Can't wait for camping!

Ok, so I could be blogging about our day at Lagoon or our day at the zoo and the cute baby giraffe, but I can't wait to go camping and wanted to share it with all of you!! The other posts will come soon though. We're so excited to get away for the weekend. We're camping at Pineview Reservoir (Anderson Cove) this weekend Thurs-Sun and I am really looking forward to it - strange, but I am!! I've been wanting to go camping again ever since we went the first weekend in June, but haven't been able to go because of swim meets on Saturday mornings. So, now we finally get to go and I'm excited. Yipeee! :)

Shopping with my girls

Today was the first of my back to school shopping trips. I have always taken each of the girls by themselves (once they start school). Last year, I took Taylor and every outfit I bought her she wanted me to buy for Jessica too. Then when Jessica was starting preschool, she wanted a few outfits, but I had already bought most of what she needed and she was sad. So, this year, I opted to take the two of them shopping together. Since they wear the same size clothes and still love to match or at least own matching clothes, it works well. I'll still take Alyssa by herself another day.
Anyway, it was a fun outing with Jess and Tay. Taylor chose Rumbi grill for lunch so she could have Mac n Cheese. Jess wasn't thrilled about it, she wanted to play at McD's so she was being grumpy and only wanted the orange fries (sweet potato fries - yummy) and water. Silly girls. While we were at lunch I asked them what kind of clothes they wanted to buy and wear this year. I asked if Taylor was planning to wear some pants and jeans this year and she told me no. Just skirts and dresses with leggings. :) I should have asked Jessica's opinion first because once she heard what big sister had to say, she was 100% in agreement. So, our shopping today was ALL dresses and skirts and leggings. NO PANTS ever touched our cart or for that matter were even touched by us. We went to Old Navy and didn't find a lot in their size that was cute dresses so we got one dress and headed to Target. MUCH BETTER options for them. We found quite a few things that they both loved, even some that they loved that I didn't! We ended up with quite a haul of new skirts, dresses and leggings. We looked at shoes but we weren't sold on any for school shoes. We looked at backpacks, but didn't really like any of them either.

So we headed to WalMart ... and would you believe we walked out the door WITHOUT buying a single thing? They didn't like the backpack options there and we didn't find any shoes we liked either and I managed to NOT spend any money! I was proud of me. Then we went to Payless ... same story. No great school shoes - at least not ones to wear with skirts and dresses. Then we went to Smiths Marketplace ... love that store but wish it wasn't as expensive as it is. Taylor has decided she wants to keep her backpack from last year (score - that's a savings) so we bought her a lunch bag (since she WON'T be eating school lunch) and then finally found a pair of shoes she liked (we actually chose them for Jess and Tay chose them too). Yeah!! DONE for them. I'm actually going to take back 2 skirts and shirts that we bought ... I don't think we really need them but we will need more tights and warmer outfits as winter approaches so I just don't want to waste the money.

All in all, a fun day with my two little ones! Taylor got REALLY giggly today. We went to dinner as a family tonight and she couldn't stop giggling when we got home. I'd say a good 30-45 minutes she giggled. Silly little girl. She CRASHED when it was finally bedtime though. Funny thing is, I remember giggling like that when I was little - especially when my brother and his friends would tease me. They'd get me giggling and all they'd have to do is look at me and I'd giggle more. Watching her all giggly like that made me miss my brother! Can't wait to hang out with him and his family when we go to DisneyWorld in December. (shhhhhhh.... its a surprise for our kids and his - they don't know yet!)

Silver Swim Meet! She made it!

Alyssa made it to the Silver Swim Meet for County this year. The meet was on the 31st of July. She was so happy to be there and not at the Bronze meet. She swam her best time in Freestyle! She struggled with her butterfly, it wasn't her best, but we were proud of her! And she turned before she touched the wall on backstroke so she got her first ever disqualified in that. What do you do? But ... freestyle, we were SO proud of her!! She was in a heat of 6 girls, 2 of which had faster seed times than she did, but she slam dunked it! Took first in her heat by an arm's length at least! So proud!!!! We won't know how she finished in the event until tomorrow night at her year end party. There were 4 or 5 heats of swimmers in her age group for freestyle so they have to compare all the times from all heats. Personal best time though!! 25.84 for 25 yd freestyle - a 1.61 improvement over her previous best!! Wahoo!

