Family Pictures!

We got our family pictures taken last week. Check them out! They turned out pretty cute!

Happy Holidays

I mailed these out today so everyone check your mailboxes for them! Cause I know that everyone has been eargerly awaiting them. Just kidding. And if you didn't get one and want to be on my mailing list for next year you can email me at together4fr@hotmail.com with your address. Happy Holidays Everyone!

Temple Square

We went with my parents and sisters to see the lights on Sunday night. It was really extremely cold but we survived and it was a lot of fun too! Afterward we all went to my parents house for homeade soup and some rolls. YUM!

Comfort Zone

Those of you who know me know that I'm not one to do things like what you are about to view in the following video. Occassionally I will step out of my comfort zone and put myself out there. This is one of those very few times. And I will state that if you don't view it here the chances of something like this ever happening again are slim. This was performed by myself and 5 other sisters in my ward. We got the idea from this video.
**The following video was taken with my 4 year old digital camera and as a result it is poor quality. You will not be able to see faces or details but you will get the general idea. I am the second one from the right at the beginning of the video. ENJOY!**

3 years ago.......

Then

Now

Three years ago last week we added another member to our family. Hannah has been such a wonderful blessing to our family. She loves her sister and they enjoy playing together. She likes to help Mommy and Daddy around the house. She has such a great personality (even if she is extremely strong willed and drives mom crazy sometimes). At times it's a struggle with two children so close together but each day I count my blessings to have two of the most beautiful kids, and I can't imagine life without her. Hannah we love you! Happy Birthday!

Thanksgiving

This year, due to Josh's work schedule we had Thanksgiving at our house. My parents came down in the morning to help get things ready. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Josh was sleeping all day I couldn't have any small children (besides my own) here until he woke up. I had a lot of fun getting things ready with my mom. We put the turkey in around noon seeing as though it said it would take anwhere from 3 3/4 to 4 and 1/2 hours to cook. We then went about getting the rest of the food ready with the exception of things that needed the oven. Well Josh woke up at about 3 and then next two and a half hours after that seem to be somewhat of a blur to me. We checked the turkey when the timer rang and it was not done. As it turns out the turkey didn't actually get done until about 5:15 or so. Now, keep in mind that Josh had to leave for work at 6:15 and that makes for a very crazy house full of people. Everyone showed up around 5 and I still had not cooked the rolls or the yams (yuck). Luckily my wonderful friend and neighbor was also hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for her family at her house and they had finished earlier. I called her up and we took the rolls there. They were so kind to let us borrow a meat thermometer and the second my dad stuck that thing in the bird the little timer popped out. Great timing.

Anyway, so it's about 5:15 and I have an hour to get the rest of dinner prepared, get the turkey carved and get his lunch packed and him out the door. Somehow we managed.

Everyone stayed for a while and slowly people started filing out the door. My house was a disaster. Thankfully my parents stayed behind to help me clean up (including washing every dish by HAND! That's my dad for ya!). When Josh came home the next morning he said you would never have known by looking at our house that we had hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year.

We are so grateful to live close enough to our family and be able to share these holidays with them, even when Josh works.

Thanks to Heidi who took pictures for me because I was too exhausted to break out my camera and take some!

And thanks again to mom and dad (who may never read this) for helping me to prepare and clean up a wonderful dinner.

And last but not least thanks to all those who came out to see us! And we hope that those who weren't able to make it out had a wonderful day!

We love you all!

Christmas Season

This is the perfect example of the thing I HATE about this season! I mean I like to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving too but there's a limit people! It's almost as if no one remembers what this season is all about anymore. It's ridiculous and horrifying that people would trample and kill others to get a "Great Deal"! I mean COME ON PEOPLE!

Everyone LOVES a Great Massage!

Anyone interested in a Massage for a good deal click on over to my sister's blog! She's a Massage Therapist and she'll even come to you! She's really good too!

