Mom, I need to go to dance...

Yesterday, I was in the kitchen getting lunch ready I told Annika to go wash her hands before eating lunch. She has become obsessed with washing her hands, Alexis said that she takes after me, I guess I do the same thing which I think it is not a bad habit to have. She had closed the door behind her and I noticed that she had been in there for a good 5 minutes so I went to check that she was alright. When I opened the door this is what I saw, I asked why she was cleaning her dance shoes. She begins dance again next Tuesday and is so excited. There was a time that all she wanted to wear were her dance shoes everywhere we went so she was concerned that they had become dirty while wearing them frequently. She knew that her shoes needed to be clean for class and was trying so hard to get them clean. She said to me " Mom, I have dance class in two days and my shoes are SO dirty". We laid her shoes on a towel to try she was very proud of herself for getting them so clean. We will definitely need to get some new shoes before Tuesday because as you can probably guess ballet shoes and soap and water do not go together, but it was pretty funny.

Updated Bathroom

Before with blue carpet and wall

Here is our new tile, Paul and I made up the design and do you see that there is no more PINK toilet.

Before

Our new lights and faucet.




We are thrilled to have the bathroom finished, I still need to repaint and put up new towel hooks. When I get that finished hopefully this weekend I will post another picture, I just wanted to show you how it is looking.

Annika actually choose to ride the train over getting ice cream

Whoooaaa, Sydney can go down the slide all by herself.

Tate and I and all the kids hanging in the hot tub

Last weekend they had the Eden Balloon Festival, Saturday afternoon I took the girls up to get out of the house for a while. They had all kind of events including live music, mountain man rendezvous, inflatable toys and of course a choo choo train. I love living so close to the valley what a beautiful place to go and enjoy. My friends and I have spend many Saturday mornings riding our bikes around Pineview. I can't describe how peaceful and beautiful it is, you get a different perspective riding it on a bike.
Later, in the week we were invited to a pool party at our friend Tate' s house. Though only Tate and I were willing to actually swim with the kids. The pool was freezing that is why we ended up in the hot tub. Paul has only two classes left until he graduates, I am so proud of him. He is helping developing a fitness program for the 5Th graders at my mothers school, that will run all year long. It is a pilot program that will possibly spread over the whole school district. Also, this week I have been training with a home health co. to help sale and distribute their product. I am going to have a pretty flexible schedule so I will still be able come home and spend a few hours a day with Paul and the girls, which I am very happy about.

GOTCHA!!!

We have some close friends of our that are moving out of state for school. We went to a farewell party for them last week, we all have children around the same age and we were watching them play. One of our neighbors have a boy about 5 years old who has the funniest personality, he and another boy were playing with foam swords when the other boy wasn't looking he swung as hard as he could and hit him across the face. I don' t think he intended it to be vicious he just wanted to get a good hit in. His father was watching and told him that was not acceptable and asked him what he should say to the boy, assuming it would be sorry. Instead he smile and said "GOTCHA" then ran off, we all lost it and busted up laughing. That is the best part of having kids they definitely say the unexpected.

I was at the store recently buying groceries and Annika needed some more toothpaste so I pick up the Disney princess kind, since she is so into the princess' I thought that would be perfect. That night when we went to brush her teeth when she started brushing I asked her what it tasted like? "HOTDOGS" what? Actually it was bubblegum but to her they taste the same. Paul recently bought her a bubblegum flavored snow cone and she said that tasted like hot dogs too, interesting!!! Maybe that is a flavor they should add to children's products, but in Annika's case I guess they already do.

Off to the fair...

Yesterday the Weber County Fair began, they had free admission between 11 and 3 p.m. so we met up with our friend Alexis and her little girls. When we took Annika to Disneyland she was not a fan of the rides so we were not sure she would want to try the rides at the fair. A few months can make a big difference she and Syd had a great time, Sydney is turning out to be pretty adventurous it makes it a lot of fun that she tries to do everything she sees Annika doing. The girls had a lot of fun feeding and petting all the animals. We came back later in the evening to watch the rodeo, Annika loved watching the cowboy's on horseback.
Another update is for you that haven't heard Sydney has begun to walk and is doing very well. The scrape on her eyes was from a tumble down our stairs in the backyard she think that she can walk down the stairs like a grownup, not quite!!! I also have had two interviews with Wells Fargo and find out tomorrow if I will be working for them.

It is finally time for a new bathroom!!!

Before photos..

My beloved PINK toilet... I really do love it.

Current progress.


