Buell Family

New Posts

2011-01-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

There are lots of new posts on my new blog. Check them out: http://www.hkbuellfamily.blogspot.com/.

OOPS

2010-10-22T11:59:00.001-06:00

So I had trouble uploading pictures to the new blog as well. So here is the new new blog http://hkbuellfamily.blogspot.com/. I did post some pictures and this one works.

So add this one to your blog rolls and Google readers! So sorry for the confusion.

We've Moved . . .

2010-10-21T23:04:00.003-06:00

. . . digitally that is. I ran out of image space on this blog and so had to start a new blog. The new blog is http://www.jandhbuellfamily.blogspot.com/.

Please update your blog rolls and Google reader and join us at our new web home!

Super Fun Weekend

2010-10-20T06:20:00.013-06:00

Our weekend actually began Thursday night when we went on a little Halloween Cruise. It was a boat ride with jack o lanterns displayed and with a pirate theme.

This was our captain.

This is the pirate that zip lined onto our boat.

Some of the Halloween displays they had on the way to the boat dock.

Jeff took off work on Friday so that he could take us to the Zoo.

I thought it was cool how the elephant reaches up for it's food.

The girls being cute.

They both loved the carousel.

This monkey looked so cute eating it's breakfast.

Brooke loved the black footed cats. We had to drag her away from the window.

They had a free flying bats exhibit. There are about 50 bats all clumped together.

They girls were excited for the train ride.

We finally discovered the play area. I don't know how we missed it before. The girls had a ball.

Aubrey worked and worked at this rope ladder and finally mastered it!!

Brookie loved climbing through the turtle shell.

Having fun on the swinging rope bridge.

Aubrey taking her Sis. down the great big slide.

We hit up McDonald's on the way home. Then while the girls were napping Jeff set up the Halloween decorations. The girls were super thrilled about it when they woke up.

Aubrey has always loved the hanging skeleton heads.

Brooke's taking a closer look.

Aubrey showing off her bravery. She's telling the monster, "I'm not afraid of you!"

Both girls waving at the monsters.

When I could finally get them inside for dinner they noticed this in the entry way:

And so this is how they insisted on sitting for dinner so they could interact with the Munk. What funny little monkeys they are.

This witch Grandma Buell gave to us and they love her also. Every time Brooke sees it, she cackles like a witch. It's so cute. Here she is taking a picture of the witch.

Saturday night Jeff took me out for an early birthday date. We went to dinner and to a Halloween dance show, "Thriller." It was so nice to have a night out!

Sunday morning Aubrey and I made Pumpkin bars using the Jack O Lantern pan Grandma Bagley gave us.

I had finished Brooke's ruffle skirt on Friday night so they both wore them to church on Sunday. I think they look darling and girly!

Aubrey was thrilled when she saw the Brooke and her were matching!

Then after church the Aunts and Uncles came over to make Glitter Pumpkins. Aunt Esther set the whole thing up. It was lots of fun.

Here's the crew minus me.

Aubrey showing off her Glitter pumpkin.

Brooke mainly just wiped off the glue and glitter from hers. Oh well, at least she was entertained for a while so I could make one.

Then someone (I can't remember if it was Summer or Esther) asked Aubrey if she was going to dance for us. Both Aubrey and Brooke were thrilled to dance for everyone.

Brooke didn't want to hold hands and dance, so Aubrey pulled out members of the audience to dance with her.

It was a super fun weekend! And we have some fun planned for this week as well! Hurray for the Holidays!

Our Fuzzy Friend

2010-10-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

This is our new friend, a wooly bear caterpillar.

Zoe has them all over her yard and was nice enough to share one with us. He will turn into a moth in the Spring. We have had fun feeding him this fall.

We've been giving him grass and leaves to munch on. We even saw him take a munch out of a leaf one day. The leaf had a cute little mouth print!

Aubrey giving it some water.

Brooke had to try next.

I think he may be hibernating now. He hasn't moved for a few days so I am hoping he is hibernating and not dead! They hibernate during the fall and winter and then make a cocoon in the spring. I'm hoping we can see the whole process!

Growing a little Everyday

2010-10-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

I finally got around to showing Aubrey how to use the mouse on the computer. She is in LOVE! At first she wanted to go through the blog and play all of the videos of her and Brooke. Then I introduced her to games and she is just having a ball. At least the preschool games are all educational!

Last week Aubrey chatted Grandma Buell's ear off on the phone. It was so cute. I think she talked for about a half an hour. She just talked and talked. Toward the end she decided to read her some stories. This is her with phone on foot board and reading Grandma a story.

Aubrey has been working on learning to button buttons the last couple months. Last week she was finally able to do it on her own. This is her excitedly showing that she buttoned all the buttons all by herself!

Somehow Aubrey discovered that if you twist the swing it makes a fun twirly ride. They both enjoy the twisty turny (as we call it)

Here's Brookie flying around.

I got the girls some Jack O Lantern's for trick or treating. They were a big hit! Brooke even knows which is hers and which is Aubrey's.

Brooke loves to give Aubrey hugs! So sweet!

Brooke has figured out how to climb the ladder to the slide all by herself. She's very proud of her accomplishment and wants to do it over and over and over again!

Little Mommy

2010-10-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

My Brooke is just the cutest Little Mommy. I never knew a child this small could love babies so much. And her love started around 9 months. She is rarely seen without a baby.

Here she is wrapping up her baby.

Now she's giving her a nap.

She's rocking her baby. This is her special bedtime blankie and baby. When we get her in the morning she is hugging them both so tightly and won't get out of the crib without them.

She also strolls the babies constantly and at church last week, tried to feed a baby her snacks.

What a darling little mommy she is!

One of those Moments

2010-10-16T06:00:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday, as I was getting ready, the house was unusually peaceful. I could hear Aubrey talking quietly but that is all. I went to investigate and saw this little scene. Aubrey was reading Brooke a story. This was one of those Mommy moments that make all of the other not so fun times worth it.

They ended up playing so nicely together for quite a while afterward. I was actually sad when I had to interrupt them to put Brooke down for a nap. Aubrey was sad too and said, "Don't put Brooke down for a nap, we're playing together." Oh how I wish everyday was like this!

More Crochet Projects

2010-10-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

I found this cute tank top pattern and I just had to make for my girls. I made them to coordinate with a hat I had already made for each of them.

Since I had made the skirt and hat for Brooke, I thought the tank would finish the outfit perfectly.

Here is the pattern.

Decorating a Haunted House

2010-10-12T06:59:00.001-06:00

After Aubrey's dance recital on Saturday we decided to decorate the haunted cookie house that Grandma Bagley sent us. The girls had a ball.

Brookie enjoyed the decorating,

but enjoyed the eating even more!

See here's proof.

Aubrey of course loved every minute of it.

She just loves to craft!

Hmmm, sissy has a great idea, I think I want to eat the candy too!

I was there too! Mainly in a supportive role.

Working with some fondant.

Gotta decorate the roof now that it's set.

I decided to decorate a bit myself. It sure is not easy decorating from plastic bags!

Our finished house.

And the back side.

It turned out much cuter than I expected, since I decided to turn over the creative to the little munchkins!

Aubrey's First Dance Recital

2010-10-10T06:00:00.003-06:00

Aubrey had her first dance performance today - and it was pretty much a dream come true for me. I have always loved watching children perform. When I was in high school my two little sisters were in a stake talent show singing and dancing and I was in the back just crying while watching them. I also frequently cry during the Sacrament Primary Program. I have always been extremely sensitive to children being cute! So, FINALLY having my own little one performing was something special for me.

What a darling ballerina!

Because it was at a retirement home and it was in a small room, each child could only bring one parent. Aubrey was very disappointed that Daddy & Brooke couldn't come too. I kept reminding her that she has two other shows and they'll get to see her.

These two cuties were real excited for their first show.

Awww, so sweet!

Waiting with all the other little cuties for the show to begin.

The three cute ballerinas in our ward.

Dress rehearsal.

And finally, the Performance. (I was sad cause I cut it off right before Aubrey bowed :( )

Two happy little performers.

They are just the cutest little friends.

The morning before the show, I put Aubrey's music on to practice. I was impressed because she knew the order of the whole dance without me reminding her. (The timing wasn't always on - but hey she is only 3!) Brookie of course wanted to join in and wanted her tutu on too!

Brooke's Half Birthday

2010-10-09T20:32:00.004-06:00

My Brookie Bug is 18 months old today. Gone are her baby days - she is now a full fledged toddler.

Brooke now folds her arms during prayers and usually for the whole time now.

She loves to dance and can follow along with Aubrey pretty good.

She has figured out about stools and when she wants to get in on the action she will run and get a stool.

She makes the cutest little "O" expression with her lips a lot.

She is just the sweetest little heart and cute as a button! We all just adore our Brookie Bug!

Thanks to Aubrey I got a pic with my bug today too!

Matchy Matchy

2010-10-08T22:16:00.002-06:00

Since Aubrey outgrew my favorite black hat, I had to make her a new one! Aubrey's old one fits Brooke perfectly now. So they went out all matchy matchy today.

Princess Party Pics

2010-10-08T06:00:00.005-06:00

Rachel sent me some photos from the Princess Party. The girls looked so adorable.

They even got to party with the Real Cinderella!

Aubrey had a ball at Zoe's adorable party!

We ended up crashing the family party a few days later. When Zoe was taking a look at her present from her Grandma Aubrey said, "Where's my present . . ." Everyone thought she was wanting a present for herself. But she continued, ". . . to give to Zoe." What a little sweetie. I had to remind her that she already gave Zoe her present.

First Crocheted Skirt

2010-10-07T16:14:00.002-06:00

After crocheting several hats for my cuties and a top for each of them, I thought I was done crocheting for the season. UNTIL, Rachel sent me the cutest pattern for a ruffle skirt. I couldn't resist it since I knew Aubrey would love another tutu type skirt. I was excited with how it turned out.

Dancing in her tutu skirt.

I think she looks a bit like a Spanish dancer.

I just started on one for Brooke too. I'm sure I'll post pics of Brookie in it when it's completed. Here is the link to the pattern.

