January 20th- January 26th 2013

01-20-13

Kailee gave her very first talk in Primary on Sunday. Ryan wrote her talk for her and typed it up all cute.

I was so nervous for her. She was excited. At first she asked me if I would help her give her talk. When it was almost her turn, she changed her mind and wanted Ryan to help her. 

She did a fabulous job. She was a little shy about it, but she did it. She even talked loud enough to be heard. 

It couldn't have been better. Before she got up, we were sitting in the back of the room next to the Lawsons. They asked me who was going to give Kailee's talk for her, me or Ryan. I said we were hopeful that she would do it on her own. And, she did! 

We are so proud of you Kailee!

After church, Ellie cuddled up next to Ryan. She fell asleep shortly after. These girls love their daddy!

01-23-13

I had the Beehives over on Wednesday for mutual. We had originally planned to do an activity with the Activity Days girls, but that didn't work out. I couldn't think of anything inexpensive to do, so at the last minute decided we would work on Personal Progress and make some cookies to take to someone.

We made chocolate chip cookies and no-bake cookies. We overcooked the first batch of chocolate chip cookies. The girls didn't work on their personal progress. They just wanted to visit. And, that's fine.

We later took the cookies to a lady in the ward that Chellene suggested could use a visit. Sister Hintz. When we got there she told us it was her birthday. She was happy for the visit and we were happy we visited her. I am grateful Chellene suggested her for a visit.

01-24-13

Kailee went to TumbleKats again on Thursday. She loves it. That girls spends so much of her day twirling, doing cartwheels, backbends and handstands. She loves it.

Our neighbor Ellie Hoggan is in that same class. It will be fun to visit with Carlee during the class. 

During this class, they were doing handstands. Kailee did one for the first time without being against the wall. I wish I had the camera with me. It was really neat to see. Good job Kailee!

When we got home from tumbling, Ryan took off for school. He really likes this teacher. He says she teaches  in a way that none of his other teachers have. He gets what she is talking about. Yay! Here's to hoping he passes with an A!

01-25-13

It has been COOOOLLLLD lately. In the teens during the day. Freezing. Ryan wanted to break this icicle down weeks ago. I asked him to leave it so we could see how long it would get. It warmed up a little bit on Friday and this ice caused us a big problem. It started to melt and the water went behind the siding and inside the wall in the dining area. Fabulous. Now we need to repaint. A project we did not want to do.

Cute Ellie. She is such a girl. She always wants to wear a dress. I wouldn't let her wear a dress this day because she wet her pants. Instead she decided to wear all her necklaces and bracelets. 

01-26-13

Ryan and I went through all our clothes and cleaned out on Saturday. I have been wanting to do this for a while. Our closet has been so crowded it's hard to see what we have. We got rid of a lot. I tried on almost every single item and Ryan told me to keep it or give it away. He just got rid of what he hasn't worn for a while or anything with holes in it. Our closet feels like a brand new closet. This picture isn't even all of it. We ended up with three LARGE black bags full. After that, we went through the laundry closet. Man, I love to de-junk! I love the feel of clean and simple. Thankfully, Ryan doesn't mind. Sometimes I think our house looks empty, but, we like clean and simple!

Ellie got out all the pez dispensers. She had them lined up in a train. Kailee turned them all around. They asked me to take a picture. Yes, they are silly. 

Then, Kailee asked me to take a picture of her. Ok.

January 13th- January 19th 2013

01-13-13

Our church is now at 11am. I LOVE it at this time. We had enough time to get up and get ready without rushing around. LOVE IT! 

Kailee went into Sunbeams on Sunday. Ryan and I were so excited for her, but we were also nervous for her. We were also excited for Ellie to get a chance to be by herself in nursery, but we also felt a little sad that  they would be apart. When they are together, they really rely on each other. They make each other comfortable. 

We got Kailee a Book of Mormon as a gift for her first day in Primary and so she can have her own book when we read. We had her name put on it and she was sooooo excited about it. We got Ellie a picture Book of Mormon. She was excited also. (Ellie will get a Primary Book of Mormon too when she goes to Sunbeams.) Now, they both have their own books just like Mom and Dad!

Kailee was excited to go to Primary. We walked her to her seat, she found her name and sat down. Soon Kenzie came in and sat right next to her. Yay for a friend. Kailee gave me a hug and kiss and off I went. I think I was more nervous than her. She didn't even mind. Ryan and I sat in the back most of the time and watched her. She was singing and talking and having a good time. Cute girl. She tries so hard to be brave. She amazes us every single day.

