Olsen Family

Christmas is almost here....

2012-01-14T15:32:00.006-05:00

Being home for Christmas this year, all by ourselves, we had many opportunities to go out and have some pre-Christmas fun. Here's the proof!

Brian's birthday was Dec. 5 - he got a circular saw! And a list of projects I want done. :)

Makayla being a big cheeseball.

Ella having some fun on Dad's shoulders.

Ella helping Brian fold clothes. She loves to throw all the clothes out and then sit in the laundry basket.

Kylee's school had their annual singing program. They sang a song about snowballs and then threw these styrofoam balls at the audience at the end. It was cute.

The Primary kids singing at the annual ward Christmas party.

We took the kids to Bass Pro to see Santa - not only do they give you a free picture, but they also have a fun area for the kids to play in afterwards. Yes, I was excited. Why do you ask?

YES!! I finally got a picture of my kid screaming on Santa's lap. Goal accomplished.

Ella loved watching the fish in the huge aquarium inside Bass Pro. She and this fish stared at eachother for quite awhile.

Let's get this cookie decorating party started!

After we put the tree up, Ella had to try out the "candy" garland to see if it was real.

Maybe she's trying to decide if she should try the berries since the candy didn't work out too well.

We went to our zoo's Festival of Lights one night, which was awesome! It reminds me of Temple Square, but bigger. Here, we're going through the tunnel of lights that leads to the entrance.

The kids in front of the ginormous Christmas tree at the zoo.

Hanging out with a gingerbread guy. I mainly like the picture because of how crazy the lights are in the background.

There's a lake at the zoo that has a big Christmas tree in the middle. They put lights on all the bushes and trees around the lake and then do synchronized light shows to music. We sat and watched for a couple of songs, and it was great. It was hard to get a good picture, but I liked how this one turned out.

Fall is the best!

2011-12-30T14:22:00.003-05:00

I totally love fall! I'm a little sad that it's already going into winter, so here are a few images from this past fall.

A bouquet I made with cuttings from the 2 mum plants in my front yard.

Brian took the kids to the park one fall day. Notice the interesting outfit he let Makayla wear.

Halloween - Wonderland style

2011-12-30T14:08:00.002-05:00

This year for Halloween, we decided to go with an Alice in Wonderland theme. I actually wanted to do it last year, but when my mom found an Alice costume for Makayla this year, I knew the time had come. Kylee was the Queen of Hearts, Makayla was Alice, and Ella was the White Rabbit. I tried to find a Mad Hatter hat for Brian, but something tells me he wouldn't have worn it even if I had found one. The girls were sure a hit in the neighborhood!

Makayla turns 5!

2011-12-30T13:55:00.004-05:00

Our little Makayla turned the big 5 on October 6th this year! She got a lot of fun presents, including the fairy wings shown in the picture below, but her big surprise was getting a trip to the Build-A-Bear to pick out her own stuffed animal. She chose a pink bunny with a dancing outfit for it to wear (big surprise!). We had a fun evening with just our family. I can't believe she's going to be leaving me to go to Kindergarten next year!

Ella turns 1!

2011-08-23T12:12:00.004-04:00

My baby girl is 1 years old now (sniff)! She turned 1 while we were in Utah, so we got to spend her birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Olsen, and aunts and uncles and cousins. It was a great time. She got a ton of toys and had a fabulous birthday cake, made by a friend of my sister-in-law.

My birthday girl!

Opening presents

Ella's individual cake, which she only took a few bites of.

The big cake. It was sooo adorable - love it!

Ella with daddy

Little monkey cousins, Andrew and Kylee

Ella pulled the ladybug right off and started going to town on it, but she wasn't so sure about the rest of the cake. She mainly just poked at it. Oh well, the rest of us enjoyed it!

Cutest little 1-year-old face I ever saw

Just had to throw in this picture of Ella at the zoo - we sure love this little girl!

Utah Trip

2011-08-10T14:05:00.006-04:00

Ok, I don't know why it's been so difficult to get this post done, but here it finally is! (What, you all haven't been waiting on the edge of your seats for me to post this??) Anyway, we had the opportunity to go to Utah in June, where we saw cousins we've never met, and had a fabulous time with Brian's side of the family (we missed you, Wendy!) Here's the rundown into some of the things we did while we were there:

One of the first things we did was go down to Mt. Pleasant and visit Brian's sister Karen and her family. Brian's dad brought down his boat, so we headed to the (snow-filled) mountains, found a lake that wasn't covered with ice and spent a fun afternoon hanging out while the kids took turns going for rides in the boat with Grandpa. Above: Benson, Kylee, Ila, Tanner, and Makayla scouring the ground for treasures,

Ella hanging out with Mom on the shore.

The 1st group of kids and adults getting ready to take off in the boat.

And they're off! That's Brian crunched in the front of the boat there.

The next day, Brian and his dad went fishing alone while us ladies kept 8 kids happy and busy all day. The weather was totally beautiful and it was great to just sit outside in the afternoon. Ella was happy just to sit and play with her toys on the grass.

Here's the kiddos having a great time on the "waterslide"

Brielle, Ila, Makayla, and Kylee

Brian out on the lake catching our dinner. Too bad they had to throw back most of the fish they caught!

Brian and I took advantage of having some babysitters around, so we went on an overnight date. We ended up going to Temple Square and had a great time walking around and enjoying the scenery (it's amazing how much you miss it when you don't have it around!). We even busted out our cheesiness and re-enacted some poses from our wedding day. :)

What a cute guy! Too bad he's out of focus...

One day we took the kids on a ride on the Trax (the light-rail train that runs through the Salt Lake Valley). When we got to the end of the line and were getting ready to return, some of the kids said they needed to use the bathroom. We spotted a park right near the trax station so we headed over there for a bathroom and playground break. They had tons of fun. Here they are at the park.

Ila, Kylee, Benson, and Makayla

Heading back to get on the Trax. We made it just in time, it started to rain soon after that.

On the Trax headed home.

Brian's dad took all of us out to dinner at Olive Garden one night. No small feat, considering there were about 16 of us! Here's Ella and her look-alike cousin, Brielle.

The whole group. Well, almost.

The kids at the aquarium. L to R: Makayla, Brielle, Tanner, Ila, Benson, Andrew holding Ella, and Kylee. You wouldn't know that Andrew is only 3 months older than Kylee!

Posing in a canoe at the aquarium

Aaaaaaaand.........this is what we hauled home behind our van. That's a piano under there. Crazy, huh? I'm amazing it survived.

Unfortunately, the 2 weeks went way too fast and we eventually had to leave. It was pretty hard to come home, but we hope that we'll end up living around family in the future, after all this school stuff is over. Thanks Mom, Karen, and Sara for showing us the best time we've had in a long time, and letting us trash your houses and eat your food!

So, when's the next vacation?

Catching Up

2011-05-14T14:03:00.009-04:00

I realized I haven't really posted anything about what we did this winter. Actually, I don't think we did much except try to stay warm. But here's a few pictures of a couple of things, thrown together with some Easter and Mother's Day pictures at the end. This winter we.........

had concerts,

had our backyard flooded a few times,

made a few crafts, like this Valentine's Day wreath,

learned how to change a baby sister's diaper, played Just Dance on the Wii,

posed in new clothes,

went to the Alamo in San Antonio (ok, that was just Brian),

worked out our abs,

and read lots of book.

And then Spring came - YAY! I love my alliums, they're so cute and interesting.

Even though Easter was late this year, it kinda snuck up on me. I feel like we didn't really do anything, and I can't say I really even wanted to color eggs. But here we are, doing it anyway!

It was pretty funny watching Ella try to get to the eggs. She was finally content holding a spoon.

This is the smile she's been doing when she sees the camera lately. Scrunchie little face!

Easter morning! Too bad most of our pics turned out awful. And we never even got a picture with all the girls together.

Ella got a hold of a chocolate egg a few days after Easter and she was very pleased with herself!

On Mother's Day with my little women.

Brian made me these pancakes. How sweet. For my present this year, I went out and bought myself a fun little crafty gadget that I've wanted for a looooong time. One of the first things I made with it is........

this sign for my front door! Ugly, plain front door no more.

Ella's been busy in Physical Therapy trying to get caught up with her motor skills. She's doing really well, and just mastered crawling, which has resulted in my life becoming much harder! Here she is at P.T.

And here's my little crawler on the move

She thinks she's pretty smart when she gets under the desk.

These last few pics are from when my parents were here a few weeks ago and we went to the zoo. This is the kids feeding the lorakeets. Ella tried to feed them her finger.

Baby Ella

2011-03-31T14:47:00.002-04:00

I might be a teensy bit biased, but is this not the most beautiful baby or what?? I can't believe she's 9 months old already! *sniff*

New baby teeth coming in!

Warm Memories

2011-03-24T14:05:00.011-04:00

It's supposed to be spring here. Instead it's cold and dreary, which makes me tired and grouchy. So I thought I'd post some pictures of warmer days. In Florida, specifically. We took a few days to explore some of the Disney resorts, or as my mom puts, we got to see how the rich vacation. It was fun. I highly recommend it. It's a part of Disney property that people normally don't see, I think partly because they don't know about it. Here's a glimpse at some of the fun stuff we saw:

Kylee on the boat from Downtown Disney to the Port Orleans resort. It was such a pretty evening.

Got sidetracked here. The girls getting buried at the beach. Makayla doesn't look as happy about it as Kylee was.

Ok, this picture is blurry because it was nighttime in the Wilderness Lodge. This resort was totally amazing. We only saw it at night because we wanted to take the boat from there to the Magic Kingdom one night to watch the fireworks. The resort is apparently built as a much larger replica as the Yellowstone Lodge. They even have man-made geisers outside that go off. So cool. Of course, every resort had it's own original, ginormous Christmas tree.

This is inside the Grand Floridian resort, which I think is the most expensive one. Talk about breathtaking. The inside feels like you just stepped into the greatest luxury hotel of the 1910's. It totally reminded me of "Somewhere in Time." And this is the life-size gingerbread house inside the Grand Floridian. There was even a small shop inside of it selling hot chocolate and treats!

