The Will's

Be Mine

2012-02-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentime's Day! (as the girls would say)

We had a nice day of just girls, although we did wish that Dad could have been with us.

He has a theater competition every year the week of Valentine's Day so we are use to him missing it :(

The girls had pink, chocolate chip, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

Our beauties dressed for the day.

And they thought it would be soooooo funny to have their eyes closed on purpose.
They are in a very giggly stage right now, which is very fun but can also become annoying.
I now know how my family felt when Annie and I would start laughing and laughing for what we thought was hilarious but no one else thought was funny- sorry family! (we do have an occasional laughing fit still- it is funny to us)

And they painted a heart craft thanks to G&G Will! They love painting.

the fam

2012-02-12T19:54:00.001-07:00

We had to snap a photo of each of us for my mom, so I decided to post them.
Mostly since Chris and I rarely have pics on the blog (although the last post was about us).
I told Chris to not get my stomach at all, so I would hopefully look less pregnant. My face is fuller than normal, but at least I don't look super super pregnant.

Moustache Bash

2012-02-05T21:46:00.001-07:00

Last night we attended an ugle moustache party at some friends house.

The men all started growing out their beard on December 26th, then shaved them into a moustache for the party. They all came with their faces covered until the big reveal.

Here's the group after they finished revealing one by one. Everyone had a great moustache!

Chris can grow quite a beard, and it was super big and full since he didn't shave for so long.
He shaved Friday night so that some of his students could see it and Ashlee said, "Dad, do you want to look like that?"
It was SUPER ugly.

Chris ended up with the "Brillo" prize and the "Tom Selleck" award, which was the overall best-worst moustache award. He and all his fellow winners posing with their prizes.

And a group picture with everyone except the hosts, thank Adam and Julie- it was a blast!

Look at me, the big pregnant lady front and center- great. Chris chose where we were standing :)

Finished

2012-02-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

It took us just over two years, but we finished reading The Book of Mormon as a family.

This Family version really breaks it down into small sections so it took a while, but we did it!

Now we are picking up the pace a bit to try to meet our Stakes goal of reading it as a family this year. We started counting from where we were at the first of the year, so we need to get back to Ether by the end of the year.

Shiner

2012-02-03T19:21:00.000-07:00

Caitlin got her first black eye on Wednesday. She hit her eye really hard on the handle bar of her bike and had a bump that turned into a black eye by Thursday morning.

She hasn't had that many bumps and bruises in her lifetime because she is not nearly as accident prone as her sister. Hopefully she stays that way.

More transitioning

2012-01-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

I feel like we hardly had to make any changes when Ashlee was born, but the 3rd baby is a whole other story.

Our newest change comes in the from of a vehicle, a van to be specific.

We purchased a new (to us) van over the weekend. A 2008 Honda Odyssey and we love it! There is so much room for our growing family.

We picked it out 2 weekends ago, but waited a week to pick it up so they could add leather seats, a DVD player and new tires.

Chris was already in Utah for a recruiting trip, so we got to stay with him at the hotel.

There was a pool so the girls were happy. They would have swam all day, but we did have other things that needed to get done.

Their favorite thing is to stand on the side and jump in. Chris tried to help Ashlee jump feet first, but she still belly flops almost every time.

I think we are now done with our big changes, now just to get the babies room in order.

Writing is Fun

2012-01-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

What Kindergartner doesn't love to write? Not ours. She LOVES to write, and she is getting really good at it.

The other day she wrote on some sticky notes and put 1 on herself and 1 on Ashlee.

They said:

The she took another sticky and posted it on this door.

It said:

She informed me that now when people come over to our house they will know just where the downstairs bathroom is. Good thinking.

Getting Back Into It

2012-01-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

Swimming lessons started again last week. The girls wore old swimsuits and they were sooooo baggy and ragged that we had to pull out new ones. They were so excited.
Caitlin is just a couple of skills short of moving up, so they are still in the same class.

Caitlin is practising her front float.

Ashlee won't put her face in for the front float, but does well with the back float. She is getting better all the time, but still likes to talk to her teacher alot rather than focus on swimming :)

I love when they do their stretches at the beginning so I recorded it to remember forever.

On Saturday...

2012-01-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

...the weather was super nice so we took advantage and played outside alot, without coats even!

There is no snow to speak of anywhere in our yard, even in the back yard which does not see the sun in the winter.

As usual, when we play outside, Caitlin rides the scooter or bike and Ashlee mostly walks around. She has never been very interested in riding the toys.
Caitlin is getting really good at riding her bike alone now. She doesn't know how to stop yet so she hurries and bails before she crashes into anything.

Later in the day we went to the park and played. The girls took their coats off after a couple of minutes although I thought it was chilly. They were the ones running around though.

I'm glad we took advantage of the beautiful weather Saturday because now we are back to cold and we are having crazy high winds- but still no snow.

30 weeks

2012-01-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

I'm technically not 30 weeks until tomorrow, but close enough I think.

Overall I still feel pretty good.

I do feel like I've gotten huge, and I still have 10 weeks to go!

The doctor also told me I'm a little anemic and had me start on an iron supplement. This might explain the extreme exhaustion that I feel some days, but then again it might just be from being pregnant.

Really, I can't complain. My pregnancies aren't that bad. While I have gained plenty of weight (which I am not going to disclose now, maybe after my pregnancy when I have lost it again), I don't have any swelling to speak of and I do feel good.

Family Pictures

2012-01-14T18:15:00.000-07:00

While in Colorado over Thanksgiving we had some Will Family pictures taken. We had them taken in Estes Park, which is beautiful but it also happened to be extremely cold and windy that day.
We would strip of our coats, take a few pictures, and then put them back on.
The trick was trying not to look cold in the pictures.
We didn't do that great a job hiding the fact that we were freezing, but they are cute non the less.

More House Changes

2012-01-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

Since Christmas we have been working on some changes to the interior of our house. These are things that have been in the back of our minds for sometime, but got sparked to life with the coming of the new baby.

First we painted the stairway and hallway walls (just the same neutral color as our downstairs walls). The stairway is SO TALL, so it was a lot of work. The girls were ecstatic to help paint a little bit!

After that we painted our 3rd room that use to be the computer room. It will now be the babies room/sewing room, so we painted it the same neutral color. I couldn't find a single pic of what the old walls looked like, but just envision mustard yellow walls with a maroon accent wall and this wallpaper border at the top. The old occupant of this house LOVED wallpaper borders, and since it was a misc. room we just left it.

The computer found a new home downstairs in the dining area. It fits well, and really doesn't feel squished.

Then we got new carpet upstairs!!!!!!!

The old carpet was so horrible in every way. It was impossible to vacuum, had no cushion, looked and felt like Velcro and was basically super cheep carpet.

We LOVE our new carpet. The pictures don't do it justice, but it is darker color than our old carpet and sooooo, soooooo, sooooo soft. I don't know why we waited so long to replace it!

Before carpet in our room. It doesn't look so bad, but it was.

The master bedroom piled up in the babies room. They laid the carpet over 2 days so we didn't have to move anything up and down stairs, so nice of them!

The stairs while they were working.

The previous carpet was actually laid over mud on the stairs, I know- very classy. So they had to scrape and scrape away the old dried mud and clean it all up before they could lay the new stuff.

Pictures with the new carpet. It is really a lot nicer in real life.
The second day they laid the carpet Chris left out of town. So all of the upstairs furniture was in the master bedroom. I couldn't move the furniture back in the state I am in, so our wonderful home teacher and his wife came and moved it back, thank you!
All the rooms are a huge mess, but they will get put back together eventually.

