10 Years Later

For a quick, long overdue update... We all have been alive and healthy the past year (or 2)! We went on an awesome trip to Hawaii in February with my family...


... I finished up Preschool, am no longer in Young Women's :( and we have a darling new member of our family!! Amelia was born 3 weeks ago and has been an absolute angel baby! She is so sleepy that she hardly makes a peep!



We also had our 10 year anniversary yesterday! WHAT??!! I know... It's been a long and speedy decade, and the best one of my life!

TADAH!

Did you like my little disappearing act?! I certainly need a faster connection... that's all I can say in my defense. But one that's free!
Lot's of things have been going on, I just am slacker when it comes to writing about them! Summer was fun, I had all my family in town, which is pretty rare and always way fun! To those siblings that abandoned me, I love you guys and hope you will one day come to your senses and move back! I always go through spouts of gloominess when you go, so let's just stop doing that by packing up and even moving in with the parents if you must! I'm just glad one of you finally gave in! Thanks Em!

It was a bittersweet visit this time though. As I'm sure many of you know, and a few of you also experienced. My sweet rambunctious Grandma passed away this summer. I don't like to think about it too much, it's still hard to imagine that's she's really gone. She was so full of life and excitement that I somehow imagined her out living all of us. It surprised me how uplifting and, in a way, fun her funeral was. It was like a celebration of her life, and though I cried a ton, I laughed too. She was always having fun and learning and I hope my life will resemble hers. I only regret if she didn't know how much I loved her and that she meant so much to me. The experience was a life lesson for me. People are in fact fragile and you never know when you're going to lose someone you love.

Preschool started and I have 2 way darling classes! Gracie gets to do preschool twice each time, and she's so busy having fun that she still can't always remember what she learned about that day! But she sure takes her work seriously. She does her papers perfectly and is an excellent student and is so sweet with all the other kids. Okay- I'm bragging. She's just the best daughter ever! I'm very proud of her.
Lucy is in the potty phase!! AAAAHH! It's like a recurring nightmare!! I'm not taking it on in the slightest cause she is way too young, but she keeps taking all of her clothes off randomly throughout the day and she loves to sit on the potty! Crap! (What a nasty reality.) Maybe she just likes to be naked or something. She is miss independent so I know the minute I try to step in and get her trained, she will either completely hate it or start going everywhere but the toilet just to get me riled up. She enjoys that these days. How can she be the cutest thing on the planet one minute and then be little demon the next? She loves to take pencils, dry-erase markers, whatever she can get, and casually walk down the hall, like she's doing such a clever thing by marking where's she's been. I wish everyone could see her little facial expressions. She's like a mime using just her face.


I must say it's so fun having girls! We have sleepovers in their tent in the front room and tea parties in our dress-ups and even the daily melt downs are often times hilarious. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have boys, it's just been a fun situation.

I love that I don't blog forever and then I write a novel that I would take one look at and think, okay- I'm not reading that! Oh well. I hope you all are doing well and one day, when I get free super fast internet, I will get totally caught up in the world of blogging!

Trek

Me and Andy were VERY privileged to go on a Pioneer Trek to Martin's Cove a couple weeks ago. What an amazing experience it was. We were a Ma and Pa to 6 amazing youth in our ward and were so impressed really with all of the youth that went.



It rained the entire time and since we could only bring 2 outfits and pajamas, it was a rare thing to be dry. We walked through mud that was at least up past my knees (I have short legs) but all I heard from my cute girls was, "I can't believe the pioneers walked through 18 inches of snow!"




The second night was especially cold. We had a couple girls borderline hypothermia and we could see a tornado in the distance so, needless to say, there was talk of going home. We had a fearless leader, Tyler Holland. I keep telling people how comparable he was to Joseph Smith, in that he asked that we endure and he had us stay no matter how difficult, and he had more reason than anyone to go home because his wife just had a baby the day before we left. And though at times I may have doubted the decisions he made, he was right every time. If we had left early it would not have made near the impact it made on the youth or myself. Thank you so much Brother Holland. I will never doubt you again!



I had so much fun having Andy there. He was the life of the party- at least for me! We danced like we've never danced before, we worked together harder than we have before, and we felt the spirit together in a way we've never felt before.



