Attack of the Candy Cane

Can you find the candy cane?
My sweet little Natalie aka "Treat Freak Sneak." She had gotten into the Frosty the snowman candy dish and snuck a baby candy cane. Unwrapped the candy cane (at least she threw the wrapper away) and proceeded to munch and crunch. The next thing I heard was screaming "candy cane, candy cane" To my surprise the candy cane dropped in her hair and got so tangled that a bath was in order. She loves bathes! As we were getting ready for the tub she looked at me and said "scissors", and started to go downstairs. I grabbed her quick and told her "we don't need scissors to get the candy out." I got the candy out and Natalie squealed for joy "candy cane out, candy cane out."

Kitty Cats

Jolly ol Saint Nicholas brought us two kitty cats this year. Jasmine and Pumpkin are very tolerant cats! Natalie isn't as gentle as we had hoped for, but the cats put up with her tail pulling and unique holding technique. Jasmine is the gray one and Pumpkin has more the orange brown color.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!

Remember a week ago!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas! Well, on Christmas it was a blizzard! Huge amount of snow fell in a very short amount of time. There was about 15inches in total. In our area there were even power outages. The lights flickered on and off a couple times but we never really were without power. My prayers were answered-we were cooking a big turkey (and the oven stayed on) and lots of family were coming over. Most of the snow came after everyone left luckily. The girls are loving it, the only hard part is walking through it. Poor Emma- the snow comes to mid-thigh.

More snow!

Well, we got more of the fluffy white stuff.
The ruler reads almost 7 inches (in a snow drift)



Olivia is trying to live up to her reputation of being a angel. Snow angels are in abundance all over our yard! We are truly blessed.





When it snowed the wind was blowing really hard too. The girls wanted to go play outside, I tried to open the door but it was very hard to open. It seemed like it was frozen shut. I managed to pry it open with my girlie muscles and to my surprise it was frozen and crusted.

I also need to get use to driving in the snow. The only bad thing living where we are is that its a little hilly. Luckily, I can make it to the store without going up and down a hill.

Snow Day

The snow started to fall early morning, melted a little, then snowed some more. We thought it would be fun to measure. It measured a little over 3 1/2 inches by mid afternoon. It kept on snowing off and on all day! The weatherman said to expect more this Saturday! Should I really trust the weatherman?

What have you done?

Copy and paste the list. Bold the things you have done...
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Made amends with someone who offended you
101. Flew in a small Cessna plan with just you and the pilot
102. Ran out of gas
103. Eaten fried okra
104. Swam in the Caribbean Sea
105. Peed in a swimming pool
106. Rented a beach house
107. Hosted an exchange student
108. Been a Secret Santa to a family in need
109. Worked on a political campaign
110. Coached a sports team
111. Baked bread from scratch
112. Driven from coast to coast
113. Paid off all of your debt
114. Roast marshmallows over a campfire
115. Cut up a credit card
116. Touched a poisonous snake
117. Made snow angels
118. Cliff jumped into water
119. spelunking (cave exploring)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!!!!!!

Well, the beginning of November started off with 6in of snow. It melted and stayed well above average temp. for awhile. This morning after we sent Olivia off to school, it started to snow- and its still snowing! It's really beginning to feel like Christmas. We put our tree up the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We've only had one ornament fatality so far. Natalie is having so much fun playing with all the Holiday decorations. We have been to the animal shelter to look at cats and dogs. Mike and I thought the girls are old enough to get an animal to take care of. The girls want a cat and I'm more of a dog person- who knows, maybe we'll get both.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We carved our pumpkins just a day before but since its been so warm they shrivelled. Mike's (Top pumpkin) says trick-or-treat, Rachel's is the spider, Olivia carved a bat, Emma's is the Headless Horseman, and Natalie has the silly face pumpkin.

The girls are so excited to go trick-or-treating. Here they wait for Daddy to come home! Daddy took them out while mommy staye home to pass out candy.