We have a few more items on the list to get completed before the baby comes. We have 10 weeks, so we should be able to make it.

ringing in 2012

2012-01-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Over New Year's Chris' parents came and visited for a few days. We did lots of hanging out at home doing things like playing guitar hero. We set it to beginner and the girls LOVE it.

On New Year's Eve we went ice-skating. Actually, they went ice-skating and I watched and took pictures. It was the girls first time ever, so they had fun. Caitlin started to get the hang of it, but Ashlee still needs more practice.

It is tricky to keep your weight balanced so their feet slid forward alot, so this is what they looked like a lot of the time.

They ice rink is pretty big, so they would get super tired and take a break in the hockey boxes. Ashlee took her first break after she was 1/2 way around. They had a really fun time, so we will have to go back sometime when I can actually skate with them.

New Year's Eve is also my birthday. The girls made me some lovely trivets, and I also got a Kindle, some hats, a gift card, a book and some more shelves in the garage which will be coming sometime in the not to distant future. I love cheesecake, so this year we had a cheesecake sampler instead of cake, YUM! Then the girls went to bed and we played Farming Game- which is one of my favorites but maybe not so much enjoyed by the other participants, and rang in the New Year with only me awake :)

Now we are getting back to out normal schedules after the long break. Caitlin went back to school last week, and Chris went back to work today.

Happy 2012!

The Big Day

2011-12-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

It is so fun to see the excitement of your kids on Christmas morning. Ashlee and Caitlin loved seeing the things Santa left for them.

Caitlin got a little dog with a leash, and Ashlee got a robot, just what they wanted. I don't think these things ended up being their favorite things, but they were glad that Santa brought what they asked for.

After we saw what Santa brought us and played for a while, we had breakfast and got ready for church.

When we got home from church we opened the presents under the tree. Our house is chilly downstairs in the winter, so I made a quillow for each of us. The girls left theirs on their laps for the rest of the present opening time.

Ashlee got a new baby doll that she loves to mother. I'm sure the girls baby dolls will be played with a lot when the new baby is born. That way they can do just what I do.

Ashlee with some of her gifts.

Caitlin with hers.

We got guitar hero for the Wii, which Chris and I like to play.

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed our time together as a family, and with friends. We missed our families, but are grateful for Skype so it is almost like we are with them.

Monday I was on low census for work until about 1:00, then I had to go in until 7:00pm. Imagine my great surprise when I came home and ALL the Christmas things were put away! Chris is an awesome husband to do that while I was working.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

We stayed home all day Christmas Eve and just enjoyed some family time, it was a very nice day.

Caitlin and Ashlee made ornaments (cait-snowman, ash-penguin).

We had rice tafel for dinner, which is one of our Christmas traditions. And we even got to have fire! Nothing is more exciting then that. We pulled crackers before dinner which is something we do since we lived in Scotland.

We got to have german chocolate cake ice cream (my favorite) in fancy bowls.

We sang Christmas songs and read that story of Jesus' birth in the bible, then opened up our Christmas Eve gift of new pj's.

While I usually do matching pants for the whole family, I opted for a different option for me and my expanding belly this year. Thus the girls got matching, and Chris and I got random. They all turned out great though.

We also opened a Christmas book and read it before we headed off to bed. Caitlin was soooooo excited about Santa Claus coming, more so than any other year. Surprising it didn't take either of them long to get to sleep though.

Last big girl move

2011-12-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

This girl made the last official move into the big girl world this morning. She got to sit in her chair without her booster seat! It is quite remarkable that she has actually sat in it this long, but it didn't bother her so we didn't change it. The past week she has been complaining about it, so today we pretended to measure her to see if she was big enough to have it taken away and she was so excited that she was big enough. Now she is one happy girl.

Other holiday things

2011-12-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Since we are staying home this year, we have had many parties and get-togethers with friends. Most are not documented with pictures, except for our annual ugly sweater party at Brook and Jenn's. It is always a fun time, and Chris won most colorful sweater this year!

We made snowflakes with q-tips, glue, and glitter, we love our Family Fun magazine for fun little crafts like this.

The girls colored holiday masks. Ashlee is a reindeer, Caitlin is a nutcracker.

Chris brought the projector home from work and we watched Cars 2 last night with some friends. It is a hilarious movie, but maybe not the most kid friendly as we found out. It was still alot of fun though.

It has been a fun, and busy month. We will be sad for January to come and have to start living our normal life again.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Its no secret that we are Wyoming Cowboy fans. This year the football team had a good season and were invited to the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, NM. Chris really wanted to go to the game for his Christmas present, so he headed down with a van full of other football loving guys.

He was suppose to get a picture with himself in it, but at least there is a picture at all :)
Wyoming ended up losing.....bad, but Chris had a wonderful time anyway. He even got a new yellow Cowboys sweatshirt to wear for the game that he got to open before he left.
Merry Christmas, Chris!

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

Our ward activity this year was a breakfast, and Santa himself made an appearance.

Caitlin said she didn't tell Santa what she wanted because he didn't say she could :)

That's okay, I'm sure he has received her letter.

We were nearly ready to go, the breakfast casserole was in the oven and Ashlee started throwing up. Some friends graciously took Caitlin for us and Ashlee and I watched cartoons at home.

(Chris is out of town for his Christmas present, more on that later).

Dear Santa....

2011-12-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

The other night the girls wrote their letters to Santa.

It's exciting to see Caitlin actually compose a letter now that she knows how to write and sound out words.

She drew a picture of the dog right under the words, then she drew a winter picture.

(Dear Santa, How are you? I have been good. I want a toy dog with a leash. Love Caitlin)

Ashlee drew the best pictures she could!

This picture is a snowman.

This picture is what she actually wants, a robot.

SLC weekend

2011-12-06T12:57:00.001-07:00

Grandma Berta was flying to Utah Friday night, so the girls and I drove over to spend Friday night and Saturday with her. Chris missed out on the trip because he was on a trip of his own for work.
After picking her up at the airport and checking into our hotel, we went and saw the lights on Temple Square.
It was so cold outside, but so hot inside that we didn't stay long in this building. Just long enough to see the Christus and get out.

The snow was falling, making everything look even more beautiful.

I don't get many pictures of me with my girls.

Saturday we spent some time at the church history museum. There are tons of kid things, so the girls LOVED it.

They even have adult size dresses to dance in!

Caitlin tried tossing tortillas.

Ashlee collected eggs from the chickens.

They both picked veggies from the garden and made dinner.

And they did a little quilting.

After that we toured Ben Behunin's house and studio. My mom had read his books, now I will have to. His pottery is really neat, we especially liked his teapots.
By then it was time to drop my mom off for her visit with my grandparents and head home. It was a quick trip, but so fun. We always love to see Grandma Berta.

Decorated.

2011-12-03T10:51:00.001-07:00

We assembled the tree on Monday and decorated the house on Wednesday. The girls loved looking at everything as we took it out of the totes, but they loved decorating the tree most of all. This year they did a pretty good job of getting the ornaments spread out over the whole tree. They would be in heaven if we took the ornaments down and re-hung them everyday.

Their next favorite things about decorating for Christmas are the Christmas books and the train under the tree!

Swimmin' Ashlee

2011-12-01T19:45:00.003-07:00

Ashlee has been in swimming lessons since the end of August, but I have failed to mention anything about it until now. She loves it, and really does pretty well. She was scared jumping off the diving board for about a month, and then started doing it on her own. Here she is doing a fantastic belly flop.

