I love having girls

Sugar and Spice does not exactly cover the description of girls. I think sugar, spice, hormones, and extreme emotions is a much better description of girls. Annie has been going through a very fun stage of crying and crying and crying. I love it! I just have to keep telling myself that so that I don't go crazy. It is actually sort of funny! One minute she is completely fine and then the next she just starts crying. And who knows what made her cry but I think this time it was because I took a picture of her. Aren't girls so much fun to have around? It probably doesn't help that she is still teething and has three coming in right now. She really is a good sport about it all. And she is starting to walk a lot more. When we are in the house she walks around a ton but outside she has a much harder time. Hallie loves watching her walk and usually is there cheering her on every minute. They love being together and play so good together. Hallie is such a good big sister and puts up with a lot from Annie. She really is turning into a little mom to her. It is amazing to see how young they pick up the mother nature. She is so sweet with her and Annie absolutely adores her.

Hooray for new Jobs

Tyler just got a new job today. He worked at the lab up on campus and once in awhile would work at the lab above them but today the lab above him offered him to go full time. He of course said yes. He now gets benefits and all the good stuff, plus, now he will be able to quit the interpreting job. Which means no more long nights and no more falling asleep in class from lack of sleep. He will definitely miss the interpreting job but this will be a good change for him.

Farm or House?

We forgot to put these cute pictures of Hallie playing with the chickens at Tyson and Lori's house. Hallie is a major animal girl and was thrilled to see that they had a coop full of baby chickens. I love the backyards that Janae and Tyson have. It almost seems like a farm when you see all the animals on it and the kids absolutely love it. Hallie, Maddie, and Emma also love being together. Here are some cute pictures of the three of them. It makes me so grateful to have such a wonderful family. Hallie and Annie love seeing their cousins and love each time that we have family come to our house. Even Annie remembers who everyone is.

Does this look familiar?

So here we are yet again with Grandma Char in the hospital. This time we hope it won't be a serious thing. She needs her gall bladder out and a fixer-doo on some problems that her small intestine is giving her. They should admit her soon, so we will come home while she is resting and getting ready to back under the knife.

This is a really unfair picture too... she is kinda doped up on some drugs and she did not sleep good last night either. She is funny when she is on drugs too.

Annie is getting big

We finally got Annie's hair to go into pigtails. She looks so cute and it definitely brings out her crazy personality. She is still not walking yet but she is getting more daring every day. She now walks with holding just one hand and will stand up on her own and take a few steps. I think she is just a little scared but will soon do it. She has the funniest personality and we love it. Life would be so much different without her so we are glad that she came when she did. Her favorite thing to do right now is say no and shake her head. Any question you ask her is followed with the same answer. Although, Grandma Borrowman got a smile instead of a no which she has not done for anyone else. We sure love our little Annie!

We did it!!!

We had the Ogden Marathon Relay on Saturday and it was wonderful. We went up Friday night with my mom and dad and then Nick and Megan met us later that night. We all stayed in the Marriott hotel. Hallie and Annie didn't sleep very well so neither did Tyler and I. We had to be awake by 4:30 so we could catch the shuttle to the start line but sweet, little Hallie decided to get up at 3:30 so it was an early morning for everyone. My mom was so great and came and stayed with the girls while we went. Let me start out by how beautiful this course is. If anyone ever wants to run a marathon, this is the one to do! Tyler ran the first leg and did decided to continue on with me on my leg. But about mile 11 his knee was killing him and he had to walk so I continued on without him. But he still managed to make it. Nick and Megan were waiting for me at the 3rd leg and looked quite excited to go. Tyler and I had to take the shuttle back down which took much longer than we thought so I was not able to run with my dad but he seemed to do just fine without me. He by far had the hottest time to run and still was smiling when he crossed the finish line. So all in all Tyler ran 13, I ran 6, Nick and Megan ran 13, and my dad ran 3. It was so much fun and we definitely want to do this again. Maybe next year we can get my mom to run the 3! Oh, I think we ended up doing it in 4 hours, which is pretty awesome for our first race ever!

