I was fixing dinner and didn't know the directions, so she soaked her hand, then stuck on the tattoo. Well, you are suppose to have a dry hand and wet the paper. I tried to help her fix it but half of the Barbie dress was completely messed up. In true Ella fashion, she had a meltdown because it didn't turn out like she was hoping or planning. She literally cried for a half an hour......straight.

So Dear Ella, let this be a lesson to you when you are older and are thinking that maybe a real tattoo is the way to go. If it messes up, which is very likely, you can't wash it off. And you might be crying for longer then a half hour. Love you, Mom

Birthday

2010-12-11T11:54:00.004-05:00

This year's birthday was kind of a whirlwind. Tom was out of town because his grandfather died and it was an insane week for me at work, but when Tom got home he put together a party for me with some of our friends. It was fun to be surrounded by people you love. He also got me lots of stuff to pamper myself.

The girls told me that they had a special present for me in the living room, when I went down there were all my shoes. They have been infatuated playing Shoe Store and Ella told me for my birthday I could pick any pair. I love when I have to re-buy my shoes but at least this time it was with pretend money.

Halloween..better late then never

2010-12-11T10:49:00.008-05:00

Let the sugar fest begin! The girls kicked off their Halloween festivities by going to a party hosted by our friends Allie and Jennifer. The girls were so excited to finally dress up and spend the morning with their friends. Audrey has a Snow White costume, but wanted to wear the witch costume Ella got for her birthday instead. Check out the cool black and white striped tights!

The kids started out by making creepy hands (clear gloves with a candy corn in each finger and filled with popcorn)

They moved on to decorating sugar cookies. My MIL and SIL made a ton of these while they were visiting and so it was good to share all the delicious-ness....and calories with others. some of the kids had already finished their cookies before others had started to decorate.

Then the kids played Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin. Audrey wasn't so sure about being blindfolded, but after all the other kids were done, she snuck over and put her nose on.

The kids, especially the girls loved checking out each others costumes and dancing around.

Playing another game where Allie was hiding something they needed to find. They looked so small lined against the window.

Hearing a spooky Halloween story.

Ella and Audrey got a goody bag from the party that included Vampire Fangs. I think they were in heaven.

The girls also had Halloween parties at school, but I didn't get any pictures of that. Sorry.

The next party on the agenda was the Ward Trunk or Treat. Everyone decks out their cars and so it was a lot of fun for the kids. They think it is so cool that they know everyone and all they have to do is ask and they get candy.

We let the girls dress up to hand candy out on Halloween. Since Audrey refused to wear her Snow White costume, Ella decided to put it to use. They love love love Halloween and wish it was every week. They are still asking me when they get to go trick or treating again, although Santa is starting to grab their attention more and more.

We sure love these munchkins!!

Keeping Busy

2010-11-09T14:39:00.009-05:00

I know I haven't blogged Halloween yet, but I still haven't even gotten the pictures off the camera! I know, mom of the year here. But I thought I would do a little catch up on the kids.

They are busy busy and keep me on my toes. They are loving school and always catch me off guard by how much they know. Ella was creating "art" out of the computer zip cords and she told me she was an architect.

We have been spending a lot of time between doctors offices with Audrey. Right after we got back from our cruise we went to see Dr. Hart, Audrey's neurologist/sleep doctor. She went over all the sleep study results with us. Audrey does really well sleeping her first few hours and goes through all the stages of sleep regularly. After a couple hours though she wakes up continually and doesn't go into the deeper stages of sleep either at all or long enough. She also moves a lot in her sleep. She was diagnoised with Periodic Limb Movement Disorder. The high average is 4 limb movements an hour. Audrey had 7.4. It is like restless leg syndrome in adults but kids can't tell the doctor if they are having some of the itching/burning/etc that goes with RLS. The doctor said that it CAN turn into RLS but not necessarily. She may just outgrow it. Low ferratin levels can cause this which iron supplements may be able to help but they probably won't fix her symptoms so Dr. Hart prescribes Gabapentin. The first week we only gave her 1 ml. She was still a little sick and instead of waking up 2-3 times a night she was up 8-10 times. We were dying. The second week you up the dosage to 2ml. She has been pretty much sleeping through the night ever since. In two weeks she has gotten up 3 times. That was her average a night so I will take it! I feel like I have a new lease on life.

Ella has taken up a new hobby. She has started taking pictures. I actually really like most of the pictures she takes. Most of her shots have perspective, a subject and interesting angles. Very few of them are blurry and she isn't just snapping randomly. She really looks at the shot before taking them. Audrey tries too, but most of her shots are of her own fingers at this point. Here is some of her work. I pretty much have "given" her Tom's old digital camera. She can't open it or close it on her own though, so we are considering getting her a kids camera for Christmas.

Here's a few gems from the little ones lately. (You may have already seen them on Facebook)

Birkdale has been putting up their Christmas decorations and Ella has been getting excited and asking a lot about when Christmas is and what she wants.

Me: Ella, do you remember what Christmas is for? Ella: Getting presents. Me: No it is Jesus' birthday. Ella thinks a little then: Mom, how old is he going to be?

Audrey cannot say restaurant. She calls it a rest-ar-not. When Tom's family was here we went out to dinner and Audrey went around dancing and singing. "We're going to a rest-ar-not, we're going to a rest-ar-not".

Out of nowhere Ella came up to me and asked Mom what are you good at? Me: Well, um cleaning the house and being a good mom. Ella:AND you are good at making me lunch. Dad isn't so good at that. He gets distracted.

Audrey can't say love right. She lu-ths you. Tells you this a lot. She loves giving out hugs (rarely kisses though). On Sundays before she can leave Nursery she has to hug both her teachers and tell them she lu-ths them. She also frequently tells me, Tom, Ella and Miss Meagan that we are her BEST FWENDS.

On Saturday we got Ella a couple new dresses and there was one that she absolutely loves. She waited as patiently as she could all Saturday to be able to wear it on Sunday. It was the first thing she asked to do when she woke up was to get dressed in her new black dress. When she put it on she asked "Do you like my new dress? I am a beautiful princess" (as she was twirling and prancing) Me: yes you are. Ella: Do you know what I am missing? Me: No (but I was thinking she was going to say a crown, a necklace or her newest favorite- makeup) Ella: A prince.

Cruisin'

2010-11-03T11:52:00.010-04:00

A few weeks ago Tom and I took our very first cruise. We LOVED it. I realize a cruise isn't for everyone. If you are claustrophobic or need to be busy all the time, this might not have been the cruise for you. They had lots of things to do like the pool, the water park area, casino if your into that sort of thing, dance clubs open at night, mini golf, ping pong, a track, and lots of things hosted by Carnival like karaoke, comedy acts, etc. We enjoyed just laying by the pool getting some sun, sleep and reading books. I soaked it all up. As many of you know we have a non-sleeper, so it was a chance for us to take a break and get as much sleep as I wanted. The gentle rolling of the ship but me to sleep several times a day. Our cruise left out of Charleston, SC. Tom's mom and sister Teri came out Thursday night to watch our kids. We got up early on Friday and drove down to Charleston. They got us checked in, through security and on the ship pretty quickly all things considered. Then it was onto the ship where we got lunch and toured the ship. We just hung out and chilled for most the first day. That night we met our dinner table. They sit you with random people and all our table mates were quite a bit older then us, but they were nice.

Here we are on the first day at sea. We had one full day at sea and we enjoyed the pool and lounge chairs as much as possible.

Our first dinner on the ship.

Our first stop was Freeport, Bahamas. I know several people that said they didn't' really like Freeport, but we LOVED it. We decided that since we were saving a ton of money by going on a cruise then we would pay to do fun excursions. We signed up for a history tour of Freeport. We had the coolest tour guide ever. His name was Chad. He started out by telling us we were part of his family for the day. He really treated us that way and with only 4 couples and Chad we got to know each other really well. We started at the lighthouse where he told us that when the British took over the Bahamas in the 1700's they moved all the doors to the lighthouses up high. The locals were used to going into the lighthouses and turning out the lights so that boats would shipwreck on the islands and they would be able to take their goods. (I mean the Bahamas WERE peopled by Pirates, those who had been shipwrecked, and slaves who had either escaped or been freed at that point in history...with more liberated slaves to come later on.)

Not the best photographer, but you got us both in the picture :) And this is a Catholic Church that was built to look like it is falling apart. We also learned that the Bahama islands are not volcanic in nature like Hawaii, but instead are made of coral that all fossilized and made the islands. Pretty cool.

We also went to a couple areas that had inlets and underwater caves. We aren't scuba divers though so we didn't get to go in the caves. There is one area of the island where fishermen sell their catch every day and there are huge conch shells lining the whole area. Chad took us to an area of the island that had caves where the locals used to hide out when hurricanes would come before they had cement buildings. They would plant fruit and nut trees near the entrance of the cave to have food while they were evacuated. We passed several churches on the way and at each of them we would stop to wave at members of Chad's family. We ended at a private beach where we snorkeled for a couple hours and then had lunch together.

It may be hard to tell but the water was super clear and we snorkeled past the barrier, and all around the coral so it was a couple of miles of swimming. I am not the strongest swimmer but we had swim belts on which made it tons easier. I normally hyperventilate this first bit my head is under water but Tom held on to my hand and I got over it pretty quickly and was able to really enjoy the experience. This was probably the easiest time I had snorkeling, although I loved the colors and variety of fish in Hawaii more. This was way better then snorkeling in Mexico though!
Our newest family member- Chad. He is hopefully starting his own tour company soon, but in the mean time if you are heading to Freeport, we will tell you what tour we took so you can find him. He is absolutely the BEST.

When we got back to the boat, we had to hurry and get ready for dinner. The first day on the boat a host came around explaining they were doing a new program call Chef's Table where you had an 11 course dinner provided by the Executive Chef. We went ahead and signed up. There were only 6 couples that could go each night. We got to take a tour of the kitchens, help make a dessert, then got served the most amazing dinner. I felt like I was a judge on Top Chef. We had about 5 different wait staff, plus the Executive Chef was in there with us the whole time explaining what we were eating and how he made it. We also got entertained by the ship's magician. It was such a fun experience and something we would definitely do again.

Our next destination was Nassau, Bahamas. We chose to go to a private beach rather then the Atlantis. It is really just a casino with activities. I have seen enough of those in my life that I didn't think there was much the Atlantis could do to top that. And it was very expensive to do any of the activities there. Instead we went to a gorgeous blue lagoon. They had an area with dolphins that you could swim with, you could help train the sea lions, they had an area in the lagoon where you could go on jump on inflatable water toys like a big water trampoline, slide into the lagoon, etc. We also just sat and relaxed here too. The sea lion was our favorite though.

After the blue lagoon we walked around Nassau. It reminded me quite a bit of New Orleans with how the buildings are built.

The last day was another sea day. It was super windy. Can you tell by how crazy Tom's hair is standing up? That was all from the wind. We had a great last dinner with our wonderful wait staff. We are already thinking about where we would like to cruise next. We loved coming home to our amazing kids, refreshed and ready to go back to interrupted sleep.

Overheard....

2010-10-02T22:30:00.003-04:00

Our kids just make us giggle sometimes. Ella usually says things to us that are funny and we just overhear Audrey talking to herself or Ella that cracks us up.

A few weeks ago some friends came over to watch a BYU game. Ella, Audrey and their son Blake were playing soccer. They would kick the ball between the legs of a table and everytime it went by the table they would yell, "I scored!!!". As our friends were leaving the girls were giving out hugs to the boys. When Blake gave Ella a hug she turned and told me "I scored!" (Then got mad as I laughed)

Today we went to our neighbor's birthday party. They go all out for birthdays around here and had rented a blow up "jump house/slide". Ella wasn't the biggest fan (not shocking) and I only was able to get her to go down once. Audrey on the other hand had no fear and went down for literally an hour or more. The bottom of the slide could get pretty backed up and kids started to pile up or bump into each other. As Audrey would get to the top she would yell down "Look out beloooooooooooooooooooooooow". Also at the party, they have a huge playset. There were like 3 or 4 ways to climb up and then at the top a large platform that had play binoculars attached to the side and a ship wheel. It became the girls boat. Tom and I were chatting with some of the neighbors as we heard Audrey's voice saying things like "Aye Aye Matey" "Oh I see the treasure" and of course everything ended with "arrrrrggghhhh". I can't believe the imagination she is getting.

I can't believe how fast the girls are growing. They are really thriving at preschool. They love love love going. Ella has made a lot of new friends. One in particular named Alexandria who loves to play "dog family" with her. They go around being dogs most of class. I love those precious moments right after picking them up from school and hearing about their day. I try to give them my undivided attention for that time right after school. One of my very favorite things about their Preschool is that the school has a music program. It is a seperate teacher in a seperate room and they go for about 30 mins. The girls come home singing all day. They learn the same songs which makes it nice. With Ella's amazing memory she has learned her left and her right by learning the Hokey Pokey. (I still struggle with L vs R, she is putting me to shame and it just took a song!) They have also learned "She'll be going round the Mountain" and "Row your boat". Audrey was very excited the other day about learning Row your boat. Here is her version: Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream. Mary Mary Mary Mary gently down the stream.

Earlier this week I had to take Audrey in for a sleep study. She has never been a good sleeper and I always chalked it up to all the ear infections she had from just a couple months old until just a few months ago with her latest set of tubes. She still has sleeping issues though waking up at least once, sometimes several times a night. She also tends to wake up and feels like she is shaking or she can't be calmed. There have been times that I think she is having night terrors and doesn't recognize us for several moments. So we were referred to a Nurologist/Sleep Specialist who focuses on Pediatrics. She sent us to have a sleep study with an EEG done. I was pretty much dreading it. I figured Audrey was going to have a fit about being connected to wires all night. The toughest part of the night was seperating Ella and Audrey (only one person could go with her for the sleep study at the hospital). Both girls cried for quite awhile about being seperated from each other. We got to the hospital's sleep center and Audrey was great about letting her nurse Carmine hook up the wires. There are about 35 different wires they connect with this think gel all through her hair, around her face (which is where I thought she would get irrated and pull them out but she didn't), and then her chest and legs. As Carmine was hooking her up, I was explaining what they were doing and why. I explained that we wanted to look in her head and see if we could find out what was in there. She told me "mom, there are monkeys in my head". Naturally, of course that is what is in there. So I asked "Nice monkeys or are they fighting monkeys". They are fighting monkeys except when they are nice. I think Audrey made Carmine's week. She told me in all seriousness that Audrey was the best patient she ever had. She didn't cry once for her even when she was disconnecting all the wires which can pull your hair quite a bit. She said most teenagers complain and even adults can end up tearing up. But not my girl. She was just concerned about the monkeys. Did I mention she has quite the imagination? (And we don't have the results yet, we will update when we do)
*** A little background on the monkey comment. When Audrey had all her ear infections we ended up going straight to the ENT most the time. To get kids attention he would whistle these bird chirping sounds and tell the girls that he was looking for birds in their ears. So if they had an earache we would ask if they had birds in their ears. Then a few weeks ago Audrey was losing her voice and Tom said it sounded like she had a frog in her throat. She said "It isn't a frog, it was an alligator" once it was a doggie. So with birds in her ears, and either frogs, alligators or doggies in her throat, it is not a stretch that she has monkeys in her head.

