New Family Pictures

I'm trying to decide which family picture I like best from our little photo session last week. It's really about impossible to get a good shot of everyone. It seems like the girls last for about 2 pictures and they're done.

Anyway, I like the one on the steps because of the coloring. I wish I were sitting up taller and Syd is a bit blurry here....but overall it's not too bad.

I like this one because we are all somewhat looking and nobody is too fuzzy. I don't like the pose as much here.

I think this one is sweet because Syd looks cute giving me a love.

Thanks Ann for taking the time to come and take our picture.

So, which is the best????

Little Miss Photogenic

Yes, I'm sure I'm biased but I think Aubree is beautiful. She has great skin, beautiful eyes and is pretty photogenic.


I wanted a few pictures because it was near Syd's birthday but you can't take pictures of one girl without taking some of the other. The funny thing about Aubree is I have to make a deal with her. She'll let me take her picture if I will then pose for her to take my picture.


She ends up doing the exact same thing I just did with her 5 minutes earlier but it sounds so funny coming from her. She'll say okay, Mommy, put your hand here, turn your head, etc...I guess I sound that ridiculous too.


Anyway, here's a couple of cute pictures I got of her.


I love this one because of the hole in her pants. She just looks like a cute little kid who doesn't care what her clothes look like.

I love that she looks so happy here.

I thought the angle on this one turned out kinda fun. She's sitting on the pumpkins and I'm above her.

She's giving her rooster puppet a love here...a little weird but she's just too cute.

All About Sydney

Sydney just turned 2 years old. I can't believe my baby is not a baby anymore. She has been so much fun for the past 2 years and added so much to our family. She can be so sweet and affectionate. I love that about her. I also love to watch her and Aubree become great friends as they grow up together. Everyone needs a sister.

Sydney adores everything about Aubree. She wants to be just like her and tries to copy everything Aubree does from mimicking every word to walking exactly as Aubree walks to acting the exact same way. Here are a few examples.


Aubree tries to take care of Sydney and help her along. Recently Sydney has began to "get in trouble" and it kills Aubree to watch Sydney be so sad.

The other day Sydney kept bugging Aubree. She was trying to take off Aubree's socks and Aubree didn't want them off. After several attempts to try and get Syd to stop I'd finally heard enough from them. I sat down and held Syd so she couldn't move. I told her she had to say she was sorry to Aubree. Sydney kept refusing to apologize and was throwing a major fit. Finally Aubree couldn't take it any longer and told me it was okay for Sydney to take her socks off. I said that she still needed to say sorry. Syd continued to cry which in turn made Aubree cry to see her sister so sad. We finally got everything resolved but not after many tears.

Another little thing happened the other day and Scott and I couldn't help but laugh. Aubree got hurt and "needed" a band-aid. I can't believe the power a band-aid has. Sydney followed Aubree up as she got herself a band-aid. Aub and Syd decided Syd needed one as well. After inspecting they "found" something wrong with Syd's foot.

They put the band-aid on and came back downstairs. Sydney was so convinced that she was hurt that she limped around the rest of the night continually showing me the "owie" on her foot. The limping was hilarious especially because the "owie" was on the top of her foot. Scott and I had a good laugh.

Syd's just a happy petite little thing. I have decided the reason she is so little is because she gallops everywhere she goes. She looks so happy-go-lucky as she gallops from one thing to the next.

Some of Sydney's favorite things right now are:

Her "Ruff-Ruff". She absolutely loves her stuffed dog and it is really looking "loved". She sleeps with it every night and it comforts her when she is sad. Because of this love, I decided to make her a "Ruff-Ruff" cake for her birthday.


Syd loves singing and dancing. She loves to be familiar with a song well enough to feel she can sing it. I can never understand the words but she walks around singing quite often.

She loves listening to stories and will sit for quite awhile.....unless it's scripture stories and then she wants one of her other books.

She enjoys playing with toys and can entertain herself for quite awhile. She's more "into" toys than Aubree has ever been. It's nice to come downstairs and get her started and then just let her play. She also has starting being able to do puzzles. She loves figuring out how the pieces fit and she's actually pretty good at it.


Sydney loves the bathroom stool. She is so funny with it. She knows that when she is on the stool she can reach so much more. I'll see her trying to get something and then she'll disappear. After a few minutes she comes back carrying the stool. She'll plop it down and get whatever it is she's working at. It's amazing where I find the bathroom stool.

She's not using the bathroom stool here (probably because she's outside) but you can see she's just not quite tall enough for a few really fun things like ringing the doorbell.


Syd also loves shoes. She enjoys putting them on getting them out and stomping throughout the house. It doesn't really matter whose shoes they are she just likes to wear them.

Sydney wouldn't be a girl if she didn't like screaming....especially with other girls. I don't know why it's so fun to scream but all girls seem to really enjoy hearing themselves make noise. This picture is a perfect example. They are both trying to out-scream the other.

Today as I set out Syd's birthday presents she knew they were for her and it was her birthday. She was really excited and had a hard time waiting until her "party" started. I think we've finally convinced her she's 2 not 3. I guess she's heard Aubree say she's 3 for so long that Syd thinks she's 3 too.

