Complete and Utter Randomness

I was going through my pictures and found some that I haven't blogged about. They are in no particular order and are just really random!

The kids thought it would be fun to completely empty the bookshelf. Needless to say I was NOT happy about it and took awhile to clean up.

I went to check on Vika before I went to bed one night and this is how I found her. She was out cold and didn't even flinch when I put her back in her bed.

Grandma Teri bought Conner this Captain America helmet. He loves dressing up in his Super Hero stuff!!

Conner decided to see how many tattoos he could put on his stomach. He put them all on by himself!

Conner has been doing really well on his drums! He is learning something new almost every time we meet with his instructor!

My Dad gave me this old window forever ago. (I forgot to take a before pic) I finally stained it and put flowers in it! It's now hanging in my stairwell.

Conner was just being crazy, and begged me to take his picture!

Instead of taking a nap Vika made a road with her books! She makes me laugh!

Happy 6th Birthday!!!

Conner is 6! When did he get so old? I love this boy more and more everyday! He makes me laugh, cry, smile, scream, you name it. He keeps me guessing everyday, and honestly he changes everyday! I really don't want to know what my life would be without him in it.

Some of his favorite things:

*superheros - he loves them all and it changes everyday (sometimes every hour) which one is his favorite!

*School - he loves school. He would go on the weekends if he could.

*His sister - They have a love/hate relationship, but for the most part he just adores her and wants to spend time with her!

*Doritos - He loves to eat them any time of day. Sadly, because we are all trying to support Daddy he doesn't get them as often as he would like.

*Babies - well small children in general. He is so good with little kids and loves it when he can teach them to say things!

*Friends - Conner has become very social since he started kindergarten, and loves all his new friends, and his old ones too.

*His Daddy - he has his Daddy wrapped around his finger. They are best buds, they even call each other 'Brothers'.

*Halloween - His all time favorite holiday! In his head its like a gift to himself to have such a fun holiday right after his birthday!

I love my duders even when he makes me want to pull out my hair! He really is such a sweet boy, and loves to make others feel good.

1st Day of Preschool

Wednesday was Vika's 1st day of preschool. She was so excited that she woke up super early and got dressed right away. She didn't realize that she wasn't starting until 11:30, funny girl. She loved that she got her preschool shirt just like Conner's, and she got her own bag with her name on it!

She looked so pretty all ready to go and meet her new friends!

I can't believe that my baby is starting preschool already. She grew up way too fast.

1st Day of Kindergarten

Today was a very big day for Conner. I can't even express in words how excited he was that today he could actually go to school. I am very excited for him too, but I'm also nervous and sad. I just know he is going to love it and have so much fun, and learn a lot!!

Last night he couldn't wait to lay out his new school clothes! Dave told me he used to lay out his clothes just like this! :)

He was so ready to go that he practically left us all behind!

It was super hot when he dropped him off, that he is sweating! He kept pointing for me to come stand by him. I wanted him to adjust without me, so I refused. He seemed to be ok.

He is waving Goodbye as he walks into his classroom! He is kind of smiling! :)

I'm super excited that he is in his classroom, and no one was crying! Yea!

I am just waiting for the time I need to leave to pick him up! I can't wait to hear all about his first day!! Vika of course is really whiney, because that's what she does when I'm not giving her 100% of my attention.

Slimming Down

Since October Dave has been losing weight. He currently sits at a 70 lbs weight loss, and is still going. I am so proud of him. He started out just watching what he was eating, and counting calories. He has now added some gym time to his routine. The kids are learning more about what it takes to be healthy and stay healthy, and its been an adjustment at times for them when Daddy isn't able to be home because he's at the gym. We fully support him going to the gym, and are very proud that he is choosing to go. I love Dave so much and I'm glad he is choosing to be healthier and stick around longer with me and our family!!

Before pic was July 2010, Current pic was August 2011.

Our 24th of July Fun

For the 24th (well actually 23rd) we went to the Salt Lake Bees game! We went with Dave's family, curtesy of Bro-in-law Matt!! It was a really good game. In the first inning they hit 2 homeruns!! They ended up winning 18-8, they played amazingly well.

Dave's aunt took the kids to get their faces painted. Vika got a girl bee that was glittery!

And Conner got a boy baseball bee, notice the baseball bat and hat!!

After the game they had a very awesome firework show, the kids loved it! Right at the finale of the fireworks Vika had to go potty. She was very bummed when she heard the crowd cheering at the end. :( It was a very late night, but we had a ton of fun!

Our 4th of July Fun

Our 4th of July was lots of fun. We had a great BBQ at my parent's (tradition). The kids had fun playing together, and the adult kids had fun as well. Deb brought really yummy festive cupcakes, my Grandma brought her delicious chocolate cake, and I made 2 apple pies. We definitely had our fill of awesome desserts. Not to mention all the other yummy food we had. :)

My parents had fun with the grandchildren, pictured are only 6 of their 9 grandchildren (we really missed the oldest grandchild Devun who wasn't able to be with us)! This pic was taken while some of the grown-ups were playing football or volleyball.

