Soccer Notes

Aby scored her first 2 goals in soccer yesterday. Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures because I was being the substitute coach and didn't have my camera. It was so great to see her have some success. she is a very timid player (kinda like her mom), but yesterday she did great, she chased the ball and got it away from the other players. The best part about her goal however, was that her dad was there to see them. It isn't easy for Ryan and make it to the games, and he made a really special effort to come yesterday. Tiffany Jones and Josh Sullivan also made it to the game and were able to see her score the goals. I guess that I am not a good enough cheerleader, she needs others for her to score.

Swimming

Since the girls finished their swimming lessons this past week I decied to take them swimming, and I called and invited Tiffany to come with us and her kids. She could only come for a little while, and so se took advantage of the time, when she left she was nice enough to let Bryn stay and play with Kenzie. We had a great time, and I was able to work with Aby a little bit on her swimming. (let us just say that the swimming lessons were a test of patience for me. The teacher didn't teach them anything.)
Kenzie and Bryn had a great time playing in the water, and on the toys.
Brooklyn had taken to the water so great lately. She did even better now that she is walking. You can see how good she is doing in the video at the bottom. You will notice that she still doesn't like to get her hair wet.
This is Aby working on her backstroke. She is turning into quite the swimmer. Back is still hard for her but it is coming.
This is Aby swimming her Frontcrawl. She has really improved since last year on this. You can also see a video of that at the bottom. Enjoy

Brooklyn is walking

This is just a short video to show how great Brooklyn is doing on her walking. It took her a while to get started, but once she got the hang of it she really got the hang of it, now she runs around everywhere.

The bearded lady

Last Monday after family home evening we went downstairs and while Ryan and I worked on some financial stuff on the computer we put in a movie for the girls to watch. I guess that we didn't pay enough attention to what the girls were doing, becuase when we were done and ready to take the girls up to bed, I found that Mckenzie had drawn a beard around her face. She was so tired and so cute that I just laughed and took pictures. It was a good thing that she had swimming lessons the next day becuase that took the ink right out. The moral of the story: just because there is a movie in doesn't mean that your kids will watch it and stay out of trouble.

Funny Brooklyn

Brooklyn was upset the other day, I had one of her dress bottoms in my hand, and just for laughs I stuck it on her head. Ryan saw her and thought that she looked too cute. So he had me take a picture, I personally liked the picture that I took, it was just her personality shining through. (she likes to put her finger up her nose lately.) he thought that I should take a better one, so he put the hat back on and I took one of them together. They were so cute, Brooklyn loves her daddy, and will run to him when he gets home at the end of each day.
I love that face!

Too cute, two of my most favorite people in the world.

4 Wheeling

A few weeks ago Tiffany and Tyler invited us to go to the sand dunes with them for some 4 wheeling. (Tiffany said it was homework for Tyler.:) I wish that when I was in college my teachers would have given me homework that fun.

At first I was only going to only send Kenzie (because Bryn only wanted to go if she could bring Kenzie) but at the last minute I was able to go with them and bring along Aby and Brooklyn. Aby did have to miss a soccer practice, but she didn't seem too broken up about it.
Aby was finally brave enough to try riding the little 4 wheeler by herself. She did a great job, it was fun to watch her,there were only two problems. first she took off so fast that we didn't get a chance to explaine the breaks, and so every time she needed to stop she would turn off the 4 wheeler. The second was one time she was practicing by the tents, and Spencer was walking around. Instead of trying to swerve around Spencer she kept heading toward him and started saying "Spencer move please." It was a good thing that my mom and I were close by. We did explain that since she is bigger she has to move not Spencer. ps nobody got hurt, but Spencer was a little scared.
Brooklyn liked to walk in the sand, and also to ride the 4 wheelers. She had a great time.
Kenzie and Bryn are like twins. They played together all day. It was so fun to watch them. They enjoyed going on the 4 wheelers together, and had the most fun with grandma who doesn't go fast but likes to take them to see the different places.