Before we opened presents we went to a local pumpkin patch and had dinner and games for the kids. It was fun even though it was a bit chilly. Here's the cousins that were together.



I love my little Sydney and feel lucky to be her mom. She brings me so much happiness. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the opportunity I have to raise her. I love her so much and can't give her enough kisses and hugs.

A Daddy of Girls

Scott is quick to say he wants to have a boy but I know he would never trade his little girls for anything. Especially when they shower him with love and kisses. I am excited every night when he gets home but my enthusiasm isn't quite the same as Aubree and Sydney's.

Their eyes get big and they run to the door shouting Daddy, Daddy! They can't wait to give him a big hug and tell them they missed him.

A few Sundays ago Scott was trying to take a nap and the girls just couldn't stand to see him all alone with nothing to snuggle while he slept. They dug through their toys and found a few things to help him sleep. I just couldn't help taking a picture. He's such a good dad and puts up with a lot from all the girls in the house and he's just so cute here.

Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland

I'm am soooo far behind on blogging, I just don't even know where to start. Scott and I just got back from a trip (for me) and ICMA conference (for Scott). I thought I could just blog each night when I got in but I didn't take into account that I would be too tired to do anything but fall into bed each night.

This is the time Scott and I try and get away just the two of us each year. It's great to be together but a little hard for me to leave the girls. The night we were taking the girls to my brother and sister-in-law's house was a little teary for me which in turn ended up being teary for Aubree as well. She tried not to cry but she was a little sad.

It was absolutely wonderful of Michael and Stacie to watch our girls for an entire week. That is a long time to watch someone else's kids but they were kind enough to do it. Eventually we'll take our turn and watch their girls for a week.

The trip out was pretty non-eventful. Scott was pumped they had individual screens for each

seat and satellite tv you could get while in the air. He watched football while I read my book. We flew into Washington D.C. and then rented a car to get to Richmond, Virginia. It was about and hour and a half drive from the airport.

Over the past year we have gotten to know some of the other local city manager's wife's so there were a few people I knew that I could hang out with while Scott was in meetings. We had 7 of us for Monday and 6 for Tuesday's events.

These are the other girls that I hang out with: Annette Hanson, Aimee Davis, Julie Hillman, Kathy Davis, Jennifer Trainer, Jen Dixon (I'm not there because I'm taking the picture.)

We rented a car and they gave us a 7 passenger SUV so it worked out perfectly during the day to get around. We started Monday morning with Mount Vernon. It was beautiful and so historical. I learned a lot about George Washington and was reminded of how the Lord was so aware of the needs of our new country as well as the preparation of the leaders.

I took my old camera for several reasons. Most of the time I was happy I just had a small camera but I can see such a difference in the quality. What can ya do?

Here I am standing in front of Mt. Vernon waiting for our tour.

Both of these views are taken from the back of the plantation. When the house was first built this was the front. The view of the Potomac River was amazing.

We had a few extra minutes and decided to drive into D.C. to see a few things. I was a little nervous because I was the driver but things went pretty well. We didn't have any accidents and only made a few wrong turns. I was proud of myself for doing fairly well.

Here's a couple shots of the Jefferson Memorial. Believe it or not I learned more about Thomas Jefferson a few years ago while teaching 2nd grade in Afton, Wyoming. I taught a little unit on him and learned more than in any history class I ever took.

I am standing on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial and this is the view. You can see the Washington Monument and the White house is to the left.

On Tuesday we went to Colonial Williamsburg. It was fun but to me it seemed more commercialized than Mt. Vernon or anything else we did. It seemed like they were just trying to make a buck. I guess I fell for it.

Here I am being punished for swiping the credit card one too many times.

We had dinner in Williamsburg that we suppose to be in the time period. This is Scott and I waiting to be seated in the tavern. There was a group of 20 of us so it was fun to be with a big group of people we knew. (That's about the biggest smile Scott has in any of the pictures. You'll notice as the trip goes on the smiles look more like he's fired-up instead of having a great time.)

After dinner we took a ghost tour of Williamsburg where they tell you stories in some of the homes. It's dark and a little spooky but I think I was the only person to actually physically jump during a couple part of one of the stories. It was a little embarrassing but I can't help it if I'm a little jumpy.


On Wednesday, I got up and went to the final meeting with Scott and then we had to return our rental car and get to Scott's sister, Stephanie's house in Odenton, Maryland. It was a beautiful drive back to D.C. The trees and foliage were amazing. I often forget I live in a desert.


After returning the car we rode the Metro to the final stop and Stephanie came and picked us up. She only lives about 20 minutes from the last stop. I had no idea she lived so close. We got to see her house for the first time and spend some fun time with them. She was an amazing host and fed us really well.


On Thursday, we went back to D.C. and walked and looked and walked and looked and walked and looked. We were exhausted by the end of the day but it just amazed me at the amount of things to do and see.


We started with the Washington Monument. As I got home and looked at the pictures I took it is in about half of them. It was just so big and just seemed like a symbol or our freedom and country. I was really enthralled with it.