She was timid about putting her whole face in the water at first, but she doesn't mind at all now. She comes out of the pool with red eyes because she won't wear her goggles. She gets distracted easily and sometimes is more interested at waving to us then swimming or talking to the teacher. She is getting better all the time though.

Thanksgiving Break

2011-11-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

We headed to Colorado for Thanksgiving again this year and had a great time. The girls love to set up these train tracks and drive the trains around a Grandma and Grandpa's house.

The weather was awesome for most of the trip. Thanksgiving day was so nice and sunny. We ate at Chris' brother, Nate's, house and the kids played outside a bit. They have perfect jumping steps.

Friday night we headed up to Estes Park for the Christmas Lights Parade. This picture was taken just before it started snowing and then blizzarding. We staying for the whole parade, but it was chilly.

Saturday we drove back up to Estes for family pictures and it was FREEZING. We took the pictures outside so we would strip off our coats, smile, and then quickly put them back on.
Saturday night Doug, Chris and I went to the CSU-Airforce football game while the girls and Grandma went to the movies. We are crossing our fingers the WYO doesn't mess up and lose this Saturday because CSU is that bad. But we had fun anyway.

22 weeks

2011-11-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

I have very few pictures of me pregnant with the girls so I decided to have a few more documented for this pregnancy. It was very difficult to take a self picture, so this is my best attempt.

Snow Play

2011-11-20T11:45:00.001-07:00

We got some snow Friday night, so Chris and the girls set out to shovel in the morning.

Ashlee preferred to play in the snow without gloves and get freezing cold rather then shovel.

There was plenty of time to play in the snow after the work was done and they produced a cute little snowman. I'm glad Chris likes to play out in the snow with them, because I really don't.

thanksgiving kindergarten style

2011-11-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the big Kindergarten Thanksgiving presentation and feast. They did several Indian dances they had been working on then it was on to the feast. They learned about healthy foods all week so they feasted on fruit, cheese, corn bread and apple juice.

They all looked very festive with their hats, drums and necklaces they had made earlier in the week.

Caitlin loves everything about Kindergarten, especially recess and lunch time because she can play with her friends. Here she is with a couple of her friends Ella and Camden.

We are Thankful

2011-11-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Last week we made a turkey with lots of things we are thankful for. And the girls got to color their own turkeys as well.

I was impressed with how Ashlee took her time, colored the entire turkey, and made a pretty good attempt to stay in the lines. This is really a first for her.
She has also been practising writing her name. She says, "the 's' is hard."

The results are in

2011-11-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

I had my ultrasound yesterday, and here's what we found out:

We are super excited. Girls are what we do best after all! We decided that we have to be extra nice to Chris because he will be even more outnumbered now.

Number 1 Reason

2011-11-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

I just got this picture from my sister- the number 1 reason for our Arizona trip:

My Mom and sisters and I (and Cody) went to Time Out For Women together.

We had a great time. The presenters were fantastic and it was a nice "time out". Although I was feeling terrible Friday night when Caitlin was throwing up at the theater with Chris and then was picked up by friends who watched her until Chris finished his show, and Ashlee was crying with my Dad who was watching her. I felt like I was abandoning them. But then I decided that they would be fine, and it was okay for me to take some time for myself once in a while. And they were fine :)

Arizona with Ashlee

2011-11-11T12:27:00.001-07:00

Ashlee and I went to Arizona for a week for a visit. My sister, Katie, was visiting from L.A. with her baby so it was a lot of fun.

Ashlee liked doing Katie's hair and helping with Cody's hair (and diaper changes- she will be a big help with the baby comes)

We played at the park.

And with Annie. Good thing she was nearby or Cody probably would have ended up on the floor.

And there was a tea party, or two or three or four.

Ashlee decided that this is the proper way to drink one's tea.

We had a great week doing so many things

spa treatments
out to lunch
gingerbread house Christmas open house
shopping
to the gym
on walks
sleep over at Annie's
to Grandpa's work
a session at the temple
Halloween festivities
warmer weather than Wyoming
Time Out For Women
Ashlee had a fun overnight party with just Grandpa!

We had tons of fun, but missed Chris and Caitlin who had to stay home this time for work/school.

**Ashlee heard my mom calling my dad Bruce, so she now thinks his name is Brewster (Bruce-ster). I think that is a good nickname. Now we can have Grandma Berta and Grandpa Bruce-ster.**

Halloween

2011-11-10T11:53:00.003-07:00

Ashlee and I were in Arizona last week, so our Halloween posting is super late.

The girls had fun playing with costumes prior to the big day. I could barely belief Ashlee could get the skunk costume on, but she loved it.

Ashlee got to wear her costume Friday to the college to go trick-or-treating, and then they both got dressed up for the ward party on Saturday. Caitlin is a fairy and Ashlee the same clown that her sister and dad were at age 3.

Ashlee and I left for Colorado Sunday afternoon because our flight to Arizona was early Monday morning.

Chris and Caitlin got dressed up Monday night and went trunk-or-treating at the church.

Caitlin with her friends at the trunk-or-treat (i took your picture, Jenn)

Meanwhile Ashlee and I had arrived in Arizona safely and were preparing for trick-or-treating there.

Ashlee carved a surprise-faced pumpkin with Grandma Berta.

We found a costume for her the dress-ups and she became a fairy princess. She had fun trick-or-treating with her cousin, Cody. She made sure that he got a piece of candy at each house.

What we've been saying

2011-10-29T14:51:00.001-06:00

I've been keeping track of these for a long time, so now I have a ton. They are mostly from Ashlee's mouth; I don't know if Caitlin doesn't say many silly things or if I just don't write them down, probably the latter.

Caitlin:
She told us that her friend brought "a mommy" for show and share this week. Upon further investigation we found out it was actually a mummy.

Ashlee:
During General Conference the girls were really trying to listen. Ash said, "Is he talking to me?" We told her yes he was. Later during the same talk she said, "Is he still talking to me?" We again told her yes. Then she said, "Well I don't want to listen!"

When I got my hair cut I asked Ashlee if she liked it. She responded, "Maybe not. It is kind of hanging in your face."

She and Caitlin were playing a game with Chris and he wasn't following the rules right. She said, "You are "tweating"!!!"

Smoky the Bear visited her pre-school class at the college. She told us all about it during dinner. She is afraid of a lot of things, mascots included, so she said she just looked at him and went back in the room. Among the things she told us about him were that he could not talk and he was NOT coming to our house. I asked, "did you tell him he couldn't come to our house?" She said, "No Mom, remember he can't talk!!!!" (I guess his hearing is impaired also)

I told her she couldn't have 1 of my pre-natal vitamins because they are HUGE and she would choke on it. She said- and demonstrated- "I can open my mouth really big."

During dinner of hot soup she said, "I ate it and it burned my teeth."

She told me "When I get big I will be Cait, and when she is little she can be Ashlee!"
I think this is the same reasoning Caitlin had when she was that age and told me that when she got big she would drive the car, and when I got little I would ride in the car seat.

And I've probably written it before but it is my favorite thing she says. "Mom, are you mad or nice?"

Fall colors

2011-10-25T13:36:00.001-06:00

I have been trying to make home life a little more exciting for the girls by letting them do more crafty projects.

Yesterday they made fall trees with sponges and paint.

Chris wanted in on the tree making.

The finished pictures needed a night to dry, but are now hanging up for us to enjoy.

(I drew Ashlee's tree, Caitlin drew her own- she is getting very good a drawing. Chris drew his own also.)

pumpkin picking

2011-10-21T13:19:00.001-06:00

This year we went to a pumpkin patch that was held by the hospital for employees.
It was just small affair with not too many pumpkins.
We went, picked out a pumpkin, ate a cookie, had some hot apple cider and left.

Pumpkin Faces

2011-10-19T19:06:00.000-06:00

beauty stuff

2011-10-19T18:57:00.000-06:00

On Sunday the girls stood in front of this mirror and did their hair and "make-up", while I did the same in the bathroom.

And I got my hair cut much shorter and I love it. Here is a blurry self-photo, to show it off.

Something new

2011-10-11T11:52:00.000-06:00

Grandma and Grandpa Will brought the girls new outfits when the came and visited.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Applesauce- round 2

2011-10-11T11:46:00.000-06:00

We had a visit from Chris' parents this weekend. They came to see his show, and to make applesauce. We spent the entirety of Saturday making lots and lots of applesauce.

The girls enjoyed playing with Grandma and Grandpa.

So far in October

2011-10-10T11:23:00.002-06:00

we have been busy, just not busy blogging.

Chris helped me can peaches, and I was soooo happy to have his help.
And I made green tomato relish from green tomatoes in our garden.

We made salsa from our garden. We LOVE this salsa, and we have tons in the freezer now.

I made a Halloween craft with friends.

Ashlee and I hang out together alot, and we love every second. It has been fun having 1 on 1 time with her while Caitlin is at school.

Speaking of Caitlin, she loves everything about kindergarten, especially recess. I get to go and help in the classroom 1 hour every monday which is a fun little peak into her life everyday.

Lastly, and with no pictures, we enjoyed our BEAUTIFUL fall weather. 70-80 degrees daily for all of September and the first week of October; and not a single freeze, that has got to be some kind of record.

The Main Event

2011-09-27T11:14:00.000-06:00

Coming

March 26, 2012

Will Baby #3

We are super excited! The girls are too, but I think they will be more so once my belly actually gets a bit bigger.

like father like daughter

2011-09-21T11:46:00.000-06:00

It is picture day for Caitlin.She picked out her shirt and sweater.
Is she her Dad's daughter?

You bet she is.

conference

2011-09-20T11:42:00.000-06:00

It was Stake Conference this past weekend, and we were so lucky to have Elder Richard G. Scott come and speak. It's not everyday you get to see an apostle of the Lord in person and we were excited, and tried to get the girls excited about it as well. I can't say that they really paid much attention to his talk after the first few minutes when he spoke directly to the primary kids; but I hope they noticed and felt the special spirit that was there.
One thing is for sure, they definitely remember who her is and can point him out.
Many times since Sunday Ashlee has taken the Conference Ensign and, while flipping through the pages, can be heard saying, "where is Elder Scott?" over and over again.

When she finds the page with his picture she points it out to whoever is nearby.

It makes us excited to watch him during General Conference in a few weeks.

Mary Poppins

2011-09-13T13:55:00.000-06:00

Labor Day Weekend we headed to Salt Lake to see Mary Poppins.
The girls LOVE Mary Poppins, so we got them tickets to the touring Broadway show for their birthdays.
Because the show was quite a while after their birthdays we made a countdown for them to mark off the days with stickers.

The day finally arrived.

We were joined at the show by Grandma Berta, Aunt Shirley and Great Grandma Garrett. We had a great time, and the girls really enjoyed it.
Caitlin's favorite parts were the times when Mary Poppins would fly.
And Ashlee liked Steppin' Time with her favorite character "Burp."

Applesauce- round 1

2011-09-08T13:39:00.000-06:00

We got a bushel of apples from my Grandma over the weekend, so Ashlee and I got to work making applesauce.
We washed and cut.

Cooked the apples down.

Ran them through the strainer.

And ended up with delicious, and very pink, applesauce.

I was pleasantly surprised that Ashlee was actually a lot of help!

We can't wait until we make more applesauce in a few weeks with Chris' parents. It has become a fall tradition.

First Day

2011-09-06T20:10:00.003-06:00

Today was the first day of school, and more importantly the first day of Kindergarten for this pretty girl.

She was so excited to go, and said she loved it when she came home.

She did admit she was a little tired after school, and announced she was ready to go to bed at 6:30 tonight.

But, she is ready to go back tomorrow!

And Ashlee went to her first day of Bear's class at the college.

She will go a couple times a week as a sort of pre-school.

She was very excited about her first day also.

These girls are sure to miss each other during the day, but today they were both just to busy to really think about it.

Girls Weekend

2011-09-02T19:54:00.002-06:00

Back in August, when Annie was here, we went on a girls weekend with one of our very best friends from college, Taffy.

We met the first weekend of college when Taffy was crying and homesick, and we had pity on her- a true story, but not nearly as harsh as it sounds :)
We did SOOOOOOO many fun and crazy things during our next 4 years, and laughed more than a person should be able to!I now actually live only an hour from Taffy, so we see each other from time to time, but Annie never gets to see her. So we planned a fun overnight trip to Utah to hang out and catch up.

We had an awesome weekend shopping, eating, walking, getting pedicures, playing mini golf, eating more and talking non-stop the whole time.

I'm so glad we can still be best friends after 12 years!

Pajama Race

2011-08-31T10:43:00.000-06:00

Last night Chris and I told the girls to race upstairs, get their jammies on, and then run back downstairs and the first one back would get a special prize.

A few minutes later they came back downstairs, walking hand-in-hand beside each other. Caitlin finished changing first but waited for Ashlee so they could both win the race.

It was enough to melt our hearts, so sweet. Their special prize was a hug from Mom and Dad, and boy did they deserve it!

Tea Party Extraordinaire

2011-08-30T14:30:00.000-06:00

The girls set up a huge tea party for many of their toys, themselves, and me.

(The very LARGE space in the front with the little orange slice is for me-thanks girls)

They gave jewelry to the more "girlish" toys and divided their play food out to everyone.

It was quite the party!

Yellowstone

2011-08-18T15:50:00.011-06:00

Annie came and visited for a week (a week ago) and we decided that we HAD to go to Yellowstone. She and I hadn't been since we were 3 or 4 and Chris could not remember ever going. We set off with plans to thoroughly enjoy ourselves, and see a bear.
It is so nice to leave the gray/brown treeless dessert where we live, and drive to such beautiful country.
While there was ALOT of driving, we had a great time (except Annie and I were quite disappointed that we never saw a bear).

And some pictures:
We stopped at Jackson Lake and took our shoes off to enjoy the cool water.

Ashlee got soaking wet because she would bend down and actually sit in the water

Our family in front of Jackson Lake and the Tetons

Annie in this picture (it gets confusing)

We saw tons of buffalo, most up really close.

Doesn't this picture just say "Wyoming"

We saw some huge elk

Kepler Cascades

At the West Thumb Geyser Basin (with Annie)

Lewis Falls (with me)

The Beautiful Tetons while driving in the car

One of the hot springs near Old Faithful. A blue pool means really, really hot.

By Jenny Lake

It was a great trip, even without any bears. We did manage to also see a herd of elk, many dear, and huge swans.

3 Years Old

2011-08-07T22:33:00.008-06:00

Ashlee's birthday is today!
She has been waiting so patiently since our birthdays in early July, and she was SOOOO excited all day.
She wore her birthday hat all day long, except for church.
She has been practising doing "3" with her fingers:

She wanted to tell anyone who would listen that today was her "bir-day"
Caitlin has been excited for Ashlee, and very concerned about making sure Ashlee has a good birthday.
She knew Ash wanted a Eugene (Flynn Rider) doll for her birthday and wanted to get it for her.
I told her she didn't have enough money for that.
She said, "Mom, well you should get her a Eugene doll for her birthday. It's coming up on Sunday, think about it."

Well, little did she know that we had gotten Ash a Eugene doll.
Ashlee was very happy when she opened him.

She told me she wanted a giraffe cake.
This is mine and Annie's best attempt.

Born 3 years ago:

1 year old:

18months:

2 years old:

3 years old and so happy:

Ashlee, you love:

playing with Caitlin

entertaining yourself if you have too

doing puzzles

being the boy, and letting Caitlin be the girl

TOMATOES!

spagetti

your bunny

reading books: by yourself the most, and being read to sometimes

shoulder rides

nursery class

playing dress-up

swinging

using M&M's to practise your colors

the color orange

swimming and jumping into the pool

making people laugh!

We love Ashlee and just can't get enough of her fun personality.

Happy birthday Ashlee!!!

more reasons to love summer

2011-08-04T16:03:00.004-06:00

We ran through the sprinklers yesterday

and some friends invited us to Firehole Canyon (part of Flaming Gorge) today.
We had so much fun.
We really need to take more advantage of living so close to the Flaming Gorge.
Now the girls are watching a movie, but Ash is just plain tuckered out.

They're back

2011-08-03T15:58:00.002-06:00

These cute girls have been gone for 3months, but they finally came back home this week.
They were all so excited to play together again.
They played for hours and hours without a single squabble or anyone crying.
It was wonderful.

only words

2011-07-31T16:42:00.003-06:00

My parents came and visited last week and I actually took a lot of pictures of their time here. But, something happened and they disappeared when I was trying to put them on the computer. So sad. We did have a great visit with them though.

Our friends from Iowa, the Ransom's, also drove through 1 day and we had a great picnic with them. It is always so great to see them and catch up.

Now, hopefully, we will have some pictures next time.

Scrap Art

2011-07-17T21:36:00.001-06:00

Caitlin made a little man with scrap paper.
Chris and I were impressed.

Beautiful Flowers

2011-07-17T16:25:00.000-06:00

The Botanic Gardens in Steamboat had so many beautiful flowers.

We haven't been to a Botanic Garden since we lived in Scotland and there was one down the street from us. I loved it.

Steamboat

2011-07-15T22:25:00.006-06:00

We spent a week over the 4th of July in Steamboat with the Will Family.
We had an awesome vacation home just out of town with a beautiful view.
Some highlights:

4th of July Parade

Fireworks!

Fun with cousin Gavin

only 3 hour drive from here

horse back riding

watching the coal train from the deck

wonderfully warm weather

Fish Creek Falls

Date Night with Nate and Amy

watching the crazy fast/high/white water rapid river

shopping

mini golf

fishing

human maze

flying kites

Farkle

playing outside games

swimming in WARM swimming pools

celebrating birthday

Time with family

The Botanic Gardens

Grandma and Grandpa gave each of the kids their own fishing pole.

Ashlee fell asleep on the hour long ride. Chris worked hard to hold her dead weight on the horse with 1 hand.

The view from the back deck.

Thanks to Trish and Doug for a great trip!

30

2011-07-11T22:16:00.003-06:00

Today Chris turns 30!
I helped the girls make him breakfast.

He got some fun presents, including just what he wanted- BOW TIES!
He actually got the bow ties a few days every and practised tying them alot before he wore one to church on Sunday.
They fit his personality great.

He shares a birthday with one of his friends, so we had a joint birthday BBQ in the evening.
It was a great day.

Ashlee yesterday

2011-07-10T22:12:00.003-06:00

(making Maximus sniff the ground like in the movie)

(pretending to "order food at the bank")

Our silly girl keeps us laughing.

How old?

2011-07-09T22:52:00.009-06:00

Oh yeah, 5 years old, today!
Happy Birthday Caitlin!!

She was SO excited, and says that she does feel older now.

She got to invite 5 friends over for a party, which was so fun for her.

They decorated pots and potted a flower in them.

They played some outside games.

They had cake and ice cream.

And did the present things.
She opened up her family gifts a little later and got just what she wanted.
A Rapunzel doll!!

We went to the park in the afternoon for International Day, but ended up mostly just playing on the toys.

Born 5 years ago in Glasgow, Scotland.

About 6 months old.

14 months old.

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

and now 5 years old, its hard to believe she can be that old.

Caitlin, you love

to play with anyone and everyone, not by yourself

reading books

meeting new friends- you are not shy

everything Tangled

riding your bike, although you are very frightened to practise without the training wheels

singing songs

steak or taco salad for dinner

bread- of any kind

listening to "princess songs" on Pandora radio

purple and blue

tea parties

playing the Wii or PBS kids on the computer

learning- you can't wait for Kindergarten to start

We love you Caitlin, happy birthday!

One of these days

2011-07-08T23:22:00.002-06:00

she may actually be able to mow alone.

Luckily she has help, and will have help for MANY years.

Date Night

2011-07-01T07:00:00.001-06:00

Daddy-daughter date, that is.

All dressed up and ready to go to "Beauty and the Beast" at the college last night.

3 Amigos

2011-06-30T20:56:00.002-06:00

These 3 have been together alot this week.
I worked 2 nights back to back and was asleep alot.

They did fun things like went on walks, bike rides, the circus, "Old McDonald", and who knows what else.
Caitlin and Ashlee love hanging out with Dad.

It's so fun when Annie comes

2011-06-30T20:44:00.003-06:00

We were lucky to have Annie come back from AZ with us and stay a few days.

We were packed into the car pretty tight.
Rotating who sat in the back with the girls kept us all sane.

The girls love when visitors come because that is about the only time we have a tea party.

The girls want to play with Annie every second, and she happily obliged.
She was kneeling in jungle grass, that she actually mowed for us later that day.
So nice, it was really long.

We can't wait until she comes back for a little bit longer in August!!

(Notice the Rapunzel hair and frying pan?)

Sunny St. George

2011-06-30T20:28:00.002-06:00

On the way back from AZ we stopped in St. George to see "The Little Mermaid" at Tuacahn.
With a bit of time to kill before the show we went to see the St. George Temple.
It is a beautiful temple.

Did I mention that Annie came with us?
We love when we get to hang out with her!

Our time at the temple was cut short by what else?, Ashlee having an accident.
I am ready for her to grow out of the accidents.

The show was really fun.
It is all outdoors, so the show didn't even start until almost 9pm.
It was a late night for the girls, but they seemed to have fun.
Caitlin said, "I loved it."
And in the next few days Ashlee insisted that we call her Eric on many occasions.

It was a great way to end a great trip.

Summer Fun

2011-06-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

practicing meteorology

2011-06-26T17:30:00.005-06:00

Yesterday it looked like rain.
We were planning on going on a walk and I said we needed to hurry before we got rained on.
Caitlin informed us that is would not rain.
She was right, the clouds cleared out.

Today it was hot when we got out of church.
It was beautiful really- clear blue sky, no wind....
Caitlin said, "we need some wind in our town."
(do you know where we live? wind is something we certainly DO NOT need)
I think she just meant a nice cool breeze, but
she got her wish this afternoon.
The wind picked right up and we are having some pretty strong gusts.
I could do without the wind- ever.

The rest of our trip to Arizona

2011-06-26T16:52:00.006-06:00

all packed together in 1 post.

It was very hot, and dry (they haven't had rain since Feb. I think), but it was nice to be outside until late morning and in the evening.
We would usually get up early (6-7am AZ time) and enjoy being outside for a while.
One morning we went to a park and teeter-tottered,

and Caitlin learned how to jump a big jump rope.
Then we went to a better park and shelled pecans while the girls played.

The girls LOVE to "mud" their feet with Grandma Berta.

We did a few crafty things. The girls carefully painted this frame for Chris for Father's Day.

This old wooden train was a fan favorite.

The girls loved to play in the backyard on this swing, or the hammock, or help my mom pick vegetables, or see lizards or toads.

One day they swam in this big tub in the backyard.
It was fun until the water got to much grass in it and Caitlin got grass in her swimsuit and couldn't stand all the itching.

This little towns people village was something we loved to play with when we were little.

Caitlin dressed herself up like Fancy Nancy.
Then she would walk around talking like her.

My mom sent them on several errands to a friends house across the street.
They thought it was the best thing.
Our street is a little to busy for them to do anything like that.

The community pool was great and we went a couple of times.

There were tea parties everyday. The girls got really good at talking in tea party accents. It is very humorous.

Caitlin tried hard to always have her pinkie up.

This girls LOVES tomatoes. They were ripe in my parent's garden, and she ate and ate and ate and ate and ate them. She especially loved the "Misto Stwipey's"

Now in Arizona

2011-06-15T14:31:00.002-06:00

Monday was a LONG driving day, made even longer by a wildfire that closed a section of I-25 and forced us around on highways. Luckily we have 2 little girls who really travel quite well so the trip wasn't so bad.

Tuesday we enjoyed the "coolness" of the outside from 6am-10ish and then found things to do inside until the sun started setting about 7pm.
The girls ironed with toy blocks.
Their ironing mostly consisted of spraying the clothes with ALOT of water so they all needed to go back in the dryer.
And, of course, there was a tea party.

After dinner we went on a walk and the girls carried around umbrellas.
It was very humorous watching Ashlee try to manage in the wind that had started blowing.

Before bed enjoying books with Grandma Berta (who made them their cute nightgowns).

(the picture is deceiving, Caitlin has not taken to sucking her thumb again.)

The rest of Colorado

2011-06-15T13:48:00.003-06:00

Saturday was busy with preparations for a party the next day and playing at multiple parks.

And the girls got an early joint birthday present. A dollhouse Grandpa made!
They love it, but sadly it will have to stay in CO for awhile because it is to big for our car.

Sunday afternoon was a big pre-birthday party for Grammy (Chris' Grandma Will).
She will turn 90 right before Christmas, but that is a busy time to have a party and summer is a great time.

It was a great party, but we were all wiped out by the end of the day.

Our first trip of the summer

2011-06-11T21:17:00.004-06:00

The nice thing about Chris being off in the summer, and me only working 2 shifts every 4 weeks, is we have so much freedom to travel as we please. And that is just what we do.

We started off this trip in Colorado with Chris' family.
We got to hang out with Uncle Nate, Aunt Amy, and Gavin for a day and a night. We went to the zoo, and the park, and played at their house. The girls loved every second.

At the Denver Zoo!

How is it you go to the zoo, and the kids would rather play in the sand than look at the animals?
It was a nice break for them.

Caitlin loves to be able to "take care" of Gavin since she is 4- almost 5.

this pic really needs no words.

Caitlin is a social butterfly. I'm sure she was saying. "I'm Caitlin, what's your name?"

Ashlee loved carrying around the zoo map.
She called it her "mat" and would consult it every few seconds.

Cute Will cousins. Their daddy's have a picture on this same hippo when they were little boys.

Little pioneer children.

Waiting for the train ride. This was definitely the highlight of the day.

Did you know a fox can jump 15ft? We didn't either but we learned it from this sign.
Chris could jump the farthest- to the polar bear.

Later in the day......
On your mark, get set............

Go!!!!

The kids were totally worn out by the end of the day.
Summer days like that are the BEST!

Funnies

2011-06-06T17:36:00.003-06:00

Our girls, as all kids, say the funniest/cutest things that make us laugh; and I managed to jot a few of the down.

When Ashlee blows her nose she says, "It looks like an elephant!"

The girls were eating breakfast and I asked them if their bellies had been starving. Caitlin said, "My stomach was grow-ling, 2 times."

They watched the movie "March of the Penguins" the other day. A few days later Ashlee told me "when I was a baby I was on March of Penguins."

Ashlee DOES NOT like to be in trouble, it makes her really sad. She wants everybody to be happy again, so right away she asks, "Mom/Dad, are you mad or nice?" Then its impossible to be anything by nice.

Caitlin learned how to draw rainbows a few months ago, and likes to say what all the colors are. "Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violin."

If we do anything that Ashlee likes doing then afterwards she says, "that was a great time!"

Today has been so windy (surprise, surprise). But during dinner a storm was coming in and the wind increased, so much so that I had Chris turn on the TV incase there was a tornado warning :) Caitlin said, "Dad, what is the temperature outside?" He said, "68." She said, "Whoa, that is sooooooo windy."

Believe It

2011-05-30T09:27:00.000-06:00

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-27T13:18:00.005-06:00

Caitlin had her preschool presentation and graduation last evening.
May I say, it was sooooooo cute.
They sang a variety of songs that they learned throughout the whole year.
There was a slide show of pictures throughout the year.
Then they received their certificates.
And we ate treats!
They got to take home their hats, a flower, a balloon and gift, and a notebook that their teacher put together of their work the whole year.

Dad and Ash waiting for it to begin.
They marched out in a straight line with Caitlin leading the way because she was chosen to hold the flag.

Getting ready for the pledge of allegiance.

They sang a lot of really cute songs.

With her fellow dogs in "Down on Grandpa's Farm"

Her teacher Mrs. Lilly was Fantastic!!

Her whole class (plus 3 from the mon/wed class)

Ashlee loved every second.
Chris told her that if she was good and worked hard and learned a lot she could graduate from preschool in a few years.
She said, "Ok, I will!"

Caitlin did a great job in her presentation and all year in school. We are so proud of her.
She is the sweetest little girl and loves to learn so much that she will be great in Kindergarten.

1st to Last

2011-05-26T20:54:00.005-06:00

Today was the last day of pre-school.
Here is Caitlin on the first day of school.

And on the last!

She wanted a picture with the books she has been reading. She made it through all but the last 2 books of the series. It blows me away when she reads words and sounds things out.

It is a little surreal that she is going to be starting Kindergarten in the fall.
She is just growing so fast.

Some days are like that

2011-05-25T20:07:00.003-06:00

It was a BEAUTIFUL day, we had a luncheon to attend, and Ashlee woke up with a fever and throwing up.

So we stayed home.
But she did feel a little better for a couple of hours in the afternoon so we played in the backyard a bit.
We are crossing our fingers it is just a 24 hour thing.

Sorting

2011-05-23T20:12:00.003-06:00

Every laundry day for weeks Caitlin has helped me sort the laundry.
Today she sorted it by herself, and she did a great job!
She reviewed the piles with me first- whites, darks, reds/purples/pinks, and lights.
Then she sorted.

She only had to ask where a few items belonged.
(Ashlee tries to help, but she still hasn't mastered her colors so it makes it tough)

Framed

2011-05-21T19:45:00.003-06:00

I finally painted a bunch of frames, put in art work from the girls, and

hung them in their playroom.

I've been planning to do this since we made the room, but I am so slow at getting to it.

To Bed

2011-05-16T20:06:00.003-06:00

What to do when ALL of the pajamas are in the washing machine?
Wear Mom's shirts to bed.

Both girls got their hair cut a bit today.
Ashlee's "cut" hair is closer to the length of the rest of it now.
Caitlin's hair was a snarled mess from swimming, it is much better now.

Summarizing

2011-05-16T19:40:00.004-06:00

Chris was so proud of his hamburger Sat. night. He had to squish it flat to even get his mouth around it. He loved it.

Twinsies.

I never planned on buying alike outfits for my girls, but I do occasionally.
It is fun.
And they actually love dressing alike- for now anyway.

The girls played in the sprinklers the other day, when it wasn't even that warm.

They were so excited at the time, but not so excited when they finished and were FREEZING.

Time spent at the park.
(until Ashlee had an accident and we had to go home. Kind of a reoccurring theme with us.)

Caitlin loves sliding down the fireman's pole.

Playing at swimming lessons. Ashlee can't wait until the fall when she gets to swim too!

Swimming with her face in the water! She is such a changed girl.

And swimming without someone touching her, the teacher is to the left just out of the picture.

Our little 2 year old who is starting to look so old!

Dining outside on nice days that aren't to windy.

And that has been our life the past couple of weeks.

Re-Lining

2011-05-11T11:47:00.002-06:00

When we looked at our house, before we bought it, 1 thing that I really didn't like was this:
all the shelves in the pantry and laundry room were lined and them thumb-tacked along the edge to keep the paper on. My eye was drawn right to the thumb tacks, and I didn't like it.
But then we moved in, Ashlee was 3 weeks old, the shelves were all filled, and I got use to it so I didn't notice it anymore.
But I did finally get around to relining!
I cleaned and relined the shelves in the laundry room a few weeks ago, and did the pantry yesterday.

It looks much better.

I was dreading it because there is so much on all the shelves, but it wasn't so bad. The girls were a big help and we manged through with only 2 casualties.
Caitlin dropped one can right on her foot- ow!
And Ashlee stepped on a tack- double ow!! (luckily it just barely penetrated the skin and she is current on her tetanus)

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T16:51:00.002-06:00

My 3 favorite people made this a great mother's day!

They made breakfast and decorated the downstairs with balloons and streamers.
They worked hard on a surprise present yesterday that was a complete surprise for me this morning except for Ashlee asking me, "You like Nm-a-Nm's mom? You like Nm-a-Nm's?"
It was a great present from my creative husband and girls.

Caitlin also decorated a hot pad at pre-school and wrote a book for me.
One page said "My Mom's favorite thing to do is work on the computer."
Not true, but obviously I am on the computer to much for my 4 year old, I'll work on that.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

Decorating sugar cookies

2011-05-06T09:55:00.004-06:00

My favorite way to decorate sugar cookies:

1 egg yoke- divided and dyed desired colors

dyed egg yoke painted on the uncooked cookies

Freshly painted cookies sprinkled with sugar

Bake according to sugar cookie recipe

cookies come out beautiful and tasting delicious

Easter

2011-04-26T20:13:00.003-06:00

A low key Easter this year at home with just us (and friends over for Sunday dinner).
The best thing with Easter being so late this year was that Chris actually got a full 4 day weekend for once. He didn't have to have rehearsal some of the days, pure bliss. It makes us excited for summer when he will be home all the time!

Of course we decorated. Eggs; and the girls made hats last week at the WWCC care center while I was working.

The favorite item in this years basket was the Tangled movie. Is there even a person alive that doesn't LOVE this movie?
Caitlin and Ashlee play "Rapunzel" everyday. Caitlin, with the yellow towel on her head, is Rapunzel. Ashlee, with her brown satchel with the crown of the lost princess in it, is Eugene. They are obsessed.

They picked out dresses several months ago at Costco, and have been patiently waiting until Easter to wear them- so pretty.

Happy Easter, and maybe spring can be on its way now?.....as it is currently snowing :)

Because they are small enough

2011-04-24T15:26:00.003-06:00

the girls got the job of cleaning behind the washer and dryer.
They thought it was the best job ever!
They can have it.

Backtracking a little less

2011-04-23T12:50:00.005-06:00

Besides going to Laramie to see Chris dress like a girl, the girls and I also went to Colorado last weekend.
I stayed Thursday night and 1/2 of Friday and then took off for Laramie. Caitlin and Ashlee stayed there until Saturday when Chris' parents brought them up to Laramie. They were so lucky to get to have an overnight party by themselves with Grandma and Grandpa!

The train set was a big hit.

As were these wooden blocks.

They got new hats from Grandma, which kept their heads warmer when they insisted on playing outside in the freezing weather.

Once in Laramie we stayed at a hotel and spent alot of time at the swimming pool. The favorite game was stand on the side and jump in.

backtracking a bit

2011-04-22T13:22:00.009-06:00

A couple weekends ago Chris was in Laramie, so the girls and I headed to Utah for the weekend to hang out with my sister, Katie, who was flying up for a wedding.
We managed to pick her up from the airport on time Thursday night, despite driving through crazy blinding snow.

One of our Aunt and Uncles were kind enough to let us stay with them all weekend. The girls loved every second. They followed Aunt Angie around everywhere, and then would follow Uncle Dean when he got home from work. Angie let Caitlin mop the floor, and she was so excited! She mopped and mopped for nearly an hour.

Angie let them try on old prom dresses

and painted their toenails and fingernails.

With Dean just before church wearing new dresses that Grandma Berta made for them.

Saturday Grandma Berta flew up, and my sister-in-law, Julie, was in Utah visiting her parents so we had a mini family reunion! Julie's parents let us all come to their beautiful house to hang out for a few hours.

Julie and I

We met cousin Maddie for the first time! She has beautiful RED hair.

And the girls got to play with their other cousin, Bailey.

The house has a really fun play room with a tower in it. Caitlin called it the Rapunzel tower.

There is even this cute round door to get into the play room.

One of Bailey's favorite past times while in Utah: getting out all the cups and lining them up on the counter :) Too funny!

All the Bishop cousins (with a little boy to be added in about a month!)

Katie and Maddie and Katie's friend, Tish.
And since Katie is holding Maddie you can't tell that she is 8 months pregnant.

All the Bishop girls except Annie, we missed her! Just do a quick double take of me and it would almost be like she was there.

Sunday we drove up to Logan to visit my Grandparents and drop my Mom off. We also always get to see my Uncle Greg and Aunt Shirley, who live upstairs from my Grandma and Grandpa.

It was a very quick trip in Logan, but fun as always- just no pictures.

Our whole weekend was so fun, we saw lots of family and did sooooo much driving. We loved every second, but were completely exhausted by the time we got home Sunday evening.

Is It Dad?!

2011-04-16T21:21:00.003-06:00

Chris has been out of town for the past 2 weeks performing in the show "Chicago" at the University of Wyoming.

I got to see the show last night because Chris' parents were so kind and watched the girls overnight for us- thanks! Chris did great and looked a little different.

He played Mary Sunshine and dressed in drag! And he sang sooooo high- much higher than I can sing. It was fun/funny/entertaining to watch him. The audience loved him and how high he could sing.

Tonight I took the girls into a back door of the theater building so they could see Chris in costume, and then we went back to the hotel to bed. I told them that daddy would look different because he would be wearing a costume. He was walking up and down the hallway where we walked in and they walked right by him. They did not recognize him at all! Then he said, "Hi girls." Caitlin covered her hand over her mouth and took a few steps back and Ashlee just starred. They couldn't believe that was him. Then they thought it was so funny that he was dressed up in a girl costume. Ashlee loved that he was wearing high heels. But they were quick to point out that he would just look like daddy again when he came back to the hotel.

They did a great job on his make-up, but I think he makes a much better looking man than woman :)

Farewell

2011-04-16T20:45:00.003-06:00

Some of our good friends moved to Las Vegas, and we are so sad to see them go.

Caitlin and their son, Kayden, have been best of friends since we moved here. He got to come over and play the day before they left, and Caitlin was soooo excited.

Kayden is telling Caitlin something and she is listening so intently to him.

Trying to get a picture of these 2 friends:

They can get crazy:

But finally at least they are both looking forward, and Ashlee sitting nicely throughout.

In our 2 1/2 living here, Cait and Kayden have played together a ton. I looked back at past blogs and there are so many posts of them together.

http://chrisbethwill.blogspot.com/2008/12/little-toe-heads.html http://chrisbethwill.blogspot.com/2009/02/warmth-and-beauty.html http://chrisbethwill.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-park.html http://chrisbethwill.blogspot.com/2009/08/colorado-trip-continued.html http://chrisbethwill.blogspot.com/2010/02/everyone-needs-some-exercise.html http://chrisbethwill.blogspot.com/2010/08/on-hot-days.html

It's always sad to say goodbye to good friends, and this is no exception. But Vegas is a perfect stopping ground for us when we travel to Arizona in the winter, so I'm sure we will be seeing them sooner than later!

We miss you guys!

Happy Un-Birthday

2011-04-07T15:53:00.004-06:00

Since Caitlin has a summer birthday she is 1 of those kids who will never be in school for her birthday (just like if your birthday is on New Year's Eve). So today was her un-birthday at pre-school.

We made yummy ice cream sandwiches with sprinkles.

We dropped them off at the designated time and Ashlee was so excited. She loved singing a song with Caitlin and her class, and sitting at the table with them to have the treat. She thought she was so old!

Happy un-birthday Cait!

house building

2011-04-06T12:54:00.006-06:00

Chris went out of town Sunday and will be gone for 2 full weeks- that's a long time!

We are trying to stay very busy so the girls don't get bored and grumpy and hard to deal with and I can remain a happy mommy.

Last night after swimming lessons I needed to make dinner and I sent them upstairs to play so they could remain distracted until dinner was ready.

They played beautifully for the entire 40minutes I was making dinner because they were making a house for Woody and Jessie (looks more like a bed)

At 1 point they did come down really stumped because they had run out of blocks to finish the last wall. I gave them a few suggestions and they went back upstairs. When I later came up to look at their masterpiece I realized why they had run out of blocks. They had to make a floor!

Lovely

2011-04-01T19:33:00.002-06:00

Today the weather was lovely, and that's no fool! (although maybe a little windy)

We headed to the park, but were literally there for only about 3 minutes when Ashlee said to me in a quiet voice, "Mom, I have poops in my panties."

We packed right up and headed back home.

But we enjoyed plenty of outside play at home this afternoon, so all was not lost.

Opening

2011-04-01T17:04:00.006-06:00

Chris' show opens tonight!

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is the name of this musical, and it is good.

I saw it last night during a special preview.

I am proud of him because he did alot of major choreography in it for the first time, and it is really good!

This show is funny, but it is even funnier because Chris is a funny guy, and he adds extra humor into the shows he directs.

I'm excited to see it again next week.

Accessorizing

2011-03-29T09:58:00.007-06:00

Caitlin and Ashlee's very favorite thing to do is play dress-up. They can be found wearing dress-ups nearly every moment of everyday: Besides the shoes, this is a dress-up belt that Ashlee has on

Caitlin sporting the "Ariel" dress and Ashlee wearing her FAVORITE orange shirt.

Yesterday Caitlin did my hair, and I had to laugh when I saw Ashlee was in the picture wearing the "Mary Poppins" dress and her "goggles"

Wearing dress-ups while playing with other toys

Playing capture with dad, see Caitlin's shoes? They can't wait until they see Aunt Katie next week because she is bringing them another pair of high heal shoes. (sorry Katie, I'm sure they are excited to see you also)

Moving on to the actual point of my story; Caitlin has been dying to spend some of her allowance. Yesterday she took some money when we went to the store and she was determined to find something to buy. (She even planned to buy something for Ashlee, who does not receive allowance yet, what a nice sister) They had a hard time deciding between some jewelry and dress-up gloves, but they went with the jewelry in the end- the clip on earrings were the winning factor. The best part was they were able to pick jewelry that perfectly accessorized their princess dresses!

Even as I type Ashlee has put on her "Mary Poppin's" dress and hat.

I can't really blame them, I LOVED dress-ups when I was little also.

(the pictures weren't planned, they were just the pictures that were on my camera when I uploaded them)

Loving the Madness!

2011-03-21T12:04:00.003-06:00

We love March Madness. Our lives have gotten pretty busy over the years, so we actually don't find much time to watch basketball during the season, but when March rolls around it gets our full attention.

Our TV has been tuned to basketball almost all the time since Thursday. We love it. We each have our bracket sitting within arms reach during each game because you never know when you might need to consult your bracket again (you usually look at it about every 10 min, as if something might change?)

It is even great if the 2 teams you picked to play for the championship both got out in the second round, which may or may not have happened to one of us.

We LOVE March Madness!

Gimp

2011-03-20T11:59:00.000-06:00

Chris sprained his ankle pretty bad playing basketball Thursday night. I did a little assessment and determined it most likely wasn't broken so he just elevated and iced for a few days.
By today he is barely limping anymore. The only evidence now is that he looks like he is wearing a purple sock.

the cabin

2011-03-18T11:52:00.007-06:00

This week is Spring Break, as I previously mentioned. We went to the cabin Sunday after church and returned home Wednesday afternoon.

For the most part, it was just our little family and we had a lot of fun.

We did get to see Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday night.

(and we saw Uncle Nate, Aunt Amy, and Gavin on Monday night)

It was fun to have no schedule, no commitments, no pressures, just fun!

We had some nice weather so we could go on a few walks and play outside a little.

Poor Ash, I snapped this picture right as she slipped and fell.

Painting a few Easter crafts.

Ashlee wanted no part of roasting s'mores. She was really afraid of the fire (yeah!) and sat as far away as she could while still sitting by Dad.

Caitlin enjoyed her sticky mess; but Ashlee, again, didn't really want any part of it. She took this 1 bite and that was it.

Sadly, this is our last spring break get away for a while. Caitlin starts Kindergarten next year, and the public schools don't have spring break at the same time as the college- major bummer.

Movie friends

2011-03-12T21:31:00.003-07:00

Today Caitlin and Ashlee watched Toy Story 3, and were joined by Woody, Jessie, Buzz, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and Lotso (that's what they call the white bear).

mania

2011-03-12T21:26:00.005-07:00

We have puzzle mania at our house (not quite as much as my friend, Jen, but almost as much).

I got a new puzzle at the dollar store, and Caitlin felt up to the challenge.

Ta da:

She can do a 60 piece puzzle, maybe next we should try 100 pieces?

Caitlin took this picture with her camera

More playing

2011-03-11T08:37:00.004-07:00

We are already 1/3 of the way through March, and our life must be really boring because I have nothing to post about. Therefore, I will post about the girls playing......again.

They can be found wearing dress-ups nearly all of the day, everyday.
Here Ashlee is Mary Poppins and Caitlin is Jane.

I think they dumped out the dress-up barrel in a perfect straight line.
And all the animals were set up to keep me company on the computer desk.

They played puppet show and Toy Story.
And they loaded as much as they could in their stroller to buy it at the store.

And if that wasn't boring enough........here is what else we have been doing:

Caitlin finished her session of swimming last night. She passed all the skills except 4, which is awesome for her. She starts with her next session next week.
I have been administering chemotherapy at work most Wednesday afternoons, and will continue through most of March. My boss is having a family medical emergency, so she needs a little help with the chemo.
Chris is busy at work and with rehearsal.

Next week is spring break, hooray for a change in our routine!