Grimley

New Blog

2011-01-31T14:59:00.000-08:00

I have moved to a new blog. Go to bmgrimley.blogspot.com and leave me a comment and I will invite you to my blog.

Squinty Eyes

2011-01-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

Kate does this often. She thinks it is funny... and we do too.

Girly Stuff

2011-01-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

Cousins: Adi, Jayne, and Kenna

Jilynn and I took the girls to the Princess Palooza. There were lots of booths setup like a fair. The girls had their hair done by the beauty school, had clowns make them balloons, tried samples, got candy, made bracelets, and pet a snake. They had a great time and there was some cute boutique stuff for me and Jilynn to see.

Princess hair.

Kenna Photoshoot

2011-01-18T21:38:00.000-08:00

This is my absolute favorite from the shoot. We were just testing out a couple of outdoor spots, for winter photo shoots and Kenna is getting to the point that she kind of likes have a "photo shoot".

She was WAY into splashing in the puddles, she was loving it!

Interview with Makenna

2011-01-18T17:31:00.001-08:00

Life through Kenna's eyes. The funniest part about this is that she does not like sledding. It is hilarious when she says "well, sometimes I don't like it". Ya, more like she never likes it. :)

Kenna and Kate

2011-01-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

Makenna is starting to be more girlie. She ALWAYS wants to wear a dress.

and was THRILLED when for our girls night we painted our fingernails. She loved playing with friends and she is always singing and dancing. I need to get a video of her "hip hop" dancing in the kitchen with Ben.. it is ADORABLE.

She is a great big sister and most of the time plays really well with Kate. This picture about sums up what it is like to have a big sister. :)

She is a silly, crazy, fun little girl. I just can't believe how big she is.

Kate will do anything that Kenna does. Yesterday Kenna was showing me how she can jump on one foot. Kate stood next to her and focused so hard trying to do the same. She was trying to left her foot and her head was bouncing up and down like she was jumping.

Kate says very little but is starting to babble now. She CAN say uh-oh, nigh nigh, Hi, mama, and dada. I just LOVE her beautiful gray eyes.

Kate has turned into a little comedian. At dinner we were eating little shell noodles and Kate was not so sure about it so she was just playing with them. She stuck one on her finger and then would stick her finger in her nose. Kenna was dying laughing so Kate continued to try and shove noodles up her nose the rest of dinner, luckily they didn't fit but I do foresee a future problem.

My favorite thing that Kate does right now is she gives kisses. But instead of kissing she clicks her tongue. Same noise right? It is so cute.

A Makenna Original

2011-01-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

Kate and Kenna had a big celebration. A peice of candy and a few pot lids and spoons.

They partied past there bed time.... 8:15pm. Kids to bed. :)

Ben and I did stay up a little later to celebrate, but why start out the new year tired and cranky?
We got up and played basketball before the Akagi party. It was a great new years.

Another Heber Cabin Trip

2011-01-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

We are those parents that push our kids down the sledding hill. "You're gonna go sledding... and you're gonna like it!" Kenna always warms up to it after a few tears.

The back hill is a bit more bumpy. You have to brace yourself... demonstrated by Ben.

There is a big jump that is a killer.

We went up with my college roomie, Betsy and her family. Eric gave some great photo faces too.

Betsy and little Hadley. Everyone always asks if Hadley and Kenna are cousins. They do look similar, they are both stinkin' cute.

Ben gets going SO fast down the road.

Kenna prefers eating the snow over sledding.

Andy's family made it up to the cabin too. Andy had this sweet invention for pulling Lainey up the hill.

Lainey wanted to go "all by myself". So Andy gave her her own sled.

Wrestling Dad at in the cabin.

The kids had so much fun playing. The cabin is an awesome get away.

Merry Christmas!

2011-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

We went to a Family Christmas Party and had a white elephant exchange. Kenna got a box full of barbies that were stolen in the game. She handled it very well but never got anything after that that she liked. She kept asking people to steal her gift so that she could open another.

So Christmas morning came and she opened her first gift and says "I want Kate to steal it". I wasn't sure what she meant until the next gift was the same response. Kenna wanted to open all of her gifts but thought that she just got one, so she wanted it "stolen" so she could open another. I finally explained that she got to keep all of them. It took her until that evening to understand. In the afternoon she was begging me that she could keep 2 of her presents. When I told her she could have all of them she jumped up and down and cheered. It was so funny!

Kenna had a barbie Christmas.

My mom, dad, brother Wes, and sister Whitney joined us Christmas morning too.

Kate got some hand-me-down toys and was completely happy. :)

Ben's new GPS watch. He is now ready to train again.

Kenna loves the books Mimi gives her.

Then Mimi also had Kenna follow a ribbon trail down to the basement. .. what could it be?

a Doll House! Kenna loved it. This is one of the gifts she begged to keep.

I got my new snazzy camera. The Nikon D7000, I can't wait for spring and more outdoor photo shoots. I am really liking photography.

We had a great day spent together! I love Christmas time. ... although now I am ready for Spring and winter has only just begun.

Let is Snow. Let it Snow. Let is Snow.

2010-12-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

We headed up to the cabin to find TONS of snow.

Ben got the tractor snow blower attachment working but the snow was so deep that the tractor kept getting stuck.

Ben ended up spending 4+ hours hand digging a spot for the CRV to park out of the road.

Meanwhile we played inside.

Kate practiced her stair skills.

Grandpa Grimley will be happy to know that Kate is a bucket head too. (She put it on her head all by herself. )

Then it was finally time to play in the snow.

Mini Snowmen.

Snow Angels.

Sledding.

A very fun little get away to the cabin. We are looking forward to going again next week.

Kenna Conquers the Sledding Hill.

2010-12-25T12:43:00.000-08:00

Kenna always takes time to warm up to sledding but she likes it with these cool sleds. (Thanks Edwards for leaving them at the cabin)

Kate and the Stairs

2010-12-25T12:34:00.000-08:00

Kate can go down the stairs now too! She is a proud little climber. :)

Let it Snow

2010-12-21T12:44:00.000-08:00

We woke up to Snow! All this rain and we finally got snow. So we suited up and headed out sledding. Neither of our girls liked the sledding but they did like sitting in the snow.
Love my little snowball. Don't think she could move, but she was warm.

And Kenna realized how much she liked eating the snow and was happy from then on. She even let Ben pull her fast once and she liked it. :)

One Year Stats

2010-12-20T22:36:00.000-08:00

My cute little Kate. 12 month Checkup
Length: 29 3/4" (70%)
Weight: 21 lbs. 13 oz. (61%)
Head: 47 cm. (92%)

Tis' the Season

2010-12-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

Here Comes Santa

2010-12-13T21:19:00.000-08:00

My kids do not care for the big jolly guy.

Kenna's Dance Recital

2010-12-13T14:49:00.001-08:00

Kate's 1st Birthday

2010-12-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

Kate loved the attention of everyone watching her and singing to her.

And she REALLY liked the cake.

She downed the entire thing.

The next night she got a second party. This time she knew what was coming, this is her seeing me holding the cake. She was panicking as I was waiting to give her the cake.

mmmm. .... cake.

She thinks she is pretty funny.

Yay!

We had lots of help in the bath after.

In a few more years Mayble is going to be a fabulous babysitter.

Kenna's Mini Recital

2010-12-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

Kenna has been LOVING dance class. On Saturday they had a little mini recital. Kenna didn't get nervous at all. She did so good. We took a few photos before the recital and she was striking all sorts of great dance poses for me.

Here a few photos of her dancing with her class. I am so sad that I forgot my video camera because it was so cute! These pictures show a little bit of what it was like.

