These Little Ladies

These girls keep me so busy and complete my life. Chanel doesn't get me to herself much anymore since we usually have a small handful of extra kids at our house lately. Especially now that Bug is out of school, we don't get out one-on-one time. However, we take advantage of the time we do get together. She was being so cheesy the other day, I had to snap some pics of her sassy-ness.

 This girl is getting so big, but WAY TO FAST!!!! She had a tooth that was loose for a long time, finally, while we were out to dinner one weekend, she bit into something and that was it...it either had to come out, or she would starve to death. So I tried to work magic on it like my grandma used to but couldn't get the string trick to work so I counted to three, gave it a quick yank, and it was out!

Elena was so relieved to have it out and couldn't wait for the Tooth Fairy to come! Of course, Chanel was there for every second of it cheering her on...

...she even wanted one of her teeth pulled, haha!!!

The Tooth Fairy brought Elena a gold dollar! She was so excited:)

 My silly little ladies :o)

Soccer, Baby!!!

Our Bug is playing soccer again this Spring. She was excited at first but now that we are about finished with the season, she seems she couldn't care less about it. I'm not sure if it's because she feels a little burned out. Afterall, she just finished swim and school for the summer and doing all of it at the same time might have had her worn out. Next time, I think we'll take it one thing at a time...

So far, her team is undefeated. She has some pretty great players on her team and even though I think she gets a little intimidated, she still does good getting involved in the game and helping out her team.

Our Easter

This year we spent Easter Saturday at Young Living Farms. They had an easter egg hunt (more like an easter egg pick-up) and the girls got some yummy candy, the one thing they were most excited for. We rode in a horse-drawn carriage out to the field where all the eggs were. Luckily it was a warm beautiful day.

We had to check out the livestock while we were there. The kids saw donkeys, llamas, buffalo, horses, and chickens. They even got to pet the rabbits and baby chicks.

Chanel cracks me up. She had to be doing everything the older kids were. If they were feeding the animals, she had to feed them. If they climbed up on the fence, she had to, too! She was their little shadow.

The kids got to ride on the ponies. I felt so bad for the animals. They had to carry around all those kids and it ended up being such a hot day. They were sweating and panitng, poor things...

... but the girls loved it! :)

Easter Sunday was spent at home. Nice and realxing, just the way we like it.

Recent Happenings

Elena has continued to take swim lessons since last fall and has loved it so much. I'm amazed at how much she has learned, I can guarantee she is a way better swimmer than I am:)                                                                               

One of Elena's assignments in school was that she was able to bring home a bear to keep for a week, and then we had to document everything bear did while he stayed with us in the "Bear Book". First thing, Elena had to show bear our UTE Pride by letting him wear daddy's Ute hat. Bear ate with us, went to Bug's swim lessons with us, story time, everything... The girls love having bear around for the week.



One of the first warm days of spring, Chanel couldn't wait to get outside to play. She had to try on Elena's roller skates, and with some help, she loved every minute of it:)

We planted a new tree in our backyard. It's a fruit salad tree! It will grow peaches, nectarines, and plums and we cannot WAIT for it to start to produce fresh fruit for us (which won't happen for a few years... oh well, we're still excited!)

Catching Up: Chanel Turns 2!!!

Our Chanely turned 2 in March and I can't believe how much she has grown in the last year. She is so smart and it amazes me everyday how much she knows and is learning. For her birthday this year, we took her to the zoo. It was cold and wet, but it was worth not having to battle the crowd.

Just seconds after taking this picture, the tiger lept up onto the glass at Austin. I don't think I've ever screamed so loud...



 The coolest part was how active the tigers were. I think this was everyone's favorite, especially Elena, can you tell?