Food Storage

Ok so I've thought about posting something about this before but haven't ever done it. Well lately I've felt very strongly about posting about it.
There are a lot of people out there (like me) who don't have any food storage. I've always known that I would need it eventually but wasn't really motivated to do so until about 6 months ago. We finally live in a house where my pantry is huge, and though it's now where near big enough to hold a complete food storage for a family of 4 I figured it was a good place to start.
It just so happened that President Bush decided he was going to send out a Tax Stimulus Rebate to boost the economy. We thought about several things we could do with this money and though we still have debt that it could have gone towards we decided not to use it for that. Since we heard several times that it was given with the intent that the majority would consider putting it back into the economy we decided we would but in the process we were going to help get ourselves ready for any future woes.
So we put it aside and started building a food storage. Back in March or April my ward had an enrichment activity on cutting coupons. I thought it was a great idea and decided to give it a shot. The idea was that we would order 5 copies of the Sunday newspaper and then there was a website for the Savvy Shopper (she's the one who did our enrichment) where I could sign up and recieve weekly emails which would tell me where items were on sale and what coupons could be used to get the best deal. I tried it for several months and for some reason could not get the hang of it. I'm just not a coupon clipper I guess. :)
As time went by I found an advertisement (in the Value Pack that comes in the mail) for something called Deals to Meals. I decided it was worth it to look into it. The girl who runs it started it in a response to an enrichment meeting she did in her ward. She goes through the ads and breaks them up into three catergories Great Deals, Good Deals, and Ok Deals. Anyway she doesn't use coupons, she just tells the best deals available int the ads. Then she goes on to tell how much you would need per person for a year supply; How long it will keep and she compares the prices to the LDS Cannery and Costco. I love that I don't have to cut coupons and I can still get good deals. I encourage anyone who needs help building their food storage to check it out. Even if you just want to save a little money on your gorcery bill!
It does require a membership but you can get a free trial and the monthly cost is minimal compared to what you will save! Check it out! She has a blog too; you can check it out here.

Making the best of it

Well I have finally come to the realization that fall and even winter are here and there is nothing I can do to stop them from coming. So after having a conversation with Josh earlier today he came home from an errand with a surprise to cheer me up! And they are a great fall color too!

SNOW!

We were expecting it to come last night but found it here this morning when we woke up. and though it has snowed before this season we didn't get to go out and play in it like we did today. The girls asked if they could go out and play in it when they woke up and I said no because Abi had school. Hannah asked every 5 minutes it seems while Abi was at school. So when we got home we got all bundled up and went out in the Backyard and built a snowman! We had a lot of fun!

Trick or Treat!

We had a lot of fun on Halloween! This year the girls were BYU Cheerleaders! They loved it! They sat there chanting BYU over and over again and would say Go Cougars! So cute! Abi had a party at preschool in the morning and after that we stopped in at the Marriott to visit old friends. Then moved on to Autie K's work with Auntie Ami and Carter and Biggie. Then it was home to take a short nap after which we carved some pumpkins with Daddy! After dinner we went over to the church for our ward Trunk-or-Treat. I love those things. Maybe when they are older they won't be as great but for younger kids they are the perfect thing. I love that I can take my children around and be done in about a half an hour. I know when they are older it's more fun to go house to house. And they aren't as great when half of the kids who you gave candy to at the trunk-or-treat then show up at your front door later that evening. But I didn't have to worry about that this year. After the trunk-or-treat was over we left and headed up to Grandma's house and helped her hand out her candy since Josh was working. Well here are a few pictures from our fun filled day. Don't mind the date on the pictures apparently my battery died and I didn't notice the date

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Post Overload

So I know it's been a while. Or at least it feels that way to me! Be sure to scroll down and read all of the new posts! There's a few! :)

Fall

I've had a very hard time adjusting to the fact that Fall is here. I am not excited about it. Not one bit! Slowly but surely I am getting there. I'll probably be ok with it by the time winter is here and I'll then have a hard time with that. I'm not sure if anyone else experiences the feeling (when it's time for winter to be over and spring to start) of Claustrophobia. But I have extreme cases come spring and I just want to open all of my windows and air out my house. Well I know it's not a good start to the season when I feel like that in October!
So in an effort to help myself adjust I have begun making some fall recipes. Like my mom's homeade potatoe soup. And Pumpkin Pancakes! My friend Lyndsay posted a Pumpkin Muffins reciped I'm going to have to try too! But I thought I would share my Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe. I found it at allrecipes.com. I also found a recipe for Apple Cider Syrup! SO GOOD!

Pumpkin Pancakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 tablespoons vinegarPumpkin Pancakes

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Apple Cider Syrup
3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a saucepan, combine the syrup ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until slightly thickened. Let stand for 30 minutes before serving.

I hope everyone else is having a much easier time adjusting! What are some fun recipes you like to do in the fall?

Another trip to the Zoo

Since the weather was so great last weekend and Josh had taken the week off for Hannah's surgery we decided to utilize our neglected Zoo membership and go see some animals. It was a lot of fun. The girls liked to sit and watch the elephants eat and watch the penguins swim around (since every other time we have gone they weren't out). And it was so much fun to be able to spend a Saturday with Daddy!