The pool outside the Polynesian Resort. Definitely one of my favorite resorts. It was a little chilly for swimming, but I really think we could have if we'd wanted to.

Our group inside the Polynesian Resort. I think I could live there.

Our little family. The girls standing outside the Polynesian Resort next to an angry, wooden man.

The pictures from here on down are at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had lunch at one of the restaurants there, Sanaa. They had such good food, and we could watch the animals walking around outside through the windows.

Here's the view from our table watching the giraffes outside walking past the window.

Inside the main Lodge area. So awesome.

Brian doing some crafts with the girls in the lodge. Bless you, Disney.

In front of one of the Christmas trees. The decorations were African-inspired and so amazing.

Our family with my mom and dad, and aunt Carol. Watching the animals from the viewing deck outside. There's this huge area outside where all these animals like giraffes, zebras, pelicans, wildebeasts and stuff roam around. The whole resort area sort of wraps around it, so people in their rooms can go out on their balcony and watch the animals. I could move in. Totally. Sitting in front of the huge fire pit area, where the African workers do story-telling at night with the animals in the background. I'm going for the story-telling next time, just watch me.

Us with a zebra in the background. Me and my little pumpkin-headed baby.

My dad with Kylee and Makayla I just had to put this picture in because it's so hilariously bad. I won't feel bad if you laugh, because I do every time I see it.

Animal Kingdom

2011-02-02T12:48:00.011-05:00

On New Year's Eve, all of us, including my parents, went to Animal Kingdom. There were hardly any people at the park (probably because Animal Kingdom doesn't have fireworks at night like the other parks do, and fireworks are a really big deal on New Year's Eve in Florida), so we had a wonderful, fun day. The kids got to meet a lot of characters, which they haven't been able to do before, because the lines are usually so long. Here's a bunch of pics from that day.

Brian and Makayla heading into the park The whole group in front of The Tree of Life Me and Makayla in front of the huge tree outside the entrance

Our whole family meeting Minnie! Ella didn't care, she was snoozing.

The girls with Minnie When we were in the part of the park called Camp Minnie and Mickey, we came upon this outdoor area, where there were several Disney characters dancing and playing games with the kids. The girls of course jumped in and had a great time for quite awhile. We later found out that this sort of experience is pretty rare, since the characters only do this during the holidays. Plus the fact that there were hardly any kids there made for an extra fun time. The girls meeting Turk - at least I think that's what her name is from Tarzan. Chip and Dale helping Makayla with the egg-on-a-spoon game. The girls with Goofy

The girls meeting Daisy

All of us wearing our goofy bug glasses, getting ready to go into the Bug's Life show. Since it was my birthday, Brian forced me to wear the birthday pin they give out.

All my cute girls, in their cute Disney hats.

Meeting Baloo and King Louie

All of us getting ready to go on the safari. Unless Makayla was meeting a character, she refused to smile or even look at the camera. My cute baby! Kylee, super stoked for the safari My cute hubby and baby on the safari I think this is when the driver of the safari jeep told us all to put our hands up when we were driving over the bridge. Either that or she was calling for the waiter. We came up on this rhino and her baby (which was behind her) on the safari. She just stopped in the road and looked at us for a minute before finally moving on. My mom said that's the first time she's ever heard the driver sound nervous on the safari. The mom and baby rhino moving on (watch out for the ostrich eggs!)

We saw this baby giraffe eating right next to the jeep.

After the safari, we went on the jungle trails and stopped to watch this baby gorilla play for awhile. She's about the size of Ella.

Kylee in the jungle. Me and Kylee on Mt. Everest, which is the BEST ROLLER COASTER EVER! Me and Brian went on it later that night and got stuck at the top for a few minutes. Totally awesome.

Leaving at the end of the night. We were even still smiling!

Epcot!

2011-01-22T15:55:00.005-05:00

Ok, I'm getting a little out of order here as far as our trip goes, but it turns out that we're missing a whole disc of pictures that includes such important days as Christmas, so until we get those pics, I'm going to have to skip ahead. About half way through our trip, Brian and I grabbed-hold-of-and-ran-with the golden opportunity to go to a park by ourselves. We chose Epcot, since I remember loving it the one time I was there as a teenager. I'm sure I don't need to say that we had a fabulous time, but seriously, we had a FABULOUS time. Sorry, didn't mean to brag there, but I had been looking forward to this for a long time. Anyway, turns out the batteries in our camera were almost dead when we got there, so we could only take a few pictures, so here's most of them for your viewing pleasure:

Getting in line for Mission:Space. You see that sign I'm standing next to? We chose to go on the "More Intense" version of the ride. Would somebody please talk me out of that next time and point me in the direction of the line with all the grannies and kids in it? I'm pretty sure nobody over 30 should be on the More Intense version. It basically simulates the G-forces of a rocket ship launching into space. Oh, and you're stuffed into a little capsule. I'm just going to say that I was proud of myself for not having an accident.

Obviously, the person who took our picture didn't quite understand that the whole reason we chose that place for a picture was because of the LARGE WHITE BALL in the background that we wanted to be photographed with. But hey, at least we got an extra 10 feet of pavement in the picture.

Getting ready to head back to the World Showcase. Mickey and Minnie are made out of shrubs, in case you can't tell. Sorry, I'm blocking Minnie. We got to ride Segways! Which was actually pretty hard I have to say. But very cool.

Look, it's the ball again! That proves we were there.

Brian with France and Canada, I think, in the background. Just some snooty British guy in a snooty British phone booth.

Me with the lake in the background.

I took this picture from the cafe table we were sitting at in France, looking at the French bakery where we got pastry and a bread and cheese plate. Total yum.

Brian in Morocco. I loved all the little shops and eating places in each country. I kept thinking how hard it would be to enjoy with the kids there.

Me with part of Japan behind me. They had a super pretty garden.

Brian in Japan.

Both of us in front of the lake. I really wish we could have taken some pictures of the fireworks display over the lake that night. It was seriously the most amazing thing I've ever seen!

Christmas....finally

2011-01-21T16:08:00.007-05:00

Yeah, yeah, I've been a slacker. But from the look of other people's blogs, I'm not the only one! (you all know who you are) Before we get to the Disney/Florida pics, here's a peek into our lives leading up to Christmas. I'm pretty sure my sister is the only one who reads our blog, so Jenicca, this is for you!

Our Christmas tree, which just about fell over due to an overload of ornaments. That's the tree skirt my mom made for us this year. She also made us all some stockings. Love them!

Kylee and Kristen Richards at our ward Christmas party, dancing like it's 1999.

Kylee and Makayla singing at the ward Christmas party. I was pretty surprised Makayla actually got up there!

K and M in their angel costumes for the Nativity production at the ward party.

Brian's birthday dinner. I think we had shrimp.

Ella discovering she REALLY likes ice cream

Kylee's school Christmas program. Can you find her?

Kylee reading to Ella.

Makayla with her little buddy, Ella

We went to a sports store around here one night, where they had Santa and a bunch of stuff for kids to do. Here's the kids ready to ride our new 4-wheelers out of there. Yea right!

Put your hands up for making us wear these ridiculous hats!

Kylee found the perfect frying pan for me. And yes, this really was for sale.

This is THE PRECIOUS. AKA: the Barbie house that me and Brian slaved and sweated over for the girls for many weeks.

This may look like the girls discovering their new Barbie house on Christmas day, but it's actually Christmas Eve. You see, we were going to leave for Florida on Christmas afternoon after opening presents, but due to a big storm rolling in, we decided to do presents on Christmas Eve, and then leave later that day. The girls were just happy that Christmas was a day early.

And last but not least, Merry Christmas to me and Brian!! This little beauty was waiting for us in my parents driveway in Florida (no, they didn't just give it to us, in case you were wondering). Oh, it's about time we got a van, you say? Yes, we know.

Makayla's Birthday

2010-10-26T14:06:00.004-04:00

Our little Makayla turned 4 on Oct. 6th! Hard to believe this little girl is getting so big! For her birthday, we just stayed home and had a rainbow themed party with our family, along with presents of course. A week and a half later, she had a princess themed birthday party with some friends from church, where good times were had by all.

Rainbow fruit salad to go with dinner.

More Barbie stuff!

This is the train table that Dad built. Now they have somewhere to play with all their Thomas the Train stuff. I'm sure going to miss yelling at them to pick that junk up. Oh wait, no I'm not.

An outdoor playhouse from Nana, which Kylee screamed over louder than Makayla.

A ballerina dress-up from Grandma Olsen, which I don't think she's removed since her birthday. Rainbow birthday cake! Don't look at the sides too carefully, I only had time to care about the top.

My 3 little princesses

Getting ready for her Princess party The cupcakes

Decorating their crowns

The princesses having a ball!

Makayla blowing out the candles on her cupcake. I thought it was funny that she picked what I considered to be the ugliest cupcake I decorated. It was the last one, and I just didn't care anymore. I guess I didn't have to do anything special after all!

Scenes of Summer

2010-10-09T16:12:00.002-04:00

I feel like I don't have very many pictures from this summer, probably because we didn't really do much. Honestly, after Ella was born, the summer seemed to fly by and now it all seems like a blur. I guess that's the result of sleep deprivation. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures from the summer.

The girls at the zoo

Ella's first trip to the zoo. She was probably 2 weeks old. All these clothes are the result of a major fit that Makayla threw one day. She literally emptied the entire dresser of all of hers and Kylee's clothes. That was fun.

Hello caterpillars, did you enjoy your gluttonous feast of my parsley? Oh good, because I planted it just for you, ya know.

Self-portrait, by Kylee

Ella's first hike in the Snuggly.

Self-portrait, by Makayla

We ended up going to King's Island when Brian's mom and sister were here in July. For some reason (probably the sleep deprivation again) I got talked into going. It POURED the entire day. Between the rain and the pain I was still in, I ended up leaving with the baby after lunch. It was miserable. Don't ever let your husband talk you into going to an amusement park a few weeks after you have surgery.

Brian taking the girls on the log ride. Really, they couldn't get more wet.

