Saturday, May 5, 2012

Here We Go

I have been inspired to start blogging again - I look at my daughters and realize how fast time flies....how many of the things we are doing right now might not seem that important, but being able to look back at them a year or 10 years from now will be important.

The last time I blogged I talked about myself. I AM one of my favorite subjects, but I might hold off on my all-about-me post until later.

Now, onto the girls. Gracie and Whitney will be finishing the 2nd grade in another month. I cannot believe how quickly the school year has gone - this year of school has not been all it was cracked up to be. The girls requested different teachers and they got them. The teachers they started out with are now not their current teachers (but both girls are still in different classes).

First Day of School


I didn't realize that the "drama" that comes along with being a girl started so very early. They are both doing well in their classes - both have their own B.F.F.'s along with each other and both have requested to be in the SAME class next year. Jeremy has reminded me REPEATEDLY that he thought it was a dumb idea in the first place to have them in separate classes and "Maybe next time you will just listen to me...." I tune out after the beginning of that statement because he says it so often. It is hard being the lone wolf in a house full of chicks.

Gracie & Mr. Jacobson (he transferred in January and we dearly miss him!)
Whitney, Tricia and Gracie

The twins were baptized on February 4th. It was one of the best days of my life. I couldn't help but reflect on the sweetness of their spirits and all of the amazing experiences I'd had because I have the privelege of being their mother. And everyone is right - they do grow up too fast. They are now counting the years until they get to be in YW and do baptisms for others. Then they ask me how old will I be when they are 12, and then I tell them that we don't need to worry about that right now (38!).




Gracie and Whitney played basketball this past winter. They were on a great team, learned a lot, had fun and won the championship. They each scored a basket this season which was a big stinkin' deal - I'm convinced that their athleticism will not truly kick in until they are around 14 (which I reminded Jeremy of REPEATEDLY during each game). They are taking the summer off from basketball and will be on a city swim team which they are really excited about.



This has been a big year for Olivia too. She is almost finished with her first year of preschool and has had so much fun. She is such a funny little girl. She is full of kisses and hugs for me each morning and she always asks me what we are doing that day. "Mom, we going to the gym today?", "Mom, I going to preschool?", "Mom, we going to Target? I need to look at the toys."

First Day of Preschool

Just being herself
If Olivia could live on chocolate milk, peanut butter sandwiches, corn dogs and gogurt she would be a happy girl. At least 2 or 3 times a week she will ask for a corn dog for breakfast and then gives me a sigh when I tell her we don't have corn dogs for breakfast.

She went into Sunbeams at the beginning of the year and she loves it. She will come home and tell us all about the things Jesus created. The week they learned about the Holy Ghost was a memorable one for me. I was taking Olivia to co-op and it was at a house I hadn't been to before. I was reading the street signs out loud and kind of having a running commentary about where we should turn, etc.
Olivia: Mom, I knew that we were supposed to turn here!"

Me: You did? How did you know that?

Olivia: The Holy Ghost told me. He tells me what to do and that Jesus loves me.

Seriously melted my heart.

We are heading to Disneyland in a couple of weeks and at least once or twice a day Olivia will ask us what our favorite ride at Disneyland is and then proceed to tell us her favorite ride (she was 2 the last time we went & her memories are closely related to the pictures from our trip) - she has been doing this for the past 2 months. I think she might pass out from the excitement when we actually get there.
Disneyland 2010

Friday, July 8, 2011

Brag About It

A little over 2 years ago I was absolutely hiding from my life.....in my brown-brown shirt, purple cut-off shorts and my misters work shirts





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This morning I hopped on the scale KNOWING that I had finally reached another goal in my looong journey of becoming the me that is living my life on purpose and with purpose...and a lot of that has had to do with my continuing weight loss. I am officially down 81 pounds!!! I have not been this small since our last year in Albuquerque a little over 9 years ago. I just wanted to share a couple of pictures taken by my Whitney of me 2 1/2 pounds ago right before Jer and I headed out to the temple:



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See you in another 10 = )

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Happy Birthday Dear Livvy

Olivia turned 3 on June 2nd. We still refer to her as "the baby" and I wonder, if we don't end up having any other kids, we will always call her this? Livvy ended up having an "extended" birthday this year. Jeremy was out of town on business and didn't get home until way past the kids bedtime on her actualy birthday, so on the morning of her big day she opened her gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Van Dyke, Grandma Holt, the twins and couple from me and Jer.




On Saturday we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese - she has been asking to go there for the past 2 months and we promised her we'd go, and we promised ourselves that we wouldn't eat there - total win/win for everyone.  We went at 10:30 in the morning and it was practically empty, Jeff & Melinda, Jen & Jay and all their kids joined us.  Livvy had so much fun....





Melinda and Jen decided to battle it out on Dance Dance Revolution....

Her dinosaur cake

Second round of opening presents - we swam all afternoon, had a great bbq and then cake and ice cream and Jeff and Melinda's (thanks guys)



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Happy Birthday love bug! You are such a funny little girl. We all love you so much!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Perfect Saturday.....

We started yesterday with a trip to the mechanic for Jeremy's car (which wasn't so perfect, but that's okay) and stopped for breakfast from McDonald's which was pretty great (Sausage McMuffin? Yes please!) Then we headed over to the park for an Easter egg hunt that one of the girls in our ward organized. The kids had a lot of fun and so did we.......

Whitney and her friend Abby
Where is Livvy?
They had a bunch of eggs on the grass and then up on the hill - I made the twins head for the hill because they were some of the oldest ones there
We invited Jeff and Melinda
and this is little Gwyneth
Whitney being a cheese ball
Livvy with her basket - she loved finding her eggs
Showing their eggs to Cooper's mom Laura
Zachy's haul
The girls showing their eggs to my friend Joanne (our primary president)
Me and Sweetie Pie
The girls
The Family (thanks Melinda for making Jer hop in the pic)

A perfect Saturday in Vegas must include swimming, and so we did!  Jeff and Melinda had the pool heated up and all the kids got in for some fun

Livvy actually only got in and sat on the top 2 steps - I think it will take her a couple of more times to actually remember how much she loves the water = )
Whit is a little bit obsessed with Gwynnie and asked if she could hold her - Melinda and I were getting dinner ready and saw this:


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We didn't have dinner until bedtime for the twins but it was worth having the burgers off of Jeffs new charcoal grill and we just sat outside and enjoyed a great night....Then I headed home with Livvy while the girls, Jer, Jeff and Brady got in the pool and didn't get home until almost 10.  Perfect.