A&L

Only because I am incredibly behind on our photo albums I will post a few things on here to help me remember until I can one day catch up. So this post is mostly for me :)




My cute little bear cubs (Afton and Lilly)are almost 2 1/2. Seriously where has the time gone. Here is a what they are up to at this age....

Lilly
- feels the need to always shut doors, toilet lids, cupboards, etc. If she sees them open, they quickly become shut before she can concentrate on something else. Sometimes Jim and I will secretly open a door just because we know it will bug her until she gets it closed :)
- Is extremely shy around people she doesn't know well or hasn't warmed up to BUT when she is home she does NOT STOP TALKING. All day long she talks and talks, and talks, and talks.
- Picks the exact same book every night for her bedtime story. It is Toy Story 3 and it is a library book that I have renewed to its max.
- REALLY likes her chocolate milk right now and insists on having it every morning for breakfast with a straw. At some meals she won't even touch her food but drinks plenty of chocolate milk
-LOVES TV especially if Toy Story, Up, Tom and Jerry or Curious George is on
-Loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, (these first two she can sing all of them by herself) 5 little monkeys swinging in a tree and Princess Pat
-Will say a sentence over and over again until you repeat it back to her correctly. Unfortunately at this age it is hard to understand everything she says so it can take awhile on both ends of the conversation :)

Afton
- has the cutest smile in the world!
- is always up for giving hugs and kisses and will randomly throughout the day just say "Hi Mom." I love it! She also loves to cuddle
- Is extremely curious about everything and how things work or come apart.
- Is my sensitive girl and if she is doing something wrong all I have to say is "Afton" a little stern and her poor guilty face shows so much.
- Loves to eat and gets so excited when I say it is lunchtime or snack time. She has been known to actually starts giggling in excitement at the prospect of food.
-Has curly hair (although this picture doesn't do it justice) which I love but don't know what to do with except put a barrette in it every day.
-Loves to wear one of Lizzie's purple "princess dresses". She will even take her naps in it and wants to wear it at the table to eat but I say no to that one.





Next week we will highlight Ethan and Lizzie as they start school

Jim "Adventure" Day

Yesterday we spent the day as a family (including dog) up in the Uintahs. I am not much of a camper anymore but will totally go for day trips.
A day like yesterday I think is how Jim imagines heaven but with doughnuts and bread also.

We went up in the canyon and had lunch with tons of sheep which was awesome.



Then we went to a place called Christmas Meadows. It was BEAUTIFUL. We were the only ones there. The kids loved playing in the water and throwing rocks in. Jim was a little further down the river fishing.





Doing what kids should be doing- EXPLORING


Of course we had to stop at this sign. If you look closely you can see Jim's legs as he is behind her holding her up :)

Thanksgiving Point

Back in April we bought a membership to Thanksgiving Point. Between all the different places to visit there, we have already gone enough times to make it well worth our money. It has been a great place to go when we just need a little distraction during the day. It is only 10 minutes away so.... perfect. Here are a few pictures from the other day when we went to Farm Country.

A mini-van full of children before we left for Thanksgiving Point



Afton meets a goat

Ethan on a horse

Cute little Afton


Lilly Bill

Summer

So what have we been doing the past 6 weeks since I last gave a family update? Well Afton and Lilly have been quite busy.
They have learned to:

- tear up library books when they were supposed to be napping (Lilly)



- open the fridge when mom is not looking and find a stick of butter and play with it like it is play-doh (Afton)

- Show mom the multiplying powers of one very small box of chocolate milk (Afton)


- find a container of red kool aid on the counter and spill it everywhere (Afton)

- color on the back of their door when they were supposed to be taking a nap (Afton)



Yes, all but one of the achievements were done by our Afton. She is adorable but very, very curious about EVERYTHING.
Ah the life of two year old twins. There is never a dull moment with one toddler..... but with two it is hilarious and crazy.