My sweet little girl had so much fun playing in the muddy garden. I had to take a pic so that I wasn't yelling at her for getting so dirty in her new white skirt. I guess I have only myself to blame for buying her white!!

We ended the night with a pretty good firework show, with a little bit of rain!! On the drive home we enjoyed even more fireworks!

St. George

Dave and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary in June by taking a 9 day trip to St. George! It was fabulous. We went to the gym together, which we are never able to do at home. We lounged and watched movies, and basically did whatever we wanted to do without kids!!

We even took a couple days and drove to LA for a Dodgers game. The game was at noon so basically we roasted for 4 hours, but it was a lot of fun. And we totally lucked out by going on throwback day. The concessions were all half price, they wore old school jerseys, and they were even calling themselves the Brooklyn Dodgers for the day!!! :)

We had excellent seats! We were front row on the 3rd base side! That is Matt Kemp signing autographs!

We forgot to take more pics so you get stuck looking at this awful phone camera pic! We are just hanging out on the nice comfy couch!!

All in all we had such a great vacation! We will definitely be doing this every year!

Big Happenings

Vika had her 3 year well check! She absolutely loves going to the dr, and she was by far the happiest person in the whole place! She had the nurses and the dr cracking up. The dr even said he would hang out with her all day long if he could!! :)

She is still really tiny. 25 lbs 5%, 33.5 in 1%, BMI 54%. At least she is healthy, and potty trained, and also very happy!

Its time of year! Conner will be graduating from his last year of preschool. I am kind of sad to see my boy grow up so fast, but it will be fun to see how he does in kindergarten next year!

If you would like to come see him graduate just let me know and I will give you the address! :) BTW this pic was taken at school for his graduation invitation. It says "School is cool, and so am I!"

Vika is 3

Happy Birthday Vika!!! My little girl is not so little anymore. She is already 3. I can't believe she is that old, mostly because she is so tiny. I am so glad she is in our family, I honestly couldn't imagine not having her in my life.

I love that she dresses herself, and loves to pick out her own clothes (even when she doesn't match). I love how independent she is becoming. She has to brush her teeth every morning by herself, and then at night after I do it.

I love that she reads books to herself. She has gotten really good at memorizing her books and then reading them to herself at night before she falls asleep. Its really cute to hear her over the baby monitor reading all her books! I have even found her snuggled up to her books in her bed, instead of her mounds of stuffed animals!! Funny girl.

I love her fiery personality, and that you never know what is going to come out of her mouth. She has the biggest vocabulary, and since she was a baby has been copying everyone. I love her temper and that she can get so mad at something so fast and then quickly forget about it. She can get an attitude with people, usually me, and I still find it hilarious. She is way too much like her mom, and sometimes I wonder if thats really a bad thing.

Her most recent accomplishment is being potty trained! She passed with flying colors! She only had 2 accidents in 3 days and loves to sit on her princess potty because it plays music when she goes in it!!! I am so proud of how fast she picked up on it, and that I am no longer dealing with diapers all day long!

I love this little girl to death and wouldn't trade her for anything. Some of her favorite things include, but aren't limited to:

*Hello kitty everything

*Princesses-right now its Rapunzel (Mapunzel), and Cinderella

*Coloring especially with markers

*Looking pretty

*Fruit snacks

*Chocolate

*Grandma

*Playing with her brother

*Going to lunch with Mommy

*Getting a treat for going potty

*Girls Scout Cookies-Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Dosi Dos

*Getting her nails painted

*Books

*Wearing her princess cape and calling herself BatGirl

*Watching movies

*Playing with her cousins

*Going to nursery-so that she can sing the songs

*Bagels with strawberry cream cheese (because its pink)

*The color pink-she thinks that anything that is pink is hers

There are tons more things I could name here, but I will spare you hours of reading.

A Man's Best Friend

Conner likes dogs. Let me rephrase that, Conner REALLY likes dogs. If it were up to him we would own a dog. Thankfully for Dave and I he is not in charge of those kinds of decisions.

Conner likes to hang out with Deb's little dog Kaya. He really wanted his picture taken right here, and yes he posed himself like that!!! :)

Picnic Day

My kids love it when I let them have a picnic in the living room. This is usually something I do when its rainy, and dreary outside so that we can all get in a better mood.

Pineapple Bread

My awesome calendar this year has a new recipe every month. The recipe for April sparked my attention enough to try. This pineapple bread was so yummy I am going to have to make lots and lots.

Pineapple Bread

Ingredients:

Cooking Spray

2 Eggs

1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3/4 C Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

3 T Orange Juice

1 1/2 C Pineapple Chunks, drained

2 1/2 C Flour

3 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 C Walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1. Spray Bread Pan

2. Beat eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, and orange juice together. Stir in pineapple chunks.

3. In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

4. Add dry ingredients to pineapple mixture.

5. Fold in walnuts.

6. Pour into sprayed pan.

7. Bake at 350 degrees F. Check at 50 minutes. Test to see if toothpick comes out clean. If not, check every 5 minutes until done. Cool in loaf pan for 15 minutes and then move to cooling rack.