We were happy that Aunt Natalie could spend the day with us. We were able to see the baby elephant, Zuri, who doesn't really seem like a baby anymore. I guess that's because she isn't:) Chanel does the best impression of an elephant sound, it definately beats mine. You should have her do it for you;)

Later, we had dinner and opened presents. We gave her a cheap dress hat and wicker purse (which she actually picked out herself) books, and some stylin' sunglasses. She couldn't wait to wear everything. She also got more books, clothes, and really cute shoes, which she also had to wear right away:)

Chanely, I can't believe you are two! You definately hit the terrible two's way before this, but your personality shows more and more everyday and we just love the little angel you try to be are!:) We love you so much, and thank Heavenly Father everyday for sending you to our family.

Catching up: VEGAS!!!

Back in Feb., Aus and I had the chance to go with some great friends on a weekend couples getaway to St. George/Vegas. Our first adventure was a bright and early breakfast at the Bear Claw (yummy!) then headed out to hike Angel's Landing in Zions.

Here we are at the trailhead... This picture was NOT edited in photoshop:o)

Mr. Mountain Man...this is how steep it got going up the ledge of the mountain with cliffs on either side. It was INTENSE, but we loved every minute of it!

Our group at the top of the landing. Everyone was relieved to make it to the top since we braved slick, icy conditions the last half mile of the hike (which was literally straight up!)

The men with their celebratory jerky, courtesy of Boompa:)

The ladies of the group:) Brita was booking it the whole time and beat all of us to the top. Some by just a minute or two, me- by about 10 minutes....Hahaha!

Our gaaazorgeous view! I totally want to frame this picture. The wind was really strong and the landing wasn't very big, but the view was to die for! I don't know why we don't do this sort of thing more often. Definately planning on more hikes like this in the future!

After the hike we got all cleaned up and headed into Vegas. We met up with more friends and had dinner together before we went to see Jabbawockeez (which was such a fun show! No pictures though, darn it!)

This was seriously such a fun group to go with...

The following day, some of us attended the World Wide Leadership Training at the local Stake Center while our spouses slept in and had breakfast. We met up later for a session at the Vegas Temple, but for the ride there of course we had plenty of entertainment. The guys stuck Big Red gum wrappers t their faces to see who could keep it there the longest. I'm not sure who won but they all had red forehead entering the temple. Haha!

The guys kept us entertained the whole trip, especially with their rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" moves.

We had dinner at a tapas bar in Henderson called FireFly. It was amazingly good! Everyone just orders appetizers and shares with the table. We were passing food like crazy to try a little bit of everything. Soooo Yummmy! Then we headed in to see Phantom, which I was so impressed with. I had never seen a show in Vegas before, and the both shows we saw were so fun and entertaining.

We're definately planning another trip like this in the future. It was so much fun to get to know some of our friends a little better and to have some grown up time:) Thanks everyone!

Catching up: Elena's 6th Birthday!

Wow- this whole blogging thing has really been on the back burner...Back in January my beautiful bug turned 6! She woke up that morning to a room full of balloons, then that night we had cake and ice cream with presents! That weekend we had a family party for her at Classic. It was so fun to rollerskate/blade that even most of the adults did it too:) Elena chose a song for her party group to skate to, her choice was "Good Life" by OneRepublic, it's pretty much been our family theme lately. We have jam sessions all the time where we turn the song up early in the morning while we're all still in our pj's and just dance like crazy...good times, I mean Good Life! Haha:)

Even C got out in her own skates to see what the fuss was about, but eventually chose to ride around in her stroller, then puckered out:)

The birthday girl got to spin the prize wheel and stand in the money blast machine. It really was a great day!

It was great having everyone there. All those who had been skating created a train, Chanel led us with Natalie pushing her and pretty much pulling the rest of us along.

We are so grateful to have Elena in our family. She truly blesses our lives everyday and is a constant reminder to me to always try to become better than I am. I love how gentle she is in everything and with everyone in her life. Friends and family mean a lot to her. Bug, you'll always be our little gem, keeping us in line and making every minute of my life even better and full of meaning and purpose. I love you so much!

Mom