Kate is One!

2010-12-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

Favorite Toys: microphone, old cell phones

Favorite Foods: banana, black beans, corn

Favorite Games: She loves to chase and be chased

Favorite Place: Kenna's room emptying off all the toy shelves

Mischievous things she does: Splashes in the toilet water

Proudest moment: Climbing onto something and then sitting on it.

Closest Milestone: Walking consistently. She still thinks crawling is faster so she rarely walks.. but we know she can we have seen it a lot too.

Cute Habit: Dancing to the music. She stands up and bobs her little head.

Bad Habit: Chewing on everything.

Mom's Favorite Thing: When she is laughing at herself and she scrunches up her nose and smiles a big cheesy grin, looking up at the sky.

Dad's Favorite Thing: When Kate sticks both hands in the air and says "hida" (possibly meaning hi dad)

Kate is very calm and mild, although she is very gets in to everything. She quietly climbs around and empties all the shelves and drawers.

She is very happy most of the time. She already has 8 teeth. She doesn't talk much she only says "hi" and "ni ni" and Dada (yet it is debatable if she even know what she is saying with that one, she has always said that. :)

Kate is definitely her own person. Her temperment, personality, and looks are very different from Kenna.

You can compare Kate and Kenna at their first birthday here.

I love Kate's beautiful gray/blue eyes, the way she sucks the knuckle of her first finger when she goes to sleep, the was she shakes her head no, and the cute little personality that we see coming out.

Viva Mexico

2010-12-01T22:54:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in Mexico was fabulous. My entire family was able to make it there for a week on the beach at my Grandpa's house in Bay of Dreams.

My Mom and Dad.

Sister Angie and her kids Garrett and May.

My sister Jenny.

My sister Suzie and her husband Leif.

My brother Wes.

My sister Whitney.

Of course my family.

And Bailey got to come too.

All 6 siblings ... same place at the same time.

So obviously we had a little photo shoot on the beach.

My mom planned something fun for us each day, on top of the pool right outside our room and the beach just a few steps farther than that. Makenna and Kate both LOVED the pool and beach.

After a while Kate even stopped eating the sand and would just play in it.

I love that the sand is right outside our rooms so that they could play in the sand right there no matter what we were doing. This is such a cute picture that makes it look like they were playing together. Really Kate kept trying to dig in Kenna's bucket and it was making her really mad.

Then we got to do things like go paddle boarding.

Go running and 4 wheeling. Ben and I got to go running together everyday because we had so many great babysitters. There is a crazy golf course out there that we kept exploring how we were going to get the 4 wheeler around it to drive to the peak.

In our exploring and running on the beach we found this turtle shell and head.

We got to go horse back riding on the beach. It was very fun and super intense. Raul let us run down the beach and I don't think any of us were prepared for running on a horse. I did successfully cantor and it was pretty cool. Don't know if I want to do it again.... but cool. Ben's horse was running and he got a pretty crazy ride too. All he could say after was "that was super intense".

And no I didn't have either of the girls with me when I was running on the beach.

We went out fishing (although we only got a couple small fish) it was fun to go out on the ocean.

My mom was doing a documentary on this Jr. High band and so they came and gave us a live performance.

We had a sibling gift exchange since we will not be together on Christmas. And we have this nerdy tradition of acting the gifts out.
Here is Suzie being an very believable deer, waiting for Leif to come pretend to cut her arm off , since they got Ben a saw.

Wesley trying to get Jenny to guess.

Kenna acting out the magnetic doll that we made for Mayble.

We had a bonfire on the beach.

We always sneak over to the waterfall next door.

We spent tons of time playing, walking on the beach, and being together.

Swim lessons with Aunt Jenny.

Kate walked more this trip than she ever has. The tiles are really rough and so she walked all around, as soon as we got home she was back to crawling. I guess it is still faster, but she will walk soon. Now we know she can.

Oh I don't know why we left. I could have stayed another couple of weeks. My kids were even good. ....
Only a few crabby breakdowns :)

I do LOVE Mexico!

The last day on our way to the airport we went to church in La Paz and it was their primary program. It was the cutest thing ever. I am in the Stake Primary so I recently have gone to all the primary programs in my Stake and it was so fun to see one in Spanish that had the same songs.

Mom and Dad... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Maybe this should be come a tradition. :)

Star Stalkers

2010-11-30T07:17:00.000-08:00

So I am sorting through the hundreds of pictures from our wonderful trip to Mexico. A little pre-post.... Guess who flew in and stayed in the house next to us on our last day??? Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson.... the whole family!

We were really trying to accidentally run into them, if we had another day I think we would have been hanging out with them :) Haha... the seemed pretty cautious.
Garrett saw Goldie and Kurt walk by on the beach and they said hi to him.
Kate Hudson rode a 4wheeler by on the beach.
Jenny and Suzie saw Kurt and Goldie at the restaurant.
And I talked to Oliver Hudson at the Beach, he was there with Wilder.

I didn't know but apparently he is Kate's brother and on the show "Rules of Engagement"

I really wanted to stalk them down and get their picture, but I guess that is why they were there to get away from it all.
It was fun to try and become best friends with the stars, yet all of your plans failed. Maybe next time.

Mayble's Dance Party

2010-11-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

We got to go to Mayble's birthday party last weekend. It was very fun!

Dancing and Frozen Yogurt at LA Tart. Here is little Kenna bustin a move.

They put on makeup and made necklaces. It was great! Happy Birthday May

Let it Snow

2010-11-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

The joy of being jobless is being able to take a cabin trip on a Monday night.

So we got to spend FHE at the cabin and even go sledding in the morning.

As you can see Kate is a bit less cautious then Kenna.

Even while Ben was pulling them we couldn't keep Kate from crawling around and reaching out to touch the snow.(this picture was taken while moving and she was still so determined to reach the snow)

Love the little snot face. :)

Then I got in the sled too and Ben pulled us fast.

Kate loved it.

Let's just say that Kenna was really trying to be brave. :)

But she did say after all was said and done that she had fun sledding. Yet she still talks about "when she was a baby and went sledding with Grandpa and she didn't like it" I think the video keeps it fresh in her mind.

Dance and Playing in Mercur

2010-11-09T18:07:00.000-08:00

Kenna is loving dance class.

It is fun to see Kate getting to a point where she likes to play with Kenna. They are so funny together.

This last weekend we headed out to Mercur for a little camp out (without the sleeping over part).
We hiked up to the Mercur Cemetery. It is a pretty cool little cemetery from the early 1900's.

We brought our 4 wheeler out for a last adventure before the snow. We rode around on some trails and saw some beautiful views.

The reason we went out there was for "the Pit". It is an old mine that it covered.

Good thing because it drops straight down.

Kate

Kenna

After the sun went down we had a nice fire, ate some dinner,....

had some Halloween suckers for dessert, ....

then we did some of this ....

and some of this.

Kate got her first taste of sucker and had a death grip on it when I tried to take it away.

Kenna was so much fun to bring. She loves playing in the dirt, she is entertained for hours. This is a cup of "flowers" that she planted for me.

Although Kate now gets into everything, climbs onto every, eats everything she finds on the ground, plays in the toilet water, falls into the bath in her jammies because she wants to play in Kenna's bath water... we really really like her. :)

Family Pictures

2010-11-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

The only smile we got out of Kate for the evening.

Family Photos. My mom really had her work cut out for her.... 2 nights in a row of staying up late... tons of Halloween candy... missing naps because of church. My kids were less than cooperative. Thanks mom for taking them and getting the ones that you did! Next time my kids will be in a better mood.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

So Kenna gets more face time becuase I made her whole costume. Originally she was going to be a superhero and Kenna then insisted that she wanted to be BuzzLightYear. So we came to a happy medium with a space, superhero, buzzlighter-ish character.

