On my Camera

I either don't take very many pictures, or I have a really big memory card.

Either way when my camera finally flashed "memory full" I was shocked at how far back these pictures went! I need to get around to a few blog posts about stuff we've been doing, but for the time being, these are random events in my life that I felt the need to document in a photo. Enjoy!There's nothing like two cute helpers to make baking even more fun! Aren't cousins the best?

Some desserts are best enjoyed in the bathtub. For obvious reasons.


She was supposed to be napping. Then she emerged dressed like this. I couldn't help but laugh. That girl has style!

Studying some flowers they grew under a magnifying glass. They have been loving their new Ikea table.

Lyla pushing Eva in the doll stroller. I now have the opportunity to sew a new seat for it. I guess they're serious when they say "for doll use only". :)

Nursery here she comes...

Lyla is an official nursery girl. Woo Hoo! She's definitely the low man on the totem pole in there, but she doesn't seem to mind. You can tell she feels like a big kid and that's all she cares about!Lyla on her first day of nursery. It's the best one we could get of her and it's blurry dangit. For kicks and giggles below is a picture of Eva on her first day. I have no idea what overcame me and made me dress them in the same outfit. Let's pray we never have a little boy......

Haircut

Sometimes I find posting a picture is unnecessary.

I have a 3 year old who tells me the honest to goodness truth.

Like in reference to the haircut I got last night. I quote:

"Mom. Can I have the piece of hair right there? WOW. They cut it really short. You shouldn't cut your hair that short mama or you'll look like a boy. You'll LOOK like a boy, but you'll sound like a girl".

Needless to say. I'm not happy. Not happy at all. Especially not with that single piece of really short hair.

Biggest Loser

Jared's work recently hosted a "Biggest Loser" competition and Jared decided to go for it. Thanks to a competitive nature (not to mention a WHOLE lot of hard work) he won! Woo Hoo! Way to go Jared! He lost 25 pounds over the course of 8 weeks, half of that weight being lost in the past 3 weeks. He now weighs less than when we got married. I guess those 5 am workouts paid off. Can you tell I'm proud? :) You deserved it Jared, I've never seen anyone work so hard.

Just for fun: before and after pics
(disclaimer: YES I tried to find the most unflattering before picture of him that I could. )

Isn't he nice to humor me and pose for a final weigh day picture?

Here Kitty Kitty

I don't know what came over us, but for some reason we got it in our heads that we needed a cat. Which we found. And adopted. And we love. Say hello to Lucy/Kitty/Scooby Doo! We'll get down to picking one name eventually.

She gets 10 out of 10 for patience and love. She gets a much lower score on survival instincts (see pictures below).

We're working on the whole don't pull the cats tail/feet/ears/whiskers thing. It would help if she would run away from the kids. And stay hidden. But she's a social little booger and won't stay hidden for very long, so this is a pretty common scene. Kitty has put in a request for a dog. To help share some of the abuse- erm I mean love.


To Eva's delight, her favorite game is chasing mint flavored dental floss around the kitchen island for extended periods of time. To my delight this helps fill Eva's daily "I have to run" quota. Bless you kitty. Bless you.

San Diego: day 2

The second day we did what we should have done in the first place: hung out on the beach! Everyone had way too much fun, and by the end of it Jared and I were trying to devise ways to stay an extra day. :)How does the flavor of California sand compare Lyla?

We then cleaned up, (did you guys know sand is impossible to wash off? Oh, I'm the only one that didn't know that?) grabbed some lunch and headed to the temple to look around the grounds. I'm always struck by how peaceful it is whenever you are on temple grounds. Even when kids are with you. On our way out of town I wanted to see the house I lived in when I was little. Does it look the same family? Ignore that poochy-bellied girl out front. Having to eat the kids leftover lunch does a number on the waistline.
The last night we camped in the middle of nowhere, where we all froze to death and rejoiced when we finally made it home the next day.
I had to snap this picture of Lyla for my parents. (Sorry that it's fuzzy) I was apparently a little too careful about not getting sunscreen in her eyes when we spent all that time on the beach so the poor kid ended up with a sunburn that resembled two shiners. I had several people at church ask me if she'd collided with a coffee table. Nope, just dorky me, being dorky!

Vacations are great, but I must say coming home and sleeping in your own bed is too. :)

San Diego

Around Memorial Day we took off to spend a few days in San Diego. I was born here, but since we moved when I was a baby I have no memories of it. It was still a little weird to be driving around places my parents had talked about. Anyway, we had a blast! The first day we:

visited La Jolla. What a beautiful coast! The kids thought the seals were pretty cool too.

Being married to a civil engineer meant we had to go see the Coranado Bay Bridge. It actually was pretty cool I have to admit. We were too cheap to pay the parking fee to walk around The Hotel Del Coranado, which I really regret now. Next time I guess. In fact I think we just need to spend more time on Coranado Island in general next time.We found a cool little park on the bay. I think if it were up to the kids we would've spent the remainder of the trip here. You can see the bridge in the background.

Eva loved being buried in the sand. Lyla screamed in terror the whole time as her sister was disappearing and practically bear hugged her when she reappeared. She became more used to the idea the 5th or 6th time around.