Conference Weekend

2010-10-05T06:00:00.004-06:00

We really enjoyed conference this last weekend (well at least the parts we were able to hear!)

Aubrey was actually excited for conference. A few days before, we told her about conference. She remembered from last session because she immediately said, "That's when we get to play that little game." I'm glad she mentioned the apostle match game that we have played in the past, or I may have forgotten. (I print out small pictures of each of the apostles and then when an apostle speaks, Aubrey tries to find the matching picture.)

Since Jeff works 2 jobs, he is not home most mornings. He did not work on Saturday and when Aubrey found out, she was very excited. She came running in to me saying, "Guess what! Dad gets to stay home and watch conference with us!" It was really sweet to see her so excited.

Last October I had Aubrey paint a pumpkin during the Saturday morning session, so I thought that would be a fun tradition. This year I let Brooke join in on the painting.

I told the girls to look up and say cheese, and Brooke did just that. It's so cute. Now anytime she sees a camera, she points at it and says, "Cheese".

Aubrey finished her pumpkin, so I went over to take a pic. I once again told her to look up and say cheese. Brooke saw this happen. . .

A few minutes later she went over and stood by her pumpkin, looked up at me and said "Cheese." I guess she was trying to tell me that she wanted a picture with her pumpkin too! She's actually quite proud of her pumpkin. She kept pointing it out the next day and wanting to look at it

Painting the pics we did for FHE.

Brooke decided it would be fun to draw all over her match game. I decided to make a game for her too, because I knew it would be a fight if she didn't have her own to do whatever she liked with it.

Aubrey actually listened to quite a bit of conference. When the speakers talked about something she recognized she would mention it. For instance, "Mommy there talking about the articles of Faith." It was really nice to see that she was listening.

Between sessions Aubrey was invited to Zoe's princess birthday party. She asked all the girls to come dressed like a princess. I think she makes the most beautiful Cinderella!

Brooke was very interested as I was getting Aubrey all fancied up. I remembered I had a princess dress her size and so I asked her if she wanted to dress up like a princess too. She said "yeah", so I dolled her up too. What a little cutie pants!

Walking to the party together.

Excited to give Zoe the present she picked out all by herself.

About a week before the party I told Aubrey that we needed to get a present for Zoe's party. She asked me what we were going to get her. I responded by asking Aubrey what she thought we should get her. This was her reply, "Well Zoe really likes princesses and Zoe likes dolls. Maybe we should get her a princess doll." I thought it was so sweet that she really thought about what her friend would like for her birthday. I hope she will always be this thoughtful!

Sunday morning was more crafting for the girls while we tried to glean whatever we could from the talks. The afternoon session was great because both girls napped through it. I'll be glad to get the printed version, so I can read all that I missed!

Trampoline Fun

2010-10-03T20:22:00.005-06:00

We went to a really fun indoor trampoline place last week. They have a special Mommy & Me hour and there was hardly anyone there. It was awesome! The girls had a blast and mommy got a good work out!

It's all enclosed and wall to wall trampolines in some areas. It's nice because you don't have to worry about the kids falling off.

They also had balls to play with - which the girls loved.

And they had some bounce houses and slides - which is where we ended up spending most of our time. Aubrey is FINALLY big enough to do these on her own.

Aubrey LOVES being the big sis. and taking Brooke down slides.

Going down the big slide together.

This time was cute. Aubrey went down right before Brooke . . .

when she got to the bottom she turned around to catch her. Too sweet.

Thanks to my little Aubrey photographer - we have some pics of me and Brooke.

Brooke just loved this slide - which is why I got such a good work out. She's not capable of climbing up herself, so I climbed up over and over again.

They even had a play room too.

Here's some video of our fun morning.

It was a lot of fun - can't wait to go again sometime!

Fall Colors

2010-10-01T16:25:00.004-06:00

For Family Home Evening on Monday we decided to go to the mountains and see the fall leaves. I didn't know how much Aubrey would be into it, but she loved it. Last time we had gone to the mountains the leaves were still green, but we told Aubrey soon they would be changing colors. When I told her Monday morning we were going to see the fall leaves, she was so excited. She even colored a picture of the fall leaves - orange, pink & yellow.

As we drove Aubrey excitedly pointed out all the colors she was seeing.

We went to a little park and had a picnic dinner & FHE lesson. I prepared a little lesson on the creation. I showed a picture of what was created each day and then we looked around the park to see if we could find something that was created that day. After we were done the girls glued the pictures in the correct order of their creation.

Aubrey had been asking Jeff to take her fishing. So he brought his fishing stuff and they did a little fishing. Aubrey was so into it. It was really cute to see them excitedly doing something together.

Helping daddy put on the fishing line.

I had to take this pic in a hurry, because Brooke was trying to get in to play with the ducks.

Fishing with Daddy is fun.

They didn't catch a fish, but the guy next to us did, so we took them over to see it.

Then Aubrey noticed the playground equipment, so off they ran to play.

As we we packing our stuff up to leave, Brookie wanted to help too. She tried picking up our blanket. When we were leaving I handed a bag to Aubrey to help take to the car. Brooke reached her hand up to me and said, "help." So sweet. I found her something little she could carry. I love seeing her becoming even more involved in what we are doing.

It was a really fun FHE. I am sooooo loving our BEAUTIFUL fall weather.

A few days later, Aubrey played pretend going to the mountains all day. By afternoon I could finally join in with her. She packed a little picnic lunch for us. She then drove Brooke's car to the mountains. Then we had a picnic, went fishing and she taught us a lesson on the creation. It is still so cute to see her acting out all of the things that make an impression on her!

Crawdads

2010-09-28T18:44:00.002-06:00

Jeff went fishing last week and brought home a bucket full of crawdads.

The girls were very intrigued.

Brookie going in for a closer look.

Dad showing them how the crawdad can hold a pencil with his claw.

Aubrey had to try to give the crawdad a pencil.

Success!

Of course, Brooke had to try too.

The crawdad holding itself up.

When Jeff was first showing the girls the crawdads his friend mentioned that Jeff was going to eat them. Aubrey's face was priceless. A look of confusion and disgust! She didn't say anything about it until a few hours later. Before bed she asked to see the crawdads again and then said to Jeff, "Are you really going to eat the crawdads." When Jeff replied that he was she asked, "Aren't they going to hurt your tummy?" I love seeing the world through a 3 year olds eyes. Too funny!

That night Jeff cooked them and ate them. The next morning Brooke saw the bucket they were in on the counter. She pointed at it and said "more". She wanted to see the crawdads again. I told her they were all gone. Later she saw the bucket again and said "more." So this time I decided to show her that they were gone. When I set the bucket down on the floor next to her she kind of jumped. I think she was a little afraid of the crawdads!

Just for you Dad

2010-09-26T12:27:00.006-06:00

My dad was concerned that I hadn't posted for an entire week! So I thought I'd do an update for him.

Last Sunday I was painting Aubrey's nails. Brooke came in and watched rather curiously. When I was done, I asked her if she wanted hers painted too. She shook her head "yes" and came over. She liked having her nails painted and anytime she noticed them all week, she showed me her pretty nails.

Aubrey wanted to take a picture of Brooke's nails too.

I now have two little "helpers" in the kitchen. Their favorite part is licking the bowl and spoon when we make dessert.

Brooke found daddy's keys and went right to the door to "unlock" it.

I don't even know how she knows about keys. We always come in through the garage, so I can't even think of a time she has seen us open the door with a key.

Brooke is LOVING her car she got for her birthday. She'll point at the garage door and say, "Car Car" until I bring it in for her.

Here she is watching a "drive in movie".

She loves to play with Aubrey's dishes. She'll show me a pot and say, "hot".

I love seeing her walk around the house - I think brand new walkers are just the cutest thing ever!

Brooke has figured out stools. When she wants to help or get at something, she'll do her best to push a stool over. Then she wants to participate in the action.

Brooke is now giving voluntary kisses and hugs. It's so sweet. She will just walk up to Aubrey and give her a kiss or hug. Aubrey loves it too. Before it was just Aubrey giving the hugs and Brooke wasn't always a willing recipient. One time Brooke leaned in for a hug and Aubrey gave her a big hug back. Then Aubrey said, "Mommy Mommy, I gave Brooke a big hug, and she didn't even cry!" Too cute.

Brooke is really loving books lately. I'm happy because she was slower to become interested in them than Aubrey was. The other day she was reading stories to herself. She was pointing at the words and making a babbling sound. She has one story that is pictures of babies and different emotions or situations. She was turning the pages and able to identify the emotion of several of the pages. She also has a story that has you point out different body parts. She went through that book and was pointing out the body parts on the correct pages without me reading them to her.

Aubrey really like reading Brooke stories. She has several small books memorized that she likes to read Brooke. I tried to get a video of one today, but of course Brooke only cooperated for a short time.

Last Sunday at lunch Aubrey asked if she could say the prayer when we left for church. I told her that she could and asked her if she would pray for the primary children who were speaking and singing. A couple hours later as we were leaving for church and Aubrey was saying the prayer, she remembered all on her own and prayed for the primary children. It was really sweet. During the Primary presentation Jeff said that Aubrey watched the whole time. She was especially excited when her friend Zoe gave her speaking part. Towards the end, Aubrey had to go to the bathroom. Jeff was planning on just staying in the lobby until it was over. But Aubrey said, "Dad I want to go back in and see those primary kids. They are so cute!" She is looking forward to being able to participate in the Primary program next year!

Tomato Sauce

2010-09-19T19:18:00.004-06:00

After 6 years of having a garden and wasting lots and lots of tomatoes, I decided it was finally time to try my hand at canning.

Neither Jeff nor I like canned tomatoes, so I decided to make tomato sauce. That is something we actually use.

I've always been afraid to try canning because I didn't want to give my family botulism if I didn't do it right! Anyway, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and lets hope that I did it right and nobody gets sick!

Next year we are trying pickles. Let me know if you have a good recipe!

Fun at the Farm

2010-09-18T21:00:00.008-06:00

Two years ago this picture was taken on our very first outing with Rachel and Zoe.

Two years and a day later here we are at the exact same place with Rachel and Zoe - but with the addition of Brooke and Clayson.

It's amazing that in the space of two years, things can change so much and yet still be very much the same.