She feels pretty snazzy in it, and I think she looks pretty cute. :)

Kate gets to wear costumes that are laying around the house. This Snow White is a small dressup that Kenna had.

And for trick or treating I think that Elephant will be much warmer. :)

Garrett makes a killer pirate.

And Mayble is a beautiful Snow Queen.

We had a great morning carving pumpkins and doing a mini photo shoot. Happy Halloween! Here's to hoping that the rain will stop.

Kate's 6th Sense

2010-10-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

Kate has a 6th sense. ... She just knows when a bathroom door has been left open. She then creeps away to do some toilet splashing. She LOVES water and slapping her little hand in the water is her favorite. Then I reinforce the behavior everytime by washing her hands, and she gets to play in the water some more. It is so much fun. We played this game 5 times yesterday.... 5 times!! That was with me being super conscious of keeping the doors shut. That little stinker!

On a better note Kate's clogged tear duct is clear. :) Almost a year of goopy eye and it is cleared!!

Kate can walk... with a walker.

2010-10-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

Kate is so funny! She is all grunts and growls and is getting into EVERYTHING. I think she'll be walking before Thanksgiving.

Yay! For BYU

2010-10-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

Every couple years we get a chance to watch a BYU game from a box. (The last 2 times it has rained so it is pretty sweet to be in the box) Ironically my little brother (a BYU student) didn't want to go, so he babysat so that Ben and I could go.
A game that got exciting the last 3 minutes, ended in a victory, and a fabulous dinner at a Peruvian Restraunt with my parents and brother. It was a fun day!

Dance Class and Bed Head

2010-10-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

Kenna started dance class this week. She LOVES it. She was so excited to go, and she walked straight into class and didn't get shy or worried at all!

Kate and her cute little bed head.

Girl Hair?

2010-10-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

Kenna's hair is growing. (finally) She almost has girl hair! Today at church it was the primary program and Kenna loved watching it. She is ready to move on from nursery. January she gets to start Primary! It seems like not that long ago that it was her first day of nursery. I can't believe how much she has grown!

Weekend Away

2010-10-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

I had school off for UEA so we headed up to the cabin for the long weekend. I spent most of the time playing with my camera and learning to use full manual mode. It was a very relaxing weekend of fishing and hiking in the beautiful mountain air.

Kenna is becoming a very decent photographer, she took this for us. (I only slightly cropped it in photoshop)

I am really interested in learning to photograph with back light because I love the way it looks. This one turned out well, and I love the outfit that Kenna is wearing. She got dressed all by herself.

I have some new actions in photoshop too and I really like the look of them

Of course my cheesy Kenna. She is so patient to always model for me while I figure camera stuff out.

We had fun hiking down the hill behind the cabin, to explore by the river.

Ben was crossing the river holding Kenna and looked back to ask me if I was okay and slipped off the rock into the water. Kenna was pretty concerned at first. Then she thought it was pretty funny that Ben's pants and boots were wet.

More of me practicing back lite photos.

We headed to Current Creek one morning to go fishing. It was really pretty and the weather was perfect.

There were quite a few people there and we caught the only fish in the whole lake :)

A very fun weekend. We love the Grimley Cabin. Thanks Melba and Terry.

Fall is Here

2010-10-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

Even though our pumpkins didn't get very big, we got a lot of them. So we picked them and decorated our bare front flower bed.

I have been doing a lot more photography lately and I LOVE it. It's the fall weather is gets everyone wanting family photos. I do about 2-3 photo shoots a week. So lately I have been dragging Kenna and Kate out to try new locations and test out my new props.

I love yellow fields. Is this a wheat field or a weed field? Either way I love it!

I also love the face that Kate is pulling in this. She is SERIOUS... she does NOT want Kenna holding her.

Kenna was so cute she kept saying, "Look at me mom. I'm brave". She was so proud of herself for walking through by herself.

Isn't Kate adorable? She is doing a great job at posing on my newly painted Aqua chair.

I love this because it is a REAL Kenna smile.

This is Kenna's face when she is trying to make us laugh.

Kate is getting so stable standing. I think she will walk soon, very soon.

I am glad that I have such cute girls to do practice photos on.

Fall Photos

2010-10-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted some photos up at the cabin with the beautiful fall leaves, and I found this awesome chair in the basement of the cabin. I think it belonged to Grandma Akagi, the perfect addition to my fall photos of the girls.

Kenna's true feelings about photos this early in the morning. But it is amazing what a few M&M's will do. She loves her chocolate!

I am excited to print some of these out. If anyone wants some fall photos on the orange chair. I borrowed it from the cabin for a little while. :)

Conference Weekend

2010-10-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend up at the cabin. We met together with most of Ben's family to watch conference and eat good food of course. Here are a few pictures from playing at the park down in Heber.

Cute little Lainey

Crazy Kenna

Adorable Jayne

We love being up at the camp. We hiked down to the river just below the cabin. We need to go explore down there some more. It is beautiful.

Kenna watching conference. In a tutu and reading her little red book. She kept repeating things that she was hearing on conference like she was reading them out of the book.

There are still a few beautiful wildflowers outside the cabin.

I love conference. The chance to remember all the things that I want to be doing and to be renewed in pushing to be better.

More Uintahs

2010-10-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

Fisherman Ben. A free day and you can find Ben in the Uintahs. :)

The fly fishing is pretty awesome right now.

And we are loving having blackened and smoked fish for dinner.

Another Tutu Photo

2010-09-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Kate IS standing by herself. You just can't see her legs under all that tule. This photo made me laugh because it reminded me of this photo (last photo on the post)

Ballerina Kate

2010-09-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

So I realized that I have lots of girly photos of Kenna in tutu's and I haven't done any of Kate. Plus Kate has hit a few more bench marks that need to be recognized.
Kate is standing on her own more and more. We mostly see it when she is standing at the couch and starts playing with a toy and doesn't really think about. She can stand for a long time. (she needed a cheater hand hold for the photo because she kept sitting down)

She is waving. It is so cute because she also makes this cute little sound that sounds more like "haa" but it is her own cute little "hi".

Her personality is darling. My favorite is when I crawl after her and she can hardly crawl because she is laughing so hard.

Even though she STILL spits up constantly, we love her to death. Her raspy little voice, her attacking Makenna, her sucking on her blanket and her finger and her thumb all at the same time, her crawl when she grunts every step, stealing the little rubber tip off the door stoppers, her huge grin every time you come in the room and her beautiful gray blue eyes. We love our Kate!

Kenna's Art

2010-09-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Picture of our family. BY KENNA (age 3)

What's Going Around

2010-09-27T20:56:00.000-07:00

Our family has had a little fun, a little excitement, a LOT of time all trapped at home with sickness.
So last week we each took a turn with an AWFUL 24 hour flu. I mean TERRIBLE. I have not been that sick in over 10 years. I HATE throwing up and I HATE holding my 3 year old over the toilet and watching her throw up... over and over.. and over. I think Makenna got it the worst. The crappy part is that Kenna is sick AGAIN. She had the flu on Thursday now 4 days later she has been laying around the house with the fever all day. I hope she feels better tomorrow.

Well in the midst of all that disgustingness, other stuff has been going on too. Bonding. Lots of laying around watching movies and eating noodle soup. Sometimes being sick gives you an excuse make it a movie day. I have been able to fit some sewing in. I finished this bean bag chair. I am happy with it. I love the print. The girls love it too. Kenna plays on it all the time.