My parents helped us re-do our tabletop while they were here. It used to be glass, with a monstrous crack in it. This is much better!

Cousin Fun

2010-10-05T16:39:00.007-04:00

My sister Jenicca took pity on me and came to see me in August when Brian was in San Diego for several days, thank goodness! She brought her 2 year old little boy, Logan, and those 3 musketeers had tons of fun together. My sister took these pictures of their adventures together.

At Parky's Farm

Wow, she still has such a baby face! (sniff)

Going to the Children's Museum

At the Mt. Healthy pool

Why are always such suckers for these animal-head pictures?

My shrinking violet (there's a reason she's not in too many pictures)

My not-shrinking-at-all violet (there's a reason she's in EVERY picture!)

Logan just loved Kylee, and she loved to pretend to be his mom.

I love this picture because it reminds me of the Hungry Hippos game we used to play as kids. Sadly, one day my mom got quite irritated with us playing it while she was taking a nap, and finally fed up with the noise, she charged out of her room, grabbed the game, opened the front door and chucked it as hard as she could, where it bounced and crashed into a thousand pieces down the front walk. I'm still in therapy over the incident.

Playing on the swing set

My sleepy baby

Ella's Blessing

2010-10-05T16:06:00.003-04:00

We had Ella's blessing the first Sunday of September. While I was feeling emotional and sentimental about the fact that we were blessing our last baby, the day seemed strangely uneventful, I think because we didn't have any family members there to share the day with us. Ella did a great job and didn't cry during her blessing, instead saving her screaming for the rest of church. I remember feeling on that day how blessed and lucky we are to have this perfect last baby join our family. I'm so glad the worries we had for her a few months ago, regarding her weight and possible spine problem, are finally over and that we can just enjoy her now. I'm truly loving every second of this little girl's life. Here's a few pics that we took after church. My sister's going to yell at me for not fixing them up, but oh well.

All 3 girls have worn this blessing dress now.

Miss Ella Blue Eyes

2010-09-08T13:07:00.004-04:00

Thanks to my sister Jenicca for the great pictures she took of Ella when she was here!! I love them! Here's some of my favorites:

First Days of School

2010-09-01T14:23:00.005-04:00

Kylee just started 1st grade, and Makayla just started preschool! Here's my girls on their first days!

All ready to take on that first grade homework!

Showing off the cute kitty backpack

In front of her preschool (an old elementary school)

Picking her up after school - she had a great time!

And here's my Little Miss Smiley Blue Eyes!

Makayla loves to feed Ella every chance she gets

My Baby

2010-08-04T21:46:00.004-04:00

Ella's now almost 6 weeks old, so I figured I should get some newer pictures on here. Unfortunately, I don't have many because I just keep forgetting to take pictures of her. Horrible I know, but I guess that's how it goes the more kids you have. As for an update of our lives these days, our baby is doing great and gaining weight. She's eating like a champ and starting to get some decent rolls on her. I think she's even grown out of her preemie clothes now! She's by far the easiest baby we've had, and has already slept through the night (8 hours straight) 2 times, although she usually wakes up once in the night still. Thank goodness, since I've needed all the rest I can get to deal with the other 2 girls. She's starting to smile and is trying to laugh, which we're loving. And I'm finally feeling fully recovered and really good, with no pain anymore. Overall, it's just a fabulous feeling to be done with all that difficult newborn stuff, and know that I'm done with it FOREVER! My sister will be taking more pics of Ella next week when she's here visiting, but until then here's our little peanut:

Posing with the girls' dolls - and yes, I'm aware that the dolls look a little creepy.

If this isn't an Olsen face, I don't know what is!

Just starting to smile a lot

My 3 girls

Green Thumb

2010-07-18T14:04:00.004-04:00

I previously posted pictures of my spring flowers; now I want to post some pics of my summer flowers! Last year I discovered the wild and diverse world of growing dahlias. Even though they're a tiny bit of a pain to grow (because you have to dig up the tubers in the fall, pack them in a cool place for the winter, and then replant them in the spring), I totally fell in love with the hundreds of varieties, colors, shapes, and sizes of these amazing flowers. The ones I got last year were some smaller varieties from a nursery, but this year I branched out and ordered some really tall and interesting ones from a website to add to the others. Here's a few of my favorites (although one of my tall ones is still a few days from blooming):

This was my first big one to bloom; the blooms are about 6-8 inches across.

This is a smaller one, but I love the color.

Another shot of one of the above purple ones, not quite fully bloomed.

This yellow one is really fun

This one just bloomed the other day and I'm totally loving it - plus it's HUGE!

This one is my favorite, it's called Tahitian Sunrise - it's about 8 inches across in full bloom.

Brian with my cherry tomato plant. Isn't he mahvelous?? The plant, not Brian, although Brian is mahvelous too.

Ella's Story

2010-07-07T19:23:00.005-04:00

Our baby girl is here! Ella Brianne Olsen was born on June 25, 2010 at 10:26 am. She weighed 5 lbs, 14 oz, and was 19 inches long. I had a scheduled C-section, which went well; however, following the surgery my doctor told me that because of all the scar tissue and damage that I had sustained from my previous C-sections, I wouldn't be able to have more kids. Brian and I were kind of thinking that this would be our last, so hearing that basically solidified that idea. At any rate, we're extremely thankful and happy to have this adorable baby girl in our lives. She has been such a good baby so far, with a mellow and content personality. She's a tiny little thing, and getting her to gain weight has been our biggest struggle so far. 2 days after she was born she had dropped down to 5 lb, 4 oz, and we were informed that she would not be allowed to go home until she was at least 5 lb, 6 oz. We started supplementing her with formula, and by the time we were ready to go home, she was up to 5 lb, 8 oz. We're still struggling with her weight as of right now, and it looks like we will have to start supplementing with formula, and perhaps go exclusively to formula in the future. Given my history with the other 2 girls, it won't surprise me. Even though I wanted to breastfeed exclusively for awhile, our main concern is making sure she's healthy and doesn't shrink down to a skinny skeleton, which is what happened to Makayla. Here's some pictures of our little princess so far!

Welcome to the world, Baby Ella! Meeting my baby for the first time. Bonding time with Mom.

Getting her first taste of formula. Daddy and Ella Big sisters were sooo excited to meet Ella! The whole 5 family, as Kylee would say. Home from the hospital, with her flowers

A smile at 5 days old! Ok, she might have been dreaming...

Our Little Graduate

2010-06-11T14:02:00.005-04:00

I thought I should get this post done before the baby gets here (which can't be soon enough, quite frankly). Kylee had her kindergarten graduation ceremony last week, which she was super excited about. The classes sang a few songs and the teachers talked a little and then they gave out a "diploma" and flower to each of the kids. It was all very cute, but Brian and I probably had the most fun making fun of the many families who acted as if this was their child's high school graduation or something, judging by the flower bouquets, balloon bouquets, bags of presents, and great-aunt Mabel they hauled there. It's just kindergarten, people!! Ok, sorry, gotta keep those grumpy preggo hormones in check. Anyway, in other momentous news, I'm very proud to announce that Brian successfully completed and defended his Masters Thesis the end of May, so he's our other big graduate in the family. PhD, here we come!!

My big graduate!!

Me and the girls. Hey, it's the Rosenberg clan in the background! Hi Rosenberg's!!

Dad with his girls

Kylee with her teacher, Mrs. Kober

Makayla always seems a little reluctant to let Kylee hug her. Last day of kindergarten. 1st grade-here she comes!

The Other Tooth

2010-05-28T18:22:00.004-04:00

Well, the tooth living next door to the one that Kylee recently lost apparently felt that it had also had enough of living in Kylee's mouth, and therefore wiggled itself loose enough last weekend to demand that somebody braver than myself pull it out. Oh brave Puller-of-Teeth, Brian is thy name! Thank goodness for a husband who's willing to do anything gross I don't want to. Kylee was, of course, ecstatic to lose another tooth (that's putting it mildly). I heard she tried to go up to the microphone in Primary the next day to announce to everybody that she had lost a tooth. I gotta admit, the spunk and shameless self-promotion of my girl sure makes me laugh sometimes!

Pull it out, push it out, WAAAAAAAY OUT!!

Success at last!

Another random picture, I know. But nothing says summer like a butterfly soaking up the rays on a leaf in your backyard!

Kylee's Tooth

2010-05-17T12:59:00.002-04:00

Ok, I admit it, I'M THE WORST MOM EVER!! The truth is, my first-born child lost her first tooth WEEKS ago, and I haven't posted one single solitary picture about it yet! Does that win me the Worst Mom Award or what? The thing is (and here's my dirty secret I've been hiding from the world), I just don't get very sentimental about stuff like this. I'm the kind of mom who gets excited about events like this instead of sniffly and sad that they're growing up so fast (c'mon now, please tell me there's another mom out there who's happy their kids are growing up!). Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's kind of a funny story about how Kylee lost her tooth. That darn bottom tooth of hers had been loose for so long I had practically forgotten about it! One evening about a month ago, we went to pick up a futon we had found on Craig's List. I was standing next to the car watching it being loaded up, when Kylee called from the window "Mom, my tooth is really loose!" I took a quick look in her mouth, and sure enough her tooth was sticking straight out and it was turning black! I told her not to touch it and we would yank it out as soon as we could. So, on the way home we decided to stop at Wendy's for dinner. We went into the lobby, and Brian got a napkin and yanked out the tooth right there on the spot. Kylee was freaking out with excitement, and she ran into the bathroom so she could look in the mirror. Brian and I were still standing in the lobby and we could hear her in the bathroom whooping and laughing and singing with happiness. Oh man, I can't tell you how hard we were laughing! I'm glad we were the only people in there, because even the people up at the counter could hear her and were laughing. That night she was excited to put her tooth under her pillow, even though she wanted to keep her tooth. I told her maybe the Tooth Fairy would leave the tooth for her, and she said, "But mom, I thought you said there were no such thing as fairies!" DOH!! Oh well, she got her dollar and got to keep her tooth and is super excited to lose more teeth. Now if I could just get Makayla to stop asking me when her teeth are going to come out. :)

If you're wondering what that bump is on her left eyelid, it was an infected something-or-other that she had to use medicated drops for, but it's about gone now.