My Husband...

Just when you think you have your husband figured out he does something even more wonderful! Thank you Honey for all that you do for me. You truly have made this a special day for me. I love the fact that you are mine for eternity!

It's our Anniversary today!

I have always tried to write Bree a note for our special days, but this is about the same thing I think other than this is very public and so the private stuff is gonna kinda be embarrassing. So I guess read on if you can handle it.

We are now the big 5. Look at all the things that we have done together in just that short time:

• Met, got engaged and married all within the time that it takes to grow a nice mustache.
• Had 2 (count 'em) 2, fantastically beautiful little girls.
• Moved 3 times.
• Attended 4 wards.
• Owned 4 different vehicles.
• Met a bunch of new people, and made new friends.
• Had many good and enlightening callings in the Church.
• Left Home.
• Made our own out of some pretty terrible little places.
• Increased our running distance by 333% (a real number by the way, I did the math).
• Got new jobs and responsibilities.
• Then got some more
• Then some more.
• Fell more in love with each other.
  
• (ask me about the one that I was thinking of here).
• Gained and lost a total of about 420 lbs. between the two of us.
  
• Got through the biggest part of a 4 year degree.
• Got ready for a good 4 more.
• Went from people who had kids, to being Mom and Dad.
• Stayed up talking WAY too late quite often.
• Finally got you a place with a tub.
• Learned to make Cafe Rio salads.
• Changed hair styles a few times... one of us a little more permanently than the other.
• Basically memorized Napoleon Dynamite.
• Went to Disneyland.
• Learned to pop backs pretty good.
• Seen probably about 6 movies in the theaters.
• Fell in love with motorcycles.
• Sang and danced in the living room.
• Learned to really hate it when the other was gone.
• Ironed 10 items of clothing ("Is this too wrinkly?")
• Learned to watch what we say, even around a 2 year old.
• Told some dang funny jokes.
• Told many jokes that had to be pointed out as being funny... or even jokes.
  
• Learned that pretty much everything can teach us something.
• Watched about 3000 hours worth of Scrubs.
• Learned to not mess with Bree's bowling skills.
• And that Tyler doesn't have any.
• Kissed probably like a million times.
• Learned to Blog.
• Learned to lead even better.
• Learned to not listen when people try to tell us we can't.
• Not really fought.
  
• Had contentious moments, but always ALWAYS worked them out before doing anything else.
• Bought this sweet laptop.
• Moved and cleaned for hundreds of people.
• Acted interested when one of us had a neat science fact.
• Read each others books
• Played a lot of Munchkin.
• Learned the words to "Si Boy", or at least Hallie did.
• Watched countless kids shows.
• Got really sick.
• Got better.
• Many many times of holding each other and feeling that feeling of being home.

So that is just a few. I would add more, but I am coming home instead to spend at least a few hours with you... even if we are just asleep, at least we are close. I love you sweetheart. Thanks for picking me these last 5, and get ready for the next 5, cause it's ganna get wacky! You are my most favoritest.

Love Honey.

Disney Trip Day 3

We got smart this day because we went early and played all that we could and once we got tired we went back to the hotel and took a nap. Annie took almost a 4 hour nap and was so much happier after. Our tickets were the hopper ones so we ventured over into California Adventure today. This is not so much a kid park but it would be a blast if you were older. The only thing that caught Hallie and Annie's attention was the Playhouse Disney show. It was so funny watching Hallie and Annie get excited when JoJo came out onto the stage and also when Winnie the Pooh came out. They didn't allow us to take pictures but we got video of it. We once again visited the Princess Fantasy Fair. Hallie was ready to Bow to the Princesses and she actually did it this time. She was so excited.
We cooled down with ice cream and as you can see from the pictures they more than enjoyed it. Annie was just pumped to have her own and to hold it by herself. She was fun to clean up after!
We ate dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in Disneyland (recommended by Steve and Stacie). It was good and pretty cheap too. Then it was off to the parade. Both girls were starting to get pretty tired and tantrums were starting to kick in but once they saw the parade coming they brightened right up. Hallie laughed her head off when the Lion King float came by and Pumba was sleeping in the swing. It amazes me how grown up she is becoming lately.