I love this picture because it shows how much they love each other. Kate is still smiling with her eyes even though with is being squeezed mercilessly my Kenna.

On Saturday we all felt good and needed a little outing, so we went to the Harvest Festival at Thanksgiving Points. They were having a giant pumpkin contest.

We didn't stay the whole time but one of the biggest weights that we heard was 540 pounds. That is HUGE! Speaking of huge. I was getting photos off the camera and found this from Ben's fishing trip with his friend Dan. Now that is a catch! He he he.

I almost forgot. The excitement part. Ben has been going to job interviews. More info to come soon, hopefully!

Day Trip to the Uintas

2010-09-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

We decided that it we needed an outing. So Wednesday night we slept at the Grimley cabin in Heber and Thursday morning we headed straight out to the Uinta Mountains for the day.

We hiked up to Star Lake. Just under a mile, and it was worth the hike. It was beautiful, and there were fish!

Ben set a fish down and went to bait his hook. We left Kenna by the fish, not thinking anything of it. Then it happened.... this fish

started to flop around. Kenna was TERRIFIED.

This is exactly how she felt about the fish on the loose.

I couldn't help but take pictures it was a little funny. She did get over it quickly and was soon fishing, well pretend fishing. She definitely did not want to catch a real fish. But she was happy to pose for me with her pretend fish. That little finger of her's is holding her "fish".

Kate was in heaven. Eating rocks, sand, weeds... it was all she ever wanted. We did have one small accident. I was trying to keep her out of the dirt. So I put her into the backpack carrier. Well she tipped it over straight in to a tree. I felt so bad. Check out that battle wound.

She was a trooper.I did catch her standing without holding on to anything. She has been doing this more and more lately. Early walker? Maybe.

Here is my little Mowgli sleeping under a tree. Isn't she stinkin' cute?

There was some pretty cool plants. Have you ever seen one of these?

It was great weather. Me and the girls played by the lake and didn't catch any "real" fish. But we had fun.

We had walkie talkies to stay in touch with Ben as he was fly fishing along the shore. Ben would let us know every time he caught a fish. Then we got the call. "I caught a whale!" This fish is pretty dang big.

Ben would bring each fish over for a photo op. He was IN HEAVEN.

Kenna loved watching him gut the fish. She likes dead fish much more than floppy fish.

Check out the teeth on this little guy.

As we headed back down the mountain, we followed the stream down and Ben fished along the way. He caught this one right away.

I was so impressed with Kenna. She usually won't walk at all when we hike. Today she walked almost the entire way down the mountain. She just followed Ben around as he fished the river.

Every once in a while it would open up to a pond. It was gorgeous.

Kenna is such a cute little hiker.

Kate enjoyed the hike down too.

It was a great day. I loved the cool weather and the beautiful mountains. It was fun to have the kids there, but next time they might need to stay back so that I get to fish too.

We will definitely be back soon.

Photos by Kenna

2010-09-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

This is what I find when Kenna gets a hold of the camera. Yes she has mastered taking pictures of herself. :)

My Baby Kate

2010-09-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

My Secret Duty

2010-09-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

Kenna learned this in Primary and sings it ALL the time.

Love, Hate, and Passed Out

2010-09-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

Love. Kate LOVES the bath. She crawls around all excited, you can't get her to focus on anything else or sit still she is in her own little world of rounding up letters and tasting them too.

Hate. Kenna hates witches. You see we went to Lowe's and there was a life size witch that talked when you walked by. Kenna was really scared and hated it! So I was cleaning out the garage and putting stuff into my new storage shelves. And I found my beloved troll. So I put in on Kenna's bed, thinking that she would like to play with it. So Kenna got home and I told her that I left a surprise on her bed. She ran into her room. She came back out to the garage crying, saying "That is a witch baby I don't like it" It was so funny! She was really crying. I set her up for quite the scare.

So little baby troll made himself into the DI pile. I guess he is kind of ugly.

Passed Out. Lately Kenna has been playing outside and getting really tired. Well the other day she was so cranky. So finally we just ignored her as we were working in the basement. Well she found her self a nice spot and passed out, on the hard cement floor.

Home Improvements

2010-09-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

Ben has had more time to work on the house lately. He has been getting a lot done. He build my planter in the front. Just image big beautiful flowers filling it. :)

Our backyard is coming together... sod, play area, garden, etc. etc

And now my Dad and Ben are building shelves for my storage room.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great Labor Day weekend and didn't really take any pictures. We started out with boating at Utah Lake with my family. Jenny and Bailey were in town so it was fun to see them too.

The water was pretty crappy but it was fun. Aunt Jenny makes the best shade.

Then we had got together with Ben's family. We had dinner and roasted marshmallows on the back hill at Ben's parents house. We got to Skype with Ben's parents too.

Sunday was more food and family. Followed by a great day Monday playing volleyball and soccer. Even if everyday is a holiday for us right now. Real Holidays are fun too because then other people can do stuff too.

Love This Little Face

2010-09-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Kate often scrunches up her nose and make the cutest little faces.

Who Needs a Pool When You Have a Bucket

2010-09-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

3 Years Old

2010-09-03T13:04:00.001-07:00

I have a borrowed light set up in my basement that I was trying out. Kenna was not really feeling like getting her picture taken, but I am glad I got A good one. But the second picture cracks me up. I had just given her a fruit snack to convince her to let me take some more photos. I told her to smile with her mouth closed so that I wouldn't see the fruit snack, and this is what I got.
Makenna had her 3 year check up and she was so brave. She did everything that the doctor asked and even got her shots and only cried a little. I even offered her an ice cream cone, but all she wanted was the little dum dum sucker that the doctor gives out.

She is looking good and healthy. She was 30.8 lbs (50%) and 37 3/4 " tall (75%)

I love my crazy little girl!

Kate's 9 Months!

2010-08-31T21:33:00.000-07:00

Kate had her 9 month checkup today. Here are her stats.
Length: 28 1/2" (75%)
Weight: 17 lbs 9 oz (25%)
Head Cir: 45.3 cm (90%)

I love watching Makenna and Kate interact more as Kate gets older. Kate will crawl around and play with Kenna. Sometimes they will play in Kenna's room for almost an hour, just the two of them.

So here is so more about Kate:

Favorite Foods: Little baby cereal things that she can feed to herself. And really Kate just likes food.

Favorite Toys: The dog piano, it is like a little xylaphone.

Biggest Fear: When Kenna steps on her head she usually cries.

Favorite Non-Toy: Paper, she loves paper.

Things Kate Mimics: Clicking her tongue. And also her and Kenna scream loud piercing screams back and forth. It is like there own little communication.

Favorite Games: She loves when Kenna "comes to get her". She dives for cover, giggling like crazy.

Soothers: Silky Blankie

Favorite Place: Anywhere Kenna is.

Mischievous things that she does: She pulls the little white stopper off the door stop. It drives me nuts, not to mention that it is a chocking hazard.

Least Favorite things: She is pretty easy going, but it is bad when she gets woken up from her nap early.

Favorite People: Me. :) She is a bit of a mommy's girl.

Proudest Moments: Screaming. She loves how everyone stares at her when she screams. She screams a lot lately.

Hair Color: Light Brown (almost blonde)

Eyes: Big Blue Eyes

Sleep Schedule: she takes 2-3 naps a day and sleeps from 8pm to 7am at night.

Newest Trick: Today I came into get her after nap time and I found her standing in her crib. Time to lower the mattress.

What Happens When Mom Goes to Work?

2010-08-31T21:15:00.000-07:00

Dad gets sick of "playing house" and sets up a tent in the living room to "play camping".

