Calloused children?

That's a rhetorical question, not to really be answered because some of you know we are very tough on our girls. Don't get me wrong, we are tough on them out of love and don't put up with a lot of griping and complaining, but it seems that we've passed this on at a very young age since these phrases have been and can be heard around the house quite frequently. At least once a day. And all directed at Brock who is only 2 1/2 months old. It really bothers Kelsey that I would even think of letting him cry at all, but I sat her down and told her very nicely that it's ok for babies to cry and that both herself and Katelyn had some crying time too. And that this next one will have to cry a little bit too. And he's not crying for any particular reason, he's simply protesting that he's not being held. Because you walk past him and he catches you, he immediately stops thinking you will pick him up.

Kelsey: "Brock, get your feelings under control."

Katelyn is the culprit for all the rest. "You're fine, Brock. You just ate." "Quit your crying out." and "He's crying like a little baby."

I'm sure this little one will hear much of the same after it's born too!!

The word is out

This post has been coming for awhile now, but with still a few people to tell before finding out on our blog, we're finally able to announce that we are expecting baby #3 in September. Unfortunately for me, it's the same EXACT day Katelyn WAS due (the 5th), but decided to grace us with her pressence and some serious prodding, on the 14th. I'm sincerely hoping it doesn't go this way again, so here's to praying for an August baby. Not likely. I'm pretty much past the morning sickness which lasted all day long this time so that was not so fun - hence the absense in blogging as of late. But we are set to find out sometime the middle of April what we are having and to be quite honest - it's just going to be another girl!! As for the girls, Kelsey wanted another sister up until last week when I started watching Brock and he has since changed her mind in wanting a brother. As for Katelyn, well, there's just no changing her mind, she still wants another sister. Dave and I - we just want a healthy baby and look forward to having to argue and decide on another girl name. It will not be a "K" name, as that will the be the 3 K's or better known as KKK. We can't have that.

Simple minds, simple pleasures

This has summed up the last 2 Sundays for me completely and here's why. On March 1st, we attended our nephew's baby blessing and last Sunday was Stake Conference. Translation: I was able to sit with Dave for two weeks in a row and there were no meetings for him to be at so he was home all day. For some of you that may not seem like such a big deal but I like having him around because it seems like during the week he is pulled in so many different directions just to be going constantly on Sunday too. And just being able to sit at home and veg for those 2 days, well that's a big deal for me and the girls. For only being in the bishopric for a few months, there have been some struggling Sundays with the girls when I feel like why even bother, but we still go. And then I see some people with just one kid having "one of those days" and I just think, at least you have your husband there to help. And props to us for not being late once since he's been in there. So here's to the small things in life!!

The proud new "mommies"

I started wacthing my friend's baby, Brock yesterday until she's out of school in June. When they came over on Saturday to drop his stuff, it was the girls talked about for two days until she dropped him off in the morning. They are getting quite the practice at being mommies and loving it. That is, until today when the novelty of having him around wore off!!

They just couldn't get enough of him. They didn't want to do anything but play and hold and snuggle him, including getting dressed.
Taking turns feeding him. Katelyn only wanted to do it for a few seconds, but Kelsey lasted the whole bottle, although he is the fastest eater I've ever seen.
They never let him get very far away from them. At least they got dressed, finally.
This is how Kelsey was anytime she was holding him. This was during Katelyn's nap and with the time change she woke up at 6:30 but refused to take a nap because she didn't want to miss anything.
There were a few fussy times throughout the day and Kelsey seemed to have the special touch to just hold him and calm him down. It's fun now because she was too little to hold and carry Katelyn on her own, but now she thinks she's so important to be able to do it herself.

Calico Basin

Last week for playgroup, we headed out to Calico Basin near Red Rock Canyon for some hiking and a picnic lunch. There were quite a few short easy trails that were perfect for the kids and definitely some place we will have to take Dave back too. We had a pretty small showing, but still had a great time with everyone that came. Although it was pretty windy up there, we all still had a great time, not to mention the kids got a great work out and were able to get out some of their energy. The girls had a great time and can't wait to go back again. We invited our cousin Vance to come with and were so excited to run around and climb on the rocks with him too. Thanks for coming out, Kimber.

Our first stop near a small joshua tree.

Vance running along the trail having a good ol' time.

Finally we got to some rocks they could climb all over.

Everyone sitting down for a little rest before heading back down.

Hanging out with our cousin.

Daddy & Me

A few weekends ago we were out at Dave's brother's house helping put in their landscaping in the backyard. They needed some equipment out there to speed up the process and the girls were all about helping dad. We have pictures of Kelsey riding on tractors when we were putting our backyard in but none of Katelyn so this was a new experience for her. And I'm pleased to say she was not scared in the least - always wanting to help her dad.

