We are Alive I Promise

So I have a lot of updating to do- trip to Park City, Jonathan's birthday, Abigale's birthday and Dora party, Halloween, pumpkin patch, etc. but blogger is not letting me upload my pictures. We just got a new camera (the main reason I have been missing from blogger- no camera so no pictures for a few weeks) and it is having a hard time recognizing the pictures or something. So stay tuned for lots of updates soon including our trip this weekend to Utah and Lydia's first birthday!

Trip Home to Pocatello

A few weeks ago, I took the girls and went to my parents house in Pocatello. I planned the trip to see my sister, who flew home from Chicago, and also to go to my cousin's wedding. We had a really fun and packed week and it was so great to see my sister with her cute belly (she is having a boy in December) and just relax and of course eat a lot of good food! We started at the Eastern Idaho State Fair which was full of good food (tiger ears- YUM!) and also animals which was Abigale's favorite.
Checking out the rides:

Lydia really wanted to get this ostrich while her sister was in the petting zoo. She kept yelling at it and reaching for it.

She loved feeding the animals

This duck snapped at her finger and she thought it was hilarious:

Papa and Abigale on a kangaroo ride. She loved the rides but she couldnt stop talking about the rides at Disneyland and wanted to go back.

We spent the rest of the week helping Papa mow the lawn:

Watching BYU football:

Spending time with family (Jeffrey, my cute pregnant sister, and my grandma and grandpa):

Made dry apples:

We made three cute halloween pillows (which I am still working on finishing): Watched movies on the laptop with Nana (Abigale was obsessed with watching Frosty the Snowman and I love Lydia's smile in this pic):

Our last night all together we made a fire in the fire pit and cooked spacemaker sandwiches. It was a beautiful night and Abigale couldnt get enough of all the attention. Poor Uncle Jeffrey had a little shadow all week but he was so great with her and Abigale had a blast:

It was also Jeffrey's birthday the day after they left so we surprised him with chocolate molten cake and as you can tell he was thrilled and surprised:

Abigale is lucky to have such a fun and crazy uncle who will play her games. I think he had playdough on his eyes or something:

Jonathan came for the last few days so that we could celebrate our 5 year anniversary together while my mom watched the kids (more on that later). We also took the kids to a petting zoo/park and then out for ice cream. It was a great ending to an amazing vacation.

Looking at the puppies:

LOVE this picture:

Family shot:

Our Sweet Little Lydia

I know it has been awhile since I posted but I wanted to dedicate a post to Lydia for my own rememberance so this might be really boring for most of you. Sorry in advance.

Anyway, Lydia is almost 10 months old and is still our little sweetheart but her personality is definitely becoming more apparent. She went to the doctor last week and she is no longer in the 98th percentile for weight! Here are her stats:

Weight: 21.3 lbs (85th %)

Height: 28.5 in (75th %)

More facts about Lydia:

-She is a little tease and will hold toys out for her sister and when Abigale tries to take it she will put it behind her back and smile.

-She just started to crawl (finally!) and can pull herself onto her knees and every once in awhile all the way to her feet

-When she is tired she gets delirious and will laugh so hard at anything and everything.

-Obviously she loves food. She is not picky and will eat anything you put in front of her and lots of it. I can never tell when she is full because she just keeps eating so I have to just cut her off.

- She is a great sleeper. She takes two naps a day like clockwork and usually both are for 2 hours or longer. She sleeps 10-12 hours straight almost every night but every once in awhile wakes up in the night. It is usually when her belly is hurting and as soon as i feed her she goes right back to sleep.

- When she wants to be put in her crib to sleep she will push away from me and arch her back.

- She only has her two bottom teeth.

- For some reason when she first sees someone she knows (grandparents, especially) she gets really nervous and starts to cry but after about 5 minutes she is fine. Just needs a little warming up.

- Whenever music comes on she starts swinging her hands and bouncing up and down.

- She always has a runny nose and her hair is almost always in her face because she likes to pull her hair things out.

- If she wants attention she will make grunting noises until you look at her and then she will just smile at you.

These are just a few things that came to mind about our Lydia that I dont want to forget. She is such a doll and we love having her in our family.

Camping

On our way home from Utah, we stopped in Pocatello and Jonathan dropped the girls and I off while he continued to Boise to head back to work. We then went with my parents to a family reunion. Besides the killer mosquitoes, it was fun to be camping again. (Well, kind of camping since we stayed at a nearby hotel, but that is besides the point). Abigale loved swimming all day in the hot pools and loved roasting marshmellows and it is always fun to catch up with the family. Abigale and my cousin's daughter Alexis became fast friends. Alexis was so sweet with her and they had a lot of fun swimming together. Our water baby

Hiding from the camera, thanks for encouraging it Dad!