Party!

2010-08-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Makenna had her 3rd Birthday. We had a superhero party with capes and everything.

We had to start inside because 1/2 hour before her party is POURED rain. One of their favorite things was sitting under the parachute.

Then we made a spiderweb to catch the bad guy balloons.

Luckily the rain cleared up and we could still do the superhero obstacle course. We started with climbing under a table with streamers hanging down.

Went down the slide. Then jumped on the trampoline to fly like a superhero.
That is a Super Happy Birthday girl.

Then through the tunnel

Kate liked the tunnel too.

Then they would jump over the city of legos.

I even made a homemade icecream cake, and it actually turned out.

Cute Katey enjoying the party from her saucer.

The kids had fun and I survived :) So after I passed out on the coach for a while to recooperate we continued the Special Day. We had a gourmet dinner (chicken nuggets and tortellini) and she was even allowed to eat in her new dress-up dress and with her new barbie that sings sitting right by her. (and yes Belle sang all through dinner)

The we played with Play-Doh for our family party.

Makenna is such a beautiful little girl. I love that she always tells me that she loves me, she can make Kate laugh anytime, she is smart, she is usually willing to help, she is strong willed, and the most amazing little girl.
I love you Kenna! On her birthday morning Ben went in and Kenna looked at her hands very dissapointed and said, "My hands are still small." She thought that turning 3 meant that she would be bigger in the morning and she was ready to be a big girl. :) Oh but she is definitely getting bigger!

Kenna as a newborn.

Kenna (1 year)

Kenna (2 years)

Kenna (3 years)

Look What I Got!

2010-08-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

This is something that I have wanted for a long time... now just 6 weeks and I can use it :)

Yay for sod in the back yard. It was so great to pile the sod on the four wheeler, instead of carrying it all the way back.

We are getting a few things from our garden now too. We are learning, one day we will have an impressive garden, for now we will take any tiny carrots that we can get.

Future Love Story?

2010-08-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

Makenna and Cameron have been playing a lot lately. I love her playing with him for 2 reasons. He is right across the street, no planning necessary his mom and I can yell to each other both standing on our own front porch and make the arrangements to play. Secondly, he is calm. I am hoping that he will rub off on Kenna and help even her out. And really they play great together.

2 Sights to See

2010-08-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

The first was while I was in my front room while Kenna and Cameron were eating Popsicle on the front porch. I hear Kenna saying, "Mom, Cameron's Popsicle is dripping. Mom.... Mom...." then I hear her say. "Here I'll help you"

I look out to find my daughter licking Popsicle of her friends elbow and arm. Hilarious!

Later that night I looked out my back door to see the full moon lighting up Utah Lake. It was amazing how it was reflecting off the water. So Beautiful!

New Lens

2010-08-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

I just bought a Nikkor 35mm 1.8
What does that mean? It means that I have an awesome new portrate lens. It has a really wide apperature so that I can get the soft blurred background. I am excited to use it in my photo shoots. So far I have only had time to play with it for a minute in the Costco parking lot.

But Kate was making some pretty funny faces for me.

Oh the Excitement.

2010-08-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

The beginning of this week has been exciting in so many different ways.

1st: Ben took his board exams on Monday morning and ...... tada!! He Passed! So now Ben is a Certified Respiratory Therapist. He has applied for one job and will start applying for more. I guess we will wait and see what happens.

2nd: Lighting stuck very close to our house and the weirdest thing happened. Tons of our electrical stuff got fried. I first noticed it when I trying to open the garage door and nothing happened. Luckily Ben found a reset button and the garage started working again. Then we realized that our router wasn't working (yes right now I am bumming off my neighbors internet until we get a new one). Not only that, the sprinkler box in the garage is ruined and the night lights that I had plugged into the outlets in the hall don't work either. Crazy huh?

3rd: We got the cement on our side drive poured today! You know what that means.... the backyard sod is next. yay!

4th: I start teaching on Monday. I am teaching part time (MWF from 7:30 to 11am) at Rockwell Charter High School. I am excited because I am just teaching a AP Calculus class that has 3 kids in it and a PreCalculus class with 10 kids. I think it will be a great job to help bring in a little money.

Kenna was asking me to give her piggy tails (because the girls next door do their hair like that). Well we are getting really close. Maybe next year she will have enough hair for piggy tails. But we made it work with what we've got.

Kate is crawling faster everyday and she has also been a climber. She climbs around around the table and climbs through the stools, and if you lay on the floor she always climbs right over the top of you.

Kenna and Kate play really well together when Kenna isn't totally torturing Kate.(you can't really tell but in this photo they are "flying" on Ben and I's feet).

The funniest thing that I have heard lately is the other day when Kenna was being moody and Kate was crawling around happy as can be. I kept hearing Kenna say "It's not funny Kate!" Then she can and told me that Kate was being rude. Kate came around the corner right then with a huge grin on her face crawling after Kenna.

They love playing at the park.

This week Ben and I ran in the Lehi High vs. Westlake cross country pre-season meet. They invited alumni to come run too. It was really fun. I love the good old cross country meets. Kenna was so cute she kept cheering like a cheerleader screaming "GO DADDY!". I am hoping that she cheered for me like that too, it was so cute.

Day Camp

2010-08-12T19:33:00.000-07:00

My new calling is in the Stake Primary and this year I was in charge of the Activity Days Day Camp (all the girls 8-11yrs). We ended up with about 150 girls for a 4 hour activity and the ward leaders put together some fabulous activities. We themed the camp around the Armor of God and likened protective gear (hard hats, gloves, googles, harness, ...) to spiritual protection (good thoughts, prayer, good media, good friends...) Everything went so well! It was a great day. Just a couple fun pics.

They got to hide behind their good thoughts (umbrellas) to protect themselves from the bad thoughts (water balloons)

Good ol' Trust Fall to relate to having good friends.

It was a wonderful day (phew...). I love working with such great people. Here are the the Stake Leaders.
Darylin Johnson (1st), Andrea Rassmussen (Sec.), Shawn Parker (Primary High Councilor), Leah Price (Pres), Mikki (2nd), President Udy

I had to show off the sweet caution t-shirts that I made with permanent fabric paint and freezer paper stencils. Needless to say everyone could spot the Stake Leaders in our sweet shirts. :)

My Monkey Baby

2010-08-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

All you P90X ers may remember the chuturanga run... that is what this reminds me of. I think it is pretty impressive that she can crawl on her feet.

Work Hard, Play Hard

2010-08-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

With a little shove from the HOA we were set to pour cement within 30 days. Ben has been out there working so hard! He cleared out all the grass and dug down 7 inches all by hand. Now just 5 loads of gravel and we are ready for cement. Kenna has loved playing out in the dirt with him, it is like one big sandbox.

Right now that is all that Kenna does... play, play, play. Lately she just wants to play make believe. We do a lot of going to the doctor for shots, seeing if "my girl" can play, and going night night. She talks through the same scenarios over and over. It is super cute and super nice to have a friend over to give mom a break from being "the girl".

Kenna and Adi had a lot of fun playing together this week. Dress ups and some sweet dancing.

Tea Party and playing on the play set.

This week also made it out to Rollerblade on Jordan River Trail. It was great, the kids love going fast.

More Random Photos

2010-08-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

Kate loves being outside and doesn't mind the grass at... I think she even likes it.

I love this photo because she always sticks her little lip out like that when she is crawling around.

Kenna likes to dance "like a princess". She does this cute little dip.

Kenna cracks us up all the time now. Some of my favorite things are when she goes cross eyed, when she screams "Cock a Doodle Dude!" and when she says things like "You guys ready to Rock n Roll?"

