Happy Birthday!

These last few weeks princesses have taken a backseat to Hello Kitty. After two years, I can't say I mind the distraction.

She picked out this hair styling Ariel on her birthday. Its a little weird to see her tucking a giant head into bed at night, but I thought it was cute when I caught them snuggling on the couch!

I think Molly enjoyed the cake more then her sister...

Her big present this year was her new big girl bike. She has been asking for weeks if she could go to the toy store to ride this bike around the store. After a few times of that we decided she probably was ready to pass the trike off to Molly.

Sisterly love!

You have grown up so much this year and we are so proud of you! You are such a sweet sister and wonderful daughter. You keep us all smiling! Happy birthday little girl. We love you!

Dancing Queen

A Very Merry Unbirthday

Last week my parents were in town for a few days on their way back from Trinidad. For the past few years we've just happened to have the family together during Ella's birthday. This year, we decided to keep the tradition alive, even though we were a couple weeks shy of her actual birthday. It was a great day, even if it did wear us all out. And nobody was happier then the birthday girl.

We took a trip to the Park of Roses. All of the roses were fully in bloom. It was beautiful!

Molly has had this phobia of all living animals for awhile now, so I was a little concerned at how she would handle the zoo. She surprised us all, she loved it! She is still terrified of dogs though. Go figure.

We even got Molly into the petting zoo. It was an unbirthday miracle. This was the only time she got anywhere near any of the animals, though.

Grandmom and Molly in front of a huge, inflatable frog...

The birthday girl at Graeters.

My parents had gone six long months without good mexican food...

All tuckered out after a long, busy day.

They recently got new rides at the zoo. Ella and Molly both loved them. When Ella would go on the 'big girl rides' Molly would stand outside the gate reaching her little arms through and saying "More".

Eeewww....

Trinidad

We just got back from our trip to Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday. It was amazing! We had such a great time. It was fun and relaxing and everything a vacation should be, but rarely ever is! Thank you, thank you to my parents for flying us down there, and to Todd's mom for watching the girls so we could have a week to ourselves. We are so blessed!

Enjoying sand and surf at the beach in Trinidad. I tried a little body surfing, but usually just ended up with a nose full of sea water.

This is a beautiful shot going over the mountains on our way to the beach.

We went to Pitch Lake while we were there. It is a huge natural tar pit. It was really interesting. I guess China is getting all of their tar from Trinidad that they need for the Olympics. So while you are watching the Olympics, you can think of me... :)

We also went to the Floating Temple. It was supposed to be this temple built on a little island surrounded by water. But the tide was out so far you couldn't even see where the water started. That might have made it a little more impressive. But we were able to snag a couple of really cool pots that people throw out into the ocean after they worship. The tide brought them all up to the shore. I'm not sure if we were supposed to do that, but it was cool.

Here is a picture of us on the shore by the Floating Temple.

This a picture of my little brother Isaac. He went to a Hindu school while they were living there. The people were so nice and threw him a big going away party when he left. They made an authentic Indian meal for all of us. It was really good. They don't use silverware. I somehow managed to eat it all without spilling it on myself, but not without spilling it on Todd. His school is just made of cinderblock that was open to the outside, and it is just one large room where the classes are seperated by a chalkboard. It was a very different experience for him.

We took this picture while we were in Tobago. My parents flew us over there for three days. Todd brought bread out to feed the fish. He thought that was very cool.

The sunset right outside our hotel.

This was the view from our room.

This is a picture of all of us enjoying the sand bar in Tobago. Its supposedly the fourth wonder of the world. But its way out in the middle of the ocean, and the water only comes up to your waist. It is surrounded by coral reefs, which we got to see when we were out on the glass bottomed boat. Its the coral that makes the water so clear.

A picture of our hotel.

Todd outside our hotel.

We rented jet skis one day and took them out to the sand bar. It was awesome. We also got to snorkel while we were out there. Hence the snorkeling gear.