Katelyn was up first and then didn't want to give up her spot to her sister.

Then it was Kelsey's turn.

Fortunately for Katelyn Kelsey didn't want to drive the tractor for very long because there was something else grabbing her attention. Introducing baby Carter. She is going to be such a good little mom. So while Kelsey was holding and playing with Carter, Katelyn was doing this.

Getting to drive the big tractor by herself.

Anderson Dairy

Last week, Kelsey went to Anderson Dairy for another field trip with her preschool class. This is one of her favorite places to go and she can't wait for her free ice cream at the end of the tour. This trip was no different. Again, Katelyn got to tag along and even sweet-talked Miss Kris into carrying her half way through the tour.

Outside waiting to go in.

Calci the cow.

Listening to all the animals tell the story of Anderson Dairy.

What a great group of kids they were, and so behaved through the whole tour!!

The Grand Canyon

A couple of weeks ago Dave sold a roller to one of his customers down in Arizona. They needed it for a job they were doing out in Monument Valley (up towards the Utah border) so Dave asked if we wanted to go with him and on the way back we'd stop and go through the Grand Canyon since I'd never seen it. It was going to be a quick trip since he was only getting one day off from work to deliver it but the girls were all about getting out of the house and doing anything so we went. We left after church, around 3 and the girls each slept in the car and watched movies. They were so good. We drove over the Hoover Dam and what an impressive sight that was to see them building and working on the bypass over the Colorado River. That will be so nice once it's completed.

We stayed in the hotel until he was done delivering the tractor and then we headed for home the next morning. We decided to do the South Rim since it was still a few hours from home, but we still spent a few hours driving around in the park doing the whole tourist thing and the girls had a blast running around, looking at everything. The highlight was that all the mountains were covered in snow. Kelsey loves snow. We finished the trip by having lunch at a little pizza joint and then the girls slept and watched more movies till we got home. We got home around 8 and everyone was in bed at 9:00. We were all wasted from a whirlwind trip, but definitely worth it. Maybe we'll go again when it gets a little warmer.

Headed down to the tower. They saw this bench and they were just too cute with their arms around each other. They truly are best friends.

They tried to get as close to the edge as possible.

On top of the tower. I loved it that eveyone was so friendly to take pictures for us so we could actually all be in a picture together.
Kelsey working on her picture taking skills and doing great - no heads are chopped off and we're pretty closely centered. Success!!

What a great day!!

Out of the mouths of babes

While at the store picking out Valentine's Day cards, Kelsey found on that said, "To a sweet girl."


I explained that we were picking out a card to give to dad and without missing a beat, although not quite understanding, simply said, "And we're not sweet."


A couple weeks ago we were going out on a date and Kelsey asked, "Why are you and dad going on a date?"


Me: "Because we like to go out and sometimes we go out with you and sometimes we get a babysitter and just go out ourselves."


Kelsey: "'Cause you're sick of us?"


Sometimes she just says the funniest things.

Kelsey's camera

We haven't figured out all the features on Kelsey's camera, course when would we have the chance when all she does is carry it around with her everywhere. And while I was taking all the images off her camera I came across this. At first I thought it was just a picture Katelyn took while she was running away, but look and listen closer.

If your kids have your camera, do you know what's on it?

Natural History Museum

For preschool a couple weeks ago, Kelsey got to go to the Natural History Museum with lunch at the park afterward. What I love about the preschool she's in, any extra activities that are scheduled, Katelyn gets to tag along. So while I'm not sure if Kelsey loves it, it makes Katelyn feel so big. All her other preschool classes come too, so it's totally crazy chaos and so much fun. The more the merrier. Kelsey brought her camera so most of the pictures are compliments of her since she wouldn't relinquish it to me the take any.

The first room they went into and actually got to touch these bears. Katelyn didn't believe at first they weren't going to move or jump out and get her!! But she eventually warmed up to the idea. And then she couldn't get enough.

Then it was off the Africa room and with this display you could push a button to make the lions roar. With Bass Pro Shops in town and one we visit frequently this was child's play for the girls and they weren't afraid at all.

We then moved over to the dinosaur room and all the kids were so amazed at this sight. Wow, that's a lot of kids. And Katelyn on the far left in the pink, sat right down with the rest of them!!

These 2 were the most impressive for the kids. And once they found the button to activate the Tyrannasaurus Rex, they couldn't get enough!!
The girls playing in the science room

How 'bout that for a class picture!!

