A Beautiful Weekend

Last weekend found us in the land of the North. By some miracle, Elina finished taking her antibiotics just in time to go! We were able to attend Carrie & Seth's Sealing in the Provo Temple and take family pictures with the entire family! My younger Sisters & Cousins were ANGELS and watched all of the grand kids so we could go! The photo in the upper left shows them all enthralled in a movie @ Aunt Cheryl's house! From there, we headed to Sheri & Jason's to see their new baby blessed. I'm sooo glad Bryce took Monday off so we didn't have to hurry home. Even though it rained, we still enjoyed the day going out for ice cream at KFC and the BYU Creamery (yummy!)& feeding the ducks and visiting the museum on BYU Campus! Thanks family for the beautiful weekend!

Halloween!!

Our Halloween Holiday began at the Paragoonah Pumpkin Patch with Elina's "preschool" group. They loved it and even smiled for the camera....after being bribed with suckers that is :)The Monday before Halloween, we invited our neighbors, the Batts', over to carve the pumpkins. Mmm, nothing beats good friends, pumpkin seeds, hot cocoa & treats!On Friday, we dressed the kids up and "Trick-or-Treated" to Bryce's work! After watching Ratatouille, Elina's cute little mouse costume became a "RAT" (said with emphasis). Elina loved telling everyone about it too! After seeing all of the other boys in Super hero, football, pirate, etc. costumes, I think he felt a little self conscious with Aaron as a little Duck! :) I figure it was a free costume and wasn't going to complain. Needless to say, he went to Walmart the day after and bought an astronaut costume for Aaron to wear next year!The kids ended up getting sick on Halloween, so we made a quick visit to the ward chili cook off (in which Bryce's Hoppin' Johns won 3rd place) then spent the evening watching How to Train Your Dragon and handing out candy! What a month!

WA or Bust!

We had a great Super Saturday yesterday, and my kids are finally better after a cold THEN flu.....I can now resume my life :) I know it's a month late, but I wanted to post a small blipit on our AWESOME Washington trip!
The kids love going to Grandma & Grandpa's house, and really miss it. Although Elina was a little dissapointed that we didn't fly to Grandma's HOUSE....we just flew to the airport!
In prep. for our trip, we'd ask them what they wanted to do in WA. Elina's response was "play with toys, watch a movie & go on a hike". After the fun-filled week including a real train ride, the zoo, mini-golfing, authentic Korean food, playing w/ Ciao & Shadow (black labs), bubbles, etc. etc. when asked what we did in WA, she said, "we played with toys and watched a move"! What a great trip :)

Conversations of the Day!

Uncle Jeremy: Elina, are you opinionated?

Elina:  NO!!....I'm not opinionated, I'm Elina!

Aaron (in whiny voice): Mommy, "Nina" pushed me.

Elina:  I did not!

Mom:  Aaron, are you lying?

Aaron:  No....Tiger

(I can only assume he thought I was asking him if he was a lion :)

FHE Honesty Lesson gone wrong:

For FHE, we told Elina about a girl who left her book on the grass.  When her mom asked if she had put it away, she "lied" and said she had.  The sprinklers came on and ruined the book.  

This morning Elina wanted to drink her juice like a dog.  I said she could only have it if she drank like a big girl.  She promised she would, only to start "lapping" as soon as I gave her the juice.  When questioned, she said, "oh..I lied".  (I think we somehow taught her that lying was a great way to get what she wants :(  

 

Our Summer

I LOVE collages...I can add lots of photos with only one upload!!
To give a re-cap of the last two months, we found out we're having another BOY!! Elina was very disappointed...especially after naming her "little Shanna". It's crazy to even think of myself having two boys! (actually, most days, I don't even think of it at all) I can really feel him kicking now though and am getting excited to have another winter baby!

We also FINALLY (after months of looking) bought a mini-van. Our stalwart & loyal Saturn Wagon alas does not fit three car seats. (No matter how hard you cram...we tried :( The kids Love the extra space and practically use it as their playhouse! lol.

I decided with three winter children, we're going to skip the cold weather & "sickness filled" birthdays and celebrate nice warm summer 1/2 birthdays instead!! We threw one for Elina & Aaron this month. We ate 1/2 sized cupcakes & 1/2 cookies. My friend (Erin) gave me a great recipe for sidewalk paint (equal parts cornstarch & water w/ abt. 8 drops food coloring), colored the garage, went on a bubble treasure hunt and had a great time!

For my Birthday, Bryce made dinner for the entire week then took me to dinner & the play "Pride & Prejudice"!! Bryce even surprised himself by thoroughly enjoying the play. We landed some awesome "box" seats w/ a perfect view! Hooray for Dates & Birthdays :)

We filled up the rest of the month with camping, harvesting our meager garden crops, going to the observatory, playing at the park, & observing wildlife (if you look closely at one of the pictures, you'll see a katydid...it's been years since I've seen one)! The summer has flown by, and I am sooo very excited for the nice cool days of Fall!!