We sure did have a fun time at the farm! Here Aubrey is petting the calf they brought out.

Brookie checking out the calf too.

Brooke loved all of the animals. As she moved from stall to stall she kept saying "more more". She couldn't believe how many animals there were.

Brooke LOVED feeding the animals,

as did Aubrey and Zoe.

Aubrey went for the slide the corn under the gate method. But not Brooke - she would just stick it right in their mouths.

Look at her cute little hand feeding the Llama,

and the goat.

The pony rides are a big favorite!

And so are the little play houses.

My darling little jail bird!

What cute friends they are! Even after spending a couple hours at the farm together, as soon as we came home, Aubrey asked if Zoe could come over and play.

Brooke being a gardener.

I love how Brooke has to be right in the action.

Aubrey having fun in the tunnel.

I ended up having an extra ticket so let Aubrey have another pony ride. I didn't think Brooke would even notice. I sure was wrong. The whole time Aubrey was riding Brooke kept saying, "more more." I felt really bad. I had her pet the pony afterwards and that appeased her.

A day at the farm just wears you out. This is how I found the girls as I was preparing dinner:

We sure do have fun hanging out with the Smith family! These 2 years have just flown by! We hope to have many more years hanging out with them!

More About my Girls

2010-09-16T19:36:00.007-06:00

I decided on a whim to give Brooke some bangs. I hadn't decided if she was going to have bangs or not, but I was sick and tired of the hair in her eyes, so when I trimmed Aubrey's last week I did Brooke's as well. I didn't do a great job cause that girl will not sit still for a second. But, I think she looks pretty cute anyway. I think they make her look older.

I was also able to get her hair in piggy tails too. She looked like such a big girl to me.

Brooke has been all about strolling babies lately. She spent like 20 minutes one day going back and forth strolling a baby. It's so cute. And she always puts a baby in the stroller first. No empty stroller for her. She also found Aubrey's toy bassinet and put the baby to bed after the stroll. It's so cute seeing her turn into a toddler right before my eyes.

After Aubrey brushed her teeth, she jumped right up to do hers.

Brooke is loving Aubrey these days. She calls her "sis". Whenever she wakes up in the morning or at naps she start saying "sis" and looking around for Aubrey. At dance class she will get excited when she sees her sis too. When I dropped Aubrey off at preschool this week and then jumped back in the van without her - Brooke was concerned. She started saying, "sis. sis." and pointing to Aubrey's car seat. She didn't want me to forget Aubrey!

She also follows Aubrey all around the house. Even when she has to choose between following me and following Aubrey, she will choose Aubrey most often. I LOVE it! It's such a nice break from having a little critter fussing at my legs all day.

These two are such cute friends. They play so good and have so much fun together. Here they are playing dress up and doing their makeup.

Aubrey is all about making up songs these days. She'll sit at the piano and play and sing her made up songs. It is so cute. Before FHE on Monday she told us she was going to sing the opening song about Temples. This was her song, "I'm going to the temple someday - when I get bigger. I'm going to marry a prince there. But, I don't know which one yet. I'll decide later." It totally cracked me up!

She also is so delighted at how big she is getting. Frequently she says things like, "Mommy look at my hands and arms, they are soooo big!" If she can't quite do something all by herself she'll say, "When I'm 4 years old I'll be able to do it by myself." Apparently 4 is going to be a big year for her!

The other day Aubrey was watching Dora. They were talking about occupations. The characters were all saying what they wanted to be when they grew up. Then Dora asked the audience, "What do you want to be when you grow up." Aubrey responded, "A mommy." Too sweet! That's what I always wanted to be too when I was growing up!

We got our nice weather back this week and we have been really enjoying it. I got the sprinkler out for them yesterday and they had so much fun.

Brooke had not been interested in it this summer, but I think because she can walk now, it gave her the courage to try it. She had a ball!

I love the progression of my laziness. At the beginning of the summer I would put them in swimsuits before they played in the water. Mid way through the summer I would just take their clothes off and have them play in undies/diapers. Now in my extreme laziness they go in clothes and all. Brooke's diaper gets so big - it's so funny!

I love her little tongue in this picture.

Aubrey going in to fix the fallen down caterpillar.

Brooke was getting right up close with her face right in the spray and just laughing and having fun.

If you turn the sound up, you can hear a little giggle from her when she gets wet.

When I was pregnant with Brooke and Aubrey was 1 year, I remember thinking about how fun it would be when I had a 1 and a 3 year old. Now that we are here - I wasn't wrong at all. It is sooo much fun. I seriously love this age. Toddlers and preschoolers have always been my favorite ages. I hear mom's talk about how they'll be sad when they no longer have babies, I don't feel so much that way. I love my babies, but I am just delighted when they turn into toddlers. When I no longer hear the pitter patter of toddler feet or the funny quips of preschoolers, that's when I'll be really sad. So, I better enjoy every moment of having both of my girls in my favorite stage!

I can't get enough of my girls!

2010-09-10T20:07:00.004-06:00

My girls are both in such cute stages. Aubrey becoming so helpful and capable and Brooke just discovering the world and letting her personality shine. It's so much fun being with my little ones all day and watching all of the cute things they do!

They are becoming such good friends. Brooke still wants to do EVERYTHING that Aubrey is doing and Aubrey is learning to let her join in. It's still not perfect, but progressing. Now that Brooke is just taking an afternoon nap, I can no longer exercise during her morning nap. So, I decided to try and do the elliptical one morning even though they were both awake. I told Aubrey that she was the babysitter. I told her that it meant that she needed to watch over Brookie and not do anything that would make her cry. She took it so seriously that about 20 min. in to it Aubrey called to me all concerned that she needed to blow her nose. She didn't want to leave Brookie since she was in charge. So cute.

Here they are blowing bubbles together.

Still trying as hard as she can to blow a bubble. So cute!

My darling little walker!

Looking oh so cool in their shades.

I remembered to take a few videos during the actual dancing this week at dance class.

My cute little twirly girly. I love how her hands are on her waist.

Learning the choreography for their winter concert.

She watches so intently and tries so hard to do the moves just like the teachers show them. When they skip across the floor, she will be the last one across because she is trying to do it just right! She is one of the younger ones in class, so some of the moves take some time for her to get. Plus gross motor skills has never been her forte.

Learning how to skip properly. She has her foot perfectly by the side of her knee. Way to go Aubrey.

This one totally cracked me up. When they are working on their ballet positions the teachers will come around and help place their feet in the right positions. Aubrey looked down at her feet and noticed they weren't in the "v" position they were supposed to be in, so she bent over and was trying to put them in the right spot. Too cute.

Aubrey will frequently take Brooke's hand and walk with her. I just love it!

After we watch movies, the girls LOVE dancing to the credits. You gotta see the air Brookie gets with her Bum dancing!

Brooke has been working on her walking so much the last few days! Today I don't think she scooted or crawled much at all. She's really beginning to take off.

Brooke has been so much happier with her new found independence. I was even able to prepare dinner tonight without her tugging on my leg and crying the entire time! Brooke's new freedom equals more freedom for Mommy! Hallelujah!

The other day Aubrey was crying about something so I told Brooke that Aubrey was sad. Now anytime she hears or sees anyone cry she says, "Sad". It's really cute. She's is also very much obsessed with the toilet. Anytime she sees it she points to it and says, "poop". I'm glad to see she is learning where poop goes!

At the dinner table tonight Aubrey was talking about something she saw on TV and said, "I saw some people making Dora cupcakes, and I thought to myself, 'that would be really fun'." Where in the world has she heard the phrase, "I thought to myself"? She is so cute when she talks like a little adult. She then proceeded to tell me, in detail, how they made the Dora cupcakes and what ingredients they used. She even told me that certain things were hot and certain things needed to be put in the refrigerator. Wow that memory. I guess we'll have to make some Dora cupcakes sometime!

First Day of Preschool!

2010-09-07T16:39:00.009-06:00

Today was Aubrey's first day of preschool and she was sooooo excited! We are doing a neighborhood preschool - where we all trade off teaching the class. I taught the first day today, so it was at our house. Which means I got to take pictures!

My mom always took a picture of us, every year on the first day, outside the front door. So even though technically Aubrey wasn't going anywhere - I had to take this shot!

Excitedly awaiting her friends to arrive!

Seeing the little preschool set up and picking her chair.

What a cute little bunch we have! Hurray it's time to start!

We are each randomly picking a letter for the day and using it as the theme for class. In case you don't remember - I love themes! I had a blast thinking of all the things we could do that start with the letter B.

We traced the letter B first. Then we had a little show and tell. All of the kids brought something that started with the letter B to show us.

I had collected a bunch of things that start with B and put them in a Bag. They took turns taking one thing out and as we named it we practiced making the B sound.

I gave Brookie her own bag of toys so I could focus on the other kids. It worked pretty good.

Then I read The Wiggly Caterpillar (Cause caterpillar's turn into Butterflies that start with a B). I had them pretend to be caterpillar's and act out the story as I read it. The other 2 did join in as I started reading more.

Then we pretended to be a Band. We sang four B songs, so each child could try each instrument. (Baby Bumble Bee, Wheels on the Bus, Boa Constrictor, & BINGO)

I think the band was one of their favorite parts.

Then we talked about animals that start with the letter B. I had stuffed animals to use as visuals. Then we talked about the colors that start with B. Then we did a coloring page and colored a Brown Bear, Blue Butterfly & Black Bat.

Next we went on a Brown Bag B hunt. I had hid cutouts of the letter B and they used Brown Bags to collect the B's they found.

Then it was craft time. They decorated Boxes with Buttons & Beads. I wrote their names in glue and they stuck on the buttons and beads. They seemed to really like this also.

Aubrey with her finished box.

You can kind of see her name if you look hard!

Snack time was next. We had Bread, Blueberries & Bananas in the shape of a Butterfly.

Last but not least was playtime. We played with water Balloons & Bubbles in the Backyard. (We were also going to go on a Bug hunt - but ran out of time)

As the kids were playing I saw Brooke just watching them intently. It was too cute!

