little ladies

Alison has recently found her toes! I love it when they finally figure out that they can reach for them, it's just so adorable. I was trying to capture that with my camera and she didn't cooperate! I think she was too tired. But I did get some cute shots anyway. I'll have to try again!

Grandma found some great finds today at the DI! She found the Tinkerbell doll there about a year ago when Molly was really into Tinkerbell. Today she found this other doll--we think it's Cinderella.

Alison has a new past time. My sister let me borrow this jumper and she has figured it out! She is so happy just jumping around in it! I think she enjoys that she can turn in a full circle. She can watch the kitchen or the family room in this spot.

I wanted to say a few words about my photo class that ended the beginning of this month. It was such a great experience! I really enjoyed it. At first it sounded weird having it online, but it was perfect because everything was at your own time and pace (each week was a lesson) and then you had homework and loaded your pictures to the gallery. Then Nicole (the teacher) would leave comments as well as the other classmates if they wanted. You could also look at everyone else's work and learn from them too.

I learned SO much! Before I always used the auto or P settings on my camera and now I have learned to use manual. The most frustrating part for me is that it takes a LOT of practice (darn it!) Of course I don't feel like I'm anywhere where I want to be (I look at Nicole's blog and practically drool!), but I'm amazed at how much better and sharper my pictures are now. I still have much to learn and improve, so that's why I thought the sooner I start, the longer I have to work on it! And this is something you can do for the rest of your life. I would definitely recommend Nicole's classes to anyone. There are other classes offered as well. See here for more info. Happy shooting everyone!

Silly car

Since we pulled out our battery to get our car to start when we took it in to be fixed, it apparently reset the computer in the car...so, they don't know what the problem is! It is saying that everything is fine! So now we will just keep driving it until that light comes on again and then take it back in. They think it's probably the transmission going out or a glitch in the car's computer which is making it so the car won't go into overdrive. We hope it's the latter!

What a day!

Yesterday morning started out with the normal routine. Then I put the girls in the car, turned the keys and nothing! It didn't even turn over. Great! Luckily my mom was home and she said I could borrow her car.

Well after our errand we came home and Molly told me her tummy was hurting. I laid her down on the couch with her pillow and comfy cozy blanket (that's what we call it and it's the only blanket she'll sleep with). So she watched a show for a while and then after about an hour or so she got up and said she was better. Another hour later and the same symptoms were back. She said her tummy hurt and was sweaty, but it didn't seem like a fever and no throwing up. I put her down for a nap.

She woke up a few hours later and was still feeling sick. I decided to call the nurse and they wanted to see her. To make a long story short, she got x-rays and blood work done all to find out that she had been plugged up!! Which is so funny because she is the most regular kid ever! The day before she had a pretty bad blow out after her nap so I didn't even think this could have been the problem.

Well a little miralax later and she had a messy diaper and today she's all better! Pretty crazy.

Back to the car...

We couldn't get it into neutral and couldn't jump start the car so Justin took the battery out and took it in and had it tested. It said it was still good. So he put it back in and tried again and it started. So he took it over to the transmission place while Molly and I were at the doctor's. Luckily my mom was home and watched Alison for us.

Phew! Today we are waiting to hear what they've found with the car. We aren't thinking it will be good news...probably we need a new transmission is what we'll hear :(

On a happier note, here is a little recipe for you of the EASIEST LITTLE PIZZAS EVER!!

All you do is take frozen Rhodes Rolls (or any other kind like them) and put them in the microwave for about 30 seconds to get them thawed out. Turn your oven to 400 degrees.

Then we use Ragu pizza sauce (or whatever kind you like), add some mozzarella cheese and anything else you like. Cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes and you're done! Easy, right?! They are pretty yummy if you ask me. The kids love them too!

My sister Emily and I made these ALL the time growing up. Simple and fast and we usually always had the ingredients lying around.

California vacation

We just got back from a week in 100+ weather in Palm Desert, California. We went with my side of the family. We had a fun time as long as we were in a pool or inside with the ac on!!

The view from our patio.

These weren't put on in correct order so to speak, but here's a look at what we did.

We checked out the pool at a neighboring Marriott one day since we heard they had a more "kid friendly" pool. It was really fun! They had a splash pad area, a water slide and of course a huge pool (and hot tubs, but who is interested in that in 100 degree weather?).

Molly and daddy getting each other wet with the gun

Grandma and Ali

Ali was getting some beauty rest while we played

The water slide was a big hit!

We made the drive to Disneyland on Wednesday just for one day. The night before we had a little "un-birthday" party for my niece and Ryan and Becky bought all of the kids a present for their birthdays this year since they live away.

So perfect...they bought all the kids Disney pjs!! The kids loved them and put them right on and wore them to bed the night before the big day! Molly got a sleeping beauty nightgown. She is obsessed with her pink nightgown so it's nice to have another one so we don't have to wash hers every day! I am not kidding. She wants to wear it ALL the time!! She would wear it all day every day if we let her.