Marathon Time....

We just found out that Tyler got into the St. George Marathon. He is going to do so awesome. He has 5 months to train and he is already more than half way there. I am so excited for him. We run this weekend in the Ogden Marathon Relay so wish us luck!

Disneyland Day 2

We woke up early and got ready to go to Disneyland. Hallie was getting pretty pumped by now. But when we got in the car and started to go she said "No Mom, I don't want to leave Disneyland." For some reason she thought Aunt Stacie's house was Disneyland and was pretty upset that we were leaving without seeing Mickey. She loved being with her cousins and loved the awesome backyard they have. But once we explained to her that we had not been to Disneyland yet she was ok with it.
Once we got in the gate we were excited to see her reaction to the Castle ( she loves castles). But it was not the reaction we were looking for. She just said "Oh." Plus, she was terrified of all the characters. I don't think she realized how real everything was going to be. They have a Princess Fantasy Fair going right now and she loved being among all the Princess' but only when they were not looking at her or talking to her. Don't worry she warmed up by the second day!
Our first adventure was the Dumbo ride. The lines really weren't that bad but to little girls who have never stood in lines before they were awful. Hallie couldn't understand why she was not getting on the ride. She could see Dumbo and just wanted on. Once we did get on they both loved it. It was fun to see those huge grins appear on their faces. We rode Dumbo many times throughout our trip and loved each one even more.
Both Hallie and Annie loved ToonTown! Annie loved getting down and crawling on everything and Hallie loved being in Minnie and Mickey's house. The best part of ToonTown was lunch. We got pizza from Daisy's Diner and went and sat under a shady tree. Half way through lunch we looked up and saw Minnie Mouse walking towards us. She came right over to us and put her hands out to Hallie but of course Hallie refused to go to her so Minnie let us take a picture and then sat a few feet away to sign autographs. The only place Hallie felt safe was behind the garbage can but she stayed there the whole time in awe!
We then went to Mickey's house and were glad for the air conditioning. It turned out to be very Hot in California this week. Anyway, we went in to play and found out we could meet Mickey so we waited in line and finally got to him. Hallie surprisingly did really good with meeting him. She even gave him a kiss. Annie on the other hand was very unsure of Mickey. She kept a watchful eye on him the whole time and didn't say a word until we left the house. She was so cute!
We seemed to be in all the right places at the right times. We ran into almost every character and the girls loved it. Donald Duck seemed to be one of the favorites of both girls. It was a hot day so we only made it until about 4 and then we went to our Hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night. We had an awesome Hotel and felt like Royalty there. We stayed in a Suite so it was nice to have two rooms. The girls did much better this way. That was pretty much day two of our trip!

Oops!

We finally made it home last night and as you can tell we didn't do to well posting on the blog. We found out we had to pay for the internet at our hotel and it was way to much so now we get to catch you up all in one shot. Just to start out- WE HAD A BLAST! It was one of the best times we had as a family and we are now starting to save for our next vacation. Anyway, when I get all the pictures downloaded onto our computer I will post them.

DisneyTrip Day 1.

OK, so this is really more like day 1.5. We started our trip last night about 4 p.m. after watching our friends, Brady, Ashley and Henry Mantle get sealed. That's right, from the holiest place on earth, to the happiest place on earth.

As we traveled, Hallie was a non-stop barrage of words. At first she was just asking the usual questions "what movie can I watch?... is that a cow?... what? huh? WHAT MOM?WHAT?" Then around Nephi, she started to ask to go home. Not a good sign, we had about 7-8 more hours of travel to do that night. As a rule we don't tell her anything about where we are going until just before we get there, because she gets too excited and won't sleep, or at least even be sort of calm. So after about half-an-hour of constant talk and whining from the back seat, Bree says "I'm just gonna tell her." So she spins around and says "Hallie, we are going to stop at grandmas just to go to the potty and change into our pajamas, then we are driving to Katrinas house to sleep, then we are going to Disneyland where Mickey Mouse lives."