Best Friends

When I was in high school, and even when I was in college I was fond of telling people (my family and friends) that I was not going to live in utah, or anywhere near my family when I was older. I guess what people say about priorities changing, and becoming wiser as you grow older is true. I am now in the "older" part of my life that I was talking about, and I live in Farmington, only 7 mile away from my parents and sister Tiffany. I am so grateful that I live this close to them. I don't know what I would do without the support of my family and Ryan's family who live only 15 miles away in North Salt Lake. I don't know what the future holds, and I may eventually move farther away, but I know that I don't want to right now, and that I am happy and content where I am at. You might wonder why I am reminising, but the other day after going swimming with Tiffany and her children I brought Bryn back and the three girls sat down on the porch and started eating popcycles together. It was such a cute and touching thing to see these three cousins sitting there totally content to be best friends. I know that Mckenzie calls Bryn her best friend, and wants to play with her everyday. If I am planning on taking the kids anywhere, it is a sure bet that Kenzie is going to beg for Bryn to come.

I am so greatful for a sister who lives close by and is willing to share her kids with me and mine.

Jumping Bag

This was too cute the other day. Bryn had come over to play with Kenzie, and they put the bean bag in front of the couch and then put all the pillows on top of it so that it was extra soft. Once the bean bag was ready they took turns jumping into it.
This is Aby landing on the bean bag.
Bryn in mid air. Look at the grin on her face.
Kenzie's turn to jump.
I think that face says it all...that was great. (I love the movie star look, don't you.)

My monkey

Sorry that you have to look really close to see the pictures, but the sun and I were at the wrong angles. Lately Brooklyn has decided that she wants to climb into and on top of and up anything that she can. In these pictures she has climbed into the second story of the barbie house. She does this without any help at all. She will also climb up the ladder to the bunk bed, onto the kitchen chairs, and onto the kitchen table.
She is very happy. It only lated until I finished taking the pictures and took her out. I didn't want her to break the doll house.

Zoo time

This was a fun activity that we did one day. It was a great day, sunny and about 70 degrees. It had been cold a few days before, and the weather man said that it was going to be cold after this day. We were so greatful that we had a sunny warm day to visit all the animals. While we were at the zoo we met one of Aby's good friends, so she had a great time, and kenzie had a great time with Bryn. We are so greatful to have her live so close. Kenzie and Bryn are the best of friends.

The first stop after the monkeys was the Elephants. This is always a favorite for the kids. You can see the Elephants in the background. it was really cool because as we moved down the path the elephants came closer and broke a big stick to chew. The girls were impressed with how strong the Elephant was. On a side note, one of the female elephants is pregnant right now, and will have her baby in another 19-20 months. Can you imagine how hard it would be to be pregnant for 2 years!!
I haven't been to the zoo in a while, and was shocked when I saw that they had completely redone the big cat area to an Asian Safari theme it was pretty cool. In this picture Aby and her Friend Mati Ball are on a statue of a Tiger.
Now it was Kenzie and Bryn's turn.

This is one of the items that the shops in the Asian area were selling. I didn't buy them (they wanted 15 dollars a had.) The kids did have a great time trying them on.
Finally at the end of the day we stopped at the playground. This has also been redone and added to. Kenzie had a great time on the giant spider web, and Aby had fun on the snake slide until she was running up the stairs too fast and fell and hurt her lip and nose, then she was done. Kenzie like the slide also when she found her way out of the spider web.
Ahhh the end of the day, we were tired, but had a great time, and we can't wait to go back again.