Ali checking hers out. These are Aristocat jammies. So cute!

All of the kiddos in their jammies.

Ali making a squealing noise she likes to make.

Disneyland
Emily, what's with the creepy look?!! Just teasing. This is the first ride of the day we went on...the Jungle Cruise. Our guide was HILARIOUS!! She was so funny. She had the driest humor and everyone was laughing; well at least the adults were who understood!

We were lucky and saw lots of characters! Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Princess Tiana, Princess Aurora, Pinocchio, Jepetto, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Mickey.

Fantasy land was really crowded. The rest of the park wasn't too bad really. It was overcast the day we were there and around 70 degrees...perfect! And so refreshing for us after being in 100 plus degrees! Molly really wanted to ride "the pink elephant" and we luckily got one :)

We went to story time at the Princess Pavilion and lucky us, it was Princess Aurora! Molly was very into her after getting her nightgown the previous night!

We got to sit on the ground and were right by her! The kids had a fun time listening to her story. And she even danced with the prince!

Our little princess.

Molly wasn't interested in being in the picture with us obviously, but here is the great castle!

Molly got in a nap on grandpa's shoulder for a bit as we went to California Adventure.

We waited in line for the toy story ride. I had never been. It's a shooting game with targets and stuff. It was actually pretty fun!

The kids went on the carousel a bunch of times and Molly always had to ride the pink dolphin.

And then there was the sucker. I bought this for Molly after lunch to try to keep the happiness going! She loved it.
And so did her cousins!!! Major and Molly may have shared their first kisses :) ha ha! It was so funny watching them!

Justin of course got in some golf

This is PGA West. He went by himself to this course and played in the heat.

Look how good, he even did some self portraits using the timer!

The boys also golfed another day at the course at our hotel and enjoyed that. But it was the morning after Disneyland and I think they were pretty tired! Their tee time was 6:30 am and we all got back around midnight the night before!

Children's Museum

We went to the COOLEST kid's museum that was really close to us. All of the kids had a really great time. It allowed younger and older kids to participate and everything was hands on.

Molly and Lexie playing with the magnet/tin wall.

Molly acting as an archaeologist

The kids could paint this VW bug! They really liked this one!

Molly and Lexie were really enjoying themselves here.

Then there was grandma's attic with all kinds of dress ups!

Molly and Lexie posing for us. Molly loved this hat she was wearing. Lexie couldn't get enough of all the fun dress ups!

There was also a grocery store packed with all kinds of different food, carts, and a check out counter.

And at the end you could make and bake your own pizza! They had a little oven and a cash register. I think we were there 2 hours but you could have stayed all day long!

Thanks to my parents and family for all of the fun!! We had a blast.

Good, bad and hot!

We left for St. George on Friday after Justin finished his take home final. Yeah! He is done with his con law class. On the drive down, we noticed a blinking light that said to turn our over drive off. We tried to do that but nothing happened and it kept on blinking. We looked in our owner's manual and it said if you see that to have it serviced immediately. Not good!

To make a long story short, Saturday morning we found out that our transmission is going. Just what we need! We decided to rent a car for California and we are going to try to drive our car back to SLC where there are more options/opinions, etc. What a way to start a vacation, right? We are thinking we will either have to rebuild the transmission or buy a used transmission. At that point we could either keep it until it dies for good or sell it. We aren't totally sure at this point what we'll do but we feel lucky that we didn't get stranded and that for turning out so poorly, it didn't set us back too far and we aren't missing our vacation!

The drive to California was, well, long! Justin said several times, "We are never doing this again!" Between a blowout, helping Alison every five minutes (it seemed) and both of them crying at different times, we would prefer to fly if we do this again!! Who wouldn't, right?!

However, the resort here is beautiful. We are in Palm Desert and boy is it HOT! I think it was supposed to be 113 today. Ridiculous. Needless to say, we have been inside all day and can't wait for tomorrow when we will head straight to the pool!! More to come.

Wyoming Weekend

I'm a bit late posting this, but still wanted to post some pictures from our time in Wyoming last weekend.

The first thing Molly says when she gets to grandma and grandpa's house is "I want to take a bath!" She loves their jetted tub!! It's pretty nice, so I don't blame her a bit. But we usually have to convince her to wait until after dinner.

She got a hold of the bubbles this time and so she had lots and lots of them! She was loving it.

I was playing around with my lens and took some pictures outside the house. It is so pretty there right now!

Saturday the girls and kids went to Jackson Hole while the boys went golfing. We decided we needed a picture with our name sake :)

Here's a few pictures by the antler arch.

Molly with her cousin Laney. The suckers were a big hit! And my girls were quite good while we waited for the boys to finish up, which took longer than we had expected (of course!). We had a fun time!

We have had several days to re-group and are headed to California tomorrow! We're excited!