The last room we visited was the aquarium. This was a small tank with 3-5 of each of these just swimming around. I think this was the highlight of the whole trip for everyone. Then it was off to the park for some serious energy release. What a great field trip!!

What to do when you're turning 30?

Go to Disneyland, of course!! That's what we decided to do for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't come up with anything else that I wanted for my birthday so I decided on Disneyland. And when you can get in free on your birthday, what better chance since we won't ever go for Kelsey's birthday and the next time we could go would be for Katelyn or Dave's birthday and by that time, we have to pay for Katelyn because she'll be 3. And with that, we were off!!

Although it was raining off and on throughout the day, it made for some very short lines. Some of you may be thinking how we convinced the girls to stay with the rain, but it'll take more than a little rain to make us leave. So between the umbrella, ponchos and the constant dry stroller covered with a trash bag we brought, we got in all the rides we could.

Riding the tram into the park. Kelsey's become quite the little photographer!!

Since we couldn't really make a decision on what to do first, Katelyn decided on the castle and the kids rides. All aboard the carousel!! Katelyn's bangs got a little wet, but other than that, she was the dryest of all. Katelyn's favorite ride is Dumbo. I don't know what it is about that ride, but both girls love that ride. It's just gotta be something about flying. Kelsey still likes it, but has since graduated to Splash Mountain and the Matterhorn being among her favorites.

Aren't they just cute? Although it wasn't raining at this particular moment, they wanted to carry the umbrella. As you can see from the lack of jackets, it wasn't a cold rain and once Kelsey got a little wet, she was in heaven and loving every minute.

Our biggest news for the day - Katelyn was tall enough to go on her first "big" ride. The Matterhorn. For the past 2 years, all she's heard about is the Matterhorn being Kelsey's favorite ride. And she's always wondered what is in that white mountain. Well, she finally got to find out for herself. All the talking up the ride sure made a difference. She screamed through a lot of it, but never cried and when we got off, was laughing and said, "Thank you for taking me on the Matterhorn." Our kids will love roller coasters if it's the last thing we do!! So far we're 2 for 2.

Unfortunately, with it not being very crowded, we were done at 3 which meant we got to sit on the freeway for 3 hours trying to make it home to see our families. We stayed with Dave's parents and had breakfast with his family, while the girls played with all their cousins. For the past month, Kelsey has been begging to go back to California since when we were there for Thanksgiving, the Las Vegas cousins were there, but the California cousins all left. And she hasn't let us forget that she didn't get to see Aunt Heather or Aunt LaNae.

Then it was over to my parents for lunch and playing with grandma and grandpa. Jesse and Alyson are always a big hit too. Kelsey got to make pink sparkle sugar cookies with grandma and then played on the trampoline and in the playhouse with grandmpa. This is the house my dad built for us growing up. Kelsey and Katelyn had such a great time cleaning up their own size house!!

Sure looks like fun, girls!!

And then there are days....

... like this. The girls were playing happily (shocking, I know) upstairs and the following conversation took place:

Katelyn: "I love you, Kelsey."

Kelsey: "I love you, too."

Katelyn: "You're my best friend."

Yes, these are the days that make it all worth it and everything else seems to fade away, at least for a little while. And that is why we had them that close.

What am I going to do with her?

Any of you know I can only be talking about Katelyn. Yes, usually it is Kelsey that has said or done something, but lately it's been Katelyn. And last Saturday was no exception. We set the morning aside to do some much needed yard work and pool clean up with all the winds that have come our way since December. I was still upstairs, Dave was outside and the girls were running around and chasing each other. The next thing I heard was Katelyn SCREAMING and Dave telling her to hold still. I could only imagine what the next scene would be: Dave carrying a wet, naked, freezing cold little body wrapped in his coat, inside the house. That's right, Katelyn fell in the pool. That makes it at least once for each of them, although I'm sure Kelsey never fell into it when the water was 45 degrees!!!


I ran her upstairs and threw her in a cold bath, warming it up slowly to get her warm again. After getting her back to normal and dressed again, seeing as it was laundry day, there wasn't much of anything warm to chose from, she was right back outside and running around the pool, again. So I ask you again, what am I going to do with her?


We were talking about it after and Dave said she was kicking her legs like crazy to stay afloat and doing a good job. The top of her head never actually went under the water. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the thick coat she had on or her frantic kicking, but it seems that the swimming lessons over the summer have paid off. Her jacket did however keep her from getting to the side. We were laughing over the whole thing and Katelyn just thought she was going to be in so much trouble for falling in. Kelsey was very concerned and thought she was going to die.


While I am glad he brought her right in to get warm, I do wish I was outside so he could watch her and grab her out while I grabbed the camera. And I wasn't the only one who thought of this too, he was trying to figure out a way to take pictures to document it as well.


She is still apologizing to me, "Sorry I fell in the pool, mom." You gotta love her!! And I am pleased to announce there has been no permanent damage seeing as how she ran right back outside and didn't seem to care if she fell back in the pool or not.

Ring in the New Year

I realize I'm a little late on posting this but so be it. Last week for Family Night we made some goals for this year. I figured by posting them, some of them may actually get accomplished. And the girls are excited about them as well. However when I told Dave this is what I wanted to do as some part of family night, his only response was, "Give me an idea of what your thinking of so I can study for this test, because right now I'm failing." So here's what we came up with (in no particular order)

1. Family Night every week with a real lesson - we did this for the most part last year, but didn't always have a lesson

2. Read a page in the scriptures every night as a family - the girls hold us to this religiously and love to get their chance at repeating their verses with us

3. Learn an article of faith every month. Kelsey has memorized them all last year and we are continuing with this. She loves doing it and Katelyn can do it with her now as well.

4. Learn a new primary song every 2 weeks. We tried doing this last year and it quickly failed since Katelyn was just learning to sing songs and has since decided she loves to sing just as much as Kelsey. Also with me in primary now, I can pick songs that Kelsey needs to work on and learn and hopefully we can do better at this this year. We've already been doing it for a week and Kelsey almost knows all the words to "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus". Katelyn repeats the words just after we say them and is loving it too.

5. Date night every 2 weeks - I said once a month since it's pretty much non-existant right now since he's been back in the bishopric and he said every week. So we compromised with 2 weeks so we can still pay the babysitter well.

6. Attend the temple once a month - this does not count as a date since we don't get to sit next to each other or talk except for the drive out there.

7. Ride bikes/exercise more

8. Play more with the dogs - they are feeling pretty neglected right now, and rightfully so, it's just been so cold and windy to go out and play.

I'm sure we'll be revising these goals as we go along, but that's enough to get started. Wish us luck.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Dave woke up a few minutes earlier than the girls and went downstairs to start making breakfast. Since Katelyn was born, she has woken up "starving" and can't do anything else until she's eaten. And surprisingly she wasn't the first one awake either. Kelsey heard Dave downstairs and we told them last night they weren't allowed to go downstairs until we were all awake. She did have to check the tree first to see if Santa really came or not before coming in our bed to wait for Katelyn to wake up. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long. While waiting for breakfast the girls went through their stockings and Katelyn wouldn't eat any candy until she had breakfast first. Quite a difference from last year since all our pictures of her have chocolate running down her chin.

The best we could get with their matching flannel Princess jammis. They were just too excited to hold still long enough.

The loot!!

Katelyn's first present to open was this.

Her very own pink gun!! She opened it and said it was Kelsey's until Dave told her it was her own!! And then she wouldn't let it out of her hands to go on to the next.

Once out of the box, we couldn't get her to look at the camera. She kept saying cheese, but not looking at all.

Kelsey picked her first present to open and she got a scooter. Since Katelyn got hers for her birthday it's been a fight every time of who gets to ride it. And Kelsey is so excited to have her own.

We couldn't get it out of the box fast enough before she was off and riding it all over the house.

And the best part - it's pink.

After dragging them back over to the tree and presents, it was time for the Santa gifts.

Katelyn got her long awaited baby with a brand new stroller, infant seat, and cradle.

Taking her baby for a walk. Isn't she a great little mom?

And Kelsey got a camera. Hallelujah!! Now I can have mine back and she can take her own pictures whenever she wants.

We had to put batteries in it immediately and she became the photographer for the rest of the Christmas presents!!

Katelyn also got a dollhouse and Kelsey got a leapster. She played with her cousin's all during Thanksgiving and was so excited hers was pink. Do you see a pattern here?!

Before she opened it, we told her which one was hers and she screamed with excitement, "The big one?"
Katelyn playing with her whole set up.

As for Dave and I, his were pretty boring, new things for the bishopric, like long sleeve shirts, cuff links and a new wallet. He also got a big butcher block for making bread. For me, I got a bunch of Shannon Hale books and the best present ever - he had his brother print up the blog. So over 400 pages later it's bound and saved!! It's what the girls picked to give me and it's perfect. For the family we decided to get Playstation 3 for the blu-ray player. This is something Dave's wanted for over a year now and so we decided rather than getting anything big for each other, we did that together and got a bunch of games and blu-ray movies. Isn't it ironic now that he's in the bishopric, he's not going to have a lot of time to use it!! Looks like Christmas was a success.

We hope you all have a happy and healthy Merry Christmas.