I will never forget this experience and what an awesome sacrifice the pioneers went through so they could worship and be a true representative of Christ. I'm so proud of our youth and how strong they are. I just barely got a plate of cookies from some of the young women that went on trek, and it seems each day they show even more what sweet and amazing women they are and will be.




I was asked just before trek to be the Young Women's President and quite honestly, I am completely humbled by the call. I am so excited and at the same time feel so inadequate. I'm afraid they will be the ones teaching me. I love each of them so much and I've decided I'm going to do the very best that's in me because they deserve nothing less. So anyways - if you wouldn't mind keeping me in your prayers over the next few years I would greatly appreciate it!

Quarterly Update

I admit it. I have been so self absorbed lately that I haven't peeked at blogs. I promise I still love you and wonder how and what you're doing! These are some pics of some of the things we've been up to since Disneyland...


So above and below is from Easter weekend. We had tons of fun with my parents and my Sis and her kids in beautiful St. George.





We had a fun visit from Grandma Palmer in March and went down to Mesquite in April to see her in her Dance Spectacular. And yes, she was spectacular. We sat right in the front row and saw every dancer (age 55 and older) perfectly. I tell you what, their energy levels at their ages were off the chart. If told I'd have the same kind of stamina as these women it would immensely subdue my fears of getting older. It was inspirational.


And the majority of our time has been in taming this wild woman and her half tame sister. Really they're probably the easiest and sweetest kids that ever existed so it's definitely a good thing for everyone that we got it so easy!

So next week is preschool graduation!! Crazy! And a couple more weeks after that Andy and I get to be Ma's and Pa's for our youth's Martin's Cove Trek. Crazy! So basically I'll be crazy for just about another month and then I'll be checking in on you all. I'm totally excited! Hope Mother's Day was excellent for all you mom's and influential women out there!

Missing Disneyland

So, I gave up blogging cause it's soooo time consuming because my computer is slower than a legless turtle. I just had to show and tell our best trip ever. We went to Disneyland a couple weeks ago with all my family. I'm so homesick over it though! I don't know which is worse, not getting to spend time with my family everyday or not being in the crowd infested magical kingdom. It was seriously the greatest time. It was beautiful weather the first 3 days and pouring rain the last 3. And you'd be surprised how busy it was for sopping wet, off season days. We brought back wonderful memories, lots of junk, and lovely colds.
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Here's all the cute kids! This was Gracie's favorite part of the whole trip, "the cousins".


The fam with good old Mickey Mouse. Thanks man, I mean mouse, your place rocks.


This was after the 3-D Muppet Show. I loved it. Those muppets. They're hilarious.


Here's Gracie's hero, Ariel. We had lunch with her and all the princess for a pre-birthday celebration. It was fabulous and worth every penny.
(And it was many pennies)


Gracie's 3rd Birthday party in the hotel room. I managed to bring stuff to make her a cake. Hope you had a Happy Birthday cute girl!


Cute little Lu hated being in the stroller but LOVED being on the rides.


This little magician Michael could always manage to get Gracie to eat all of her food! It was amazing. Her face would light up whenever she saw him.


This was the system for the rainy days. Disneyland sure made tons on ponchos that week.


Andy was the greatest on this trip. He was so easy going and happy. He took Lucy home for naps and let me stay and play and was always so much fun to be with. Thanks Andykins! Love ya!


Best bud Kayley and me decided being imprisoned here would be the greatest thing ever. Too bad the bars were made of rubber.


The cousins that we went around with rain or shine. Thanks for making the trip for us guys! It wouldn't have been nearly as fun without you there with us.

We can't thank you enough mom and dad! We had the time of our lives. Love you guys!

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays!
We had a pretty good time I must say!

Christmas Eve was pretty low key. We had a nice dinner with a whole chicken, homemade rolls and jello (which any meal with more than an entree is a big deal at our house). Then we had our annual Christmas story puppet show, that Lucy was so not into. And finished it off with opening PJ's and eating ice cream sundaes.


