She's got hair!

Recently I have been learning how to make hair bows. I started with these cute little ones and decided to try them in Sara's hair. Lo, and Behold...She has hair! Not much, but enough to get into the clip. I suppose she looks a little like Pebbles, but I think she looks pretty darn cute and also a little bit bigger. My baby girl is growing up!

Anna saw me taking pictures of Sara and jumped on in. I took a bunch, but this is my favorite. Anna is in the middle of saying "I love Mommy!" One of my favorite phrases in the whole wide world!

Fun with Whip Cream

Anna and Sara both discovered the joy of whip cream in a can. Of course, it was with their dad's help that they discovered this.
Sara absolutely loved it. Then again, it was one of the first times she has tasted sugar. Looks like she is addicted! We thought she looked like Santa Claus with her little whip cream beard!

Got mud?

Tonight for FHE Rob and Anna made dirt cups. Anna thought that these were the greatest things. She kept asking for the snakes (worms) and then would make the hissing noise and slither around the floor. Sara also got into the dirt cups. She would scream until I would get some in her mouth. I think she ate more of mine than I did.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. I have the greatest mom in the world. She would do anything for her children or grandchildren. I know that she is always there when I need to talk or have a shoulder to cry on. She's the world's best babysitter and I know that my girls are in good care with her.
Happy Birthday Mom! I love you very much. Thank you for not only being my mom but one of my best friends!

Anniversary Trip

A couple of years ago Rob and I decided that we were going to take turns planning our anniversary. This year it was his turn. He surprised me by planning early and planning good! He booked a hotel in St. George and got tickets to Les Miserable at Tuacahn for this last weekend. So, Friday afternoon we dropped the girls off at my parents (thanks again Mom and Dad!) and headed out. Rob even remembered to stop in Beaver so I could get my squeaky cheese. We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant where we didn't have kids hanging all over us...It was wonderful. Afterward we headed to Ivins to the theater. It was beautiful! The red rocks were so gorgeous! As we made our way to our seats I realized that they were great ones. We were second row, center. When the performers sang, we could see them spit...That's how close we were! The show was incredible! There were live animals and fireworks, nothing you would see on Broadway. The performers all did a fantastic job in making you feel like you were really there. I even cried at a couple of parts (then again, I cry at everything!). I would highly recommend seeing this show, especially at Tuacahn.
And here we are, back in real life. We came home this afternoon and picked up the girls. It was a nice, quick short trip. I'm incredible impressed with Rob's planning. He's even already planned next years trip...Europe!

Home Depot

Hey everyone, it is Rob. Every now and then, I have something worth sharing with all of you. Today, I was the recipient of some external perspective. I went to Home Depot today to pick up a few items, including caulking to reinstall the bathroom sink (see earlier post why this was necessary). One of my big upcoming projects is to make a violin. Yup, you read correctly, I am going to make a violin from scratch. I have been wanting to do it for a few years now, have been doing tons of research, and am finally ready to get going on it. I believe that the person who can make a violin can do anything with wood.
Anyway, back to Home Depot. I go over to the tool section looking some hardenable tool steel to make a few specialty tools. I guess it was obvious that I wasn't finding what I was looking for, so the little old man in an orange apron came over to help. The exchange went something like this:
Old man: "Is there something I can help you with?"
Me: "Yes, I am looking for some hardenable tool steel. Some flat stock."
Old man: (Looking at the customer, me, like I have a pet raccoon sitting on my shoulder).
Me: "I need to make some tools."
Old man: (Apparently that raccoon is now starting to gnaw on the side of my head). "You are different, aren't you?"
I have seen this guy a few times at the American Fork Home Depot, since I seem to be there a couple times per week, but we do not know each other. I am not denying that other people have not asked me similar questions, but generally they need to spend more than 12 seconds with me.

Happy Anniversary!