It was such a fun morning! I wasn't sure what to expect behaviorally - I didn't know either of the boys very well. But, they all did fantastic. All of them definitely exceeded my expectations! We can't wait until next week! Especially since next week I just get to drop Aubrey off and get a little one on one Brooke time! I am sure Brooke will LOVE that!

In Memory of Summer 2010

2010-09-06T20:00:00.001-06:00

Since I don't have any school age children, labor day marks the end of Summer for me. So, to commemorate the ending of our fun Summer, I thought I'd post pics of our favorite stomping ground - the water park! Even though we spent a good majority of our summer here, these are the only pictures I took. I was too afraid to bring my camera, but thanks to me niece's fabulous idea - I bought a disposable one and brought it along with us when we went on our anniversary back in July.

Fun family times. Most of the time it was just the three of us, but Daddy was able to go with us a few times. Aubrey loved showing off for Daddy all of the brave things she did there.

This was Aubrey's get up! She got lots of smiles when people saw her all decked out. It gave me peace of mind knowing that she was so buoyant and she was very easy to spot when she was off playing. The goggles, which she ended up going without towards the end, gave her the nerve to put her face under the water and go under waterfalls.

My other little cutie was not so decked out. Since she couldn't walk, she was pretty easy to keep track of. However towards the end of the season she did start taking off and walking in the water, so I started putting her in a life jacket as well. It allowed me to give her some freedom and walking practice.

Daddy and Brookie going down the big slides.

Mommy and Brookie

Aubrey and Daddy going down Aubrey's favorite slide!

Aubrey happy that she got to share her favorite slide with her daddy. He said she was cheering the whole way down.

Daddy and Aubrey going down her next favorite slide.

This is Brooke's favorite slide. She would even push herself down into my arms.

I was so proud of the progress and courage Aubrey showed this season. The first few times we went, she hardly left my side. She wouldn't go under the water or under the waterfalls and she wouldn't go down the kid slides by herself. Once she decided that she was brave enough to venture out, there was no stopping that girl.

She LOVED that she was big and brave enough to go down these slides by herself. And would brag that she would go all the way under the water at the end of them.

Brookie loved jumping off the side into the pool. She is not so timid as Aubrey always has been.

I love the pure joy of this picture.

Showing off that she is brave enough to stand under the waterfall.

Brookie loved the tire swing. She would hold on all by herself.

Aubrey wears a swimvest. It allows her to lay flat on it. She got really good at floating on her stomach and back. She even started really swimming in it.

Daddy and Aubrey catching some waves in the wave pool.

The first time Brooke pushed herself to standing and started walking were in the pool. Here she is standing up.

With the season over we have to say goodbye to the water park :(. It sure was a fun way to spend the summer! We will miss you Summer 2010. I hope Summer 2011 comes quickly and is just as good to us!

Tutu's, Hats, Sunglasses & Umbrellas

2010-09-04T19:54:00.003-06:00

My little girls sure know how to make me smile. One day this week I was crocheting a hat for Aubrey. She has outgrown my favorite black hat so it will be passed down to Brooke, and I wanted a matching one for Aubrey. While crocheting Brooke kept saying hat, pointing to her head and trying to take it away from me. So, I went and got her black hat and helped her put it on her head. Then she saw Aubrey's tutu on the floor and brought it over for me to put it on her. She just happened to be wearing a matching hot pink shirt. I looked at the little outfit that she created and thought she looked so adorable.

Gotta love her pout.

Brooke is starting to get in to imaginative play and it is so cute. The other day she laid out a blanket & put her dolly on it. Then she looked at me, put her fingers to her lips and said, "Shhh baby ni ni." It was so cute.

Much to Aubrey's delight, Brooke has started giving her kisses. Aubrey will ask Brooke for a kiss, Brooke will kiss her on the cheek and then they will both squeal with delight. It warms a mommy's heart!

She has also started telling me when she has a dirty diaper. She will point to her bum and say, "a poop a poop." Do I dare to dream that with this awareness she might be an easy potty trainer?

She also likes to help mommy clean just like she sees Aubrey doing. One day I was transferring the wet clothes from the washer to the dryer. Brooke saw me putting clothes in and went and got clean clothes from a nearby basket and started putting them in the dryer. I realized that she wanted to help, so I put the wet clothes on the dryer door and asked her to put them in for me. She was so happy to be helping. We do that every time now - it's her special job. She also has begun to help pick up toys. Which is quite nice, because before she would take things out as Aubrey and I were picking up.

This is the little reading nook Aubrey made for herself the other day. She looked so darling.

Aubrey has started learning to read and is so excited about it! My dad gave me the phonetic readers that he used to teach all of us to read. We started the first book this week, and Aubrey can read it with very little help now. We started working on the second one yesterday and she is doing pretty good with it. She LOVES that she can actually read to me now.

Aubrey is getting very descriptive with her communication. She will tell me in detail about situations or things that she wants to do. Her memory still continues to amaze me. She also loves to talk Brooke through doing different things. It's so cute seeing her teach her little sister. In fact at the dinner table yesterday she taught Brooke how to sign "Thank You". They were both so excited about it.

She is getting so capable and is such a good little helper these days. Our new vacuuming routine is, I will tell Aubrey what room I am going to next and she will run ahead and pick everything up off the floor for me. It is soooo helpful, especially because I am usually holding Brooke while I am vacuuming. Aubrey is the extra pair of hands I have always dreamed of!

Aubrey still makes me laugh on a daily basis with her antics. The other day the door bell rang. She ran ahead to peek through the window and see who it was. It was a salesman and so she didn't recognize him. So, she asked me, "Mommy is that the Prince I'm going to marry?" That was definitely a good laugh.

Also that day she and Brooke were not getting a long well. They were fighting over everything. Aubrey ran off to her room for a few minutes. When she returned she said, "I'm having a hard time sharing today so I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me." She then started sharing with Brooke and said, "I feel good inside now because I am sharing." It was really sweet. The sharing even continued for a few more hours.

She is actually getting really good at sharing with Brooke. She was coming down with a cold, so I think that's why she was extra cranky that day. But, I have been very pleased with their progress when playing together.

I am so grateful for the blessing of my two little sweethearts! They melt my heart everyday!

Tiny Dancer

2010-09-02T06:00:00.002-06:00

Aubrey had her first dance class yesterday. She has been soooo excited about it for months. See that face - that's how excited she was as we were on our way to her class.

We met up with Zoe in the lobby, and those two couldn't wait for class to begin. They were a dancing and a twirling while we waited for the registration to begin.

And then class began.

Doing an elephant stretch.

Galloping like a horse.

Doing the ballet first position.

Second position

Doing a plea. Gotta love her form :).

Jumping out of the plea - look at the air she got.

Her favorite part - the freeze dance.

When the music stopped they were supposed to make a pose. Here are Aubrey and Zoe's poses.

Stretching. The teacher on the right is showing the stretch they are supposed to be doing. I am not sure how Aubrey thought what she was doing was similar :)!

Happy that she got to take her first dance lesson! Man she sure was cute!!

Brookie got a tackle from the Tiny dancers afterwards. A few times Brookie busted a move with them, but I wasn't quick enough to get a pic of it. It sure was cute. She had her hands up above her head and was bouncing up and down like the girls. Too cute.

I remembered at the very end that I promised my MIL that I would take some video. I wish I would have remembered during the freeze dance. Oh well, they are still cute videos of the cutest little tiny dancer!

BTW Mommy was just as excited as Aubrey was about the dance class today! And I sure did love every minute of it. I was very pleased with Aubrey's focus and obedience. As you can imagine with a room full of 3-5 year olds, they weren't always on task. But, Aubrey did a fantastic job and Mommy was so proud!! We can't wait until next week!

Who knew . . .

2010-09-01T06:00:00.004-06:00

. . . that a couple of grasshoppers could provide us with so much fun! (And who knew that I could take and post so many pictures of it. Well actually probably everyone, I am pretty predictable when it comes to the massive amounts of photos I take.)

Daddy found a couple of grasshoppers while mowing the lawn last Saturday, and boy did the girls have a ball with them. Brooke was screaming "bug" at the top of her lungs for quite a while. They both were chasing them around touching their backs and watching them jump. Brooke actually picked one up and held it in her fingers for a few moments.

Here's our larger one. We called her the "Mommy One."

Here's our smaller one that we called the "baby one." This was the one that Brooke was most interested in as soon as we named her baby.

It's just like a wind up toy, you press their backs and they jump!

Aubrey trying to get them both to jump simultaneously!

Brooke going in for a closer look.

I kept trying to get one in flight, but this is the best I got.

Daddy came and helped them get up close and personal with our "Mommy" grasshopper.

"It's tickling me" Aubrey said.

Finally Aubrey held still long enough to get the grasshopper on her and crawling around. She was thrilled!

Brooke finally got bored of our new friend and started practicing her new walking moves.

Daddy and Aubrey having a little conversation. Aren't they too cute?!

Thank you grasshopper friend for providing us with lots of free entertainment!

New to us Slide

2010-08-31T06:00:00.003-06:00

Thank you Parry family!! Our neighbors were given an old swing set from their neighbors when they moved. It had a slide attached, but they already had a slide. So they gave it to us.

My girls could not be more thrilled! Aubrey has always LOVED slides and is passing that love onto her sister. While daddy was hooking it up to the swing set, Aubrey asked about a million times if she could go down it yet.

We have spent soooo much time going down the slide this last week!

Aubrey has really come out of her shell this Summer. She is trying things that in the past would have really scared her. I am so glad to see her tackling some fears and putting herself out there more.

Brooke is my little dare devil. I sat her on top and she just pushed herself down without any problem.

My two cuties going together.

Once Brooke gets to the bottom she just starts climbing right back up. She can get pretty far up to. When she's done climbing, she just turns around and slides back down.

Aubrey couldn't have her baby sister out doing her!

Oh how happy Aubrey is to have her own Big Slide!

Hats Hats Hats

2010-08-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

Since the cooler weather is soon coming, I had to start crocheting some hats for my little cuties.

Here are my little models showing off their new hats.