Who's Your Daddy??

2010-09-25T11:55:00.005-04:00

Tom and I get a lot of comments on who they think our girls look like. It is always funny to Tom and I when we hear how much Ella looks like Tom and how much Audrey looks like me. So we decided to let you see what we looked liked as kids and let you make a more informed opinion. **As a side note I dont' have many pictures as a kid. Our were all on slides and I don't have them and many of them got destroyed in a fire. So sorry for the poor choices. Also I don't have any pictures of my kids half dressed. I have made a decision not to scar them for lives as teenagers. **

FOUR

2010-09-09T23:03:00.005-04:00

Ella turned FOUR yesterday (Sept 8). What a joy she has been in our life! I can not remember life without her. She wakes up so happy still. Every morning she tells me "It is a sunny happy day." She started doing this two years ago and it has become a habit. I love how loving, snuggly, and considerate she is. She hates feeling like you are mad at her and will try to make things right. I love her little spirit. She loves going to church and learning about Jesus and the Holy Ghost. (He is her favorite right now.) She loves praying and likes to be the one to say EVERY prayer. I love that she would still let me rock her to sleep and baby her (although I don't do it often anymore).
She is starting to get so big. She can open the door to the car, get in and buckle herself in (although she still needs help with the bottom buckle). Her chores are to put her own jammies, panties, and socks away, put away shoes, and set the table. She always brings her own plate to the sink when she is done.

Ella has always been able to reason things out. Sometimes I think she is going to be a lawyer. We had to go to Target the other night and she asked if she could have a Reeces' PB cup. I told her that she could but there are two in a package so she could have one and Audrey would have the other. She said, "Well, okay. Or we COULD just get Audrey her own. There are a lot of them over here and it would make her feel special to have her own." I thought the lady behind us was going to turn purple from trying not to laugh. She makes us laugh without trying constantly. She hates when we laugh though and gets embarrassed that we laugh. Ella loves to have friends over and play with other kids, but she can be shy when she feels like she has drawn attention to herself.

Ella, we love you so much. You are a great big sister, a wonderful friend and an amazing daughter. We love seeing you grow and the beautiful person you have become. You are such a special part of our family.

We had a party for Ella on Saturday and invited her whole primary class. Ten kids when you include Ella and our Audrey.

Daddy's special homemade cupcakes with pudding frosting.

She had a great time with all her friends and many of them stayed to watch the football game after. She thought all the people who came were her just for her birthday.

On her actual birthday opening Grandma and Gramps gift. (sorry for the bad lighting)

Our friend Jenny is going to be watching the girls one day a week while I work. Her daughter is Audrey too. I think our girls are going to have a GREAT time playing together. And our Audrey thinks it is funny that she is "little Audrey".

I Blinked....

2010-09-07T21:01:00.008-04:00

and somehow my babies have become little girls. Today was both of their first day at Preschool. They got into Lake Norman Baptist Church Preschool. (Here a lot of the churches have preschools which helps them pay for the building and it provides great schools for the community.) LNB is a great school and I was so lucky to get both my girls in. They have been on a waiting list since Feb and it is really hard especially to get into a 2 year old program, but somehow we got Audrey in and then it worked out to get Ella in as well. We left this morning without the camera. My camera wasn't saving the picture for some reason so I was able to get a couple pictures when I came to pick the girls up. I couldn't get them to stand together though!

Audrey and her class with Miss Cindy and Miss Betty. (They have a 4:1 ratio)

Ella outside her class. She has Miss Melissa and Miss Starr (a 5:1 ratio)

Leaving school using the backpacks. Gotta love the wheels.

After school was out we met up with Ella's friend Emma and got some ice cream to celebrate the first day of school. We went up to Carolina Cones. The girls liked the ice cream but loved the train that circled around on the ceiling and they especially loved the carousel outside.

Super Y

2010-09-06T23:48:00.003-04:00

Holiday Season started at our house on Saturday. That is right, BYU played their first game of the season. We always have pre-season chat going on about how we are going to do against other teams, how new recruits are going to do, etc. This year with BYU and the Independant chatter, the excitement was at a whole new level. (By the way, we are huge fans of the Independant decision.) We also always have an open door policy for games. We like everyone to have a place to feel comfortable to come watch the game. The first game we seem to have the most people show up. This year was no different. We actually ended up with 65 people that came. They didn't all come at the same time, and most didn't stay the entire time, but we had the majority of everyone here for the first half. It was really fun and we had tons of great food. From hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, pull pork sandwiches, salads, chips, salsa, dips, cookies, cupcakes, brownies, and more! The game was great. It was close enough that you wanted to pay close attention, but most importantly they won. Everyone kept saying the next day, "Sorry there were so many people there. Was your house trashed? " Actually we had everything cleaned up including food put away and dishes done within 20 mins of the game being over. We are already looking forward to next week vs Airforce. Rise and Shout, the Cougars are out.......even on the East Coast.

*PS. As for the name of the post, anytime Audrey sees the Y (on t-shirts, hats, the mountain) she calls it Super Y. We love it, so at our house BYU has been renamed Super Y. It was actually the first letter she learned to recognize.

Books and Community

2010-08-23T20:31:00.002-04:00

Most of you that know me know that I am an avid reader. (Yes the rumor that I read a cookbook as entertainment one summer break is true. I ran out of every other reading material in the house.) When Tom got his iPad for Father's Day I got one too. One of the first apps we installed was iBooks and then I installed Kindle for iPad. Many people have asked me how I like using an iPad for reading so here goes. I didn't know if I would love reading on it but I really do. I read some heafty novels and so it is much lighter then a 700 pg book. That is a definitely plus. I love reading in bed with it, where I do a majority of my reading. It's backlight makes it easy and once I figured out how to go back to a section it was nice and user friendly. It is easy to flip from book to book if you are that sort. (I am not. I tend to read fast enough to finish one book before starting on another.) It definitely has its drawbacks. The biggest is if I try to read while the girls are awake, they think they need to be playing the iPad instead of me reading. This makes me feel guilty for reading while I could be playing with them and so I tend to hand it over. I have not tried to read with it outside. It is too hot to spend time outside reading. I may try in the fall but definitely not anytime soon so I can't give my opinion on that.

I have been thinking about the whole eBook vs paper book debate so much this week because one of my favorite series "The Hunger Games" is releasing the third book in the Trilogy "Mockingjay" tonight at Midnight. There aren't any local midnight release parties that I am aware of, so that means no midnight paperbook. BUT no worries I can just download it at midnight right? Yep. And am I planning to? Yep. Nap today- Check. Cherry Coke with dinner- Check. But I have also lent out Hunger Games to several friends and got them interested in the series. Reading books together gives you a sense of community. It is great conversation and a common link where no link may have existed otherwise. I have always liked books for that reason. Well, with an eBook I won't have a copy to lend out so that we can chat later about it. Books bring people together. So my bottom line is, do I like eBooks? Absolutely, and I will keep buying them especially when I need a good read and Bookstores have already closed or I can't get out to buy a book. But I am not ready to give up my paper books altogether. I mean you can't read an iPad very well in the tub AND don't you sometimes just love the smell of paper?

The Demise Of The Blog

2010-08-12T13:43:00.019-04:00

I know it sort of feels like I have given up on the blog this summer. I promise I am trying to recommit myself to blogging. I am hoping that I will have more time in the Fall, but it never seems to turn out that way. We have been out creating memories instead of inside so much this summer. I am going to try to catch up on all our summer fun in one massive blog, so grab some popcorn and a drink and settle in for a while. We are going to start with the most recent, sorry it is not in chronological order, but I realized too late I put the pictures in this way and if I take the time to change them, it may be another few weeks before this blog gets posted.

Washington, DC

Last week Tom had a work conference up in Washington, DC. It has been on our list of things to do since we moved to the East. It is only a 6 hour drive, which in perspective to how much we drive seems like nothing. Tom had to be there Tuesday-Sunday for meetings but he had all of Thursday off. I had to be here Tuesday night and back in time for church on Sunday because of church obligations. So I packed the kids up and we left on Wednesday. The girls did AWESOME on the drive. I thought it was pretty painless.(It helped we bought the new Dora movie before the trip and we pulled out the portable DVD player.) We stopped a few times to stretch our legs, get treats and go potty and so we made it there in about 6 1/2 hours. Unfortunately I left my camera at home!!! of all the things to forget. We had dinner that night with Tom since it was a "free night" for him. On Thursday we got up and ready and took a shuttle into DC. With toddlers, we weren't expecting to see much. We made to to the Natural History Museum. The girls liked the butterfly room, the elephant in the foyer, and the giraffes the most. We didn't make it through all the museum, but enough for us and the girls. It was super hot and insanely humid and we didn't bring the stroller since it didn't fit well on the shuttle. We ended up carrying the girls to lunch. Ella told me that her legs were all "pooped up" after all the walking. Audrey was so tired she fell asleep while Tom was carrying her. We headed to the Hard Rock Cafe. They were so nice and seated us in a 8 person booth so we could lay Audrey down. If you are ever near a Hard Rock I recommend their Chicken Quesadillas. They are on the starter menu and have BBQ marinated chicken, pineapple, and have chili on the tortilla. Delish!! I have tried to replicate them already and can't get that close. Tom had a dinner/opening meeting to go to at 5 so we headed back to the hotel so he could get ready. About 20 mins after we got back the TV started flickering. I looked outside and the wind was blowing the trees in one direction and the flags in another direction. Not a good sign. A few minutes later the power in the building went out. They kept postposing the opening meeting so Tom and I decided to take a drive with the kids. Several traffic lights were out which made driving.....interesting. Apparently no one informed the DC/Maryland drivers that you treat a non functioning light as a 4 way stop. Since the power was out at so many places, there was a run on gas. Only stations and stores that had generators were working and it was getting crazy. When we got back to the hotel there was still no power. The generators were only lighting the hallways and main lobby areas. They gave everyone glow sticks which were a big hit with Audrey. The power didn't come on until about 3am. The next day watching the news we found out that there were major microbursts with wind up to 80mph. It downed trees which caused the power outages. There were close to 200,000 without power during that night. Not the most comfortable to sleep without A/C but we made it through the night. The next day Tom headed to his classes (which started at 7am) and the girls and I went up to Baltimore. One of our friends that moved from Charlotte lives up by there. Kelly brought her son Austin and met us at Port Discovery, a children's museum. It was one of the best children's museum that we have been to. There was a convenient store that the kids could shop at then check their stuff out. There was a Kareoke room that the girls LOVED. If it wasn't their turn to sing, they would be the back up dancers. There were reading rooms, a diner where they could make food for customers, a water room where you could shoot water guns, or race ducks down a "creek" or make boats to float, or my kids favorite, you could wash windows. They had a whole Bob the Builder section where you could build walls (using fake rocks that were magnetic), plant flowers and climb on equipment. They wore themselves out playing so hard. Audrey was asleep before we even got out of the parking garage. Tom's meetings ran ALL NIGHT. He didn't get done until 9 so we had a late dinner with him and Greg. On Saturday we got up and headed home. This time we hit all the traffic I had expected driving up. It took over an hour to go 2 miles. Instead of 6 1/2 hours, it took us 9!!!!! And the DVD player broke on the trip. It was not a fun drive home but the girls still did the best they could. A few mishaps, but we were all ready to be done by the time we got home. It was still worth the drive for a few days of lots of fun.

Discovery Place Part II

We have been spending a lot of time at children's museums this summer. We have a pass to Discovery Place so when it is too hot to play outside we like to head there. We have been there a few times now and still have not made it to all the exhibits. The nice thing about having a pass is that you don't feel bad only going for a few hours at a time which is all my girls can handle. We have found that going in the late afternoons is the ideal time because you don't have so many daycare/summer camp groups at the same time. The best thing is that Ella is becoming a lot more courageous in trying new things. When all the kids started going on the rope bridge I thought "This is NOT going to happen". But as usual she surprised me.

Movie Time

We have taken the girls to several movies this summer too. Did I mention it has been record breaking heat? And if not, then it is raining like cats and dogs. The girls have seen Toy Story 3 a couple of times and LOVE it. One afternoon when it was raining like crazy we decided to meet up with the Manwills and see Despicable Me. The rain was so bad people were driving about 30 on the freeway so we ended up going to the 3D show. It was the girls first experience with 3D. Ella liked it and kept her glasses on. Audrey, well, Audrey really liked the popcorn.

Sorry more pictures from my camera.

Princess Pool Party

We met up with several of the girls from Ella's Primary class for a little time at the pool. The girls love having friends go with them to the pool, but it still doesn't get them out of their scardy cat shell. The still refuse to go down the slide or get in all the water features. On the bright side, at least I know they aren't susptible to peer pressure. We all brought snacks and had some pizza while we were there. The highlight was the pink frosted cupcakes Allie made. Yum Yum.

Emma, Audrey, Ella, Audrey
The lineup: Audrey, Madeline, Ella, Audrey

Allie and Abbie

The two Audreys

Carolina Storms

I have never really been in a major rain storm until I experiences the rain here in Carolina. It not only rains a lot at a time but GIANT raindrops. You never know if they are really going to start until you are out in it. One day we were working outside and Tom started to water the grass. I told him he didn't need to since it was going to rain. This time I was actually right and we all got in and enjoyed a little summer shower. The girls had fun racing to the mailbox. This shower only lasted about 45 mins.

Red Neck Sandbox

When I was a kid I faintly remember having a sandbox in the backyard on Canal Street. I have never really wanted to make a sandbox for the kids because I think they become home to ants and the neighborhood kitty litter box. But my girls LOVE playing in the sand anyway. We have been doing a lot of outdoor projects lately. We have been lining all our beds with brickwork and remulching. I know our neighbors think we are nuts for spending so much time outside and on our yard, but we enjoy it. It means we have a lot of extra dirt in the process, but the girls don't seem to mind.

Calling All Princesses

We love Chick-Fil-A. They are a great company and they do a lot in the community. About once a month they have activities going on at the store. Brilliant marketing ploy? Maybe but it sure makes for a fun family activity. One Thursday this summer they had a Princess Night. You could go decorate and make your own tiara, have your nails painted, get pictures with the cow and local pagent queens, and get a free ice cream with sprinkles. My girls pulled out their ball gowns and this fairy godmother and godfather got them in the coach and headed to Chick-Fil-A. We met several friends there and the girls had a blast. I think getting her nails painted was Ella's highlight. Audrey's favorite was the ice cream.