When I was cleaning out some stuff the other day I found my journal that I kept when I started "dating" Rob. And today being our anniversary, I thought it would be fun to share how me met and fell in love. This may be a little confusing and long. The story begins with Wade. Those of you who have known me a long time know my history with him. I met him the summer after high school , and I have to admit, I was pretty infatuated with him. We wrote while he was on his mission and then continued while I was on mine, neither of us really expecting anything. When I returned home we started dating and ended up living next door to each other at Raintree in Provo. That's when we decided that we were better off as friends (that's the nice, short version!). Wade had a cute roommate, Adam, and we started hanging out together. Adam had a friend (old mission companion) named Rob who also hung out with us. I decided to set Rob up with one of my friends, Nikki. We all had such a great time together, none of us really pursuing a relationship. About four months later I had to go to the doctor for a routine check up. Rob and Adam were in the parking lot working on a car. When I told them were I was going Rob said if I was dying he would bake me cookies from scratch, but if not he would bring me brownies from a box. That night he showed up at my apartment with brownies from a box, saying he took a chance. In that short amount of time that he was there his car was towed, so I had to take him to get it out. It was there, sitting in my car, waiting, that I began to look at him differently. He was cute, gorgeous blue eyes and, of course, amazing hair (he always says that's why I fell in love with him). He was one of the most considerate guys I had ever met. A couple of days later he came to thank me for helping him out and gave me one of the greatest hugs. That hug changed everything! This was on April 1. We had our first kiss on April 6, our first date on April 10 ( a little backwards, I know) and said I love you on the 11th. Eight days later we were unofficially engaged (looking back it probably would have been sooner but Rob ended up going to Kansas for five days) and four months later we were married.
Wow! I look back at that time line and can't believe we went that fast! No wonder my mom was so worried! If one of my daughters did this to me I would kill her! So, nine years and five kids later, here we are. We have gone through so much together, each time coming out so much stronger. I love you Rob. Thank you for being my best friend. Happy anniversary!

Pictures

The pictures on the side of my blog were taken by my SIL, Jana, for the 4th of July. I haven't been able to get the CD to work so I had to copy them from the place where I ordered the pictures. I just have to say that I have the cutest kids, of course, I am a little biased!

Eight more lives

So, speaking of Anna, I could not believe what my little sweetheart did today. I had taken off my wedding ring to wash her hair and set it on the side of the sink. She began to play with it while I was doing her hair and I didn't really think much about it. The drain was closed, so what sort of damage could she do, right? Well, if there was a way, she would find it. She pushed my wedding ring down the overflow hole. I about died. I called Rob and told him what had happened, in tears of course. He calmly told me not to worry about it, but to move Anna so she couldn't turn the water on. Anna felt so bad. She kept rubbing my arm and bringing me toilet paper. She then told Rob that mommy was mad because she had lost her ring. I think if I had not been so upset I might actually feel a little bad for her. Needless to say, Rob and my Dad were able to get my ring back, but they had to take the whole sink apart! I wish that I had been thinking more clearly and taken some pictures, but that was the last thing on my mind. I wonder if Anna realizes that she only has eight more lives left!

Ballet

Anna started ballet today. She was so excited. She did so well. She didn't even cry, until it was time to go. Then she only cried because she didn't want to leave. I did realize that I am going to have to teach her how to stretch. She was a little crazy when it came to that part, but other than that she did great. She looked so cute in her little tights and shoes. I love that we are at the time in her life where she gets to go out and do things. She is such a social butterfly.

Family Reunion

Like I mentioned in my previous post, we attended a family reunion this weekend down in Fairview Canyon. So we borrowed Rob's parent's tent trailer, loaded it up, gathered my parents and Kassi and headed south. It was the first time we have taken the girls camping, and boy, it was an adventure. It actually got pretty cold last night and no one had brought adequate bedding. Anna refuses to sleep with any covers on and if we try to put them on her she would cry. So, of course, she woke up freezing in the middle of the night, crying, and woke up Sara as well. Let's just say, a fun night was had by all. I will be surprised if Kassi ever reproduces!
Last night we had a family home evening where my Uncle Alan taught us a great and fun way to remember President Hinkley's 6 B's. (If anyone wants a fun FHE lesson, e-mail me and I will clue you in).
The next morning my Aunt Kris had a plethora (wow! good word usage on my part!) of activities planned for the little kids. The above picture shows Anna decorating her nature walk bag. They had these little felt bags that they were able to decorate with felt stickers of butterflies, flowers and shapes. They then went on a walk and gathered all sorts of "nature" to put into their bags.