It is not real camping unless there is a card game going.

UTAH!

We moved away from Utah over a year ago and we finally made it back! We had such a fun time with Jonathan's family and we kept saying that it felt like we had never left. We spent a full week there and enjoyed every second. We went to the zoo, Thanksgiving Point, jumped on the trampoline, played with the dog, went to the movie, went to the new Draper temple, shopped at IKEA, went to Park City and the outlet malls, and visited BYU just to name a few. We definitely took advantage of having so many babysitters. Thanks again! It was such a fun trip and since we realized the drive wasn't nearly as bad as we thought, we can't wait to go back! Sorry but there are a lot of pictures.

The Zoo:

Thanksgiving Point: Abigale loved the farm animals.Lydia was just happy.So last year we took Abigale to the fair and tried to get her to ride the horses and she screamed and screamed but she was not afraid this time! She loved riding the horses and kept wanting to do it again and again. What a difference a year makes. Lydia loved it too but she really just wanted to pull the horses hair.

She wanted to ride the biggest horseThanks Grandma and Aunt Lindsey!

Back to BYU! I wanted to take more pictures but our camera died of course. It was strange to be back and we loved our time here but it felt so nice walking on campus and not as students!Enjoying the ice cream and yes I chopped my hair!We made a stop at the Bean Museum and this was always one of Abigale's favorite displays.We also spent a lot of time trying to get Lydia to crawl because Grandma did not want to miss it but this is as close as she got. BTW she still is not crawling! She did learn how to clap and it is adorable!
She may look sad here but really she was laughing. She loved the dog, almost as much as Abigale!

First Haircut!

We finally did it! We cut Abigale's long beautiful hair. It was just getting so long and harder and harder to get Abigale to let us do it and wash it. Abigale's good friend Maeley also wanted a haircut so we took the girls to a really cute place called Monkey Dooz. It was really cute and a lot of fun. I will admit that it was sad to see my little girl's hair cut off and I did not like how her bangs were cut or how her hair was curled but I am used to it now and it is so much easier. Looking at these pictures it is funny because we cut her hair about a month ago, before our trip to Utah (more posts on that to come) and her hair as already grown so much.

After her last bath with long hair:Look how long it is:

She got to sit in a Barbie chair and watch Little Mermaid. I was afraid she would be nervous but she did awesome!

This was her face the entire time. I dont think she knew what to think. The two models and best buds!

Her she is on the fourth of July so you can see it has grown quite a bit already!

What a week!

Last week was soo much fun. I love this time of year; BBQ's, picnics, boating, vacations, etc.

Last Friday we had an end of the year party for Abigale's preschool by having a picnic at Settler's Park. The park is a lot of fun. It has water fountains and a huge playground. We were not able to stay as long as we would have liked because of other plans, but it was a great way to end preschool for the summer. (Not the best pics, but you get the idea)

Last Saturday, our friends were nice enough to invite us to go boating with them and it was a blast. Jonathan was so happy to be on the water again and I am happy I survived the tubes without killing myself. We were all a little sore the next day but it was well worth it. Abigale loved the boat but did not like the life jacket and Lydia is the most easy going baby that she just smiled the whole time and took a nice nap.

Abigale and her friend Maeley in their "umbrella fort"

Jonathan somehow talked Abigale into getting in the tube and she liked it until water got in her face: The three stooges!

Yes, that is me in the middle! (Thanks Holly for the pictures)Last Sunday, my parents came over for dinner and that is always a treat! We have learned that we cannot tell Abigale they are coming until five minutes before they come or else she just sits in front of the window and asks us every 5 seconds when they are coming. The weather was perfect and we loved playing outside.

I LOVE this pictureAbigale flexing her muscles I have to thank my parents this last week for babysitting so much for us! On Wednesday, Abigale stayed the night at their house so that I could go to my friends birthday party at a fondue restaurant (yummy!!) and Jonathan went to his friends house with Lydia. Thursday, they babysat some more so that we could go the temple (it had been too long!) and on Friday night they came over so that we could go play lazer tag and hang out with a group of friends. I feel like we neglected our children all week but I know Abigale loved it and hopefully it was fun for them too!

After the crazy week this is how I found Abigale and Jonathan Saturday night and I had to take pictures!

I just noticed that I am not really in any of the pics so here is one of me to show that I am alive! (Yes, Lydia is bigger then Abigale!)