Brooke's hat came about because of the "practice" skirt I made for her. Before I sewed her Halloween costume, I wanted to practice the skirt on some scrap fabric I had at home. (I just made up the pattern and wanted to make sure it would fit before I used the expensive fabric.) Anyway, it ended up being cute, so I found a cardigan to match and then made a hat to complete the outfit. I used the same skirt fabric for the flower and ribbon on the hat. I was very pleased with how it all turned out.

I was too lazy to take off her pajama top and put a white onesie on her!

Making hats and getting out and purchasing the fall/winter clothes helps me get through the end of summer blues.

Daddy and his Girls

2010-08-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

I came home from shopping one night to see this cute little scene. I should go shopping every night!

Daddy got Brooke up from her nap one day and she just snuggled right into his lap. She looked so cute with her blankie and baby. Of course as soon as I came with the camera she sat up and I ruined the moment.

Aubrey has been such a daddy's girl lately. Almost every day she says that she misses her daddy or wishes that he could be home and didn't have to work. And Brooke is bonding with her daddy more these days as well. I sure do love seeing my little cuties snuggling and playing with their daddy!

A few weeks back

2010-08-28T20:38:00.009-06:00

I've been busy having fun and working on projects, that I haven't had time to blog. So, I decided I needed to start and catch up, before it gets too overwhelming!

The girls are still having fun harvesting tomatoes. Here are some photos of Brooke picking away.

She has still not caught on that she is only supposed to pick the red ones! Lucky for us we have an overabundance, so I don't worry when she picks some green ones!

The following are pics from the beginning of the month when she started pushing herself to standing. She looks so big when she stands up! I didn't realize she's not really a baby anymore until I saw how big she was standing!

Because we always clap for her, she started clapping as soon as she would stand!

G & G Bagley came for a little visit to be here for my Bro-in-law, Bryan's Graduation. I had taken pictures with my mom's camera and planned on uploading them before she left. But, I forgot.

Here are a couple of pics while they were at the house.

Much to our surprise Brooke went right to Grandpa and Grandma without any fussing! I hope we are getting through this stranger/separation anxiety phase. Especially since she starts nursery in about a month.

That little monkey thought she was big enough to open the door and escape! She is one determined little thing so I am going to have to be really careful with her when she grows a few more inches. I have no doubt that she will be opening doors like a pro as soon as she can get her hand around them.

Brooke is still such a cute little mimicker. One day I was bathing the two girls. I pulled Brooke out and sat her on the floor. I went to get Aubrey out. When I turned back, Brooke had gotten herself to the toilet paper, pulled a piece off and was wiping her bum. It was too funny!

One day she found one of Aubrey's cups. She took it over to the refrigerator door and was holding it up as high as she could. She was trying to fill it up like she sees Aubrey do all of the time.

Brooke is still talking a lot and learning new words everyday. She LOVES to point out things and name them. Both in stories and things in whatever room we are in. She is loving animals right now. She was pretty much attacking Sophie (my sis in laws dog) last time we saw her, and anytime she sees a cat she starts meowing excitedly.

Her favorite word is still "baby". I should count how many times a day she says it. Anytime she sees a doll, wants a doll, sees a live baby or sees a baby in a story, she will say "baby" several times. It is so cute seeing how much she loves babies.

She is not a patient thing. In fact whenever I tell her "just a minute", no matter how nicely I say it, she throws a fit. I certainly hope this is a phase.

Brooke and Aubrey are playing so much better together these days. This is mainly because Aubrey is being so good at sharing with her. There have been a few times this week that they played for 20 or so minutes together without fighting or crying at all. Those times were a dream come true for me!

Here are some more garden harvesting photos.

Daddy was throwing potatoes out of the garden and both girls were putting them in the bucket. They both thought it was a mighty fun game!

My cute little tomato pickers!

And it's always important to squish a few tomatoes!

Aubrey is in such a cute and sweet phase right now. She has been really well behaved and such a good little helper. Most of the time when I ask her to do something she says, "OK Mommy" and jumps up and does it.

She is loving her doll right now and every night puts her baby to bed by singing her songs and reading her stories, giving her a bottle and tucking her in. It is so darling!

The following video is a Aubrey singing a lullaby to her baby that she made up herself.

Brookie wanted to play baby too!

A few cute things Aubrey has said over the last few weeks:

One night Jeff said to Aubrey, "Never grow up, stay this age forever." Aubrey looked at him with the saddest face and said, "But I want to be a Mommy."

"When I'm a little bit bigger I won't do naughty things so much."

She was playing with Brooke one day and said, "Heavenly Father sent us the cutest baby ever." And then a few days later at dinner time she repeated the sentiment.

Just tonight as I was putting her to bed she asked me, "Mommy will you watch me get married?" When I told her that I would she said, "But what Prince will I marry?" Hmm lots of girls and women have that very same question!

At church last Sunday someone asked Jeff when Aubrey's birthday was. He gave what he thought was Aubrey's birthday. Aubrey then said, "No it's not, it's . . ." Jeff then said no Aubrey and repeated the date he had originally said. Aubrey disagreed and told him her birthday. After church Jeff asked me when Aubrey's birthday was, and lo and behold Aubrey had it right! Jeff and to take a big old bite of humble pie!

The very next day Aubrey asked me to sing a song that Grandpa Bagley had sang to her. I started singing it to her and when I sang about the little rain cloud that cried she piped in and said, "No mommy it's the little white cloud that cries." I disagreed with her, but she said, "no mommy grandpa sings it the little white cloud." I finally called my dad and asked him what the correct lyrics were. Once again Aubrey had it right. Nothing gets past that little stinker. We are in big trouble now!

She is very excited to start her dance class next week and then preschool the following week! I am doing a little preschool coop with some neighbors and have had so much planning the activites!

Hurray Brooke!

2010-08-27T20:03:00.003-06:00

I have some catching up to do - but no time to do it tonight.

But I had to quickly post our exciting happening for today.

Brooke at 16.5 months finally started walking today!

We were playing in Aubrey's room and Brooke wanted a toy to put in the play highchair. I found a stuffed animal and called for her to come and get it. She turned around and just walked across Aubrey's room. Apparently she wanted to make sure she had it all figured out before she even gave it a try.

So, I ran and got my camera and got some video's of her walking. So these are her 2nd, 3rd and 4th attempt at walking. (Well except for the times she's walked in the pool. But those times she had help with the balance water gives you and a life jacket to hold her up.)

Hurray Brooke we are all so proud of you!

My Little Princess

2010-08-12T06:00:00.003-06:00

After church 2 Sundays ago Aubrey told Jeff and I, "Next Sunday I want to wear my Princess dress, have princess hair and have pink polish on my fingers and toes." So, when Sunday rolled around, I did my best to turn her into a church appropriate princess.

Here's my little princess on her way out to church.

I thought her hair turned out so cute, that I had to take a pic.

Aubrey is becoming more and more opinionated about what she wears and how she wants her hair done. I'm kind of sad about this, because I have always enjoyed dolling up my little Aubrey. Or as my Father-in-law calls it, "playing baby." Anyway, I'm glad I have Brooke to "play baby" with, but she just needs to get some more hair!

Family Fun Night

2010-08-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

A few Monday nights ago we decided to take Daddy to the Family Fun Center for Family Home Evening. Aubrey was so excited to show daddy all the fun things we did there.

It started raining as soon as we got there, but I didn't let that stop us from having fun. So, we were pretty much soaking wet the whole time.

Aubrey was thrilled to ride the airplane ride, "All by myself."

Daddy giving Brookie a ride.

After the airplane ride and bumper boats, the rain started coming down pretty hard, so we went inside for a bit.

Aubrey decided she was brave enough to do the Frog Hopper.

I wondered if she would get scared, because it gets really high, but she was smiling every time it dropped.

Then Aubrey wanted to try out the inside playground. I've never let her play inside those tunnel type playgrounds before. I've never liked the idea that I can't see her, or get to her quickly. Plus who knows who is up inside those things. Anyway, since there was nobody there, we let her go for it. She really wanted to go down the slide, but kept getting lost. Here she is coming down the slide once she FINALLY found it. (Jeff actually had to climb up and show her the way!)

Brooke was completely content climbing up and down the bottom of the slide.

Then the rain let up so we went back outside. Aubrey loved doing the go karts with Daddy.

And of course had to do the airplane again.

Both girls loved the carousel.

Brookie waving at mommy.

Aww look at my cute little crew.

Then on our way out, Aubrey reminded Daddy that she wanted to golf. So, we stayed a little longer to do a little mini golf.

As we were going home I asked Aubrey if that was a fun Family Home Evening. She replied, "Yeah that was fun, but Mommy I want a lesson." Funny kid. I'm glad she likes our FHE lessons so much!

The Cutest Cake

2010-08-08T21:36:00.004-06:00

My sister in law, Katie, made the cutest cake for her cake decorating class.

It's a cake of her dog, Sophie.

She brought it over for us tonight, because she knew the girls would love it.

I just had to share the cuteness!

Updates

2010-08-08T20:25:00.005-06:00

I've been too busy playing this Summer that I haven't been blogging as much. The fact that Summer is almost over, is really a sad thing for me. I love shorts and sandals and swimming and playing outside. I don't want it to end :(.

Anyway, we have spent the bulk of the summer going swimming and to the outdoor story time/picnic & Crafts they have at the library. It's been lots of fun. But, I never bring my camera, so I don't have pictures to show for it. (Although I did buy a disposable camera that we took to the waterpark a few weeks back - so I am anxious to get the pictures back from being developed.)

Anyway, I thought I'd update on what my girls have been up to. Aubrey has been such a good helper lately. She has always loved helping me with the dishes. So, I discovered that a really good chore for her was to put away the utensils. It's great because it is actually helpful and she enjoys finding all the right spots for the utensils. It's like a game for her. She also clears her dishes after every meal. She likes that she has her special jobs to do.

She has also been really good at sharing with Brooke. Which has been fabulous. Brooke will come up wanting something Aubrey has and Aubrey will say, "OK Brooke you can have a turn." It's great - except Brooke hasn't quite caught on to letting Aubrey have a turn again!

The girls absolutely love playing in the backyard. The days we are actually at home they will both stand at the back door begging me to take them outside. Brooke will point and say, "Ou si, Ou si." And if I ever open any door Brooke & Aubrey will come as fast as they can to get outside with me. Funny girls.