Ellie did good going to nursery  too (we call it class). When I was getting Ellie dressed in the morning she told me "Ashley takes my sweater off in class." On our way to take Ellie to class we saw Ashley, her teacher, in the hall. I told her the story and she asked Ellie if she wanted her to take off her sweater for her. Ellie said yes, so she took Ellie's hand and off they went to class together. Amazing! I love it.   

It was my turn to teach on Sunday. This year the church has made a new curriculum for the youth. We don't have lesson manuals, just topics with suggested materials to use. They youth are expected to participate a lot more. Our Young Women are really quiet. Like me. It's hard to get them to answer questions let alone share their feelings. The topic for this month is the Godhead. I chose the subtopic of What Do We Know About the Nature of the Godhead. I had a really hard time preparing the lesson. I always have hopes of it coming together easily, but it rarely does. I had even been thinking about it and looking over the material for two weeks. At one point on Saturday, Ryan was trying to help me. He could tell I was so frustrated so he suggested we kneel down and say a prayer for guidance. What a great guy. After that he took the girls and left the house. They went to clean the popcorn store and to get dinner. While they were gone I started and restarted my lesson three times. I finally decided to just come up with an outline and fill in the blanks from there. Around 11pm I finished. I felt good about the material. I was nervous but excited to give this new curriculum a try. When class started on Sunday, I had the chairs set up in a circle and told them I wasn't the teacher, just the discussion leader. They had lots of things to read and lots of questions to answer. They did great. The other leaders did great. It turned out well. I was comfortable with how it went. Now if I could just get rid of the anxiety beforehand. Will that ever happen?

Ryan has been released from the Primary as a teacher so he was able to go to Elders Quorum for the first time in a few years. He said his class was awkward. He felt bad for his teacher because no one participates. He did though. I know how it feels when you teach and no one participates so I was grateful he participated for his teacher. Hopefully it will get better for him.

01-16-13

We all had dentist appointments on Wednesday. I usually schedule our appointments for the afternoon. Ryan scheduled these appointments and scheduled them for the morning. Hahah. The day before the appointments I called and rescheduled his for the afternoon so he wouldn't have to take so much time off of work. They only had one afternoon appointment so I left mine and the girls for the morning. I laugh when I think about it. Me taking both girls by myself to the dentist. Who would watch them while it was my turn?! I ended up packing them both a backpack of treats, coloring books, dolls and books. I also took the IPad for a last resort if they totally got out of control. They always amaze me. They were actually pretty good. They both played with their toys for a little bit, sat with me in the chair for a little bit and then we pulled out the IPad. I was relieved when I was done and we didn't cause too much chaos. Both Kailee and Ellie did really good getting their teeth cleaned and they both even let the dentist take a look. They were nervous with him, but they did it! They were both really excited to get their bags with new princess toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss. They even got to pick a toy from the toy box. Spoiled girls.

When we were finished we met Ryan at Kneaders for lunch then he went to his appointment. We both have work that needs to be done. We have needed it done for about a year now. Hopefully we will both follow through with it once Ryans bonus comes. Yay.

01-17-13

Kailee had a field trip on Thursday with her preschool to the Layton Fire Station. It was so fun. Of course she was nervous around the firemen and the big truck, but she seemed to have a good time. Ellie was nervous the whole time and made me hold her. They talked to us about fire safety and then gave us a tour of the firehouse. We got to see their kitchen, family room and bedrooms. Then we got to go to the garage to see their trucks. We saw the firetruck and the ambulance. Kailee didn't want to get in the firetruck, but she she thought the ambulance was pretty cool and wanted to get in it. One of the firemen even put on his fire suit... mask, oxygen and all. They tried to explain to the kids that if they saw them in a suit like that, they would be there to help and the kids should run to them and not from them. I don't know, but if I was three and saw someone dressed like that I think I would run. It looked pretty scary to me! Then they opened the doors and turned on the lights and sirens. Kailee clearly thought it was way too loud.

A couple months ago I bought living social deal for Tumbling classes for Kailee. Thursday evening I took her to go try it. She is supposed to be in the 3 year old class, but I asked them if she could try the 4-5 year old class since she already knows how to do her cartwheels. She loved it and did really well. This kid seriously twirls and tumbles all day long. She is constantly doing cartwheels, flips and backbends. I think we will try it until summer. She is excited. Ryan stopped by on his way home from work and was impressed too. He couldn't help but clap and cheer when it was her turn to try something. Ellie kept asking the whole time to go to her class. She wants to try something too. She follows right along with Kailee trying to do cartwheels and flips. She is pretty good at her somersaults! I will have to look into something for her too. Ryan thinks it would be neat to see her in some class too. 

