January 22nd- January 28th 2012

Saturday night I did a lot of preparation so we could be on time for church. I cleaned the house, got our church bag ready with our church books, kids toys and snacks, I wrote our tithing check, and got out clothes for the girls... and Ryan and I got up a 1/2hr earlier than we usually do.. all with the intention of it helping us to be a little early. But even after all that preparation, we were still late. We tried though. Maybe next week we will get up an hour earlier. All the talks and lessons today were about preparedness and agency. They seemed to be timely talks. Something that we needed to hear. I keep thinking about Ryan's experience with his temple recommend and how important it is to be aware of what is going on in our lives and to be prepared. And agency, it wasn't 'free'. Someone who loves us very much paid a great price for us to be able to choose what we will do here on earth. When I heard that, I thought, when someone gives us a gift we want to show respect for the item and take good care of it because that person spent money for it and they were gracious enough to give us something. So, I figured I should have that same attitude towards the decisions I make, my agency. Someone made the ultimate sacrifice for me to have agency so I should take great care for it.

Ryan has made a goal to do better in his calling so he made it a priority to go to BYC. It's always hard to have him gone doing other things, but I know it's what he is supposed to be doing so I will try hard to support him! Of course as soon as he leaves the house it seems like things get tough. It seems as if the girls cry a little more, fight a little more and just flat out become a little more difficult. I just try to remind myself that there has to be some blessing waiting for us because Ryan is fulfilling his calling, right?!

Monday we went to Layton Surf and Swim for family night. We drove by the place earlier in the day and it sounded like fun. Who thought swimming in the middle of winter would be fun?! It was fun to get out and try something new. However, the water was cold and the girls weren't too into it. We only stayed for about a half hour and that was long enough for us!

On Tuesday Ryan and I both made an effort to run. I started off with run on our way to the popcorn store. I ran 1 mile from our house to Layton High where Ryan was waiting for me. After we cleaned the popcorn store, I dropped Ryan off at Layton High and he ran home from there. It was only a mile for both of us, but I guess 1 mile is better than 0 miles!

On Wednesday it was our turn to have preschool at our house. Kailee was totally excited for her friends to come to our house. She was excited to have them play with her toys and jump in her bounce house. Our lesson for school was on sharing and being kind so that worked out perfect for her to want to share her toys! I read a cute story about sharing and then I pulled out 1 ball and had them practice sharing with each other. For our craft, I had made a paper that read "Nice hands share. I have nice hands, so I will share!" Then we used finger paints to put their handprint on the paper. I thought it turned out good and they seemed to enjoy it. Since playtime with 8 kids stresses me out, I made rice krispy treats to share with them. (That way we only had about 10 minutes to play in my itty bitty house!!)! Worked out pretty good. That night I was laying in bed with Kailee and she said "my friends are going to come over again." Aahh! Cute!! I like that she enjoys being social and having little people over, but I felt bad because I never make the effort to have anyone over to play with her. I can't decide if it's ok that she doesn't have playdates right now or if that is something that I should be focusing on a little more..?

We had Activity Days on Wednesday too. Crystal Alvord was in charge of the activity this time. She talked about Family History and had the girls do a family tree. We got them started on filling out some of the information, but sent it home with them to complete it. They were asked to finish the family trees and then come back with a story about an ancestor too. Once they did that, they could pass off one of their requirements. Hopefully they do it. After Activity Days, we rushed to the popcorn store to get it cleaned. We stopped to grab something to eat on the way home and Ryan went to Young Mens. Wow, what a busy day! Before we started to get ready for bed, I gave the girls both a melatonin. I watched Ellie eat hers and then walked off. Later I asked Kailee what she did with hers and she said she gave it to Ellie. Nice! Ellie had a double- dose. Sometimes I wonder why I am allowed to have children. Who gives their kids medicine and doesn't make sure they take it. Good thing it was just a small dose and couldn't hurt her. Ugh.