This is Alyssa trying to bring me her heat winner ribbon without getting it wet!! The Spanish Fork pool is rather large - lap lanes connected to a deep pool, connected to the children's pools, connected to the slides - and she didn't want to walk all the way around so she swam with one arm to bring me her ribbon. She was so excited!!

Alyssa had lots of support at her meet - my parents were there, her sisters were there, her dad came for 2 of her 3 events, her sisters were there and her Aunt Karen and Uncle Adam were there with their son Zachary. She loved having everyone there. Thanks for all the support! It really meant a lot to her!!

I love you!

August 9, 1996

This day

I will marry my friend,

the one I laugh with, live for

dream with, love

That is what our wedding announcement said and after 13 years its more true than ever! I laugh with, live for, dream with and love you Steve!! Happy Anniversary Steve! I love you so much! I've said it before on here, but you are AMAZING so I'll say it again. I am so grateful for you in my life!


Then:

Now: (or at least last October - I don't have a good posed shot of just him recently) Things I love about Steve!

• spontaneity - Steve has always been spontaneous. Me, I'm a planner. I organize, I plan, I make lists. Steve is all about enjoying the moment. Just enjoying the now. It helps me remember to not stress over what is to come and to not miss the little moments in life.


• hard-working - Steve works SOOO hard. He has an amazing work ethic and is very dedicated to the things he commits to. When he says he will do something, you can expect it being done and being done well.


• passionate - Steve is passionate. He loves to enjoy life. He is passionate about his family, his drumming, his BYU Cougars, his yard, his planes, our vacations and his time off among other things. He does things because he loves them and is passionate about them.


• sense of humor - ANYONE who really knows Steve knows his sense of humor. He's a clown. He likes to tease and joke and again, have fun. He makes me laugh and shake my head at his crazy comments.
  
• playful - Steve loves to have fun. He not only loves to play and do big fun things, he likes life to be fun and light-hearted every day. He plays jokes and teases me. One of my favorite things is this little note card that gets passed back and forth between us. It says "I love you most". I wrote it to him and left it on the bed when I went to Ohio back in May. Since then, we pass it back and forth constantly. We leave it hidden in places that only the other person will find it - sometimes obvious places, like my sink in the bathroom or his pillow. But sometimes they are more thoughtful places, like in the oatmeal can because he knows I eat oatmeal most mornings or in his laptop bag after he's put it away so he finds it at work the next day. Its little playful things that he does like this that make me happy!


• forgiving - Steve doesn't hold grudges. He forgives people and especially me for my short comings and loves me despite my mistakes. He teaches me to forgive others including myself and to accept forgiveness from my Heavenly Father and Savior because of the our Savior's attoning sacrifice for us.


• supportive - Steve supports me and the girls in the things we want to do. He stands behind me in my business, my hobbies, the things I do with the kids (and their school and activities), and he encourages me to take time for me. He helps me be a better mom, friend, wife ... a better individual. I couldn't do anything that I do without his support! And because he is supportive, he challenges me to do more, to learn more, to believe more, to step out on faith and my abilities more! He challenges me to overcome my faults and weaknesses and fears and supports me no matter what!


• smart - Steve is so smart about so many things, not just programming and computers. He gets business, he gets leadership, he gets history and politics. He knows a lot about A LOT of different subjects. I love that he teaches me things.
  
• growing - Steve constantly wants to grow, both personally and professionally - he likes to know information and learn new things. He doesn't take things for granted. He doesn't want to be naive or sheltered about things. He wants to find out for himself and that causes constant growth. And when he grows, he always manages to teach me a little (or a lot) too!


• loving - Steve cares about people, first and most, me and then our girls, our families and our friends. But he also just cares about people in general. He hates when people are not aware of others and their needs, he hates when people aren't kind. He just has a soft spot and I love that he loves so much and teaches our girls to love others and be kind to others.


• honest - Steve is honest, brutally honest sometimes and I love that. I am grateful he feels comfortable enough with me and with his opinions to be that honest.


• And MOST of all, I love that he is my friend, my best friend. Nothing means more to him than my happiness and the time we spend together and I am so grateful for that!

Recent (November, 2008)

I love you, today, tomorrow and forever!

I love you MOST, eternally and infinitely!!