This is a snake eating a rat at the zoo. I thought it was a grody picture and just wanted to throw it in.

A Few of my Favorite Things...

2010-04-14T13:49:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite things about spring is all the beautiful flowers, especially tulips. I went ahead and planted a bunch of tulip bulbs last fall, and I've been so excited to see them coming up the past few weeks. The tulips and I had a photo shoot today so I could share how pretty they are. I'm especially loving my walkway, where I planted purple phlox and purple tulips (and yeah, it probably doesn't make sense to do all this in a house we're renting, but hey, it's a lot of fun!)

Phlox and tulips

I really love these purple and yellow ones! All the variations of tulips are so interesting.

Easter

2010-04-09T15:47:00.009-04:00

Fair Warning Disclaimer: A Bumload of Adorable Pictures Below

We had a great Easter this year (even with having no family around). We started the weekend on Saturday, when we took the girls to the annual Easter egg hunt at the cemetary by our house. Then we colored Easter eggs that night. Sunday was a little busy, with all the Easter stuff and Conference and friends coming over for dinner, but it was a really beautiful and fun day, so I didn't mind. Here's a little trip down memory lane:

The girls showing off their haul at the egg hunt. They were pretty excited opening all the eggs to find the candy and toys inside.

With the Easter Bunny. I was pretty surprised that Makayla got this close! (And is it just me, or does that Easter Bunny look like he's about to spew a few rainbows?)

Me and my girls. It was a LEETLE bright.

The Potion Master hard at work coloring her Easter eggs.

That egg dye is pretty powerful stuff - Kylee started transforming into the Hulk before our very eyes!

No, this isn't a Christmas picture that accidentally found it's way into the Easter picture file. Let's just say we had a lot of honorary Easter bunnies this year! While we and the girls greatly appreciated it, I was a little concerned when Kylee told Jenicca that the Easter Bunny didn't think she was quite as good as Santa thought she was this year, since she got more toys for Christmas. :) Each of the girls also got an Easter basket from our next door neighbor.

Easter Morning

The Easter Bunny thought the girls would look extra cute with sunbeams on their heads.

Oh my goodness, can you believe how cute??

We took the kids over to the cemetary that morning to take advantage of all the pretty flowers and trees blooming.

Yes, Kylee came up with this pose by herself. Supa' Star!

EGG-specting our newest little chick in just 2 1/2 months!! (And yes, I let this picture be taken just so I could write that)

Let it snow....AND SNOW....

2010-04-09T14:36:00.005-04:00

Well, it looks like I've been a right old slacker, haven't I? I'll go ahead and blame it on pregnancy, like I do everything else. Anyway, I figured before I put up the Easter pictures, I'd better catch up on the winter pictures. This winter was long and dreary, like always, and it certainly didn't go by fast enough for me - in fact, if it wasn't for Kylee being in school, I probably would have parked my behind at my parents house in Florida for a good long time. However, we did have some exciting snow storms in February that broke up the monotony a little bit. In a 2 week period, we got a little over 2 feet of snow, which is more than we usually get ALL WINTER here. The kids loved it, I endured it, and Brian hated it (bless his poor little only-snow-shoveler-in-the-house heart). Here's some pictures to show how we survived.

Brian shoveling after the first snow storm. This was back when he could actually smile about it. We got about a foot, and we thought THAT was a lot! The kids ready for their first sledding adventure

Brian created our own sledding hill out of our back porch steps. The kids LOVED it!

Brian also created a "snow cave" for the girls out of our patio table and chairs. The entrance to the cave was under the chair right behind them. Holy cow, did they love that snow cave! (Are you seeing a trend here? I have just about the most creative husband ever!) Peeking out the entrance of the snow cave. This is not a picture of Makayla right after she biffed it in the snow - she's simply enjoying her favorite snack - fresh snow licked from the ground.

However, this IS a picture of Makayla right after she biffed it in the snow. Exhibit A: the snow pile Brian made in our backyard after the first snow storm (made mainly with snow from our driveway).

Exhibit B: the snow pile in the backyard after the 2nd snow storm (we figured we couldn't keep dumping the snow over the fence into our neighbor's yard!). This isn't even as big as it got, and it ended up being a great sledding hill for the girls.

Enjoying some yummy hot chocolate after one of our snow adventures. THE END.

Kylee's 6th Birthday

2010-02-11T17:41:00.005-05:00

For Kylee's birthday this year, we took the kids bowling, which they've never done before. They were sooooo excited, and we all had a lot of fun! Then we went home and opened presents and had cake and stuff. I'm having trouble remembering everything Kylee got for her birthday, but I know one of the more memorable presents she got was from her Aunt Jenicca, who got her a new monkey. As many of you are aware, The Monkey has been her love since she was a baby. She has had 2 different big ones, each of which got lost. Then we were only able to find a small one on the internet, since the big ones are now discontinued and hard to find. I don't even want to know who Jenicca had to sell her soul to to get that big monkey, but Kylee was VERY happy! :) I told Kylee this is absolutely the LAST MONKEY she will ever get, so it better not get lost!

By the way, am I the only one who has refused so far to give their kid a birthday party?? It seems like every parent I know throws these big birthday parties for their kids from the time they turn 3 or so, but I just HATE the idea of giving one for Kylee (maybe just because I've been to so many and they look like such a pain). Does that make me horrible or what? Maybe it's just because Kylee's birthday is right after the holidays and I'm so sick of parties and celebrating that I just don't care anymore. I have a feeling I'm not going to get away with being a non-party thrower for long, though.......sigh.

Makayla throwing her 2 mph ball. We thought we might fall asleep before it finally got to the end!

It's a total fluke that I got this shot of Kylee biffing it while she was throwing her ball. I jerked the camera and that's why it's blurry, but it's still a funny picture! You can do it, Kylee!

Kylee and her new Monkey.

One last look at Florida...

2010-01-30T09:22:00.003-05:00

The day before we left Florida, we decided we were going to go to Blue Springs, where the manatees and stuff are. But when we got there, the park was so full, they were turning people away (which my parents say they've never seen happen before)! It was such a nice day, I guess everyone wanted to be there. Well, we decided we would just head east and go to the closest beach and let the girls play for awhile. I didn't have any swimsuits for them, so I just let them run around in their undies. They loved it!

This was actually from the day we went to Downtown Disney. We hopped on the ferry and went around to a few of the resorts, which was so fun! This was outside of the Boardwalk resort (they have a real boardwalk with shops outside that we walked around).

This was the gingerbread house on display inside the Boardwalk resort. Everything is made from gingerbread and it's life size. Nobody can say Disney goes halfway on anything!

Downtown Disney

2010-01-29T14:07:00.005-05:00

After Christmas, we headed over to Downtown Disney for a day of fun. Since we didn't go to any parks, we figured this was the second best thing, and we always love going there. First thing we did was head over to the T-Rex restaurant (owned by the same company as the Rainforest Cafe, so gives you an idea of how awesome it is!), where my mom wanted to let Kylee pick out a dinosaur for her birthday at the Build-A-Dino area (basically the same thing as Build-A-Bear). Kylee had tons of fun picking out her pink dinosaur and its outfit and putting it together. She named it Kyleesaurausrex, which made us laugh. :) If you're concerned about Makayla, don't worry, she got to pick out a small dinosaur for herself also. And OF COURSE the girls had to wear their princess dresses from Christmas the whole day. It's practically a law when you're on Disney property!

Kylee helping stuff her dinosaur

Kylee and Kyleesaurusrex

Trying on princess crowns at the toy store

Meeting Santa-Goofy!

Still in the pirate spirit!

My little princesses

Christmas

2010-01-25T16:23:00.005-05:00

Here's a few images from Christmas Day. The girls ended up getting way more presents than we were expecting from everybody, so we ended up having to go buy another suitcase to haul them home in! Ok, ok, I really just wanted a new suitcase. :D

I really surprised Brian by getting him MarioKart for the Wii!

Makayla showing off her new princess dress. She now lives in it.

Both of the girls with their princess dresses.

The girls "buying" their presents from each other with their new cash register.

Makayla playing on her new bouncy ball in her stylish glasses.

Sailing the High Seas

2010-01-15T10:59:00.006-05:00

A few days before Christmas when we were in Florida, we went out to Tampa to go to the beach, and to take the kids on a pirate ship ride. The ship basically caters to kids; they have a squirt gun fight, a treasure hunt, pirate stories, face painting, dancing, they do the limbo, etc. The kids totally LOVED it, even though Makayla felt safer just staying closer to mom and dad most of the time. The beach was a little cold, especially since we got there late in the day, but the girls insisted on putting on their swimsuits anyway. I think they froze!

Getting ready to get on the pirate ship

This picture makes me laugh - Makayla just enjoying looking out the porthole with the wind in her face.

As Kylee would say, "Aarrgghh, lady!" Kylee and Nana with their faces painted as pirates. Is this my dad or Jacques Cousteau??

Makayla on the beach. Brian shelling in the water with the sunset in the background.

Poor freezing Kylee

Christmas at Home

2010-01-14T18:23:00.005-05:00

Before we left for Florida to spend Christmas with Becky's parents, we had our own little Christmas here at home, where the kids got to open presents from mom and dad, and various family members who had sent their presents to us in Ohio before we left (knowing we wouldn't have very much room to take stuff back from Florida). The girls got several games, a sit 'n spin, Kylee got a new car seat, Makayla got a new bike. Ok, I can't remember what else. :)

Kylee dressed up as a present for the program they did at church before Christmas.

Halloween

2010-01-04T18:05:00.003-05:00

Now that it's the new year, I figure it would be a good time to update my blog. Ok, ok, I've heard your cries of anger (ahem, Matt), but hey, I've had a good excuse - I've been stinkin' TIRED (and tired of stinkin')! :) But seriously, now that I'm past the first trimester, I got some fire back in my tank and I'm ready to get down to business here. This might take a while. Let's start with Halloween. It was a lot of fun to be in a house this Halloween, so we didn't have to drive to a neighborhood somewhere to take the kids trick-or-treating. I stayed home and passed out candy, while Brian took the kiddos out. I have to say, I had some pretty scary girls this year - no princesses for them! (their choice, not mine)

One of our pumpkins. Pretty funny, huh?