Ryan and I went on a date Friday night to the Brad Paisley Concert. Oh how I love concerts! I love them!

His opening act was Scotty McCreery the 2011 (?) American Idol winner. I don't watch American Idol and had no idea who Scotty McCreery was. I wasn't even that excited to see him, but his songs were good and he was fun to see. I absolutely loved one of his songs called Dirty Dishes.

Mama hollers "Supper time,

And don't make me tell you twice

Wash your hands and wipe your face.

The table's no place for your toys,

And try to use your inside voice,

Don't dig in 'til we say Grace."

So we put down our forks and bowed our heads

And then she prayed the strangest prayer ever said:

"I wanna thank You Lord,

For noisy children and slamming doors,

And clothes scattered all over the floor,

My husband workin' all the time,

Draggin' in dead tired at night,

My never ending messy kitchen

And dirty dishes."

We all got real still and quiet,

And daddy asked "Hon, are you alright?"

She said, "Dear, ain't nothing wrong,

Noisy kids are happy kids,

And slamming doors just means we live,

In a warm and loving home,

Your long hours and those dishes in the sink,

Means a job and enough to eat.

So I'm gonna thank You Lord,

For noisy children and slamming doors,

And clothes scattered all over the floor,

A husband workin' all the time,

Draggin' in dead tired at night,

A never ending messy kitchen

For my little busy bees

Beggin' mama, mama can we please?

Always wantin' me to call their name

Loads of laundry pilin' up

Crayons crushed into the rug

And those little sticky kisses

And dirty dishes,

And dirty dishes..."

I LOVE that song. How true. Sometimes it's hard and frustrating to have screaming babies, dirty diapers, lots of laundry, sticky floors, lots of dishes and sleepless nights, but it is so fun and so worth it. Good song! and fun date!

Saturday I woke up feeling awful. I tried to get myself going but I was struggling. I spent the morning in the tub, on the potty and laying in bed. Grandma Kate had planned an Ice Skating party for all of us and I was not finding the desire to go. I so badly wanted to stay home in bed, but I didn't want my family to go without me. So Ryan went to the store to grab some pepto, I got ready and we went. I actually started to feel a little bit better and had a pretty good time. Ryan pulled Kailee around the ice a few times and Ellie and I mostly hung out on the sidelines visiting with the others who were resting from skating. We stayed at the Ice Skating rink for a couple hours and then went back to Grandma Kate's house for Chili, Hot Chocolate and smores. At one point Ellie was standing by the back door and fell down the steep basement stairs when someone opened the door. Thankfully Sean was standing nearby and ran after her. The poor girl tumbled down the whole flight of stairs. That girl falls a lot. Thankfully she has not been seriously hurt. Not yet anyways.

Other 'Happenings' this week:

This week Kailee and Ellie were playing together in the bathroom and I heard Kailee say, "Ellie you go in that room and I am going to close the door and you stay in their for two minutes!" That made me giggle. That's what I tell her when she is in trouble and has to go sit in her room! I must say that to her a lot! It sure was funny to hear her repeat what I say.

Ellie has been talking like crazy this week. She says hold you, up, down, nana for banana, I want daddt and she she sings ABC. She is starting to repeat a lot of what we say too!

January 15th- January 21st 2012

What a fun week we had! On Monday we went to lunch with my mom to Olive Garden. The food was yummy and the girls weren't too bad. Afterwards, we went over to Buy Direct so she could look at flooring. I am getting so excited for her. She goes back and forth on what she wants, but I am sure she will eventually decide on something good. I wish it was our house that we were getting new flooring for. Oh the dream!

On Wednesday, Kailee had school at Jonah Knapps house and it was my turn to stay to help. I like it when Kailee has school, but I don't look forward to the days when it's my turn to help or to have the school at our house. It's nicer when someone else does all the work. Nice, huh?! They learned about honesty. It seemed like a really hard concept for 2 years old kids to understand. Andie talked to them about Honest Abe (Abraham Lincoln) and had them color a picture of him. I think they were more interested in playing with the toys when the lesson was over! I had a good time talking with Andie and getting to know her a little bit better.