Easter FHE

One the Monday after Easter I decided to do a special family home evening to help the girls learn the real meaning of Easter. I had origionally planned to have the egg hunt outside, but it was dark by the time we started so we ended up in the basement. (so glad that it is finished.) We started out by having a song and a prayer and then the girls went downstairs to find the eggs. In some of the eggs I had hidden strips of paper with different aspects of Christs life and Atonement. In other eggs I had hidden candy. The kids had a great time, and were actually more excited to find papers and talk about Christ than the candy. It was a great family Home Evening. I am always so impressed by what my kids can remember about Christ and how much the love the savior.
Here is Aby looking for some of the eggs.
Aby and Kenzie go for an egg in the hallway. (Kenzie got it.:)
Ahhh.. and the winner is everyone. We all learned a lot about the life of Christ.

Art Time

Aby and Kenzie love to color, paint, cut, paste, and anything else that has to do with being creative and artsy. I am so greatful that they enjoy doing stuff like this, and so I do my best to encorage thier efforts.
I had been downstairs doing laundry and picking up, and when I went upstairs it was to find that the girls had gotten out the craft supplies, and were working very hard on some pictures that they were doing for their dad, and grandma. You can see the paint, glue, and cotten balls. In the end the mess was worth it, and the pictures turned out great.
Aby loves to pose for the camera. Who wouldn't it you were that cute.

Trouble

Doesn't she look happy? How can I even bear to shut the drawer and take her out, I can't so I don't. I have removed all toxic and dangerous items from the drawer. Brooklyn likes to spend a lot of time just playing in the drawers, and bathroom in general. For the most part I didn't used to mind, but in th epast few days, she has learned how to lift up the lid on the toilet, and likes to play in the water. (yuck) since then I have started to shut the bathroom door. It makes her mad, but at least I don't find her wet with toilet water.

First Popcicle

When Kenzie had her surgery my neighbor brough over some popcicles for her, they were great because they are ony 1/3 the size of a regular one. This is great because my kids don't usually eat a entire popcicle and so this is the perfect size. This was the first time that I gave one to Brooklyn, and her face is pricless, you can watch the discovery process as she finds out what this is.
Hmmmm.....cold and slippery
I think it will taste ok....right?

OHHHHH brain freeze! That is cold.
That was good, I think that I will keep eating these. And she has popcicles are one of her favorite treats.

Is it summer yet?

Ok I am not sure why the picture turned the wrong way but there you have it. After Mckenzie's surgery I was feeling like a bad mom, so I gave into her and because she was so brave I bought her Dora flip flops and crocs. She was so excited, that she came right home and tried them on. She also put on her sunglasses, and her skirt. She wanted to go outside, but it was really cold so she put on her coat also. Can you believe my children!!! You would think that they are related to their mother.
Check out thoes sexy flip flops!!

The whoe ensamble. Are we ready for anything or what.
This is my favorite. Tiffany Jones gave her these sunglasses for Christmas and they have been her favorite ever since. She is so cute in them.

Chocolate Factory

In my unofficial job of arranging activities for the kids in our ward to do, I was able to arrange a tour of Cavanaghs Chocolate Factory. We actually got a fantastic tour because it was led by one of the ladies in our ward. (Colette Call) She works at the factory, and got permission to take the kids into the factory and let them make chocolate covered gummy worms to eat. (all of this for no charge.) The kids had a great time, and I know that most of the parents enjoyed themselves as well.

Here is Aby she is waiting by the gummy worms for her turn to place them on the chocolate conveyor belt to get covered.
Here are mom and Kenzie placing her gummy worms on the chocolate conveyor belt to be covered. We really had a great time.
You can see how excited the kids were after they placed the gummy worms they would run down to the other end and keep a watch until they could see the worms. The funny part it took nearly 10 minutes for them to come to the end. That didn't bother the kids at all.
Everyone got their worms and we were ready to move onto my favorite part, the caramel section. OHHHH....the samples that we had in there were divine.

Caramel.....need I say more, ok the kids probably didn't enjoy this as much as the chocolate machine, but that didn't stop them from trying out the candy.
Kenzie and Bryn tasting their caramels and moving on to the next room.
At the end everyone gathered around to watch an interesting movie on how chocolate is made. We really did have a great time, and I will never think lightly of how hard it is to make the little chocolates that you eat.