The best visit . . .

We had the bestest visit in the world from our friends Katy O. and Ellie. We LOVE these girls! I made them come all the way up to our house to hang out and they were so awesome to not even complain about the distance :)

Natalie has been missing Ellie terribly lately and they had such a great time together. I mean, do you blame them? What's better than dressing up like princesses and eating my gourmet cooking (mac & cheese and blueberries)? We then proceeded outside and got soaking wet during the best water fight ever.

I loved catching up with Katy O. and being able to enjoy some adult conversation. And I can't wait till she is out of school and moves up here to live by us . . . . . . . ;)

Ellie is standing uphill from Natalie, she seriously is not that much taller than Natty, at least not that I'm ready to admit.




Isn't Ellie just the cutest girl that you have ever seen. I could just eat her up!

I love Park City! . . .

Every year we spend a week up in Park City and it is always such a BLAST! I seriously love that place. It has so much to offer, even when you're up there during a stormy week.

This year we arrived on Natalie's birthday, which should be a perfect time of year to spend in Park City because its about 10 degrees cooler than the usually hot August weather that we get in Utah... For whatever reason, the skies decided to rain and cloud over almost the whole time, oh well.

Whenever there was a glimpse of sun, we jumped into the pool and hot tubs. And whenever it was raining we played ping pong, did crafts, played games, watched movies, shopped, exercised, ate, and slept. FUN.

Our really great friends, the Nortons, joined in on the fun for the last couple of days of our vaycay. MONK, games, junk food, shopping, swimming, biking, and sleep deprivation... we seriously had a FANTASTIC time with them and I have one measly picture to show for it. sad.

Birthdays . . .

It's been a couple of weeks since my girls' birthdays and I am finally blogging about it, lame huh.

First off, the cakes... I live for birthday cake makin'. I am no professional by any sense of the word but its fun to see how happy it makes my girls.

Natalie was set on a Belle birthday cake. Actually, every time anyone would ask her what she wanted for her birthday her answer was one of two things, a Belle cake and Ellie (her bff) to call her and sing Happy Birthday. Natalie was SO excited when she saw the finished result. Yay!

Nicole's cake on the other hand, is a different story entirely. Nicole really wanted a colorful Strawberry Shortcake cake made with fondant. The problem? I have NO idea how to work with the stuff and during a move is NOT the best time to learn. I talked to her about our little dilemma... talked is probably too kind of a word, it was more of a plea and I was finally able to convince her that I needed another option on what to make. She then decided on a number eight cake with a Kim Possible figurine. As you can see in the picture above that she got her number eight...without the figurine. I looked everywhere for something that would work and came up with nothin'. Poor Nicole, she sure was a great sport about it though and was pretty pleased about her cake.


The actual days of their birthdays were pretty low key. We were still doing the moving thing on Nicole's birthday and we left for Park City on Natalie's. We did most of the celebrating after Nicole's baptism with family and friends.

talent. . . .

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Llamas in pajamas....

Natalie (3) informed me today that llamas wear pajamas.....PRINCESS pajamas.
I seriously had no idea.

Nicole's Baptism...

Nicole was baptized Aug. 2, 2008. I still can't believe that I have an eight year old. The day was fabulous which was amazing to me. You see, about 20 hours before the occasion my house was still in a
disastrous moving frenzy

and
I still had all of the food to prepare
and
two birthday cakes to make and decorate.
Add some grocery shopping, kids baths, regular meals and housework and some neighborhood kids in the mix, I was a little more than frazzled. Just ask the friends and family that dropped by during the whirlwind. My kids could surely feel the stress too and showed me by tantrums, tears, and uncooperative actions.
I pulled another all-nighter (the fourth one that week) and just prayed that my efforts would be enough. and miraculously they were.
The morning couldn't have run better. There was a wonderful PEACE that came into our home which is such a testimony to me that my daughter's decision of being baptized was what our Heavenly Father wanted her to do. My kids woke up happy and didn't even complain about getting their hair done.... well at least they didn't complain too much. ;) Greg and I finished unpacking the necessary boxes and put the rest in a corner of our basement. We finished the rest of the to-do list just minutes before we were supposed to leave for the stake center.

We arrived at the stake center about twenty minutes before Nicole's baptism in order for Greg and Nicole to change into their baptismal clothing. She was so excited. Since she was the only one getting baptized in our ward, she was able to have family and friends do the program which included her grandmas giving the talks, a friend playing a piano piece, Aunt Allie and her sister singing, Aunt Laura playing the piano, Uncle Boyd and Uncle Mark directing the music and Grandpa V. and a future Aunt Rachel saying the prayers.

When I wrapped Nicole in her towel after she was baptized she said,
"That was neat. I want to do it again." :)

I am so proud of my Nicole!!

I bought Kaydee these shoes a couple of days before the baptism so she wouldn't feel left out on Nicole's big day. I admit that it was a kind of bribe because I knew that if she had something special that day she would be more cooperative with getting ready. Think what you will, but it worked like a charm. ;)