The Caines Validate

We made this movie for a "neighborhood film festival" last weekend. Thanks to Cindy & Ryan for introducing us to the actual short film "Validation" on Youtube! As a disclaimer, my video editing program wasn't working, so I had to use one which wasn't quite so user friendly! We had a fun time making it none-the-less and wanted to share it with you!

This, That & Everything

Wow, can I just tell you that this has been the weirdest pregnancy! I haven't been able to look at a computer screen or read a book for more than 5 minutes before getting nauseous. So, now that I'm almost 4 months along....I'm finally feeling better!!!


So, here's a catch up on the last few months:


Last October, we planted grass seed in the back yard and all winter long dreamed of the luscious field of grass we'd be able to run around on this summer! So, here's a photo of Elina in the "grass" . Yes, you are looking a those lovely purple flower weeds that took over our yard!! Some day....some day (along w/ lots of weed spray and multiple times of re-seeding) we'll have our dream!

We celebrated our 5 yr anniversary on June 17th. I can't believe it's already been 5 years and 2 1/2 kids since we got married!! Bryce, being the extremely creative guy that he is gave me the "17 days of our anniversary". Each day included a gift that coincided with the number (ie. on the 8th day he got a new dvd player for our computer for $8) The kids loved to help him sneak me gifts and notes!! We also were able to do sealings in the temple & got a babysitter for a fabulous date of dinner, dancing & watching the sunset! It's been a great 5 years of memory making!!

These are the flowers Bryce gave me on the last "day" of our anniversary-

I found this great idea for a Father's Day card. Elina & Aaron loved it! (even Bryce liked it :) Elina wrote "I love you Dad" and signed her name.....just in case you couldn't read it!

We made breakfast in bed then after church went to Great-G-ma & G-pa Robinson's for a delicious dinner!

Wahoo, summer is here, and I'm feeling great! For the 4th of July, for the first time in my entire life, I didn't go to the Parowan Parade & festivities. Who'd have known that they celebrated on Sat. instead of Monday :( Oh well, the kids loved the Cedar City Parade and the Shakespear's introduced us to the little "splash pad" by the Heritage Theatre....very fun on a hot day!

The festivities were nothing like Paragonah's races, balloon & egg toss, tug-o-war, etc. But the kids did like the bounce houses....it's a good thing they didn't know what they were missing. Next year though...next year!

The Taylors' had invited us over for a bbq & fireworks. Aaron jumped and cried every time a firework went off. He LOVED the sparklers though and kept trying to grab them! It was a beautiful day.

Happy 4th everyone!

Check out these cute shirts!!

Does anyone realize how hard it is to get two toddlers to sit still and smile while trying to still be able to read what a shirt says? So, I hope you enjoy these photos of the shirts I made for Elina & Aaron!

Easter & things!

Elina, Aaron & I went outside to build a snowman after a recent March storm. As I stood on the lawn with Aaron, I turned around and was greeted with this site! Elina is such a water girl, snow or shine :) Notice the snow still on the rooftops!!










I just had to snap a shot of Aaron signing bunny! I ask him to sign it over and over so I can laugh each time!










We celebrated a small family Easter this year. I hid some plastic eggs with candy,as well as some animal shaped sidewalk chalk to add bulk :) It was a nice weekend...if only it had been a little warmer!

Funny Elina Quotes!

Elina: "Mom, I have an idea, we could clean up the toys and have a little sucker and think of Jesus and go potty on the toilet and play with toys and make a mess again and think of Jesus again!

Wow, what an idea :)

Yesterday I came inside from watering the peas to find some very wet underwear on the floor and Elina sitting on the "potty". "Oh, Elina, did you have a little accident", I asked. Shaking her head, she said, "no.....I had a BIG accident!"

Those Silly Kids

It has been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd put some funny things my children have done! Check out the PILE o' toilet paper Elina said she needed to blow her nose! (did you notice the empty tp tube?)

Aaron LOVES to take things apart...especially if it involves electricity! He pulled out this nightlight, took off the cover and had unscrewed the light bulb before I found him! He's quick :)

After watching Cindy put on her make-up, I caught Elina looking like this! She said she was "painting her eyelashes" with dry erase markers. I think she was imagining how beautiful she looked but when she looked in the mirror, such a look of disappointment came across her face :) Since then she has painted her toenails with black watercolors and "written her name" (scribbled) on her hand. So much for writing reminders on mine!

Aaron has a fascination with shoes and will wear any he can find! We laughed & laughed as he tried to walk across the floor with these shoes!