Happy 4th of July

We started our celebrating on the 3rd. We had the Hinmans over for dinner that night for ribs. Ummm Ummm Ummm. It was amazing food and amazing company. The girls spend most of afternoon playing their hearts out together. Once it started getting dark we headed outside and watched all the neighbors lighting off their firework shows. There were several good ones, especially the houses behind us. They always put on a good show and it usually spans several days. Technically the fireworks that shoot off in the sky are illegal here in NC, but not in SC so people just drive down and grab whatever they want. They shoot them off in spurts so that the cops don't show up. It makes for a fun, loud extended weekend usually.

On the 4th we went to church then headed up to spend the afternoon with the Echerds. Greg works with Tom and we have become good friends. They invited us up to a BBQ with several friends then onto a friends house for fireworks that night on Lake Hickory. I remembered my camera this time! The food was great and the fireworks were A-MAZ-ING. Probably the best I have seen besides Stadium of Fire and this was done in someone backyard! I have a couple pictures that show all the cannons lined up on the beach. There were a few other houses on the lake having their own little shows and several were good, but this one was the BEST. It didn't hurt we got to see them all though.

Greg and Leslie

Having dinner and dessert

At the Lake: The girls with Chloe. See all the firework cannons lined up on the beach?

Sleeping Beauty

We have been trying to talk to Audrey about letting go of the bottle. We have explained about how the Bottle Fairy works and she is on board with the present. It is just letting go of the bottle. In the daytime hours she tells me she wants to give her bottle to Baby Abby. At night it is a different story. See the death grip she has on that thing?? Humm. Guess we will have to wait a little longer.

Enjoying Our Pool

It is hot and humid here pretty much all summer. Enough Said.

Discovery Place Part I

This is our first trip to Discovery Place. The girls and I only had about an hour before they were closing and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. They LOVED the drum set they have made out of household items. Not surprising everything in our house now becomes a drumset.

Father's Day

So I don't have any pictures of Father's Day, but we sure have the best dad I know. He has been working so hard lately. I wish we had more time to spend with him. He has been taking a lot of trips and out of town a lot but we got him at home for Father's Day. We made ribs for him for his big day. He also got an iPad which has been a big hit with the girls. PS. I just realized we still have our dad's cards that never got sent off. Happy Father's Day to Gramps and Grandpa David too. We sure love our dad's and the girls think the world of them too.

Westward Ho

Every year at the beginning of June I have a conference in Las Vegas. It is alway a dilemma on how to make this trip work with my schedule, Tom's insane schedule and the girls. Tom's parents graciously volunteered to take the girls so I could go down for the conference. We flew out on Wednesday and Grandpa David picked us up from the airport. We had dinner and got to see his new planter boxes. After that we headed to Tom's parents where we were staying. We spent the first few days just visiting family. Tom came in on Friday and we went to dinner at Teppenyaki with Tom's parents and sister. It was the first time we have taken the girls to a Japanese steak house. Ella wasn't too sold on the idea, but Audrey was FASCINATED. Her eyes were glued to the chef the entire time. He cooked the girls up just some eggs and Audrey ate every bite without taking her eyes off him. She thought the fire is coolest thing ever. I have never seen Audrey eat so much food either before or since that night. We couldn't help but giggle at her all through dinner. I think Audrey was as entertaining to me as the chef. Ella hid behind me or on my lap the whole time. They are such opposites! After dinner we were getting in the car and Ella asked me when we got to go see Fireworks because it is summer. I was kind of stumped for a few minutes. I had to think back and remembered when we went to Utah in November of 2009 Ella wanted to see Fireworks because we had seen fireworks at Stadium of Fire in July of 2009. At Thanksgiving I explained you only have fireworks at Grandmas in the summertime. Apparently she remembered us talking about that and was ready for her fireworks show. I tried to explain they are only on a certain day each year. Not sure how much she believes me though. Grandma and Gramps kept the munchkins so Tom and I could head to Vegas on Sunday night. My conference started early Monday morning. I was busy from early morning to late night. I really didn't get to see anybody this trip since we came in so late and left right after the conference. Erik came and met me for lunch several times that week since he works about 5 mins down the road. It was fun to get a little time in to see him. We also made it over to my Uncle Ted's for dinner one night. Margene and Bob were also in town and so we got to see them and Tonya for a bitt. I didn't see any of my friends unfortuately. While catching up with Aunt Margene, we found out that Orem Summerfest was going on the weekend we got back up to Utah. They were going to have their firework show Saturday night. After the conference was over, we headed back to Utah and Saturday got together with a lot of Tom's family for dinner. After dinner we went to Aunt Margene and Uncle Bob with Scott's family and put blankets out for the firework show. It was a little chilly but the fireworks were nice and Ella and Audrey had a blast enjoying them with their cousins. It seemed like such a quick trip, especially since we had a hard time really planning anything with only one or two days in UT, then Vegas, then back to UT for just a few days. We were glad we were able to see all the family though. I even was able to make it to my cousin Helen's baby shower.

View from our room at Red Rock

"helping" Grandma plant

The girls love washing all the rocks in the water feature.

We really have been enjoying our summer time. The girls just love spending time with friends, playing at the pool, coloring with sidewalk chalk, riding bikes, going on walks, playing at the park, playing bubbles, painting, eating freezer pops, and all the million other summer time fun things to do. Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

Funny Girls

2010-06-22T11:28:00.004-04:00

I have lots to catch up on, but I knew if I didn't post the funny things my kids have been saying I would forget.

Me: Ella, we need to get dressed so we can go somewhere fun.
Ella: Where, the mall?
(Boy I have this girl trained!)

Tom was trying to talk the girls into swim lessons so they would be more comfortable in the water and we drove by the pool and saw a swim meet going on. At our pool there is a kiddie pool section with a play area that has a slide and water features.

Tom: Girls, don't you want to learn to swim so you can be on the swim team when you are older?
Audrey: Um Maybe No. I want to be on the slide team.

PS. Sorry about the grainy pic. It is from Tom's cell phone. :)

Blessings In Heaven

2010-05-19T14:12:00.003-04:00

As some of you know, I am the Primary President in our ward. For those of you that aren't members of our church, that means I am responsible for all the children ages 18 months to up to 12 years. There are a lot of wonderful people that run their individual classes, but there is still a lot that my Presidency and I do. Today I was creating CD labels and burning CDs of songs for our Primary Program we do each year. I went ahead and let the girls draw which is not unusual for them. Unfortunately yesterday I let them put on some makeup and they combined the two activities into one. Ella told me it was camouflage. Ella was also smart enough to get out the baby wipes and clean as soon as she drew. Sometimes I feel like I just can't get ahead between running the house, working, spending quality time with the girls as well as my church responsibilities. When I feel overwhelmed I try to remember that I am gathering blessings in heaven. And someday it will be funny......not today but maybe tomorrow. Looks like we will be hanging out in the house today.

Good Day Sunshine

2010-04-28T10:14:00.008-04:00

The warm weather has hit the Carolinas. The girls' favorite thing to do is ride bikes right now. The minute we pull into the garage and Ella sees her bike she is ready to hop aboard. Technically the larger bike is Ella's but she won't give her trike up yet. She has gotten really good at riding and thankfully she also listens and stays within two houses on each side of ours when riding. (Which is very good since the trike doesn't have brakes and after two houses the road really slopes in downward!

Ella and Audrey will do just about anything to get to go to the "Sand Park" more commonly known as North Meck Park. They beg to go at least once a week. They did so good after their last dental appointment that I bought them buckets and shovels (thank you Target $1 section!) and we headed to the park.

This past Saturday we had a Stake wide Day of Service. Our ward cleaned up one of the local parks and helped remulch all the tree and flower beds. They were expecting severe thunderstorms so we talked to the girls about how it might rain and asked if they would still be willing to clean in the rain. They were still excited to go rain or shine. So we got the girls some rain boots, pulled out their Dora gloves and princess shovels and headed to the Park. I didn't take any pictures, but one of our friends, Allison did. See her blog here.

The next day the girls wanted to head out to the front yard to pick flowers. They pulled up their boot straps and headed back out!

I couldn't help but post a bunch of these pictures. They are such beauties I had to show them off.

Halfway to Seventy

2010-04-26T18:43:00.003-04:00

"The only thing that comes to us without effort is old age. "

Tom's birthday was last week. Normally we celebrate Birthday Week in our house, but this year Tom wasn't around a lot for celebration. He has been working a LOT, which is good, but we didn't have much time to do any "partying". On Saturday we went to the Melting Pot for dinner. I felt almost like it was MY birthday since we were going to one of my favorite places, and Tom got the cheese, entree and dessert he knew I would choose. You have got to love a man that spoils you on HIS birthday. Afterwards, we went to the mall to get his presents. I had them picked out but I was too worried to buy them without having him decide/try them on. He definitely doesn't have time right now for worrying about going to the mall for returns. On Sunday we had dinner and had bought a Cold Stone ice cream cake. (Not on our P90x approved diet, but birthdays don't count) The girls helped us pick out the cake and loved singing to their daddy.

I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. Even though I don't gush or swoon, I know he realizes how much I love, admire and appreciate him for everything he does. He makes me a better person and I hope I do the same for him. Tom, I LOVE YOU!

Zoo Pals

2010-04-26T18:21:00.005-04:00

During Spring Break, several families in our church went to the Zoo in Columbia for the day. It was one of the hottest days of the year so far! The girls absolutely love the zoo and they really liked going with friends. I wish I had got a few pictures at the petting zoo portion. They met a baby goat that a zoo keeper was walking on a leash named Cooper. I think the girls could have hung out with Cooper all day.

Looking at all the animals.

Climbing, posing, and playing with friends.

Riding the Merry Go Round. Ella looks scared to death, but she was making her excited scream noises when she is really happy. And a picture of the whole group!

One of the girls friends, Calla, has a bunch of fake snakes. Ella and Audrey have fallen in love with them. So we ended up coming out of the zoo gift shop with a 3 ft plastic snake for Ella, in purple of course. Audrey came away with a 5 ft blue snake. And I am sure I will need to hide them when Tom's parents visit next since Grandma is NOT a snake fan. The girls sure love them though. I thought they would get sick of them but after 3 weeks, the devotion is still going strong.

Unca Tauch

2010-04-26T18:02:00.002-04:00

The first week in April, Tom's brother Todd came out to visit us. We didn't bust out the camera much while he was here unfortunately. Audrey took right to him, which is unusual for her. He quickly became "Unca Tauch" (Todd doesn't SEEM that hard to say but maybe to a two year old). Tom and Todd went golfing a couple times. Todd got the same cold bug the rest of us had and so that wsn't the most fun. One night we went bowling as a family. The girls have been begging to go again ever since. Even though we didn't get out much, hopefully Todd got a little R and R while he was here, even if it was just to feel better from the cold we gave him.

Hope your feeling better Unca Tauch!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail

2010-04-13T16:41:00.006-04:00

The Saturday before Easter we decided to take the girls to a place called Rural Hills to go on an Easter Egg hunt. The girls really loved it and we had several of our friends from church there too. It was their first year hosting the Egg Hunt so it wasn't too crowded which was nice. They also did something a little different. Their eggs were empty then you came back and turned them in for candy. Ella is still very cautious about walking on uneven ground (ie, grass, any type of slopes, leaves, etc). So Tom grabbed Audrey and I took Ella. The empty eggs were a plus for us because the girls got a lot of candy even though Ella only collected 8 eggs. (Did I mention cautious??) After hunting for eggs we went home and got to listen to General Conference. What a wonderful time of year. My favorite talk was probaby Elder Ballard. I was just so inspired.

On Sunday we were able to listen to conference then the girls went with Tom to pick up Tom's brother Todd from the airport. Todd came out for a week to see us. While they were gone the Easter Bunny showed up. He brought the girls gardening gloves and their own shovels. There were fun braclets, rings, and dinosaurs in the eggs. They loved it! I decided we need to have Easter Egg hunts more often. It pushed Ella a little out of her comfort zone but she goes out willingly if she knows she is getting something in the bargain. And she did much better then just 8 eggs at home.

3rd Time's A Charm

2010-04-13T16:02:00.005-04:00

Two weeks ago we had surgery....again. Audrey's tubes have been such a problem. They failed again. The amount of antibiotics this child has taken is ridiculous. We have been having two week checks with the ENT to see if her ears are clearing, getting x-rays of her head for adnoids, etc. The doctor determined she has huge adnoids and that could be the cause of her tubes failing. The result: Surgery to remove her adnoids and a third set of tubes for her ears.

Ella was havign issues of her own. Her tubes weren't coming out on their own like they should. In fact as the tube tried to push out of her ear, it was causing tissue to be irrated and force the tube in. We had her ears checked and although her hearing was fine, it was causing a small hole in her eardrum. The result: Surgery to remove her tubes.

Tom and I loaded the girls up and we all wore our jammies to the surgery center. They give the kids some medicine before they take them back for surgery. They have told me in the past it is to calm them and make them feel comfortable with leaving their parents and going with strangers. One nurse said it is like having a shot of tequila. All I can say is Audrey was funny and Ella is an emotional drunk. Audrey was just out of it. Ella was laughing one minute then crying about nothing and inconsolable the next minute. We have some video which is pretty funny. We took it with the camera and Audrey saw the camera and just kept saying "cheese". I would load the video, but ofcourse I am having problems doing it. It was so nice having Tom with me. He helped both girls directly out of surgery. I was still in pre-op with Ella when Audrey came out and then when Ella went in I took Audrey so Tom had Ella right after her surgery too. Audrey came out with blood coming out of her ears and nose and foaming a little at the mouth. I'm glad she was mostly cleaned up when I got to her. Ella had a hard time coming out of her anestesia and wasn't very pleasant and Audrey refused to drink, which they really like them to do before they release you. We finally got the okay for release and the nurses kept coming over and telling me what an amazing husband I had and how great he was with the kids as they came out of surgery. He would snuggle and sing to them to calm them down. I know how amazing he is but it is sometimes nice to hear from strangers. What a great dad. It took Audrey several days to recover but she is starting to sleep pretty consistantly through the night and if that continues the surgery will be well worth it!

Origami and a Basket Case

2010-03-25T22:38:00.006-04:00

Ella is officially potty trained. She has been for a while, but I no longer have to help at all, well besides remind her to flush....and wash her hands. But washing is more my fault because we have to hide the soap from Audrey's OCD handwashing tendencies. That could be a whole blog in itself. (Yes, we have gone through more then one whole bottle of Bath and Body Works soap in a day in case you were wondering) There are so many great things about having your child potty trained. One of my favorites is going into the bathroom to find this.