On Friday we went to lunch with Grandma Colleen, Jolie and Tawnie at Cafe Zupas. The food was good and we had a fun time. There were 6 of our kids there, and it was crazy, but it was still fun. When Ryan got off work we met him at Ikea so we could pick up the TV stand that we have been wanting. We got in, looked at the model on the floor to make sure we wanted that one, picked it up from the warehouse and we were off. As soon as we got home Ryan set it up and I am really excited out it. It will probably be one that we will keep. ( I am sure Ryan is hoping so anyway!) We didn't get the whole set, just the TV stand. Hopefully one day we will get the other pieces. It's soooo pretty!

Our cute Ellie has started to feed herself. Of course she is still learning and it's still a struggle for her, but she tries. And, it's cute!

On Saturday Ryan was supposed to go to the Jordan Temple to do baptisms with the Young Men and Women. He got all ready to go and asked me to grab his recommend for him. As I went to grab it, I realized we hadn't been in to renew them, so it was probably expired. When I looked at it, my heart sunk. I encouraged Ryan to run over to the church to see if the Bishop was there to do a quick interview. I keep hoping that Ryan would call and say he got it taken care of and was on his way with the group. Instead, he came home and said the Bishop said it wouldn't do any good because it takes the church a day or two to get the information added to the system. Bummer. I felt so bad for him and he was discouraged too. Sometimes it seems so hard. He wanted to go, had his heart in the right place, but wasn't able to do it. It did teach us a lesson though that we need to be prepared for things. We should have checked our recommends earlier to make sure they weren't expired. Better luck next time I guess.  Ryan loaded up the TV stand and end tables we had bought from DownEast exactly a year ago and returned them to the store since we found the other one and Ikea that we like more. We spent the rest of the day doing things around the house and running errands.

It seems like Ellie has started to say a lot this week! She has added down, up, cheese, ice (for water) and help to her vocabulary!

The following story was posted on Facebook this week and I really liked it. It really hit home for me right now in this stage of my life. Being a stay at home mom with two little-itty- bitty kids isn't always easy. Sometimes I feel bad admitting that there are days that I wish would go by a little quicker. This story totally made sense to me and made me feel more comfortable with how I feel.

Don't Carpe Diem
By Glennon Melton- blogger, Momastery

Every time I'm out with my kids -- this seems to happen:

An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, "Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast."

Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.

I know that this message is right and good. But, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn't work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong.

I think parenting young children (and old ones, I've heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they've heard there's magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it's hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.

And so I think that if there were people stationed, say, every thirty feet along Mount Everest yelling to the climbers -- "ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF!? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD BE! ONE DAY YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN'T!" TRUST US!! IT'LL BE OVER TOO SOON! CARPE DIEM!" -- those well-meaning, nostalgic cheerleaders might be physically thrown from the mountain.

Now. I'm not suggesting that the sweet old ladies who tell me to ENJOY MYSELF be thrown from a mountain. These are wonderful ladies. Monkees, probably. But last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: "Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast."

At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn't find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, "Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you."

That's not exactly what I wanted to say, though.

There was a famous writer who, when asked if he loved writing, replied, "No. but I love having written." What I wanted to say to this sweet woman was, "Are you sure? Are you sure you don't mean you love having parented?"

I love having written. And I love having parented. My favorite part of each day is when the kids are put to sleep (to bed) and Craig and I sink into the couch to watch some quality TV, like Celebrity Wife Swap, and congratulate each other on a job well done. Or a job done, at least.

Every time I write a post like this, I get emails suggesting that I'm being negative. I have received this particular message four or five times -- G, if you can't handle the three you have, why do you want a fourth?