On Christmas, Gracie was in heaven opening gifts. She didn't care who they were for or even what was inside, she just wanted to open them all. Lucy was the opposite. We tried to make her open some and she just cried. She just wanted to play with the ones already open. I guess I missed out on that saving opportunity! Gracie got her mermaid barbie and mermaid movie that she asked for, and a bunch more. Lucy got her tinkerbell barbie and tinkerbell movie that Gracie asked for her, and a bunch more. I got Rockband 2 for our Wii and got a raincheck for Wii Fit! Andy got some clothes, badmitten and a goatee trimmer. Ya, I think I took the cake for getting the most fun gifts! I think I'll have Andy do the Christmas shopping from now on!



Then we had Grandma and Grandpa come over for Breakfast and naps. They got us a trip to Disneyland for Christmas!! We are soooooo excited!! It makes the holidays being over a good thing, instead of depressing. We had fun seeing them attempt to rock out on our new game. They also got us an awesome game called Raving Rabbids that is hilarious and I highly recommend it. We always have fun when they come over! Thanks you two!!

The next day we tried on our snow gear and Gracie and I went out and played in the 4 feet of snow we had in our backyard. We built a snow fort, a house for Sasha and a snowman and played ring-a-round the rosies, slid down the stairs and to my surprise, Gracie was done playing before I was!
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New Year's Eve we put the girls to bed at my parent's and they let us take off to see a movie. It's always so fun to go out anywhere, especially when going out usually means going to Walmart with your kids screaming at you the whole time. We loved it! And at midnight we woke-up the girls and on the drive home we got to see all kinds of fireworks. It was great!



New Year's Day we had Grandma Brenda, Grandpa Rob and Uncle Adam over for lunch. They're always a huge hit at our house. We had a great time playing games and eating and watching a show and eating. We love having them over!

I must say we missed seeing cute Grandma Trudi and Grandpa Hal this year, but hopefully we'll get to see them soon! Hope you both are doing well! We love you!

Last night I promised Gracie that we would sleep in her little tent and watch a show. With that said, I am very tired this morning and will be surprised if any of this post makes sense! I'm very grateful for beds!

Good luck to you all in 2009! Hope we all come out on top this new year!

Potty-Trained... Poopdee-Doo!

So first of all, before I explain the title, me and Gracie went on a mommy daughter date with our friends Deja and Monique. We had a blast! We saw the real princesses and all the other Disney pets and it was just about the most incredible thing ever! But really, I did not expect Gracie to be quite as into as she was.
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The grand finale was equipped with all the characters and fireworks. I think she was impressed. She was screaming for joy and just couldn't even believe her eyes! I was the same way, but from watching her. It was so fun to see her get so into and have so much fun with me and not at my expense! Which brings me to my title explanation...



I'm in the kitchen today attempting to create a tinkerbell dress-up, which for me is stressful, not fun. My oh so talented sister talked me into it, trust me, not my idea. Gracie is in the bathroom flushing the toilet, cause she's supposedly "potty-trained" (I swear there's no such thing for this girlfriend). So I go in there to check things out cause she's taking some time. I open the door and my fake french cobblestone bathroom floor is covered in a dark chocolate colored spackle. It reeked, it was crumbly, it was stuck, it was out of a nightmare! I don't even want to know how it got all over the place. SICK!!! I should have sensed things weren't going my way when she peed her pants in Ann Taylor Loft at the Gateway on Saturday. I think that grossed some people out too cause Seth puked about five minutes later (in the same store mind you). Poor Ann Taylor girl! I tell you what, I'm up for a trade if anyone wants to have a go at this dilemma. I love my Gracie like crazy, but man, she is sure having a good time getting to me lately! I tell her come here, she sprints in the opposite direction. The louder and sterner I say it, the faster she runs and the more she laughs. I tell her to put her shoes on, she's throws them across the room with a big grin on her face. I try to put her in time out in her bedroom and she says, "I want to say sorry! I want to say sorry!" and does the same thing as soon as I'm not looking. I keep telling her Santa won't bring her toys, but will bring her dirty rocks if she's not a good girl. She just looks at me with an innocent smile and says, "I'm a good girl mommy". All I can say is it's a good thing she's cute! If anyone has any 2 1/2 year old pointers for me, PLEASE!! I would LOVE THEM!! Other than that, life is fabulous.