The weather was really cloudy and a bit drizzly to begin with. By the end of the day it was raining and we were quite a sight to look at.

Earlier in the week I remember I had a room-mate at BYU that had moved to Virginia and was working in Washington D.C. I emailed her, hoping I had a current email, wanting to get together for lunch or something. Wednesday night she called and said we was still there and she could meet us for lunch on Thursday.

It was so fun to see Yan. She is just the same as she was 9 years ago. She works about half a block from the White House and spent an enjoyable lunch together remembering the 'good ol' days.' We laughed about her taunting Earl as we played Rook because her and Scott were beating Earl and I. Those were good times.

Anyway, here's a couple pictures of us with Yan.

We walked Yan back to work and then walked down to the White House. We didn't take a tour of it...I don't even know if they still do that but this is about as close as we got. They kept having different motorcades all day because of the big meeting with the President and Presidential Nominees discussing the economy.....I think.

After this we went back and finished the Holocaust Museum. That was an amazing experience and very hard to see. It continues to amaze me that this happened in such recent history.

We then hopped on the metro and went to the Arlington Cemetery. We were able to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier and see JFK's place of burial. The weather of the day really suited most of the things we did.

After Arlington we walked back to the Lincoln Memorial. I really wanted to see this at night with the lights. I would definitely recommend seeing in at night. It was amazing. It may have been even better without the rain.

I just have to laugh at something. I guess this is how I'll find out if Scott actually reads this or just skims over it. I realized why I am the one to take pictures in our house. My dear Scott couldn't quite figure out how to zoom in and out. Every time he took a picture of me he had to scoot waaaay back to get everything in the photo. You'll notice this in the above picture.

I thought this picture turned out pretty cool of the Lincoln Memorial. Like I said earlier, it was amazing at night.

As we walked back to catch the metro we walked past the World War II Memorial with, or course, the Washington Monument in the background.

This was my favorite photo of the trip. This was when I wanted my nicer camera but it still turned out pretty cool. If you look down in the left hand corner of the picture there is a guy all fired up leaning against a little wall. That is Scott trying to be patient but not doing a very good job at it. I tried to get him to take a picture of me in the foreground of this setting but it didn't turn out....

We were so busy we didn't take time for dinner. When we got back to Travis and Stephanie's house she had homemade chicken noodle soup and bread for us. It was heavenly after walking in the rain and cold for a couple of hours. No Marriott gives that kind of service.

On Friday we went the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. We were able to see them printing a whole ton of money. Then we saw the National Archives. That was interesting to see many documents that our government is based on today. We ended with the spy museum.

We got back to Travis and Stephanie's by 6 pm because she had invited over a few cousins that live in the area and we had a little party. It was fun to see Nathan and Alisa as well as Brady and Christy. Once again the food was wonderful and it felt really good to be able to sit down and relax for a few hours. Stephanie was an amazing hostess. I can't wait to visit again sometime.

We got up early Saturday morning and flew stand-by all the way home to get there a little earlier. We got lucky and got home by mid-afternoon but our luggage didn't make it until 3 am Sunday morning. I was a little concerned about what my appearance might have been without my make-up, flat iron and blow dryer. Luckily it arrived so I was able to get ready for church without too many kinks.

Preschool

A few moms and I have decided to do an at-home preschool for our kids. Aubree is soooo excited to start school. She was a little disappointed when she didn't get to ride the bus but quickly got over that.

I was the first teacher this week and it was.....interesting. Sometimes you forget little kids don't even know how to make a line and stand in it. It's going to be a great learning experience for all of us.

I am excited to have Aubree doing something productive for a couple of hours each week and the price is definitely right. Hopefully I can use that time to clean house....

Aubree has been very proud of her apple tree project and has carried it around all day, in fact I think it may be taped on the front window for all to see. I can't believe she's getting old enough for this stuff.

The things I admit to.....

So.....This may be a "you had to be there moment" but I'll share my embarrassment with anyone looking for a small laugh.

Scott and I have recently joined Crossroads Fitness Center. In the beginning they do a program with you where they set you up with a personal trainer, get all your beginning benchmarks (weight, measurements, % body fat etc...), and they set you up with a program.

I had my first appointment today. It just happened to be with a guy which isn't my first choice but I just want to get a program and get going with this whole thing. After the dreaded scale we went back to his office....a closed off little room in one of the corners of the gym.

This trainer told me we needed to get my measurements and we'd start with my waist. I was thinking...Oh great, if getting weighed isn't bad enough now he's measuring me. He then said he needed to find my belly button (not the easiest thing to find these days). Well, I wasn't sure what exactly he meant by he needed my belly button so I asked if I needed to take my shirt off? Yes, I know, what was I thinking that was a really dumb question. He proceeded to tell me I could just point at it through my shirt. A few minutes later he said, "By the way, we keep all our clothes on in here." I was a little embarrassed by the whole thing but tried to keep it really low key and cool. So now that's it's over I can be embarrassed that I suggested taking my shirt off in this guy's little office.