Yes it took me about 10 mins to find out how to undo the paper.

Also this week we got to watch our friend Calla. The girls have such a good time with her and Calla likes the girls, but REALLY likes Daisy. While she was here I had to do my visiting teaching so I piled 3 girls in a double stroller and walked on over to our friend Carrie's. Calla had a great time with all the toys as you can see.

Afterward we headed to the park, and fit some sidewalk chalk in too. We have been loving our 60-70 degree weather.

Shear Genius

2010-03-21T16:33:00.004-04:00

If you don't know Natalie Sistrunk, you should! (For those local) She has cut our hair since I was pregnant with Ella. She gave Ella her first cut after a couple months to get rid of the baby mullet. And gave Audrey her first cut at about 3 weeks.
Ella has only had trims most her life, but she decided she wanted it CUT. I got mine cut about a month ago and cut it above my shoulders so she decided that is what she wants too. These pictures are taken from my blackberry, so sorry for the quality.

Ella was such a big girl and sat so still. Afterward, Audrey climbed up into the chair for her turn. We only did a quick trim on her. Why? Well, most people would want to kill me for cutting her hair, but the real deciding factor: She wouldn't hold still long enough. She would end up with one side cut and the other long or something funky. I can barely get her to hold still for a ponytail. So her big cut will hae to wait a while. Maybe by then Audrey will have enough to give to locks of love. She is pretty close already.

Oh What a Difference a Year Makes

2010-03-05T15:23:00.007-05:00

The weather man has been brutal to us this winter. Having grown up in Vegas, I have loved Charlotte's relatively mild winters. So far this year it has snowed FOUR times. FOUR. I always look forward to spring, but this year I am aching for it.

The girls have really enjoyed having a little change in the seasons though. The first snow storm came in and I was a little nervous. We had heard it was going to be a big one. It happened to be in January and it was Charlotte Restaurant week. Tom and I had already had reservations and Mickey and Mooch (which is an upscale restaurant not far from our home) and we had plans to meet a coworker of ours and his wife for dinner. When I left to pick up the babysitter the snow hadn't started and this is what I came home to.

I had been a little worried about how the girls were going to be in snow this year. Last year they hated it, see Audrey's picture from last year.

Compared to this year. (yes, she is eating snow)

The girls crack me up. While I was gone picking up the sitter, Tom was upstairs getting ready while the girls finished up dinner. He heard the doggie door and figured Daisy was going to see what was going on outside. A few minutes later he hears the door again, (No surprise since Daisy is not a fan of the cold and doesn't stay out long) but instead of Daisy he hears "Whoa, that is cold out there" followed by giggling. He ran downstairs to see the girls heading back outside minus jackets! He got them all bundled then headed out with them. When Holly and I got home we found them outside having a ball. Literally. They were eating snowballs and throwing them for Daisy to chase.

The next day Shawn and Cassie came with the kids and everyone played in the front yard. The girls loved making Snow Angels. I have some great video but I decided to post what I had ready.

It snowed again the next weekend. No pictures of that snow fall since the novelty of snow was over.

A few weeks later, it snowed again, although not quite as much. Tom helped the girls build their first snowman. After he first time it snowed Audrey would call any snow she saw, Snowman. If she saw any on the ground she would yell "Snowman Mama!" Now when she sees snow, it if all "Snowflakes". "I see Snowflakes everywhere mama."

It snowed again this week and I didn't bother to take pictures. It was mostly a dusting and I am tired of snow. I am ready to come out of hibernation and see our neighbors again.

December

2010-03-04T16:03:00.007-05:00

December seems so long ago, like 3 months ago! I know I am a slacker. But it is fun looking through old pictures. I have some great videos too, but I haven't had time to actually play with them and figure out how to upload them. Some are pretty large and we mostly took video of Christmas morning. Sorry girls. Hope someday you can forgive me for lack of pictures.

December always starts out with bang and tons of Holiday Parties. The highlight of the year is the Ugly Sweater party. We are in the third year of this party and it is so much fun.

Tom and I posing for our "formal shot".

Cassie and Shawn and Shawn with Tom.

Shawn and Heather took home the award this year for Ugliest Sweater. Everyone had to do a catwalk to showcase their great looks. And Paige and Curtis gave the worst gift this year again. A live mouse. It is a GOOD thing Heather got that and not me. I know Curtis was hoping I would get it, but I would probably never go to the party again or talk to Curtis. The funniest thing is right after this party we headed over to our neighbors who throw a very formal party. I warned her we were party hopping and probably would be under dressed but she told me to come anyway. The only thing uglier then these sweaters are wearing them to a formal party. Good thing our neighbors like us!!

Every year we go to Birkdale to see the dancing bears and the Christmas tree. We were going to see Santa and he closed early!! Can you believe that?? We enjoyed playing in the fake snow that was more like bubbles. The girls could stay all day and watch the bears but it was pretty cold so we only stayed about 1/2 hour. Starbucks always gets great business from the outdoor park and I LOVE their carmel apple cider. I needed something to warm me from this cold winter.

It wasn't nearly as cold on Christmas Eve when we went back to talk to Santa. Afterwards the girls danced by the tree getting excited for the coming night.

The girls got to open their "dress" jammies on Christmas Eve. I love that Audrey is still wearing her shoes with hers. The girls loved the jammies and actually went to bed at a reasonable hour. Tom and I learned our lesson and this year nothing needed to be put together on Christmas Eve.

A picture of all the stash before it was opened. Sorry for the lack of pictures while opening presents. Just think of the tasmanian devil and that was Audrey and wrapping paper. We had a great Christmas. We had the Bole and Manwill's over for dinner later that night and I think the girls enjoyed the friends as much as the gifts. We are so grateful for wonderful family and friends.

Next Installment - November

2010-02-02T11:37:00.008-05:00

I am trying to finally catch up. In November our friend Paige invited me and the girls to go to the Renaissance Fair. There is a huge Fair here a few miles from our home and we have seen it for years but never gone. Paige also shared her pictures!! The fair was much larger then I thought. Tom helped me dress the girls and put shoes on Audrey that wouldn't stay done up. I couldn't make it more then a few feet and they would come off. We ended up taking the shoes off and letting her walk in her stocking feet. Hey, we are at a Renaissance Fair, right? Well, I wasn't planning on the girls being so clingy, the place being so big and one kid without shoes or I would have brought a stroller. Life's learning lessons I guess. We had a good time though and liked watching all the activities going on. The highlight was definitely riding the elephant. The girls got to choose between an elephant and a camel and there was no competition. The girls got fairy wings and love them to pieces. I think we will definitely be going back. In fact after hearing about riding on an elephant, I think Tom was a little sad he didn't end up going. PS, in case you are wondering....the shoes got thrown away that night so neither of us mistakenly put them on Audrey again.

We hadn't been there long and I was already tired of carrying Audrey.

Super yummy Turkey Leg. Ella ate a TON of this. Even between the 5 of us (Paige, Calla-1, Audrey-2 and Ella -3, and me) we couldn't even finish half of this.

If it looks like I was worried we were all going to fall off the elephant, well I WAS! There wasn't much holding us on. That is definitely a nervous smile thinking one of my babies was going to fall out and get trampled by the thousand pound animal.

Also in November, we headed out to Utah to visit family for Thanksgiving. We didn't leave until early Thanksgiving morning. I have not been on a flight in many years that was as empty as our Thanksgiving Day flights. We got in before noon and Scott picked us up. We headed over to Tom's parents, got settled and it wasn't too long before the family started to gather so we could eat! All the food was delicious, as usual. The chocolate creme pies were the best. After that we took the girls to my dad's to visit my family. I couldn't help but taste a few more things. Not smart. My tummy hurt the rest of the night. I bet I gained 7 lbs just that day. It was nice to have both Kurt and Erik at my dad's. Sorry no pictures. We brought our small camera and I kept forgetting to actually take it out!

On Friday we spent the day shopping for Audrey's birthday. Her 2nd birthday was on Sunday but since my family was all going home before then, we had a party for her on Friday night. We had both families come to Tom's parents for ice cream cake and presents. It was so fun having Lorilee and Carl there too. My kids usually don't have family around for their birthday so this was a special treat.

Ella helping Audrey open all her gifts. Ella loves birthdays! Even if it is not her own.

Daddy opening the cases and explaining what all the toys do.

Lorilee's darling kids. Caleb, Syd and Ashley.

Sorry about the bad lighting. Here we are lighting the candles and blowing them out.

Ella already taking over Audrey's new toys.

We love Aunt Shelly.

Now if we can just break the bottle habit now that she is two.

After the party we went to Brick Oven with Erik, Shelly, Lorilee, Carl, Davin, Tawny, and Ricky. We just laughed the whole time.

On Saturday morning we got up to go to Jamie's baptism. Although Ella had a meltdown, it was a beautiful baptism. It was a lot different then here though. It was a Stake Baptism, so there were like 8 or 9 kids all getting baptised. Here you have one, maybe two baptisms at a time. Saturday night Tom's parents watched the girls so we could go to the HOLY WAR game. BYU vs UTAH. We parked at Danny and Jessie's house, just across from the stadium. Everyone warned us, great parking but it is going to be terrible getting home with all the traffic. BYU won in overtime. It was one of the best games I have been to....ever. We were on the edge of our seats most of the game. At the end, students rushed the field. It was kind of a blessing because with half the stadium on the field, Tom and I were able to easily get home with minimal traffic.

Sunday we just spent time with family. It was probably the most relaxing day we had there. It was great seeing everyone though. This is the first Thanksgiving since we have moved to North Carolina that we have gone home and it was fun to have everyone together.

Now, onto working on Decemeber's blog. Most of our "pictures" are video from new camera and I am having trouble getting Christmas morning to download, so hopefully it won't be another few months before my next blog.

Trick Or Treat

2010-01-14T18:09:00.004-05:00

Halloween morning Tom's parents headed home. We loved having them here. We got ready for the big sugar extravaganza later that day. I swear Halloween is my kids favorite holiday. They still don't totally get Christmas, but Halloween they get. Ella went as a butterfly and Audrey as a giraffe. I think Audrey's face looks so tiny in this costume. It is amazing how much more like a baby she looks when she doesn't have hair showing. This year we both took the girls and just left the bowl on the porch. That is pretty common on our street with so many young kids.

Here are the girls getting ready to set out and watching all their friends come by. Ella loved handing out candy.

Daisy watching everyone come by and hoping someone drops some candy on the ground. **No sad face here Lorilee**

Here are the girls heading up to get some treats. I wish you could see how big Audrey's rear end really looked in that costume. It was so cute. It was at least double her body size.

The girls checking to see how they fared.

Ella with her favorite...M&Ms.

Not long after we got home we decided to run and grab some dinner so we wouldn't have pure sugar on empty bellies. It started downpouring right as we pulled out of the driveway. It was flood type rain. When we got home our candy bowl was completely empty. Since Treat or Treaters had given up with the rain, I am sure some teenagers just came and dumped the entire bowl in their bags and ran. Good thing I didn't need anymore sugar in the house. We had plenty.

Super STAR

2010-01-09T10:16:00.004-05:00

At the mall near us, they have put the Build A Bear right next to the play area. (Super smart marketing and location!) Ella saw a Pink Unicorn she HAD to have. Well, like most kids their age, our kids have way more toys then they need. So instead of running out and getting her the Unicorn, we told her she could earn it. We created a Star Chart and she earned a star whenever she helped clean up, was nice to her sister, helped her mom and went potty. I wish I could say Tom and I were more consistant with actually giving her the stars but she really did good and she had a GREAT attitude with helping. She earned her last star right before Grandma and Gramps got her so we loaded everyone up and headed to the mall. Ella loved the whole process of choosing the unicorn, the sound button, watching them fill her with LOVE aka stuffing. Audrey just wanted the finished product without needing to interact with anyone she didn't know.

Choosing her sounds button and having it put in the Unicorn.

Ella got to push the pedal to fill her up. She actually ended up filling up Audrey's bear too. Notice Audrey clinging to Grandma in the background.

Here we are registering, naming and getting their birth certificates. Ella named the Unicorn Sweetheart and Audreys bear is Ted Bear. (I know original but she wanted to name him.)

Here they are with their finished product. We were so glad that Tom's parents were here to see the joy in Ella's eyes. Well, and to hold and shield Audrey from any strangers. She will warm up people outside the family some day.

Playing Favorites....

2010-01-07T23:21:00.012-05:00

There is only one thing that both my kids totally agree on and it is their very favorite thing... Above Nick Jr, bottles, princess gear, I think even above chocolate and that is saying A LOT. It is their Grandparents. They look forward to visits here or there. They love to play with them anywhere. (Too many bed time stories tonight - sorry)

Tom's parents found a great deal again this year to come out in October. They came the last week and left Halloween morning. We actually made it out to the zoo this year. The NC Zoo in Asheboro is pretty amazing. I really only remember going to the Hogle Zoo as a kid and this is so much better. The animals even have room to move! It is a lot bigger then the zoo in Columbia, but that also means a lot more walking. It is HUGE. It was a little cool the day we went so we practically had the zoo to ourselves.

We try to always get pictures of Ella with her Ella-phants. So if you feel you have seen this backdrop before, you are probably right.

The girls also love giraffe and zebras.

We decided to check out the newly re-done play area. The girls had a blast and it was a fun break between North America and Africa sections. Tom said that only in North Carolina would they segregate a zoo.

Ella loved showing off our new Halloween decoration. Patty Pumpkin Head Princess. Since she looks a little like Nightmare Before Christmas we had to name her so the girls wouldn't be scared of her. Ella named her and kept adding on until it became Patty Pumpkin Head Princess. Both girls love her mostly because she is about their height.

The night before Grandma and Gramps left we had our Ward Trunk or Treat. The girls loved finally getting to be able to dress up. Audrey decided to wear the kangaroo, even though we had another costume for her that she wore on Halloween.

Even Daisy got into the spirit this year. This girls are still trying to get her to still wear her costume around. We had a ton of fun with Grandma and Gramps as usual. I have a few more pictures of another fun thing we did with them, but it will its own post.

I may still be in October but at least there is progress so enjoy catching up because it may take me a few days to get the next batch out!

Top Chef

2010-01-07T22:51:00.004-05:00

Well, my family has become cookie making experts. Tom happened to already have been a cookie expert but the rest of us are now certified. We made our first batch of sugar cookies for Halloween as a FHE night. A week later I got called as Primary President and our cookie making skills have been put to the test. We had the Primary children do an activity at the Ward Christmas Party where they got to decorate their own cookies. Tom whipped up over 100 sugar cookies and a few pounds of frosting for me. And then in January he made his own cookie cutter to be able to make cookies in the shape of an 8 for our 8 is Great program. We put the cookies on wooden sticks and made them into a cookie bouquet. I wish I had taken a picture of them.