Happy 13th Anniversary Steve!

All this because two people, me and you, fell in love!

7 Peaks Readers!

Taylor and Alyssa both got the free passes to Seven Peaks for being readers last year. The passes ended on the 30th of July ... so on the 30th of July, we went! I took Karianna with me so she could do the big slides with Alyssa while I stayed with the little two. It was perfect. We enjoyed it and the little girls LOVED the slides they could go on! And Alyssa always feels like such a grown up kid when she gets to hang out with Karianna. Its fun.

Again, these are pics from my phone, so they aren't the best, but at least we got to capture the moment!

Karianna and Jess
Alyssa with a CHEESE! grin.

Jessica - check out the goggles on her forhead!

Taylor splashing at the bottom of the slide.

On the run - back to slide again!

If you look at Taylor's hair, you can see some darker hair (its really wet) but that is the short hair she cut. It really is as short as it looks in that spot.
I love and hate the self-portraits with my girls. Hate the double chin I always have, but otherwise, the pics are just fun.

This is one of the two kid play areas with all the bigger slides in the background.

Hair Cuts!

Taylor and Jessica did it again a couple weeks ago - gave themselves hair cuts... or at least Taylor gave them both haircuts. Taylor is into cutting lately. The quilted stitches on a beadspread, her hair, Jessi's hair, her friend's doll's hair, more of the quilt, and two of Jessica's dolls' hair. Seriously, don't know what is behind it but its this little obsession of hers. Driving me CRAZY!!! Anyway, here are some pictures of their hair cuts! Not great pics - taken on my cell phone, but at least you get the idea.

Jessica now has bangs - a very thin layer of very short bangs which thanks to Dani are covered by another layer of longer ones that are straight across. She also has a chunk on one side that is about 1/2 inch long - just right beside her ear so it shows when we do pony tails. Nothing we can do with that until it grows out.

Taylor's bangs are extremely short in one spot and it isn't just a thin layer of them. Dani had to cut a pretty thick layer of bangs to help hide it. The shadows on this picture make her look pretty funny, but you can see some short pieces hanging down in the middle of her forhead.

Getting it fixed! You can see how far back Dani had to cut so that we could cover the chunk she took out.

Over all, I actually do like them with bangs, but wish they would have asked me to help them instead of them doing it themselves. Give it a month or two and I'll be ok with it. :) Just hoping school pictures aren't early this year!! :)

Lehi Meets - #4 and #5 of the season

Alyssa has been working really hard all season. I didn't take more pictures at her #4 and #5 meets on the 18th and 25th of July, but both were home and here are her times and ranks!!

July 18th:

• Freestyle - personal best time of 28.83 - improvement of 1.47 and 12th place in her event!
• Breaststroke - personal best time of 38.16 - improvement of 1.38 and 3rd place in her event!
• Backstroke - personal best time of 30.99 - an improvement of 2.39!

July 25th:

• Freestyle - personal best time of 27.45 - improvement of 1.38 and 9th place in her event!
• Butterfly - personal best time of 36.01 - improvement of 5.12, first in her heat (8 in each heat)and 2nd place in her event!
• Breastsroke - personal best time of 37.86 - improvement of 0.3 ... we aren't sure what she placed though because we didn't stay to get her ribbon afterward. But I'm guessing top 5 in her event!

This is HUGE! Last year, Alyssa got personal best ribbons and participation ribbons and 1 or 2 other place ribbons the whole season! She has really worked hard and improved a lot. We're proud of her! There are at least 3, but probably 4 missing that she hasn't received yet and two that I forgot to include. :)
The best news!! Alyssa got SILVER times on all 4 of her strokes (not the IM). That means she qualified for the Silver meet for the last county meet instead of the bronze meet. It was something she was working toward this year. Really proud of her!

FlashPoint Pics - VOTE!!

Steve's band is trying to get a good picture of them to use for gigs, their websites and advertisements. Here are a few that I took of them at their gig on July 24th in Spanish Fork. VOTE!! Which one do you like the best?

#1 - on couch from front
#2 - on couch, from side

#3 - at the table

#4 - with the honey bucket (yes, that is an outhouse!) - definintely shows the humor that some of these guys have :)

#5 - outside by the log cabin exterior

This is just a live action shot ... I never like these as well, can't ever see Steve. :)