Some of Our Favorite Things

2010-07-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

First we love Ben.... I mean the Steven's Henegar Graduate. Whoop Whoop!! Next stop board exams.... then hello Respiratory Therapist.

We love Kate crawling around....

and pulling herself up on things. She is still a beginner and usually she ends up falling down, but she is learning. But she has now mastered going from crawling to sitting.

Kate loves me! Lately she has been a little clingy... lets hope it doesn't get worse.

Kenna likes taking pictures, and she is getting pretty good at it.

Kenna likes to make cheese sandwiches with string cheese and "wheat crackers" (that is what she calls them).

Kenna loves playing with friends (cute little Hannah makes Kenna look ginormous) and she loves her little table that I got at a free-cycle yard sale.

Kenna loves umbrellas and tripods.

And right now her most favorite thing is "kid scissors".

Farm Country

2010-07-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

Whit came out to our house for the night. So we took a little trip to Farm Country.

This picture is so cute.... and a little funny! (hehehe....)

The crazy looking Alpaca was our favorite.

These goats are scary because you get all close to the fence to look at the baby goats and these guys jump up and meet you at face level.

Thanks for hanging out with us.. Love you Whit!

Happy 24th

2010-07-26T22:02:00.003-07:00

When we started out Kenna was very into the pop its. She kept saying "these are little cute ones and you thrown them down really hard"

And when we first tried to have her hold a sparkler she was not interested at all.

By the end of the night she was loving it. She did lots of sparklers and even liked the loud street fireworks.

It was a fun night. We 4 wheeled over to the Chatwin's house (3 houses away), Kenna and Jillian have so much fun together.

It was such a beautiful night.... full moon .....

friends.... and fireworks.

Lovin' Those Sparklers

2010-07-26T22:02:00.002-07:00

Kenna finally decided that she liked the sparklers too.

BBQ Up the Canyon

2010-07-26T22:02:00.001-07:00

We headed up the canyon to grill up some hotdogs. It was nice to get up out of the heat.

Where Does She Learn This Stuff?!

2010-07-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

Ben was getting Kenna to bed and I heard them laughing (this is a very regular occurrence, they think that each other are hilarious) then Ben called me. Look what Kenna learned to do.

We are not sure where she learned it but it is pretty funny. (and I looked it up online and crossing your eyes doesn't hurt your eyes, that is an old wives tale)

Now most days when I let Kenna choose her cloths she ends up wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, pretty sure she gets the casual/comfy thing from me. But occasionally she chooses "fancy" stuff and she does look pretty dang cute!

Melts My Heart...

2010-07-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

My Kenna wants to be a waterskiier!! Isn't she adorable?! We sat and pretended to water ski and I couldn't be happier. I need to get a small pair of skis, I think next year could be her year :)

She is very precise when we play she says "hit it", then I make her keep her arms straight as she stands up. When she falls she yells out "down" and she makes me hold up the flag and I turn the boat around to come get her. Then as I pass over the wake and we get back to her she decides to go again or rest because she is tired. (Can't imagine where she learned that from :) I NEVER get tired... haha)

Hit it!

2010-07-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

And yes no one responded to Kate's spit up because it is a VERY common occurrence.

She LOVES the water!

2010-07-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

I Heart Lake Powell

2010-07-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

I grew up spending lots of time in Lake Powell, so I now look forward to the once a year trip. This year my grandpa rented an amazing house boat for all of us to stay in. We started at Bull Frog and drove up past Good Hope Bay to find this great spot.

It was hot, hot, hot... which isn't too bad when you have a houseboat with AC. I really like it because we spent a lot of time swimming in the warm lake water. Luckily Kate LOVES the water and Kenna warmed up to it through out the trip.
My Dad is known for torturing the kids :) Too bad he can't upset Kate. She loved being hosed down. He was even sliding her across the wet deck like a seal and she thought it was great.

Kate LOVED the water

I even got Kenna to trust her life jacket and swim on her own. At first she would drowned anyone near her trying to get to higher ground.

The kids played in the sand and water ALL DAY everyday. They were giving some pretty nice spa treatments too. Kathy was getting a mud bath, such a good sport she even let them put mud in her hair.

Kenna and Pops eating shellfish, or just shells that they were collecting on the beach.

The house boat was great, we had a room that we slept in with the kids. It was nice for Kenna to have a place to nap even if it was just the little space under the bed. She loved it.

The house boat also had a hot tub on the roof. Now you may be thinking..."who wants a hot tub in 100 degree weather where nights only get down to the upper 80's".... well we thought that too. UNTIL, the kids swam in the unheated water on the way to the camp site and the way home. It was great to keep them occupied.

(Kenna - Breanna - Aubry)

Kate was so happy the whole time.

Something always has to go wrong in Lake Powell it is just the way that it is. So this trip we took a boat load to the marine to get ice and ice cream of course. It was about an 1-2 hour boat ride to the marine, longer if you take into account that we stopped to swim a few times. Well on the way home we stopped to swim and soon found that there was something wrong with the motor. The raw water pump had gone out... in non-tech lingo.... there was no lake water running through the motor to cool it. So after Nick replaced the part, things were still not looking so good. So we flagged down a boat to tow us in to the marina.

Here are Ben and Kenna's "ship wrecked" faces.

We (Mikki, Ben, Kenna, Whitney, Michael, Tyler, Nick, Elissa, Breanna, and Aubry) had no reason to really worry because we had my Dad's credit card and Kathy's credit card. Yes we may have been stranded in BullFrog... but we had money. :)
I got a t-shirt to sleep in, Kenna got this gecko to play with (thanks Dad!) and we all piled in a hotel for the night.

This is the view from our hotel.

After some gourmet burgers and a night in the hotel my dad came and picked us up in the other boat. We were saved! So the funny part is that we were most worried that they were all wondering what happened and that they would send out a search party. Turns out they barely noticed that we were gone. Around 7 at night (we left at 11am) They finally drove to cell service to call us. :)

We took the kids out tubing. This is their early training for water-skiing.

Kenna was pretty nervous at first, but she was so brave! I love her giving the faster sign.

We also did a little eXtreme tubing.

Some hiking....

Smores....

Cliff Jumping....

and just Hangin' Out.

Can't wait to go back! Thanks for the great trip. (we need to get a group shot next time!! We had so much fun with Cheryl, Jason, Ava, Tom, Shane, Michael, Tyler, Irene, Sam, Kylee, Zac, Angie, Mayble, Garrett, Nick, Elissa, Breanna, Aubry, Kathy, Mimi, and Pops.)

Bear Lake Part 2

2010-07-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

The water was pretty cold, but we still went boating one day. It was the warmest day and lots of fun.
Ben is becoming a true wake boarder. I can't even get him to ski anymore.

Min (my neice) and I had fun tubing too.

We think we are pretty hard core. :)

The girls love Ethan. He is what they call a "baby whisperer".

We tried to get some good pictures of the whole family too. Here is Ben's whole family, just missing his mom and dad who are in Taiwan as Mission President.

We tried to get all the grandkids... this is the best you can expect with that many kids.

The Grandkids all have so much fun together.

Bear Lake has such beautiful views, after church we stopped to take some family photos.

I love being with Ben's family there is always lots of sports.

What a great trip! Thanks Everyone.

Bear Lake Part 1

2010-07-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

We spent a week in Bear Lake with Ben's family. Thanks to Melba and Terry for booking the trip for us before they left for Taiwan. (They are there now as Mission President). It was so fun to have a week that we got to spend time with family.