Cutest little dragon I ever saw in my life!

My little witch and dragon.

I Love Fall

2009-11-11T18:26:00.002-05:00

My parents came up to see us (and drop off our new car) the beginning of October, and we had the opportunity to take them up to Kirtland to see the sights and of course the gorgeous fall colors. Here's a few pictures of our trip. Brian would like me to point out that he took all the pictures, as well as the big one at the top of our blog. No, you can't hire him to do your wedding pictures. Sorry.

The Kirtland Temple. I'd love to find out what flowers these were around the temple. They were GOR-GE-OUS!

If you're a little confused by this picture, Kylee's standing in front of a pond with the reflection of the trees behind her.

"Hey, look at that cool leaf on the ground! Let's stare really hard at it until dad's done taking our picture, ok?"

Disney on Ice

2009-11-02T12:53:00.002-05:00

Disney on Ice recently came to town, so we took the girls a little before Makayla's birthday. The girls wore their Disney hats and crowns, and absolutely LOVED the show! Kylee was screaming and waving at the characters and jumping up and down in her seat the whole time. It was pretty funny. At the intermission, Makayla turned to me and held up 1 finger and said she wanted to watch "one more movie." I think she thought she was watching a movie. :)

Makayla is 3 Years Old!

2009-10-21T19:30:00.004-04:00

My baby is now 3 years old! *sniff* Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was bringing her bald, screaming head home from the hospital. Sorry. Getting off topic here. Anyways, we were by ourselves for Makayla's birthday, so we just had a fun little birthday party with our family. Makayla requested a blue puppy cake, so I tapped into my inner Martha Stewart and whipped out a Blue's Clues cake any kid would have been proud of. :)

TA-DA!!

I'm judging from her face that the cake tasted as good as it looked.

Makayla got a lot of fun presents, including a farm, with farm animals and cars from Grandma Olsen, a tool set (Dad wants to make sure his girls are the independent, strong, tool-wielding type), wooden blocks, a Barbie car and Ken, a "Kayla" doll, a Puppy in my Pocket set, and a Tinkerbell wand and crown set from Nana Phillips.

Seriously, I'm gonna need to clean out the toy room before Christmas.

A Look Back

2009-09-11T14:42:00.006-04:00

As we get into another great school year, I just wanted to take a moment to look back on some of mine and Brian's old yearbook photos. First here's Brian:

Totally boss

Used all his mom's Crisco for this picture

Lovable nerd

Long-hair phase

Not sure about the afro

Business in front, party in the back

Almost got the role of Zach on 'Saved by the Bell'

And now for Becky's:

Pin curls never go out of style

I wish I still had those wing-tip glasses!

I could be Samantha's sister on Bewitched!

Gotta have my flower shirt like any decent hippie.

This reminds me of my mom so much, it's scary.

Farrah Fawcett stage

Not sure if brunette is really my color

I'm pretty sure this is my actual 7th grade picture.

Makayla

2009-09-03T17:55:00.003-04:00

I thought since Kylee's had so much attention with kindergarten that Makayla needed her own post. My little Makayla will be 3 in a month, and this last year she has grown up so much. She is such a beautiful, sweet-natured, happy little girl! She may act like Kylee's little shadow a lot of the time, but she has such a funny little personality of her own that I've loved watching develop. When she gets in a silly mood, her laugh is so hilarious we all can't help but laugh too! She's a little ray of sunshine in our household, and I'm glad I'll have the opportunity to have some one-on-one time with her while Kylee is in school (being the 2nd child, she hasn't had a lot of that!). Here's some recent pictures of my baby.... I mean, BIG GIRL (as she constantly reminds me)!

Kylee starts Kindergarten

2009-09-03T17:02:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it - my little Kylee started Kindergarten!! She was sooooo excited, which I was glad about, but I was still a little sad knowing that she will be gone all day 5 days a week. Kylee's first day was a huge success, she loves her teacher and all the fun things they do. When she got home she kept talking about her friend "Brooklyn." I was glad she made a friend, until that night when she announced to Brian and me that she's going to marry Brooklyn when she grows up. That's how we found out that Brooklyn is a boy!! We told her not to even think about marrying anybody for 15 more years. Jeesh!! Isn't she a little young to be starting this??

Here's my cute little school girl in her school uniform:

This was me and Makayla after we dropped Kylee off. Makayla cried all the way home, but only because she said she wanted to eat at Kylee's school, like we did the night of the open house. I was worried she would have a hard time with Kylee gone, but she seems to be doing great. I think she enjoys having the toy room to herself!

Brian's Parents Come to Visit

2009-08-20T13:56:00.005-04:00

We had the great privelage of having Brian's parents come and visit us the end of July for one crazy, fun-filled, whirlwind week. As Kylee would say, "It's a miracle." It was great to have family come visit us, especially since we don't get to see family very often, and we usually just sit here all sad and lonely (sniff). Even though we were dead tired by the time they left, we had so much fun, and we're so glad they came to see us! So, anybody else wanna come visit? We'll show ya a good time, I promise. :) By the way, these pictures are in backwards order of when we did stuff. I was just too lazy to switch them around.

Ellen in front of the big bat statue at the Louisville Slugger museum, where they make....can you guess? Louisville Slugger bats!

The girls showing off their souvenir bats from the museum

Brian with Kylee who's holding some old famous baseball player's bat (can't remember whose it was)

Brian imitating the great Babe Ruth at the museum

Makayla took this picture of us in Brown County. Child prodigee!

Brian and his dad at the Cincinnati Reds game. They lost, as usual. Nice matching Utah shirts, boys.

Ellen and the girls. Isn't this picture adorable?

Me, Ellen, and Makayla at the Johnson farm in Kirtland.

All of us, except Brian, on one of the Ohio river cruises, with the skyline of Cincy in the background. Brian had to work most days, poor thing.

This pretty much sums up how we all felt after dropping off my in-laws in Louisville when they flew out. Yep, that's Makayla sleeping under there.

Disney World

2009-08-08T20:13:00.006-04:00

Here's a few pictures from our fun, but HOT, day at the Magic Kingdom. Along with our family, Matt, Aline, Nancy, and Bruno went.

The 4 of us in front of the castle. If you're wondering why there's a cloud of smoke in front of the castle, that's from the show that was going on in front of it.

Kylee and Makayla in front of Mickey's house.

Makayla, Nancy, Aline, and Kylee

Me, Brian, Matt, Bruno, and Kylee on Splash Mountain (Kylee was behind Brian)

Trying to pull out the Sword in the Stone

The Light Parade that night.

Sea World!

2009-07-15T13:37:00.011-04:00

A miracle has happened - I finally got motivated to put up our pictures from Sea World. Because of the passes we bought, we ended up going to Sea World 4 times, so we ended up with a couple hundred pictures! So you can imagine why I've been overwhelmed at the thought of trying to post some pictures. I'm just warning you, there are probably a couple dozen pictures here, so if you don't give a hoot what we did at Sea World, you'd better exit now! :)

All of us at Sea World - well, before Matt and Aline got there.

The girls with Elmo after the Elmo show.

This was at the dolphin nursery, where pregnant moms up to 1 year old dolphins are kept on display in their own little pool. This little guy kept showing off for us. It was so much fun watching these little ones!

I think this is the same dolphin as above - he actually flung himself up on this rock and posed for us!

This is a new mom with her 4 day old baby dolphin. So adorable!!

The Shamu show, which was so incredible! We saw it twice, and got some great pictures.

Kylee was so excited when we got splashed by Shamu!

Makayla sitting on Grandpa's lap during the show.

Everyone waiting for the show to start. I'm pretty sure they only look miserable because it was hotter than the blazing depths of heck.

Us learning how to feed the sting rays. Sounds kind of freaky, but it was SO FUN! I liked it even more than feeding the dolphins. You stick the fish between your 2 fingers, hold your hand under the water, then a sting ray comes by and sucks the fish right out of your hand. It feels so funny you can't help but laugh!

I love this picture, it looks like this sting ray's gonna eat Makayla's arm!

Kylee trying to get brave enough to touch one of the sting rays

Me and Makayla feeding the dolphins. You would think this would be funner than feeding sting rays, but the dolphins don't really like to be touched, and the Sea World employees yell at you for every little thing, so it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be.

This funny little sea lion was waiting for us to feed it something. Sorry buddy, we spent all our money on the sting rays.

A mom and baby mantee.

These silly little birds were all over the place trying to beg food from people.

Jenicca, Jason, Logan and Kylee in this cave thing where they had all sorts of aquariums.

This is one of the aquariums in the cave where the kids can pop their heads up and view the fish from "inside" the aquarium.

Beach Bums (and Aquatica)

2009-07-01T21:00:00.003-04:00

Of course, you can't go to Florida without going to the beach, so we had one really fun beach day. The water was soooo warm!! We had an awesome experience while we were swimming. We noticed some large shadows moving towards us in the water, and at first my mom thought they were sting rays, but then somebody else shouted that they were manatees. We moved closer to them, and sure enough, there were 2 manatees swimming right by us. You're not supposed to touch them because they're protected, but we saw their heads come up for air. Talk about awesome! We ended up also seeing several large sting rays in the water that day, but they just fly right by you, so you can't really get a good look at them. It was probably the funnest time I've ever had at a beach (and that's really saying something!) Also, I'm throwing in the only 2 pictures we took at Aquatica (the Sea World water park). We went to the water park twice, but for some reason we only took 2 pictures - maybe because water and cameras don't mix.

Aline with Kylee and Makayla - just look at that cute pregnant belly!

Grandpa going down the waterslide with Makayla

The girls going down the waterslide by themselves - they LOVED it!!

Downtown Disney Date

2009-06-28T22:08:00.006-04:00

Brian and I took the opportunity to have a date night while we were in Florida, so we headed over to one of our favorite spots, Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe, had dessert at Ghiradelli, and just enjoyed the fun atmosphere of Downtown Disney at night.

