New Years Resolution

First a brief update. Our family is doing good, we had a nice Christmas at home eating, playing games, playing in the snow (what little we had), and enjoying each others company. Hannah is loving first grade even though her teacher is a little strict. Piper and I joined a mommy play group and are both enjoying making new friends and getting out of the house.

So this year I wanted to write down my New Years Resolutions in the hope that maybe I will work harder at keeping them. My first goal is to blog more than twice this year, I have a lot of time to do it so I have no excuse not to. Goal two is to cook more often. We spend a ton on eating out and that needs to stop, it should just be an occasional treat not a 3 days a week thing. Third is to exercise at least 4 days a week. I was going to choose lose weight but this is probably better and less discouraging (and hopefully a side effect of working out). Those are my resolutions this year. Hope everyone has a great 2011!

Summer

We have had a really full summer! In June took the girls to Orlando and met my dad and his wife there. We went to the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, the Kennedy Space Center and coco beach. The girls had such a fun time and it was great to see their excitement when they saw all of the characters. The princesses and the fairies were one of the highlights for them. Hannah got to have a princess make over with her very own fairy godmother in training courtesy of grandpa Bunny (what the girls call my dad). Matt loved the space center and riding the launch simulator, I liked Epcot.

After we got home we went to Idaho to spend some time with Matt's family. We had a family reunion in Huntsville, UT and saw the cabin of one of Matt's relatives that was one of the first settlers in Huntsville. It was really great to see all the family and the girls had a great time playing with their cousins and sleeping in a tent.

We were in Idaho for 3 weeks and are now home trying to settle back into a routine. Hannah starts school on Monday and we are all looking forward to that. For some reasons my pictures wouldn't load but you can see them on our facebook page.

So pretty

Here is a little something I just had to share. This morning as I was putting on my makeup Piper came in the room and got my chap stick out of the drawer. She smeared it all over her lips (and the surrounding area), stood in front of the mirror, and started saying to herself "Pretty, ya sooo pretty." She followed it up with some hair flipping and fluffing. I wish I had gotten this on video, it was so cute! I have one really girlie little one:) She loves makeup, dresses, and primping. On Sundays she doesn't let us take her dress off because she has to stay "so pretty, mom.....so pretty." I think I will have my hands full ten years from now.

Christmas

Okay it has been a month since Christmas, I suppose I should post about it now. We had a great Christmas in our new house (aside from the pink-eye that made the rounds). The girls got a bunch of great stuff from all our family and a few toys from Santa. Matt bought me a new steam mop and I got him a Wii points card and guitar picks (and a book in an effort to get him to read more:) We had our traditional Christmas eve pig-out, we opened our jammies and then got in the car to go look at lights. That was probably the highlight of that night, we drove around looking for lights and singing carols at the top of our lungs. Piper only knows the last word of every phrase so it was "rudolph the red nose reighnDEER, had a very shiny NOSE." It was hillarious! We really missed our family, but it was nice not to have to travel.

New Year's Eve we spent with some friends playing Phase 10 and RockBand. We always have a great time at the Cooley's. Somehow the kids managed to stay up until past midnight. Poor Piper started asking to go home at aroung 10 though.

I guess the last little tidbit that I want to share is Hannah's first haircut. I figured I would do it myself to save money and it looks fine (much to my surprise). She did pretty good. The only sad part is we cut of the curls and they haven't come back yet:( She still has them around the front but the back is just wavy like mine. I am hoping that they come back, someday.

Really long update

I think I must be the biggest blog slacker ever! It isn't that I don't have time I just haven't been very motivated and it takes forever to post pictures:) A lot has happened since my last blog, there have been two birthdays, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I figured I should get this done so that Christmas isn't included in the same blog.
Hannah turned 5 in September. We had just a small stay at home thing with family. She requested a Tinkerbell theme so I made her a Tinkerbell cake that was only so-so, but what can you do? She got a bunch of presents from Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles. Thank you to everyone that sent her birthday wishes. Hannah is loving school and already has the boys chasing after her (Matt is already thinking about which gun he should buy, I had to remind him we are in TN and whoever she dates probably has a bigger one:) These are some pictures of her birthday fun: The first one is of the new Barbie bikes maiden voyage.