On our way out we decided to stop at the huge elephant they have and take the girls picture. For some reason my kids eyes glazed over and they wouldn't blink before I took the picture so this is the what I got

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The Inevitable

So we were told last February when we went in to get Hannah's tubes in her ears and her Adnoids out that 50% of the kids who had that surgery done end up having to go back in for their tonsils at a later point. He also said that they didn't want to take them at that time due to the fact that it is very difficult to restrict the diet of a child that young. Well apparently the ease of restricting a diet changes in about 8 months (yeah right). When we took Hannah in for her 6 month check up for her last surgery it was decided that she needed to get her tonsils removed. So we set up the surgery for Oct 15th. I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking seeing as though last year the girls both got coughs at the first part of October and that was the end of the healthy season for us. And from past experiences I know that they will not operate on a child that has a cough. Well, you guessed it within the week after we had her doctors appointment and scheduled the surgery she started coughing. Little did I know that a month later when she was scheduled to go in she would still be coughing. But we kept it scheduled praying we would still be able to go through with it. The day prior to surgery they called to give the specifics and Hannah had not been coughing all day. So we went ahead with it. The day of the surgery as we were driving to the hospital she was coughing a little here and there. So I was a nervous wreck. Not only because my baby was going in for surgery (yet again) but because I was afraid they wouldn't do it and we would be sent away and have to wait until spring (since last winter at least one person was sick in our house from October to March). Well my nerves were calmed after talking to the nurse. She told us that everything looked fine and they just didn't like kids to have the start of a cough because then they are trying to get over a cough and recover from surgery. Makes sense! Anyway, she did really well. The doctor came out after the surgery and said that she was so cute, she was putting the gas mask on her Care Bear (very appropriately named Oopsy Bear), and talking to him before they put her under. After the surgery was not as great as the last time. She woke up and they called me back only this time she didn't go right back to sleep after I picked her up. She sat there screaming and wouldn't drink ANYTHING because it was not in her "Blue Sippy" at home. Well after a lot of coaching and explaining to her that she could get the IV out of her foot and go home to get her sippy if she would just finish something to drink, she finally finished a root beer slushy. We got her home and we all took a pretty long nap. The first night she did so well! I couldn't believe it. And the next morning she was talking a lot more than she has in the past. So funny to watch her. Since then, there's definitely been some ups and downs. She's eating a little bit better now and she sleeps a little better, we can actually tuck her in and she's (for the most part) in the same position when she wakes up in the morning. Hopefully she'll sleep and eat great when she's fully healed!

Here's a picture of her before she went in. She obviously has no idea what is in store for her!

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This!

On October 15th, Handbag Planet will be giving away a free handbag every hour of the day to celebrate the opening of their website. That equals 24 free bags they are giving out! You don't have to give your credit card info and there is no shipping and handling. Check out the site and see if you are interested in entering the contest! Good luck everyone.

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

A Break

Last weekend our ward had a Relief Society Retreat up at Heber Valley girls camp. We had a BLAST! It was so much fun. On Friday night they planned dinner and a fireside/skit about the parable of the ten virgins. It was very good. The spirit was very strong there. Afterward we had several of the ladies gather in our cabin to play games. So much fun. I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time. Then on Saturday morning after Breakfast we did a Challenge Course. The first game/task on the course was a zip line. Now if you know me then you know that first I HATE heights; and second I don't like things like zip lines. But I decided that it was called a Challenge Course for a reason. This particular part of it required you to climb up a 30 foot telephone pole, then walk across a wire holding on to ropes over to another telephone pole where they would then hook you to the zip line and you would go down. So they got me strapped into the harness, and I began climbing. Shortly after beginning (very shortly; like two steps) I started hyperventilating. I made it to the top. Then grabbed the first rope and started across the wire (still hyperventilating). I got to the other side, and literally bear hugged the other pole while the Sister Missionary (church owned camp) unhooked me from the guy below and began hooking me to the zip line. At this point I just really wanted to be on the ground again. But I really didn't want to go down the zip line. Well I ended up sitting up there for about 5 minutes bawling (yeah I'm a baby, you gotta problem with that). After everyone on the ground reassuring me for 5 minutes and the Bishop coming over to assure me that they would indeed catch me at the bottom I slowly scooted off the platform. I was extremely happy when I was back on the ground again regardless of the fact that I was uncontrollably shaking. Once I regained my composure they moved us on to other parts of the course (all of which were on the ground). We got through the first and had just begun the second when I put my arm down at my side and felt something sharp as I saw something fly away. That's right I got stung. Now before I go on, I will explain that there has only been one other time I've been stung in my entire life, and that was in July (that's right this year). And the interesting part both times it was under my arm. Why I don't know. So I decided that it really wasn't my day and I was going to sit the rest of them out. After the Challenge Course we went back and ate lunch and packed up and headed home. Aside from the sting and the zip line, I had a pretty good time. And regardless of how I feel about the zip line I'm glad I can say that I did it.
The girls did pretty good too. Josh had to work that night so they ended up staying at a friends house. They were so excited! My friend called me right before I left to let me know that the girls were already in the jammies with their sleeping bags rolled out. At 5 PM. That's right 5 PM! Yeah I'd say they were excited. Not only that but Abi had a pretty memorable night too. I was told that she woke up around 3 AM and sat up. My friend asked her if she was ok and she said yes. Then a few minutes later she started screaming "Something bit me!" while holding her knee. They looked at her knee and couldn't see anything so they calmed her and put her back to bed. Well on Saturday morning she woke up and said "A Bee bit me last night." So they checked her bad and sure enough she had rolled over a bee and was stung; though not in her knee, it was on her upper thigh which is why they didn't see it in the middle of the night.
But all-in-all it was a great time had the girls and especially myself! And if I find my camera I'll post pictures later.