Absolute silence from the back seat.

"Mickey Mouse house Mom?" "Yes, but you have to be good and just watch your movie." After that she did really good the whole rest of the trip.

We made good time, and got to Victorville without getting lost, or anything even close. For those of you who know me, or who have traveled with me driving, this is no small feat. We got here about 1 in the morning, and Annie woke up crying twice after putting her to bed, then got up for good around 5. Yeah, total nightmare. So we sleep tonight, then head out in the morning for Disneyland.

We went to church with the Langs and had fun with them this afternoon. The dog and swing set were especially big hits with the two girls. Katrina and Amanda took Hallie and Annie right in, they played so good all day without fighting. So all in all, a successful first day I think.

Chicken or Duck?

Last Halloween I bought a chicken costume for Hallie to wear this year. I put it up in her closet and she found it today. She came running into me and asked for the chicken on the shelf. I had no idea what she was talking about so she pulled me in there and pointed to the costume. Tyler got it down for her and helped her get it on. She told us she was a duck and then started talking in duck! Which is just saying "Quack, Quack" to everything we ask her. When we sat down to eat lunch, Tyler asked her to say the prayer and she refused until he said "Duck, will you say the prayer?" "Quack, Quack" and then she started praying. She has a tune that she says her prayer to and as she started she said "Quack, Quack" just like she says Heavenly Father. We both burst out laughing and she quickly changed to english. After lunch she wanted to watch a movie and this is how we found our little duck.

Fort time

I guess in a breaking moment for my wife, she started to rearrange the furniture. I asked her if she needed help, she said no. I asked what she was doing, and she looked at me like "Duh" but what she said was "Making a fort."

I moved one couch in a circle to gain the optimal fort height to blanket spread ratio. You will notice the semi-parabolic distribution of the roofing material in stark contrast to the rigid lines formed by the wall supports. It is sporting a whole Lehi-in-the-wilderness thing, don't you think?
We are a little anxious to go I think

To Stress or not to Stress

That is the question. I forget how much you have to do to go on vacation. Plus, my calling has me going in every direction right now. I can not wait for Saturday to come. Here is our schedule so that everyone knows what we are doing.
Saturday- Leave SLC about 4 or 5 and drive to California
Sunday- Enjoy some time with Stacie and Steve ( I finally get to hold Elizabeth!)
Monday - Wednesday- DISNEYLAND!!!!!
Thursday & Friday- Stay with and visit family in St. George
It seems like such a long time but I know that it is going to fly by and soon we will be back to work and everyday life. But we are sure going to enjoy it while we can. And don't worry, we will try to post while we are there so you can enjoy it with us.

Ensign Peak.....

We hiked Ensign Peak today and had a blast. We went with our field trip group and we have some go getters in the bunch. So instead of doing the 5 minute short hike, we hiked to the top which is about a 2 mile round trip hike. And boy was it up hill. But Hallie did so good and walked the whole way. She never complained and was more than excited to be out hiking. It probably helped that she had friends with her. I carried Annie up and then she wanted to walk most of the way down. Which, of course, I held her hands because she is still not walking on her own. It was a beautiful view once we got to the top. I can see why people like to hike there. Anyway, both my girls loved it and I am so glad. It is nice to have kids who enjoy going on adventures because we sure have lots to come. Here is a little bit about Ensign Peak for those who have never heard about it or seen it.

Ensign Peak is a prominent hill on the northern edge of the Salt Lake Valley. On July 26, 1847, two days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young and seven other pioneer leaders climbed the hill to survey the valley. From its summit they laid out in their minds the city they intended to build. Brigham Young claimed a vision from God directed him to lead his people into the Salt Lake Valley. It is said that Young recognized Ensign Peak as a prominent landmark in his vision, confirming his statement: "This is the right place."