The girls sure love to help, especially if it means eating the rest of the batter or frosting.

Yikes!

2010-01-07T22:07:00.008-05:00

Okay after starting to look at all my pictures I am realizing HOW far behind I am. Sorry dear family and friends. I thought I would post a few just fun pictures that we took this fall. These are all from late September and early October.

All the girls hanging out. I thought I better capture the moment since Ella is actually in pants. It is one of the very few times we have gotten her in jeans. We only can get her in pants maybe once a month and even then it has to be something pink, but this time we got full fledged jeans, but we did need a pink shirt.

When Audrey was about 9 months old she starting climbing everything. Tom and I laughed that one day Ella would be the mastermind and talk Audrey into climbing to get what she wanted and then she would be smart enough to open it. Well these pictures are pretty much that coming to fruition. The only difference is that Ella actually climbed the counters too. The picture on the left is the girls getting into "hidden" halloween candy. On the right Ella is eating half a pan of brownies that I told her she couldn't eat. Where was mom I am sure you are thinking. Both of these pictures were taken while I was showering. I am working on getting up before the kids to shower now.

Both girls got a pair of these super cute brown boots this fall. Audrey calls them her Boots the Monkey. I seriously love this picture.

The girls outside enjoying one of the last enjoyable fall days before it started turning cold. I have such prissy girls but I sure do adore them. I know that these days won't last much longer. Ella is starting to loose her baby face. I still love to sit and stare at Audrey's baby hands and face since I know it is going to be gone way too soon.

Still In Hibernation....

2010-01-06T14:15:00.003-05:00

Tom was at the gym late last night and ran into our next door neighbor. Guiermo asked Tom if we still even lived here since he hasn't seen us since October. Not even Daisy! YES, we are still here. In the winter, it is hard to find us. It is both mine and Tom's very busiest season for work. It doesn't really slow down much until middle of February for us. The girls have practically lived at Cassie's lately. It is a good thing she loves them and they love her. (Audrey wanted me to hold her the other day and I said I couldn't hold her while driving. She thought for a minute and then said, ok mom. Cassie will hold me.) I also got called as Primary President in October and so I have been juggling that whole responsiblity and work. It has been a lot but I feel our family has really been blest. I know I am super behind on my blog and of course like everyone have great intentions to catch up but I came to a bump in the road because I am missing our cable to the camera. I even have a few of these and I can't find a single one. I promise I am working on it since Halloween pictures haven't even been posted yet! I just wanted to let everyone know we are still alive but may not be out of Hibernation until spring.

Along that note, in spring I would really like to take a family trip somewhere we haven't been on the East coast. So for my East Coast friends, let me know what you like about the area you live, or your favorite place here in the East, what there is to do there and of course great restaurants. If we choose your location you may even get a visit from the Hindmarshes!

Thankful

2009-11-18T12:18:00.004-05:00

I know I am way behind on posting. I have a whole camera full of pictures to upload to the computer. But I saw this today and it really warmed my heart so I thought I would share it with all of you. I know many of you may have seen it, but if you haven't, enjoy!

I hope you know I am so thankful for the Savior, his gosepl and for each of you.

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society...

2009-10-18T18:02:00.005-04:00

... was my companion for my drive down and back from Atlanta this weekend. As I was driving down Tom called coming home from a demo. He was working in South Carolina and heading north and I was heading south. We realized we were only a few minutes away from each other so we decided to meet at the Cracker Barrel in Gaffney South Carolina for dinner. Right next to the registers to pay was their selection of books on CD and Tom suggested I get one for the drive. What a thoughtful husband who TOTALLY knows me. I didn't know anything about the book but this is the one I picked. It takes place right after WWII and it is done in a collection of letters where the main character is pen pals with several members of the society. She asks them about themselves and their time spent during the war. I loved hearing it on tape since it is all done in letters, each character has a different voice. It was great company. I didn't start this blog as a book review though. One of the characters in the book related a story about when they sent the children to England's countryside to protect them from air raids and invasion. All the sudden I thought back to one of my favorite books, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and realized they too were at their Uncle's staying int he countryside during the war. I guess I always assumed that was just part of the plot of the story. I didn't realize that people ACTUALLY sent their kids away during what was probably one of the scariest times of their lives. It is true!! Not just part of a plot of some story. See the wikipidia article here. I thought about the kids not having their parents nearby to comfort them. I can't imagine sending my kids away not knowing when or if we would ever see them again, not knowing who would be taking care of them, or even if they were taken care of at all. What courage and faith both the parents and children had to have had. I know the world has to be at its breaking point when the Lord comes again. I can't imagine what it is going to be like if the atrocities of WWII didn't fulfill that requirement. I love my darling girls so much and I would never want to be seperated from them. I hope I never have to.

And Then There Were Two....

2009-10-16T16:25:00.008-04:00

I have been meaning to post about my beautiful Aunt Arlene's life for a while. We tease in my family that I have no heart, but really I tend to keep a lot of my emotions close to my heart. I really love my Mickelsen relatives. Arlene Mickelsen Waters died on July 26. I know, I know, I told you I have been meaning to write. I really just wanted to share some of my favorite memories of her.

My earliest memories include going to see the Rose Parade as a child. Of course we stayed with Aunt Arlene and Uncle Ted. I remember thinking how warm it was at their house. I learned to love Pastrami sandwiches at the Hat, just around the corner from their house. I loved dancing and playing "Princess in a Tower" on their front porch smelling amazingly fragrant flowers. I remember calling their house incessantly when my mom was there recovering after surgery not long after she was diagnoised with cancer. I can remember so many long conversations with Aunt Arlene in her living room in California. I don't have very many trips to Disneyland without also having a visit with the Waters. How can you not love an Aunt who is linked with your memories of the Happiest Place on Earth?

One summer I went to live with the Gainey's when they were in California. Officially to help with their kids, but let's be honest, I am sure I was more hassel then help. I secretly think my parents were worried about a summer of me never leaving my bedroom like I spent the summer before. Either way, I had a great summer, even though I really missed my family and my Tara. (Don't ask to see the phone bill from that summer.) I remember going with Aunt Arlene and Lacey to get her hair and nails done and our many long talks of family and religion. I can think of the countless nights of chatting around the table or helping her in the kitchen. I can think of her showing me how to make General Authority Sandwiches (Anyone have the recipe?) and telling stories of all the different General Authorities who have stayed with them and things that impressed her about each of them. I alway love how those Mickelsen women tend to teach us gospel lessons without us even realizing it!!
During High School I took a trip to watch our football team play against a San Diego school. I went with Billy Pierro and he told me it would only take 3 hours to get there. Uhhh, yeah right. Not even, especially not with traffic. It was after 9pm when the game was over and close to 10pm after we have found something to eat. I was living with the Gainey's at the time and called Tonya and decided it may not be a good idea to come straight home. It was close to 11:30 when we pulled up to Aunt Arlene's with no change of clothes, toothbrushes, anything!! But she just hugged us and found us some new toothbrushes and already had bedding out and ready for us. That year I also flew down and spent a weekend just me and Uncle Ted and Aunt Arlene. President Hunter was in town speaking at their Stake Conference right ater he was sustained as Prophet. He had been the Stake President of the Pasedena Stake and my grandfather was a bishop during that same period. They got me tickets to go to Conference with them. Being with family was as much of a highlight as seeing the Prophet in such a close proximity. Even though I moved after High School and wasn't as good about keeping in touch, I always tried to visit the Waters when in Vegas (which wasn't that often). This June went the girls and I went to Vegas we had Sunday dinner with all the Waters. I am so glad that we took the time to go over. I keep thinking of Arlene watching my girls and laughing at their little quirks. In my mind I am imaging her going to heaven and telling my mom how much those precious girls have grown since she sent them down to me and maybe even teasing my mom that she got to hold them last.

Right before my mom died.

Mickelsen Women with cousins Karen and Roberta at my wedding.

I know this is long, but hey, it is my blog right? I was thinking about all my aunts and wanted to tell my Aunt Kathy and Aunt Margene how much I love them and what an inspiration they have been in my life. I wish I had done this a few months earlier. I don't have as many memories of Kathy since we both lived away from most the family when I was younger, but my first memory is going to my very first movie "101 Dalmations" at the Scera with them. We even got popcorn! I remember their neighborhood, which is now an apartment complex. I can't pass the intersection without thinking of their little trailer park. Once they moved to Provo permenantly, I was so excited to see them more. I have randomly just dropped by their house when visiting Tom's parents when taking walks or bike rides. I love having family so close you can just walk over! I have never had family that close before. I am so thankful for the help picking up our flowers for our wedding so it was one less thing we had to run and do that day. I still can't believe the trip I took to Chicago and ended up getting seated right next to Uncle Bill. I still get teased by co-workers for hugging a "random" passenger after that flight. We talked the entire flight and I really got to know about some of the beginnings of Bill and Kathy's marriage going through school in Chicago. I have so much respect for their hard work getting their degrees and struggling to get through school. I have always admired a picture in Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill's house of the Salt Lake Temple. They gave me a copy for my birthday one year and it now hangs in my bedroom. I feel like it is still a connection with family.

I have always have a great bond with my Aunt Margene and Uncle Bob. I have spent the most time with her of all my family. Growing up we would visit my Hill Grandparents a few times a year and always stay at the Halls. This is also when I cemented my friendship with Lorilee. I honestly can't tell you my first memory of Margene, she has always just been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I love you! Aunt Margene was such a support for me growing up. She was the adult I could go to when I couldn't talk to anyone else about my mom and her cancer. After my mom's death, I spent several weekends in Utah with their family. She became somewhat of a surrogate mom to me. She was someone I could vent to when I was having family problems and retreat to when I felt no one understood me and I could feel like I was still unconditionally loved. When I graduated from high school, she was there for me, then helped me move to Utah. I lived with them for almost two years. Thank you so much for your love and generosity! No words can describe how grateful I am to you. I miss our late late night long conversations about anything and everything. We would stay up much later then was good for either of us. I can always count on Margene having great family stories, pictures, whatever you are looking for. I can't think of the the Jazz playing without imagining her in the kitchen intensely watching the game, yelling at them to go and getting frustrated when they were struggling. What a true fan! I am sure she still watches them, I am just not there to share in it anymore. Who says girls don't love sports! Aunt Margene's has always been a gathering place, not just for our family, but for all the Mickelsens. Everyone stops when going through because it has always been such a cental location.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful legacy of amazing women. I hope I can be half the mother, aunt, family member and person that each of these wonderful women have been to me. I love you all so much and I will miss Aunt Arlene intensely (even if I don't always show it.)

Re-Committed

2009-10-15T01:03:00.002-04:00

I am trying to re-commit to blogging! It is already 1am tonight though, so just not tonight. I am heading to Atlanta area to work for the weekend so with no kids and not much to do at night I am hoping to get an update done. Plus, if I post it on the blog that I am going to update, then I will have to do it right? Really my goal is to have at least one blog a week.

I do have to blog one thing about my cute kids. The girls were taking a bath tonight and Audrey was playing with the bath toys. Audrey was holding up the whale and calling it Mommy and the Hippo and calling it Daddy and then having them chat and kiss. I am think it may be time for Tom and I to head back to the gym.....we need to shed the Hippo and Whale persona. Love you girls!

Conference

2009-10-06T14:23:00.003-04:00

This last weekend was General Conference for our church. What that means is that instead of driving over to our local chapel, we watched church on TV both Saturday and Sunday. We got to listen to apostles and our Prophet. I always love listening to conference. When living in Utah, conference Saturday was usually spent in the mountains, or after we were married, doing house work or ward work while listening to conference blast out of the radio. The Saturday was our ward work day. We planted flowers and re-mulched out flower beds and I was able to blast conference from the computer speakers out the windows. It worked pretty well.

I had lots of favorite talks, but one of them just really struck me on what I need to be working on. Between Sunday sessions of conference, they showed a special on BYU working on creating Merry Go Rounds that generated power to be used for laterns so students could work on their homework after dark. They talked about how we sometimes take for granted that we go home and do our school work and then have light to do all our other activities and these essentially would end for these students after the sun would go down. During Quintin L. Cooke's talk he mentioned that we need to be teaching our children the gospel in our homes. It wasn't even the entire theme of his talk, but in conjunction with the special on the African students, this really struck me. These kids know that if they want to be able to go farther in life they have to come home and study. I can't expect my kids to survive or go farther in life if I only teach them the gospel on Sundays. I try to use things we experience as life teaching experiences. My mom taught me so many things by just explaining how our beliefs differed from some of my friends in every day life. I am not sure that is enough any more. We really need to sit down and teach them everyday, just like we practice numbers, alphabet, etc. Last night we pulled out "My First Book of Mormon" and chose a story to read with the girls. I plan on this becoming a nightly tradition. I know that not all my friends are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. I had so many wonderful friends growing up that weren't members of my church, but were so encouraging to me any way because of their faith. It helped me strengthen my own. I hope my kids will have wonderful friends both in and out of the church they can look up to. And I hope I can teach them everything they need to know when they are ready to step out that door.

Boo!

2009-10-06T14:09:00.004-04:00

My kids have loved using their old Halloween costumes to play dress up lately. For being pretty inexpensive costumes my kids have sure gotten a lot of use out of these. The skunk was Ella's costume 2 years ago and if you could see closer up, the pants are super short. It was a huge costume the year she wore it. I have really been having a lot of fun with the girls lately and they have been having a lot of fun with each other. Everyone told me that things would get easier when they got older and they really have. Girls I sure love you!

Audrey has been dancing all over the place lately. Madison has taught her some sweet ballet moves. There is nothing funnier then watching toddlers try to jump. If only the camera could catch her enthusiasm.

Happy Happy Birthday Ella Dear

2009-09-09T23:29:00.009-04:00

Ella has been gearing up for her birthday for months. She has told people it is her birthday when it is not. She just loves the whole idea of birthdays. The whole package of singing, cake, presents, friends, friends, friends. A couple of weeks ago she found her crown she wore at her first birthday. In case you can't read it, the crown says "Baby's First Birthday". We have been getting a lot of use out of it. On Tuesday (the 8th) her birthday finally arrived. Tom got her up on her birthday and he reminded her it was her birthday and she was excited from the moment that she woke up. She somehow found the crown in the morning and it stayed on her head pretty much all day.

Tom and I threw a party together the day before. Tom grew up only really having family parties for his birthday. I grew up without having much family around so we always had big friend parties. Tom and I compromised. We had our "Charlotte Family" over. Just a couple of our friends that we are really close with. Although not everyone could make it on such short notice, I was so happy we had people over. Ella really just wanted friends over for her birthday. We had Ella's favorite foods for dinner, Arby's roast beef, corn on the cob, strawberries and Kool-aid.