7 Years Later

September 11, 2001, will be remembered as one of the most shocking days in American history. Armed terrorists hijacked four passenger jets and used them as weapons against the United States. The attacks destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and killed more than three thousand people.

We will Never Forget!

Timpanogos Cave

Last Saturday (September 6th) we decided to go up and hike to Timpanogos Cave. We went with Karna and her boys, and Heidi and Mike. It was kind of a whirlwind planning process. One minute we were just thinking about it and saying that we may not be able to go this year (we tried to go with Heidi last year and it didn't work out); and then all of a sudden things fell into place and we were going. Well I went up the canyon that morning (cause we forgot to buy tickets in advance) and bought the tickets. I had planned on taking the girls up to my mom's house and then hitching a ride back down with Heidi. However that morning I remembered that my parents had stake conference andthey would consequently be attending the adult session that night and could not watch my girls. So I tried to no avail to find someone else. At about noon I gave up and called the cave to purchase two more tickets to take my girls with me. I was a little worried about it seeing as though I could barely make it to the cave last year by myself and now I was going to have to worry about getting my kids up there. Once we got up there though they did just fine. They were pretty excited about hiking up the tall mountain. And they both walked on their own until the last little bit when Josh had to carry Hannah. They liked it inside the cave too. I was really worried about them touching things but they did Awesome! The way back down was a little tiresome for everyone. But we all had a lot of fun and hope to make it a yearly occurance.

Firsts

Well today was a day of firsts for us. Ok so just two. Abi started school today. She was so excited. She's been asking when do I start school for weeks. I don't think she could quite figure out why all the kids in the neighborhood started school in the middle of August and she didn't start for a couple of weeks later. I think I was more nervous about it than she was. She hasn't been to preschool since December of last year when her teacher put their house up for sale and as a result quit teaching preschool. I was nervous for a couple of reasons. #1-She tends to be a bit moody, if she doesn't get what she wants she'll throw a royal fit! You'd never know she was 4. And #2-because last year shortly after she started preschool she began to stutter. At first it wasn't so bad, but as time went on it got worse. We started out telling her to calm down and think about what she was trying to say. That was extremely short lived because we soon found out that you're not supposed to do that. I looked up a few things on the internet which gave me a little comfort but I was still worried. It's very hard to have the patience to sit and wait for her to get what she needs to say out. Anyway, we'll see how the year goes but it should be pretty good. I've heard great things about this teacher.

As for our other first, Josh started graveyards again today. YUCK! Not our favorite, but we'll survive. Just chug along one day at a time right?

Here are a couple of pictures from Abi's first day. They're a little washed out :(

"The Goon"

Well this whole summer Josh has been saying to me that he wanted to go to Lagoon, but it was just too expensive! I can't believe the price! Even our Stake Lagoon day in June was too expensive. But we finally got coupons from a friend that gave us a discount (still a little expensive) that was much more reasonable. So we decided to go. Abigail and Hannah were pretty excited (Hannah was not quite sure what she was excited about since she's never been). They kept saying they wanted to go to "The Goon". So last Tuesday we decided to go since it would be the last week it was open on weekdays. We got up and hurried to get ready and out the door early enough to make it worth the trip since I had to be back for Young Womens that night. We had invited Josh's sister and his dad and step-mom to come up with us but they had previous engagements that morning and said they would meet up with us that afternoon.
When we got there the park had not been open too long so we were able to go on a lot of the kiddie rides one right after another with no wait. Abi's first choice was the boats. Afterwhich they rode the airplanes and I did a little convincing and finally got Abi to agree to go on Puff the kiddie rollercoaster (this was a pretty traumatic ride for her last year). We spent the morning going on rides with the girls and met up with Jen at lunch. Then we took the kids on more rides while waiting for Josh's dad to come (they had suggested that when they got there they would take the kids so that the adults could ride some rides). We went on Rattle Snake rapids and at the end there is a waterfall that will get you wet if your side of the tube goes under it. Well Josh looked like he was going to go under it and so he quickly handed me Hannah so that she didn't get wet. Then at the last minute the tube turned and I got dumped on too! I had to bend over so that Hannah didn't get it too bad but she was not a happy camper by the time the ride was over. Josh's dad didn't get there until about 5 pm and we had to leave by 5:30 to get home. But we were still able to go on one ride of our choice. Josh got to go on Wicked with my five year old nephew Jared and I got to go on the White Rollercoaster with Jen.
All in all it was a pretty good day we had a lot of fun and so did the girls. They loved the fountain near the main entrance the best I think.
But that evening when we got home we were watching the news and there came a commercial saying that it was 2 for 1 week at Lagoon courtesy of channel 2 news. So we were a little bummed about that seeing as though we could have saved a lot of money. Oh well, maybe next year.

