My princess...a work in progress :)

My funny Ellie- We have to make cookies about once a week, and last week, she turned the mixer on full blast. This is what we ended up with :)

My freaking funny nephew walked over to our house last week with this awesome outfit on :).

So Ellie has a princess costume that she wears almost every day. It's totally worn out, but she loves it anyway. So last night I told her I have a princess costume too. John got out my wedding dress, and we played dress up. Ellie LOVED my dress. She said it was a 'real' princess dress, and that I was Cinderella. I said, "Yes, sweetpea, I sure am Cinderella. I cook and clean and answer to everyones' whims every single day." Yes, my wedding dress is blue. Sort of an ice-blue...so I can actually see why Ellie thinks it looks like a Cinderella dress. It was really fun to play dress up with my Ellie. She really is my princess. Last week I called her my princess and she got all mad and said, "I'm not a princess!...I'm a queen." That's my girl! I just have to work on her femininity. :)

Monumental moment

Yesterday Jackson had his first haircut! It was a first for him...and a first for me :). At 3 1/2 years old, Ellie doesn't have enough hair to cut, so yesterday was a first for me as a mommy! And yes, I took a ton of pictures...and kept a couple of locks of his hair. Last week I was at lunch at my Granny & Gramps and my Granny pulled out an envelope from when I was 16 months old with some of my hair in it and it was fun to see the color and texture...even if it is a little gross :). So, some day maybe Jack will care to see his hair...probably not, but just in case...


Anyway, Jackson absolutely loved getting his hair cut! As Kelly combed through the back of his hair, Jackson would sort of lean into it...He was really serious and had the same look on his face the entire time, but he was super relaxed. It was so funny! He is so cute!! Thanks Kelly!

Yes, he had a mullet...John kind of liked it because it reminded him of himself about 20 years ago :)! Oh he looks SO cute with his hair cut!

Old Friends are the best!

Two nights ago I went to a baby shower for my dear friend Molly in Park City. It was a ward shower, but they were kind enough to invite me back for it. It was so wonderful for me! I miss my friends in PC so much...I have so much in common with them. So it was SO fun to see them and get caught up. The Kimball ward women are just awesome. I got talking to a group of women at the shower about the uniqueness of the ward women. There are NO cliques, and it's not like just the 30 somethings all hang out - no, it's EVERYONE. The women in their 20's up to the women who are empty nesters in their 60's all are one and all enjoy each other and are interested in each other. We are all pretty independent women and have all had unique experiences in our lives, so maybe that's why we enjoy each other so much. Well, at least I enjoy their company and miss them very much. ALL of them.

And then yesterday, my dear mission companion Tammy (Soeur Steimle) brought her boys over to play. It was so delightful! Tammy knows me so well...we were companions for 6 months...which is a long time when your mission is only 18 months...and I loved every (well almost!) minute of it. We laughed SO hard when we were companions! And we really knew each other so well. There's such a deep depth of friendship with someone when you've shared such sacred experiences together - and so much time together. Our mission was very unique in that there were only 14 missionaries on the island and only 6 sisters. We all knew each other very well. Anyway, it was so fun to see her! No matter how much time passes in between us getting together, we can pick up right where we left off.

And one other blast from the past...one of my very oldest and best childhood friends is my neice's 5th grade teacher, so last week I took my kids and dropped in on her. She is amazing! She was like a breath of fresh air. She is so upbeat and happy...and it's real. Not her just being superficial - she really is a delightfully happy person. And so pretty! I told her she's in the wrong field. She should be a model. She has her master's degree and will be called up to be a principal any time now.

It was so refreshing and such a blessing to see all of these old friends. It really has been an answer to my prayers. I have been so blessed in my life to have amazing life-long friends! And they are such amazing women. I'm not sure why they've chosen to be my friend :).

Recent Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of my kids, John's race, and Ellie's race...Jackson & Ellie LOVE to swing...

The park wore them out everyday...

Ellie's race - running with Daddy, Uncle Chris, and cousin Abby.

And their medals (below) - Ben, Abby, & Ellie

John's RACE John and Chris

Our kids love to go on rides!

Daddy's shoes- isn't he the cutest?!

February update

Where does the time go??? Didn't I just post pictures from Hawaii last week? Oh wait, that was almost a month ago. So much for posting more often. It's a good thing I don't have many "fans":)!

Anyway, February. It must have been a busy month because I didn't find time to blog...either that or I didn't have anything worth blogging about. We'll pretend like it's the former.

The most impressive thing that happened all month occurred on the last day. Johnny participated in a duathlon in St. George last weekend and came in 2nd in his division, and 12th overall!!! I was so impressed! There were close to 200 participants, and he came in 12th!! He even beat his brother who is only 30 (sorry Chris!)! And he wasn't even tired at the end. Way to go John! And then, Ellie ran in her very first race, and did great! They had a kids race after the main event, so Ellie and her cousins Ben and Abby ran in it. Ben is a natural and was by far the fastest kid his size. And Ellie and Abby did great too...and they were all so proud when they finished and all received medals.

Speaking of Ellie's cousins, they came up from Las Vegas to spend the weekend with us and it was SO fun! They are such a darling little family, and I think Abby is Ellie's very favorite person. She loves her so much! They are only 3 months apart and love being together.

So, we were in St. George for just over a week. It was so beautiful. I took the kids to the park at least once everyday and often we went twice. Sometimes I think I should live there. On Monday, Ellie and I went hiking in Snow Canyon. I wasn't sure how she'd do scrambling on the rocks, but I was amazed. She was fast and fearless (in a good way - cautious, but not scared like I thought she would be). We scrambled all the way to the peak of a mountain and met a group of adults coming back down. They couldn't believe how well she was doing. I was thrilled because Snow Canyon is one of my very favorite places and I could hike for hours and hours there, so I'm really glad that Ellie enjoyed it as much as she did. The thing that freaked her out more than anything else was a big black beetle that she thought was going to follow her down the mountain. Funny girl!

The only bummer (and it was HUGE) was that on Sunday, we all woke up SO sick. Puking - the whole works. Jack had thrown up a few times since we'd been there, but I thought it was just a bug that wouldn't be strong enough to get the rest of us. I was so wrong. It was terrible! Poor Ellie threw up in bed and then was up every two hours after that throwing up again. And John got it the very worst. He was the sickest of us all. It sucked. Thank goodness it was short lived. By Monday the kids and I were better. Only John has had it linger a little longer - poor guy.

And that's my travel-log for the month. If anything interesting happens this month, I'll take time to document it. I do have some fun things on the calendar, so I'll try to update.