Ella has really been a joy in our lives the last three years. We love her so much. She has such a unique, cute personality. I have learned to throw out all my pre-conceived parenting ideas with her. (Like learning that some kids DO take 19 months to walk.....and it is okay) She makes us laugh every day. Her logic and cognitive thinking always keeps me on my toes. She is too smart for her own good. Now onto getting her fully potty trained. That is our next goal. I look forward to everything the next year brings. I realize that it will have its ups and downs, but I also know that whatever it brings, there will be laughs. Ella changed our lives for the better from the minute she was born. We sure love our Ella-bug.

I thought I would include a few more pictures taken lately. Over Labor Day, we pulled out the kiddie pool. The girls had a great time although Ella had been rather grumpy, so you will notice most of the pictures are of Audrey. She couldn't stop giggling.

Also, I finally got a picture of Ella in her Bottle Fairy Dress.

I love this last picture. I think it totally captures both the girls personalities. Audrey out front and entertaining and Ella peeking out from behind. Man I love those girls.

Whew! A long one...

2009-08-18T15:45:00.013-04:00

Okay, so I know I haven't blogged a whole lot. It is NOT because we haven't done anything blog-worthy, but I have limited free time lately. We got home from Utah and then my wonderful Aunt Arlene died. I got back on a plane and headed back to Las Vegas for her funeral. I still plan to do a blog just on that.

I got home and then started working full time right after that. I have been working in a dental office on the days I don't do Trainings. It has been over 4 years since I have worked full time, so it has been an adjustment. Tom and I used to go to the gym in the evenings and now since I am not home with the kids, every hour after work with them is precious to me. I need to learn how to get up early to work out, but that hasn't happened yet. This week I worked 6 days because I had to teach a seminar which are Friday/Saturday. Oh and it was in Atlanta, so after working all day, I had to turn around and drive 4 hours home. Tom's brother Todd got married this weekend, so Tom went out to the wedding. Since I had to be working in Atlanta we had a little child care dilemma. Thank heaven for Cassie. She watched the girls for two nights while I was gone. They had a great time.

In addition to working, our kids our at that "growing up" age. Ella has been potty training and doing an amazing job. I think she would be fully potty trained if we didn't lead such hectic lives. She doesn't have many accidents while wearing big girl underwear, but if she is wearing a pull up she won't tell us if she needs to pee. If it is not pee, she will just head to the bathroom and go herself until she is done and then she will yell for us. Whoever created flushable wipes is my current hero.

Ella has also had a love affair with her bottle from the very beginning. That was her comfort. She hasn't been attached to blankets (like Audrey) or pacifiers, but that bottle was her LOVE. We have really curbed her usage, but it has been really hard to break that night time bottle. About two weeks ago I had an idea. I told Ella that the Bottle Fairy called and she needs bottles for other little kids. Ella could pack up her bottles and the Bottle Fairy would bring her a toy. Ella got excited, then asked, "Do you think the Bottle Fairy would bring me a princess dress?" You betcha. So last Sunday morning Ella packed up all her bottles and we put them in a bag by the mailbox. A few minutes later the doorbell rang and there was our bag, but it was filled with a dress. I dont' have any pictures in the Bottle Fairy dress but hopefully soon. Audrey isn't ready to give up bottles, so it has been a double challenge for Ella because she still sees Audrey's bottles, BUT when we remind her about the Bottle Fairy dress, she does okay.

So here is a glimpse of what we have been doing. One evening right after getting back from Utah, there was a reading night at one of the local libraries. They were bringing Princess Presto and Wyatt from Super Why. Tom and I took the girls and met up with Cassie and her kids to see them. There were an insane amount of people, and the girls were a little scared to get too close, but they were so excited to see them anyway. They made these Super Why masks while we were waiting.

While Tom has been home with the girls, he has been honing his skills...baking skills. He has made a couple marvelous cakes. Plus, he usually has dinner ready by the time I get home. What a great dad and husband!

Last weekend we took the girls down to Columbia to the Riverbanks Zoo. It is much smaller then Asheboro, but the animals are closer together so it was probably better for our age kids. They loved it. There was also a carosel and a little play area so we had them worn out by the time we headed home.

My Wild Animals

Meercats

And our last animal adventure has been at our own house. Ella was digging in the back yard the other day and we didn't notice anything, but a couple hours later as we were helping her brush teeth for bed, I looked down and her arms had about 30 bites. We are still not sure what they are from. They have finally cleared up, but here is what they looked like. Any guesses as to what caused the bites? They never came to a head so we are ruling out ants, they didn't stay in her so I don't think they were chiggers.

Second Week in Utah

2009-07-25T15:17:00.008-04:00

We started our second full week in Utah with a trip up the canyon after dinner on Sunday with Grandma, Gramps, and Todd's family. Ella loves waterfalls, so I had promised her we could go see a waterfall. Note to self, Sunday is NOT a good day for Bridal Veil Falls. It was jam packed with people. Ella still loved seeing the falls. She tried to put her feet in the water and was shocked at how cold it was. Audrey stuck her feet in too and Tom and I got together for a quick family shot.

Most th gang

After the falls, the lighting was perfect so we decided to take the girls up to the Provo Temple. It is the first time they have ever been on Temple grounds. You can tell from some of the pictures they weren't too reverent about it. It was so beautiful and peaceful up there.

We spent more time with family. My cousins Jodi and Jandee were kind enough to let us come up to the Mickelsen Family Farm after one of the day camps. Ella loved playing with the bunnies and we got to see all the animals like the chickens, goats, cows, and especially the horses. Jodi and Jandee let the girls have their first horseback ride and they LOVED it.

We met my cousin Marie and her kids and went to the Walter Wick exhibit up at the BYU Museum of Art. For those living in UT, it is free and only through Aug 1st. I definitely recommend it. Tom and I were both amazed. (In case you are wondering Walter Wick is the photographer that does all the I Spy books.) Tom was able to fit in some golf with his brother and BIL and I took the girls to the zoo with Tom's sister, Teri, her girls, Kris and Emily and their kids. Unfortunately I ran out of space on the small camera I took so there are limited pictures. Ella and Audrey both really loved the elephants and the giraffes. I think they loved the giraffes because you could get so close to them. I also bought the girls harnesses for the zoo. It was such a great purchase. We have used them several times now when shopping and they really do the job. I never thought I would put my kid in one of those until I had Audrey and then I realized you would rather have you kid safe and who cares what people say.

We had an adults siblings dinner at Tepanyaki with Tom's side. We all just laugh and laugh when we are together. Jessie watched the girls so we could go and I still feel like Ella just loves her from living with us. Audrey would only go to Jessie and was terrified of Danny! But Audrey is still warming up to people in general.

We also went to dinner with our NC friend Ben while we were out there. He is living in Korea teaching English. He and Tom are very close friends and it was fun getting caught up with him. We have missed having him around and we decided he hasn't changed a bit! Ben it was so good seeing you! I hope to see you again before your two years pass.

We had a BBQ with all our old Dentrix pals on Friday and then played cards that night. We forgot the camera that night too. You would think with all the camera junkies that were there that one of us would have had a camera.

Before we knew it everyone was coming over to say goodbye and we were packing back up for home. Thank you everyone for such a wonderful time. Especially Mom and Dad Hindmarsh for letting us stay for so long and helping so much with the kids while we were there. Now back to reality!!

First Week in Utah

2009-07-25T13:49:00.012-04:00

Here is a little glimpse of our first full week in Utah (Sunday-Saturday). We were able to do lots of fun things while out spending time with the family. Scott, Simone, Tom and I went to a play that reminded me of the playhouse we went to in Yellowstone on our honeymoon. We went to dinner, Lindsey's birthday party, lunch with my dad and Julie, movies with Tom's siblings, a temple trip , and FINALLY got some good Mexican food. Ummmmmmm.. I wish I had thought to bring my camera more often. Ella and Audrey really loved their cousins, especially Chloe and Lindsey.

The girls also loved spending time in Grandma and Gramps' Garden. Ella is infatuated with watering plants and Audrey does everything Ella does so when would couldn't find them we would go look for them watering plants. Tom got some great pictures of Audrey while Ella was napping (one of the few she has taken anymore). Audrey is playing in the fountain, petting animal statues in the garden, getting mulch off her feet (she hated the mulch on her toes, but wouldn't leave the garden to get shoes on), and just having a great time exploring.

We also met the neighbor's new kittens and the girls spent a little time there almost every day tormenting those poor cats. I should have gotten THAT on camera!

The second weekend we were there, we had a Hill Family Reunion with my siblings. On Friday everyone got together at my dad's for a BBQ. It was fun having all the siblings together. Ella loved getting to know more of her cousins. She is so social that she just loved being around everyone. My dad and Julie have really made their basement kid friendly. They have this little room under the stairs with a cut out window in the wall and a half door. The girls used this room to escape from the "loud" boys!

On Saturday we went to Lagoon with all the Hill siblings. My dad and Julie weren't able to make it due to some health issues. Tom and I decided that it would be better to leave Audrey with Grandma and Gramps for this adventure. She loves to play hide and seek and Lagoon is way too hard to try to keep track of that silly monkey. When we first got to Lagoon, India took a "shortcut" through the water fountain at the entrance. Ella decided to follow along. I was trying to get her to put her hand in the water when we got surprised by an extra set of water sprouts that drenched us. Ella was NOT happy and I was worried it would ruin her trip to Lagoon. I was certainly wrong. We got to the first ride and she was hooked. She loved all the roller coasters.
The first few pictures are of kiddie rides. Ella rode this whale ride at least 20 times. (There weren't lines at the kiddie rides so we pretty much rode everything as much as they wanted.) The last picture in the row is Erik (in black) scrunched into the boat ride with Garrett. (You may have to click to enlarge some of the pictures to see Ella's pure happiness.)

Ella with her Dad on the Boat ride, then driving her own bumper car.

India and Ella on the swing ride. Then with Emily on the cars then boats.

On the Carousel. It is 100 years old!

This was my favorite ride. It was actually quite fast, especially for Ella's age. All the other cousins her age hated it. Only the big cousins liked it. Tom took Ella on first and as they got off she turned and said "Daddy, that was scary. Let's go again." I love that she had such a great time on all the rides and enjoyed the day with all her Hill cousins.

Around the 4th of July

2009-07-24T19:00:00.013-04:00

We started our trip out to Utah on July 2, late. We got in at 11:30 pm UT time, so about 2:30 in the morning our time. Both girls fell asleep on the flight, but by the time we got to baggage claim they were both up. Ella was so excited that we hadn't even gotten to the car by the time she started asking how far until Grandma's house. Ella stayed awake the whole drive down and was so happy to see Grandma. It was almost 2 am before we got to bed (4 am Eastern). I am not sure we will try that flight again.

July 3, we got settled in, then met Lorilee and Carl for dinner at Happy Sumo. Somehow Lorilee convinced Tom and I to run in Freedom Festival Run with her, Carl and Carl's brother Ian. I am still not sure how we got roped in, but once we agreed, we committed to see it through.

Early on July 4th, we got up early and left the girls with Tom's parents. We headed for our races! I started in a different place then Tom, so he had to drop me off but our ending location was the same. Tom was running a 10K, while I ran the 5K. I am not going to humiliate myself by posting my time here, but I did okay for not training for two weeks before. I DID get beat by two kids with prosthetic legs (hey they wouldn't let a guy compete in the Olympics with a prosthetic leg because they say it gave him an advantage right?) BUT I beat my best time so I was happy. I waited at the end line looking for rest of the group. (I was the only one running a 5K.) Tom did great. He didn't beat Lorilee, but he DID beat Steve Young.

Tom, me, Ian, Lorilee, Carl

Us "running"

After the race we headed over to the parade. Our SIL, Simone's parents, have a home on University and the Hindmarshes always head there for the parade. It is a prime location and is always PACKED around there. Ironically we ended up sitting right next to my old roommate Nikki and her family. It was fun to see them there and catch up for a few minutes. Tom's parents met us there with the girls and my dad and Julie also came to watch with us. I told my dad how much the girls like flags, so he brought a package for everyone to play with. Audrey liked the flags nearly as much as the parade. Ella said her favorite was the Fire Trucks, but she sure seemed to like all the bands and especially the huge balloons.

Me, Audrey, Scott

Dad, Julie, Jessie, Ella

After the Parade, we headed home for naps and then all the Hindmarshes got together for dinner. UMMM. Ella and Audrey immediately loved all their cousins. Everyone is a cousin, Aunts, Uncles, 1st cousin, 2nd cousins, etc. They loved all the girls their own age.

Lindsey, Reece, Ella, Chloe Gavin, Tristan, the girls

Danny, Jessie, Simone

Everyone watching "parachutes"

Later, we headed over to the BYU soccer fields to watch Danny win a game, then we moved onto the field to watch the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. It was a great night and our girls LOVED the fireworks. I was happy they weren't scared at all.

More of our trip to come. I have to go resize the rest of the pictures to upload them :)

Counting Sheep

2009-07-24T00:38:00.006-04:00

A few months ago Tom had to go to Myrtle Beach for a Dental Conference. On the drive home he had an incident where it felt like for a split second his eyes would roll in the back of his head and he can't move. It only lasts a second, but being in the car with me and the kids made him decide that he was going to see a doctor to find out what was going on. This has happened before, but usually he is alone and normally it has been on long trips or when he is going into higher altitudes. He has gone to the doctor before and they have said it is just allergies, or one even said panic attacks. Both of us knew that wasn't the problem. Along with this issue, he is always tired and has had memory issues at times. He just can't think of words, names, etc. He has been tested for mono several times since before his mission and nothing. He has never found a primary care physician out here and the staff at Urgent Care finally suggested the doctor they all go to. He told Tom he thought it was Narcolepsy and referred him to a sleep specialist. After a sleep study which included first a 8 hour sleep test, THEN 5 naps (you are awake for 1-2 hours, sleep 20 mins, awake 1-2 hours, then sleep 20 mins, etc.) Well the results came in right before we left for our trip to Utah and Tom DOES have Narcolepsy. That is what is causing the strange momentary paralysis. Tom passed the regular sleep test just fine, the problem is that he was going into REM sleep almost immediately during all his naps. Most people shouldn't be able to nap (at least not 5 times) after sleeping 8 hours. And you shouldn't go into REM sleep in 20 minutes. But Tom was within a couple minutes each time. So what does that mean? Well, now we know what is going on with him and can treat it. In case you are wondering, narcolepsy is one of the most misdiagnoised and underdiagnoised diseases. There is no cure for narcolepsy, but there are hundreds of different drug combinations that can be taken. His body already adapted to the first set of drugs prescribed so we are already trying a stronger dose. So, for right now, Tom is on leave from work since he is not really suppose to be driving. The doctor said he should be fine driving, but he couldn't put that in the chart for liability reasons and so right now Tom is a liability to his doctor which means he is a liablity for his work as well. Because of this, Tom was able to extend his trip in Utah for the whole time the girls and I were there (He was going to come home to work and go to a conference.) Selfishly, I have loved having him around these last few weeks. I know that it will have to end sometime. One of us...... me, until we get his meds regulated, will have to get a job. I have a few options open. I am going to wait another few days then try to make my decision on which way to go. But until then I am just really enjoying the family time.