Elina asked me for some tape the other day. She wanted to tape on this piece of paper she had written on so that she could be like "her friend Cindy". (I can only assume she's talking about the hospital band when Cindy had her baby)

Flashback

Back in August, Parker Grimes asked if he could do a photo shoot of Aaron & Elina in his neighboring field. When he showed us the spot, I thought, you've got to be kidding. It was a weed strewn field with dust still settling on the frequented ATV trails. I was absolutely amazed at the results though!! I wish I could keep these two darlings at this moment forever...it was such a beautiful evening and both were completely content & happy :) I smile at the memory every time I look at these pictures. Thanks Parker! (pagrimes.com)

Chirstmas a day late :)

I completely skipped a Christmas blog...what can I say, it was a crazy month :)
We had a great time celebrating with the Caines in WA, the Robinsons in Enoch and the Scotts in Orem. Elina made her debut singing Jingle Bells for our New Years Program. It's so cute, she doesn't know when to stop and sings it over and over again! We visited the festival of trees this year. Elina loved the "Live" princesses wandering around. She was especially excited when Snow White (her new favorite) called out her name! It was one of my old Young Women! Very Fun!
Elina was at the PERFECT Christmas Magic age and "ate up" the Christmas lights, tree, ornaments, gifts, the Nativity Story, etc. Her eyes would sparkle any time we drove by some Christmas lights especially the fun lights down Main Street! Aaron's favorite was, by far, the Christmas tree. He would sign "tree" over and over again with a huge smile on his face! I can see why Christmas is made for Children! What a beautiful holiday season!

Happy Birthday Elina! January 12th!!

Wow, having two children around the holidays makes for TONS of celebrating!!
I asked Elina if she wanted cake, cookies or brownies for her Birthday. As she told her Grandma, "we made a silly cake out of cookies!" We didn't even need to tell her to blow out the candles...as soon as we finished singing, she went to town!!

Elina opened her first gift of talking letter fridge magnets and loved it so much, we had to convince her to open the rest!

Here's 10 things I love about Elina:
1. When she really wants something, she says, "Mom can you say, "Yes, you may?" Without even asking the question :)
2. That she can sit for an hour reading books!
3. I've been trying to teach her not to yell for me in the middle of the night. Instead, she comes in right by my bed and whispers..."Mom, can you hold me please?". Even though I'm dead tired, it really is cute:)
4. Helping her write letters...she gets soo excited
when one is actually legible!
5. She'll say something like, "I know, lets have some ice cream...that's a good idea"!
6. When Elina is the only one who can make Aaron laugh. They love to play peek-a-boo through the spokes of the stair railing
7. I love that Elina will occasionally want her Daddy instead of me :) Yeah!
8. When she tutors Jenna on saying words:
Elina: Jenna, say, "Monkey".
Jenna: "Montey"
Elina: "Good, now try it again"
The whole conversation repeats over and over!
9. I love to watch her learn new things. She especially loves to practice somersaults and skipping!
10. I love how sweet, loving, intelligent and silly my little Elina is!!

Birthdays Birthdays!

Happy Birthday Aaron!! November 25th

We read our children Twilight for Aaron's Birthday!...j/k This picture just looked so funny with the red frosting from Aaron's Birthday Cake (A big thank you to Aimee for making the cake)

With Elina's 1st birthday, we started a tradition of the tissue box. It's the only gift we give. What could be more fun for a one- year-old than to pull out an entire box of tissues!! Aaron loved it :)

I'm also going to start posting 10 things I love about the birthday child! Maybe this will help me enjoy the moment's more often and appreciate the little things more fully :)

So, here goes

10 things I love about Aaron:

1. I love how excited he gets to learn a new sign, word, or sound. His favorite is to pant like a dog. He does it over and over again and is soo proud of himself every time!

2. His AWESOME red hair!

3. When he's trying to get my attention, he pulls my face right in front of his, makes sure I have eye contact, then points to what he wants.

4. He is just starting to love his fuzzy blanket and pulls if over to me when he's tired and wants to go to sleep. It's soo cute!

5. I love his "high fives". Strangers become instant friends as soon as they hold out their hand for a "high 5"

6. Ever since Aaron could make sounds, he would point at pictures of Jesus with such excitement and say, "Jjjs, Jjjs". It amazes me every time.

7. His extreme LOVE of babies. He can't get enough of little Hannah. Any time he hears her, he signs "BABY" over and over again with a big grin!

8. I love that he is FINALLY starting to warm up to other people. I can actually get a babysitter and he doesn't scream the entire time :)

9. He is just starting to understand books. I love to watch how excited he gets when we open a book and he knows how to sign or say something on the page. He really likes sheep..."Bba"

10. Even though he has quite the temper, I love how sweet, cuddly & affectionate my little Aaron is!