Ethan and Lizzie

They have been enjoying summer as any 8 and 6 year old should. I really think those two get along so much better when school is OUT. They play together so well and have something they play every day that includes legos people, polly pockets, ponies, bakugan, and whoever else wants to join the party for that day. It is hilarous to listen to and I love hearing them use their imagination.

They have been busy with swim lessons. I also try to take all the kids swimming at least once a week (with my moms help for extra arms) and if some weeks we go more that week with friends well no harm done right :)

We hang out in the backyard sandbox building cities, castles and such. Well actually most of the time they build while I sit in a chair in the shade nearby reading a book. Yes, I know my life is rough in the summer :) My house has become a bomb explosion.

Even though there are still "I'm bored" moments and fights to break up, I LOVE SUMMER WITH MY KIDS!!! No schedules, no homework and just enjoying is awesome!
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* Also I wrote this post AFTER all the kids were in bed and my house is silent. Kids always seem more angelic when they are sleeping. If I wrote this earlier today it may have been worded a little differently :)

Earlier today for example....
- Lilly screamed for about 45 minutes because I didn't have a straw to put in her chocolate milk.
- Ethan and Lizzie learned the word rectum (long story and it was their mom that told them) thought it was the hilarious, laughed straight for like 10 minutes and kept repeating the word over and over and then started asking everyone in our house (even the dog) if they have a rectum :)
- And Afton, well almost everything Afton does is trouble

2010

As this is being posted on the blog Jim and I are finishing up a two night stay and concert up in Park City. I don't think we have gotten away since before the little girls were born.

For the past few weeks I have highlighted the past 12 years of our family. What once started as a family as 2 is now a family of 6! We are right in the thick of the phase of our life of raising young children. I would not want to do it with anyone but Jim.

These four cute things are the result of a boy named Jim asking a girl named Alisha to marry him

I love you and Happy Anniversary Jim. As always, thank you for asking me to marry you.




"Your all the things that I desire, you save me, you complete me."
-Sarah Mclachlan

2008/2009

2008-

I can sum up 2008 with three words- AFTON AND LILLY


On March 25th 2008 Afton and Lilly were born!!!! They were born 4 minutes apart. We managed in a 4 minute time span to suddenly double the number of kids we have. It has been a big change. One that I wouldn't trade for a second but one that I never would have realized how much more busy it has made me. 2 young babies plus 2 other kids needing parents too keeps you VERY busy.

Our house has now become what I call BEAUTIFUL CHAOS.













2009 (In no particular order)....

This cute girl started Kindergarten (Aug. 2009)

Our week long vacation up to Yellowstone area with Jim's family

Air Show (Summer 2009)

Ethan's first fish he caught all by himself on our family impromptu trip up to Grey's River


Lucky became a part of our family (Dec. 2009)


In other news of 2009- Jim completely quit his job working for others and is now all on his own.

2006/2007

2006

I Became a Runner!!!
I started training the first part of 2006. When I first started running- to run a half mile was daunting. I never realized how much I would like running and four years later and a few half marathons under my belt stil love it. One day that elusive marathon will be checked off my to do list.
Here I am at my very 1st Half Marathon with Jim's sister Liz (June 2006).



I love these pictures! Ethan and Liz seem to have a very special bond. Don't get me wrong they still have their sibling moments but from the start they have really enjoyed each others company. I hope they always remember that. Summer 2006



Christmas 2006




2007

This was another busy big year for us with most of it happening in the last 6 months of the year.

-After having our house for sale for 8 months we FINALLY MOVED in June of 2007. I absolutely love our our new house and the neighborhood and area. (We do need one more bedroom now but how were we supposed to know that then :)



- Lizzie had her first surgery (July 2007). She had such a rough recovery for about a month (lost so much weight and so lethargic). I cried so much, worried about my little girl. She would have 2 more surgeries before she started kindergarten.


-Ethan started kindergarten.

- We went to Disneyland (September 2007). It was so fun to go down there and hang out with Mickey, Buzz, Ariel and all the fun stuff down there.



- Our lives changed forever as we went in for an ultrasound (October 2007) and found out we were having TWINS !!!!