Stay tuned for the trip to Utah blogs, which are coming soon!

Six

2009-07-23T23:59:00.006-04:00

Six......as in six years of marriage. It is hard for me to believe on June 28 Tom and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. I am so much more in love with him now then six years ago but wow has time flown by. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man. On a whim we decided to go to Charleston (for your Northern/Westerners that would be Ch-aaaaawl-stin). Tom and I were always spontaneous before having kids, so it was nice to just up and go.

These are pictures of the kids right before we left the hotel. They looks like angels and really acted that way the whole trip. As we were driving into town Tom's car registered 100 degrees and it was about 80% humidity. As you will see from the pictures we (as well as everyone around us) were dripping sweat. It gave us a huge appreciation for all the dresses, corsets and suits they had to wears in the 1700s with NO AIR CONDITIONING!

We took a carriage ride around the city. If I look worn out it is because I was! The girls did great until the end of the ride and then they were bored.

Tom and I decided to walk around the city, despite the heat and really enjoyed all the Revolutionary and Civil War history. Audrey was tuckered out before we even started. This is 5 mins into our walk. The rest are amazing mansions down by Rainbow Row and the water.

This is a sign to a church established 1682. What amazing history!

The entrance to the Park by the Ocean. I think they call this the Avenue, but I don't remember, it was a month ago!

This is a statue for the Defenders of Fort Moultrie June 28, 1776. (Revolutionary era) I thought it was cool that it happened to be our anniversary just 227 year earlier.

And of course Ella found a dog to chase in the park.

All in all it was a wonderful and memoriable anniversary. Tom, thank you so much for the last 6 years. I can't wait to see what the rest bring!!!

I know I am Behind

2009-07-09T13:05:00.004-04:00

I know I am way behind on my blog. Lots of excuses and things going on that I won't bore you with right now. My biggest problem is that we are in Utah and have our wonderful camera and no cable to download our pictures. Quick trip to Wal-mart would fix the problem but hasn't been the priority right now so no pictures =no blogging. Sorry folks. But for a preview of what will be blogged in the near future: a trip to Charleston for our anniversary, the 4th of July, and pictures from our trip here in Utah. We will be out here until July 21. I convinced Tom he needed to stay here with me instead of going home early, so I forsee a lot more fun filled events and pictures to blog soon. Hope you are all great and if you are in Charlotte, see you in a little bit, and if you are here in Utah, call us so we can see you!!

Vegas Trip

2009-06-25T20:03:00.008-04:00

I know I know I am super behind in the whole blogging arena. I have been meaning to blog about my trip for a while, but the camera with all the pictures as in Tom's work bag which has bee with him pretty constantly. But I finally pulled it out so. The pictures aren't the best. I used our very old digital camera, but it was better then bringing the huge nice one andtrying to juggle that, a diaper bag and both kids.

My dad picked us up from the airport and let us use his car while we were there. He and Julie left for Orlando the next day, so we visited with them for a little bit, then headed off to meet the Gainey's and Erik and Shelly for dinner at El Torito. YUM! I miss real Mexican food so much. It was fun meeting Lacey's husband and just seeing all my family. Ella was hamming it up.

The girls and I were able to go to dinner on Sunday at my Aunt Arlene and Uncle Ted's and see all my Waters family there. Ofcourse I didn't have my camera on me. My girls had so much fun with their cousins. Whitney and Kenzie were definitely favorites. Tara and I met for lunch at the park with our kids. Of course, camera-less again. Afterwards, I went by the Gainey's and the girls had so much fun with the Gainey kids. The girls even started warming up to Zack after lots of coaxing. Tonya gave the girls Teddy bears (not these huge ones, but ones that they could actually carry around and we could easily pack home.) The girls are still carrying them all over the place.

Grandma and Gramps drove down to watch the girls while I was attending my conference. The girls just love their grandparents. We were staying at this great timeshare. We had lots of space and Grandma bought an entire suitcase of toys. Audrey got sick the first night Grandma and Gramps were there. My days after that were filled with work. Tom's parents are miracle workers and entertained the girls all day.

We met Erik, Shelly and India one night for dinner at Metro Pizza. If it looks like I have a fake smile on, well, I DID!! The girls were out of control that night. We were seated right by the kitchen entrance with a small space behind me where all the waiters were walking by us. That is not the best location for a family with 2 toddlers. Ella and Audrey kept wanting to dance right where the waiters were coming out.

On Friday I got to meet with all my Henderson Friends. We met at Mission Hills Park. It was so fun to see all my friends and meet their kids. I hadn't seen some of them since high school graduation! We all had our kids, so I didn't get to catch up as much as I would have liked (but thank goodness for blogs that let me know how they are). Instead I was chasing around kids, so that is what most of my pictures are of. You can tell the girls loved playing with India and Kenneth's kids.

That night we stayed with Erik since we were flying out so early. Our plane left at 6am so we had to leave Erik's at 3:30am. Ella and India stayed up until about 10pm watching cartoons together.

After finally falling asleep, I was with Audrey in the room next door and woke up about midnight to Ella screaming. I went in and as soon as I picked her up she started throwing up. We got her cleaned up, and finally back to bed and then was up getting all their laudry washed. The airline couldn't get us on a later flight, so we had to have everything cleaned and packed back up by 3:30. Erik stayed up and made sure everything got into the dryer and finished cleaning. We made it back home without another incident. The girls were great on the airplane and really did a good job travelling. It gives me hope for our next trip coming up next week

June 15, 1993

2009-06-19T14:15:00.009-04:00

This day sixteen years ago changed my life. It was the day my mom died. I have been meaning to write down the experience in my journal for the last sixteen years. I was so worried that first year that I would forget all my experiences but that day is one of the most clear in my mind of my entire life. Sorry that there have been so many posts about my mom lately, but when her birthday and death anniversary are only 11 days apart, that tends to happen. **The picture above I found on Flickr. I am not sure who took it, so I can't give the artist credit.**

Sixteen years ago, I was on a "Back East Trip". It is a trip that our seminary group took that was arranged and supervised by Tara's grandpa, Marlan Walker. We had 3 bus loads of teenagers that traveled across the country to see all the important historical sites of our church. (And another 3 bus loads following one day behind.) The trip took just over two weeks. By this point in the trip we had seen Independance Missouri, Carthage Jail, Navoo, Joseph Smith's Birth place, as well as Boston, Washington,DC, and New York City. June 15 was scheduled for the highlight of our trip. We were going to the Sacred Grove. We believe that Joseph Smith Jr. came here to pray to decide which church he was to join and was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ. Each of us was encouraged to read the account of Joseph Smith and when we got to the Sacred Grove to pray for ourselves. I had really been praying that I would feel this burning in my chest that would give me undeniable proof that it was true. I had been reading the Book of Mormon, as well as Joseph's account. I had tried to make myself worthy to be able to get this confirmation. We got to the Sacred Grove in the early afternoon. Each bus took a different "site" to visit and then throughout the afternoon we switched where we were. We visited the Hill Cumorah where Joseph hide the plates that the Book of Mormon was translated from. Our group visted the actual Grove next. After that was Joseph's childhood home that has been restored and used as a visitor's center manned by a Senior Missionary couple.

While we were in the Grove we went off by ourselves and were given a chance to pray and then we were going to meet together again for a testimony meeting in the Grove. I went off by myself and knelt to pray and really prayed for what seemed like a long time and I didn't really feel anything. I started to worry. My thoughts weren't that the church wasn't true because I didn't get this burning, but I was worried if the Lord didn't feel like I was worthy to feel this blessing. I really felt like it was a righteous desire. I knelt again to pray and started asking Heavenly Father if I wasn't worthy and why I wsan't getting any response. As I knelt there praying I felt like someone was whispering to me, "You don't need that burning, you have always known the church is true. " Although I was disappointed that I hadn't been given this gift, I knew it was true, I HAD always known our church was true. I went to the testimony meeting and honestly many of my friends got up to explain they had this deep burning, I felt a little hurt that I didn't get that same blessing. After our testimony meeting we went up to the Smith home and played around until all the groups had gone through the Grove. We drove a short distance to our hotel in Rochester. We were staying in a location that was not near very many restaurants. About the only thing in walking distance was a McDonald's right next door. Everyone ran to get in line as soon as the buses stopped. As I was standing in line, Tara's Grandpa walked in the door. I was all the way across the room and across about 100 people but somehow I heard him call my name and knew from his face that it wasn't good. I was crying before I had even gotten to him. He told me that there was a message at the hotel from my dad asking us to call. (Yeah, this was before the days of commonly used cell phones!) Grandpa Walker had already called him and my mom was at the hospice and we needed to come home to say our goodbyes. He had me get my brother Tim and go back to the hotel to call our dad. We called our mom and we were able to talk to her for a little bit. Now, my mom had cancer for 3 1/2 years already at this point. We had already had scares like this before and my mom had pulled through wonderfully. My dad always tends to be the dramatic one and many times he would over-react. While talking to my mom, she said she was alread feeling better, but we should come home and see that she was doing alright, it would make my dad feel better, then they could have us meet back up with the trip. While on the trip we had talked to her every night. While they didn't want kids to call home every night because of limited phones, and cost, calling home was a condition Tim and I needed to meet to be able to go on the trip. We talked to my mom every night for a couple minutes to let her know where we were and let her know we loved her. Usually it was only a couple minute call, but enough to reassure everyone. After our call with our mom, we went to our Stake Presiden't room and President Belingheri gave us a Pristhood Blessing of comfort. Tara and Kristin met me afterward to find out what was going on. It spread pretty quickly that my mom was pretty sick and Tim and I were going home. There were so many of my friends by my side that night. I wish I could name them all, Matt Weaver, Kaer Erickson, Renaun, Kenneth all helped me through that evening. That night we had a prayer circle for my mom. We met in the Walker's room. All 3 busloads of kids in one room. As we prayed for my mom, I felt that amazing burning, and really felt like Jesus was holding me. Throughout her fight with cancer there were so many times that my mom said she felt like Jesus was holding her in his hands and I really felt that same experience. I realized that the reason I didn't get that burning in answer to pray earlier in the day was because the Lord knew I would need to feel His presence even more later that day. We had a great girl cry session in my room that night as I packed. I woke up in the middle of that night feeling so empty. I dismissed it and went back to bed. We had to be up early to make the flight home. We were so lucky because Marsha and Britney Jeffries had decided to meet up with us in NY to come through the Sacred Grove. Marsha was able to coordinate flights for us and fly home with us. Tim and I met her that morning by her rental car along with Grandpa Walker. He told us that my mom died that night about 10:00pm NV time. It was two long flights home. This was my first plane ride and instead of enjoying it I was just numb. I wanted to sit and cry, but didn't want to fall apart in public. We got home and it was still morning in Las Vegas. We spent the rest of the week getting things ready for the funeral. I surrounded myself with my family, especially since most of my friends were still on the "Back East Trip". There are so many reasons why June 15th changed my life. My mom, my best friend, my rock, was gone, but really she had prepared me as much as she could to let me go out on my own. That night solidified my testimony in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I wish I could say I never made mistakes or sinned after that, but that isn't true. But I never strayed from my testimony. I have never ever doubted the love Heavenly Father has for each of us.

One blessing that the Lord really gave me is the last memory of my mom. My brother Erik had to see her suffering in bed those last hours. My last memory is of me hugging her and telling each other how much we loved each other and would miss each other. I remember her telling me to be good and we would see each other soon. I can remember sitting on that bus as we pulled away with her arm around my brother Erik and her other arm waving and blowing kisses to Tim and me. What an amazing last image.

This death anniversary is even more unique then most. My mom will now have been gone more of my life then she was alive. It is hard to wrap my head around that.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-06-04T14:08:00.007-04:00

Jeanette Mickelsen Hill was born June 4, 1942 in "Uncle Joe and Aut Julia's" house. (No they weren't really relatives, but they were like family to her family growing up.) We are lucky enough to have our family history written up thanks to Aunt Arlene and Uncle Ted. It is too long to include here, but I think I will read Grandma Jeanette's history for bed tonight.
My mom was such a special person. She was funny, considerate, loving, faithful, compassionate, understanding, patient, strong woman that I hardly know where to begin.
I have repressed a lot of my teenage years and in the process have forgotten so many memories of my mom, but I have all these fleeting images that I see of her. Like coming home up the back step into the living room. It seemed she always had a smile on her face coming home. (It didn't always last depending on the state of the house when she got home. ) I love the sound of her laugh which she was always doing. I loved that I went to school with her. It gave me the extra time before and after school with her chatting about our day, political events, things going on in my or her life, etc. She used to drive me an hour each way to dance class. I remember that we frequently stopped at Taco Bell and we would each get a taco and share a nacho. I will cherish those small extra moments I had with her. She really lived her life as an example to everyone. I could go on an on about all the lessons she taught me but this post would never end. I will be eternally grateful that she was the best model of living the gospel that I have ever met. She made everyone of her kids feel like they were her favorite. Some of my favorite memories are when she would take us out to toilet paper during our sleepover parties. She was definitely the life of the party. I also remember her picking up me and some friends from a party one weekend. We were taking Tara home and she wouldn't stop talking. Mom kept threatening to leave her and finally started to pull away. Tara jumped in front of the car. Mom slowly (like 1 mile an hour) pulled forward and bumped Tara with the car. Tara fell on the hood of the car so my mom wouldn't leave her. Tara was laughing thinking she had outsmarted my mom. Instead my mom pulled backward making Tara roll off the front of the car. One of the boys in the car kept looking at my mom like she was crazy. The rest of us were laughing including Tara. We finally got Tara in the car and after dropping everyone off my mom said, "I hope you weren't planning on dating that guy because I ruined those chances." I wouldn't have given up that memory for a date with any guy. Even after all these years I still think about her all the time and see so much of her in myself and my kids. Happy Birthday Mom! Love you! Feel free to share you favorite memory of my mom.