That one always stings, and I don't think it's quite fair. Parenting is hard. Just like lots of important jobs are hard. Why is it that the second a mother admits that it's hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she's not doing it right? Or that she certainly shouldn't add more to her load. Maybe the fact that it's so hard means she IS doing it right...in her own way...and she happens to be honest.

Craig is a software salesman. It's a hard job in this economy. And he comes home each day and talks a little bit about how hard it is. And I don't ever feel the need to suggest that he's not doing it right, or that he's negative for noticing that it's hard, or that maybe he shouldn't even consider taking on more responsibility. And I doubt anybody comes by his office to make sure he's ENJOYING HIMSELF. I doubt his boss peeks in his office and says: "This career stuff...it goes by so fast...ARE YOU ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT IN THERE, CRAIG???? CARPE DIEM, CRAIG!"

My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn't enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn't in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn't MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I'd wake up and the kids would be gone, and I'd be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.

But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here's what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:

"It's helluva hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime." And hopefully, every once in a while, I'll add -- "Let me pick up that grocery bill for ya, sister. Go put those kids in the van and pull on up -- I'll have them bring your groceries out."

Anyway. Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn't work for me. I can't even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.

Here's what does work for me:

There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there's Kairos time. Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Like when I actually stop what I'm doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can't hear her because all I can think is -- This is the first time I've really seen Tish all day, and my God -- she is so beautiful. Kairos.

Like when I'm stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I'm haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I'm transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I'll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world's mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.

Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.

These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.

If I had a couple Kairos moments during the day, I call it a success.

Carpe a couple of Kairoses a day.

Good enough for me.

January 8th- January 14th 2012

On Sunday we skipped our Stake Conference and took a trip down to Ikea to look for a new TV stand. While we were there Kailee was out of the stroller walking around. Even though we asked her not to touch things, she picked up a glass jar by the lid. The lid came off and the jar crashed to the floor. Poor Kailee was   visibly upset at what she had done. I picked her up and told her that because she didn't listen to us she had to sit in her stroller. As soon as she got in the stroller she broke down crying. Ryan and I both felt so bad for her. Ryan was a little more sympathetic than I was and he took her out of the stroller. I wasn't sure what to think about that. I saw it as, we told her not to touch anything, she did, broke something and needed to pay the consequences. Ryan felt like she felt really bad about breaking the jar and had already learned her lesson.  Mmmmm. What do you do in a situation like that. Oh boy, it's just beginning. Hopefully one day we will be able to figure it out!

Ellie Belly had her 15 month old Dr. Appt with Dr. Fruin on Monday. Ryan is working  in Ogden this week training so he wasn't able to make it to the appt. Thank goodness both girls were really good for me. Sometimes I think they listen to me better and are easier when Dad is gone. Why is that?
These are Ellie's stats at 15 months:
Weight 21lbs 14oz- 35%
Length: 32 1/4"-  95%
Head: 18"-  45%
The poor girl also had to get shots. She wasn't happy about that at all. I talked to the Dr. about her not sleeping. She suggested benedryl! That made me laugh.

I noticed on Tuesday that Ellie has tooth coming in on the bottom left. Maybe that's why she isn't sleeping? Although the Dr. tells us it doesn't hurt bad enough to wake them up. Wish I knew.