Then came Halloween. We had a really great one except for the fact that it was raining on and off all day. We had some friends come over and made pizza and dry ice root beer. Our new neighborhood was a great place to trick or treat and we had a ton of kids come to our house too. Hannah decided on being a cheerleader after debating between a cowgirl, a mermaid, and a fairy. Piper was a princess because she would not let me get anywhere near her with the flamingo costume:) Matt was Clark Kent and was told at our ward party that his costume was the most original. I was a witch with a huge tutu on. The tutu was no sew and was really easy to do. This year we decorated our yard with a demented pumpkin, one that looked like a guy getting run over by a lawn mower, and one that is throwing up:) Here are some pics of our good time:

Then it was Piper's Birthday. She had a Winnie the Pooh theme and her cake turned out a lot better. She still didn't really get that she could tear off all the pretty wrapping paper but she loved her presents. Hannah loved them too. We had to keep telling her that they were Piper's toys and not hers, her reply was I am just saving them for her (what?). We stayed home for Piper's birthday this year too. Maybe next year we will have real parties but this year I was sick and not really prepared for that. Thank you for all of Piper's birthday wishes and these are some pictures of her good time:

Then there was Thanksgiving. I had the flu so it wasn't a big event. I still managed to make the turkey and a few sides but the pumpkin cheesecake didn't make it to the table. Overall it was okay, but when your sinuses are all stuffed up you can't really taste your food.
Well that is what we have been up to the last few months. After Christmas I will post again with the pictures of our lights and stuff. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Our new house

This has been one of the most stressful times in my life! Buying a house is no simple thing, but after all of the complications and headaches we finally have our house. We love being able to really play and run around. The girls love playing in the backyard and riding their bikes in the cul-de-sac. They are a few draw backs, they didn't really clean the place when we left so there was a ton of cat hair everywhere. We got new carpet because the carpet was awful! I mean don't walk around without shoes awful. The new carpet is really thick and soft. We put new filters in all the vents because it looked as if those had never been changed. We found out a few other things that will have to be fixed that didn't show up in the inspection, but over all it is a pretty nice place. There is so much cupboard space in the kitchen that I almost don't know what to do with it. I love having that problem:) Some time we will get around to putting grass in (instead of weeds), a veggie garden, a nice flower garden, and some hydrangea bushes. We have so much to do now.

Hannah has started school full-time now. She is really independent and didn't even want me to walk her to her class on the first day. She goes to computer lab three times a week, music twice a week, art and guidance once a week, and gym twice a week. The school district we are in seems like a really good one, the people at her elemetary school are really great. Piper loves being at home with just mom. We spend most of that time cuddling on the couch, she is so cute! She is starting to talk alot more, and she loves to sing.

Well that kind of updates us for now. Here are some pictures of our house (I'll try to post more later).

Summer time

It has been really hot here so we have taken the girls to the pool a lot. Hannah loves going! She has her own goggles, a tube, and a life jacket that she loves to wear. Piper has a baby float tube that she isn't really fond of; she would rather run around the edge and scare mom half to death. Last week we went to a sprinkler park for a friends birthday. Once again we couldn't get Hannah away from the water and Piper we couldn't really get near it (she would get close enough to just tap her toes in the water). One of our favorite things to do is go to the park. Piper loves to climb around by herself and go down the slide. Hannah just loves to talk to random kids and run as fast as she can. I decided to practice a little with my cakes to pass the time. I am still working on piping and stuff so it is still a work in progress. Here are some pictures of our fun summer activities. We will be going on vacation soon so I will have more to post then. Also we are buying a house. We close on the 24th of July, so after that I will post some pics and blog more about that.