One of Aubrey's favorite things again this year is picking the tomatoes. And this year she doesn't squish them and she knows to only pick the red ones. So, it's been quite helpful. Brooke has joined in the fun a few times too.

I just had to take a picture of our corn, it's looking and tasting so good.

Brookie is just getting more and more capable everyday. One day Aubrey was water painting and Brooke was playing with toys. I ran to the back for a few minutes and when I returned, Brooke had taken over the painting. She must have been watching Aubrey, because she was doing it perfectly.

First you dip it in the water,

then you dip it in the paints,

and then you paint the picture.

It was so cute to watch her do such a big girl thing so well. She just watches Aubrey and catches on so quickly.

She is still talking a lot - new words everyday. Some of my favorites are, "I'm stuck" - which sounds like "I tuk" and "itsy bitsy spider" which sounds like "Iii pie". She puts her cute little fingers together like the climbing spider and says "ii pie" when she wants us to sing her the song. She'll also, put both hands on her head and say, "head" when she wants us to sing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes." And she claps her hands and says "pat" when she wants us to sing "Pat a cake". It's really fun watching her pick up on so many things.

She is making some progress with walking. She now will push herself to standing and then let go for a few moments. Her favorite places to do that though is in the swimming pool, or tub, or on a bed - all of the most dangerous places of course! She did take her first step the other day. It was completely accidental and she sat down immediately upon noticing what she did.

She will walk with her walker sometimes or will push chairs around like a walker. So, I don't know how soon the walking will happen, but I feel like progress has been made.

We had our 11th year anniversary on July 23rd. We had such a fun day. We both decided it was our favorite anniversary so far. First thing in the morning we let off our ladybugs (see a few posts back). Then Aubrey wanted to ride bikes together. So we played around with the bikes for a bit. Then after naps we went to the water park. It is so much fun to have Jeff there too. Aubrey gets so excited to show off all of the big girl things she does there. Then we came home and got ready for a date. We went to dinner and a movie. I know that's not very creative, but since we rarely get out, it was heavenly. It just was so nice to get to spend the day all together as a family and then get some alone time that night. It was the perfect day!

Awesome video on Motherhood

2010-08-03T10:18:00.001-06:00

Elder Holland's thoughts on being a MOM.

Vote Vote Vote

2010-07-30T09:22:00.002-06:00

I am way behind on the photo contest and need more votes! If you haven't done so already, please go here: http://blog.karenbagley.com/?p=311 and make a comment to vote for my photo!

If you've already voted have your family vote as well. Even young kids can cast a vote (Feel free to do the typing for them!).

Thanks for all of your help. And while you're there look at my Sister in laws awesome photography!

Photo Contest Finals

2010-07-28T09:25:00.002-06:00

Thanks to all of your votes - my photo of Aubrey made it into the Finals of Karen's photo contest!

That means I need your votes again. Please go to Karen's blog again and make a comment.

Thanks for your help!

Our Pet Ladybugs

2010-07-24T08:47:00.001-06:00

For my birthday, in October, Jeff got me a ladybug land. It has a coupon to send for Ladybug Larva and you get to watch the whole life cycle. We had to wait for the weather to warm up, or we wouldn't have been able to send them off into our yard. (If you keep them in the ladybug land their life cycle is only 2-3 weeks, but if you let them go after a week, their life cycle is a year. But you can't let them go in cold weather. It seemed cruel to shorten their life by that much. Plus it's fun to get to take them out of the land and watch them fly away.)

Anyway, after our Yosemite trip, I sent away for the larva. Almost everyday after we sent the coupon, Aubrey asked to check and see if the ladybugs came in the mail. So, she was super thrilled when they came a couple of weeks ago.

They come in a little tube with food, and you just dump them into the ladybug land.

Both girls were super excited to get to see bugs crawling all around.

This is what the larva look like.

Then 8 days later, we saw them attach themselves to the dome and some to the bottom of the land and start to curl up.

Then the next day this little yellow puffy thing came out. I thought it was the ladybugs and was confused because the pamphlet said they would be in the pupa stage for 5 days. When they started to turn black and hard, I thought we had done something wrong and killed them. But, I looked online and found out that the yellow blob becomes the pupa and all was well.

Exactly 5 days later we checked our ladybug land and saw a few ladybugs crawling around. They were still yellow, but had their spots so I knew they had emerged just a few hours before.

Then I looked closer and saw that one was emerging right then! This is the ladybug coming out of the pupa. It's all soft and yellow.

The girls were so thrilled to see the ladybugs crawling around!

Brooke is so fascinated with bugs right now - it was such good timing to do this.

In this picture you see on the far right a pupa that a ladybug has not emerged yet from. In the middle is one of our ladybugs that emerged while we were sleeping. The yellow one had just emerged from the pupa to the far left. You can see that the spots are starting to appear on the yellow ladybug.

We kept our ladybugs in the land for about a week. Aubrey loved giving them water every other day. She also was soooo excited for the day that the ladybugs would crawl all over her!

Then this Friday morning we took them out to the garden to let them out. Aubrey was so excited to get to play with them!

A few times Brooke saw the ladybugs and got excited as well.

"Hey, what's that on my shirt?"

Here's Aubrey trying to put the ladybug on Brooke.

Patiently waiting for daddy to get another ladybug out.

It was seriously so fun to watch the whole process. It was also so exciting to see both my little girls so intrigued by the ladybugs. Thanks Jeff for the fun birthday gift!

Love the Curls

2010-07-18T06:00:00.002-06:00

When Aubrey was Brooke's age, she had the perfect little curls around her neck and her hair looked absolutely adorable pretty much always. I LOVE Brooke's blonde hair and think that her hair will actually be much easier to style when she's Aubrey's age - but for now I am really missing the girly curls.

So I decided to get some smaller rollers and see if her hair was actually long enough to put in rollers. I first tried them last Saturday. She looked absolutely adorable with them in!

But I didn't put enough rollers on top and she ended up with a Mohawk type look. Thus the no after picture.

So Sunday, I added a few more on top to see if that would do the trick. Could she be any cuter with curlers and a hair net?!

I thought her hair turned out soooo cute. Here she is with her cute curls.

Aubrey of course wanted pictures of herself in the curlers - but this is the lovely face she gave me!

Here's her after shot.

She still has naturally curly hair, but it's not even. There's parts that are straight and parts that are curly. So if she's going to wear her hair down for church, I usually have to curl it.

Fun in the Sun

2010-07-15T14:00:00.010-06:00

My awesome SIL is doing a photo contest on her photography blog. The theme is "Fun in the Sun", so I took my camera out back while the girls played yesterday afternoon.

This first photo is the one I entered. So if you like it go over to Karen's blog and write a comment. That's how the votes are being tabulated. (BTW Parent's and in laws - you do not need any sort of log in to comment. You just put in your name and your comment. Easy as pie!)

I love the moments when my girls play happily together.

I LOVE Brooke's backyard crawl. It totally cracks me up. She doesn't want her knees to touch the grass or the concrete.

I had to zoom out to show what Aubrey was actually doing. She had sat her chair by the sprinkler and brought over the umbrella so she could guard herself from too much water. That kid just cracks me up.

Aubrey was winding up the swing and then it was twirling Brooke in a circle.

I love how you can see Brooke's hair flying in this pic.

Oh how a 3 year old can find joy in the simplest things.

My little peeping Tom.

I LOVE having a backyard. It's so nice to spend some downtime backyard with my little sweethearts.

Family Fun Center

2010-07-15T06:00:00.001-06:00

We have a new Family Fun Center near by. They had a promotion that with our season passes to the local water park, we could do all of the activities for free. Well you can't beat that! Other than how hot it was - it was great fun.

The bumper cars weren't up and running yet, but that didn't stop our girls. They had a blast just sitting in each and every one!

Aubrey surprised me with her bravery on the roller coaster. I took her and Brooke first - and it was much faster than I was expecting. When Rachel asked if she wanted to go again with her and Zoe - she agreed. I was so happy that she would actually go again, and without mommy!

We didn't actually play a game of mini golf - we just let the girls hit the balls. They were certainly entertained by this.

It sure was a fun time! Were hoping to go again sometime and bring daddy along!

Independence Weekend

2010-07-14T13:50:00.006-06:00

We had a real fun independence weekend this year. Like many others, since the 4th fell on a Sunday, we celebrated all weekend long.

My parents came into town on Friday and we had a BBQ at my brother's house.

Brookie was in LOVE with Sophie. She could not get enough of her.

Esther made these really cute "corn on the cob cupcakes."

Then Saturday we had a BBQ at our house. Jeff set up a canopy & smoked some tri-tip and Summer & Steve brought some outdoor games.

Steve teaching Aubrey how to play badminton. It was real cute.

Brookie bonding with Grandpa. As long as he kept giving her some peas from our garden, she was happy.

Aubrey trying out the bubble wand Grandma gave her.

Brooke still eating the peas and posing with Summer.

Brooke had to give badminton a try too.

JJ stripped down and got into the dying pool (the smoker burned several holes in it), so Aubrey had to follow suit.

The badminton thingy (no idea the name of it) got stuck on the roof, and Esther was the brave one to go and recover it.

Brooke and Cali were having a cute little conversation. Cali was making babbling sounds and Brooke was copying her. It was too cute. I wish that I got it on video.

While we were cleaning up, Brooke thought she should try out the sunken pool also.

Then the kids got bathed and pj'd and we took off to a watch the fireworks. I decided to let the munchkins stay up this year and watch them - because I knew we would all love them.

We got to the field about an hour early. I couldn't believe Brooke was still wide awake, even though it was after 9. She must have sensed the excitement. Although you couldn't tell it from the pic. below. She was only mad because she wanted mommy to hold her, as usual.

Then we broke out the glow bracelets - which Aubrey and Brooke were thrilled with.

Aubrey saw some other kids running around and decided to join in the fun.

She even made a little friend.

Then she settled down with her flashlight and stories.

Brookie enjoying her milk.

And then the fireworks began!

Brooke immediately started hopping toward them trying to catch the fireworks. It was really cute.

The video is kinda dark, so hopefully you can see it a little in this uploaded version.