After washing gallons of sand off of the kids and a quick nap, we headed to Sea World. Now I realize this is personal opinion and a lot of people will disagree, but Sea World gets a big thumbs down from me. I mean it was fun; there were lots of things for the kids to do, but seriously-for that price.....not worth it. Oh yeah, and then I lost Eva at one point in some crazy maze jungle gym thing, ironically while I was trying to help a hysterical little boy who had lost his mom. I had a heart attack, ran frantically through the maze screaming at the top of my lungs and burst into tears when I found her. Then I yelled at her. Please tell me that's a normal mom thing? Anyway, that's my two bits. Sea World is over rated. Is this sounding like a Travel Guide yet? :)

We polished off day one eating at a place my parents raved about:
I think I gained ten pounds. Delicious!


The remainder of the trip is soon to follow!

Ten Tons

In case you've ever wondered what ten tons of sand looks like, let me put your curiosities to rest. This is what ten tons of sand looks like. Literally.



The kids were delighted and scared out of their mind watching their driveway become a giant sand mountain. I'll let you decide who was what.




Sadly, it seems likely that we will need another ten tons to get the job done. My poor, poor blistered hands.

Us Lately: Part One

I thought about naming this post "Hey mom, we're still alive, here are some pictures of the kids to prove it" but it just didn't have the same ring to it. So here's a brief summation of what we've been up to.

Enjoyed some company:

Had Eva teach Lyla how to drive.


Made a huge mess of the front and back yard. I keep teasing Jared that if I don't lock up the shovels, massive holes appear around the yard. That boy loves to dig. He keeps saying he wants a tiller, but I know better. He would be so sad if he didn't have an excuse to bust out a shovel.



Had some pleasant days just hanging out with my girls. :) This poor goose. He starts running toward us probably thinking we had food. Lyla starts running toward it barking and signing dog. It wasn't until he was 2 feet away and Lyla wasn't slowing down that he let out a loud hiss and ran for the water. I couldn't stop laughing. Although now that I think about it I probably should have been more concerned since he could have eaten her whole.
Have I mentioned these sunglasses yet? They're my old cracked sunglasses that she wears everywhere. Bribery is usually involved to get them off in church. They're her "hyena glasses" that help her see the vicious hyenas lurking where ever we go. I swear I limit her TV time to half an hour per day. I don't know where she gets this crazy stuff.

Things that make me smile

This innocent looking face is deceptive. She's eating sand by the handful. And loving it.

Goofs.

The bottomless pit. Checking to see if I have any more food.

And finally:
the result of what happens when a 3 year old asks for a sticker. and you don't think to check to see what stickers she has.......

Little Tomboy

I've always said Eva was a nice mix of girly-girl and tomboy, but lately she's been leaning much more toward tomboy. Her latest obsessions are:

• cars - we're helping keep hot wheels in business
• pirates- "walk the plank sister!", "don't touch my treasure matey!", "where's my stinky eye patch?" and "mom can i have a real sword?" are all very frequent sayings in this house
• mulan - probably because she dresses up like a boy and carries a sword
• boys clothing - while shopping at Target: me: "isn't this CUTE?" eva: "umm..i'm not wild about that one. where are the boys clothes?" i point. she grabs a blue dinosaur shirt. "i AM wild about this one!"
• hyenas- i'm not too sure how this one got started. but they have taken over the house and they must be exterminated with special "hyena spray" on a frequent basis. if you ask her what she ate for dinner it's always "hyena".
  

i love her quirks and crazy imagination.


mama pirate and daddy pirate commandeering "boy car". mama's the bald one. i don't know how i feel about that.

One Whole Year

I write letters to my kids on the back of the growth/stat sheets the doctors office gives you at their checkup appointments. This is my letter to Lyla from her one year check up.

Little Lyla-

This year has FLOWN. You have been such a joy and it has been amazing to watch your little personality develop. You are such a loving little girl. Whenever I get you out of bed you always 1.) hand me your blanket 2.) lay your head on my shoulder and hum and 3.) pat, pat, pat my back. Melts my heart every time. You are so funny! You love to laugh and love to tease. You love your sister Eva. You say "bye bye" "uh-oh" "da-da" and, your favorite, "was sat?" :) It sounds like you try to say sister, but I'm not sure. You are just now officially sleeping through the night. Whew! You walk, but are not yet 100% confident. You love to eat! We just found out that you are allergic to eggs. :( You think dogs, balloons and bubbles are hilarious. You are a climber! I have to watch where I put the step stool because you utilize it! You also love to rip books; it drives me bonkers. You love to give kisses, but only when it's your idea. We love you.

love,
Mama

2011

2010

One Year Older

I recently celebrated my birthday. I discovered a few things that day and thought I'd share.

1.) A gray hair. YEAH. on my birthday. wasn't the greatest way to start the day. I decided to leave it since my hair isn't that thick and I can't lose any more volume.

2.) I'm clausterphobic. I never would have thought that I was, until I was in this situation....
I'll spare you the story of why I had to crawl behind the kitchen cabinet. It's pretty uninteresting.

3.) I'm cheap. Not really a discovery, but it held true on my birthday as well. I pretty much spent the day making sure I got all my freebies for having to get older.

4.) I like coconut cake. A LOT. Jared made me the best 4 layer coconut cake. After we consumed half of it in one night I made him take the rest to give to the priests at church.Have to have a picture with my girls on my b.day!