**Don't pay attention to the date on the pictures my camera battery died and apparently it went to a default date.**

Bugged!!!

I need to vent! I am not now nor have I ever claimed to be the perfect mother. That being said I always have the best interest for my children at heart. I received a comment (which has since been deleted) by an anonymous person regarding Hannah's fall out of a cart at Wal-Mart last month. This comment bothered me. Not only was this person too coward to leave their name but they assumed they knew more about the situation and what was best for Hannah than I did.
Now I admit there are times in which I wonder about some mothers methods of childcare/rearing. But I would never in my wildest dreams attempt to tell someone what they should have or shouldn't have done in a situation. Not only that but I become a little angry when someone tries to tell me what is best for my children. It's nobody's business how I choose to raise my children and it's nobody's business how I choose to handle these types of situations! As long as my childrens lives are not threatened by me BUTT OUT! Mind your own business! If you want to leave a comment asking how she is doing or hoping she gets better that's fine and I thank you for it. But those who are only getting the information which I choose to type on this blog can keep their rude, cowardly, anonymous comments to themselves thank you!
Hannah is doing fine. She had no issues with her sight after the accident due to the fact that she did not hit her eyes on anything. She smacked her forehead right above her eye and as a result the blood pooled around her eye giving her a black eye. She's had no further issues with her back or neck because we had it taken care of very soon after the accident. Now I know there are those out there who don't like chiropractors. There is only one chiropractor that I give my complete trust. He is a long time family friend and therfore I know he would not do anything that would cause harm to myself or any member of my family.

Shoes

Hannah cracks me up. She would love it if I let her walk around barefoot everywhere. Yet at the same time she seems to love shoes. Not necessarily any shoe, just other people's shoes. The minute we get wherever we are going off come her shoes and if another pair is in close proximity she will promply put them on. She was in the habbit of doing this precise thing for example every Tuesday night when I would drop her off at the neighbors house so I could go to Mutual. One evening we ended up going home without her shoes because we couldn't find them. Then the following Sunday they came to get me out of Sunday School so she could go potty and when I walked in to the Nursery there she was trading shoes with another little girl! Crazy child!

Family Reunion 2008

Last month Heidi and Mike hosted the Zaugg Family Reunion. Well it may seem like just a family get together to everyone else but it's what we call a Family Reunion. We went up to their place and went swimming, had yummy hamburgers and hotdogs, and had lots of fun chatting and playing together. You can view the pictures on my family blog here. Mostly because I don't feel like posting them twice. Sorry. Karna wasn't able to make it but we had fun talking about her (only kidding Karna :)) Thanks Heidi and Mike it was tons of fun!

Still Alive

Wow! I can't believe that summer is already half over! It took forever to finally get here and now it's just whizzing by.
A while back Josh's work did an open house. A big deal for them since no one is ever allowed in except for employees. The kids had a lot of fun trying ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and trying on the suits daddy has to wear at work. And they got to learn a little bit about what daddy does at work. They also had a tour but i couldn't go because I had open toed shoes.

The weekend following Abi's birthday we had the opportunity to go on our ward camp out. This was a pretty big deal for us. We don't normally get to go camping. Josh's work schedule makes it pretty hard to do anything on weekends. But he took the weekend off and we went to the ward camp out. It was a lot of fun and the girls did pretty well sleeping in sleeping bags. Hannah even slept without her binky that night because mom left it at home. The the following day we went to go see Wall-E. Josh's work had a private screening and we thought it would be fun to take the girls. We liked it. The girls did pretty well until about the last 1/2 hour when they started getting a little restless. They were pretty tired from getting to bed late the night before. That night (after naps) we drove up to Ogden to go to a concert and see Fireworks with Josh's mom and sister's family. It was fun.