So my mom is spoiling us and instead of presents at birthday and other holidays is paying for us to remodel our 50's style bathroom. I actually do not mind the grey and pink color scheme, it fits the style of the house and gives it character. The carpet on the other hand I do NOT love, so away with it and in with new tile, toilet and sink. Bead board for the walls and new light fixtures good by Hollywood light hello sconces. I wanted to update you all on the progress and show you pictures of the project, we will be keeping the cabinets and tile on the counters but replacing everything else. THANKS MOM!!!

Big TROUBLE with LITTLE Sydney

Digging in on the 4th of July.

We took her swimming, as you can see she was terrified...

Paul took her down the slide she cried less about that then sitting in the floating island.

for some reason she doesn't mind lathering herself in DIRT!!

Sydney has become our mischievous child, I never knew someone so little to do so much. Her personality has begun to sprout and we are able to see what a fun, adventurous personality she has. Last week I was laying down on the couch Sydney was just playing by me in the living room. One of the things she likes to do is stand and pound on the piano keys, I just tuned her out and closed my eyes. The noise was getting louder and more consistent I glance over at the piano and she had climbed up the banana chair on TOP of the piano, her feet were stepping on the keys and she was reaching for a cup that was on top of the piano. I didn't realize a 12 month old was capable of climbing like that. Annika has never, ever even attempted a stunt like that so we have to me more careful of what she is doing.

She loves to eat (anything), play outside especially in the dirt, she also likes to eat that as well! She loves playing with balls and her and Annika fight over the five baby strollers we have, you would think five would be enough I guess not. I love seeing them interacting as sisters , they are complete opposites it makes it more fun that way. Oh and she had her second tooth come in this week so she is no longer snaggel tooth Syd and no need for baby dentures.

Three BBQ's and a turtle.

We went to three BBQ's in four days last week, the last one our friends Amy and Taz invited us over to their house. They also have to two little girls and Melanie and Kelly we there as well with their two kids. The look forward to the summer to hang out with our friends. Each year it get better as the girls get older and enjoy meeting new friends.

On our way to Sophia's party we were driving down our street and saw something in the road, Paul slowed the car down and when we were close noticed that it was a turtle (actually a tortoise) so we took it with us so it would be out of the road. Annika was so excited that it was in the car with us, so would see it crawling back and forth and kept squealing " It is soooo CUTE" I'm not sure that cute is a way to describe a turtle be she thought so. We took it home with us and kept it over night. The next morning I let it out to run around and was looking up on the Internet trying to figure out what kind of turtle it was and what kind of habitat they live in. I went over to the faucet to get some water and our neighbor was out in his yard, Annika started yelling that we had found a turtle. He told us that our neighbor across the street had been looking for it all night. They have a daughter who is disabled who's turtle it was and had been so worried about him. I left a message on their phone that we had found something that they were looking for. A hour or so later we heard pounding on the door it was Megan to pick up her tortoise who's name is "tootsie roll" like the candy she informed us. Her mom told us that when she heard the message she was jumping up and down and bolted for the door literally running her sister over in the process. We were glad we found who the owner was, I was relieved partly because I didn't want to keep a animal that lived for twenty or more years. One more update about the Tortoise named Tootsie is that he got out again just a few days later, if you find a tortoise in Ogden we know where he lives.

Sophy Lu Lu Birthday

My little niece had her second birthday last week, Jason and Joanna had all the family over to celebrate. They have been in the process of remodeling their house which is also my mothers house now, the construction on both of their homes is mostly finished so they are able to have company. I think we will be gathering at their house more often with my mom living there, which is great for us they live close and there is plenty of room for the kids to run around. I feel bad for Anthony and Candice they live in Utah county so they have to travel a ways but they are good sports about it.

Paul's brother and sister-in-law came into town over the weekend. The girls had so much fun with them expecially Annnika, she loves all the attention she can get. We have wanted to see how Annika would do miniture golfing so we spent a afternoon at Toad's Fun Zone in Harrisville. It is a pretty nice place after golfing we played in the arcade for awhile. They have a race track that look pretty fun so we will have to go back and try it next week when Paul's dad comes into town. Marjean did not join us she spent the day in Logan with one of her best friends, she is an alumni of Utah State so Logan is a second home to her. It was wonderful to have them stay with us and hope they return to Utah next year when they get done with law school. It was great to see you guys, we love you.

She is ONE!!!

Sydney had her first birthday last week, it came quicker then we had expected. When there are two children you start to loose tract of how fast time goes by. We had my mom over for dinner and cake, Syney and Annika went crazy with balloons that my mom brought. I think that it is funny that something so simple can entertain them for hours. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY!!

good times.....

Brandon, Addy and Austin

Charleen and Kai

Our little cuties!!