On the boat between Downtown and Pleasure Island

Checking out the new T-Rex Restaurant (soooo awesome!)

Florida Family Fun!

2009-06-24T16:22:00.008-04:00

Well, we just got back from another fun Florida vacation at my parent's house. Have I mentioned how much fun it is having them live in Florida? Loads! Anyway, for the first time in 6 years, all of us were able to get together for a family reunion, even Nancy and Bruno (Aline's mom and brother from Brazil). Talk about total chaos, but we had a rockin' good time! I have to give a big shout out to my mom for the months of hard work she put into getting ready to host all ELEVEN of us at their house. Between making sure she had enough beds, bedding, food, towels, chairs, toys for the kids, etc..... All I can say is, THANKS MOM!! It's probably gonna take me awhile to get all the pictures up that I want, since we did a lot of stuff. But for now, I'm gonna put up some pictures of the family just hanging out and having fun.

The whole family

The girls having a blast in Nana's blow-up pool in the backyard.

Makayla all ready to swim at the big pool

Kylee giving Jason some pointers on the right way to swim.

Jenicca and Brian playing "catch" with Kylee

Brian trying to get the girls to hold still while I take a picture

Aline opening presents at the "surprise" shower we threw for her

Aline with her mom Nancy, and Kylee (Baby Alex arriving this fall)

Jenicca and Nana with the grandkids

Dad trying on his Father's Day gift - now he can get serious about finding shells at Santa Bell!

New Kitty....Again

2009-05-31T10:56:00.004-04:00

I didn't really want to do a post about our new kitty, for fear we would jinx ourselves, but my sister insisted, and since I'm very afraid of her, I decided to give in. We got this little girl almost 2 weeks ago, and while some people might think we're crazy for getting one so soon after Tigger died, it's helped with our sadness, especially for the kids. Kylee and Makayla decided to name her Tinkerbell....apparently we can't get away from Disney names. Here's our little (s)Tinker....

She loves to sleep on Brian's laptop - probably cuz it gets so warm. So cute!

Kirtland

2009-05-21T16:39:00.004-04:00

After our super-crappy week last week, I REALLY needed to get the heck out of here for a few days. Brian had to go to a conference in Cleveland on Thursday and Friday, so I packed up myself and the girls and headed up there to meet him on Friday. We stayed in a hotel that night, and then we spent all day Saturday at Kirtland. We've been wanting to go for awhile, so this was the perfect excuse. The town was even more beautiful than I thought it would be, and we really enjoyed all the sites and tours. I was so glad we went - it was so nice being in a place where so many important and wonderful things happened in the history of our church. A lot of our pictures turned out blurry - probably because of the rain - but here's a few:

The Kirtland Temple

A memorial to the members of the Smith family who died in Kirtland.

The original Newel K. Whitney store. Joseph and Emma's family lived in the top of the store for 6 months.

This was basically the Smith's living room at the top of the Whitney store, where many revelations were received by Joseph, such as the Word of Wisdom.

The sawmill and ashery-important for building the temple and commerce for the Saints.

The Johnson farm, about 30 miles outside of Kirtland, where Joseph and Emma's family lived for about a year. Many important revelations were also received here, such as the vision Joseph and Sidney Rigdon had of the 3 degrees of glory (D&C 76).

I wasn't going to put this picture in because it's so blurry, but this is us standing on the front steps of the Johnson farm. These are the very steps that Joseph stood on to preach from, the morning after he was dragged out of his bed by a mob and tarred and feathered.

This farm was one of our favorite places we visited - there was such a great spirit there.

Our Lost Tigger

2009-05-13T09:02:00.003-04:00

We very sadly lost our little kitty Tigger yesterday in an accident at our house. Even though we only had him a short time, we all loved him and will miss him very much.

We love you Tigger!

My Haul

2009-05-12T16:53:00.003-04:00

I've been preaching about coupons for awhile now and how much money you can save by using them, so I decided to show off the awesome haul I got today - all with the use of my coupons! And might I add that they were all printable coupons I used, available to everyone with a computer! So let this be a lesson to all the nay-sayers out there who say you really can't save much money with coupons. I beg to differ! All of the items in the picture below cost me a grand total of $23 plus tax.......TOTAL. Pretty sweet, huh? I saved $108!! I know the picture is a little blurry, so here's what I got: 8 boxes of cereal, 4 bottles of salad dressing, 5 jars of mayo, 5 jars of miracle whip, 10 packages of hot dogs (2 not pictured), 2 boxes of graham crackers, 2 boxes of Ritz, 2 boxes of wheat thins, and 3 blocks of cheese.

Now get out there and print your coupons! :)

Some fun pictures

2009-05-05T18:57:00.004-04:00

Here's some pictures showing what we've been up to the past few weeks:

Brian and the munchkins playing soccer in the back yard.

Isn't this picture great?

Brian reading stories to the kiddies (get it?)

For some reason, our silly cat loves to lay right here on Brian. Looks comfy, huh?

The flippin' sweet patio table I found on Craig's List for $20 - it's bigger than our kitchen table!

Another day at the zoo

This was the best picture we could get of the girls in their dresses from Matt and Aline.

So typical.

Here's to Brian....

2009-04-24T15:13:00.005-04:00

I realize it isn't Father's Day, or Brian's birthday or anything, but I just wanted to write a little post about how awesome he is, and how much I love his guts. He'll probably be wondering what it is that I want when he reads this, but honestly, I was just thinking the other day about all the great things he does for us, and how lucky I am to have him for a hubby. Before this gets too corny, here's my list of just some of the things I love about Brian (and you might be surprised):

1. He's a wicked great organizer. Seriously, better than me! You should see our basement, garage, and food storage. It's awesome.

2. He can fix anything. And I mean ANYTHING. When we lived with my parents, he fixed their gas stove, patio umbrella, and toilet. If this Psychology stuff doesn't work out, we're gonna open our own Handy-man business.

3. He loves to go shopping with me. I promise! Not only that, but he insists that he go shopping with me if I need to buy pants. He knows I'll get really angry and depressed and eat an entire carton of ice cream if I don't have him there to tell me how great I look.

4. He's a girl's guy. Almost all of his friends are girls, and some of his best friends have been old ladies. I guess it comes from being raised with so many sisters.

5. He's not afraid to do all the gross jobs around the house like cleaning the toilet, taking out the garbage, cleaning up cat diarrhea, stuff like that. Of course, he agreed to it before we got married.

6. He has endless patience. Well, it might not be endless, but it's a heck of a lot more than I have, so it seems endless.

7. He's a fantastic dad. He's always got tricks up his sleeve for keeping the kids happy and busy. And he's always willing to play one more game of Candy-Land with them after I've fallen into a coma from sheer boredom.

8. He's amazingly smart without hardly trying. I know his sisters wonder how he even graduated from high school, since he claims to have never read a book in high school.

9. He loves to have fun and go on adventures with me and the kids. Me and Brian seriously have the funnest time together. Or is it MOST FUN??

10. He tells me I'm the best thing that ever happened to him. Enough said.

Brian's new son

2009-04-16T15:33:00.003-04:00

We'd like to introduce you to Tigger, our new 9-week-old kitty, or as I call him, Brian's new son. We got him last night from a small pet store around the corner from us. We've been promising the kids that we would get a pet when we got into a house, and we thought about all sorts of animals, but ultimately decided on a kitty. He seems like a fun little guy so far, and the kids are definitely way too much in love with him! He's already learned to hide from the kids under our bed. Here's some pictures from Tigger's first photo shoot:

Our new house

2009-04-14T15:26:00.005-04:00

So, I'm finally getting around to putting up pictures of our new place. The inside is looking pretty cute, so now I'm concentrating on getting the outside looking as cute. The owners said we can do whatever we want to the yard, so I don't need any more encouragement than that! I've started planting flowers, and I can't wait until May to get started on my garden. I'm not quite ready to take pictures of the outside, but here's some of the inside:

The girls play room

My mom made the bedspreads and curtains for the girls' room, and they turned out so cute! Thanks mom!!

Easter!

2009-04-14T14:24:00.005-04:00

Easter was pretty low key for us this year - just our family - but it was great being together! The week before Easter there was an Easter egg hunt at the cemetary a few blocks away from our house (I know, sounds creepy, but it's actually really pretty, and kind of like a park), so since Brian was out of town, I took the girls over by myself to get eggs and meet the Easter bunny. I got a few cute pictures. Then the day before Easter, our ward had a primary activity for the kids at the church, which was making an Easter bag, and then going on an egg hunt. The girls had a lot of fun. Later that afternoon, we went to the zoo. The weather was a little brisk, but it was so sunny and pretty outside that I didn't mind. Then that evening we colored eggs. I have to admit, Brian had to talk me into it, because I don't like coloring eggs with kids. Horrible of me, right? I just hate how big of a mess it makes for the whole 10 minutes it takes to color the eggs. And then getting the dye off of our fingers.....ugh. But hey, who am I to fight tradition? Our day was so busy and I was so tired that night, I was REALLY glad our church doesn't start until 2 pm. It gave us time to sleep in and for me to get dinner ready. We had several honorary Easter bunnies this year who sent treats and presents to the girls (thanks family members!), and strangely enough one of their favorite things they got was "Bunnies Chews", which basically looked like a little bowl of dog food. Jenicca's dog, Fozzy Bear, sent that one. We got some cute pictures, and of course had lots of egg hunts, that morning. For dinner I made beef tenderloin, double stuffed potatoes, and strawberry spinach salad, with homemade carrot cake for dessert. It was awesome, if I do say so myself. Even though we were just by ourselves this year, we had a really fun Easter, and here's the pictures to prove it:

Easter egg hunt at the cemetary

Meeting the Easter Bunny

At the primary Easter egg hunt

At the zoo with the polar bears

Makayla smelling the tulips

The girls in front of the beautiful tulips at the zoo

Doing their scary animal faces

Kylee getting serious about coloring eggs

I love how self-satisfied Makayla looks in this picture. She was very proud of her eggs!