Then on Tuesday July 1st a routine trip to Wal-Mart was cut short when Hannah decide to stand up in the cart when I wasn't looking and then I turned and she toppled head first out onto the concrete floor. In the fall she hit forehead on one of the displays they have sitting in the middle of the main isles. Needless to say we immediately left the store and went home. I called Josh who was working overtime and he came straight home. Then we took her down to Orem to see a family friend who is a chiropractor who adjusted her neck and back and then assisted Josh in giving Hannah a priesthood blessing. She was crying and screaming up until they started the blessing then she calmed down and even had a few smiles on the way home saying she looked like a monster because her eye was starting to swell and change color. Here's a few pictures the first one is on the way home from the chiropractor and the second is the next morning. She could barely open her eye but she loved the fact that it was purple!

Still two and a half weeks later she still has a little bit of a bruise under her eye.

On the 4th of July Josh had to work but my family came down and had a BBQ and then we all went over to Thanksgiving Point to see the fireworks. My parents came too! And after he got off work Josh came and so did his mom and Jen's family. It was so much fun! For pictures go to my family's blog since this post is getting extremely long.

Then last week I had the opportunity to go to Youth Conference with the Youth in our ward. We went up to Camp Timberlane near Duschesne. It was Stake Youth Conference with a Survivor Theme. It was a lot of fun! They put us into Tribes and taught us different survival techniques such as water purification, orienteering, first aid, trapping, how to build a fire and search and rescue. Most of which I've been taught before but a refresher course is always helpful. Then the second day we went on a hike. 3 miles up and back. That day I learned what heat exhaustion feels like and I also learned I need to drink more water on a daily basis. Since I am not one to drink water (I don't really like it) this is a big feat for me. We'll see how it works out. So far not so great. And one week later I'm still trying to catch up on sleep (not because the youth kept us up I just didn't sleep well).

So in case you were wondering yes we are still alive. We've just been busy having a lot of fun!

Abi's Birthday

I'm a little late in posting this but my little girl turned 4 this week! I can't believe how fast time has gone! 4 years ago I was a brand new mommy! I wouldn't trade any of it for the world!
This year we had the family over the Saturday before her birthday for a little party. Then on her Birthday I let her choose whatever she wanted to do. She chose swimming. The city pool didn't open until 1 pm so we went to the park and she got to ride her new bike around. Then after some lunch at home we headed over to the swimming pool. We stayed for a couple of hours and then went home for a little nap. After which we went to Fazolis (her favorite restaurant) for dinner. Then daddy headed off to school and they went over to their favorite neighbors house while mommy went to Young Womens. I asked her later what her favorite part of the day was and she said it was riding her bike at the park and going swimming with everyone.
Abi is so sweet and sensative, she's always very helpful and tries to make you laugh whenever possible. She loves her little sister and enjoys playing with her. She brings so much joy to our family!
Happy Birthday Abi! We love you!

The Zoo

For Christmas last year Josh's dad and Kris gave us a gift certificate to the zoo so that we could go and get a family pass. Well it basically sat in my wallet until last week when we finally decided we had better get up to the zoo and use it. The girls had a lot of fun and we chose a great time of day to go too! When we got there they were out spraying down the elephants to cool them off and give them a drink. And one of them kept walking right up in front of us. We got to see a baby giraffe (I didn't get a picture) and the several of the cats were up and walking around. We didn't get to stay very long but we had fun while we were there and now we can go back as much as we want. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Coleman!

Say What?

I've decided to pull the following off of my sidebar so if you've seen it already sorry.

4/21/08- While getting dinner at Wendy's we heard an Ambulance go by. A few seconds later the following conversation took place.Abi: Mommy I don't ever want anyone to fire me.Mommy: What? What do you mean?Abi: I don't want anyone to fire me.Mommy:What does it mean when someone fires you?Abi: When there's fire and the fire truck comes and says Ooooooooooo and you die and you go to the hospital and you're hurt really bad.Mommy: (with a smile) Oh honey I hope that never happens to you too.

4/20/08-While eating dinner the following conversation took place.Abi: When I was a boy....Daddy & Mommy: What? When you were a boy?Abi: Yes, When I was a boy I used to like Transformers.Daddy: When you were a boy you used to like transformers?Abi: Yes, but now I'm a girl and I like Princesses and Barbies!!!Mommy: I'm totally posting that on the blog!