They both LOVED the fireworks.

I'm trying to hold Brooke back in this picture - she really thought she'd be able to get a hold of those fireworks!

For several days afterward, Aubrey would ask me every night, "Why don't we get to watch fireworks tonight?" Funny kid.

Sunday we had another dinner at my brother's house - but I failed to take any pics.

Then Monday we went as a family to a water park and had a blast. We let Aubrey choose what we were going to do that day and she said, "I want to go to the water park, so I can show daddy how brave I am that I go down the waterslides all by myself." She had a blast showing daddy all the things she likes to do there and how brave she is. I LOVED only having to keep track of one child at a time. It was a really fun day!

I hope everybody else had a fun Independence weekend! I sure am grateful for our country and the freedoms we enjoy!

Little Brookie Bug

2010-07-02T15:00:00.001-06:00

My little Brookie is such a doll, well that is when she is not being extremely difficult! I'm glad I have as much darling coming out of her as difficult, because it makes the difficult much easier to live with.

On the difficult side, diaper changes are almost impossible. I completely dread whenever I smell a poopy diaper. That child can not sit still for a second. It is a circus act trying to get her diaper changed. She is either throwing a fit as I try and constrain her or she is up and climbing around before I even open the dirty diaper all the way up. What a joy. The same goes for clothing changes, nail cutting and doing her hair. Church has also become ridiculous. She will NOT sit on our laps. If we try and hold her down she will yell and kick. If we try to engage her with toys she will throw them. All she wants to do is walk across the chairs and bang on them or try and engage any children sitting near us. Which I am sure their parents are not fond of. We are seeing a lot more of the lobby than we've ever seen.

BUT, when we leave her alone and let her be, she is just a darling little doll. She plays so good with toys. Especially big kid toys. No more rattles and teething rings for her. She wants the doll houses, ponies and Aubrey's beauty supplies. And the DOLLS most of all. Can I tell you how happy it makes me to see her loving dolls. She has even inspired Aubrey to like dolls. The last couple of weeks Aubrey has become attached to a darling doll she got from Santa a couple of years ago. Until now the doll has been pretty much ignored.

Brooke's language is still just moving along at light speed. She loves to point out things and either name them or say, "What's that?" Sometimes it is very clear and other times it more like wa da. She can say, "all done" at meal times too, which is nice.

She still wants to do anything she sees going on. She saw Aubrey cleaning up a water spill and as soon as Aubrey was done with the cloth she grabbed it and hopped around the floor wiping it with the cloth.

She saw me blowing on her hot food one day and now every time I put warm food on her tray, she blows on it.

She sees Aubrey standing on stools to help mommy with chores and so has begun getting up herself. Which is scary to me, since she doesn't even have the balance to stand on the floor by herself yet!

At both nap and bed time she will lay in my arms and point to all of the features on both my face and her face as we both name them. It's so sweet. One night after she pointed out my mouth, she grabbed my cheek towards her and gave me a kiss on the lips. It was so sweet.

She loves to laugh! Even if you just look at her and smile she will break out in a giggle. Any attention you give her generally results in a great big smile as well.

A while back I had her say, "bye bye" on the phone to her grandparents. Ever since then, whenever she sees a phone she points to it and says, "bye bye." It's so cute.

Brooke is just a little fish. The first time we went swimming she was trying to swim out of my arms. The minute she is in the water she starts kicking and giggling. It's so cute. She doesn't like to be in shallow water either, she likes when it's really deep and I hold her out by her hands so she is floating. I love to see her having so much fun in the water! Especially because we plan to spend the bulk of the summer at the local water park!

She loves loves loves Aubrey's necklaces and bracelets. She know how to put them on all by herself too.

I caught her in the act one day. What a cute little munchkin.

And then when she was done, she took them off and put them on her dolly.

What a cute little mommy she is. If there is a doll nearby she gives it all sorts of hugs and kisses.

The doll she has here, usually lives in her crib. After I spend a little time with her at bed and nap time, all I have to do is lay her down, hand her her baby and her purple blanket, and she grins ear to ear. She generally doesn't fuss a bit just hugs her baby and blankie and falls right to sleep. It is so heavenly!

I am loving watching Brooke's ever growing personality! I can't wait until I can have little conversations with her and get a glimpse into that cute little mind of hers. I just love that little Brookie Bug!

My Aubrey Kaye

2010-07-02T07:21:00.001-06:00

What can I say about my Aubrey Kaye - I can't even type her name without getting a big smile on my face. She is such a darling little girlie girl.

She has lately become obsessed with being a ballerina. She is constantly wearing her tutu and dancing around the house. She also thinks that ballerina's must wear tons of jewelry and makeup as well. You rarely see that girl not all fancied up.

I wanted to take a picture of her putting her lip gloss on, because she looks so darn cute doing it. When I walked over with the camera she said, "Not yet mom, I'm not ready yet. I have to finish my makeup first." Seriously should those words be coming out of a 3 year old mouth?! Ha Ha.

I convinced her to let me take a few pictures.

She talks like a little grown up most of the time. She says things like, "Mom maybe we could spend a little time in the backyard this afternoon." or "I hope that I can have a fruit snack at snack time today." or "I have a good idea, we should make Brownies for dessert today." She makes me laugh to hear her talk like that.

She has rekindled her love for reading, which I am happy has returned. Usually at bed and nap time I will hear her reading out loud several of her stories before falling asleep.

She is just a little singing machine. She will sing any and every song that plays while we are in the car. And if she doesn't know the lyrics she will repeat them one syllable behind. It's really cute to hear her little voice just singing away in the car! She has a magnificent memory for song lyrics. One day she busted out all of the verses to "Mary had a Little Lamb". I couldn't believe she could remember that many words to a song. She even teaches daddy song lyrics when he puts her down for bed. He doesn't know all of the songs we sing so if she requests a song he doesn't know he'll ask her to teach him the words. It is so cute to hear her teaching daddy a song.

Most of you know that Aubrey has a slow to warm up personality. When introduced to new experiences or things she hasn't done in a while, she gets a little nervous. Well we've been hanging out at a local water park for the last month. They have some water slides that are specifically made for 3 - 8 year olds. I've been encouraging her to go down the slides by herself, but she was just not ready. Finally last week she did it! I was so proud of her bravery and she was sooooooo proud of herself. Once she tackled her fear, she couldn't get enough of it. She did the slide over and over again for 2 hours straight! I held a sleeping Brooke in my arms at the bottom of the slide for half of the time! I didn't have to heart to end her triumph just because it was nap time! When she finally tired out, we went home. She completely crashed on the stroller ride to the car. After all there was a lot of stair climbing involved!

A few funny things she has said lately,

She was eating her yogurt - the spoon fell to the floor and she said, "Don't do that spoon, if you fall one more time you're going to have a time out." Hmmm I wonder where she got that from?

We were playing tag in the backyard. She would tell me to run and that she would catch me and then she would say it was her turn to run and I should catch her. After several times of this she said, "Now we'll both run and it'll be kinda like we catch ourselves."

Frequently when Aubrey needs something from me she'll say, "Mommy could you do me a big favor . . . " How can you say no to a request that begins like that.

Whenever I ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do, she responds with, "No Thank you."

And then when I let her know she has to do it anyway she says, "But Mom" in that really annoying teenager voice.

On Wednesday Aubrey went to her first dentist appointment. I had been talking it up for weeks and she was very excited!

She loved the waiting room. It had a playhouse with toys and a big fish tank.

Here she is on the dentist chair. What a cute little thing. She was a little nervous, but did awesome! She kept her mouth open the whole time while the dentist looked at her teeth.

I told her that when they were done, they would give her a toothbrush. She asked me what kind of toothbrush they would give her. I told her that I didn't know, so we would have to wait and see what kinds they had. For the last couple weeks whenever we talked about the dentist she would say, "We'll have to wait and see what kind of toothbrushes they have." When the time finally arrived to get her toothbrush, she so was so excited and said, "We get to see what kind of toothbrushes they have." She was very glad to see that they had pink princess toothbrushes. She couldn't wait to use her new toothbrush that night. Along with her new floss that they encouraged me to use on her. I didn't think that would be very easy, but I let her hold on to help and it worked out much better than expected.

After she was done they made her a butterfly balloon, which she was thrilled about!

I was very pleased with our first pediatric dental appointment. Aubrey keeps reminding me that we get to go back again soon.

Father's Day

2010-07-01T09:57:00.001-06:00

For Father's day I thought it would be fun for the girls to make foam frames for their dad and put in them the family photos we took in his old truck.

Since Brooke is always dying to do whatever Aubrey is doing, I decided to let her participate this time. After all, Aubrey was only a few months older than Brooke when she started painting. Brooke definitely had a fun time and was so happy to be a part of the action. Mommy on the other hand was pretty frazzled when the crafting was done. But, was very happy with the end results. I thought they turned out darling!

Here's Brooke painting for the first time. She picked it up right away, unfortunately, she also needed to eat a little glitter paint, and had as much fun taking things off of the frame as she did putting them on! We'll try again in a few months! She sure is cute painting though! And daddy loved seeing her handy work.

Aubrey of course LOVED making the frame!

Especially since I let her work the glue by herself this time.

Here's Brookie's finished frame.

And here's Aubrey's finished frame.

A few days later Aubrey insisted that we also make cupcakes for Father's day. She also insisted that they have pink frosting. So pink frosted cupcakes we made.

As always, Aubrey is decorating above and Brooke is below looking for the goodies Aubrey has dropped. And as you can see Aubrey has dropped quite a few for Brooke's enjoyment!

Proud of her pink cupcakes. And you'd think the pink above her lip was frosting, but no it's lip gloss.

Father's day morning arrived and Aubrey couldn't wait to give daddy his presents. She was so disappointed when we didn't want to have cupcakes for breakfast! That funny kid.

I realized that I never took a photo of the frames with the pictures inserted inside. But you can kind of see them here.

And here:

.

I also got Jeff a DVD player, since we've just been using his xbox for years, and movies frequently freeze on us.

Here's daddy with his little girls.

We love you Jeff and hope that you had a good Father's Day!

Dancing Girls

2010-06-30T16:39:00.002-06:00

Both of my girls love to dance. Brooke will start moving and shaking as soon as music comes on.

She has seen Aubrey spin and has started spinning on her bum. It is too cute. She also will hop on her bum really high, I think to mimic Aubrey's jumping. I didn't get a good video of Brooke's high hops, but I did get the spinning.

Pretty Pretty Princess

2010-06-29T11:06:00.002-06:00

Remember the makeup that Aubrey won at Circus Circus. Well she just couldn't wait to put it on the next morning. Here she is with her face and hands covered in it and wearing as many necklaces and bracelets as she could find!

She came up to me with that cute little pucker and said in a puckery voice, "Mom can you take a picture of me looking like a pretty pretty princess?"

I LOVE that she feels the need to pucker when her lips are covered in lip gloss. Whatever would we do without our Aubrey girl. She brings us so much entertainment!

Cinderella's Castle

2010-06-28T10:40:00.000-06:00

On the way to Yosemite we saw this:

Aubrey took one look at it and exclaimed, "It's Cinderella's Castle!"

When we were driving home I really wanted to stay the night in Vegas. When I was a child we stayed at Circus Circus sometimes on our way to visit family. So I had been trying to convince Jeff that we should stay in Vegas at Circus Circus (because that's where the fun stuff for kids is.) I had entirely forgotten the "Cinderella's Castle" comment. Anyway I finally got Jeff to agree that I could call Circus Circus, and if the rates were reasonable than we could stay there. We found out that the rates were more than reasonable, but that they were all booked. I was disappointed. But they did mention that they heard the Excalibur still had availability and had me transferred there. I got the room booked and asked them where they were located. They gave me the exit and then said, "You can't miss us, we are the one that looks like a castle." Immediately my disappointment left and I got so excited for Aubrey that we were going to stay in Cinderella's castle.

Anyway, it was pretty late when we got there, but Aubrey watched in wonder as we headed in to stay at Cinderella's castle. In the morning, one of her first questions was, "Where does Cinderella sleep?" So, I told her that she slept in the tallest tower, which appeased her.

After getting ready we headed over to Circus Circus for the breakfast buffet and to have some fun in the kids section. On our way out of the hotel Aubrey found the tallest tower were she knew that Cinderella was sleeping. It was too cute!

As we walked into the buffet, I immediately recognized it from when I was a kid. That says a lot, because I have a terrible long-term memory. Anyway after a delicious breakfast we headed over to the games. The girls had a blast!

This game you had to roll the ball down the lane and try to land it in a high scoring slot.

Brooke loves balls, so we had to give her a chance. She had watched Aubrey and immediately knew what to do.

We found a section with tons of rides and arcade games and the girls were in heaven!

Even daddy participated.

I love how Brooke is trying to play the game too. Whatever Aubrey is doing - she has to do too or she is just not happy!

I love to see my cuties so happy!

After the games and rides we took our tickets to see if we could claim a prize. Aubrey immediately saw some kids makeup and wanted it badly. I was so happy because we had just the right amount of tickets.

Then we were off to the van to finish our trek home.

It was very fun for me to share with my little family something I did as a child and loved. I am a city girl through and through. Not that I don't enjoy nature, it's pretty and all - but give me the lights of Vegas or a super fun amusement or water park and that's what gets me excited!

It was a fun trip and I am glad that we could go. Aubrey's been asking about cousin Katie since we've been home. It makes me sad that we don't really know when we will see her again. Hopefully soon!

Thanks Mom for planning a really great reunion and for all of your hard work and yummy meals! We love you!

Final Day in Yosemite

2010-06-27T18:13:00.006-06:00

On Wednesday we had to check out of the cabin, but decided to stay around to check out some more of Yosemite before hitting the road.

We took a little stroll to the Yosemite falls.

You can see me and my girls really small at the bottom of the falls. We were getting pretty wet, so the girls were not too happy about it.

Then we had a little picnic lunch with the rest of the fam. Aubrey and daddy found the perfect log to sit on.

Somebody dropped their apple at lunch and not too long later a squirrel found it and was munching on it.

Aubrey loved this little creek.

Her and JJ were two peas in a pod when it came to throwing rocks into the water.

The two cute babies in the family.

Brookie is already trying to be a little mommy and give Cali squeezes.

What cute little munchkins they are.

Brooke loved the big rocks that she could use to pull herself up and cruise around on.

Me and my sisters.

It was a fun last excursion on our Yosemite trip. We left from there on our trek home!

Yosemite Day 3

2010-06-23T19:10:00.006-06:00

On day 3 of our reunion, most of the boys went golfing. The rest of us went on a little train ride. The kids absolutely loved it.

The above car is called a Jenni car - which is what we rode on. The below train is what we were planning to ride on, but were late due to construction. But, the little ones didn't mind. The Jenni car was good enough for them!

After the train ride Aubrey, Tyler, Katie & JJ panned for gold.

And what, do you ask, is even better than gold - rocks of course.

Who needs gold when the ground is covered in rocks. What a thrill.

Jeff deciphering with his eyes closed which hand held the gold and which held the rock. Gold is much heavier, so it's easy to decipher.

When we got back to the cabin, Aubrey shared her art supplies and the kids all drew pictures.

Aubrey & Katie wanted to do some more dancing, so I put on some music for them. They sure were super cute and they were both asking me to take their picture. Hmmm they both must have moms who take an awful lot of pictures!

I had to get a pic. of Brooke climbing the stairs. I couldn't turn my back on her for a second before she would be on her way up.

Then the little ones took a bath together. Rub a dub dub, three girls in the tub.

Then JJ joined them.

Sidewalk chalk came next.

Brooke was pretty clingy to me most of the time. She had a few moments of playing with others. Here she is having a ball with Aunt Summer.

Then Aubrey had to join in the fun.

Sitting with Grandma for family home evening.

The plan was that we were going to have FHE and the talent show the Sunday we arrived. But, it was too late after dinner. So we split it up and had the talent show Monday night and the lesson Tuesday night. Thomas & Kaylyn gave the lesson and did a fabulous job.

Yosemite 2

2010-06-21T16:59:00.011-06:00

Day 2 at Yosemite started nice and early (like every day with my early birds.) It is quite nice though to not be the only one up that early.

Aubrey & Brooke both just adored Calli. They wanted to be touching and playing with her whenever she was around.

Sweet Kaylyn wanted so badly to play with my little ones. My girls, however, are not fond of large groups and do not warm up quickly. I was glad though that Kaylyn did get some time to hold Brooke.

That's my big brother Dane and his 2nd Kaylyn with my Brookie bug.

Then after the rest awoke we got dressed up to take Family pictures. My awesome sis-in-law Karen, has recently started a photography business and was nice enough to do family pictures and group shots for all of us. She did a fabulous job!

Here is all 22 of us.

Our little family.

My dad was cracking us up. He was behind the camera being a turkey and a duck to make my girls look up and smile.

This is me with my 3 little sisters. I LOVE this picture.

Then we were off on a hike to Mirror lake. G & G took over our strollers which was AWESOME!

Grandma & her 3 year old granddaughters.

3 is her favorite age and she was lucky enough to have two 3 year olds on the trip.

Tyler wanted to push the stroller and I was happy to hand it over to him!

My parents holding hands - how cute!

We made it to mirror lake. It was freezing - but Aubrey attempted going in a few times.

Playing with Katie. While we were looking at the pictures today Aubrey said to me, "I really liked playing with my cousin Katie." I wish they could see each other more. Katie is just a doll!

My little cutie!

At Mirror lake there is a spot that people have built rock towers.

That is right up Aubrey's alley. She had to add her tiny tower to the bunch.

Daddy jumped in to join her.

Brooke talking a walk with Uncle Steve.

After we returned home and had dinner the kids put on a talent show. I think that was my favorite part of the trip.

Before the show began Aubrey & Katie were too cute sitting together and chatting.

First was Thomas & Tyler who did a comedy act for us.

Then Kaylyn did a magic show. She amazed us all with her crayon trick.

Brookie bug showed us her mommy skills and did some signs.

JJ showed off his athleticism.

Aubrey showed her artistic talent with a family portrait and handmade jewelry.

Then she recited the 1st Article of Faith that she has memorized.

Katie did a darling Ballet dance for us.

After Katie's dance the other munchkins wanted to dance too. Here they are doing "Ring around the Rosies."

Aubrey quickly picked up Katie's ballet moves and has been doing them non-stop since.

It was a fun day! It was great to have us all together and hanging out!

Family Reunion in Yosemite 1

2010-06-21T14:00:00.003-06:00

This was the first year that my family (my parents, siblings & spouses and the kids) has had a Family reunion. My mom pretty much planned the whole thing, including feeding all 22 of us. She did a fabulous job and I know she worked hard for months to prepare for it.

We stayed in a beautiful cabin called Scenic wonders. It was large enough for us all to fit comfortably.

We came in from 4 different states. We were the 2nd family to arrive, just following Cindy and her crew. Aubrey & JJ were quite happy to see each other and warmed up right away.

They were having a ball on top of the bunk bed. (Aubrey had never seen one before.)

The lil' sisters had to join for a picture too.

By the time the rest of the crew arrived we were busy getting dinner ready and the little ones off to bed, so I didn't get my camera out again that night. However it was really fun seeing my Brother Dane and his family. We haven't seen them all together for about 2 years.

Memorial Day

2010-06-20T20:54:00.004-06:00

We actually had some nice weather on Memorial Day, so we had a little family picnic. Daddy made us hot dogs & brats, homemade potato salad and corn on the cob.

And then had a little fun in the backyard.

Even daddy got in the little pool.

Weeee, Brookie loves the little slide.

She also loves Aubrey's mud pie kitchen.

Aubrey loves her watering jug and will water every living thing she can find.

Then Aunt Esther treated Aubrey and myself to a pedicure. I couldn't believe how still Aubrey was the entire time. She had to sit on Esther's lap so that her feet would reach the ledge.

Brookie came along for the ride also.

I love the perfect shade of pink that Aubrey choose.

Here's all of our beautiful toe's! Aubrey complimented me on my glitter toes almost every day until I finally took the polish off (which happened to be today!)

Thanks Esther that was such a nice treat!