Hey Baby Let's Go To Vegas

2009-06-01T22:26:00.002-04:00

Here we come. The girls and I are going out to Vegas on Saturday. Pray for our flight!!! Last time I flew with just me and the girls Audrey wasn't walking so this should be an adventure. I am going out for a conference, but I am coming out a few days early. So if any of you want to hang out call or email me (or comment, I get them all on the blackberry). I was going to try to get everyone together, but getting a group together on a weeknight and with short notice may be a nightmare, but I would love to see as many of my friends as possible. I am getting excited, but I really feel like it has been forever since I have been to Vegas with a few days to play. Last time we came out it was a quick trip and only had like a day of free time. So feeling like a Vegas newbie here, I need some good ideas of things to do with the girls. Any good suggestions? Re-introduce me to Vegas friends, especially the kid friendly side! Hope to see some of you soon!

Controversial Topic

2009-05-30T01:00:00.003-04:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about California's Proposition 8 due to the Cal Supreme Court upholding marriage between a man and a woman. Lots of celebrities have been voicing their opinions on TV about this. I am not one to really get political on my blog. I write this blog really as a journal and record for my girls to be able to come back to later. I wish I would have had something like this from MY mom to come back and read. I decided that I want to let me girls know how I feel about this so they can hear MY opinion and not some celebrity or some religious advocate's idea on the subject. I am warning you, I am an equal opportunity offender and I am sure I am going to offend most of my friends no matter which position you hold. Feel free to stop reading now. Also, I really would appreciate if you didn't try to argue your side with me on the comments section. (You can comment all you want, just don't try to argue your position please.) I already know my position. Ella and Audrey, I want you to know that God loves everyone single person on earth. He has given us free agency which is the greatest gifts he could possibly give us. Our church believes that marriage is between a man and a woman. I completely agree with this. Now, we have family members and friends that may have parnters that are their same sex. Although it is not something our church advocates, that in no way means that we do not love them. That is where free agency comes in. We can love the sinner without loving the sin. I love our family and friends that are gay. I can love their partners as well. I can see why they feel there is an injustice that they can't marry. My problem lies not necessarily with a marriage between two partners, but the other complications that open up from that. If partners were to be allowed to marry, then what would happen if they wanted to marry in a church that didn't agree with same sex marriage. This would open a whole ground for litigation against not only our own church but so many other churches as well. It would also make for a difficult matter with temples. (For more information on our temples and how we believe, click HERE) I think if Prop 8 had failed or been overturned then it leaves too many unanswered problems for churches like ours that are against same sex marriage. It leaves no protection for our beliefs. This isn't a personal attack on any one group or person. Remember Ella and Audrey that we need to love everyone whether they have our same beliefs or not and that we can respect those beliefs without agreeing with them. It may seem hard at times and many adults have not been able to grasp that, but I hope I can instill the tools so that you can.

Tiny Tubes - Time # Two

2009-05-28T21:36:00.004-04:00

We were back at the hospital again this morning getting another round of tubes for Audrey. This is her second set. Actually only for her left ear. The doctor wanted us to have them redone before all our flights this summer. Audrey had a super rough night last night. She still wakes up at night and I give her a bottle so that we can at least get a little sleep. She coudn't have food after midnight, only clear juice like apple juice and water until 4 am and NOTHING after 4. Of course she woke up at 2:30. She wanted nothing to do with juice. She ended up in bed with me and I sent Tom to the spare room. She was really restless with no bottle for comfort. At 4:10 she squirmed off Tom's side of the bed. Ofcourse we were both upset but at this point I couldn't give her ANYTHING. She was just as frustrated about the abuse she felt she was getting as she did about falling off the bed. After 30 minutes of trying everything to comfort her, Tom took her downstairs and rocked her to sleep. (She never lets me rock her so I didn't even think of it as an option....brownie points for Daddy.) 6:15 am came way too early for everyone. Ella went to the sitter and we were off. They give the kids a mixture of Tylonol and something they refer to as "goofy juice". I am sure it is some kind of valium. Audrey was HILARIOUS, but describing it doesn't do it justice. She kept putting her tongue out like it belonged to someone else. And Wheels on the Bus and Peek A Boo have a whole new outlook for me now after the Goofy Juice. Our ENT brings the kids toys. (Ella still sleeps with her stuffed Lion from the ENT) This time Dr. Stan let Audrey choose and as soon as he said Barbie, she was all over it. This is her very first Barbie and she took it back to surgery with her.

About 10 minutes after taking her, the doctor was bringing us back in to let us know it went well, tube is in and they checked her adnoids and they are pretty small so that wasn't the cause. Audrey didn't come out of the anethesia so well. She was down right freaking out. The nurses said it was like trying to hold an octopus still. She was screaming , fighting, wailing, hitting....not pretty. We even took her outside and that calmed her for a little bit. Once we got in the car it all started again though. She cried the entire 20 min drive home. She finally fell asleep right outside our neighborhood entrance. I was able to put her down and she slept for over 4 hours. I took a nap too. We are all still trying to recover from an early morning and exhausting day. But hopefully no more health issues at least for a little while!!

Beach, Family, and Memorial Day

2009-05-26T09:16:00.003-04:00

The weekend before Memorial Day we went to Myrtle Beach. Tom had a dental conference he needed to work and my seminar got cancelled, so we packed up the kids and went with him. Bike Week always happens at the same time as our conference and you could see the recession has taken a toll because there were not that many Bikes this year and the hotel was not jammed with people. In fact we were able to upgrade our room for the same price to a two room suite. It was about 1400 sq feet with two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, dining room, living room, walk in closets and a laundry room. It was so nice! Plus we ate most our meals in the hotel room. We learned the girls really don't like the beach. Ella loves the "idea" of the beach and seeing the Ocean, but neither of the girls like walking on the sand. I think they don't like how unsteady it is under their feet. Ella did better on the packed sand by the Ocean. Audrey wouldn't even try again at that point. We ended up spending most of our time at the hotel pool. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, it was like a kids water park heaven with all sorts of water slides and water toys. I kept the girls all lathered in sunscreened and forgot to put it on myself and got pretty burned. It has turned into a semi-tan. Well, tan for me, I am still pasty white compared to the rest of the world.

We came home from the beach in time to pick up Tom's brother Scott and his wife Simone from the airport. They spent a week with us and I didn't even get a single picture!! We just hung out and really enjoyed having them here. We got a sitter a couple of times and went to see a movie once and bowling another time. I miss having family so close, especially since I feel like for both me and Tom that our families are our best friends and favorite people to hang out with. I really love all my in-laws and we are really close with them all. On my side we are friends with extended family as well. It was sad seeing Scott and Simone go home, but I will be seeing some of my family and Tom's parents in Vegas in a couple weeks when I go out for a conference and then we will be in UT for most of July.

It rained most of Memorial Day weekend so a lot of our plans for yard work and such got put on hold. We had the Burtons over for dinner that night. My girls think the world of the Burton kids. Ella doesn't need toys, she just follows them around and does everything they do. I walked in and found them all on the couch like this.

Audrey is really starting to talk more in fragmented sentences. Some of her favorites are "Open Dis" and "Daddy Coming Home?" "Mommy Coming Home?" She asks the last two all the time. Whether we are home with her or not.

Scariest Day Ever!

2009-05-13T00:46:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was the scariest day ever for me. Let me back up. Audrey was sick on Friday. We were up all Thursday night and all Friday night. By Saturday she seemed fine, back to getting into everything. She has seemed more whiny lately, but she is also getting 4 teeth in right now. Sunday they were both terrors at church......Happy Mother's Day to Me! We ended up leaving early because they were so cranky. Yesterday Ella woke up telling me her tummy didn't feel good. Audrey woke up with the worst diarrhea I have ever seen. Audrey was so cranky she actually went down for a nap at 10:30am. When she woke up at 1pm she had thrown up in her bed and soon after we had another diarrhea diaper. I got the girls some Pedialyte and Ella some lunch. Lisa was here cleaning our house. (No we are not snobs, but we do have someone who comes in and helps with our deep cleaning like bathrooms and floors every few weeks and we just love her like family) Ella was watching tv downstairs while I came upstairs to finish cleaning up toys so Lisa could vacuum. Audrey crawled into my lap and wasn't there very long before she went limp, her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she started having a seizure. I screamed for Lisa (which must have been pretty loud because she was vacuuming). She called 911. Audrey's seizure lasted about 3 minutes. The entire time I was praying for Heavenly Father to protect her and that she would come out of this healthy and that he would take care of her. When she stopped shaking, her eyes were glazed over and she was pretty unresponsive. After a minute she fell asleep. I couldn't help but worry that she would have brain damage. The paramedics got here and we spent the next several hours in the hospital doing tests. Lisa kept Ella until Tom got home and then our wonderful neighbor Carrie took her until we were back from the hospital. (Rhena was really hoping they would have a sleep over. Sorry Rhena!) Audrey started becoming cranky at the paramedics which made me believe she wasn't brain damaged. At the hospital she started saying words again like "Daddy and Gabba". After a CAT Scan, blood tests and urine tests, Audrey was worn out and fell right asleep. They finally determined there was nothing wrong with her but dehydration and they think that may have triggered the seizure. When Audrey woke up her IV was pretty much done and she was completely re-juvinated. It was like they put speed in the IV. She was all over the place. anytime someone in scrubs came in she would say "Done, Bye Bye". I think she was ready to head out.

We will have to watch her closely this week but our pediatrician said that it is more common that we realize for kids to have a one time seizure and never have them again. Thank you all for your prayers and phone calls. We have such wonderful family and friends. We really are so thankful for each of you and especially that Audrey is going to be alright.

Sleeping after all her tests.

PS. No I didn't have the presence of mind to bring my camera. This is taken from my new mother's day gift. A blackberry curve....in pink.

This Week's Ella-isms

2009-05-06T23:19:00.003-04:00

I am one of the Faith In God Girls leader. For those of you that aren't familiar with our church, or this calling, I help plan and supervise a bi-weekly activity for 8-11 year old girls. We were doing a service activity tonight of planting flowers at the church as well as disinfecting and cleaning all the nursery toys. Tom had a late appointment so I had the girls with me. The girls took late naps today so we had to rush to pick up the flowers and I stopped at Arby's to get the girls dinner. They LOVE Arby's. Ella asks for it for every meal. It is on the healthier end of fast food so if we do have to have drive-thru food, it is usually Arby's for the girls, just the sandwhich no fries. Ella can literally eat a full regular roast beef by herself. They had their pick 5 going on right now. I needed a drink, so it was cheaper to get 4 Jr. Roast beef and drink (2 jr for ella, one for Audrey and one for me) then one Jr., a regular and drink. Anyway, it was a small drink (12 oz) and it was in a short cup. Ella saw it and said "Mom, that drink is too small for you. I's need it. It's not too small for me." It was Pepsi. There was no way she was getting it, but it sure made me laugh. The way her mind reasons makes her a good candidate for a lawyer.I tend to forget she is just 2. On the way to the church we stopped to pick up a new car seat because Tom's car still has Audrey's rear facing infant seat and it was time to upgrade. We got a pink seat and Ella kept bringing it up over and over again. "I love the new pink seat mom" repeated 30 times or so. I finally told her "Ella, you make me tired". She replied, "I's don't make you tired. I's make you laugh." Well, she definitely was accurate this time.

Hola Amigos!

2009-05-03T21:39:00.009-04:00

I know you have all been waiting to hear if we have the Swine Flu. Nope. Even if we had, nothing could have dampened our trip to Mexico. We had such a great time just sleeping in and laying by the pool. That was literally every day for us. We stayed at Marquis Los Cabos which is an all inclusive resort between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose Los Cabos. There was suppose to be another large company retreat there the same time as us and they cancelled shortly before the trip so our group pretty much had the resort to ourselves. It was about 50 of Henry Schein's top selling employees and their companions, so about 100 total people. The ocean next to the resort has a strong under current, so we couldn't swim there which was fine because we stayed in the pool most of the time. (Plus they don't bring drinks and food for you out in the ocean and they do in the pool....guacamole+Coke= heaven.) The second day we were there Tom and I took a taxi into Cabo San Lucas. Everyone was warning us about the people who beg, or try to sell you a timeshare. One lady in our group even had a guy try to sell her drugs. We didn't have anyone ask us for money. We must look poor or something but it made the experience so wonderful. We did walk out to the marina and a few people asked us if we wanted to take a boat tour out to the Arch. You could see it from the marina, but for $10 a person we figured we would go out and get some pictures. It was just us and the captain, so he was super accomodating trying to get us close and good shots. He was so nice and explained where the locals go, showed us all these cool rock formations and pointed out what we should see. We were out on the water for about an hour and it was definitely worth the $10. I bought the girls really cute Mexican style embroidered dresses at the Marina shops. They were much cheaper then the ROXY one I got in the US as a Swimsuit cover and just as cute. Then we ate at Hard Rock. The rest of the time we stayed at the resort. They had 3 different restaurants or room service and pool side service. One night Tom and I went to the French restaurant. They serviced us a 5 course meal that was delicious (except for the duck, in my opinion, Tom liked it). The best part of the trip was just unwinding and getting our batteries recharged. Everyone has been asking about the Swine flu and we were there while the outbreak was going on, but got there right as it was starting. We weren't reading the paper or watching much TV to realize anything was going on until we heard about it the day we were leaving. I don't know if it had affected the area we were in much up to that point, but we didn't catch it. We are past the incubation period, so if we get the Swine flu it will be from some one locally.

Make a Smilebox photobook

We came back to a sick grandma. Tom's mom wasn't feeling well when we got home. The night before they were suppose to go home she was doing really bad so we sent her to the ER. She had a sinus infection and was treated so at least she started feeling better quickly and made it home okay. Tom and I have been busy this week trying to catch up and put out business fires that happened while we were gone. I have been working early morning to late night several times this week and ended up needing to work on Saturday as well. Because of that we have been trying to make up for it with spending after work time doing fun things with the girls. Plus, they have been extra clingy this week after having left them. It has been really warm here, in the mid-80's, so we have taken them over to the Birkdale Fountains a couple of times. Friday we took them over to play for a bit, then they had live music playing. We dressed the girls and let them go over to listen. They were having a ball! There was an area in the middle where all the kids were dancing. Audrey got out there and started going in circles and getting dizzy and taking out kids every few minutes as she fell. Then she would get right back up and start over again. It was so funny. I am surprised she could even get up again after going in circles that long. She became the entertainment for most the parents.

We have also been trying to spend more time outdoors with the great weather. I want my kids to get out and play rather then just stay inside and watch TV all day. Plus Daisy needs the excercise. These are shots from our backyard.

Today I finally took pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses. Tom's mom was able to get the "burned" type stain out of Ella's easter dress. (See here for explaination) I also took a picture of the house from the direction I usually come home. A lot of our plants are starting to flower and the pansies we planted back in November are still looking beautiful, and it just makes me happy to come home. Our day lillies will start to come out soon too and I just can't wait. I thought I would share the view that makes me so happy to come home.