Hello, again

I haven't blogged in 18 months!  That's crazy. 

Back in the Spring, Matt and I left Facebook, which has been a good decision for us.  I care too much about what other people think of me, and Facebook is a horrible place for someone who can obsess about other people's opinions.  That being said, I have come to realize that there are a lot of people I love who I have lost contact with since leaving Facebook.  I wish I could get together with all of you every week, but unfortunately, that's impossible.  Yet, I want to know what's going on in your lives, and I want you to know what's going on in my life.

I hope this blog will be eclectic.  By that I mean, I hope I will include newsy posts about me and my family and thoughtful posts about what I've read or have being thinking about.  Above all, I hope that I will keep my goal to write a blog post once a week.  If I don't, you have my permission to bug me--but only a little bit :)

For my first post, I'm just going to post pictures and tell a little bit about them.  It won't be cohesive, just cute. 

This is Kirsten on her 4th birthday.  So happy.

In June we went to Bryce Canyon and camped for two nights.  The girls loved sleeping in a tent.

              

This is our family at Sunset Point in Bryce Canyon.

Look at this cute girl on her daddy's back!  So happy to be hiking the Navajo Loop.

On the 4th of July we hiked Stewart Falls up Provo Canyon.  The girls enjoyed playing in the creek below.

For our birthdays, Matt and I rented a boat and invited some friends to join our family on Deer Creek Reservoir.  The girls were sleepy at this point, but they enjoyed swimming and tubing for eight hours that day.

Matt driving the boat.

Look at that happy smile!

I made my traditional chocolate cinnamon cake for our birthdays.

At the end of August, we took Porter to the Provo Rec Center for the Puppy Paddle Pool Party.  He won Most Athletic Dog!

We found these pillow cases at Swiss Days in Midway.  We colored them for Family Home Evening one week.

My dear friend Jennie took this picture of us at Hogle Zoo.

Every October we go to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch, which is down the road from our house.  It's free during the day, and we love it.  We are getting ready to go on a hay ride in this picture.

We also went with Brian and Norma's family to the Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove.  The petting zoo was pretty neat.

We went to Jaker's again with some friends.

And we went to Jaker's again with daddy.  Here he is buried in the corn box.

Halloween:  Reagan was Sally Cat from Busy Town, and Kirsten was Katerina Kitty Cat from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

Last Monday we made our first snowman of the season.  Don't worry, the snow has melted.  This morning we played outside without jackets on.

I hope you enjoyed  this photographic journey with me.  Look forward to more next week!

Memorial Day

A couple of weeks ago Kirsten noticed the Y on the mountain and was very curious about why a big Y would be on a mountain.  I explained to her that the Y was there to BYU's school spirit.  She was still confused, and I have to admit that it is kind of weird that Utahns paint huge letters on the sides of mountains.  As the conversation progressed, she said, "I want to climb a mountain."  I agreed that we would.

On Memorial Day, we woke up early and hiked to the Y.  Kirsten hiked the whole way all by herself.  Yes, that's 1.2 miles straight up a mountain!  We were all very proud of her.  Matt carried Reagan in the baby back pack, and she fell asleep.  I held Kirsten's hand and provided morale whenever she wanted me to carry her.  She really did a great job and hardly ever complained.  On the way back down I did carry her for the last half mile or so because she was pooped.  We all had a great time!

In the afternoon we went on a drive up the right fork of Hobble Creek Canyon on Diamond Fork road.  We stopped and explored next to Hobble Creek.  I taught the girls to turn over logs and rocks to look for bugs and snakes.  We didn't find many that were extremely interesting to me, but Kirsten was excited to find carpenter ants and other little bugs.  Reagan loves water and wanted to throw herself into the creek.  Matt and I were successful in keeping her safe.  Matt crossed the creek on a log bridge, but the girls wanted to stay on our side of the creek, which probably much safer than trying to balance with them in our arms.  It was a fun little adventure to explore around the creek.

That evening we went to Brian and Norma's to have a hot dog roast.  The company was great, and the food was great.  Brian gave us some raspberries to plant in our yard, which was really nice.  I can't wait to enjoy the raspberries!

Kirsten turns 3

Kirsten wearing her party hat that she decorated with Minnie Mouse and princess stickers.  Doesn't she have a beautiful smile?

Reagan "wearing" her party hat.  She loved her sister's birthday party, but afterward she was worn out from all of the excitement.