Kailee had school on Wednesday at the Baileys house. She is actually to the point that she likes to go to school. As soon as she woke up she said "yeah, it's time for school. It's time for school!" Yeah! It's so much more fun to take her when she is happy and excited about it! While she was at school Ellie and I ran errands. We sold some baby clothes to Once Upon a Child (and made $40!), dropped some other stuff at the DI, and stopped by Old Navy. When we picked Kailee up from school we stopped by Downeast, grabbed lunch from Sonic and headed home. While I was trying to get the girls to sleep I watched the the funeral for an Ogden cop on TV. While I was watching it on TV, Ryan was watching it from the street. The motorcade drove past the Ogden office so he was able to go out and see it. It was both the saddest and neatest thing to see. I kept thinking about his poor family and how their life has been changed. When I hear or see stories like that I always pray that that is never our story. It would be hard to have Ryan leave for work and never come home. Sad, sad, sad! Anyhow. After sitting on the couch for probably an hour trying to get the girls to sleep I gave up and moved to the computer to try to get my Activity Days lesson prepared. What a frustrating experience! I had an idea to do journal jars but was having a hard time getting it put together. I searched and searched for something else, but couldn't find anything. The time was getting short and my frustration was growing. I had two little girls who needed and wanted my attention and 15 activity days girls who needed an activity planned for them. The two other leaders that I work with had failed to give me advance notice that this week would be my turn for the activity so my frustration for them started to grow too. I finally just decided to go with the journal jars and worked as fast as I could to come up with a lesson about journals, topic ideas to put in the journals jars, and tried to find a store that sold some inexpensive jars.  Then I still had to get to the store to buy the jars and then to the copy place to print everything out. I was waaaaaaay beyond frustrated. Frustrated with the girls, frustrated with the other leaders and frustrated with myself for not being able to handle a simple calling and my life. Ryan kept calling during all of this and thankfully was very supportive. He hurried home as fast as he could and stopped and picked up the jars for me. Unfortunately the place I chose to go to make copies was totally unhelpful so I had to backtrack and go to another store. I ended up being 15 minutes late to the activity and extremely overwhelmed and frustrated. I was even more frustrated that my day turned out like that because we were having such a good day. After that activity I made a promise to myself that that situation would never happen again. My children would never have to experience that again either. I would plan the activity the week or days in advance. I refuse to have another day like that. It. was. horrible!

On Thursday we got up, showered and headed to Tawnie's house. I had planned to leave there around noon, but ended up staying a lot later. Ryan, Kailee and I had dentist appointments beginning at 3pm so we went straight there from Tawnies. My wet, slicked back hair and all! This was Kailee's very first dentist appointment. Ryan went first and had his teeth cleaned so Kailee could see what to expect. When it was her turn, she was a little hesitant, but she warmed up quick to the hygenist. She let her look at her teeth, clean them and floss. But, she wouldn't let the dentist look at her at all. There is just something about other guys. She doesn't want anything to do with them right now. When the dentist was trying to look at Kailee's teeth, Grandma Colleen walked in. She had an appointment at that same time. So she was able to be there and try to encourage Kailee too. It was fun to see Grandma there.

When Ryan got home from work on Friday we went to Apollo Burgers for some fries and a shake and then to Kneaders for sandwiches! The girls were wild and out of control, but it was good food! Afterwards we decided to try to be brave and went over to the mall so we could go to DownEast. On our way to DownEast we walked through Dicks Sporting goods and saw a lady working out on the elliptical machine. At first we thought maybe she was just trying it out, but then we noticed she was doing a full on workout. Haha. The cashiers said that she goes there a few times a week and uses the machine. We laughed that someone would actually have the idea to do that. Eh, free equipment, no contract! Oh, the things people do.

On Saturday we took Ryan's twin bed down to Tawnie's for Thomas to use and then went out to Gateway. We had dinner at CPK and then went to a store to get the girls a pair of Toms. I should have taken a picture of them wearing them because they are so stinkin' cute. Kailee got a pair that are pink and sparkly and Ellie's are sliver sparkly. Cute, cute! As soon as we made it home, Ryan's mom called to say her furnace wasn't working. So we headed back out! Ryan cleaned out the furnace a little bit, got it working and we headed back home.

Ellie has started to climb up on the counters this week. When we got home from Grandma Colleens, it was late, we were getting things put away and settled down and this is what she wanted to do!

Other 'happenings' this week:
Last week we noticed that Kailee woke up every day with a dry diaper so this week she wore underwear to bed. She only woke up wet once. She came into our room crying and saying "I'm soaked, I'm soaked." Cute girl.