8. Store in refrigerator.

We all love this bread, my kids are big fans! :) I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Turkey Bean Chili

Dave found this recipe for a healthy chili, and so I decided to try making it. It was very easy, although I did cut the recipe in half. I took pictures through the cooking process so that you could see just how yummy, and easy it is!!

First: I cooked 1 lb ground turkey with 1 green pepper and 1/2 onion (I don't like a lot of onion so I only used half, you can use all you want). When the meat is no longer pink, drain and pour into soup pot.

Second: I added to the meat 1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, 1 can (15 oz) black beans, 1 can (15 oz) chili beans, and 1 can (28 oz) diced tomato-all with their juices. I also added 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper, 1/2 tsp ground Cumin, and 1/2 tsp Chili Powder. Bring it to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Third: Serve as soup with cheese and sour cream or as a nice chip dip! And Enjoy!

Life passing by...

I haven't blogged in awhile, so I thought I would just say something. Life seems to be going by very fast lately. I think its because we do the same things over and over every week, and there is rarely something out of the ordinary, except my kids of course. They are always testing me, making me smile, and just being plain cute!!! I love being a mom, most days, when the kids are actually getting along and being civil with each other. Then we have days where they just fight non-stop, and half the time they do it just get the other one to scream and get mad. WHY? I don't understand these days, but we get through them. Luckily, I have the BEST husband in the world. When he gets home from work on the bad days, he will give me a break, and just take over for the night. Its so nice to have someone that understands when I need to just go in another room for awhile and be by myself!! I really am a lucky girl to have such a wonderful husband, and 2 amazing kids!!

Lets just hope that March is full of sunshine, and happy kids!! :)

Listen to this playlist: shrilly_princess's Playlist

Snow Day

These pics were taken awhile ago, but they are really cute, and I feel like sharing them!! I let the kids play in the snow. This was back before they were so sick all through January.

Vika was posing for me!!

And then Conner asked me to take a picture of him on his bike!!

I really can't wait for spring. I am in desperate need of some warm weather, and letting the kids out of the house!!!

Just Vika being silly

Last week I was trying to have a great discussion with Vika while Conner was at preschool. I drove to the temple parking lot, and because it was so cold we stayed in the car. I told her some things we do in the Temple. And then I was telling her that we need to be like Jesus. She got really confused and said, "But Jesus is a boy, Mom!" I laughed and tried to tell her that even though he is a boy we need to be like him because he was always nice to others and he is a great example for us. She wouldn't listen to me anymore because I was asking her to be like a boy!!

She just cracks me up sometimes!!! I love her and her smart little brain!

My Word For 2011

I miserably failed on my word from last year. Not only did I not TRY to find Joy in my life, but I made it so my family didn't either. I was such a horrible mom, and wife last year. I found myself yelling more than I was talking. :( There were some good times last year, for example the 3 family weddings we got to enjoy: Joanna (Dave's sister) got married in San Diego in January. Steve (Dave's brother) got married in July in Couer D' Alene (no idea how you spell it) Idaho. And then my baby brother Sheeb got married in August here in Utah. We had a lot of fun participating in all the weddings!

I vow to right now to be a much better person this year!! I am not going to yell every time I want my kids to do something, or even when I am trying to just talk to them. I am not going to yell at my husband. My new words for this year are "FUN" and "PLAY". I really need more fun in my life, and so do my kids. I have been the most boring mom, and I usually refuse to get into the spirit of holidays. I leave that up to their grandma, she loves doing things for every holiday. I just get so overwhelmed by the thought of doing things that I don't end up doing anything. I am such a bad mom. This year is going to be much better! In fact it already has been better!! Minus the fact that both kids were extremely sick all weekend.

Not only am I going to be more fun with my kids, but also my husband. We haven't been able to go on many dates recently because he has been working more than normal. We did however, get to have an amazing New Years together!! The kids were at my sister's ALL day on New Year's Eve, while I was at the spa with my inlaws getting an awesome 90 minute pedicure!! That evening Dave and I went to pick up the kids and take them to Grandma Teri's for the night. Thats right, they both slept over with their grandma!!! Dave and I went back to my sisters for lots of food and games! It was so nice to have that break and be able to have both of us play all the games!! New Year's Day we got to sleep in, and get ready at our leisure and then we went shopping all day! We had fun buying jeans together, and eating an awesome Thai lunch. In the middle of lunch Dave's mom called and asked if she could take the kids to a movie! "Are you serious?" Is what both of us said!! So, we just hung out and took a nap and waited for them to get back!! I seriously couldn't have asked for a better New Year's than that!! So, not only am I going to focus and playing this year, but I had the great opportunity to start the year by getting to have FUN with my husband!!! :)

I hope you all had a great New Year's as well!!