3/23/08-While out and about running around visiting people on Easter Abi's Easter basket somehow made it up on to the seat next to her in the car. She asked me if she could have some candy and I asked Josh if he put her basket on the seat and he said no, so I asked how it got up on the seat (it had been on the floor at her feet) and she said "I lifted it with my feet!" Then she said "It's just one piece of Candy!" A few minutes later I heard her say here "Hannah there's your basket on the seat by you." She had lifted Hannah's up with her feet too and put it on the seat! Crazy kids!

3/19/08-Today Abi was running around the house saying "It's almost Easter!" over and over again. The she would go up to Josh and say "Daddy Easter is after your birthday". So Josh decided he would ask her what it means when Easter comes and she exclaimed "It's Rainy!" then he said "But why do we celebrate Easter?" (hoping to get a different answer and somehow teach her what easter is about) and she said "Because it rains!"

Apostle Song

I remember in Seminary in 9th grade we were supposed to memorize the names of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles, so my friend and I made up a song to sing. It was no where near as good as this one!

Up to.....

Ok so I know it's been a while. It's been crazy busy around here and I haven't had a moment to sit down and write about it. First off I have to shout out WE SURVIVED!!!!! Four months of graveyard shift are finally over and the girls get a whole new set of toys to play with; well not new they just haven't been allowed upstairs to play with them since daddy slept during the day.
We recieved a new calling at church. We've been released as Rotating Primary substitutes and called as Youth Sunday School teachers. We're three weeks into it now and it's so much fun. They really are good kids. I was a little concerned about it at first because we are teaching the older age group and you don't want to say anything to them that would make them not want to come back. But it's pretty fun!
We took a family trip (a 3 day "vacation") to Las Vegas last week. It was eventful to say the least. The first night we were there Hannah had not eaten anything all day and we went to a buffet that night. Well just after we got settled she lost it all over herself. So I took her through the casino and up three flights of stairs to the bathroom, cleaned her off and took her back to the restaurant (wet clothes and all); gave her some saltine crackers and some apple juice to help her tummy. Well a few minutes later she said "Mommy I hold you." So i picked her up and put her on my lap after which she proceeded to loose it again this time all over me! So I picked her up, apologized to everyone around us that they had to witness the events of the evening and then told the hostess that we had had another accident and that we were leaving. We then walked six blocks back to the hotel, I carried Hannah because we were not smart enough to take the stroller with us that particular night and because she was covering up the nasty display on my shirt. That evening she had two more episodes when we got back to the hotel. We decided the next day that we were going to take a trip out to see Hoover Dam. So we got in the car and drove down. We got to take the tour of the power plant which was interesting. We spent a little more time there before getting back in the car and heading off to the Ethel M Chocolate Factory. Can we say LAME! Good thing we didn't have to pay for it. We walked in; walked down a 20 foot hallway and then out into a chocolate store where the chocolate was extremely overpriced. $10 for Four pieces of chocolate! After spending a lot of time in the car that day the girls were pretty tired of it so we went back to the hotel, ate dinner, got out the stroller and walked down to the strip to show Abi the water show at the Bellagio Hotel. She loved it. Hannah was out cold by the time we walked the two blocks to get there. Our last day there we went down to Mandalay Bay to see shark reef, a total waste of money in my opinion. I don't think it's much different than the Living Planet Aquarium and there really weren't a lot of sharks to look at. After that we stopped at MGM Grand to see the Lions before lunch and heading home. So there's the highlights (if you can call them that) of our trip. Vegas will most likely NOT be the destination of a vacation again. Not a kid friendly vacation.
Other than that we've been busy with the little things around the house. My house has been filthy it hasn't been seriously cleaned since this.
so that's what we've been up to. Nothing too exciting yet enough to keep you busy.
Here's a few pictures of our trip. Josh has the pictures from Hoover Dam on his phone so I'll have to add them later.

Tulip Festival

We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point last week. I was so excited to go because I love Tulips! I was a little disappointed though. Due to the type of weather we have had this spring (warm then cold then warm then cold then warm, oh you get the picture) there weren't too many tulips there to be seen. It was a really nice warm day and they had entertainment and little booths we could stop and look at but not too many tulips. And we weren't there long when the girls started to get really kranky. Hannah kept complaining that she had rocks or something in her shoes and Abi, well I'm not exactly sure what her problem was she was just whining. We walked past a girl getting her bridal pictures taken and Abi was so cute she said "She looks like a Princess." And then she asked where the prince was. We told her that he wasn't there and she said "She needs to go and find a Prince." It was cute. Here are a few pictures of the flowers they had there. Don't get too excited again not a whole lot of tulips!

And this is what Hannah looked like by the time we left.

A duck holding Spiderman?

For those of you who have been down to Cabelas in Lehi or at least driven past the off ramp you may have noticed a sign that looks like this.....