The girls eating their "bunny food"

Showing off their Easter eggs

The cutest girls I've ever seen!

Mom guilt

2009-03-15T14:13:00.002-04:00

Well, our big moving day is coming up - in 6 days to be exact. I'm really excited for all the great things ahead of us, especially the living-in-a-real-house part, but boy am I plagued by a bad case of MOM GUILT right now. See, in the past when we needed or wanted to move, it was fairly easy, just pack everything up and move. But now that Kylee is five, with her friends and pre-school, and being much more aware of change, it's not as easy as it once was, mainly because now I wonder if I'm scarring her for life by taking her away from the things and people she loves. Today was our last day in our ward, and I was so sad for her having to leave her friends and her wonderful primary teacher. This week is her last week at pre-school, and I feel like a monster ripping her away from her beloved teachers and all of her friends, and even her bus driver Jim. Knowing Kylee, she will have new friends in no time at our new place, but still, how the heck do parents deal with this kind of guilt? This has made me wonder if my parents felt this guilty, because we moved a lot growing up. I just really hope that we can make as good of friends in our new ward, and that we don't have to move again until we're done with school!

NEW HOUSE!!

2009-02-08T13:14:00.004-05:00

I bet some of you thought I would be announcing that we are buying a house. I don't think so!! We're only poor students, remember? A lot of you already know this, but we found a cute little house to rent in Cincinnati, which means we are going to be moving. Yes, AGAIN. I think this will make 6 moves in the 6 years we've been married. I hope I don't have to eat my words for saying this, but we are NOT moving again until Brian's done with school. I MEAN IT! I thought I'd go ahead and post some pictures of our new (rental) house, so that people like my mom can get a sneak preview.

I know this little house doesn't look like a lot from the outside, but the owners are going to be doing more work on it when it gets warm, like putting more trim on the outside to separate the green colors, lots of landscaping, and roof work. And check out the 2 car detached garage in the back!

Part of the living room. If you're wondering why there's furniture in it, it's because the owner's sister has some of her stuff in the house while her house is having work done on it.

Dining room

Looking from the dining room into the kitchen.

Part of the kitchen.

Bathroom

View of front door/entryway from living room.

I know EXACTLY what's going down here - all the crap that's been taking up our closet and under-the-bed space for the past 6 years!

Part of the back yard. OH MY GOSH, A YARD!!

Can you tell that I'm a little excited about having a yard?

The Next Ice Age

2009-01-29T13:02:00.002-05:00

In case any of you haven't heard on the news, our area recently got blasted with an ice storm, the likes of which I haven't seen since living in Iowa, and which Brian hasn't ever seen in his life. Luckily, we're one of the lucky ones who didn't lost power (yet, anyway). Since we were all stuck at home yesterday, not able to go anywhere, we spent part of the day outside sledding with the kids and admiring the awesome power of Mother Nature. Here's some of the pictures we took:

You've gotta click on the pictures to see them bigger and check out the amazing detail.

A tree in our complex that snapped in half from the weight of the ice.

Kylee in front of a tree in front of our complex - this tree doesn't usually touch the ground.

Brian trying to scrape our car off, which seriously was an all day project. It took him ages just to get the car door open.

This is how thick the ice was that Brian chipped off our windshield. SOLID ICE!

Bangs!

2009-01-21T11:41:00.003-05:00

Well, I did something today that I swore I would never do - I cut bangs on one of my girls, Makayla to be exact. Her hair's been bugging me for awhile now, since it's starting to get long. I feel like if I don't put ponytails or a barrette in it, her hair just falls in her face all day and she looks like a little orphan. But since she always pulls the barrettes out, I decided maybe we'd try cutting some bangs. So, I did it! But now I need some feedback on this risky maneuver. Whatcha all think? Bangs or no bangs? Did I make a mistake and need to grow them out now?

Here's the before and after pic:

Before

After. I think I may have cut her bangs a titch too short.

Random Family Pics

2009-01-16T14:04:00.005-05:00

So, I have tons of random pictures from our trip to Utah, so I thought I'd just toss them in here for everyone's enjoyment.

Ila getting a horsey ride from Kylee

Andrew and Kylee watching a show together

6 of the 7 cousins: Ila, Benson, Tanner, Makayla, Andrew, and Kylee

Stacy reading stories to Andrew, Ila, and Kylee

Nathan and Andrew

Makayla being silly and wearing someone else's socks

Brooklyn with her dad Sterling

I just had to put in this picture of Brian's mom and Karen playing boxing on the Wii. She'll probably beat me for putting this picture up, but at least I didn't post the video!

The girls with their Grandma Olsen

Me and the girls with my Grandma Phillips

My gorgeous sister-in-law Stacy. Can you believe she's only 13?!

Andrew and Kylee with their beloved Aunt Stacy

Salt Lake Temple at Temple Square

The nativity scene on the reflecting pool at Temple Square

Becky and Kylee's Birthday

2009-01-15T14:26:00.004-05:00

I thought I'd put pictures from mine and Kylee's birthday together since they're only a day apart. On my birthday, Brian took me shopping and out to lunch, and then in the afternoon we took off to go down to Karen and Brian's house in Mt. Pleasant. We basically just had a big New Years Eve party and spent the night, which was really fun. The next day, Kylee's birthday, we took the kids to McDonald's and had a little birthday party, with present opening, and of course playing at the Playland. I think the kids had a great time. Kylee ended up getting a guitar (which has resulted in many "concerts"), Leggos, Candyland, a Disney read-along book, and a Spiderman Mr. Potato Head (Spider Spud). When we got back home (to Kentucky), she had a doll house waiting from Nana Phillips, and some Sleeping Beauty figurines from us to go with the house.

Me and my girls on my birthday

Kylee's birthday party at McDonald's

Tanner, Kylee, and Ila

Andrew and Ila helping Kylee open her presents

Kylee treating us to one of her impromptu concerts

Christmas in Utah, part 2: Fun in the snow

2009-01-15T14:07:00.003-05:00

So, it snowed about 2 feet of fresh snow while we were in Utah! We haven't seen snow like that in a LONG time, so of course the kiddos had to get out and play in it, and man did they have a blast!

Kylee playing in the snow after the first big snow storm.

Makayla chowing on the fresh snow.

The snow......um, bear?

Kylee getting ready to slide down the hill in the backyard.

Now it's Makayla's turn!

Andrew and Kylee being pushed by Stacy.

The little cousins out playing in the snow.

Christmas in Utah

2009-01-14T14:16:00.003-05:00

This year, we had the great fun of going to Utah to spend Christmas with Brian's side of the family. This was the first time we'd all been together for many years, and some of the cousins had never even met, so we had a fabulous time together (all 18 of us)! Our big family present this year was a Wii (thanks mom and dad!), and the girls got many other fun presents, including a couple of things from Disney World, a keyboard and coloring stuff for Kylee, a fairy and howling dog for Makayla, books, movies, clothes, play-doh, and babydolls for both. Here's some pictures of the mayhem. I hope my in-laws have gotten their sanity and hearing back by now! Oh, and if you're wondering why there's no pictures of me on Christmas, it's because I was sick and had pink eye in both eyes, and hey, I just can't allow pictures to be taken of me when I have to wear my glasses and not wear eye makeup!

Christmas Eve dinner. It was impossible to get everyone in the picture I guess.

Makayla opening one of her presents.

Makayla with her dog from Matt and Aline that barks, howls, and wags it's tail.

Kylee's keyboard from Matt and Aline - definitely a favorite!

Looks like we won't be bored this winter!

Makayla spending time with her favorite thing in the world, Polly the cat. My mother-in-law says that cat slept for 3 days straight after we left.

Festival of Lights

2009-01-14T13:55:00.005-05:00

I guess it's time to get to work on putting up our Christmas pictures! I thought I'd start with our trip to the Cincinnati zoo before Christmas for their Festival of Lights. They have the whole zoo lit up with lights, and they have Santa and Mrs. Clause, reindeer, characters walking around, and other fun things for kids. Even though it was freezing, the kids had a great time.

The girls with Mrs. Clause at story time

Kylee with Santa

Makayla with Santa (this was at our ward party)

Kylee and Makayla with their friend Aubrey in front of the BIG TREE

Our family in front of the big tree

Kylee with the freakiest looking Rudolph I've ever seen (does he have a nose ring?)

Florida: Part 3

2008-12-02T17:57:00.008-05:00

I thought I'd go ahead and post the pictures from our day at the Magic Kingdom. I'm telling you, there is NOTHING as fun as going to Disney World at Christmas! The lights, decorations, parades, fireworks, even if you're an adult, it'll make you feel like a kid! But if you have kids, PLEASE do everything you can to take your kids before they get too old. Trust me, you'll love it! And no, I don't work for, or hold stock in Disney.

I swear, I could not get those kids to look at the dang camera! Too much other stuff to look at!

The girls with Cinderella

Kylee adoring Sleeping Beauty

If you're wondering what Kylee is saying, let me go ahead and translate.

Kylee: "Ya know what? I have a Book of Mormon and it talks all about Jesus!"

Belle: "Oh ok, that's nice."

Disney photographer looking at me: "Did she just say JESUS?"

Me: "Yeah, I don't know, she's crazy!"

Time to get a last picture and get the heck out of there!

What a smile!

Kylee on the Buzz Lightyear ride, one of the funnest rides ever!

After getting off the Buzz Lightyear ride - she totally came up with this pose!

And what were grandpa and Makayla doing while we were on Buzz Lightyear? Zzzzzzzz...

Trying on Jack Sparrow hats and swords after getting off Pirates of the Caribbean.

My little Jamaican - ya mon!

Kylee and Grandpa on the Aladdin ride.

FINALLY, a smile!

Makayla and Nana waiting to get on the Jungle Cruise

Ok, heaven knows I tried to get a good picture of the castle at night (I was really far away and couldn't get closer due to the crowds). I learned I really need to read about the night function for my camera. This is without the flash.....

This is with the flash. Kinda blurry, but still awesome.

I took this from the far end of Main Street, where we were waiting for the parade to start. Man, i wish I had a professional camera!