Witchapalooza

Gardner Village put on Witches' Night Out Just for ladies. Everyone got to dress up as witches. There were drawings, music, great food and fun little shops. It was so popular the police were there to control parking. I felt as if I was attending a BYU vs U of U football game. Everyone got into it, you could cackle for coupons, pick a potion for a prize and dance the night away; and we sure did. Rebecca, my sister, dressed as Malificent from Sleeping Beauty. I wore a long, black wig and two-dollar makeup from walmart. While I was applying the makeup, the girls kept saying, "look at mom, she's getting scary." My sister couldn't even recognize me. The funniest part of the evening was trying to drink a soda with my big, green, warty, nose sticking out.

A new type of body armor for adults.

Mike couldn't resist. The kids discovery playground at the zoo isn't just for kids.

Boo at the Zoo

The Hogle Zoo had an Event called "Boo at the Zoo."
The kids were able to dress up and trick-or-treat throughout the zoo. Olivia dressed as a kangaroo, Emma a horse and Natalie a sheep. They had so much fun looking at the animals, and some of the animals looked hungrily back at them! The leopard was sleeping on a perch until it saw Natalie, then it jumped down and came right up to the glass window, obviously disappointed that it could not get to its next "snack." All the animals were energetic and pacing, probably because they hadn't seen so many people before. There were tons and tons of people! Compared to San Diego or LA Zoos, or the Wild Animal Park, the Hogle Zoo is small. We were able to go through the whole zoo in about 4 hours. Even though it was small, I think it was the perfect size. The kids had tons of fun and Natalie loved wearing her costume. I tried to take Natalie's costume off for the drive home but she wouldn't have it! Inevitably, my little sheep counted sheep and fell asleep on the way home.

Here Duckie, Duckie

We took Great-Grandma Brown and Grandma Dixie to go feed the Ducks. The girls wanted to see how close they could get before mommy got mad. They loved the funny geese. The canadian geese would do a back filps to wash themselves. That was the first time we saw that happen.

Halloween Carnival

Our Realtor invited us to a little Halloween carnival. It was blustery cold but the girls had a great time. Olivia and Emma got their faces painted, and they played lots of fun games like ring toss around the pumpkin stems and monster cake walk. They also got to pick out pumpkins and go through the hay maze. It was a blast.

Who's Changing Whose Diaper?

Natalie is definitely our

little mama. She gets her little baby, a diaper, powder, and the wipes and proceeds to change her baby's bum. She is also really good at stripping all her clothes off and streaking throughout the house. Now if I can only teach her how to change herself!

First Snow

The weather man was right for once! This morning the ground was dusted with fluffy white stuff. The girls were so excited it had snowed that we had a really hard time getting them ready for church. After church the snow was gone, but it started up again around noontime. It was a blizzard and it was sticking to the ground. The girls got on all of their snow clothes and went outside and had a snowball fight.

Gotta love Emma's shirt-"Genuine Summer" with the snow hat-"Ski Garmisch." (Mike's dad got the hat from Germany. Does anyone know what Garmisch means?) Can't forget the capri pants with the boots; talk about your all-purpose, Utah cold weather outfit. Don't worry, we made her change before she went outside.

Emma's Birthday Party

Emma has finally turned the big number Four! She is so excited to be four. We had a little birthday party with lots of family. After general conference everyone came over and we had bbq beef sandwiches and hot dogs. We decorated sugar cookies, played hide'n seek, opened presents, and played with the new gifts. Emma wanted a horse cake so mommy had to get creative. Good thing someone invented google! Emma also helped make spider suckers to add to the decor.

New Calling

Today I have a new calling at church. I get to teach the Valiant 10 class. The class has 3 boys and 1 girl. They are really nice and are really good. Mike also has a new calling. He has the opportunity to teach the Teacher Development class. He'll do an awesome job. We miss our old ward but are excited to meet new people and get to know everyone.

Back from the Orient

Do you like our dresses? Finally, we unpacked some more boxes and found these dresses. We got them in Chinatown when we were in San Francisco.

We got talent yes we do, we got talent how about you?

Second video better than the first. The call of the wild-my wild child! Well, wild children.

Its a jungle out there!

Mike thought it would be a great idea for Olivia to take his Brazilian bird whistles to school for show and tell. She had a great time showing the whistles to her class. We came home. I didn't mind at first, but several hours later I was going crazy. Then Mike came home--just in time to relieve mommy from such mayhem but it turn into "join the fun" time. I thought maybe it would one of those times it would be funnier later.