We see this sign almost everyday, or at least everytime we go somewhere seeing as though even the nearest grocery store is 5 miles away. Anyway, for some reason when we go past this sign at first Abi started out by saying that she saw a duck. Ok I guess somewhere in that sign a duck might be visible in the mind of a 3 year old. Well now it's not just a duck. It's a duck holding Spiderman!

Help

Today Abi came up to me saying that her toe was hurting. So I looked at it and found that the corner of her toenail was bleeding. Then I discovered that she had been biting them(eeww)! She bites her fingernails too. And it drives me insane. I used to bite my nails and now I understand how frustrated it made my parents feel when I would do it.
I've heard that it can be a sign of stress but I can't for the life of me figure out what she could be stressed out about. I'm going crazy trying to figure out things that I can do to get her to stop. So if there's anyone out there who reads my blog and has any ideas for me to try I'm open.

Happy Easter!

We had a really great Easter this year. The girls got to participate in 3 egg hunts. We had one on Friday with our neighborhood. They had all of the parents bring 10 eggs per child, and then they went out and spread them around out the park. Then Josh's family came over on Saturday for Josh's Birthday get together and we did a hunt then. And on Sunday after church we went up to Josh's mom's house and she did another hunt for the kids. They had a lot of fun.
Ok so last week Josh had asked Abi why we celebrate Easter and he got the answer "Because it rains." So on Friday Josh's mom came over to drop off a gift to him. And she asked abi why we celebrate Easter, then she proceeded to tell her exactly why we celebrate it. An in-depth conversation that I would expect to be given to an 8 year old or something. And Abi just sat there and stared up at her with a blank expression on her face. When AnnaMarie was finished Abi said "Oh" and walked away. So Saturday I asked her if she remembered why we celebrate easter(not really expecting anything different from the answer she gave Josh or at least something similar). She said "Because Jesus died for us, and he was resurrected." I was blown away! She remembered! I'm so proud of her. She's so smart!
As for me Easter was really great this year. At church yesterday we missed most of Sacrament meeting which I felt really bad about later because I hear it was really good. In Relief Society our lesson was on Elder Holland's talk from October Conference, about the godhead. One of the sisters (a convert) was asked to share her testimony. She got up and began speaking about dreams she had had shortly after she was baptized. One of them was where she knew that Christ was coming to visit and the house was so messy and she was not ready at all. She said that when the Savior got there he just wrapped her in a hug and she cried saying she was not ready and he told her that it was ok that she was not ready because he was ready enough for the both of them. And that just blew me away and I started crying. Then the teacher got back up and started talking about something that the youth speaker had spoke about in Sacrament (one of the talks we missed) where he had mentioned a talk given by President Faust. And I'm not exactly sure if these things came from President Faust's talk but he mentioned thinking about the Garden of Gethsemane and asking himself how many drops of blood were shed for him. And then commenting on the fact that even if he were the only person in the world Christ would still have gone to the garden to suffer and then to calvary to die for him.
How true this is. It's a little saddening to think that he would have to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and suffer for my sins but at the same time makes my love for my Savior grow more and more to know that he did go to Gethsemane to suffer and then to the cross to die for me. So that I can return to live with him and my Father in Heaven again someday. I can only imagine what the day will be like when I can stand face to face with my Savior Jesus Christ and thank him for everything he did to make it possible for me to live with him and my father again.
Here are the pictures of the egg hunts and the girls in their dresses.(I hope the slideshow works it takes a long time to load.)

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

Today is Josh's brithday although I'm sure it didn't feel much like a birthday for him because he had to work last night and then again tonight:(. So he's been getting sort of a progressive birthday. We celebrated all of the March birthday's with my family on Sunday. Then we went out to dinner on Monday night for his birthday. We went to Brick Oven Pizza in Provo (It's Josh's new favorite restaurant). And since our next door neighbor is a manager there he took Josh on a little tour of the place. And then he was so nice to give the girls each a cookie. He told them that if they ate 3 more bites he would get them a cookie. "How nice I thought they like cookies." These cookies were huge! I'm not kidding it took them two days to finish them. But they were good. As was our dessert that we had. It had two of the huge chocolate chip cookies with ice cream on top which was covered in fudge and caramel. YUM! Today the girls and I got to give him our gifts, and then on Saturday his family is coming out for a Birthday barbeque followed by a Easter Egg hunt for the kids. So to make up for the fact that he still had to work on his birthday he gets a weeks worth of celebrations.

Happy Birthday Josh. You are such an amazing Husband. You work so hard to provide for our family, go to school full time, get stuff done around the house and still make time to spend with me and the girls. You are a wonderful husband and father. Thank you for all that you do! We love you!