As mentioned earlier, Ryan was doing some training at the Ogden office all week. He really enjoyed working up there and it seems like they enjoyed having him there. They even told him that they would like it if he was their permanent trainer. That was nice for Ryan to hear. I think it gave him a boost in confidence and helped him feel like he is doing a good job. Of course he is, everyone likes Ryan.

January 1st- January 7th 2012

Happy New Year 2012!

This is how we rang in the New Year... we had just pulled in the garage from spending the evening at Jolie and Sean's house. Both kids were sound asleep (as they should have been) when the New Year arrived.

This Sunday our church time changed to 9am. The early time is great because we can make it home in time for nap time, but now we have to work on getting up early enough to make it on time. Today we were 1/2 hour late. Hopefully we will have better luck next week. We dressed in our Christmas outfits since we weren't able to on the actual Christmas Sunday because Ryan and I had the icky flu. A week late, but we did get our Christmas Sunday pictures.

So far it seems like early church is going to be nice. The girls did so much better during Sacrament. Kailee was pretty shy going to class though. Ryan went in and sat with her while they played and sang songs and then she was ok with him leaving. Ellie stayed with me during RS and was actually pretty calm- she was active but not noisy! The lesson in RS was about doing things because we are actually that type of person and not just because we are told to be that way or told to do something by the prophet, bishop, etc.  It was a pretty good lesson and really gave me something to think about.

Ryan was home on Monday for the New Years holiday and spent the majority of the day building shelves in the storage room in the basement. I am so excited to have shelves down there and to be able to get that room organized. While Ryan worked, Kailee, Ellie and I just hung out and did a whole lot of nothing.

On Tuesday I noticed that Ellie is getting three molers. Mmm. Maybe that could be why she is sooo grumpy and has a runny nose?

Kailee went to school on Wednesday at Andrews house. She did really good going in the house by herself. I walked her to the door, said I love you, and she walked in. Bitter-sweet for sure. I love that she is getting so brave and is starting to do things on her own, but it is also hard to want to let her go. While Kailee was at school, Ellie and I ran to Rod Works and Target to make some returns then Old Navy to find a puffy vest (BEST) for Kailee.

When we went to pick up Kailee, Andrews mom Sarah, said that Kailee is pretty quiet and just keeps to herself. She participates, but doesn't talk much. I am not quite sure what to think about that. I feel bad that she just keeps to herself. I have to wonder if she is even benefiting from this playschool thing?? I guess we will have to figure it out. For their craft they made faces on a paper plate. They glued on Eyes, nose and a mouth. Cute and creative!

Our crazy Kailee! She loves this hat. She got it from Grandma Colleen for Christmas. She loves to make the silliest faces and do the craziest poses for pictures.

This is Kailee's new favorite activity at the popcorn store. She loves to play with the lotion. What mess, but she sure is cute!

On Friday we all got up early so we could take Ryan to work so he could drive his work truck home. He will be working in Ogden next week so he wanted his truck so he could go straight to the Ogden office Monday morning. Since we were all up and ready to go bright and early we stopped by Tawnie's on the way home to help her clean Jack and Sams room and then Thomas' too. When Ryan got off work we dropped the girls off at Grandma Colleens and went to dinner at Tucanos at the Gateway. Date nights are always good.

We woke up Saturday morning to SNOW! Yes, it actually snowed! It's funny to say that since we live in Utah and it's supposed to snow all the time! But this winter has been really mild. Kailee was even so excited to see the snow. So was I. So I hurried and got dressed and ran to Target to get the girls some snow boots and a snow tube. Ryan stayed home and got the girls fed and shoveled the driveway. When I got back we went tubing!! Kailee was a little nervous to go by herself then she watched Ellie do it and she got excited to try it. Cute girls! We only stayed for about a 1/2hr, but that was plenty of time for us. On our way home we stopped at Cutlers for some soup and headed home to eat it. We got cleaned up and Ryan started to work in the basement on the shelves while the girls and I went to run some more errands. Long day, but lot's of fun!