There were some fabulous beaches that we played on. Both beaches that we went to had the beach, then a shallow area, another bar of sand, and then the lake. It was prefect for the kids to play in. Plus in the shallow area the water was much warmer. Kenna said to me, "It's like taking a bath". It was about bath temperature.

Jayne (my neice) and I jumping on the sand bar.

The kids loved playing in the sand and the water. Especially Jayne, Mack, Adi, Ashton, Lainey and Kenna. The group of them would play in the sand the entire time we were at the beach.

Adi and Kenna kept holding hands. It was so cute, they are finally old enough to play. They are just 6 weeks apart in age and have so much fun together.

Eating chips on the beach.

Kate did great at the beach.

She liked touching the sand, and didn't even care when she fell face first into the sand. She is definitely a happy and laid back baby. There isn't much that makes her upset.

Jayne found a stick that was exactly the same color as her hair.

Nothin' more fun then putting mud on daddy while he takes a nap in the warm, shallow water.

Kate splashing in the water.

We spent lots of fun time at the beach but we also went hiking and boating. We went up to Tony Grove to do some fishing and hiking. It is such a beautiful place. It made me and Ben miss Logan.

Too bad that we didn't get a photo of the HUGE fish that Min was reeling in. It was "THIS BIG". Okay so we were unsuccessful fishing. But we had fun :)

Kate kept rubbing her two bottom teeth together and making the funniest faces. (Turns out it was that her two top teeth would soon be popping through, hence the drool also)

The girls loved playing with sticks. They were playing house with them and having the sticks talk to each other and everything.

We also hiked up to Limber Pine. Some really old tree that is actually 5 trees grown together. It was pretty sweet.

Kate was a happy camper in the backpack. Kenna is quite the stinker when we hike. She still wants to be held. I found her a walking stick and that made it so she would walk some of the time.

We had a great week. I have lots more pictures coming because we took a lot with Thayne's sweet new camera, so I will post more when I get those photos from him. We have some great boating pics and group pictures of everyone.

2 MORE Teeth

2010-07-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Katey Bug is only 7 months old and broke her two top teeth today. That is 4 teeth!!

Oakley Rodeo

2010-07-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

Oakley Rodeo is a tradition that we look forward to every year. I love them there rodeos! We need to work on our cowboy wear though... next year we will dress to fit in better.

Kate with Mimi and Pops.

First Swimming of the Season

2010-06-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa finally got his pool open. May, Garrett, and Kenna (and Kate) had a blast! Kenna was surprisingly brave as long as she was in the baby tube.

You can't keep Mayble out of the water.

Garrett was such a good sport. You can't really tell but he still has a cast so he has a big plastic cover on her arm. Making swimming not so easy, but he loved every minute of it. He started gathering every floaty in the pool to float around on. (the blue thing on the alligator tube is his broken arm)

And Kate. She LOVED it!
I put her in the water and she got this HUGE grin and started kicking her legs in excitement (just like in the bath)

She is so brave! and Cheesy. :)

Mimi and Kate playing in the water.

I love the summer!

Utah Lake

2010-06-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

It's finally summer! This time Utah Lake was great. We even got hot while out on the lake.
We went out with my mom, my dad, Whitney, Angie, and Mayble. We got glass in the middle of the day, it was a blast!
Kate was so cute. She did really well in the boat.

Her life jacket propped her bottle up perfectly.

She got innitiated by Pops and she didn't even cry.

Kenna wouldn't go in the water this trip (it wasn't hot enough to force her to swim) But we couldn't keep Mayble out of the water.

Mayble and Kenna had so much fun together. They have been such great friends lately. Kenna got a little scared after falling to the floor in the bow (she didn't realize yet that "hit it" means that everyone in the boat should hold on too) So Mayble sat with her on the floor of the bow.

It was so fun we will need to go out again soon.

Moab or BUST!

2010-06-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun weekend down in Moab. The weather was just about perfect (on the warm side but not as hot as I expected) We went with the Messersmith Family. Here is the whole group... 6 kids and 5 adults :)

This is a new way of exploring Southern Utah for us. We are used to hiking and boating, but this was a 4 wheelin' trip. This is how we got around to see everything.

(Check out the sweet formation in the background, we were able to drive right up next to it.)

We saw some amazing things, I love the red rock.
Tusher Tunnel

Tusher Tunnel was a great hangout. The kids loved playing monster trucks in the sand and it was so cool and refreshing in the tunnel.

This canyon was amazing and a little scary. You are just driving along and all of a sudden you come to this canyon with drop offs that make you feel a little woozy.

Gunner and Kenna were so cute together they are like twins (or a married couple your choice). They fought but they were inseparable. They had a lot of fun together.

All the kids had a blast and they would all pass out on the long rides. That is some quality napping.

Kenna LOVED the soft sand. She would just sit and play in it all day (she will love when we go to Lake Powell in a few weeks).

Kate was a great baby the whole trip. She was just happy to be there.

I love camping with our girls. They both love the outdoors and sleep great in a tent so it has been a lot of fun to take them out.

Bryce even got Ben to get in to the "Jeepin" fun. Bryce and Amy have done some pretty impressive obstacles in there Jeep. We are not so brave, but it was fun to see the types of things that these Jeeps do. CRAZY!

I guess the only downside was the bugs! The kids got eaten alive. Makenna was COVERED when we got home, all over her scalp especially.

Well it was an awesome trip! We will definitely be going again.

Look Who's Almost Crawling!

2010-06-22T14:44:00.001-07:00

She is definitely a drooly thing, she does have a bit of an excuse because teething is a killer. She has her two bottom teeth in. She still spits up quiet a bit too, so we are just used to wiping up spit ALL the time. I love hearing her little voice as she is starting to babble. I am just amazed that she is so close to crawling and only 6 1/2 months old. She REALLY wants to be up running around with Kenna.

I Need You Now

2010-06-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Kenna is quite the little singer. She LOVES singing and picks up songs very quickly. This song has been on the radio a lot lately and she loves it. She knows the whole chorus (even though she got a little silly with the camera on her) She belts it out in the car with me.

Kate at 6 Months!

2010-06-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe that Kate is 6 months old. She is such a sweet baby and is getting more and more fun as we see her personality come out.

6 month Checkup
Head circumference: 43.7 cm (75%)
Weight: 15.8 lbs (50%)
Length: 26.5 inches (75%)

Favorite Foods: She loves Food! She grunts in excitment as I feed her, and usually cries when it is all gone. She is not crazy about formula but is learning to drink it (She has 2 teeth and is a biter so I am done nursing)

Favorite Toys: Yay! She loves the knitted toy that I made her :)
It looks just like this one but with dark gray.... sorry too lazy to go take a picture of hers.

Biggest Fear: She seems fearless. She loves getting pushed high on the swing, no separation anxiety, not anything I can think of.

Favorite Song: She loves music. She mostly likes when Kenna sings her Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Favorite Non-Toy: Burp cloths. She loves chewing on her burp cloth.

Things Kate Mimics: She will click her toungue at us and she does raspberries (you know where you pucker your lips and blow really hard.

Favorite Games: She loves anything that Kenna does. Even if it is laying on top of her and touching her face, Kate loves playing with Kenna.

Soothers: Kate is a finger/thumb sucker. She puts her thumb between her pointer and middle finger, then suckers her thumb and her pointer knuckle.

Favorite Place: Anywhere that Kenna is playing.

Mischievous things that she does: She is a biter, although I don't think she realizes that it is wrong yet. But she bites hard!!

Least Favorite things:

Favorite People: She is a mommies girl lately. She reaches... no lounges for me. Luckily she doesn't cry when I don't have her.

Hair Color: Light Brown with a hint of auburn.