It was neat to be able to experience both islands. Tobago was really gorgeous. And Trinidad really made me appreciate how very blessed we are to live in the United States. The people there were wonderful. But it was good to get home. I was starting to miss my girlies. I came back rejuvenated and ready to be the world's greatest mom. But they were ready for me. I think they were great for Todd's mom, and then saved up all the whining and crying especially for me. Or they are trying to punish me for leaving them. Either way, life is back to normal. At least I have the pictures.

A to Z about me

A- Attached or Single?
Attached
B-Best Friend? Kara. We've been BF's for about 16 years now.
C-Cake or pie? Both.. (that's my sweet tooth talking)
D-Day of choice? Wednesday. Todd's home.
E-Essential Item? snacks in my diaperbag!
F-Favorite color? yellow. It reminds me of summer.
G-Gummy bears or worms? Gummy bears.
H-Home town? Puyallup, WA
I-Favorite indulgence? Body Pump at the gym
J-January or July? Definitely July
K-Kids? Two girlies.
L-Life isn't complete without? My family.
M-Marriage date?May 3rd, 2003
N-Number of brothers and sisters? Three brothers
O-Oranges or Apples? Apples
P-Phobias? Spiders. They give me the heebie jeebies.
Q-Quote? Better late then never. :)
R-Reasons to smile? My girls
S-Season of choice? Spring and summer. What can I say, I worship the sun.
T-Tag 3 people: Kara, Terra and Jamie
U-Unknown fact about me? I like cemeteries. Is that weird?
V-Vegetable? Love them all.
W-Worst habit? I love reading junk magazines in the checkout lane.
X-Xray or Ultrasound? That would definitely have to be seeing my baby on at ultrasound.
Y-Your favorite food? Chocolate chip cookies
Z-Zodiac sign: Scorpio

Uncle Matt's Wedding

This weekend we got to go to Pennsylvania to watch Todd's brother Matt marry his sweetheart, Natina. Molly had so many cameras pointed at her this weekend that by Sunday, if she just saw one she would sit right down and say "Eeese!" It was so cute. Ella spent about 90% of the time coloring. Its her new passion. The girls had a nice time getting to know all their cousins. We wish we were all closer! Thank you to the Bradshaw's for putting us up for the weekend! We had a great time. But its nice to be back on a schedule. Molly took a four hour nap today!

Letterboxing

This Sunday was Stake Conference, so we got out of church at 2:30. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon by letterboxing. For those of you who have never heard of it, allow me to introduce you. Its kind of like a treasure hunt. You go to the website, www.letterboxing.org. You can put in where you live, and it will pull up a whole list of letterboxes near you. Then it will give you a list of instructions on how to find each one. I think anyone can hide one. Some of them have funny stories or poems in them. Anyway, you follow the clues, and it will lead you to a box that is hidden in a tree stump or under a rock. Inside is a stamp and notepad. You bring along your own stamp and notepad, and you put your stamp in their book, and you stamp theirs in your notebook and log the day you were there. Ella thinks it is so cool to be able to find this 'treasure'. What I love about it is that you discover all these cool out of the way parks and trails and nature preserves that you never would have found otherwise. One of them we did today led us to this really cool path through a ravine with a waterfall and little bridges. So if you like walking, hiking, the outdoors, treasure hunts, spending quality time with your family, or trying new things... I definitely suggest giving it a try. Our family really loves it. Its a really fun, not to mention free, activity for the whole family.

The ones that we did today took us through Clintonville. It is the neatest little town! There are a ton of neighborhoods with older homes full of personality. I love it. I had to take a picture of this one house, because I fell in love with it. How cute is that?

The second picture is kind of hard to see, but it was a nest of baby robins. If you look really closely on the left side of the nest you can see the little head and beak of one of the little birds. I think I get a little too excited about those kind of things. :)

Molly has been exerting her independence a little more then I would like at her age. Today, she decided she wanted to wear her (dirty) Dora pajamas. She literally screamed and threw herself on the floor when I tried to change her. I decided it wouldn't kill her, or me, to take her out into public with dirty pajamas on this once. And what do you know, I was right. Not the cutest for pictures though.