Kailee's backbend. 

She can do them by herself pushing off the ground and is close to getting them by herself standing.

Friday Facts:

I was filling out Kailee's Primary Spotlight on Friday while she was eating lunch. I asked her the questions and she gave me some silly answers:

My name is Kailee

I am 3 years old

I have 1 sister and 0 brothers

The thing I like best about Primary is treats

The best thing about my family is treats

The thing I like best about school is treats

The food I really can't stand is carrots

When I am grownup I want to be big so I can stand on the stool and get my own banana

(then she said she wants to be a Dad. I said you are a girl so you would be a mom. She said "there are already a lot of moms. I will be a dad.")

My favorite story in the scriptures is stories about angels

My favorite primary song is I Love to See the Temple

Her final answers:

My name is Kailee

I am 3 years old

I have 1 sister and 0 brothers

The thing I like best about Primary is treats

The best thing about my family is they love me

The thing I like best about school is writing my name

The food I really can't stand is gross food

When I am grownup I want to be a mom 

My favorite story in the scriptures is stories about angels

My favorite primary song is I Love to See the Temple

Ellie was so silly on Friday. Ever single time I asked her to help me with something or to do something she would say, "I can't. I'm busy!"

Nice. I guess I know what she hears a lot from her parents!! 

I can't, I'm busy. haha!

01-19-13

On Saturday Kailee asked if we could go to breakfast. So we went to Mimi's. Ryan bought me some cute coral skinny jeans and a scarf to match. He thinks he is funny so he took a picture of my cute outfit.

We took the girls to get their haircut after breakfast. They were both in serious need. I didn't take a picture of the after shot. But, their hair looks so cute now. 

Saturday evening we were getting ready to go to dinner. Kailee wanted to wear her headwrap she got from Grandma Colleen. She loves to pose.

Ellie loves to copy Kailee. She loves to pose too.

January 6th- January 12 2013

01-06-13

Sunday was Stake Conference. I had every intention to go. Ryan ended up working about 40 overtime hours over the weekend so we ended up sleeping in until about 9:30am. Oops. We stayed home and had a nice relaxing day. This is what we spent our time doing. I was watching a movie, Ellie was making a design out of glow sticks, Kailee played on the IPad and Ryan played on the computer. That all ended when I had to get to a Youth Meeting at the church at 3pm. 

Kailee feeding the dogs. She loves it. She asks several times a day if she can feed the dogs. At first she was getting the dog food with her hand. I tried to show her how to get it with the dog bowl, but she could't quite get it. So, she has a handy plastic cup now. Good job Kailee.

01-08-13

Kailee has learned how to spell and write her name at preschool. She made her name out of our Jenga blocks one night. Seriously, I am so impressed with how much she has learned from preschool. I was hesitant to enroll her because I didn't just want to pay for a babysitter. Miss Jackie and Miss Courtney are far from just babysitters. My baby girl has learned a ton at their school.

Ryan started the new semester on Tuesday. He is talking Math 1050 and an online computer class. I am so glad he has the desire to get his degree. I know it will pay off. On the other hand, it is so hard to have him gone all day to work and then all night at school. This semester it is only Tues & Thurs. Hopefully it will go by quickly.

01-10-13

This week at preschool they learned about the letter W. Kailee brought home her weather wheel and her worm. She keeps telling me that "when the sun is out, it is warm. When there are clouds, it is cold." She loves school. She loves to ride to school with Carlee on Tuesdays and Amber on Thursdays. She LOVES to ride home with Ghislaine. I have surprised her 2 times by picking her up from school. Not a good surprise. She loves to ride with her friends. I am so glad she has had this opportunity to be a part of a group.

01-11-13

It has snowed and snowed and snowed this week. While Kailee was at dance Friday morning, I ran over to Dicks with Ellie to get me some snow boots so we could play in the snow when Kailee got home. I LOVE it when it snows a lot. If it's going to be cold, it better snow. If it's just cold there is no point to get outside. BUT, if it snows, it is a MUST to get outside!

Kailee tried to throw a snowball at me, but it just fell apart. The snow is so powdery there is no way to pack it to make a snowball or a snowman. But, it is still fun to play in.

Kenzie came out to play with us. We invited her over after dance, but she didn't want to play in the snow. She wanted to play in our house. I guess she changed her mind once her mom took her home.

Amber is in the background shoveling a path to her mailbox. After the girls got cold and went inside, I stayed out to re-shovel our walks and driveway approach. Amber came over and pretty much did it for me. Her and Jesse amaze me. They are so kind and thoughtful. They are always doing things for others. They are fabulous neighbors.