Same shot with the flash. Shows the lights on Main Street better, but check out the crowds! It was crazy busy, but OH SO FUN!!

Florida: Part 2

2008-12-01T12:16:00.005-05:00

These pictures are what Floridians call "Real Florida." We took a day to go to a place called Blue Springs, which is a natural spring where tons of manatees go every winter to get away from the cold water. The spring is always 72 degrees, and the manatees go there because they can die from being in cold water. When we were there, there were about 150 manatees at the spring that day. We also took a 2 hour river cruise on the St. John's river, which is adjoined to the spring. The scenery was amazing, and we saw all sorts of wildlife such as the many different kinds of birds, and as you'll see in the pictures, 2 alligators!

The scarring on this manatee is caused from boats.

Shot of a big group of manatees hanging out.

I took this picture as we were standing on a pier that had steps that led into the water (because they allow swimming at the springs in the summer). This mom and baby swam right over to the bottom of the steps and just laid there for awhile. We literally could have reached in the water and touched them, but even though they're very friendly animals, they're protected and you're not allowed to touch them. It was so fun watching all the moms and babies!

This is a Great Blue Crane, or was it a Great Blue Heron? I thought this was a great picture.

See the little alligator eyes peeking out of the water? Most of the time this is all you see of the alligators in the wild. This picture reminds me of the crocodile on Peter Pan.

Now THIS is an alligator! I was standing up holding Makayla and trying to take this picture, so it's not as clear as I would have liked.

A cute little white crane.

Scenery from the boat. If you look close you can see a bird drying it's wings on the log sticking out from the water.

Me and my mom and the girls.

Thanksgiving and Florida: Part 1

2008-11-30T11:06:00.006-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Our Thanksgiving this year was a little out of the ordinary this year, but very nice. Me (Becky) and the girls went to my parents house in Orlando the week before Thanksgiving and we flew home on Thanksgiving (yes, Brian had to stay behind, poor thing, but my parents promised him we'd be back for Thanksgiving). So, we were getting back in the afternoon, and I knew it would be at least 4:00 before we got home, so obviously I wasn't going to be cooking a turkey dinner that day. I thought we could just go out to eat that evening and then I would cook a nice turkey dinner that weekend sometime.

Well, Thanksgiving morning I woke up feeling like crap. I knew I was coming down with a real doozy of a cold. The trip home went fine, but by the time we were driving home, the idea of going out to dinner sounded absolutely dreadful. I was thinking maybe we could just go get a frozen pizza or something. Well, to my wonder and surprise, when we got home, I found a turkey cooking in the oven, and all the fixin's, including homemade rolls, already made and ready to be cooked. And who was the wonderful little elf who arranged all this? My very own Brian of course! Isn't he a sly dog? Well, it was just what the doctor ordered. The smell of yummy food cooking in my kitchen lifted me out of my sick gloominess, and we ended up having a great dinner, just the 4 of us. It was GREAT!

So, I thought I should put up a few pics from our trip to Florida. The weather wasn't super warm, just in the 60's during the day most of the time (which resulted in a "winter warning"), so there were no beach trips, but we still had a great time, especially going to the Magic Kingdom. It'll probably take a couple of postings to get all the pictures up that I want. So here goes:

The girls in my parent's backyard in the wagon.

Makayla with a lime we picked off my parent's lime tree behind her. They're about the size of oranges!

All of these pictures were taken at Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney isn't a park so you don't pay to get in, but it's on Disney property. It's basically a really large outdoor shopping area, with ginormous toy stores with play areas you could get lost in for days, a couple of rides and lots of fun things to see. At night you can even take a boat across the lake to Pleasure Island, which is tons of fun, too. It's a really fun place to hang out and let the kids play and do your Disney shopping without paying to go to a park.

Halloween!

2008-11-01T20:52:00.009-04:00

Yesterday was Halloween , so of course I have lots of cute pictures of the girls in their costumes. Kylee was Sleeping Beauty this year, and Makayla was a pink fairy (thanks for the costumes, Grandmas!). I didn't know if we would end up going out trick-or-treating because Kylee wasn't feeling well, but she declared herself well enough to go, so out we went. We went to our bishop's neighborhood, and the girls had a FABULOUS time! They literally ran from house to house with Kylee screaming all the way up each driveway "TRICK OR TREEEEEEEEEEAT!!" After getting each treat, Makayla would run back to me as fast as she could, yelling "Mommy, mo' can'y!!" She was so excited with every candy she got, and refused to let us help her carry her bag. At one house, a man asked Kylee what kind of candy she'd like, and she replied, "I want something perfect." What a crack up! We had such a fun Halloween together! Anyway, here's also some pre-Halloween pictures to show us getting in the Halloween mood.

Painting Pumpkins

The girls with the finished pumpkins

At a pumpkin patch

Brian and I went to a Halloween party as Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Brian says I look just like his Grandma Olsen in this picture. I'd do anything to hear my mom scream when she sees this picture!

Kylee's Halloween party at school

Halloween

This was a great house!

Makayla checking out her loot

The neighborhood we were in had a small lake, so there were all these ducks running around and following people, trying to get their candy.

THE CANDY.

My saddlebags quiver with delight looking at this picture.

Ok, NOW can I start listening to Christmas music?

The 4th of the 4th

2008-10-29T17:50:00.002-04:00

So, this is another tag. You're supposed to go to your 4th photo file, pick the 4th picture, and talk about it, so here goes:

This is a picture I took at the Washington D.C. zoo when me and the girls were there earlier this spring visiting my family. This hippo was going nuts playing with that ball, grabbing it with his teeth and throwing it around and splashing like crazy. We watched him for a long time, because it was so entertaining. I've never seen a zoo animal so animated and fun to watch. If you've never been to the D.C. zoo, you HAVE to go! It's such a great zoo, plus it's free!

TAG! You're all it!!

Crazy 8 Tag

2008-10-25T19:50:00.002-04:00

So, I guess Lynn has tagged me, so here goes:

8 Favorite T.V. Shows

Amazing Race
Extreme Makeover:Home Edition
Survivor
Grey's Anatomy
Biggest Loser
Wheel of Fortune
Oprah
Ellen

8 Favorite Restaurants

Cheesecake Factory
Olive Garden
Macaroni Grill
Bombay House
California Pizza Kitchen
Dewey's Pizza
Outback Steakhouse
Cafe Rio (sure miss that place)

8 Things I Did Yesterday

Laundry
Vaccumed
Went to grocery store
Made celery stick "fingers" for Halloween party
Got the oil changed and tires rotated
Finished my costume for Halloween party
Made dinner
Went to Halloween party

8 Things I Love About Fall

Drives through the country to look at leaves
Fall decorations
Crisp fall air
Apple cider
Warm, snuggly clothes
Painting and carving pumpkins
The anticipation of the holidays right around the corner
Halloween!

8 Things On My Wish List

To get through school and get a REAL JOB
To rent a larger place so we don't feel so squashed
To eventually live closer to family
To get a 2nd car
To finish having kids before I'm 35
To get into shape
To have a fun and happy Christmas in Utah
For my kids to grow up happy and healthy

8 People I Tag

Janae
Jenni
Kristin
Chris
Tammy
Wendy
Karen
Whoever!

A conversation for another day...

2008-10-24T16:24:00.003-04:00

Ok, I just have to relate a really funny thing that happened at our house today that involves somewhat of a sensitive but funny subject. So, let me start off by saying that since we're a family of 3 girls to 1 boy, we don't generally find any need to discuss the (ahem) male anatomy. However, since there are boy cousins in the family, and since Kylee and her cousin Andrew have taken baths together, the subject has come up a few times, so we've found ourselves having to come up with a name for (ahem) IT. So, the name that has stuck for quite a while now is PEANUT. I think this started with Andrew calling it that, or maybe I heard it from my mother-in-law, but anyways, wherever it came from, that's what it's called around here (for now anyway). Now, some of you may be ashamed of me and my inability or unwillingness to teach my 4 year old the anatomically correct term, but hey, THAT just wouldn't sound right coming out of a little girl's mouth!! Besides, there's plenty of time to learn correct terms. Anyhoo, back to my story. So, today Kylee had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch (the peanut butter happened to be crunchy kind). At one point, Kylee pulled out a small peanut chunk from the sandwich and asked what it was, so I told her it was a peanut because that's what peanut butter is made out of. A look of horror came over her face as she said, "Peanut butter is made out of PEANUTS??!" It was about half a second before I understood what she thought, and then I fell on the floor laughing my guts out!! In my haze of hysterical laughing, I could hear Kylee saying random things like, "But that's for going potty..." Seriously, even now, I can't stop laughing about it! Luckily, by the time I stopped laughing, she was done eating, and had gone off to play, which is a good thing, because I'm not ready for THAT conversation. That's simply a conversation for another day.... or another couple of years, maybe. But heaven knows if she'll ever eat peanut butter again!

Road Trip!

2008-10-14T18:56:00.006-04:00

This past weekend, we took another drive over to Brown County, IN (we love that place) to check out the fall leaves and have some fun together. We took a bunch of back roads through the country, which was awesome, and we even stopped at a little country yard sale and bought a fishing pole for me for seven dollars (looks like I'll be earning my Wilderness Girl badge soon!). Ok, I just have to put in a little plug for Brian here. I don't know how he does it, but he takes all these random, out of the way roads all the time, and he doesn't even know where he's going, but we somehow ALWAYS end up exactly where we need to be! He's amazing, he's like a human GPS! So, one of the things we were looking forward to on our little road trip was taking some great pictures with our NEW CAMERA (I know, shocking that we finally traded up from our old 3.1 megapixel winner). Well, the weather was hot and bright, and it was a little hazy outside, so our pictures didn't turn out as great as I was hoping (most of them look like a ghost is standing in front of the camera), but oh well, I'm going to put them up anyway.

Makayla feeding me ice cream. And apparently I'm holding an invisible ice cream cone.

A glimpse of summer...

2008-10-09T21:25:00.002-04:00

As we say goodbye to summer, here's a last glimpse of the fun times we've had.