Here Anna is gathering things for her nature bag. We ended up with wild flowers, rocks, weeds, acorns and berries.

Rob took this picture of Kassi and she told us that we couldn't put it in our blog. Well, here it is. I wish I could roll out of bed thinking that I looked bad and look this great! You're such a cutie Kassi!
I realized that I didn't take a lot of pictures of Sara, so here she is. I can't believe my little girl is 7 months old! I actually had their pictures taken last month and as soon as I can get a working CD I will post them. They turned out so cute!
Another fun activity that was planned...All the little kids were given bug catching kits. Anna and my parents went around catching bugs this afternoon. She caught a grasshopper and thought it was so great. I'm so glad that she isn't afraid of bugs!
Here we all are having a picnic lunch before heading out.
Anna had to be Daddy's little helper. Here she is trying to help Rob take down the tent trailer.
Rob decided that if she wanted to help him, he was going to put her to work. He taught her how to crank it down and she did the whole thing all by herself.
Way to go Anna! All in all we had a great time, but we are so tired! I think one camping trip per year is good!

Learning to Fish

We had a family reunion this weekend and we were told that there would be an opportunity to go fishing. Anna received a fishing pole for Easter and Grandpa got it out and started to teach her how to use it. Funny thing, though, she already knew how. There is an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that has Mickey fishing and she had grasped that. It was so cute to watch her cast it and roll it in. Grandpa had a fun time watching her as well.

Kassi

Okay...I got a lot of grief for not actually posting a picture of Kassi on her birthday post, so here you go. This is Kassi, Jayde and Anna on her actual birthday. Hope you enjoyed your day Kassi!

Anna got tagged

Anna was recently tagged by a son of one of my friends. This is going to be interesting, so here we go!
Some of Anna's favorite activities:
Jumping on the trampoline
Coloring
Playing with her Barbie and her babies
Playing with friends
Getting the car washed (I think she likes this because the nice lady gives her a sucker every time)

Anna's favorite TV shows:
Curious George
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Super Why
Little Einsteins
Backyardigans
Anything with Princesses in it

Her favorite places to go:
Grandpa and Grandma's house
Alli's house
Library
The car wash

Her favorite vacation spot:
Disneyland (I think this was said because we are gearing her up for it again...we are headed there in October)

Her favorite things to eat:
Pizza
Chicken Nuggets
Fries
White cheese
Cinderella fruit snacks

What she wants to be when he grows up:
She has no idea what this means.

Favorite Preschool activity:
She won't be able to answer this one for another couple of months. She will be doing Joy school with a couple of her friends that we did play group with. She is so excited to be with her friends again.

Now Anna tags: The Crane Girls, The Rodger Girls, Erika Woolstenhulme, Chase and Mason, Jack Rowser
(BTW...I won't be too offended if you decide not to do this!)

Kassi's Birthday

We went to dinner with the Hadfield Family for Kassi's birthday. It's hard to believe that my little sister turned 24. Crazy! Anyway, there was a fountain next to the restaurant and so Anna and her cousin, Jayde, had a lot of fun. They love to play together and hang out with Grandpa and Grandma.
Sara was done by the time we left. I just thought that this was a cute picture of Sara loving her Daddy.
Here they are playing in the water. Casey thought it would be a fun game to dip Jayde's hand into the water and have her rub it on other people. She got Grandpa pretty good.

BYU Football Woman's Clinic

I attended the BYU Football woman's clinic tonight. It was a lot of fun and pretty informative. We got to meet a couple of the players and coaches, take a tour of the locker room, get autographs and learn what they do during practices. They even had us running some of the drills. I am now so excited for football season to start. I might even understand some of what is going on now!
Here I am in the middle of LaVell Edward's Stadium. Coach Mendenhall answering some questions. He seem like a very down to earth kind of guy.
Some of the players during the question and answer portion. They seem like a fun group of guys. Oh, and just so you know only about four of the guys in this group are not Eagle Scouts. Just thought you would like to know!