First sign of Fall

We can't believe that fall is on its way. This is a pic of our vine in our backyard. There are just a few bright red leaves coming out. I forgot how brilliant the leaves can be. The mountains are just gorgeous.

Boating with Uncle Dave

Uncle Dave took us out to Utah lake on his speed boat. We had a blast! The water was a little cold, but we got used to it quickly. The girls jumped right in the water and swam around like little fishies. Olivia's favorite thing to do was ride the tube. Our "Emma dilemma" didn't want to ride the tube at first but once she got over her fear, she had lots of fun. Natalie didn't like going really really fast. She also fell asleep half way through. Everyone had a great time. We did have a little bit of engine trouble, but luckily we were able to make it back to shore on our own (unlike last time--we took another boat out, it broke down in the middle of the lake, and we had to be towed back).

The Only Short Bus we want to Ride!

Just for Tine and Dario!

Olivia and School

Olivia started school just a few days after we moved in to our house. She has already made tons of friends and most of them are boys. She thinks she has a boyfriend and his name is Jay Jay. I don't think I'm ready for this-she's only six yrs old.
Olivia's school is year round. She is on C track (three weeks on three weeks off). I really dislike the schedule and wanted to switch to a different track but since we just moved in, we got stuck on the crummy schedule. I found out that the school offers a gifted and talented program. Kids have to be tested and then only 6 kids are able to participate. Lets just say we are not on the crummy schedule anymore. We are so excited and hope Olivia can make more friends quickly. I don't think that will be a big problem since she has already been invited to a birthday party.

Emma our little Monkey

In our backyard we have a tether

ball pole and the girls just love trying to touch the top. We also love UT soft grass.

Our new house!

We are so excited to be in our new house. Our 5bedrooms and 3bath house is so spacious. Everything fits- lots of storage! It has a cold storage and 3/4unfinished bath (also used for storage) No more storing can foods in bathroom cabinets.

We moved in on July 26th and Olivia started school on the 28th. It's been a little crazy to say the least.

The garden is growing faster every day. The previous residents planted tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers. They really knew what they were doing! We also have lots of flowers and beautiful plants in our yard. There is a lavender bush that was huge, I just had to chop it and make a wreath. Then my sister came over and helped me make another wreath. My house will smell awesome with all the lavender. I'll have to attach a pic next time. The girls love the yard and so does mommy especially the fact that it is gated! I can just let them run and not worry about them getting into the street.

We had a blast

We made it back from San Fran and Ut. It was a very long but very eventful trip! While in San Francisco, we went to the Exploratorium. We learned a lot and the best thing was the girls could touch anything and every thing. We made clouds, learned about hovering bubbles and tons of other stuff. I couldn't get over the architecture of the building, I felt like I was in Rome. Mike was thirsty good thing there was water close by. We also went over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a little foggy but beautiful.

Panic Mode

I can't believe its June already. We have been trying to buy a home in UT and are hopefully closing on the 2nd of July. We are so excited!!! Things are just in a whirl wind with Olivia still in school, packing, and an upcoming trip to San Francisco -I'm going a little nutty. I'll Have to post some pics of our new house once I know its ours for sure.

Disneyland

Since Olivia's birthday is tomorrow and we might be moving soon, we decided to take advantage of living in Southern CA-we are so close to Disneyland. We had a blast riding all the rides eating junk food we usually never eat like cotton candy. Walking all around and really enjoying ourselves was the plan, I think we accomplished that.

Swim my little fishies, Swim

On Monday, we had to break out the pool. It was record breaking temps. I think it got up to 97 degrees. My girls just couldn't wait to get changed into their swim suits, they went right in clothes and all.

What to do?

We have been praying a lot lately. Mike and I have decided that family is most important. Right now Mike is working 50 hours a week and we are missing out on major Family Time. So, he has been looking for a different job. We have been focusing our search in the SLC area. He will be flying into SLC on Thurs to visit a couple of places. Wish us luck. We probably won't move until July or so since Olivia still is in school til the end of June.

Lets color eggs

The Nievas came over and colored eggs with us. We had really great time. Olivia just loves eggs. She even likes to show everyone.