 

Kirsten loved blowing out her candles.  She did it twice.  Once when her friends were over and once when her daddy came home.

Learning to play T-Ball.  Thank you Nana and Grampa!

Reagan has been very interested, too.

Thanks for the learning clock, Mimzy!  The music is beautiful.

Ashley, Kirsten, Lexi, Ahnika, and Amielee.  They are so big!

She loves her fairy wand, wreath, and doll.  Thank you Papa and Beth!

This was a wild time, believe me!

Kirsten turned three last week.  In the morning she had a birthday party with her four best friends.  It was a drop off party.  So I was the only parent there, which was fun and crazy.  We played Red Light, Green Light and Freeze Dance, decorated party hats, ate cake and ice cream, opened presents, played with toys, and jumped on the trampoline. 

In the evening, Kirsten helped me make some homemade pizza.  When Daddy came home we ate the pizza, had more cake, and opened more presents.  Then the girls and I played T-Ball outside while Matt set up her birthday present from us, which was a bunk bed.  She loves it! 

Donkey Basketball

     On Wednesday the girls and I got the opportunity, nay, the honor, to attend a game of Donkey Basketball in which Matt was a player.  The Springville High School FFA does a fundraiser each year, and they invite the fire fighters and the police officers to play a game of Donkey Basketball against each other.  The second game was played between the teachers and the students, and the third game was the championship game.  The fire fighters took home the trophy.
   
     For those of you who don't already know the rules of Donkey Basketball, let me explain.  Each player has a donkey, and he or she must be on the donkey's back to handle the ball.  If the ball gets dropped, you have to get off the donkey to pick it up, but you have to get back on before you can shoot or pass to another player.  Frankly, it's hilarious.

     Aside from the fact that the donkeys kept bucking the players off, Matt looks hilarious on a donkey.  The first game he played he rode the shortest donkey, and he looked really stout.  Pretty much everyone looked stout, but to see Matt that way made me laugh out loud. 

     It was a really fun evening, and even though both of the girls went to bed really late, they seemed to enjoy nearly every minute of all three games.  I know I did.

                                  This is Matt out in front on the donkey.  What an action shot!

    

Reagan can walk

     Two weeks ago in Sunday School I set Reagan on the floor, and she walked!  Up to that point, she had only ever taken one or two steps before falling down, but there in Sunday School Reagan walked from one person to another, handing them her sunglasses, so that they could put them on her face.  She looks really cute in those sunglasses, and it tickles her so much to look at the world through them. 

     Needless to say, I didn't pay very much attention to the lesson because I was so proud of my incredibly adorable daughter.  I was terribly tempted to pull out my phone to take some pictures and make a video, but I resisted the temptation and planted the memory in my mind.  She really was gregarious and won the hearts of lots of people in Sunday School that day.

     During the last two weeks, she has made a lot of progress and even seems to prefer walking to crawling.  Here are a couple of pictures I have taken of our little "Roo."

If you can believe it, it is kind of difficult to get a good picture of someone walking.  I'm not giving up on getting better pictures, but I did want to make the post before I erroneously decided I didn't need to record the experience after all.

Music Time at the Library

     Three weeks ago the girls and I went to the library for Music Time.  At the end of her presentation, Miss Dawn announced that she was looking for a volunteer to help her with Music Time, and if anyone was interested, they should talk to her about volunteering.  This is something I have been wanting to do since the girls and I started going to the library every week.  I was so excited to hear that she needed help.  So, as soon as she was done, I hopped up and volunteered.  It's so great because it's something I can do with the girls, too.

     The last two weeks have been fun, but of course, we are still getting used to working together.  Dawn doesn't always know what I might feel comfortable doing, which is honestly just about everything.  I am a clown when I am singing and dancing, especially with kids.  Not much is going to embarrass me in a setting like that, and she is starting to see that.  At any rate, I'm really looking forward to getting more involved with Music Time and sharing my ideas. 

     

Getting a Trampoline: A Dream Fulfilled

     This Christmas Marc and Beth Ehle fulfilled a childhood dream of mine by giving us a trampoline.   Oh, I know they think they were giving it to our children, but that trampoline is making me at least as happy as it makes Kirsten and Reagan.

     Matt set it up two days ago, and even though it was sprinkling and cold this morning, Kirsten didn't have to work hard to convince me to take them out to jump on it.  Yesterday it was beautiful outside, and we jumped on it for hours. 

     Here are some pictures and a video: