Happy 3rd Birthday Megan

Megan turned 3 on September 16th. Amazing how fast time has flown with her. There is such a difference in her physical appearance and her personality over the last year. I sometimes look at her and think, "where did you come from?" I always tell myself that life would have been really quiet if we only had Kate. Megan came along to ensure I always have something to do. She keeps me busy. She can be a total terror one minute and a complete sweetheart the next. She loves to do everything her big sister Kate does.

 Kate took this photo and Megan and me during the day.

 She loves "Ariel" so we had an Ariel themed party. We kept it mellow this year, I wasn't about to do another Circus for her.

Potty Trained...Finally!

This stinker is finally potty trained! It was about a week before she turned 3 and I decided we were going to do it once and for all. This picture is from over the summer during another attempt. I'm happy to say she is diaper free during the day and rarely has an accident anymore. The first few weeks after our final potty training attempt she would still have an accident about every other day. It still amazes me how different siblings can be. How does the DNA mix so differently?

Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

Keith, Dad and I ran in the Big Cottonwood Canyon Half Marathon on September 14th. It was a tough one. It was all down hill and Keith and I couldn't walk for a couple of days afterwards. I tried so hard to get a PR but I just missed it by several seconds. I was pretty impressed with how I did considering I went to the Dr on Tuesday and discovered I had Strep Throat and Keith went on Wednesday with a Bacterial Infection. I rested all week and was totally drained but I powered through and still survived.

Preschool (take 2)

Kate started her 2nd (and a half) year of preschool on September 3rd. It took her a while to warm up to this teacher and class but after almost two months she now gets excited to go to class. She has made a friend or two and enjoys playing with them during class and during field trips. It's so crazy to think that in about 10 short months this little bug will be starting kindergarten.

This year I decided to take Kate school shopping. At this age it's pretty easy. She isn't super picky when it comes to clothes so I still get to pick most of it out. The only thing I can't get this girl to wear is jeans. She won't wear 'em, at all, so we settled on a couple of pairs of "jeggings."

Virginia

The girls, me, and Hayley had an opportunity to fly to Virginia to visit Mallory and family. We left Thursday the 15th at about 10:00 am and returned Sunday the 18th at about 7:00 pm. It was the perfect length for us. The only other time that I have flown with the girls is when we went to Disneyland a year ago and that flight only last about an hour and half. I've been refusing to travel with my girls to see Mallory and family for a few years simply because I didn't want to make the 4 hour flight with little ones. I wouldn't have gone alone so when we had the chance to go with Hayley it was hard to say no.

 Kate and Hayley were plane buddies for most of the flight there.

 Meg had to sit next to me to start but she did get her fair share of sitting next to Hayley. 

 Most of the trip was low key. Since the time difference and the kids being so young still, we didn't want to wear anybody out by trying to do too much in such a short trip. One day we went for ice cream and Bryson was able to show us one of his favorite parks. 

 Cute little Kellan is so adorable!

 I think Megan liked him a lot!

 Friday night Mallory, Hayley, and I went out for a girls night. We ate at a place called Matchbox. We shared a pizza, berry salad, and had some yummy mini hamburger sliders. It was good to get out with just us girls. I'm not sure we've ever had a chance to all go out and chat as sisters should. With the age difference between Hayley and me and the distance between us and Mallory it's hard to connect. I'm hoping someday Mallory will be able to move back home and we can do it more often.

On Saturday we went to a nearby fair. It was...okay. Honestly the Salt Lake County Fair is better but the kids still had fun. They were able to get their faces painted, enjoyed some rides and we even got snow cones. 

 Hello Kitty

 Elmo

I will note: I think this is the first time Megan was willing to get her face painted.

On Saturday night we hung out at home and took the kids out back to ride bikes. I think us women had more fun trying to ride the tricycle.

Sunday was our last day and we didn't have to fly out until about 4:00 so we decided to head into DC area to explore. We stopped at Georgetown Cupcakes and enjoyed yummy cupcakes for a mid morning snack. 

 Bryson is seriously the craziest eater I know. He knows how to thoroughly enjoy his food!

And of course Megan just licked her frosting... 

 We tried to do a little sight seeing but I'm not sure the kiddos appreciated it. On the way up to see the Lincoln Memorial, Megan asked, "What about Jesus?" I had to explain that this wasn't Jesus, it was Abraham Lincoln and he was a president of our country. I think they're still a little young for historical sight seeing.

 Its so hard to get good pictures of multiple little kiddos. Plus Megan and Kate were busy munching on bananas.

 Jefferson Memorial.

 White house.

 On the flight home I was seated in a row with Kate and Megan, and Hayley was across the aisle from us. I figured she was burnt out from being around kids for four days so I made the girls stay on the row with me. Megan and I made four trips to the airplane bathroom and one visit included Kate. Cramming all three of us in a little airplane bathroom was an adventure. 

 Kate did awesome and was able to self entertain most of the time. Megan on the other hand was very needy. It's always been that way. Kate is awesome at entertaining herself. She is like me, she is my independent one who doesn't mind being alone. Megan on the other hand enjoys being with people constantly and I think secretly (or not so secretly) likes to torment just like her father.

It was a great trip but I'm very glad we made it back home in one piece.

This thing called life

Where does time go everyday? I've become such a slacker at blogging lately but I have a new found determination to blog more regularly. I treat this blog as my journal and one day I hope to print it out and turn it into an actual book. I've started various scrapbooks multiple times and I think I've finally accepted the fact that I'm not a scrapbooker. I can blog, but I can't scrapbook.

Two weeks ago my co-Sunday School teacher, Amy Green, gave the lesson on the importance of Journals. It really struck me because I hadn't touched this blog since February. Almost 6 months ago! Last week, I tried to catch up as best I could over the last six months and hopefully I can continue to do at least a post every week or so. Our day to day life isn't glamorous or anything to write home about but I want our girls to have a record of their childhood and that they were raised in a gospel centered, loving, happy home. Occasionally I plan to write about our struggles in hopes that our struggles will help them in their future endeavors.

Trampoline Park!

This past week Keith and I were both off on Wednesday. Since I now work part-time for the school district, we no longer have a day off together during the week usually. We had some gift certificates to a trampoline park, "Get Air," in Kaysville so we decided to take the girls. It was so much fun! We had enough on the gift certificates that Keith and I were able to jump as well. It totally made me feel like a kid again. It was so fun to just take an hour and jump around with the girls and be silly. 

Blurry Jumping Photos: