I start them out early....

Some serious cuteness

Miss Jordyn keeps sticking her cute little chunky legs out of her crib. She was like this when we went to check on her last night.

New Moon

Check this out!!! New Moon pics from Italy. Niiiiice! http://twicrackaddict.blogspot.com
Thanks Tabatha;)

Hiking at Mt. Charleston

Travis went to Magic Mountain with his friend's band all day Saturday so we decided to go to Mt. Charleston and do some hiking and have a picnic. It's been pretty hot lately and it was super nice to get some fresh air and enjoy the coolness up there.

Makenna was a trooper. She hiked the whole way up and down (and we went pretty far).

She kept stopping and resting because her 'legs were tired' but she kept on going;)

We found this little fort that someone built and Makenna loved it. It was a little weird because there was a picture hung up above it of some old people and it said 'together forever' on it. I wonder if they spread their ashes there or something.

I tried to take some pics of me and my kiddos but they don't like to look at the camera.

O-well....I tried. Makenna just wants to keep going. Makenna got walking sticks for us all at the fort. She was so cute with hers. It really helps a lot too.

Another rest. She looks like she is some serious deep thought;)

Jordyn fell asleep for most of it so I took her out of the backpack at the bottom of the trail and let her walk to our picnic area. She was in hog heaven too being able to walk around. I love those backpack/leash things. Every time she was about to fall, I just pulled on the leash and straightened her out. It was great. We had fun and the girls took a wonderful nap when we got home. Thanks Grandma and Papa for taking us with you;)

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone has a great holiday. It's nice to have a three day weekend to enjoy the company of others and relax. We are going to watch the Nascar race that was delayed due to rain but I'm also going to try and remember the heroes that have served in the wars that have given us the freedom that we have. We have several relatives (both my Grandpas and Travis' Dad) that have served and we are so proud of them. I try to go to my Grandpa's grave with my parents on this day to remember. And tying in with the race, my awesome daughter started singing a song in the tub the other day that sounded like the National Anthem. My mouth dropped. She was adding in different words but she had the tune down and so I asked her what she was singing. She told me she was singing the 'Tony song'. Hahahaha!!! Tony Stewart is our favorite driver in Nascar. I guess that tells you how much we watch the races!! Go Tony!!!

What was THAT???

Travis had awards night at his school last night so it was just me and the girls. We had gotten home kinda late so the girls weren't in bed yet. I try to put them down by eight but we were just taking our baths at eight. I got them in their jammies and they were watching an Einsteins while I finished up. I was just getting out of the shower when I hear the biggest bang!!!! It sounded like something blew up!! I didn't know what the heck it was but it sounded like it was right at my house. I quickly got dressed to go investigate (the girls were oblivious;) and went downstairs to see what was going on. In my head, I was trying to convince myself it was a firework because our neighbors like to shoot them off all year but that was just too loud of a bang. As I reached the back door, Travis called and told me to stay inside and lock the doors! What??? I guess our whole street was blocked off and he couldn't get through because they were serving a search warrant two doors down from us. What??? Are you serious??? It was funny because Travis had commented to me two days earlier wondering if the cops could do anything if he called and said he thought shady things were going on over there. Cars would come and park right by our house and then get on the phone. A few minutes later, one of these guys would come walking out to them. It didn't look right and obviously we were not the only ones that were aware that something was not right. I went back upstairs to check it out (yes, I'm nosy) and all I could see at first was a van right next door to us with a bunch of cops around it and cop cars next to us on the other side. I kept watching and then one of the kids (yes, I said kids...they can't be too much older than 18 if that) came out cuffed and they sat him right in front of our house with the K-9 truck parked right in front of our driveway. So as the girls watched Einsteins, I watched a live version of Cops right out of my loft window. They would get curious about what I was doing and would look out too. Makenna asked why that truck was parked in front of our house. She kept saying that it was our house!! I told her that it was the police and they were keeping us safe. And then she saw the dog! Oh, she loved the dog. He went into the house to sniff it out and he was so cute so that kept her attention away from her show for a bit. The swat finally left (which is so cool to watch....all these guys with big guns hanging on the side of it and then the van left with about eight guys hanging on the side of it as well. So cool! It's amazing to see up close. Travis ended up going to Sonic and then his moms because he still couldn't get through but I told him to try again when I saw all the swat leave. As he was coming home, he spotted one of the cars that one of the kids owns at that house (they are twins). An undercover car spotlighted Travis' car when he was coming up the street because they were obviously looking for the other car. So Travis went over and told them he just saw it. A few minutes later, that car is getting pulled over a couple doors down!! He gets put on the hood and whatnot and the dog searches the car. I guess they were just waiting for the other kid to come home. We opened the window (yes, we are nosy....so what;) and listened to the kid and cop right in front of our house. The kid asked the cop about going into the air force. The cop said that the air force was great but they don't take people that do stupid sh*#!! Hehe! I hope it is a reality check to these guys. It's weird because in one way, I think they are chumps but in another, they are very polite and respectable. Whenever Travis sees them, they say, "How are you doing, sir?" They always call him sir. We could tell the cops were talking to them more because I'm sure they were being polite. I just hope they can straighten out now since one of them has a baby!! So, that was our fun last night. I cannot believe how loud those blasts are when they storm a house. It truly felt like they were coming into mine!

Lunch and nap together!

My poor little baby girl can't stay awake long enough to finish her lunch!! I thought it was pretty quiet and I looked up to find this. She still has her hand in the bowl.


And this was from yesterday. Maybe the heat is getting to her or maybe she should sleep past 6:30!!!!

Or maybe I should stop feeding her mac n' cheese;) There must be a sleeping potion in it!!

Overall fun

When I put overalls on Jordyn, Makenna had to get hers on too. Travis kept swinging Jordyn by her straps and she LOVED it!! And then Makenna wanted in on it too. It looks so silly but they were having a blast.

Bootie shot!!

It was so funny to watch them try to walk afterwards;-)

And I just had to add this in. It's Makenna's version of our spider from the other day;) She knows spiders have eight legs but these must be special spiders!!

Loving the outside

My girls absolutely love being outside. Jordyn looks out the back door and says 'outside' all the time. Unfortunately, we are unseasonably warm (like we aren't going to get warm enough as it is) and so it's unbearable to be outside unless there is some shade. So we can only go outside when there is a shadow from our house out front or our tree out back. Why can't we just be normal and be in the 80's??? That's why I hate spring because it feels like summer anyway. Ok, rant over....now onto some cute pics of my cuties.

Jordyn doesn't stop when she is outside. She just runs and runs. And it always looks like she runs with a purpose;) You gotta love Miss Lady shadowing her. She was protecting her little girls that day. She would follow them all over.

Yesterday, our neighbor girl came out and played with Kenna. I swear they looked like two little preteens sitting out there chatting. They were lying on the grass with their hands behind their heads at one point. So cute. And of course, Jordyn had to join in on the fun as well.

I bought this cute, little big wheel (don't know if they are still called that but I do) at Walmart the other day. Jordyn loves riding the ones over at Grandmas so I figured she needed one for home too. She about freaked when she came down from her nap and saw it. It was better than Christmas. She hopped right on it and she has had a screaming fit every time we pull into the garage when we come home because she wants to go ride. She can't reach the pedals but she pedals it like the Flintstones. It's so adorable.

The only problem is getting her to come back. She likes going that way but hates coming back. I have no idea why. She starts screaming when I try to get her to turn around. I think she must think I'm going to make her go in the house or something but I would think she would get it after the tenth time!!

And our Kenna loves her Princess bike. She freaks out whenever she sees a car. Don't get me wrong, that's good but there is a stop sign at the end of our street and most cars turn onto another street. I keep telling her to wait and see if they come down our street before she gets scared. Her little friend was helping her not being so scared yesterday. I hope she can enjoy her bike now. She was getting off her bike every five seconds for every single car.

Please come back cooler weather. Please!!! We would be outside all the time!!

Another enchanted;)

Miss J.J. is just like her sister. Remember this? Well, I heard Jordyn singing out her window too;) It was so cute. She loves the movie Enchanted and tends to copy everything her sister does!
Ahahahaha Ahahahaha Ahahahaha!!

Icky Ick!!

Warning......icky ick pics!!!
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My mom was pushing J.J. on the swing after we went bike riding and all of a sudden a HUGE wasp came buzzing right around them. My mom hurries and gets Jordyn out of the swing while I go get some raid. Just in the time to take to get the spray, a HUGE spider came out of nowhere, grabs the wasp when it had landed and starts carrying it away. I start to spray and it just runs faster and starts to freak me out. The spider let the wasp go and the wasp scrambles away but I just kept spraying. It looked like the spider was trying to take it in a hole in the ground but I got it just before it went down. The scariest part is that the spider was going down in a place right next to the play set!! Where the heck was this spider hanging out where he could just grab the stupid wasp??? Ick!! This spider has a huge butt too so it doesn't look just like a wolf spider. Yuuuuuck!!! He was a lot bigger before he shriveled up and died.

This one is hard to see but you can see his big butt next to the yellow leaf.

All I can say is Ick!! This sucker was HUGE!!!

Stinkin' fish, fat lip, crayons and a diet

I went to feed the fish this morning and as I was peering over the top to make sure I don't put too much food in, they splashed me right in the face!!! They've splashed me before but not right in the face. And I wasn't even late in feeding them. They are just turning into fatties and want their breakfast, I guess. Stinkers!!

Then, as I was pushing the girls on their swings, I got distracted and Jordyn's foot connected with my lip and front teeth! It was totally my fault and it is a cute little chubby foot so all is forgotten;-)

I have also relearned the lesson of not putting crayons outside when it's over 100 degrees outside. In my defense, the house was providing some nice shade when we were coloring!! But I just didn't think about it and left them out there all afternoon. This is what we found when we came out to play after naps. A big fat yucky mess!! Makenna is totally upset about it but I just keep telling her that we have tons more crayons in the drawer.

And finally, I officially started my diet again. I really don't want to because I just love food. I've been exercising like crazy and while I can tell my muscles are changing, I still have a layer of fat over those nice muscles. And with summer around the corner and our trip in two months, I wanted to be able to show those nice muscles. I also wanted to give myself more of a reason to do it too. I figured if I wrote it down for everyone to see, then it might give me more of an incentive to do it. I guess we shall find out!!

Lots o' ladybugs

We have a ton of ladybugs in our backyard. The girls' favorite thing to do nowadays is to find them and pick them up and show us. They love it.

My dad buys ladybugs to put in his yard because they are really good for your plants. They eat the nasty bugs that eat your plants. He buys them and can never find them. We don't buy them and find a lot. My dad says that his ladybugs came over to our house;)

Miss Kenna has turned into a girlie girl. She screams when she sees bugs but she will let ladybugs crawl all over her ever since she saw her daddy do it.

She brings them into the house often. Unfortunately, by this time, they want to fly off of her;-) And now that Jordyn has seen her sister do it, she uses her chubby little fingers to pick them up and lets them crawl all over her too.

The joys of Motherhood

We see a lot as Moms. There are a lot of ups and downs. A lot of kisses and a lot of tears. But whether they are happy or sad, I love being there to lift them up or encourage my girls. Makenna has gone through a lot of emotions today. She went with daddy to get me a mother's day gift and he got her a tinker bell necklace. She was so excited and told him that she loves going shopping with him. She was so happy when she showed me. Not even a full day later, it's broken. She was so upset but I sat here rubbing her back and found her another necklace to put her tinker bell on. She is happy again. She has also now figured out the consequences of drinking too much apple juice. I usually get them those apple juice boxes with their happy meals at McDonalds. Since they love them so much, I thought it would be good to buy them at the store instead of capri suns. Big mistake. Since she loves them, she got like four of them and drank them yesterday. She is paying for it today and had an accident before she could get to the bathroom. She was so upset that she didn't make it to the toilet in time. There was this horrified look on her face that actually made Travis and I smile. She kept saying, "I was going to go potty and I pooped in my pants!!!!!" I tried to calm her down and get her on the pot but she was just so embarrassed. I told her it happens and she cried, "I pooped in my pants like J.J!!!" I am now back to making her feel better. And as I have been writing this, Jordyn took her diaper off and was running around bare butt. She has such a cute bum that I didn't immediately put it back on. Well, a few minutes ago, she peed on the bathroom floor and started playing with it with her foot. Gotta love it!! At least it was on the tile.
But even though it's been a crazy day, I love those little munchkins and am so thankful to be their mom! They are so special. They are my life!
Happy Mother's Day as well to my mom that shaped me to be the kind of mother that I am. I am so thankful for that loving example all my life. And also to my mother in law that raised my wonderful hubby that let me sleep in and served me breakfast in bed this morning!!

I love to see the temple

We took the girls to the temple last Saturday and took a few pics. They loved it! We hung out on the big lawn for awhile while they ran up and down the hill.

My cute munchkins;)

Of course we found a lady bug. Actually a few of them.

Our dream home. We watched this house get built gradually and it is just beautiful! It is right across the street from the temple. Nice view.

Nice view.

The flowers were so pretty.

Makenna especially loved them. She couldn't quit smelling them.

We have been singing, "I love to see the temple" lately before bed and both my girls love to sing the song. Makenna loves to go walk around the temple. I think the little children can feel the spirit even from the outside. She cried and didn't want to leave when it was time to go. We had a great day and I think we need to go more often;)

Some random thoughts

I haven't been too worried about the swine flu. I haven't kept my kids from doing stuff (we still go to the park and story time and nursery) or stopped doing what I normally do. Especially since it hasn't hit too close to home. But yesterday there was a case in our school district in a school that isn't too far from us. I'm still not worried about it. It is the flu and like my friend Sarah said before, more people die from the regular flu every year. So not panicking here. Well, at least not yet;)

I've been thinking about doing something different for a job lately. Not seriously thinking but every now and then, I get tired of massaging and my mind wanders while doing so. I have been doing it for ten years and I think I just want a change but I would have no idea what else to do. Nothing else sounds great and there really isn't anything else that I can do for a couple of days a week and make the same money that I do. And since the goal is to be home with my girlies as much as possible, it doesn't seem feasible right now. Maybe I will revisit this when my kids are all in school.

I would love to put Makenna in a preschool but even the rec center is pretty expensive. Is it bad if she doesn't go to preschool? I'm not worried that she will be behind. She's smart as a whip but I just want her to get used to sitting quietly and following directions before she hits kindergarten. I think it would be good for social interaction. Maybe her Sunbeam class will help her prepare and playdates for the social???

I really want to punch our governor. It's like he's using our teachers to make up for everything. He said we lived large for a couple of years and now we have to tighten our belts and take pay cuts. Ummm....teachers never lived large when the economy was going great! They wouldn't even give them raises and the cost of living was ridiculous when times were good but he expects the teachers to take a pay cut and pay for the whole state's debt. He doesn't want to raise taxes because he doesn't want to take even more money out of people's pockets (his words) but that is exactly what he will do to a certain section of people. That makes a lot of sense to cut pay for teachers when a first year teacher can already qualify for food stamps. Niiiiiice!! I'm so glad politicians tell the truth when they are campaigning. He said 'education first' and he would fight to raise teachers pay. What a joke!!

I'm just wondering who's great idea it was to do construction on all roads going North/South??? Well, at least every road that I go on to get to work. It's quite idiotic.

Why does it always get so hot so early!! We are ten degrees higher than normal. It always happens. That's why I don't like spring. We jump up higher than we are supposed to and then never go back down and go right into summer. My girls love to be outside and it's just not pleasant when we are almost a 100 degrees.

I'm over Target. (sorry Jen;) I don't know how it happened. It just did. It just doesn't do it for me anymore and I've moved on;-} LOL! Seriously, I don't go to Target very often anymore. I think it started when I wasn't working much over the winter. I used to use my tip money to buy stuff and since I didn't have any, I didn't go. I don't miss it either. I do my weekly grocery shopping at Walmart and I can get everything I want there! I don't need Target anymore. I will still go there for certain things so I'm not totally nixing it out of my life;)

I'm super excited that all the major holidays this year land on the days that I don't work on. Well, except Thanksgiving. But that will always be on the same day so that doesn't count but it sucks that my manager that would give workers with kids those days off automatically was laid off six months ago. So, I'm not sure what to expect this year. I guess we shall see.

That's all for now. It's time to take the girls to the park (before it gets to almost 100 degrees) and to story time at the library;)

Just call her Penny;)

My sweet Makenna loves to act things out. She has been Sleeping Beauty since Christmas but ever since Bolt came out on dvd, she has had a new passion lately. She loves Penny and the other day, she dressed up just like her with tights and a bike helmet and rode around on her scooter. Then she ended up on the couch like this. If you've seen Bolt, you will recognize this as one of the last scenes in the movie where Bolt is laying on her tummy. She is so funny and keeps me smiling;)

Then of course, J.J. had to get involved too and a blanket got added. So cute;)

Helpless

I hate it when the people I love make bad decisions. I hate it when I know that those decisions won't bring them happiness and that making those decisions will bring them even further unhappiness. I hate watching it happen and I hate that I can't do anything about it. Because it's their choices and it's their lives. Even though I KNOW it's wrong. I kind of had a glimpse of what our Heavenly Father must feel but on a much smaller scale. Watching the people you love make bad choices but not being able to do anything about it. It also makes me think about my little girls. I pray that they will make the right choices in their lives. I hope with all my heart that they do. I want so badly for them and all of my family to be happy and I guess all I can do is pray and hope that they will make the best choices in their lives.

Happy Birthday Papa/ belated Great Grandma

Happy birthday Daddy!! You are the best Dad and Papa! I love how sweet you are with my little girls and that they get to see you all the time. We love you.
He loves the babies;)

And I am very late in posting about my Grandma's birthday. I do have an excuse. I had to wait for pics since I didn't bring my camera;) She turned 75 at the beginning of April and we all got together for a surprise party for her at my cousin's home. A lot of us were able to make it (including family from Utah and the East coast) and it was nice to be able to spend her day with her.

We decided to take a family pic while we were all there. There are still lots that weren't able to make it. We are getting pretty big;) We love you Grandma!