Best Features: Her eyes really light up when she smiles

Sleep Schedule: She still takes 3 naps a day, each about 1-2 hours. Then she also sleep 12 hours at night. (Yay Babywise) I lay her in bed on her tummy and she tucks her legs under her and sucks her knuckle and thumb, and goes right to sleep.

How Kate recharges herself: She seems to sleep a lot lately. I think the teething takes it out of her.

My Little Helper

2010-06-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

I love how Kenna's mouth is open trying to get Kate to open up. Kenna did really well, but got bored about half way through and left the bowl too close to Kate's grabbing hands. But it was nice to have Kenna feed her while I made lunch for us.

A Day of Fun!

2010-06-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

We met with Angie, May, and Garrett at Thanksgiving Point. We went on pony rides and got ice cream and then went to the Children's Gardens. That had this sweet thing by the deli. When you pull levels water would spray out of different places. They were LOVING it. I want one in my back yard, it was pretty sweet.

They had a great time at Noah's Ark. Even though it was hot outside the water was freezing and the wind was blowing, but it didn't bother them! They had a blast.

Style Runs in the Family

2010-06-07T22:08:00.000-07:00

So on Sunday I was carrying Kate and picking up Kenna from nursury, then weaving through the halls. When we got out home I noticed Kate's new style. (not sure how long it was like that) It didn't seem to bother her like that at all.

My little Kate! She is such a sweet baby.

And this is to show you what Ben looks like when he gets home from work. Not always this bad... but he looks pretty stylin'. The day after this he still had tons of white paint gooing out of his eyes (can't be healthy)

Eagle Mountain Parade

2010-06-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

This year we were on top of it. Ben went early and got us this sweet set up for the parade.

It was so nice to not have to fight for a little spot at the street and to also have shade!!
Angie, Mayble, Garrett, Min, Ethan, Jayne, Amber, and Thayne all came out to enjoy it too. (they are all wanna be Eagle Mountain residents :)

And Kate.... She was just happy to be there!

Dog Days

2010-06-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

We went to see Dog Days at Thanksgiving Point. I don't really like dogs (as most of you know) but it was really fun!

The kids got to make dog hats. (yep it was hot!)

They had dogs doing speed courses, obstical courses, and jumping contests across this water tank.
Check out this dog!! He got so high and went so far.

Kate hangin' out with Pops.

Trampoline Fun and Sewing

2010-06-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

I am so happy with our mini trampoline. It has been really fun. (When we have grass and a playset too we will be set!)

Kenna is getting to be quite the jumper! Go Kenna Go! (That is what she makes me say)

Even Kate likes the Tramp.

I love it because Kenna and her good friend Cameron will stay out there a long time. Some bubbles and some fruit snacks and they some happy kids. (sorry I didn't get any photos of them blowing bubbles out there, but it was pretty cute too.)

And Yes I have finally started sewing for my kids again. I am loving making cloths for them. Here are a couple of my latest.
I experimented with some freezer paper and permanent ink for this one. Then sewed on the butterflies. (it was just a tank I had in Kenna's drawer)

and I Love how this one turned out. I made the shirt and the pants. (Unfortunately it is a little small for her, I guess I will need to make it again a little bigger. She should fit in it for a couple more weeks :)

Playing Together!

2010-06-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

I LOVE that Kate is getting old enough to play with Kenna. They sat together and played for a long time today. It was so great!

Look how Stinkin' Cute my Kate is!

Pony Express Days Begins!

2010-05-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Family Bike Ride.... so the name would imply a small loop around the neighborhood. Well it was definitly more intese then that. 10k that went from City Center up through unity pass and back. If you don't know what that means let's just say it included the only huge hill in Eagle Mountain. It was fun though!! I was just glad that Ben was pulling the bike trailer with the kids and not me. :) It was fun and we finished and had a great pancake breakfast. And even got these sweet finisher medals.

I meant to get a picture of Ben pulling the girls but the last mile Kenna was crying saying she needed to go to the bathroom so we didn't have time for a picture. We pulled up to the finish and headed straight to the bathrooms.

Then that night we went to the 1st Annual EAgle Mountain Rodeo!!

I will definitely be going to that next year too. I don't know what it is but I think Rodeos are great! I am just thrilled that my hometown official hosts a Rodeo. It makes me love EM even more!

6 Years of Love!

2010-05-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

Ben and I celebrated our 6 Year Anniversary!! I can't believe how fast time flies. We had a great night out without the kids. Some great Mexican food (even if Ben got sick from eating too much)!...and some quality time with my Ben, with out running to the potty, wiping up the spit up, getting sippy cup of milk, rocking a baby to sleep, etc. Plenty of time for that great stuff, tonight was just for Ben and I.

The "IN" Crowd

2010-05-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

So the neighborhood girls have started showing up on our porch asking if Kenna can play. I am so glad that she has these girls to play with. They are such cute girls ... BUT I don't know if I am ready for my baby to grow up so fast. She is almost three and she is playing with girls that are 3,4, and 5! The hard part is keeping her from wandering the neighborhood unsupervised. She is still just a baby!

Fun on the Trampoline!

2010-05-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Me and my girl out playing on the tramp.

Yes Kate looks thrilled to be there. (it was right before nap time)

I am really in pain... haha that's what makes this picture so funny to me. Kate is pulling my hair and Kenna is jumping on my back. Yep this is more of a reality of what was happening. That is what mom's are for right? A human Jungle Jim.

More Farm Country

2010-05-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

Kenna had so much fun at Farm country with Adi. We will definitely be going again. (We had fun with Mack, Jilynn, and Lex too! Just only got pictures of the girls :) )

Kenna and Adi in Jail

Squished in Mack's stroller together.

Hair, Poop, and Rice Cereal... not Together.

2010-05-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

My little sister has these clip in hair extensions. I couldn't resist putting them on Kenna.

And I have to post this too (even though it is out of focus) because it shows the true energy she was feeling with the extensions in. :)

Poop .... oh poop! Kate is in that awful stage. The one where anytime that she poops while in her carseat (and some times not) there is no keeping that stuff contained in a diaper. We are ruining ALOT of cloths around here.

Which is why we are READY for some SOLIDS! Yay!! Kate is pretty excited about it too.

Once she stops the tongue thrust thing we will doing good. :)

Sitting! ... Almost!

2010-05-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

Katey is getting really close to sitting. She can sit by herself for about 10-20 second. And as you can see she is pretty proud of it.

She also ALMOST fits in Kenna's baby stoller. I just love her little feet stickin' straight out.

Arthritis Walk

2010-05-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

My Grandmother Charolette Melby passed away when I was 10 years old. She had Rheumatoid Arthritis. So my sister Angie found this great cause to help to remember my Grandma who we all love dearly. So we got a "team" together and raised some money and did this work to help support finding a cure for arthritis. It was awesome! We plan on doing it every year. This year we all wore matching bandannas next year we will do t-shirt too. :) And we plan on a bigger team.
Go TEAM GRAMUFABITS!

Kenna and I sportin' our bandannas 2pak style.

Even Kate had the style down.

The walk went through This is the Place Heritage Park. The race included our free entrance. We had a great time. Horse rides, train ride, petting zoo....

And the highlight for Kenna and Mayble was the Jr. High cheerleading team. These girls were so cute to let May and Kenna help them cheer people across the finish line. They were in HEAVEN!

I think Kenna and May were really starting to get the cheers down. :)

I am excited for next year! Hope more of you can make it. :)

De Ja Vu

2010-05-19T22:56:00.000-07:00

I looked at Kate sucking on her foot and had major De Ja Vu. Click HERE to see why.