01-12-13

I asked Ryan to shovel off the deck on Saturday. We got a lot of snow.

We took the girls tubing. The Lawson's had planned to go too. So we met them there. Kailee was excited, but after a couple of runs got grumpy. We aren't sure why. Kenzie had started to throw a fit too. We think that had something to do with Kailee's attitude.? She was having a lot of fun and then just started throwing a fit. Ellie was really hesitant and didn't want to go down the hill. After watching a couple times she wanted to try. She loved it. 

Kailee kept crying so we decided to leave. She was throwing a fit and wanted dad. He had gone down the hill to get Ellie. I quickly put her in a tube and sent her down the hill. She was not happy with me and was screaming. 

Kailee bumped into Ellie's tube and knocked her out of it. Poor Ellie did a face plant right in the snow. It was hilarious but she was not happy about it. Kailee is in the background still throwing a fabulous fit. 

When we got home, I pulled the tube out of the car and started to play on the hill we made in our front yard. Soon the girls calmed down and wanted to play too. They eventually got too cold so we headed for the bathtub. Ryan went to get pizza and we spent the rest of the day inside. The girls kept themselves entertained by making a bed on the sofa table. I love it when they are kind to each other. What a fun week. It was even more fun since we were actually able to spend some time with Ryan since he worked all last weekend!

January 1st- January 5th 2013

01-01-13

Ryan had the day off work for New Years Day. He always does and it is nice. 

He spent the day washing detailing the car and the girls and I spent the day hanging out. They played with each other for a long time and then had their friend Kenzie come play for a little bit. 

Kailee and Ellie love to get out their blankets and dress up like they are 'getting married.' They put on dresses, veils and walk around saying 'I'm getting married', 'mom/dad, marry me.' Silly girls.

Of course when dad is home, the girls don't get naps. Actually, we don't have much of a schedule at all. 

Around 6pm, Kailee and Ellie finally sat down to eat. As I was getting Ellie's food, she fell asleep. Too cute. It was a long day and they played hard.

01-02-13

I have decided that it is time to help Kailee learn some responsibility. I made To-Do Lists for both girls for things they need to do each day. 

Kailee's list includes:

Making her bed, brushing her teeth, getting dressed by herself, putting her clothes away, nap time or quiet-time, pick up toys, read before bed and feed the dogs.

Ellie's list includes everything on Kailee's list except feeding the dogs. 

On Saturday they will get a treat from the store for their efforts.

So far they are excited for it. Kailee loves to help me with random things around the house and now she will get 'recognized' for it. Everything on the list is what I need them to get used to do every single day without my help. Things they need to do to help keep our house in order. Except feeding the dogs. That was just something extra that I could give Kailee to be 'responsible' for and so far she loves it. She even asks a few times each day if it's time to feed the dogs!

01-03-13

Kenzie came over to play on Thursday. Of course, they immediately went up to the girls rooms and put on their dress-ups. Kailee even climbed up onto her shoe shelf in her closet and got down a few extra clothes for them to wear. Kailee and Kenzie were nice enough to help Ellie get dressed up. They also made sure she had the matching bow in her hair. She is clearly so very happy about dressing up!

Ryan is on-call at work this week. I don't mind it when he goes on-call because it adds quite a bit to his paycheck. Around 3pm on Thursday he called and said he would be a little late coming home. They had been called to a leak in Bountiful. He ended up coming home at 8am Friday morning. He slept for a couple hours and went right back to work.

01-04-13
On Friday we went to the Ogden Treehouse Museum with the Hoggans, Richards, and Lawsons. It's so fun to take the girls there so they can run around and play with whatever they want and it was fun for me to have other moms there to talk with. I was surprised that the girls didn't spend much time playing with the other kids though. So far, I think their favorite things to do are the little art projects and ride the horses and bulls. Cute kids and good times!

When we left the Treehouse Museum, Ryan had called and said he had been called out again. They had to go back to the job they were at Friday night. I didn't want to go home and hang out with my two out of control kids all night by myself, so I kept driving to Ikea. It ended up being the longest drive ever because of rush hour. The kids slept. I went to Ikea looking for some bins for the kids toys and a shoe cabinet for the garage. I love walking though Ikea and the girls were pretty good too. We made it home around 10pm and Ryan was still out working. He called and said they were on their way out to Stockton. I feel so bad for him. The night-time temperatures have been below 0 this week. COLD! He made it home again around early afternoon. Yay for the hours, but man, I think he could use some sleep.